Ancient Egypt Survives Until the Present Day

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718-712 BC--Reign of Pharaoh Wahkare (Bocchoris), of the Saite 24th Dynasty. Wahkare abolishes debt slavery, and grants to the tenants who farm the royal lands title to the lands they farm, establishing a class of land-owning bourgeoisie called the "nemhu" which will eventually exert profound influence on Egypt's future history.

712 BC--King Shabaka of Kush invades Egypt and conquers the country. Pharaoh Wahkare is killed. Beginning of the Kushite 25th Dynasty.

700 BC--Death of Pharaoh Shabaka of Egypt. He is succeeded by Sabataka.

c. 700 BC--Hellenic (Greek) colonization spreads to southern Italy, Asia Minor, Black Sea. Greek colonies have existed on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor for a couple of centuries.

688 BC--Death of Pharaoh Sabataka of Egypt. He is succeeded by Taharka.

671 BC--King Esarhaddon of Assyria invades Egypt and sacks the Egyptian capital at Memphis. Pharaoh Taharka, of the Kushite 25th Dynasty, is forced to flee from Egypt. Esarhaddon, in contrast to usual Assyrian practice, is moderate in the implementation of the occupation of Egypt compared to past policies in other provinces, respecting local traditions as far as possible. The Assyrians show special interest for Egyptian experts, such as physicians, artisans and military specialists who are often deported to Assyria. The acquisition of horses from Egypt is of major importance to the Assyrians. Esarhaddon appoints various native noblemen as governors, functionaries and scribes in the provinces of Egypt.

670 BC--Prince Necho I of Sais, a descendant of Pharaoh Wahkare, is appointed governor over the regions of Sais and Memphis in Egypt.

c. 670 BC--Miletus (Greek city on the Aegean Coast of Asia Minor) begins founding colonies both in the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea.

669 BC--Death of Esarhaddon of Assyria. Ashurbanipal takes the throne. Taharka of Kush (former Pharaoh of Egypt who was forced to flee by Esarhaddon) returns to Egypt with a Kushite army and tries to reconquer the land. Prince Necho, along with many other Egyptian governors appointed by Esarhaddon, ally themselves with Taharka.

668 BC--Ashurbanipal of Assyria invades Egypt, defeats Taharka, and drives the Kushites from Egypt for the final time. Necho I of Sais is captured by Ashurbanipal and taken, with his sons, to Assyria. His son Psamtik thus spends several years at the Assyrian court, and his observations while there will influence all later Egyptian history. Meanwhile, at Thebes, Mentuemhet, Governor of the South and Prince of Thebes, restores Thebes and continues to rule the Thebaid for many years as an Assyrian vassal.

663 BC--Necho I dies in Assyria. Prince Psamtik is allowed to return to Egypt after taking an oath of loyalty to the Assyrian king. He rules over Lower Egypt from Sais.

657 BC--Megara founds Byzantium.

655 BC--Psamtik I of Sais declares independence from Assyria and proclaims himself Pharaoh of Lower Egypt. Thus begins the 26th Dynasty. Shortly afterward, Mentuemhet of Thebes declares himself Pharaoh of Upper Egypt. Ashurbanipal, caught up in troubles of his own closer to home, is unable to restore Assyrian rule in Egypt.

655 BC to 609 BC--In a long reign, Pharaoh Psamtik I establishes the pattern of kingship which will prevail in the new dynasty. Psamtik had spent much of his youth in Assyria, where the kings-while very powerful-were never considered to be divine. Therefore, the attitude of the Saite Pharaohs towards the kingship will be radically different from the Egyptian tradition. The lifestyle of the pharaohs of Sais will be much less ostentatious, to the point of being considered frugal by contemporary writers. And there will be no return to the ancient traditions under later kings (except for one notorious incident which will be described later in the timeline). Psamtik will strengthen royal power over the provincial warlords and the priesthood by abrogating feudal and clerical immunities and privileges. Another policy of Psamtik which will have profound influences on later history is his encouragement of Greek settlement within Egypt. Psamtik will make extensive use of Greek mercenaries in the army, and Psamtik will build a cities, the greatest of which is called Naukratis, where Greek scholars and merchants will be settled, and endow these Greek communities with land and rights. These Greeks will make many contributions to Egypt's development in the years to come.

654 BC--Carthage, a colony of the Phoenician city of Tyre located in OTL Tunisia on the North African coast, founds a colony in the Balearic Islands at Ibiza.

c. 650 BC--Psamtik I defeats Mentuemhet of Thebes and establishes control over Upper Egypt, reunifying the country. Psamtik begins wearing the Double Crown to signify his rulership of all Egypt.

c. 650 BC--King Gyges of Lydia introduces the world's first standardized money, in the form of electrum coins, stamped with the king's seal. The idea will eventually spread throughout the world, and replace barter economies with money economies.

650 BC--Perdiccas Temenid founds the Macedonian kingdom with capital at Aegeae (Vergina).

640 BC--Sparta adopts a militaristic form of government.

632 BC--Athens abolishes the monarchy in favor of an oligarchy.

c.630 BC--Greek settlers from Thera found the city of Cyrene, on the northern coast of Libya.

628 BC--Birth of Zoroaster, founder of the Persian national religion, Zoroastrianism.

627-626 BC--King Ashurbanipal of Assyria dies in 627 BC. He has twin sons, Ashur-etil-ilani and Sin-shar-ishkun. Ashurbanipal has named Ashur-etil-ilani as his successor, but Sin-shar-ishkun does not recognize this and so begins a civil war that lasts until the latter gains the throne. This civil war will weaken Assyria considerably and open the door to uprisings by various oppressed peoples within the Assyrian Empire.

626 BC--King Nabopolasser of Babylon revolts and successfully overthrows Assyrian rule. He makes an alliance with King Cyaxares of the Medes against Assyria.

625-612 BC--Nabopolasser of Babylon and Cyaxares of Media wage war against Assyria, and the Assyrian army gradually falls apart after repeated defeats at the hands of the allies. Pharaoh Psamtik I of Egypt, who wishes to maintain Assyria as a weakened buffer state against the rising power of Babylon, sends the Egyptian army northward, under the command of his son, Prince Necho, in 618 BC, and for a while the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces are able to stem the Babylonian and Median advance. Indeed, in 616 BC, the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces advance to within 300 km of Babylon itself before being forced to retreat. But in 614 BC, Cyaxares of Media captures and sacks Ashur, the original capital and spiritual center of Assyria, and two years later, in 612 BC, the Babylonians and Medes capture and sack Nineveh. King Shin-shar-ishkun of Assyria dies in his burning palace. Prince Ashur-uballit escapes to Haran, where he declares himself King Ashur-uballit II of Assyria and tries to rally the remaining Assyrian forces around him. Nabopolasser and Cyaxares divide the former Assyrian Empire among themselves.

621 BC--Draco establishes the first Athenian code of law. The code is extremely harsh (Draco's name will become synonymous with harsh...or DRACONIAN...measures in future times).

616 BC--The Etruscans conquer the small Latin town of Rome in Italy. Tarquinius I Priscus becomes King of Rome. Etruscan kings will reign there for the next 100 years.

610 BC--The Babylonian army, under the command of Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar, besieges the remnant Assyrian forces at Haran. Pharaoh Psamtik I sends an Egyptian army, under the command of Crown Prince Necho, northward to the relief of the besieged Assyrians, but Necho is delayed by Josiah, King of Judah, who attacks Necho's army at Megiddo (and is defeated, at the cost of his own life). As a result, Haran falls to the Babylonians, Ashur-uballit II of Assyria is killed, and the Assyrians are finally defeated. End of the Assyrian Empire. Necho, learning of the defeat of his Assyrian allies, continues his advance north, captures the city of Kadesh in Syria, finally advances all the way to the Euphrates. An uneasy peace settles as the Egyptians and Babylonians watch each other across the river.ªAlso in this year, Miletus founds a trading post in Egypt.

609 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik I of Egypt dies. Crown Prince Necho returns to Egypt to assume the throne as Pharaoh Necho II. On his way back to Egypt, he stops off in Jerusalem long enough to depose Josiah's son, Jehoahaz II, taking him in chains back to Egypt, where he will die in exile. Necho installs Jehoiakim, another of Josiah's sons, as vassal King of Judah.

c. 606 BC--Pharaoh Necho II, who at this time is temporarily in control of Phoenicia, hires Phoenician shipwrights to build a fleet of ships for the purpose of exploring the coastline of the African continent.

605 BC--Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the Egyptian army at Carchemish, on the Euphrates. Nebuchadnezzar pursues the defeated Egyptians all the way to the borders of Egypt. Along the way he confirms Jehoiakim as vassal King of Judah.

604 BC--King Nabopolassar of Babylon dies. Crown prince Nebuchadnezzar returns to Babylon to assume the throne as King Nebuchadnezzar II.

603-600 BC--The Egyptian exploration fleet, being built at the orders of Pharaoh Necho II by Phoenician shipwrights at an Egyptian port on the Red Sea, sets sail. The fleet, manned by a mixed force of Egyptian soldiers and Phoenician sailors, sails south along the African coast. Each autumn they come ashore and plant the land in whatever part of the coast they have reached, and there await the harvest; then, having gathered the crop, they sail on. And so, in this manner, they circumnavigate the African continent. In 600 BC they pass through the Pillars of Heracles (the Straits of Gibraltar) and return to Egypt. As a result of the knowledge gained from this voyage of exploration, Necho is able to renew contacts with Ophir...what would in the OTL become Zimbabwe in Southern Africa. Ophir had been, since the days of the Old Kingdom, a source of fabulous wealth, especially gold. Necho establishes regular trading voyages to Ophir, and gold begins to flow into Egyptian coffers, greatly strengthening the Egyptian monarchy.

601 BC--King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon attempts an invasion of Egypt, but is defeated by Pharaoh Necho II at Pelusium and forced to retreat back to Babylon. The Egyptian army also suffers large casualties and is unable to exploit the victory. However, Necho does support rebellions by Babylonian vassal kings in Syria and Palestine, including Jehoiakim of Judah.

600 BC--Rome conquers the city of Alba Longa.ªAlso in this year, Carthage fails to prevent the establishment of the Phocaean Greek colony at Massilia (Marseilles).

c. 600 BC onward--Pharaoh Necho II and his successors use the gold of Ophir to finance a reorganization of the Egyptian military. Necho and his successors were, in the OTL, somewhat innovative militarily, at least for Egyptians. They used Greek mercenary troops, for example, but this was limited by the lack of a strong treasury. In this ATL, with the gold of Ophir at his disposal, they raise a large infantry force, mostly native but supplemented by mercenaries, which is armed, equipped, and trained as Greek Hoplites. This force is supplemented by a large force of Egyptian and Nubian archers. They abandon their chariots and adopt armored horse archers and lancers based on those of the Assyrians and Babylonians. They also build a large navy and merchant fleet, based on Greek and Phoenician designs. With this revamped force, Egypt is much better able to defend itself and to expand than it was at the same period in the OTL. The continuing influx of gold from Ophir will allow later Pharaohs to perform reorganizations of the military as changing tactics and military technology call for it.

c. 600 BC to c. 350 BC--Expansion of Egypt in Africa. The rediscovery of Ophir leads to a reorientation of Egyptian foreign policy and military activity which lasts for the next two centuries. During this period Necho and his successors will not attempt anymore to expand into Asia, but will remain on the defensive there, instead focusing on expansion southward into Africa, which they recognize as the source of their wealth. Necho's successors Psamtik II and Wahibre I will conquer the Kingdoms of Kush and Axum (most of modern-day Sudan and Ethiopia). This gives the Egyptians ports on the Horn of Africa (much closer to the mines of Ophir), puts them in a good position to trade with India and other exotic regions, and Egypt grows wealthier still. Over the succeeding years, Egypt establishes a network of trading posts and military garrisons along the east coast of Africa, and then expands out from these to bring the entire coast of East Africa under their control. Finally, in the reign of Pharaoh Psamtik VII, an Egyptian army invades and occupies Ophir itself, bringing the region firmly under Egyptian control, where it will remain.

598-597 BC--King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon returns to Syria and Palestine and once again brings the rebellious vassals under control. King Jehoiakim of Judah dies under mysterious circumstances shortly before the arrival of the Babylonians before the gates of Jerusalem, and his son Jehoiachin is anointed King. Jehoiachin appeals to Pharaoh Necho for aid, but none is forthcoming, and so he surrenders to the Babylonians in 597 BC, after reigning for a mere three months. Nebuchadnezzar II deposes Jehoiachin, and appoints Zedekiah as the new vassal King of Judah. Jehoiachin and 10,000 of his subjects are taken into captivity in Babylonia.

594 BC--Pharaoh Necho II, known as "Gold Finder" because of his discovery and renewal of Egyptian ties to Ophir, dies. He is succeeded by Psamtik II. Psamtik will focus on campaigns in Nubia, and thus Egypt takes no active role in the affairs of Syria-Palestine at this time. Also in this year, Solon founds the Athenian democracy. He was heavily influenced by his observations of Egyptian society and law during a visit to Egypt a few years before.

588 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik II dies, and is succeeded by Wahibre I. Wahibre disagrees with his father's policies, which have oriented Egyptian efforts at expansion to the south, and will soon begin to interfere in Syria-Palestine once again.

587 BC--Pharaoh Wahibre I forms an alliance with the King of Tyre and King Zedekiah of Jerusalem. Bolstered by promises of Egyptian aid, these kings lead a revolt against the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar calls on his loyal vassals to assail the rebels while he gathers his army. Judah is assailed by forces from Samaria, Moab, Ammon, and Edom, while Tyre is assailed by a coalition of Phoenician and Cypriot city-states lead by the King of Sidon.

586 BC--Pharaoh Wahibre I receives appeals for aid from the Kings of Tyre and Judah. He sends a fleet which which defeats the Babylonian fleet (the combined navies of the allied Phoenician and Cypriot city states) and takes Sidon. Sidon is sacked and Wahibre's fleet returns to Egypt with much booty. Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezzar had arrived at Jerusalem and laid siege to the city. Wahibre marches north from Egypt in an attempt to relieve their Judean allies, and is defeated and forced to retreat back into Egypt. Jerusalem falls, and is sacked. The Temple of Solomon is razed to the ground along with the rest of the city, King Zedekiah is blinded and lead off to Babylon in chains along with the rest of the royal household, and most of the population is carried off into captivity. The Kingdom of Judah ceases to exist, and the Babylonian Captivity begins.

585 BC--King Cyaxares of the Medes dies, and is succeeded by Astyages. Later that year, Astyges is victorious over King Alyattes of Lydia in the Battle of the Eclipse (May 25, 585 BC). The border between the Median Empire and Lydia is set at the Halys River.

582 BC: The Pythian games are established in Delphi and the Isthmian games are established in Corinth.

580 BC--First attempt by the Greeks to drive the Phoenicians out of Sicily. The attempt is unsuccessful.

574 BC--The Phoenician city of Tyre falls to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It's colony at Carthage is left to it's own devices.

570 BC--Pharaoh Wahibre receives an appeal for aid from the King of Libya against the Greek colony at Cyrene, which has, since it's founding in 630 BC, had strained relations with the native Libyans of the region. Wahibre leads an Egyptian army westward, but it is severely defeated by the Greeks of Cyrene. A revolt breaks out among the native Egyptian contingent of the army, where rumour has it that the Pharaoh intentionally lead them to defeat. As Herodotus would later write..."The Egyptians blamed him for this and rebelled against him; for they thought that the Pharaoh had knowingly sent his men to their doom, so that after their death his rule over the rest of the Egyptians would be strengthened. Bitterly angered by this, those who returned home and the friends of the slain rose against him." Also in this year, the first coins are minted by Athens.

569-566 BC--Civil War in Egypt. In response to the rebellion in the native Egyptian contingents of the army, Wahibre sends Ahmosi, his son and one of his most trusted generals, to negotiate with the rebels. But when Ahmosi arrives at the rebel camp, the rebels "put a helmet on his head from behind, saying it was the token of royalty," and declare him the new king. Ahmosi decides "it is good to be the king," goes over to the rebels, and leads the rebel army against Wahibre. Wahibre rallies the mercenary contingent of the army and attempts to put down the insurrection with these forces, but is defeated and forced to flee from Sais. Ahmosi is crowned Pharoah, and takes the throne as Ahmosi II. However, Wahibre I continues to claim the kingship, and gathers another mercenary army while in exile in Upper Egypt. Finally, in 566 BC, Wahibre I, at the head of his mercenary army, attempts to retake the throne of Egypt from Ahmosi II. He is defeated and killed. Wahibre will go down in history as "Wahibre the Unlucky."

569-525 BC--Reign of Ahmosi II, who will be known as "the Wise" because of the many reforms he will enact that will greatly strengthen the kingdom. Ahmosi drastically reduces proportion of mercenaries in army and reduces the term of service for native troops, ending a continual problem with army revolts. With regard to foreign policy, Ahmosi once again focuses on Africa and ceases to intrigue in Palestine and Syria. He concludes a treaty with King Amel Marduk of Babylon which recognizes Babylon's claim to these lands and establishes the border between the two empires. Ahmosi also establishes the world's first income tax. According the Herodotus, he established a law that "every year each one of the Egyptians should declare to the ruler of his district, from what source he got his livelihood, and if any man did not do this or did not make declaration of an honest way of living, he should be punished with death." Ahmosi exempts members of the Egyptian Army from this tax, thus making military service more attractive to native Egyptians. Because of the flow of gold from Ophir and the huge trade profits Egypt is raking in, the income taxes are very low, and unlike OTL, the people do not feel overburdened by taxation. Ahmosi also disposes of the goods of the temples as he sees fit. Just as the military nobles had been neutralized by absorbing many of them into the royal administration, the priests are turned into officials of the monarchy too, and their upkeep and that of their temples becomes the responsibility of the royal treasury. The threat to the monarchy posed by the power of the priestly class is broken. Thus by the end of Ahmose II’s reign the foundations have been laid for a very stable, prosperous, and secure society, which will remain so for a long, long time.

562 BC--Death of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. He is succeeded by Amel Marduk.

560 BC--Death of King Amel Marduk of Babylon. He is succeeded by Nergalsharusur. Also in this year, Lydian king Croesus conquers Ionia, except Miletus, and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus is built. This temple will eventually become one of the seven wonders of the world.

559 BC--Cyrus II comes to the throne of Anshan, a Persian sub-kingdom of the Median Empire. Cyrus is a vassal of the Median king, Astyages. Cyrus will establish the Persian Empire and be known to history as "Cyrus the Great."

556 BC--Death of King Nergalsharusur of Babylon. He is succeeded by Labashi Marduk. However, Labashi Marduk dies the same year, and is succeeded by Nabunaid (Nabonidus).

550 BC--Cyrus II of Anshan revolts against King Astyages of Media. Astyages is defeated and killed. Cyrus takes control of the Median Empire, which will henceforth be known as the Persian Empire. Also in this year, Carthage allies with the Etruscans against the Greeks. A Carthaginian force led by Malchus defeats the Greeks in Sicily, but is vanquished in Sardinia. Malchus is banished, and in response marches on Carthage, but is caught and executed.

c. 550 BC onward--Carthaginian presence in the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Carthaginian colonies formed along coast of Africa, Algeria, Hadrumetum, Leptis.

547 BC--Cyrus II of Persia defeats King Croesus of Lydia at the Battle of the Halys River. Persia absorbs all of Asia Minor, and assumes Lydia's overlordship of the Greek colonies o the Aegean coastline.

546 BC--The Tyrant Peisistratus overthrows democracy in Athens, and Sparta forms the Peloponnesean League.

539 BC--King Cyrus II of Persia takes Babylon. All of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine come under Persian rule.

538-Upon capturing Babylon, King Cyrus II of Persia issues an edict of religious toleration and allows the Jews (who had been deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar) to return to their homeland. 42,360 Jews plus 7,337 servants return to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, Sheshbazzar, and Jeshua. In October of that year, the Jews finish building the foundation of the temple. An altar and sacrificial offering to the Lord is made on the foundation of the temple. At this time the Samaritans and other neighboring nations complain to Cyrus and such influence is brought to bear on Cyrus's court at the imperial capital that the government suspends their building permit. Because of this opposition, all further work on the building of the temple will be suspended until the 2nd year of Darius the Great, about 520 BC.

535 BC--Carthage, with the Etruscans, destroys the Phocaean colony in Corsica and closes Sardinia-Corsica off to the Greeks.

530 BC--Pythagoras founds Mathematics.

525 BC--Pharaoh Ahmosi II "The Wise" dies, and is succeeded by his son, Psamtik III. Later that same year, the Persian army, under King Cambyses, invades Egypt. The Egyptian army meets them at Pelusium, and the Persians are crushed. However, the Egyptians also take heavy casualties, and do not pursue the defeated Persians.

c. 525 BC--The first Greek Tragedies are written. Among the writers are Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

523 BC--Cambyses again attempts the invasion of Egypt. His army is again defeated, and Cambyses is killed.

523-522 BC--Civil War in the Persian Empire. Upon the death of King Cambyses, there is a struggle for the succession to the Persian throne. Gaumata, a pretender who claims to be a son of King Cyrus II named Smerdis who had actually been killed some years earlier, assumes the throne, but is disputed by another prince of the Achaemenid House, who finally defeats Gautama in 522 BC and assumes the throne as King Darius I.

520 BC-516 BC--Completion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. ªIn September 520 BC, in the 2nd year of King Darius, the Prophet Haggai began to stir up the people of Judah and Jerusalem to start building on the foundation for the temple which had been laid in 538 BC, and later that month the Jewish governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Jeshua, along with the rank and file of the people, began to rebuild the 2nd temple on the foundation that was laid 16 years before. This task will take over three years, and will be completed in February 516 BC.

510 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik III invades Palestine, but is killed in battle against the Persians, leaving no heirs. He is succeeded by general in the army who is a cousin from a related family Sais and takes the throne as Pharaoh Rameses XIII. Beginning of the 27th (Saite) Dynasty.ªAlso in this year, Athens joins the Peloponesean League, and the temple of Ceres at Paestum (in Italy) is built.

509 BC--Revolution in Rome. The last Etruscan King, Tarquinius Superbus, is expelled. Founding of the Roman Republic.

509-505 BC--War between Egypt and Persia. King Darius I of Persia invades Egypt in 509 BC, but his army is defeated by that of Pharaoh Rameses XIII at Pelusium. Rameses tries an invasion of Palestine the next year, but his invasion is no more successful, and he is forced to retreat to Egypt. The war will drag on for a further two years, mainly fought between the rival fleets in the Mediterranean, until a treaty is signed, establishing the border between the two empires.

508 BC--Attack on Rome by the Etruscan general Lars Porsena. Rome is able to withstand the attack. Several Roman noblewomen, including Cloelia, swim the Tiber River to escape from Lars Porsenna and his men.ªAlso in this year, the last of the Tyrants is overthrown in Athens, and democracy is restored. Cleisthenes grants full rights to all free men of Athens.

507 BC--First treaty between Carthage and Rome.

506 BC--A planned invasion of Rome by ousted King Tarquinius Superbus and an army of Etruscans is defeated by the Latin League and Greeks lead by Aristodemos of Cumae in a battle at Aricia. Also in this year, a Roman noble named Horatius Cocles stops an invasion, when he bars the bridge into Rome. While he is defending the bridge, the consuls Sp. Lartius and T. Herminius chop it down to prevent the enemy crossing. Horatius swims, fully armored across the Tiber to safety.

505 BC--A temple to Apollo is built at Delphi.

500 BC--Death of Pharaoh Rameses XIII. He is succeeded by Necho III.

499 B.C.--Ionian Greek cities (on Aegean coast of Anatolia) rebel against the Persians. The Ionians call on their cousins on the Greek mainland for aid. Miletus also calls on Pharaoh Necho III, who sends money and troops.

498 B.C.--Athens at war with Aegina. Also in this year, Hippocrates and Theron seize control in Syracuse and attempt to throw the Phoenicians off the western part of the island. They are unsuccessful, once again

497 B.C.--Athenians responds to the Ionian request for help and attacks Sardis (former capital of Lydia, now the headquarters of the Persian Satrap who rules over Ionia). In cooperation with Ionian and Egyptian forces, Sardis is captured and burned. King Darius I of Persia gathers a large army to crush the revolt, which is clearly beyond the capability of the local satrap.

495 B.C.--Persians capture the Ionian city of Miletus, despite Athenian and Egyptian aid to that city. King Darius burns the city to the ground. Most of the population escapes and settles in Egypt. With the fall of Miletus, the Ionian revolt falls apart, and the remaining Greek cities in the region surrender to the Persians by the end of the year.

494 B.C.--The Spartans under Cleomenes, who are in favor of resistance against the Persians, defeat the Argives, who were in favor of submitting to the Persians.

494 BC--First Secession of the Plebeians in Rome. Creation of the tribunes of the plebs, two of whom are elected annually. Creation of the office of aedile for the plebeians of Rome, held by two men.

490-485 BC--Vowing revenge on those who aided the Ionian revolt, King Darius I of Persia declares war on Egypt and Athens. He sends two armies of invasion, both of which are defeated (by the Athenians at Marathon and by Egypt at Pelusium). Throughout the rest of Darius's reign, there will be continuing, low-intensity warfare between Persia on the one hand and Egypt and Athens on the other. The war is fought mainly at sea, with neither side gaining a clear advantage.

489 B.C.: Expedition of Miltiades of Athens to Paros. Death of Cleomenes of Sparta.

485 BC--Death of King Darius I of Persia. He is succeeded by his son, Xerxes I. Xerxes vows to continue the war against Egypt and Athens.

481 BC--Athens, Sparta, and other Greek cities form the Hellenic League against Persia. Egypt provides some financial support, which allows the Greeks to build their military somewhat more rapidly, but not dramatically more so.

480 BC--A Carthaginian force under Hamilcar the Magonid is defeated by Sicilian Greeks at Himera cutting off Carthaginian access to the East. Hamilcar commits suicide on the battlefield. In the wake of this defeat a revolution overthrows the Magonid dynasty and establishes the Court of 104 Magistrates. Beginning of the Carthaginian Republic.

480-479 BC--King Xerxes of Persia invades Greece, and the invasion proceeds pretty much as in OTL. The Greeks fail to hold the Persian army at the Pass of Thermopylae. Athens is captured and burned, but the Persian navy is defeated at Salamis, and the Persian army at Plataea. Xerxes retreats back to Asia, but Macedonia and Thrace remain under Persian control.

479-450 BC--Re-buffed in Sicily, Carthage focuses on Africa, conquering most of what is now Tunisia. Colonies in North Africa founded or strengthened. Mago's expedition crosses the Sahara.

478 BC--King Xerxes of Persia concludes a peace treaty with Pharaoh Necho III of Egypt, ending the war between them. An uneasy peace will reign between the two empires...with a few small exceptions...for the next century. Egypt will once again focus it's attention to the south, while Persia wars with the Greeks.

477 BC--Representatives from the Greek city-states of Asia Minor and the islands scattered throughout the Aegean Sea, meet on the island of Delos—a sacred island associated with the cult of Apollo—to discuss an alliance with the Athenians. They swear oaths of alliance to each other and to Athens; thus is born the Delian League. This new league has several purposes besides defense; one of these is to wage a military campaign against the Persians to free those Greek cities that are still under the control of the Persians. Although Athens is the leader of the League, each city-state has one vote and the League is essentially a democratic alliance between equals.

477-449 BC--Wars of the Delian League against Persia. After the decisive naval battle at Eurymedon in 467 BC, where the Persian fleet is destroyed, the League frees the Ionian Greek cities from Persian rule and these cities join the League (sometimes forcibly).

472 BC--Carystus, a town on the island of Euboea, is forced into the Delian League. This is the first time a Greek state has been forced into the League against it's will, establishing a dangerous precedent.

469 BC--The island of Naxos tries to secede from the Delian League. It is invaded and captured by League forces, who force it back into the alliance. Thus another dangerous precedent is established which will lead, eventually, to the transformation of the League into the Athenian Empire.

465 BC--Death of King Xerxes I of Persia. He is succeeded by Artaxerxes I.

461-451 BC--First Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The war is indecisive, and a peace is agreed to in 451 BC.

461 BC--Pericles comes to power in Athens. His rule will become know as Athens' Golden Age.

455 BC--Death of Pharaoh Necho III. He is succeeded by Psamtik IV. However, Psamtik IV also dies later this year, and is succeeded by Ahmosi III.

454 BC--The Treasury of the Delian League, which had, up to this time, been kept on the holy island of Delos, is moved to Athens, signifying the transition of the League from a voluntary association of Greek States lead by Athens, to an empire ruled by Athens.

450 BC--Pharaoh Ahmosi III dies, and is succeeded by Psamtik V. Also in this year, the Law of the Twelve Tables is established in Rome.

c. 450 BC--At around this time, Herodotus writes the first-ever non-theological history, and Hippocrates establishes the foundations of modern medicine.

449 BC--Peace of Callias. King Artaxerxes I of Persia signs a treaty of peace with the Delian League, recognizes the freedom of the Greek cities in Asia Minor. End of the Persian Wars.

438 BC--With funds taken from the treasury of the Delian League, Pericles begins construction of the Parthenon in Athens.

437-426 BC--The Fidenaean War between Rome and the city of Fidenae. Rome is victorious. This marks the beginning of Roman expansion in Italy.

431-404 BC--Second Peloponnesian War between the Peloponnesian League (Sparta and allies) and the Delian League (Athens and subject states). Sparta is heavily financed by Persia, and Athens is defeated. The democracy is replaced by an Oligarchy called The Thirty Tyrants.

430-429 BC--A great plague devastates Athens. Among the dead is Pericles, who dies in 429 BC. No leader of his caliber will arise to replace him, and this is a major factor in the final defeat of Athens in the war with Sparta.

425 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik V dies, and is succeeded by Psamtik VI.

424 BC--Death of King Artaxerxes I. He is succeeded by Xerxes II.

415 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik VI dies, and is succeeded by Necho IV. Also in this year, Athens attempts to capture Syracuse in Sicily, but fails. This is the beginning of the long road to final defeat in the Peloponnesian Wars.

413 BC--Pharaoh Necho IV dies, and is succeeded by Psamtik VII.

410 BC--Phoenicians in Hispania join with Celtiberians to secede from Carthage, denying the state important silver and copper revenues. Overland tin trade is cut off. Also at this time, Himilco's expeditions in the Atlantic and Hanno's expeditions to Morocco and Senegal take place.

409 BC--Carthage initiates attempts to conquer Sicily. Hannibal, grandson of Hamilcar, takes the fortified towns of Selinus and Himera by use of siege towers.

406-396 BC--Rome conquers the Etruscan city of Veii.

405 BC--Hannibal Mago and hundreds of troops die in epidemic outside the fortified town of Acragas. Himilco, his relative, takes over command, but is defeated by a force out of Syracuse, and has his route of supply disrupted in naval action. Syracusan forces strengthen the garrison. A Carthaginian squadron breaks through Greek blockade. The besieged escape under cover of night, Punic forces collect spoils. Later that year, Himilco takes town of Gela, defeating a Syracusan force, and then takes town of Camarina. Finally, Himilco marches on Syracuse itself, but his army is laid low by epidemic, and Himilco seeks peace. By the terms of the treaty, Syracuse grants control of most of Sicily and must pay tribute to Carthage. The treaty confirms Dionysius I as dictator (tyrannos) of Syracuse. First Sicilian War concluded.

404 BC--Death of King Xerxes II of Persia. He is succeeded by Darius II. His brother, Artaxerxes, revolts against him, however, and Darius is overthrown later that same year. His brother takes the throne as Artaxerxes II.

403 BC--The Thirty Tyrants are overthrown in Athens. Restoration of the democracy.

401 BC--Cyrus, younger brother of King Artaxerxes II of Persia, revolts and attempts to usurp the throne. Among his army is a force of 10,000 Greek mercenaries lead by Xenophon. The Persian forces under Cyrus is defeated, and the Greek mercenaries are left stranded deep inside Persia, surrounded by enemies. They make an epic march to the sea, from Babylon to the Hellespont, defeating several Persian forces along the way. They demonstrate that the Persian Empire is weak and ready to be plucked, like a ripe fruit, by any reasonably competent conqueror who comes along. Fortunately for Persia, there are none to be found at this time.

c. 400 BC--Aristophanes is writing the world's first comedic plays.

399 BC--Trial of Socrates, who is sentenced to death by taking poison. Also in this year, the catapault is invented in Syracuse by Dionysius I.

398 BC--Dionysius I of Syracuse sacks Motya (Carthaginian town in Sicily), and the Carthaginians permanently relocate their main Sicilian base to the fortified town of Lilybaeum.

397 BC--Himilco drives Dionysius back to Syracuse and resumes siege. In naval action, the Carthaginians sink or board 100 Syracusan naval vessels and take 20,000 prisoners.

396 BC--Yet another epidemic lays Punic forces low for a third time in Sicily. Dionysius capitalizes on this and defeats Himilco in pitched battle. Himilco survives, but upon returning to Carthage, starves himself to death. Fighting continues. Also in this year, Sparta becomes involved in a war against Persia in Asia Minor.

395-386 BC: Corinthian War. Angered by Sparta's tyrannical overlordship in Greece after the Peloponnesian War, several Greek states take advantage of Sparta's involvement in war with Persia to challenge Spartan supremacy. Unable to fight a war on two fronts, the Spartans negotiate a peace with King Artaxerxes of Persia. This treaty, known as the King's Peace, or Peace of Antalcidas, is very favorable to Persia. Cyprus and the Greek city-states in Asia Minor are returned to Persia; the Athenians are forced to give up their conquests except Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros; and the Greek city-states (except those in Asia Minor) are to be independent, thus eliminating combinations such as the Theban-dominated Boeotian League, which had fought against Sparta. Sparta interprets the terms of peace to justify interference in the Greek states.

393 BC--Carthaginian force under Mago, nephew of Himilco, defeated trying to re-take Messana.

392 BC--Mago of Carthage is defeated a second time. Truce signed with Syracuse.

390 BC--The Gauls (Celtic tribes) under Brennus sack Rome. Also in this year, Pharaoh Psamtik VII dies, and is succeeded by Ahmosi IV.

388-375 BC--As a defensive measure, Pharaoh Ahmosi IV orders the construction of a canal linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, with the Egyptian side to be fortified, thus severing the direct route of invasion from Asia. This is completed in 375 BC. In so doing he also opens up a new trade route, and Egypt profits mightily by charging tolls on foreign ships which wish to use the new canal. Ahmosi will gain the sobriquet "Canal Builder" as a result of this tremendous feat of engineering.

388 BC--Plato, a pupil of Socrates, founds his philosophical Academy, the first university in the world.

384 BC--Carthage renews it's war with Syracuse.

375 BC--Carthage is defeated at Cabala. Mago and 10,000 soldiers killed. Mago's son Himilco defeats Dionysius near Himera. A truce favorable to Carthage is concluded. Also in this year, Plato writes the "Republic."

373 BC--The Temple of Apollo at Delphi is destroyed by an earthquake. It will be rebuilt.

371 BC--Athens, Thebes, Chios, Mytilene, Byzantium, Rhodes and others revolt against Sparta which loses its supremacy. Especially critical is the defeat of the Spartan army at Leuctra by Epaminondas of Thebes.

367 BC--Dionysius of Syracuse attacks the Carthaginian base at Lilybaeum but is stopped when his fleet defeated by Carthaginian warships under Hanno the Great. Also in this year, Aristotle enters the Academia of Plato.

366 BC--Dionysius I of Syracuse dies, still at war with Carthage.

365 BC--Pharaoh Ahmosi IV dies, and is succeeded by Psamtik VIII.

360 BC--Hanno the Great tries to usurp power in Carthage. He is captured and crucified.

359 BC--Death of Artaxerxes II. He is succeeded by Artaxerxes III. Also in this year, Phillip II comes to the throne of Macedonia. Phillip had spent much of his youth as a hostage in Thebes, where he studied under the great general, Epaminondas. With what he learned there, he will reform the Macedonian army. He replaces the old Greek-style hoplite phalanx with a new formation, the Macedonian Phalanx. Phillip's Macedonian Phalangites are professional soldiers, and are among the first troops ever to be drilled, thereby allowing them to execute complex maneuvers well beyond the reach of most other armies. They fight packed in a close rectangular formation, typically eight men deep, with a leader at the head of each column and a secondary leader in the middle, so that the back rows can move off to the sides if more frontage is needed. Unlike earlier hoplites, phalangites are mostly unarmored except possibly those of the first row, and carried only small shields. No enemies are expected to get close enough for them to need any armor, however, since each phalangite carries as his primary weapon a sarissa, a double-pointed pike over four metres in length. At close range such large weapons are useless, but an intact phalanx can easily keep its enemies at a distance; the weapons of the first five rows of men all project beyond the front of the formation, so that there are more spearpoints than available targets at any given time. Phillip doesn't use the Phalanx as his primary striking force. Instead, the Phalanx is used to hold the enemy in place for a decisive charge by the cavalry. With this new army, Phillip will conquer Greece.

356 BC--The temple of Artemis at Ephesus is rebuilt. The new temple will be considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

354 BC--A tomb for King Mausolus...the Mausoleum...is built at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. This, too, will be accounted one of the seven wonders of the world.

c. 350 BC--By this date, Carthage has established itself as the leading power in the West.

348 BC--Second treaty between Carthage and Rome.

344 BC--Philip II of Macedonia conquers Thessaly, Illyria, Epirus.

343 BC--Mago sails to Syracuse to drive out the usurper, but fails and commits suicide in order to avoid court martial upon his return. Hasdrubal and Hamilcar make a second attempt, losing a battle at Segesta. Hasdrubal executed. Gisco, son of Hanno the Great, is authorized to make peace. Sicily is divided along the Halycus River. 2nd Sicilian War ends.

343-341 BC--First Samnite War between Rome and the Samnites, a hill tribe from the central Apennines. War inconclusive.

342 BC--Aristotle tutors Alexander, son of Phillip II of Macedonia.

341-338 BC--Revolt of the Latin League against Rome. Rome is victorious. The Latin League is dissolved. Some communities closest to Rome are fully absorbed into the Roman state. Some Latin communities continue as technically independent states with Latin rights, but they sign treaties that subordinate their foreign policy to that of Rome. These states provide contingents for the Roman army. The least Romanized communities receive a special form of second-rate citizenship. Citizens of these communities have the obligations of Roman citizens (in particular military service) but are not allowed to vote at Rome.

340 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik VIII dies, and is succeeded by Psamtik IX. Pharaoh Psamtik, in response to reports from military observers which have spent time with Phillip II's Macedonian army, reorganizes and re-equips the Egyptian army based on the Macedonian model, but with some differences. Psamtik keeps a large force of Egyptian and Nubian foot archers, the armored cavalry armed with lance and bow, and the light horse archers, all of which have been such a successful part of the Egyptian military for so long. The army thus created is truly formidable. Also in this year, a power struggle in Syracuse ends with Timoleon of Corinth victorious.

338 BC--Death of King Artaxerxes III of Persia. He is succeeded by Arses. Also in this year, Philip II of Macedonia defeats Athens and Thebes at the battle of Chaeronea and unites most of the Greek cities under his control (League of Corinth).

336 BC--Death of King Arses of Persia. He is succeeded by Darius III. Also in this year, Phillip II of Macedonia is assassinated and is succeeded by his son Alexander. Pharaoh Psamtik IX of Egypt concludes a treaty of alliance with Alexander against Persia.

334-331 BC--The combined armies of Alexander of Macedon and Psamtik IX of Egypt invade and conquer the Persian Empire. Alexander advances across the Hellespont and overland through Asia Minor, while Psamtik sweeps north through Palestine and Syria. The two armies link up on the Euphrates, near the city of Carchemish. The combined armies destroy the Persian army at Arbela in 331 BC, and then move on to take Persepolis (capital of the empire). Despite protests by Psamtik, Alexander orders the Persian capital burned in retaliation for the burning of Athens in 480 BC. King Darius III of Persia is murdered by his own men later that year, and the Achaemenid Dynasty comes to an end.

329 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik IX "the Great," dies, and is succeeded by Necho V. The Egyptian army returns to it's own territory. Alexander of Macedonia continues the process of subduing the eastern provinces of the Persian Empire.

326-304 BC--The Great Samnite War. The Romans suffer a major and humiliating defeat at the Battle of the Caudine Forks in 321 BC, and another at Lautulae in 315 BC, but they persevere and finally emerge victorious. The Samnites and many other tribes allied to them are subdued and forced into alliance with Rome.

324 BC--Alexander of Macedonia invades the Punjab region of India. He defeats the Indian king Porus, but a mutiny by his army forces him to abandon the campaign without advancing further into India. Alexander returns to Babylon.

323 BC--Alexander of Macedonia dies in Babylon.

323-300 BC--Wars of the Diadochi. After Alexander's death, a civil war broke out as his generals squabbled over the division of the Empire between them. Four of Alexander's generals emerge victorious, with their own realms. Antipater and his son Cassander end up in control of Macedonia and it's European possessions. Ptolemy (who in OTL held Egypt) ends up with Asia Minor. Lysimachus ends up as King of Armenia. Seleucus ends up in control of everything from the Euphrates eastward. Egypt maintains control over Palestine and Syria up to the Euphrates (it's ancient sphere of influence in Asia, which it has reclaimed).

320 BC--Pharaoh Necho V dies, and is succeeded by Rameses XIV.

315 BC--Agathocles of Syracuse takes Messana from Carthage.

311 BC--Agathocles of Syracuse lays siege to Acragas and crosses the Halcyus, violating the peace treaty with Carthage.

311-302 BC--Roman wars against the Etruscans, who had joined Samnites in their war on Rome. By 302 BC, all Etruscan cities and towns are forced into alliance with Rome.

310 BC--Carthaginian force under Hamilcar, grandson of Hanno the Great, defeats a Greek force at Himera. Siege of Syracuse begins.

309 BC--Agathocles sails with a force of 14,000 to Africa. Carthage meets him in battle with 40,000 foot, 1000 cavalry and 2000 chariots under Bomilcar and Hanno. The Greeks are victorious, Carthage losing 3000 on the battlefield, but the city itself is impregnable. The Siege of Syracuse continues.

308 BC--Bomilcar tries to make himself dictator in Carthage, but is defeated and tortured to death. Continued fighting between Greek and Carthaginian forces in Tunisia.

307 BC--Greek victory outside Syracuse. Hamilcar is captured and killed. While Agathocles oversees events in Syracuse, however, Carthage defeats the Greek and allied forces in Africa. Despite Syracusan reinforcement, the Greek cause in Africa is doomed. Greeks desert to Carthaginian commanders Hanno and Himilco in vast numbers. A treaty favorable to Carthage is concluded.

306 BC--Third treaty between Carthage and Rome.

305 BC--Pharaoh Rameses XIV dies, and is succeeded by Necho VI. However, Necho VI dies later that same year, and is succeeded by Thutmoses V.

303 BC--Pharaoh Thutmoses V dies and is succeeded by Necho VII.

300 BC--The Olgunian Law in Rome ends the monopoly of the patrician class on constructing law and procedure, greatly increasing the rights of the plebeian class.

300 BC onward--Religious developments in the Egyptian Empire. The conquest of Palestine by the Egyptians will have significant effects on the future development of world religion. The Saite Pharaohs are, of course, believers in the old gods of Egypt, especially promoting the cults of Osiris and Isis. However, they are very lenient with the peoples in the lands they rule, they are sensitive to the religious feelings of their subject peoples, and they do not attempt to enforce any sort of religious conformity. One place where this has significant effects is in the tiny province of Yehud, where the Jews have rebuilt their temple. The lenient Egyptian administration allows the Jews complete freedom of worship, and the Jews are loyal subjects of their Egyptian overlords. Thus, there is no Maccabean revolt in this timeline and no independent Jewish state. However, as in OTL, the main religious life in the province is dominated by the Sadducees (the Temple Priests) and Pharisees (the rabbis). The Sadducees, as in OTL, are involved in politics, and are allowing commercial business to take place in the Temple (i.e. the moneychangers), which offends many of the more pious people. The Pharisees, who might have served as an alternative, however, are obsessed with petty dietary laws and other minutia, and are seen as hypocrites, observing the form, but not the spirit, of the Law. As a result, by the end of the 1st Century BC, many Jews have become dissatisfied with their religion and start to follow various cults which look to the arrival of a promised "Messiah" who will restore the Jewish faith to purity.

300 BC onward--Wars of the Successors. The various kingdoms which had arisen from the ruins of the empire of Alexander the Great struggle for supremacy, with none achieving it. Egypt fights several wars with the Ptolemies and the Seleucids for control of Syria and Palestine, but manages to hold onto it's Asian possessions, largely because, unlike the Hellenistic successor kingdoms, Egypt maintains a large cavalry force of armored lancers, armored horse archers, and light horse archers to go along with it's phalanx.

298-290 BC--Third Samnite War. The Samnites abrogate their treaty with Rome and once again declare war. They are joined by the Etruscans, Gauls, and Umbrians. The allies are decisively defeated at the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC, and never recover. By 290 BC, the Romans have forced all of the allies to make alliances with Rome.

289 BC--Agathocles of Syracuse dies. Pre-war division of Sicily resumes. 3rd Sicilian War ends.

287 BC: Last secession of the plebeians in Rome. As a result, the Lex Hortensia makes plebiscites binding in Rome.

281-272 BC: Tarentine Wars. Rome has been pressuring the Greek city of Tarentum in Southern Italy, and in 281, Tarentum pleas for assistance from King Pyrrhus of Epirus. Pyrrhus is a relative of Alexander the Great, and wishes to engage in some adventure comparable to that of his famous relative. He agrees to the Tarentine offer, and in 280 arrives in south Italy with 35,000 men and 20 elephants. The Romans promptly lead an army against him and are heavily defeated at Heraclea. Though victorious Pyrrhus loses 4,000 men, and when congratulated for his victory, he comments bitterly that "another such victory will ruin me" (hence the expression "Pyrrhic victory"). After this victory, the south Italian Greeks (Italiotes), Lucanians and Samnites go over to Pyrrhus. He marches on Rome, perhaps expecting to cow them into submission. He finds, however, that even if some of the outlying Italian peoples are willing to desert the Romans, they can rely on the hardcore support of the Latins and various other communities. In the absence of large-scale defections, Pyrrhus can achieve nothing and withdraws to the south. In 279 he again wins a costly victory against the Romans, losing another 3500 men. At this point he offers to make peace if the Romans agreed to guarantee the independence of the Italiotes and the Samnites. Rome rejects the offer. In the meanwhile the Carthaginians are close to conquering the Greek communities of Sicily, and Pyrrhus crosses over to Sicily in 278 to aid the Greeks there. Pyrrhus defeats the Carthaginians and forces them off the island, leaving Lilybaeum as their only remaining stronghold. After throwing back the Carthaginians, he returns to Italy in late 276. In 275 two Roman armies guard against his attack to the north. His surprise attack on one army fails and he withdraws to Tarentum to avoid being encircled. At this point he goes back to Greece with most of his army, leaving the Italiotes to their fate. The Greek cities, without military support from Pyrrhus, are subdued by Rome and forced to sign treaties of alliance. Rome is now in effective control of all of Italy.

275 BC--Pharaoh Necho VII dies without heirs. The throne passes to a nephew of the queen, who takes the throne as Pharaoh Seti III. Beginning of the 28th Dynasty.

270-266 BC: Rome at war with Umbrians and Etruscans. Rome is victorious.

264-241 BC--First Punic War. Rome and Carthage support opposite sides in a war between the Greek cities of Sicily, leading Rome to invade the island. Carthage declares war on Rome, and a vicious struggle lasting over 20 years is the result. Rome is victorious, largely because of it's invention of the corvus...which allows Roman marines to board enemy ships and capture them. Carthage's naval power is broken, and it's armies are forced to surrender through lack of re-supply. In a humiliating treaty, Carthage is forced to surrender all of it's territories in Sicily and Sardinia to Rome.

250 BC--Pharaoh Seti III dies, and is succeeded by Rameses XV.

245 BC--Pharaoh Rameses XV dies, and is succeeded by Necho VIII.ªªNecho has watched the developments in the First Punic War with concern. Carthage is a major trading partner of Egypt, and militarily, the Carthaginian and Egyptian fleets have, in cooperation (but not formal alliance), dominated the Mediterranean. Pharaoh Necho recognizes the threat posed by the upstart republic of Rome. He has especially noted the Roman invention which gave them naval supremacy over the Carthaginians...the corvus. In response he has large complements of marines and archers added to the crews of his warships. He also has chest-high railings installed around the decks of his ships (to prevent the corvus from being dropped directly onto the deck, where it's iron spike can fasten the ships together). When war comes, as Necho knows it will, Egypt's ships will be ready.

245-238 BC--Parthia, a region of northeastern Iran inhabited by the Parni tribe, which up until now has been under the rule of the Seleucids, revolts and establishes it's independence. King Tiridates I assumes the throne.

241-237 BC--Civil War in Carthage. Hamilcar Barca, a brilliant general and statesman, emerges as virtual dictator in Carthage.

236 BC onward--Carthage invades and conquers most of the Iberian Peninsula. Hamilcar Barca does this to provide Carthage with an empire to compensate it for the one lost in the first Punic War, as well as to gain a base from which to eventually launch a war of revenge against Rome.

235 BC--Hamilcar Barca of Carthage secretly approaches Egypt, seeking a formal military alliance against Rome. Pharaoh Necho VIII accepts.

228 BC--Hamilcar Barca dies in battle in Hispania, and is succeeded by his son, Hannibal Barca. Hannibal continues his father's policies in Hispania and vis-a-vis Rome. Egypt renews it's alliance with Hannibal.

223 BC--Pharaoh Necho VIII dies, and is succeeded by Necho IX.

218-215 BC--The Second Punic War. In 218 BC, Hannibal precipitates the Second Punic War when he attacks the Roman client city of Saguntum. As in OTL, Hannibal leads his army across the Alps and invades Italy. The Egyptians honour their treaty commitments and send an invasion force by sea to Italy. The Egyptian fleet escorting the invasion force is intercepted by that of Rome off Tarentum, and a naval battle occurs. Egyptian archers rain flaming arrows on the opposing Roman warships, setting many of them ablaze, and those which manage to get close enough to drop their corvuses find that they do not work due to the new railings installed on the Egyptian vessels. The Romans suffer a bloody defeat, and the Egyptians are able to land on Italian soil. Over the next three years, as Egypt controls the seas, the combined Egyptian and Carthaginian armies establish control over most of Italy. The Egyptians transport over a siege train in 216 BC, and Rome surrenders the following year. Hannibal wants to raze Rome to the ground, kill all the males and sell the women and children into slavery. However, his Egyptian allies persuade him to be more lenient...Pharaoh Necho has no desire to see Carthage's only rival in the west eliminated. Rome is stripped of all her overseas territories (which are given to Carthage), and a crushing indemnity is imposed (shared by Egypt and Carthage). Carthage and Egypt are now the two most powerful states in the civilized world.

215-150 BC--Rome rebuilds it's power. In the succeeding decades, of course, Rome nurses it's hatred of Carthage and Egypt. Hannibal's successors in Carthage are not vigilant, and Egypt's eyes are turned eastward as it is again involved in border wars with the Seleucids and Ptolemies. And so, Rome is able to once again rebuild it's military power, and it casts about for allies. It will eventually find them, too.

190 BC--Pharaoh Necho IX "Roman Slayer" dies, and is succeeded by Seti IV.

165 BC--Pharaoh Seti IV dies, and is succeeded by Rameses XVI.

150 BC--Rome signs treaties with Ptolemy VI of Asia Minor and Antiochus VI of the Seleucid Kingdom.

149-141 BC--The Third Punic War. Shortly after concluding their treaty of alliance, Rome, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids declare war on Egypt and Carthage. Since Egypt has it's hands full defending against the combined Ptolemaic and Seleucid armies, it is not able to send much help to Carthage. And unfortunately, Carthage has, at this time, no leader of the caliber of Hamilcar or Hannibal Barca to lead it's war effort. Roman armies land in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, and over the course of five years defeat the Carthaginian forces there. Rome's fleet defeats the Carthaginian navy off Sicily in 144 BC, and the Romans land an invasion force near Carthage later that year. Carthage is placed under siege, and falls in 143 BC. The Romans are not disposed to be merciful, and they raze Carthage to the ground. The men are killed and the women and children sold into slavery. Carthage ceases to exist.

Meanwhile, Egypt has managed to hold off the Ptolemies and Seleucids. But it sees the war going ill for it's ally, and realizes Carthage may not be in the game much longer. So in 144 BC it does two things. Pharaoh Rameses XVI makes an alliance with King Mithridates I of Parthia, bribing him to attack the Seleucids. He also bribes Ptolemy VII, who has just succeeded to the kingship and who was never in favor of the alliance with Rome anyway, to make peace with Egypt in exchange for a large payment in gold and some minor land concessions along their mutual border. The Parthians sweep into Iran, and seize most of it as Egyptian armies press into Mesopotamia. Antiochus, desperate to protect his remaining lands from the Parthians, sues for peace with Egypt in 142 BC. A treaty is quickly signed, and Egypt redeploys to meet the Roman threat.

But the Romans do not come. Their attention is fully taken up with the problems of integrating their newly conquered territories into their empire, and when in 141 BC Pharaoh Rameses offers peace, Rome accepts. An uneasy quiet settles on the region. As a result of his success in delivering Egypt from what could have been a fatal crisis, Pharaoh Rameses will go down in history as "Rameses the Crafty."

140 BC to 90 BC--Roman expansion in Europe. It fights wars in Gaul, and against Epirus and Macedon, incorporating these areas into it's Empire by the year 100 BC. Greece loses it's independence soon after Rome takes Macedon.

138 BC--Death of Pharaoh Rameses XVI "The Crafty." He is succeeded by Psamtik X.

129-126 BC--King Artabanus II of Parthia invades and conquers the weakened Seleucid realm in Mesopotamia, killing King Demetrius II in the process and ending the Seleucid Dynasty.

124 BC--King Artabanus II of Parthia dies and is succeeded by Mithradates II, who will go down in history as Mithradates "the Great."

123 BC-100 BC--Wars of Mithradates II "The Great" of Parthia. Shortly after assuming the throne, Mithridates II threatens to attack Egypt's Asian possessions, but (after being bought off by a substantial bribe) decides to attack Armenia and the Ptolemaic kingdom instead. He invades and conquers Armenia in 120 BC, and then begins a series of wars with the Ptolemies. The Ptolemies appeal to Rome for aid, which is given. Roman legions join the Ptolemaic forces against the Parthians, but although they delay the fall of the the Ptolemaic kingdom, they do not prevent it. The Ptolemaic capital of Ephesus finally falls in 100 BC, and with it, the kingdom. It's last king, Ptolemy X, is taken to Babylon, where he is flayed alive. But Queen Cleopatra Berenice and most of the rest of the Ptolemaic royal family escape to Rome, and this gives Rome an excuse to continue the war with Parthia. The conflict will go on, at various levels of intensity, for the next 300 years. Egypt will sit on the fence throughout the conflict, supporting first one side and then the other (and sometimes both at once!)...it's Pharaohs reason that as long as Rome and Parthia are at each other's throats, they won't have much time or energy to think about attacking Egypt! And the strategy will work well for a long time.

95 BC: Pharaoh Psamtik X dies. Succeeded by Thutmoses VI.

90 BC-75 BC--First Parthian War between Rome and Parthia. Egypt neutral,
secretly provides funding to both sides. War is inconclusive, both sides
exhausted, agree to peace brokered by Egypt.

70 BC--Pharaoh Thutmoses VI dies, succeeded by Seti V.

70 BC-62 BC--First Roman Civil War. During this period, Roman exiles flee to
Egypt, and Pharaoh Seti V reorganizes his infantry on the Roman model, using
their technical expertise. Phalanx abandoned, legion adopted. Unlike the
Romans, however, Egypt retains it’s strong cavalry and archer
contingents...army composition is Legionary Infantry (pilum, short sword)--40%, Foot Archers--20%, Armored Cataphract Cavalry (lance and bow)--30%, Light Horse Archers--10%.

62 BC-40 BC--In the aftermath of the First Roman Civil War, a Triumverate of
powerful Roman Generals has emerged, and in alliance, rule the Republic.
These are Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaius Pompeius Magnus (“Pompey”), and
Marcus Licinius Crassus. Period of Roman expansion. An uneasy peace
between Rome and Parthia in the east allows Rome to expand at the expense of it’s barbarian neighbors to the north, east, and south. In 60 BC, Julius Caesar is elected Consul. Under his leadership Germany is conquered to the line of the Oder River. Meanwhile Pompey conquers the Dacians in what is OTL Romania, and Crassus invades and conquers Britain up to the line of the Firth of Forth.

40 BC-34 BC--Second Roman Civil War. Crassus is killed in battle in Britain in
40 BC. The Triumverate breaks up and war breaks out between Caesar and
Pompey. Caesar is eventually victorious, but is assassinated soon after. Power now lies in the hands of one of Caesar’s generals, Mark Antony, and his nephew and adopted heir, Octavian. The two form an uneasy alliance, and for a few brief years, peace reigns in the Roman lands.

40 BC-35 BC--Egypt at war with Parthia. King Phraates IV of Parthia invades
Egypt’s Syrian provinces in 40 BC. The newly reorganized Egyptian army meets the Parthian host in battle and inflicts a sharp defeat on it, forcing it to retreat from Egyptian territory. The Parthians try again for each of the next five years, but with the same results. Egypt, which has no interest in further expansion in Asia, is finally able to bring the Parthians to the negotiating table after a particularly bloody defeat of the Parthian army at Damascus in 35 BC. However, periodic border raids by the Parthians will continue for the next few decades, despite the “official” peace between the two empires.

33 BC--Pharaoh Seti V dies, succeeded by Psamtik XI.

30-27 BC--Third Roman Civil War, when the uneasy alliance between
Octavian and Antony finally breaks down. Fall of the Republic. Antony is
defeated and killed, Octavian Caesar declared the first Roman Emperor, takes
the name Caesar Augustus.

10 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik XI dies, succeeded by Necho X.

2 BC-31 AD--Second Parthian War between Rome and Parthia. After sitting on the fence for most of the war, in 29 AD Egypt allies itself with Rome. This
decisively tips the balance, and Parthia loses Asia Minor to Rome. Egypt
reclaims it’s lands taken from it by the Ptolemies in the Third Punic War, putting the border of the Egyptian Empire back on the Euphrates.

4 BC--Yeshua born in Bethlehem, province of Yehud.

1 AD-1450 AD---Bantu migrations in Africa. The Bantu, iron-working
cattle-herders who originated in the forests of west Africa, began migrating south
and east beginning in about 1 AD. By 200 AD, the first wave of Bantu had
reached the area of Natal, in what is OTL South Africa. Other Bantu groups
moved into East Africa during this period as well. All of these early groups came
under the influence of Egyptian culture, and later, when the Egyptians expanded
their holdings into the interior regions of east Africa beginning in 280 AD, under
the political control of Egypt as well. Successive waves of Bantu migration
encountered the Egyptians, and were either repulsed or assimilated. In the
years after 320 AD, Egyptian cultural influence has continued to creep inland,
and as a result, by 1450 AD, most of the interior of Africa consists of small city
states which are, to one degree or another, Egyptianized culturally (the farther
away from Egypt’s borders, obviously, the less cultural affinity of the native
city-state cultures). The last wave of Bantu migration reaches southern Africa
about 1450 AD, where they will settle and assimilate to Egyptian culture. The
exception is on the west coast of Africa, where Ghanaese cultural influence
(itself heavily influenced by Rome) competes with that of Egypt in places like the
Kingdom of Kongo.


12 AD--Pharaoh Necho X dies, succeeded by Ahmosi V.

30 AD--Yeshua called to ministry. 12 Disciples join him.

33 AD--Yeshua attacks vendors in Temple at Jerusalem during Passover
celebration. Accused of Blasphemy by Sanhedrin, tried, convicted and
executed. Body disappears from tomb 3 days later. Disciples claim to have
seen Yeshua, risen from the dead, begin making converts.

40 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi V dies childless. The next in line to the throne is
second cousin who lives in Sais, but the throne is usurped by an army general
from Thebes who is also a cousin (but more distantly) of the deceased Pharaoh. This general takes the royal name of Wahibre II, founding the 29th Dynasty. Also in this year, most of the “Maschiachim” (Christians) are driven out of Yehud by the Jewish authorities. Communities are formed in Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Egypt, Athens, Arabia and Rome over the next few years. The new religion begins to spread.

50 AD-75 AD--Third Parthian War between Rome and Parthia. King Vologeses
I of Parthia invades Asia Minor. Rome seeks an alliance with Egypt, but is
turned down by Pharaoh Wahibre II, who has plenty to keep him busy at home
as he consolidates his rule and stamps out rebellions by supporters of the
legitimate heirs to the throne. After a quarter century of war, Parthia retakes Asia Minor. Both sides are exhausted, and an uneasy peace will reign over the region for the next 75 years.

64 AD--A great fire burns much of Rome to the ground. The Emperor Nero, who is widely suspected of starting the blaze himself so as to clear land for his new palace, accuses the Christians and begins a bloody persecution. However, the bravery of the Christians as they face martyrdom merely strengthens the new religion, and it continues to grow despite Nero’s brutality. The persecutions end when Nero commits suicide in 68 AD, but will recur under later emperors.

60-100 AD--Christian Gospels composed and set down in writing.

90 AD--The grandson of the legitimate heir to the throne of Egypt, whose place was usurped by Wahibre II in 40 AD, leads a revolt. After a short civil war lasting less than a year, Wahibre is overthrown and the 28th Dynasty is restored. The new king takes the royal name of Rameses XVII.

100-300 AD--Christianity continues to spread, despite persecutions, in both the Roman and Parthian Empires. In the Egyptian Empire, the policy of religious tolerance continues to be practiced, so no persecutions take place there. Christianity makes it's greatest inroads in the Roman Empire, where, by 300 AD, it has nearly a million adherents. In both the Parthian and Egyptian Empires, however, strong competitor religions offering the same promise of eternal life and spiritual resurrection, Zoroastrianism/Mithraism in Parthia and the cult of Osiris and Isis in Egypt, prevent Christianity from making much headway in those lands. Indeed, in Egypt, a strange hybrid develops, as the Egyptians gradually absorb Yeshua and Mary into their religion as new incarnations of Osiris and Isis. A bizarre version of the Christian Trinity will finally emerge in Egypt...with Yeshua identified with both Osiris AND his son, Horus (similar to "The Father and the Son" portion of the OTL Christian Trinity) and Mary (identified as Isis) forming the third part of the Trinity. One effect all this does have on the Egyptian religion is to elevate Osirus, Isis, and Horus to the supreme position in the Egyptian pantheon. The other Egyptian deities come to be regarded as more akin to angels than as actual deities, and the importance of their cults declines accordingly. Of course, the version of "Christianity" which thus takes root in Egypt has very little in common with Christianity practiced elsewhere.

100-105 AD: Border war between Rome and Egypt flares up, but ends
inconclusively.

128 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XVII dies, succeeded by Rameses XVIII.

142 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XVIII dies, succeeded by Necho XI.

150 AD--Pharaoh Necho XI dies, succeeded by Seti VI.

150 AD-160 AD--Fourth Parthian War between Rome and Parthia. Egypt
secretly finances both sides, and the war finally peters out inconclusively after ten years of fighting.

155-159 AD--Kushite Revolt. Prince Taharka briefly throws out the Egyptian
garrisons and establishes independent Kushite kingdom, but Pharaoh Seti’s
armies succeed in re-establishing Egyptian control within four years. Egypt
discovers that the Kushite rebels were financed by Parthia, chilling relations
between the two empires.

191 AD--Pharaoh Seti VI dies, succeeded by Thutmoses VII.

197 AD--Pharaoh Thutmoses VII secretly forms an alliance with Rome against
Parthia.

199 AD-220 AD--Fifth Parthian War between Rome and Parthia. Egypt is allied
with Rome, and Parthia, despite fanatical resistance, is inexorably beaten back. Finally, severely weakened, King Artavasdes of Parthia sues for peace in 220 AD. In a humiliating peace treaty, Parthia cedes Asia Minor and Armenia to Rome, while Egypt takes Mesopotamia. Parthia falls into political turmoil shortly afterward.

203 AD--Pharaoh Thutmoses VII dies, succeeded by Psamtik XII. Psamtik XII
continues the policies of his predecessor, and the war with Parthia continues.

224 AD--Ardashir I, chieftain of the Sassanid dynasty in the province of Persis, overthrows the King Artavasdes of Parthia. Sassanid Persian Empire
established. The new dynasty is very aggressive, and holds dreams of
re-establishing control over the full extent of the lands held by the old Achmaenid Persian empire. This does not bode well for peace in the region.

227--Mani, a Persian mystic born near Babylon in 215 AD, and who has
remained in Mesopotamia after the region passed into the control of Egypt, has the first of two visions which will lead him to found the religion of Manichaeism.

229-238 AD--King Ardashir I of Persia declares war on Rome in 229 AD. Egypt
remains neutral, but secretly finances both sides, which results in a protracted war which is exhausting for both empires, but inconclusive.

230 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XII dies, succeeded by Ahmosi VI.

240-260 AD--During the period of peace between Rome and Persia, Rome
expands it’s holdings in Europe at the expense of it’s barbarian neighbors.
Roman armies push the borders of the empire to the line of the Vistula and Bug rivers, and also take the Crimea and the region north of it in the southern
Ukraine.

241 AD--Mani has his second vision and begins preaching in Mesopotamia. Over the next few decades Mani will travel throughout both the Egyptian and Persian Empires, and his new religion will gain many followers. In Egypt it becomes simply one among many competing faiths, all tolerated by the Empire, and never becomes a threat to the established State religion. However, in Persia, Mani comes into conflict with the priesthood of the official Zoroastrian state religion.

241-250 AD--War between Persia and Egypt. King Shapur I invades
Mesopotamia in 241. Egyptian forces are defeated in 242 outside Babylon, and Mesopotamia falls to Persia. Shapur follows up with yearly invasions of the Egyptian holdings in Syria and Palestine, but the Egyptians are successful in holding these areas. A treaty of peace is finally signed in 250 AD.

258-260 AD--Shapur I of Persia invades Armenia, sparking war with Rome.
Roman Emperor Valerian is defeated and captured in battle in 260 AD, and
Armenia falls to the Sassanids. Egypt is still recovering from it’s recent war with Persia, and remains neutral.

271 AD--King Shapur I of Persia dies, the Sassanid Empire experiences a period of dynastic struggle and is thus self-absorbed for a while . Relative peace reignsin the rest of the Middle East. Also in this year, Mani, who with the death of Shapur I has lost his protector, is crucified in Persia. The new King, Bahram I, severely persecutes Mani’s followers.

275 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi VI dies, succeeded by Ahmosi VII.

280-320 AD--Expansion of Egyptian holdings in Africa. Over the previous
centuries, Egyptian settlers had gradually drifted west from Egypt’s coastal
holdings, and a large area of the African interior had come under the cultural, if not the political, domination of Egypt. Ahmosi VII decides to make that
domination political as well, and his policy is continued by his successors, Necho XII and Thutmoses VII. Egyptian armies push westward from the coast. The various petty kingdoms of the interior fall to the might of Egyptian arms, and a force of Egyptian marines conquers Madagascar. Thus, by 320 AD, the Pharaohs have added significantly to their realm. With these new conquests come new resources, such as diamonds and exotic woods, spices, animals, ivory, and many others. Egypt’s wealth reaches unprecedented levels.

290 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi VII dies, succeeded by Necho XII.

GENERAL RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS, 300-600 AD: Christianity continues to grow, especially in the Roman Empire, where it is gradually besting it’s main rivals, the cults of Mithra and of Isis, and will eventually become the state religion. In Egypt, it continues to be integrated into the native Egyptian religion, and by 400 AD is virtually unrecognizable by Christians in other lands. Indeed, various synods and councils over the course of the next few centuries will declare the Church of Egypt to be heretical, effectively casting Egyptian Christians out of the fold of Christianity. Meanwhile, Manichaeism also continues to grow, spreading to India, China, and the Roman Empire. In Rome, it is at first tolerated, but eventually will be persecuted (especially after Christianity becomes the State religion) with such severity that it will eventually be exterminated. The rulers of Persia continue to persecute the Manichaens, and as a result the religion does not flourish there, either. Egypt, with it’s tolerant policies, is another matter. Large Manichaean communities arise, but as with Christianity, they never become large enough a factor to threaten the state religion. However, it is in Egypt where Manichaeism survives to the present day, having been exterminated in all other places where it once took root.

304 AD--Pharaoh Necho XII dies, succeeded by Thutmoses VIII.

311 AD--Constantine I defeats his rivals and becomes Emperor of Rome. He
converts to Christianity soon afterward, and makes it the official religion of the Roman Empire.

333 AD--Pharaoh Thutmoses VIII is overthrown by a descendant of Wahibre II
(“the Usurper”), who takes the throne as Wahibre III, restoring the 29th Dynasty. Wahibre III ruthlessly hunts down and slays all the remaining members of the family of the 28th Dynasty who he can find, earning the name “Bloody Hand.”

337-370--Period of intermittent warfare between Sassanid Persia, Rome and
Egypt. Wars are inconclusive, but exhausting for all powers concerned.

340-363--The Great Persecution of the Christian church by King Shapur II of the Sassanid Persian Empire, who is a devout and evangelical Zoroastrian.

350 AD--Pharaoh Wahibre III dies, succeeded by Ahmosi VIII. Ahmosi VIII,
however, is killed in battle against the Persians later that same year, and is
succeeded by Wahibre IV.

360 AD--Julian “the Apostate” becomes Emperor of Rome, revokes Christianity’s official status within the Empire and attempts to revive paganism. Christians are persecuted.

363 AD--Roman Emperor Julian “the Apostate” is killed in battle with Persia. His successor, Jovian, continues the persecution of Christians.

364 AD--Emperor Jovian is overthrown by Valentinian, who becomes Emperor
Valentinian I. Christianity is restored as the official religion of Rome.
Persecutions of Christians end.

376AD--Huns, led by Uldin, reach the Black Sea and the Danube, conquering the eastern Goths. They also eject the Romans from their lands north of the Black Sea.

380-399--Persecution of Christians in the Sassanid Persian Empire by Kings
Ardashir II, Shapur II, and Bahram IV.

395AD--the Huns raid Armenia.

396 AD--Wahibre II’s attempt to eradicate the old dynasty was not totally
successful, and a line descended from a distant cousin of Thutmoses VIII still
lives in Sais. This family rises in revolt against Wahibre III, and overthrows him. Wahibre and his entire family are put to death. The new family takes power as the 30th Dynasty. The new king takes the royal name of Necho XII.

399 AD--King Yazdagird I of Sassanid Persia ascends the throne. Persecutions of Christians end.

408 AD--Pharaoh Necho XII dies, succeeded by Necho XIII. Also in this year,
King Uldin and the Huns raid into Roman Territory. They cross the Danube but
are defeated by Rome. However, Rome is forced back to it’s fortifications on the lines of the Vistula and the Danube. All territories east of the Vistula and north of the Danube are lost to the Huns.

409--Yazdagird I of Persia issues an Edict of Toleration for Christians, permitting them to publicly worship and build churches.

412AD--the new Hun leader Donatus is murdered by the Romans and is
succeeded by Charato (Karaton), who unifies all Western Huns.

416-420---Yazdagird I of Persia revokes his Edict of Toleration, persecutions of Christians begin again. Many Christians flee to Egyptian and Roman territories.

420 AD--Pharaoh Necho XIII dies, succeeded by Necho XIV.

420-427--The White Huns (an Indo-Iranian tribe from Central Asia not related to the Mongolian Huns which are at this time troubling Europe) raid Persia as far west as modern Tehran. They are severely defeated and forced to retreat from Persia by King Bahram V in 427 AD. Beginning of a long period of struggle between Sassanid Persia and these nomads from central Asia.

425AD--Huns are hired by a western Roman general (Aetius) to fight in Italy
during a political crisis.

430AD--The new Hun leader Rugida (Rua) signs a peace treaty with the eastern Roman empire (annual salary in return for peace). The Huns permanently establish themselves in Dacia (OTL Romania).

434 AD--Rugida (Rua) dies and is succeeded by Attila (a friend of Aetius) and
his brother Bleda.

437 AD--Pharaoh Necho XIV dies, succeeded by Seti VII.

441AD--The Huns raid Roman outposts along the Danube. Later that year, the Huns sign a peace treaty with the Roman Empire

445AD--By murdering his brother, Attila becomes sole leader of the Huns.

447AD--The Huns and their vassals, the Goths, attack the Roman empire in the Balkans. They break through the Danube defenses and cause extensive
damage.

448 AD onward---Christianity is again persecuted in the Sassanid Persian
Empire.

449AD--Attila signs a new treaty with the Roman Empire.

450AD--The new Roman Emperor Marcian reneges on the Hun-Roman treaty.

451AD--Huns attack the Danube fortifications but are held at the frontier by
Aetius. A new treaty is signed, and the Huns retreat to Dacia, where they collect a yearly tribute from Rome.

453AD--Attila dies. After his death, the Huns are never again much of a threat. By 500 AD they have basically amalgamated with the Goths and settled down in Dacia to stay.

454--Sassanid Persians are defeated by the White Huns. However, the White
Huns are not able to make any significant territorial gains.

457-459--Civil War in the Sassanid Empire. King Yazdagird II faces rebellion by Prince Peroz, who has allied himself with the White Huns. Peroz overthrows Yazdagird and takes the throne in 459.

464-475--White Huns attempt to overthrow King Peroz of Persia, but after a
decade of exhausting war, are finally persuaded to withdraw from Persia in
exchange for a large tribute. An uneasy peace will reign for the next few years.

484--Peroz attacks the White Huns, and is killed in battle. Sassanid Persia is
invaded by the White Huns in the aftermath of this defeat, and most of it is
conquered. The White Huns will rule Persia through puppet Sassanian Kings for the next 40 years.

500 AD--Pharaoh Seti VII dies, succeeded by Thutmoses IX.

c. 500 AD onward--A couple of centuries after the arrival of the Egyptians in
Madagascar, which they found to be virtually uninhabited, a new people calling
themselves the Malagasy began arriving on the island. The Egyptians allow
them to settle, so long as they acknowledge the Pharaoh as their overlord, and
through them learn of a vast island archipelago to the east, beyond India with
lush forests and fields of spices. The Egyptians have been trading with India for
centuries, but now they know where many of the exotic spices which they have
been obtaining there actually originate. The Pharaohs consider the area to be
too far away to make military conquest practicable, but they begin sending
trading ships to the “Spice Islands,” as they come to be called, before 600 AD.
Egypt’s profits and prosperity increase accordingly.

520-531 AD--King Khusro I of Persia, in alliance with Turkish tribes from Central Asia, makes war on the White Huns, finally defeating them and re-establishing full independence.

533 AD--Pharaoh Thutmoses IX dies, succeeded by Rameses XIX.

540-562--War between Rome and Sassanid Persia.

552 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XIX dies, succeeded by Psamtik XIII

558 AD: the Avars (another Hunnic tribe from Central Asia) invade the Russian
steppes and push the Slavs to the west. Within a few years, these Slavic
refugees begin attacking the Roman fortifications on the Vistula and Danube.
Most settle in Dacia, where they amalgamate with the Huns and Goths currently living there.

560 AD: the Roman Emperor Justinian hires the Avars to fight the Huns and
Slavs. The Avars conquer Dacia, and like the Huns before them, settle there.

568 AD: the Avars attempt an invasion of Roman Territory, but are unable to get past the strong fortifications and naval patrols on the Danube. 590 AD: the empire of the Avars extends from the Volga to the Danube to the Baltic Sea.

570 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XIII dies, succeeded by Psamtik XIV.

571 AD--Mohammed born in Arabia. Also in this year, the Roman Empire signs
a treaty with the Avars. The Avars now control an area extending from the
Roman frontier on the Danube and Vistula lines to the Volga and the Black Sea.

584: Kubrat unifies the Bulgars (a Turkic vassal tribe of the Avars, living in the
region of the southern Ukraine and Crimea). They revolt and establish their
independence from the Avars.

596 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XIV dies, succeeded by Rameses XX.

599--The Avars defeat a Roman army in battle, capturing 12,000 prisoners,
which they execute. The Avars get past the Danube fortifications and into the Balkans, where they cause extensive damage before they are finally defeated and forced to retreat back to Dacia.

603-630 AD--Period of warfare between Rome, Persia, and Egypt. Wars are
inconclusive, but severely deplete the resources of all three powers. They are thus ill-prepared for the onslaught of the new enemy which is rising to the south, in Arabia.

626 AD--War between Rome and the Avars. The Avars are unable to breach the Danube lines, and accept a Roman peace offer. This will prove to be the last major incursion by the Avars against Roman Territory.

610-634 AD--Mohammed founds the new religion of Islam. The Muslims (as
Mohammed’s followers are called) gradually, through a series of wars, bring the entire Arabian peninsula under their control.

615 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XX dies, succeeded by Ahmosi IX.

632 AD--Death of Mohammed. Hadrat Abu Bakr becomes Caliph.

634---Omar ibn l-Khattab becomes Caliph, founding the Ommayad dynasty.
Also in this year, a Greek scientist working in the city of Naukratis (Greek colony city in Egypt), while experimenting with petroleum, sulfur, and other
inflammables, discovers a liquid substance that adheres to surfaces, ignites
upon contact, burns fiercely, and cannot be extinguished by water alone. The scientist has also invented a pumping machine, which enables the mixture to be projected in streams nearly 100 feet long. He demonstrates his discovery to Pharaoh Ahmosi, who recognizes it’s potential as a weapon. He orders Egyptian navy vessels and fortifications to be equipped with projectors for the new substance, which will come to be called “Egyptian Fire.”

634-700--Period of Muslim expansion. Muslim invasions of Syria, Mesopotamia,
Palestine, and other surrounding regions. Egypt loses it’s Asian possessions to
the Muslims, but in 642 AD the Arabs are stopped at the Suez fortifications
(where the Egyptian Fire makes its first dramatic appearance in warfare) and are unable to advance into Africa via land, while the Egyptian navy (also equipped with Egyptian Fire) keeps them from crossing by sea, either. Rome is able, with great difficulty, to hold them out of most of Asia Minor. Thwarted in the west by Rome and Egypt, the Arabs move east, where the Sassanid Persians are not so lucky, their empire falling to a wave of Arab invaders by 650 AD. The Muslims continue to move East, expanding into central Asia and over-running most of the Indian subcontinent by 700 AD. They also move north, taking most of the Caucasus region.

650--The Bulgars are driven westward by the Khazars. They will eventually end up in Dacia, where they overcome the now weakened Avars and establish their own kingdom.

651 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi IX dies, succeeded by Necho XV.

677 AD--Pharaoh Necho XV dies childless. As there are no male heirs in any
closely related branch of the royal family, the throne passes to the family of
Necho’s Queen, Neferhari, whose family comes from Thebes. The new ruler is
Neferhari’s nephew, a general in the Army. The new King is determined to
restore Thebes to its old imperial glory, and decides to take a royal name from
the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt (which was also ruled by a dynasty from
Thebes and whose literature he especially admires). Thus Sesostris IV ascends the throne as the first Pharaoh of Egypt’s 31st Dynasty.

681 AD--The Bulgars under Kubrat's son Asparuch attempt to cross the Danube but are defeated by the Romans.

c. 700 AD--Over the previous millennium, the Norse peoples of Scandinavia
have been slowly developing sleek, double-ended boats. These are oar
powered, and carry only small crews, and are capable of only short coastal
voyages in sight of land. Even in these limited craft, the Norse have made
themselves a nuisance with raids on Rome’s northern frontiers. However, about
700 AD, two innovations (the T-shaped keel, which strengthens the vessel
against heavy seas as well as allowing a mast and sail to be mounted, and the
sideboard rudder) are made by Norse shipbuilders in Norway which will enable
the Norse to leave their home waters and become not merely a nuisance, but a
plague. However, it will be a few decades still before these designs are
perfected, and the fearsome Viking longship makes it’s appearance on the world
scene.

700-730 AD--period of relative peace in the Middle East as the Omayyad
Caliphs, now based in Damascus, Syria, consolidate their gains. Conquered
peoples are treated somewhat tolerantly, being allowed to continue to practice
their own religions if they pay a special tax. Most people in the conquered
regions convert to Islam rather than pay the tax. The Jews in the province of
Yehud and elsewhere are a major exception, however, and there are other
groups scattered through the Caliphate who do not convert, as well (some
Christians, Zoroastrians and Manichaeans in Persia and Mesopotamia, for
example). North of the Caucasus, however, a new power is rising...the Khazar
Kaganate. The Khazars had already made their presence felt a few years earlier,
when they forced the Bulgars westward against the Roman defenses on the
Vistula and the Danube. They also are a very tolerant people, and many Jews
and Christians who do not wish to pay the Muslim tax on their faiths will flee to
the Khazar lands over the succeeding decades. The Khazars will become a
major player in world affairs in the centuries to come.

702 AD--Pharaoh Sesostris IV dies, succeeded by Amenemhet V.

729 AD--Pharaoh Amenemhet V dies, succeeded by Rameses XXI.

730-731AD--Khazar troops commanded by Barjik destroy an Arab army at the
Battle of Ardabil, then conquer Azerbaijan, Armenia and northern Iraq for a brief
time. However, Caliph Hisham I rallies his forces and drives the Khazars back
north of the Caucasus the next year.

731-740 AD--War between Egypt and the Caliphate. Taking advantage of the
temporary weakness of the Arabs following their defeat by the Khazars, Pharaoh
Rameses XXI decides to attempt to retake Egypt’s lost possessions in Asia, and
invades Palestine. The local Jews rise against their Muslim overlords when the
Pharaoh’s armies cross the border, and with their support, Rameses is able to
clear the Muslims out in short order. He follows up with an invasion of Syria, and
by 733 AD, has pushed the frontiers of the empire back to the Euphrates.
Caliph Hisham I, forced from his capital at Damascus, attempts to reconquer the
areas by invasion every year, but finally, in 740 AD, signs a peace treaty
recognizing the new frontiers. The Omayyad Caliphate re-establishes it’s capital
at Mecca.

737--The Arabs defeat the Khazars. The Khazars are forced to convert to Islam.
However, both the conquest and the conversion are short-lived.

740-753 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXI orders construction of new fortifications to
defend the Asian possessions of the Egyptian Empire. Many new fortresses are
built, and old ones re-vamped. Egyptian Fire projectors are installed in all
fortifications.

740-780 AD--Muslim expansion in India and central Asia. By 780 AD, the
Caliphate has taken the entire Indian subcontinent, and has pushed its borders
to the line of the Jaxartes River, Hindu Kush Mountains, and the Himalayas. The
island of Ceylon is also taken. This will mark the furthest extent of the
Caliphate’s borders in the east, as the formidable terrain barriers in the south
and the formidable tribes of nomadic horse archers in the north halt the Arab
drive eastward.

747 AD--A bad earthquake causes much destruction and loss of life in Judaea and Transjordan. The Jewish temple is so badly damaged that its site must be cleared and rebuilt from scratch.

749-750 AD--Abbasid Revolution topples the Ommayad Caliphate. The
revolution arose from several factors. One major impetus was the secularism of
the Omayyad caliphs. The Omayyads had always been outsiders—as a wealthy
clan in Mecca, they had opposed Muhammad—and the secularism and
sometime degeneracy that accompanied their caliphate delegitimized their rule
for many devout Muslims. The Abassids took their name from al-'Abbas, a
paternal uncle of Muhammad and early supporter of the Prophet, and their close
kinship to Muhammad and the position of al-'Abbas as a Companion of the
Prophet served them well in gaining support. A final impetus was the exclusion
of non-Arabs from the highest levels of Islamic society under the Ommayads,
which lead many non-Arab converts to Islam, especially in Mespotamia and Iran,
to support the rebels. In a bloody uprising, the Abbasids massacre almost all of
the Omayyad House and sieze power, their leader, Abu al Abbas, being declared
Caliph in 750 AD. A few surviving Omayyads flee westward to Egypt, where they
are given sanctuary and maintain a sort of “Caliphate in Exile,” with the support
of the Pharaohs (who see the potential to use them to forment instability in the
Caliphate, thus weakening a dangerous enemy).

c. 750 AD--In west Africa south of the Sahara, various petty kingdoms and city
states have arisen, influenced by trade with the empires to the north and east.
The area is rich in gold, and supplies other exotic goods obtained from the
coastal forests to the south. In about 750 AD, the king of the city of Kumbi Saleh
unites the various city states in the region, forming the Kingdom of Ghana. Over
the next few centuries the Ghanaites expand their holdings until they have a
substantial empire in western Africa.

750 AD--Muslim armies attempt to move north from the Caucasus onto the
plains of what will one day become Russia, but are defeated by the Khazars.

751 AD--Arab armies meet the armies of the T’ang Chinese Empire at the Talas
River, in central Asia southwest of Lake Balkhash. The Chinese are defeated,
halting their expansion into central Asia. However, the Arabs do not pursue the
retreating Chinese, and their empire will expand no further eastward, either.
Chinese prisoners taken at the battle introduce the art of paper making to the
Arab world. It will spread quickly along the trade routes, reaching Egypt (where it
fails to make much of an impression in a culture where papyrus-making has
been an art for over 3,000 years by this point) and Rome (where it becomes very
popular as an alternative to imported Egyptian papyrus) by the end of the
century.

753 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXI dies, succeeded by Sesostris V. Sesostris
continues his father’s policy of building fortifications in Palestine and Syria.

755-757 AD--War between Rome and the Caliphate. The Romans are pushed
back in Asia Minor to the line of the Halys River. However, the Muslims are not
able to make any further gains, and a treaty is signed.

760 AD--Pro-Omayyad rebellions in Arabia, formented by the Omayyad exiles in
Egypt, with Egyptian support. The Abbasids brutally crush these rebellions. The
sacred Kabaa in Mecca is burned to the ground, creating much shock and
resentment among the Arabs.

762 AD--War between the Caliphate and the Khazars. The Khazars invade the
Caucasus regions under control of the Caliphate, but are forced to retreat.

764 AD--Recognizing that the base of support for the new Abbasid regime is not
in Arabia (which is still quite pro-Omayyad) but in Mesopotamia and Iran, Caliph
Abu Jafar al Mansur founds a new city on the Tigris river in Mesopotamia, called
Baghdad, and established a new capital there.

777 AD--Pharaoh Sesostris V dies, succeeded by Sesostris VI.

c. 790 onward--Persecutions of Jews in the Roman Empire. Many Jews flee to
the Khazar lands, where the Kagans grant religious freedom to everyone.
Others flee to the Egyptian Empire, which follows similarly tolerant policies.

795 AD--Norse raiders begin ravaging the coasts of Roman Britannia and
Ireland.

795 AD--Pharaoh Sesostris VI dies, succeeded by Seti VIII.

c. 800 AD--The first Norse settlements are made on the islands off the coast of
Pictland and Scottia (the region north of the Firth of Forth on the island of
Britannia which is not held by Rome). Also at about the same time, Norse
traders begin moving down the rivers which penetrate the interior of the continent
from the Baltic coast. They meet and trade with the native Slavic people who
live along major rivers such as the Don, Dneiper, and others, and many of them
settle down. Beginnings of Norse settlement in the region.

c. 800-1200 AD--In the aftermath of the Muslim conquest of the Indian
subcontinent, there is a large migration of Hindu and Buddhist Indians into the
Indonesian Archipelago. Hinduism had been introduced into the region several
centuries ago, so these people are absorbed by the various city and island states
in the region with no major disruption of historical developments there from OTL.
The main change will be that the Hindu kingdoms there, already richer than in
OTL due to Egyptian trade, will with this boost in population be better able to
resist Muslim encroachment, and Islam will never get a foothold in the region.

801 AD--Pharaoh Seti VIII dies, succeeded by Rameses XXII.

805 AD--Norse raiders attack the coasts of Gaul and Hispania for the first time.

807 AD: In the years after their arrival in the region north south of the
Carpathians and north of the Danube, the Bulgars have mixed with the Huns,
Avars, Goths, and Slavs who live in the region, and by 800 AD have even
adopted the local Slavic language as their own. However, they have not proven
to be much of a threat to Rome, living peacefully most of the time. However, this
is about to change. In 807, Krum becomes king of the Bulgars. Krum is very
aggressive, and the plunder available in the Roman lands south of the Danube
looks very tempting...

810 AD: Bulgars, under King Krum, attack the Roman Danube defenses. They
are repulsed. Also in this year, the Roman navy clashes with the Norse in the
Oceanus Britannicus (OTL English Channel) off the coast of Cantia (OTL Kent).
The Romans have never established a true ocean-going navy, using poorly
adapted Mediterranean warship designs, and the swift, agile Norse vessels
decimate the Roman fleet. From this time onward, the Norse will control the
western seas. Communication between Roman Britain and the portions of the
continental Roman Empire becomes very problematic.

811 AD: The Roman Emperor Honorius III decides to punish the Bulgars for
their raiding, and leads an army across the Danube. Krum's Bulgars defeat the
Romans and kill the Emperor in battle. Less than two thousand of the
70,000-man Roman army escape across the Danube.

813 AD: Krum of the Bulgars again assaults the now-weakened Danube
defenses. He breaks through and sacks Hadrianopolis. Other cities in the
region pay tribute to avoid a similar fate.

814 AD: While on his way to storm the important trading city of Byzantium, which
has refused to pay tribute, Bulgar King Krum dies and is succeeded by his son
Omurtag. Omurtag’s army is severely defeated by a Roman army outside of
Byzantium and forced to retreat north of the Danube. The Bulgars will pose no
threat to Rome for quite some time to come.

820 AD--The Norse begin settling on the coast of Pictland and Scottia. They
quickly overcome the Picts and Scots in battle, and establish control over large
areas. Within 50 years, they will (by conquest and intermarriage with Scottish
and Pictish ruling houses, who, like the Norse, are pagans) bring all of Scottia
and Pictland under their control. Also in this year, pro-Omayyad rebellions again
break out in Arabia. Once again, they are brutally suppressed by Persian troops
loyal to the Abbasid Caliph.

825 AD: the Arab mathematician Al Khwarizmi of Baghdad writes a book on
"Hindu numerals" that spreads the use of "Arabic" numerals

830 AD--The Norse begin settling in Ireland and in Roman Britannia. In Ireland,
they establish towns at Cork, Dublin, and other places on the coast, and quickly
subjugate the Irish tribes living nearby. In Britain, Roman power initially limits the
Norse to small coastal enclaves, and the Romans are able to maintain control
over most of the island. This situation will continue for many years.

840 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXII dies, succeeded by Amenemhet VI.

849 AD: Caliph al-Mutawakkil deposes the patriarch of the Christian Church and
persecutes Christians.

c. 850 AD--Driven by the Turkic Pechenegs, the Magyars (a Finno-Ugrian
nomadic tribe living in the region north and east of the Black Sea and allied to
the Khazars) migrate west. They reach the plains east of the Roman defenses
on the Vistula by 860 AD. These lands are inhabited by a Slavic tribe called the
Polanie, who call the area Polska. The Magyars settle among the Polanie and
establish themselves as a ruling class in the region. Also at about this time,
Roman missionaries convert the King of Ghana to Christianity. Ghana thus
becomes the first Christian state outside of Rome.

850 AD-The Persian mathematician Khwarazmi invents Algebra.

860 AD--The Norse discover Iceland.

861 AD--Pharaoh Amenemhet VI dies, succeeded by Amenemhet VII. Also in
this year, the Khazar Kagan, Bulan, converts to Judaism.

862 AD--The Magyars raid Roman territory, breaching Roman defenses on the
Vistula and causing much damage before they are finally forced to retreat by
pursuing Roman armies. Over the next 30 years, the Magyars will continue to
periodically raid into Roman territory, but they are not interested in territorial gain,
just plunder...for now. The Romans are able to buy relative peace most of the
time by making large payments in gold to the Magyar. Also in this year, the
Norseman Rurik becomes ruler of Novgorod, founding the State of Rus. Rurik
becomes the first Prince of Rus.

863 AD--Boris, King of the Bulgars, converts to Christianity and allies his
kingdom to Rome.

869 AD--Pharaoh Amenemhet VII dies, succeeded by Seti IX.

870 AD--All of Ireland has been brought under the control of the Norse.
However, the control is somewhat tenuous. Irish kinglets still reign over most
areas of the island, but swear allegiance to Norse overlords in Dublin. This
situation, of course, could change at any time. However, as in Scottia and
Pictland, the pagan Irish (who had no St. Patrick to convert them to Christianity
in this TL) and the pagan Norse actually have a great deal in common, culturally,
and the two groups get along quite well most of the time. Gradually over time,
intermarriage will erase the few differences that exist between them.

872 AD--The Norse kingdoms in Scandinavia are united by a chieftain from
Norway named Harald Fairhair, who takes the throne as King Harald I. Harald
asserts his claim to rule over all the Norse lands, and his claim is accepted by
Norse in Britain, Scottia, Pictland, and Ireland. The Norse in the land of the Rus
do not, however.

874 AD--Iceland is settled by the Norse.

875-880 AD--In 875 King Harald I of the Norse leads a large army to Roman
Britain with the aim of conquering the island. The Norse establish a large
enclave on the island, centered on the city of Eboracum (York). The Romans are at this time very pre-occupied with the Magyars on their eastern border,
and over the course of the next 5 years, the Norse continue to expand their
enclave. By 880 AD, they have overcome the last Roman resistance, and the
entire island is under their control.

877-879 AD--War between Egypt and the Caliphate. In 877, Muslim armies
invade Syria, but are unable to take the Egyptian fortresses in the region.
Frustrated, the Muslims lay siege to Damascus. An Egyptian army arrives in 888
to confront them, and in a bloody battle, the Muslims are defeated and forced to
leave Syria. A peace treaty is signed the next year.

879 AD--Prince Rurik of the Rus dies, succeeded by Oleg.

882 AD--The Rus, under Oleg, conquer Kiev, siezing it from the Khazars. Oleg
moves his capital there from Novgorod.

888 AD--Pharaoh Seti IX dies, succeeded by Rameses XXIII.

889 AD--The Magyars, under King Arpad, have migrated from the plains east of
the Vistula to the lands south of the Carpathians, in the Danube basin. They are
met by the armies of the Boris, King of the Bulgars, and soundly defeated. The
Magyars retreat back to Polska.

897-899 AD--In 897 King Arpad of the Magyars breaches Rome’s Vistula
defenses, and this time the Magyars sweep all the way to the Oder River before
they are finally stopped at the old Roman defenses on said River (which the
Romans have kept in repair as a second line of defense ever since the frontier
was pushed east to the Vistula). These the Magyars are unable to breach, and
the front stabilizes. The Romans counterattack the next year, and two Roman
armies are defeated and severely mauled as a result. Accepting the fait
accompli, the Romans sign a treaty with the Magyars in 899, ceding the area
between the Oder and the Vistula to the Magyars.

875-1000 AD--Slow disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate. Various areas,
including Persia, Afghanistan, and the Indian subcontinent, establish themselves
as virtually independent of the Caliphate, while still officially acknowledging the
hegemony of the Abbasid Caliph in name, if not in fact. The Caliphs, who have
over the years fallen into degeneracy and weakness, allow this to happen with
little protest.

907 AD--Oleg of the Rus leads a fleet across the Black Sea and attacks the city
of Byzantium. With the help of a Roman fleet, the city withstands the assault.
Oleg signs a treaty with Rome later that year.

910-915 AD--War between Rome and the Norse. In 910 AD , a Roman fleet
crosses from the Jutland peninsula and lands an army in southern Norway while
King Harald and the main Norse fleet are off raiding the Gallic coast. Before a
messenger ship can reach Harald, the Romans have established control over
most of the Scandinavian portions of Harald’s kingdom. Harald’s response is to
rally the Norse of Britannia and Ireland, raise a huge army and fleet, and then
invade Norway himself in 912 AD. Harald defeats the Roman general Maximus
Aurelius and utterly destroys his army, and Scandinavia is once again safely
Norse. The war sputters on for another three years, mostly consisting of
inconclusive clashes between the rival fleets in the Baltic and North Seas.
Finally, a treaty is signed in 915 in which Rome recognizes Harald’s claim to his
conquered territory in Britain and elsewhere, in exchange for a guarantee of an
end to Norse raiding on Roman territories. Harald will keep his agreement until
his death. His successors will not.

913 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXIII dies, succeeded by Sesostris VII.

918-920 AD--War flares up between Rome and Egypt. For centuries, there has
been ongoing tension between the two powers in the disputed lands separating
their respective holdings on the northern coast of Africa. In 918 AD, Pharaoh
Sesostris VII decides to resolve the simmering conflict by siezing the disputed
lands. However, Sesostris is killed in battle against the Romans in 920 AD,
leaving no heirs. There are several legitimate and not-so-legitimate contenders
for the throne, however, and Egypt falls into civil war for three years, during
which time Rome siezes not only the disputed lands but the city of Cyrene on the
Libyan coast as well. Brief Interregnum in the line of Pharaohs.

922 AD--The Magyars under King Zoltan break through the Danube defenses
and raid into Italy, causing much damage. They are finally beaten by a Roman
army and forced to retreat back across the Danube.

923 AD--The Royal Vizier of Sesostris VII has emerged victorious in the
three-year civil war following the death of the Pharaoh in battle. The Vizier is a
commoner with no links to the old royal family, and needs to legitimize his rule.
He comes from Memphis, former capital of Egypt under the Old Kingdom, and
he declares his descent, in long line, from the great Pharaohs of the Old
Kingdom (using a fabricated genealogy, of course). He takes as his
own the name of the Pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid, and thus, Khufu II
comes to the throne of Egypt, beginning the 32nd Dynasty. The new Pharaoh
moves the capital to Memphis later that year. He also signs a treaty with Rome,
recognizing Roman title to the disputed North African lands, and purchasing
Cyrene back with a hefty payment in gold.

925 AD--Pharaoh Khufu II enacts laws to dramatically raise taxes. This is to pay
for the huge construction project Khufu has started in Memphis, as he rebuilds
the city to match his own ideas of imperial splendor. The nemhu (land-owning
bourgeosie), who are most dramatically impacted by these laws, are very
resentful. Their resentment grows even more when Khufu starts arresting
recalcitrant nemhu who refuse to pay the new levy and feeding them to the
crocodiles. Khufu also resurrects the ancient practice of marrying one’s sister
and forbidding royal princes to marry outside of the royal house. This causes
widespread consternation in Egypt, where the practice had been largely
abandoned for almost 1000 years.

930 AD--King Harald I Fairhair of the Norse dies. His son Erik, known as “Blood
Axe,” takes the throne as King Erik I. Erik abrogates the treaty with Rome, which
he opposed at the time it was adopted. Norse raids against Roman Territory
resume with full force.

935 AD--King Erik Bloodaxe is killed by the Romans during a raid on the Gallic
coast. His cousin, Haakon, asends the throne. Haakon is a Christian, one of a
growing number of Norse Christians converted by Roman missionaries who have
been travelling north for the past several decades. However, King Haakon does
not force his subjects to embrace the new faith, and when he dies, the
succeeding Norse ruler will be a pagan.

939 AD--War between the Khazar and the Rus. The Rus armies under Prince
Igor are defeated by the Khazars, and a treaty is signed shortly afterward.

948 AD--Roman missionaries convert King Bulcsu of the Magyars to Christianity.
Bulcsu signs a new peace treaty with Rome later that year. However, the
conversion and the treaty will be short lived. When Bulcsu dies two years later,
the new Magyar King Tacsony will be a pagan, and will resume warring against
Rome.

955 AD--Pharaoh Khufu II dies, succeeded by Khafre II. Khafre II will continue
the oppressive policies of his father, causing further resentment among the
nemhu, who had hoped for some relief from the new Pharaoh. Also in this year,
the Magyars under King Tascony suffer a major defeat at the hands of a Roman
army while raiding in Germania. So badly decimated are the Magyars that they
will no longer pose a threat to Rome after this date.

965 AD--Pharaoh Khafre II dies, succeeded by Pepi III. Also in this year, the
Rus under Prince Sviatoslav defeat the Khazars at Sarkel. The Khazar fortress
at that location is captured.

970 AD--Pharaoh Pepi III is slightly mad, probably due to the inbreeding going
on in the royal house since the reign of his grandfather, Khufu II. Pepi claims a
right which is unheard of in Egypt (but which would be called droit du seigneur in
OTL Europe)...the right to demand the favors of the daughters of any of his
subjects on their wedding nights, or payment of a large fine by the bride’s
husband in lieu of said favors. Pepi rarely partakes of the favors of his subject
brides, using the law as a way to squeeze money out of wealthy nemhu without
having to formally raise taxes. However, the few times he does partake are
enough, and lurid rumors spread throughout the land of the depravity of the mad
king. This touches off rebellions in different parts of the kingdom, but the army
for the most part remains loyal, and the rebellions are put down. Pepi will
remain uneasily on his throne, mad as ever, until his death 28 years later.

975 AD--King Geza of the Magyars accepts Christianity. This time it will be a
permanent conversion for the Magyars.

982-985 AD--Erik the Red explores and names Greenland, after being outlawed
for three years on account of manslaughter in Iceland.

986 AD--Southern Greenland is settled by Erik the Red as he leads the first
settlers from Iceland. Erik the Red settles in Brattahlid (today's Qassiarsuk)
which becomes the center of the Eastern Settlement.

988 AD--Prince Vladimir of the Rus converts to Christianity. The first church is
built in Kiev.

990 AD--Bjarne Herjulfson is blown off course while sailing from Iceland to
Greenland, discovers land to the west of Greenland, but does not investigate
further. He instead proceeds to Greenland, where he relates his story to Leif,
son of Erik the Red.

992 AD--The Seljuk Turks invade Transoxania (Ilkhan) and convert to Islam.

995 AD--King Olaf I Tryggvason, who converted to Christianity before ascending
the Norse throne, declares that his kingdom shall be Christian. By a combination
of force and persuasion, Olaf sets about converting his pagan subjects. There is
of course much resistance, but Olaf is ultimately successful, and the Norse
Empire becomes a Christian realm.

998 AD--Pharaoh Pepi III dies, succeeded by Khufu III. However, Khufu will
reign for less than a year before being toppled in a coup by an army general who
claims descent from a house related to the Saite 26th Dynasty. The people of
Egypt, who have always considered the Memphite kings of the 32nd Dynasty as
usurpers and have groaned under their oppression for decades, support the
rebellion wholeheartedly, especially the nemhu, or land-owning bourgeosie. The
new Pharaoh takes the throne as Psamtik XV, and thus begins the 33rd Dynasty.
The new Pharaoh moves the capital back to Sais.

1000 AD--The Quiet Revolution in Egypt. For centuries, the nemhu, or
land-owning bourgeosie, have been quietly gaining influence in Egypt. Their
sons make up the majority of the rank and file of the military, and they
themselves serve in all sorts of posts in the royal administration. But they crave
a larger voice in the affairs of the empire, and the new Pharaoh owes them, in
part, for his own place on the throne. So, when a council of the leading nemhu
demands to be heard, Psamtik listens. The council bemoans the abuses of
power which took place under the Memphite Dynasty, and demands that a
written constitution be drawn up to clearly delineate the powers of the Pharaoh
and to protect the rights of the Egyptian people (especially the nemhu, of
course). Psamtik agrees, and a committee, composed of the Pharaoh and
representatives from the nemhu, meets to craft the document. After several
months of hard negotiating, a document is crafted which is acceptable to all
sides. The Pharaoh retains his powers as head of state and chief High Priest of
the state religion, including complete control of how state revenues are spent.
However, he is to be advised by a Council of the 100 Elders, who will be elected
from among the nemhu once every four years. The Council has the power to
approve or disapprove new taxes and other measures which may imfringe on the
rights of the people, such as changes to criminal law, property siezures, etc. It
also must approve of any decision by the Pharaoh to declare war on a foreign
power. Psamtik XV signs the document, and the first Council of the 100 Elders is
elected shortly thereafter. What emerges is the world’s first constitutional
monarchy. It is not a democracy, or anything close to it. But Egypt has taken
it’s first steps in that direction. Also in this year, Leif Eriksson leads an
expedition from Greenland to explore the lands sighted by Bjarne Herjulfson ten years before. His expedition discovers what is in OTL the regions of Labrador(which they call Helluland--Stone Land), Newfoundland (which they name
Markland--Forest Land), and Nova Scotia (which they name Vinland). They
winter in Vinland, then return to Greenland.

1000-1200 AD--In the New World, the Norse settlements have become firmly
established, and Norse control has been gradually extended inland. But, due
mainly to the relatively small population in the Norse settlements, they have not
moved very far by 1200 AD. The Norse settlements initially thrive by shipping
wheat, furs, and timber home. They have, of course, had much contact, mostly
peaceful, with the Skraelings (native inhabitants), and within a few years are
introduced to two new crops...maize and tobacco. Both of these items become
very profitable trade items, especially tobacco, and thus smoking is introduced
into Europe. It’s popularity quickly grows, and the immense profits which the
Norse earn by being the sole supplier of tobacco into Europe enable them to give
up their old piratical habits and to concentrate on the more peaceful pursuit of
trading. The Skraelings have also profited from the trade, gaining wheat, horses,
pigs and cattle, and knowledge of iron-working, all of which diffuse along the
native trade routes throughout the lands east of the Mississippi. By 1200 AD
knowledge of iron-working has crossed the Mississippi, and is being practiced
as far west as OTL eastern New Mexico. Wheat has also reached those areas
by that date. The new livestock (horses, cattle, and pigs) take longer to
disseminate, and will not cross the Mississippi for another century. However, the
Norse have also introduced two things to the Skraelings which are much less
beneficial to them...alcohol and smallpox. Beginning shortly before 1100 AD,
epidemics spread like wildfire southward and westward along the native trade
routes, devastating the Skraeling populations east of the Mississippi River.
Whole settlements have been depopulated, and even the vast city at Cahokia is
nearly a ghost town by 1200 AD. The “Mississippian Culture,” which never
politically unified the region east of the Mississippi River but has become a
common culture through most of the region, collapses as smallpox ravages the
towns, and priest kings are overthrown by people who have lost faith in their
power to intercede for them with the gods. The spread of alcohol is less rapid,
but as the Skraelings learn to brew rotgut liquor from their native maize, it
becomes a plague on their culture whose only virtue is to make them forget,
temporarily, the devastation wrought by the smallpox epidemics raging around
them.

1003 AD--Thorfin Karlsefni leads an expedition to Vinland from Greenland,
where they found a settlement. His wife, Gudrid, will give birth later that year to
the first European child born in the new land, a boy named Snorri.

1006 AD--After conflicts with the Skraelings (the native inhabitants of
Vinland...either Amerindians or Eskimos) and internal dissentions among
themselves, the Norse abandon their settlement in Vinland and return to
Greenland. However, they will return...

1010 AD--Word of the discovery of new lands west of Greenland has reached
the court of Norse King Olaf Tryggvason. King Olaf orders a colonization
expedition to be fitted out and sent to Vinland. Olaf will send successive fleets
to Vinland each year for the next ten years with new settlers and fresh supplies,
and his effort will ensure that the Norse settlement in the new lands are a
permanent one.

1011 AD onward--The first Norse colonization fleet reaches Vinland in 1011 AD.
They found the town of New Oslo, which will prove to be the first permanent
European city in the New World. Later that year, another settlement is made in
Markland, where it is planned to exploit the timber available there. Successive
expeditions sent by King Olaf Tryggvason will establish other towns in Vinland
and Markland, as well as farther south along the coast, all the way down to Cape
Cod. By the end of the century, the Norse are firmly established in the coastal
regions of the new lands, and are gradually pushing inland as well. However,
news of these settlements does not filter out to the rest of the world for a long
time.

1012 AD--Over the preceding years, trade with Ghana has significantly increased
the gold reserves available to the Roman Empire. In 1012 AD, the Emperor
Trajan II assumes the throne of the Roman Empire, vowing to restore Rome to
it’s old greatness. Trajan initiates many reforms in the Empire aimed at
rebuilding Roman military power. Trajan enacts a law which allows any slave to
gain his freedom by joining the army, with the imperial treasury to compensate
the owners of said slaves (the number of slave manumissions, however, is
limited by the available places in the ranks of the legions). He also makes
changes to the tax laws which encourage Roman citizens to consider a military
career. He also reforms the army, reducing the term of service from 25 years to
7, with bonuses for those soldiers who re-enlist for a second term, and a land
grant for those who complete at least 2 terms of service. Taken together, these
measures provide a huge surge of new recruits for the army, which Trajan
nearly doubles in size. Trajan also reorganizes the army, changing many
infantry legions into cavalry units. The composition of Trajan’s new army is now
50% armored legionary cavalry (armed with lance and bow), 20% light cavalry
archers, and 30% armored legionary infantry (mainly used in defense of
fortifications). The Roman army is now very mobile, highly disciplined, and
packs a signicant missile punch as well as great shock power. It is a truly
formidable force. Trajan also reorganizes the Roman navy, particularly the
Atlantic and Baltic Sea fleets. Roman naval vessels in these areas are now
incorporating many features of Norse design, and Roman fleets are fully capable
of taking on a Norse fleet and winning.

1016-1020 AD--War between the Rus and the Khazars. The Rus push the
Khazars out of the Crimea and establish their southern border on the Black Sea.

1020-1030 AD--War between Rome, the Magyars, and the Bulgars. Emperor
Trajan II, in a series of brutal campaigns, conquers the Magyars and Bulgars and
pushes the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire to the line of the Nieman and
Bug Rivers and the Carpathian Mountains. Trajan orders construction of a
series of strong fortifications to defend the new frontier.

1020-1039 AD--The Great Rebellion in the Egyptian Empire. One of the
compromises which allowed the new constitution to be adopted in Egypt was that
the new constitution only applies within the borders of Egypt proper, as it was
the nemhu of Egypt itself who supported the rebellion which brought Psamtik XV
to power. In the imperial provinces, direct rule by the Pharaoh still persists, and
Psamtik has taken advantage of his free hand in these areas to keep taxes high.
He is not quite as brutal about it as the Memphite Pharaohs were, but
nevertheless the nemhu in the imperial provinces, both those who are ethnically
Egyptian and those who are Egyptianized natives, consider this situation a gross
injustice. Therefore, dis-satisfaction is seething in many of the provinces, and in
1020 AD rebellion breaks out spontaneously (or not so spontaneously...although
it is not known at the time, it will be later discovered that agents of Rome and the
Caliphate had a significant hand in formenting many of these rebellions) in many
places. The rebellions are not coordinated, however, and the Pharaoh’s armies
are able to deal with them individually as they occur. But economic life in the
empire is severely disrupted, and there is large loss of life as a result of the
revolts. Further revolts will flare up intermittently over the two decades, taxing
the military resources of the empire.

1021 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XV dies in battle while leading one of the armies
suppressing a revolt in Nubia, and is succeeded by Psamtik XVI. Also in this
year, King Olaf Tryggvason of the Norse Empire dies, and is succeeded by his
nephew, Olaf Haraldson, who takes the throne as King Olaf II. The new king
continues the policies of his great precedessor.

1021-1023 AD--War between Egypt and Rome. Taking advantage of the chaos
in the Egyptian Empire caused by the Great Rebellion, which they are partially
responsible for formenting, Roman Emperor Trajan II declares war on Egypt.
Roman armies invade Cyrenacia and Syria. In Cyrenacia, Rome once again
takes the city of Cyrene and the surrounding region. In Syria, the system of
Egyptian fortifications stymies them, as it has earlier attempts at conquest.
Pharaoh Psamtik XVI sues for peace, and Rome agrees. Rome’s terms are
severe...she is to keep Cyrenacia, and Egypt is to pay a yearly indemnity of
10,000 talents of gold each year for 20 years. Egypt is also to lower it’s tolls on
Roman shipping passing through the Suez canal. After much hand-wringing,
Psamtik agrees.

1031-1032--War between Rome and the Norse. Emperor Trajan II leads a
Roman army across the Oceanus Britannicus in an attempted reconquest of
Britain. However, the Norse prove to be a tougher opponent than the Magyars
and Bulgars, and Trajan is killed in battle in early 1032 AD outside Londinium.
The Roman army in Britain is withdrawn shortly after. Britain remains in Norse
hands.

1032-1072 AD--The Time of Troubles in the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, one
thing Trajan did not reform was the Roman system of succession, and upon his
death, civil war breaks out in the empire. No less than 25 weak emperors will
claw their way to the throne over the next 40 years, only to be overthrown by the
next, no less weak, successor.

1038 AD--The Seljuks, led by Toghrul Beg, invade Persia, moving their capital to
Isfahan.

1039 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XVI dies, succeeded by Psamtik XVII. The new
Pharaoh declares that the Constitution of 1000 AD will apply to nemhu in the
imperial provinces, as it does to the nemhu in Egypt proper. The Constitution is
amended, and the Council of the 100 Elders becomes the Council of the 400
Elders, with 200 Elders representing nemhu in Egypt proper, and the remaining
200 representing nemhu in the rest of the empire. The Great Rebellion finally
ends, and normality begins to return to the Egyptian Empire.

1055 AD--The Seljuks invade Mesopotamia and install themselves in Baghdad
under the suzerainty of the Abbasids.

1064 AD--The Seljuks invade Asia Minor but are defeated by the Romans.

1071 AD--The Seljuks defeat the Roman army in Asia Minor, killing Emperor
Romulus Augustus III, and establish a Sultanate in Anatolia. The Romans
manage to hold on to most of the coast, but lose the interior.

1072 AD--Revolution in Rome. Following the death of the Emperor Romulus
Augustus III in battle with the Seljuk Turks, a Roman Senator, Septimus Cato,
siezes power in Rome. Cato is allied with a Roman general of Magyar descent,
one Stephanus Flavius, and together they form a potent combination. Cato is a
student of the old Roman Republic, and in cooperation with Flavius, decides to
take the extraordinary step of reviving it. The office of Emperor is declared
permanently null and void, and a new constitution is drawn up which gives
legislative power to the Senate (now expanded to include representatives from
all provinces of the empire), which will be elected by the people. Executive
power will be exercised by two Consuls, who, as in the old Republic, will hold
power on alternate days. The Consuls will be elected by the Senate. The
franchise is extended to all male Roman citizens who are property owners, as
well as to all Roman soldiers, regardless of whether they are property holders or
not. Cato and Flavius are elected as the first Consuls of the new Republic.
One of the first laws enacted by the new Senate is that all Roman soldiers, from
the highest general to the lowliest legionary, must take a holy oath swearing
allegiance to the Roman state. The new law also specifies that pay for Roman
soldiers will come directly from a new civilian department created by the
Republican government, rather than from army paymasters under the control of
the army generals. This will serve to create loyalty to the new regime, rather to
their generals, among the rank and file of the army, making it more difficult for
army generals with imperial aspirations to engineer revolts in the future. The
new Republic will be the most stable government Rome has enjoyed in
centuries.

1076 AD--The Seljuks invade Syria and Palestine, sparking war with Egypt. The
Egyptian field army is crushed near Damascus, but the Seljuks are unable to
take the many Egyptian fortresses and walled cities. The Seljuks lay waste to
the land and then retreat back to Asia Minor. It will take many years for these
regions to recover their former prosperity.

1080 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XVII dies, succeeded by Necho XV.

1080-1100 AD--Expansion of the Norse Empire in the Baltic. The Norse conquer
the pagan proto-Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, and Finns along the Baltic
coast and in Finland and convert them to Christianity.

1091--The Seljuks move their capital to Baghdad and depose the Abbasid Caliph
installing one of his younger sons as a puppet ruler. The Caliph’s eldest son,
Ahmad, manages to escape and takes ship to India. There he finds support
among the virtually independent Muslim rulers there, who are opposed to the
upstart Seljuks, and establishes a rival Caliphate in India.

1092-1095--The people of Arabia never liked being ruled by the Abbasid Caliphs,
who they view as usurpers and whose pro-Persian policies have irked them.
They like even less being ruled over by an Abbasid puppet controlled by the
upstart Turks. The Omayyad “Caliphate in Exile” takes advantage of this to
forment another revolt in Arabia, with significant Egyptian help, and this time, the
rebellion is successful. Omar ibn Yazzid, the head of the Omayyad house living
in Egypt, comes to Arabia to assume his throne as Caliph Omar III. The new
Omayyad Caliph declares his intention to purify Islam of the degeneracy which
has arisen under the effete Abbasid Caliphs and to restore Arabs to their rightful
position as the chosen people of Islam. He gains almost fanatical support from
Arabs in Arabia and elsewhere.

c. 1100 AD--In the region around Lake Chad, various city states are united by
the king of the city of Bornu to form the Bornu Kingdom. Like Ghana, it prospers
by the trans-Sahara trade in salt, gold, and other exotic goods from the African
interior which are readily marketable in the cities of the Roman and Egyptian
empires. It also will periodically clash militarily with Ghana along their mutual
border. Also around this time, small city states begin forming in the forests south
of Ghana. Over the succeeding years, these will begin to combine into larger
states.

1100-1105 AD--War between Rome and the Rus. The conflict is inconclusive,
and a treaty is signed establishing the borders and basically re-affirming the
status quo antebellum.

1104 AD--Pharaoh Necho XV dies, succeeded by Ahmosi X. Ahmosi is a
conservative who deeply disapproves of the power-sharing with the nemhu which
the Pharaohs must now endure, and with the backing of certain army generals,
declares martial law, dissolves the Council of the 400 Elders and reinstates
direct rule by the Pharaohs. The nemhu throughout the empire are very
resentful and begin plotting his downfall.

1105-1107 AD--Pro-Omayyad revolts among the Arab population in the Seljuk
empire. The Seljuks brutally repress the revolts. Thousands of Arabs flee to the
Neo-Omayyad Caliphate.

1109 AD--Revolt in Egypt and elsewhere in the Egyptian Empire. The nemhu,
with support from most of the army, revolt and overthrow Pharaoh Ahmosi X.
The Pharaoh dies in mysterious circumstances while in army custody shortly
afterward, and is succeeded by his son, Psamtik XVIII. Psamtik, who never
approved of his father’s actions, reinstates the Constitution of 1000 AD, and a
new Council of the 400 Elders is elected. The new Council demands, and
receives, amendments to the Constitution which make it impossible for the
Pharaoh to dissolve the Council and to declare martial law without the approval
of the Council. To show his commitment to the new Constitution, Psamtik has
the full text of it engraved on a wall of the great temple at Karnak, one the holiest
sites in all Egypt.

1110-1115 AD--War between the Seljuks and the Neo-Omayyads. The war is
inconclusive.

1118 AD--Arabs import gunpowder from China, but they do not learn the formula
at this time. It is used in magic tricks and fireworks, but has no military
applications as yet.

1120-1130 AD--War between Rome and the Norse Empire. The war is mainly
fought at sea, with several large naval battles being fought in the Oceanus
Britannicus, the Baltic Sea, and the North Sea. No advantage is gained by either
side, although Norse and Roman raids on each other’s coastlines cause much
destruction. Finally, a treaty is signed in 1130 AD.

1141 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XVIII dies, succeeded by Necho XVI.

1150 AD--The Seljuks attack the Khazars in the Caucasus. The Khazars defeat
the Turks and a treaty is signed shortly afterward.

1152-1160 AD--War between the Rus and the Norse Empire. The Khazars ally
themselves with the Norse and re-capture the Crimean region. The Norse gain a
strip of territory connecting their Baltic Sea territories (in OTL Latvia, Lithuania,
and Estonia) with their territories in Finland.

1157 AD--Pharaoh Necho XVI dies childless, leaving no heirs. Not wishing the
land to fall into civil war again, Necho has left a will, bequeathing the throne to a
boyhood friend from Sais who is also a distant cousin (descended from a bastard
son of Psamtik XVII), who takes the throne as Rameses XXIV. Thus begins the
34th Dynasty.

1160-1165 AD--War between the Seljuks and the Abbasid Caliphate in India.
The Seljuks invade India in an attempt to oust the rival Abbasid Caliph, but are
defeated by the Caliph’s army near Delhi. The Caliph responds with an invasion
of his own, and reaches almost to the eastern Seljuk capital at Isfahan before his
army is finally defeated and forced to retreat back across the Indus. A treaty is
signed in 1165, establishing the border between the two empires.

1170-1179 AD--Rome allies itself with Egypt, and together, the two powers push
the Seljuks out of Anatolia. Rome and Egypt divide the newly conquered lands
between them, setting the border at the Taurus Mountains and the Euphrates.
This begins a period of cooperation between the two empires which will prove
very profitable for both over the next couple of centuries.

1190 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXIV dies, succeeded by Seti X. Seti will gain
fame as “The Builder” due to his many large construction projects throughout the
empire, which exceed in scope even those of his famous predecessor, Rameses
II “The Great.”

c. 1200 AD--Arabs learn the formula of gunpowder from the Chinese, but it’s
military potential is not immediately recognized. Within five years, Egyptian
scientists also learn the formula, and it passes from there to Rome.

c. 1200 AD--The Incas in Peru emerge from obscurity, and establish their capital
at the growing settlement of Cuzco. Also, at about this time the Aztecs, a small
tribe originally native to the plains of what is OTL Texas, arrive in the Valley of
Mexico from the north. While in the north, the Aztecs had learned the art of
ironworking, which gives them a decided military advantage over the native
inhabitants of the region. They become eagerly sought by the local city-states as
mercenary warriors.

1200-1300 AD--Norse expansion in the new world. Norse settlements are
founded all the way down the coast southward to Cape Hatteras. Also, Norse
settlements now extend all the way down the St. Lawrence River to Lake
Ontario, and Norse explorers are by 1300 discovering the outlines of the other
Great Lakes. Due to the ravages of smallpox, the Skraeling populations in the
newly acquired areas are quite small, and the Norse conquer the interior areas in
back of their coastal and river settlements easily. Also during this time period in Africa, the Ghana Empire and the Kingdom of Bornu expand southward into the forests on the African coast, conquering the various city states which have arisen there. They are now positioned to engage in sea trade with Rome and Egypt, which they do.

1201 AD--Ala al-Din Tekesh, a former Seljuk slave who had been appointed
governor of the province of Khwarazm (south of the Aral Sea, centered on the
city of Urgench) in 1193 AD, rebels against the Seljuks. He establishes the
independence of Khwarazm and installs himself as Emir. He is killed in battle
against the Seljuks later that year and is succeeded by his son, Ala ad Deen
Muhammed. Also in this year, Pharaoh Seti X dies, and is succeeded by
Psamtik XIX.

1205-1212 AD--The Emirate of Khwarazm rapidly expands its rule. In 1210 it
takes Samarkand from the Qara Khitai and this becomes the capital. By 1212 it
rules from the Caspian Sea to Bukhara and Samarkand, and controlling all of
modern Iran and Afghanistan.

1208-1212 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XIX, learning of the trouble the Seljuk Turks
are having with the Khwarazm Emirate, declares war on the Seljuks. Egyptian
armies advance into Mesopotamia, where they capture Baghdad in 1210 AD. By
1212 AD, Egypt is in control of all of Mesoptamia. Rome enters the war in 1210
AD, and gobbles up Armenia and the Seljuk possesions in the Caucasus. The
Seljuks are eliminated as a power in the region, and the border between the
three empires (Rome, Egypt, and Khwarazm) now runs along the Zagros
mountains.

1206 AD--Temujin (Genghis Khan) unifies all Mongol and Tatar tribes. Over the
next few years, he welds them into a devastating military machine.

c. 1210 AD--Smallpox crosses the Mississippi and begins spreading across the
Great Plains.

1210 AD--Temujin (Genghis Khan) conquers the Tangut kingdom of Hsi Hsia.

1215 AD--Temujin (Genghis Khan) conquers the Jurchen Khanate and the Chin
Empire in northern China.

1215-1219 AD--War between Egypt and Khwarazm. In 1215, Emir Ala ad-Deen
Muhammed of Khwarazm declares war on Egypt and invades Mesopotamia.
His army is defeated and forced to retreat to Iran. However, no treaty is signed,
and the Khwarazm will invade the new Egyptian province each year for the next
four years. The war finally ends when Khwarazm faces a new threat from the
east...

1216 AD--Temujin (Genghis Khan) builds a new citadel, Karakorum.

1218 AD--the Mongols conquer the kingdom of Qara-Khitai ( Western Liao
Dynasty).

1219 AD--Temujin (Genghis Khan) defeats the the Khwarazm empire. Emir Ala
ad Deen Muhammed flees into exile.

1220 AD--the Mongols conquer the Khwarazm province of Merv (Turkmenistan).

1221 AD--the Mongols conquer the Khwarazm province of Herat (Afghanistan).
Also in this year, Ken Angrok (Rajasa) founds the Singhasari kingdom in Java
(Indonesia) with capital in Kediri.

1221-1231 AD--Khwarazm is reduced to its western part (northern Mesopotamia
and western Persia) in the Mongol campaigns of 1220 and 1221. After that,
Mongol attention is focused elsewhere, and under a new Emir, Jalal al-Din
Mingburnu, Khwarazm reflourishes for a decade. It even briefly conquers
Georgia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus.

1223 AD--a Mongol horde defeats a coalition of Russian princes on the Kalka
river, then withdraws eastward.

1225 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XIX dies, succeeded by Necho XVII.

1226 AD--Genghis Khan attacks the Sung Chinese Empire, but is defeated and
forced to retreat northward.

1227 AD--Genghis Khan dies and is succeeded as Great Khan by Ogodai. For
ease of administration, the empire is split among khanates which, although
locally ruled, acknowledge the supremacy of the Great Khan (Batu's Blue Horde,
Orda's White Horde, Chaghatay's khanate in Mughulistan). Ogodai moves the
imperial capital to Karakorum.

1231 AD--the Mongols invade Korea and bring it under their control. Also in this
year, the Khwarazm Emirate is finally conquered by the Mongols under Batu.

1237 AD--the Mongols, led by Batu, invade the Rus Principality.

1238 AD--The kingdom of Sukhothai is founded in Thailand.

1240 AD--Batu's Mongols ("blue horde") destroy the Khazar Kaganate. They
move on to take Kiev, capital of the Rus Principality. The Rurikid princes
becomes subjects of the Mongols. Meanwhile, in the north, the Norse are also
invading Rus, but are defeated by Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod, at the
Battle of the Neva River.

1241 AD--Batu's "Blue Horde" attacks the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire.
The Mongols breach the Roman defenses and pour into the province of Polania
(as the region formerly known as Polska is now called). Once in Polania, they
defeat a Roman army near the city of Warsaw and penetrate the Vistula defense
line, but are halted by the second line of Roman defenses on the Oder River. It
is then that news arrives of the death of the Mongol Great Khan Ogodai. In the
wake of that news, Batu’s Mongol horde retreats from Europe.

1248 AD--The Mongols install Alexander Nevsky as Prince of Vladimir.

c. 1250s AD--Kingdom of Chimor (Chimu people) expand their empire along
northern coast of Peru. Also at about this time, in Chile, metalworkers discover
the formula for bronze. Also about this time in Mexico, the Aztecs accept the
overlordship of the King of the Tepanecs. Using Aztec shock troops, the
Tepanecs establish a large realm in central Mexico. Meanwhile, in southern
Mexico, there is a Maya revival; following collapse of Chichen Itza, a new capital
is built at Mayapan.

1251 AD--Hulegu leads the Mongol invasion of Persia and establishes the
Ilkhanate.

1255 AD--Hulegu, the Ilkhan, invades the Middle East and captures Bagdhad,
which becomes the capital of the Ilkhanate. He completes the conquest of
Mesopotamia over the next two years.

1257 AD--Mongols led by Kublai conquer the Sung Chinese Empire and push
the frontier of the Mongol Empire all the way to Hanoi. Also in this year, Pharaoh
Necho XVII brokers a treaty of alliance with the Neo-Omayyad Caliphate against
the Mongols, who are seen as a threat by both empires.

1258 AD--Mongols led by Hulegu invades Syria. They are met near Damascus
by a combined Egyptian and Neo-Omayyad army and severely defeated.
Hulegu is killed in the fighting, and for a while, the Mongols in the middle east are
thrown into chaos. Meanwhile, in China, Kublai becomes the Great Khan of the
Mongol Empire and declares Buddhism the state religion.

1259-1261 AD-- In 1259, taking advantage of the temporary confusion among
the Mongols of the Ilkhanate following the death of Hulegu, Egyptian and
Neo-Omayyad forces invade Mesopotamia. They recapture Baghdad in 1260,
and by 1261 have pushed the Mongols back beyond the Zagros Mountains.
Finally, a treaty is agreed with the new Ilkhan Abaqa which establishes the
frontier at the Zagros Mountains. An uneasy peace will reign in the region for a
few years. The Egyptians and the Neo Omayyads divide the conquered region between them.

1261-1262 AD--Meanwhile, the Roman Republic, at the urging of the Bishop of
Rome, who is the acknowledged leader of the Christian Church, is negotiating
it’s own treaty of alliance with Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky of the Rus
Principality (who has been chafing under Mongol domination for the past
decade) and with King Haakon IV “The Old” of the Norse. The Grand Alliance
of Christendom, as the treaty will be called, takes the field in 1262. However, the
Christian coalition does not do as well against the Mongols of the Golden Horde
(formerly Batu’s Blue Horde). In battle near Kiev, the Roman contingent under
Consul Varus Paulinius Gracchus, being mostly armored cavalry archers and
light cavalry archers, proves well suited to fighting the Mongols on their own
terms, and the right flank held by the Romans initially does well. But the Rus
and Norse contingents which hold the Christian center and left are mostly
infantry, and the Mongols cut them to pieces. Both King Haakon and Prince
Alexander are cut down in the fighting. The Mongols then outflank and surround
the Roman cavalry (who are a bit slower moving than the more lightly armored
Mongols). But the disciplined Roman legionaries cut their way out of the trap,
and most of the Roman force makes it back to the Roman frontier. The Mongols
do not attempt an assault of the Roman defense lines, but instead turn east to
punish their traitorous vassals, the Rus.

1262-1275 AD--The Golden Horde ravages the land of the Rus in punishment for
their part in the Grand Alliance of Christendom. The great cities of Kiev, Suzdal,
Vladimir, Novgorod, and Moscow are all razed to the ground, the people within
them slaughtered, man, woman, and child. Most of the lesser towns and
villages meet the same fate. Large areas of the land are completely
depopulated, and the Principality of the Rus ceases to exist. Their allies, the
Romans and the Norse, can do nothing but watch in horror.

1263 AD onward--Norse King Magnus VI imports Roman officers to teach
cavalry tactics to his army, and begins to build a force of armored horse archers
with which to oppose the Mongols.

1267 AD--Kublai Khan moves the Mongol capital to Dadu (Beijing) and founds
the Yuan dynasty.

1274 AD--Kublai Khan invades Japan, but is defeated.

1277-1287 AD--the Mongols invade Burma and finally conquer it.

1279 AD--Sukothai king Ramkamhaeng extends the kingdom to Vientiane (Laos)
in the east and to Pegu (Burma) in the west.

1280-1285 AD--War between the Ilkhanate and Rome. The Mongols push the
Roman frontier in Asia Minor back to the Halys River. Armenia falls to the
Ilkhanate.

1282 AD--the new Shaybanid khan Uzbek (a vassal of the Chagatay Khanate)
converts the Shaybanid horde to Islam and his horde becomes known as the
Uzbeks.

1288 AD--the Vietnamese army of Tran Hung Dao defeats the Mongols.

1290 AD--Pharaoh Necho XVII dies, succeeded by Ahmosi XI. Also in this year,
Singhasari king Kertanegara conquers Bali, Java and Sumatra (Indonesia).

1293 AD--Kublai Khan’s Mongols attack Singhasari with help from warlord
Wijaya, but Wijaya (Kertarajasa Jayawardhana) betrays Kublai, defeats both the
Mongols and the Singhasari, and founds the kingdom of Majapahit with capital at
Trowulan in Java (Indonesia).

1294 AD--Kublai Khan dies and the empire fragments in khanates: Sarai in the
west (descendants of Batu, the "golden horde"), Beijing in the east (the Yuan),
Sultaniyeh in Persia (the Ilkhan Sultanate, descendants of Hulegu) and the
Chaghatai Khanate in the center.

1295 AD--Ghazan, the Ilkhan, converts to Islam.

c. 1300 AD--The Incas begin to expand their empire throughout the central
Andes. Also, at about this time, horses, cattle, and pigs are introduced to the
tribes west of the Mississippi River. The new domesticated animals will spread
rapidly over the next century. Horses will prove especially useful for the nomadic
tribes who live by following the buffalo herds as they migrate over the Great
Plains, while pigs and cattle will join wheat to revolutionize the agriculture of the
settled Pueblo tribes of the southwest. Also, at about this time, smallpox
reaches the Valley of Mexico, devastating many of the city states there.

1300-1350 AD--Continuing expansion of the Norse colonies in Vinland. By 1350
Norse settlements have spread throughout the entire Great Lakes region and
the Norse have also discovered and settled the southern shore of what in OTL
would be Hudson Bay (called Thorfin’s Bay in this TL). The Norse do no expand
further southward than Cape Hatteras, however, as the hot, semi-tropical
Southern climate is not congenial to them, and the iron-using Skraeling tribes in
this region were less devastated by the smallpox epidemic, and thus better able
to resist Norse encroachment.

1300 AD--Beginning of Roman exploration in the New World. In the previous
decades, much speculation has been going on in the Roman Empire (and
elsewhere) as to the source of the tobacco which the Norse are peddling all over
Europe and the near east. The Norse have, so far, managed to keep their new
colonies in Vinland pretty much secret. This has been helped by the nature of
the Norse trade route, which goes north up the coast of North America to
Greenland, then to Iceland, then to Britain or Norway. Most of the trade route is
thus deep within Norse territory, and only Norse ships are allowed to make the
transatlantic journey (the Norse fleet makes sure of this). However, it is
impossible to keep such a secret indefinately, and tavern stories from indiscreet
Norse merchants eventually alert the Romans that there are lands to the west,
far across the sea, which the Norse are exploiting. The Norse fleet, of course,
prevents Rome from attempting a voyage along the established trade route, but
in 1300 AD, they begin sending yearly expeditions westward across the Oceanus
Atlanticus. Most of these early expeditions find nothing noteworthy, and some
of them will never return. But the Romans will persevere.

c. 1300-1400 AD--In the region between the Congo and Loje Rivers in south
western Africa, the city states of Kongo, Luba, Kuba, Lunda have arisen by
1300 AD. By 1400 AD these will be consolidated into a state by the king of the
city of Kongo, whose king becomes known as the Manikongo. The new
Kingdom of Kongo has rich copper deposits, and a strategic position in between
the Egyptian lands to the south and the kingdoms of Ghana and Bornu to the
north. So the Manikongos will live by trade, and grow rich over the succeeding
decades.

1301-1305 AD--War Between the Golden Horde and the Norse. In 1301, the
Mongols, under Khan Toqta, invade the Norse lands along the Baltic Sea (OTL
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), causing much devastation, and then move north
into the Norse province of Finland. They are brought to battle by the main Norse
army, under King Haakon V, near Helsinki. The Roman training and
reorganization of the Norse army initiated by King Magnus VI and continued by
his successors has not been in vain, and the Norse defeat the Mongols, forcing
them to retreat from Norse territory. The Norse follow up with an invasion of their
own the next year, but they run into a problem. The Mongols, they find, have so
thoroughly devastated the Rus lands during their punishment of the Rus two
decades earlier that the Norse are unable to find food or forage as they advance
through the enemy country. They penetrate as far as the ruins of Novgorod
(which, being the home city of the traitorous Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky, the
Mongols have not permitted to be rebuilt as an example to those who might think
of rebellion in the future) before they are forced to turn back, harassed all the
way by the Mongols. The war continues for another three years, with small scale
raiding by both sides, before a treaty is finally signed in 1305.

1304 AD--Mongols under Ali Beg invade India but are repelled by the Abbasid
Caliphate. Also in this year, an Arab scientist working in Baghdad, in the
Neo-Omayyad Caliphate, invents a cannon, consisting of a bamboo tube,
reinforced with iron bands. Knowledge of the invention soon spreads to Egypt
and Rome.

c. 1315 AD--The first iron and bronze cannon are invented almost
simultaneously in Egypt and Rome. Experiments with hand-held gunpowder
firearms begins shortly afterward in both empires.

1315 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi XI dies, succeeded by Ahmosi XII. Also in this year,
the Shans found the kingdom of Sagaing in Burma.

1315-1325 AD--The Great Famine in Europe. The relative stability and
prosperity of the Roman and Norse Empires have resulted in a steady increase
in population, to the point where harvest shortfalls can have severe
consequences. This has been mitigated to some extent by the availability of
wheat, barley, oats and maize from the Norse colonies in Vinland and wheat
and barley from Egypt, but it still remains a problem because by 1300 AD,
populations in Europe are half again as large as in OTL. However, the weather in
Western Europe has been gradually been getting colder and wetter for the past
few years, and in 1315 particularly wet Spring makes it impossible to plow all of
the fields that were ready for cultivation, and heavy summer rains rot much of the
seed grain before it can germinate. The harvest is far smaller than usual as a
result, and many people starve. The pattern continues in 1316, leading to yet
more starvation and misery. The Spring and summer of 1317 saw the return of
good weather, but in the meantime, much of the grain set aside for seed had
been eaten by starving people, so harvests remain below normal even so. Then
the cool, wet weather returns, and grain production plummets even further, and
indeed, will not reach pre-1315 levels again until 1325. As much as 1/10 of the
Roman and Norse population (less than in OTL, but still a huge number) will die
of starvation and disease exacerbated by malnutrition during that single decade.

c. 1320 AD--The Black Death first appears among rats in the Gobi Desert region.

1320 AD--The Romans discover the Azores and the Canary Islands. They return
the next year and occupy the islands, establishing permanent outposts there
which will form vital waypoints for their future exploration of the western seas.

c. 1325 AD--The Aztecs found city of Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco.
Because of their knowledge of ironworking (which they have jealously guarded),
they are able to establish themselves despite having a lower population (due to
the ravages of smallpox) than in OTL.

1326 AD--A Roman expedition sights the shores of the island which would, in
OTL, be called Hispaniola, which they explore. They land, meet the native
Carib Indians, and take some of the natives back to Rome with them. The
Caribs tell the Romans of other lands to the north and west of Hispaniola.

1327 AD--Chagatay Khan Tarmashirin converts to Islam.

1328 AD--the Mongols invade India but are repelled by the Abbasid Caliphate.

1330 AD--A Roman expedition explores the coast of southern Florida. They find
nothing of interest.

1330-1332 AD--War of the Second Grand Alliance. The new Bishop of Rome
has, like his predecessor, urged a “Crusade” against the heathen Mongols to
liberate the oppressed Christians of Rus, and the Roman Republic has
concluded a new alliance with King Magnus VII of the Norse. The Romans and
Norse negotiate with the rulers of various recently rebuilt Rus city-states, but
most are not eager to incur the wrath of the Mongols a second time. The one
exception is Ivan, Grand Duke of the the city-state of Moscow. This Second
Grand Alliance of Christendom takes the field in 1330 AD, and heads for
Moscow, hoping to link up with Grand Duke Ivan’s forces. It’s army is much
better suited to fighting the Mongols than the army of the first Grand Alliance had
been, and the Norse experience in their recent war teaches them to bring along
a supply train to enable them to fight deep inside enemy territory. The Roman
army also includes a small force equipped with the new cannon as well as a few
cohorts of hand-gunners, both of which will be primarily used to defend the
supply train. The Mongols are brought to battle about 60 miles west of Moscow.
The Mongols are still somewhat more mobile than the armored Roman and
Norse cavalry, and a force manages to slip around the Christian flank and fall on
the wagon train (which, for defense, had been formed in a lager, with the
cannoneers and handgunners inside). They charge the seemingly defenseless
wagon lager, and get a rude surprise when Roman cannon give them a dose of
gravel, nails, and lengths of broken chain at close range. The handgunners then
open up, and the slaughter is terrible to behold. The Mongols retreat in disorder,
and the wagon lager is saved. Meanwhile, the Roman and Norse armored horse
archers have put the rest of the more lightly equipped Mongols to flight, and the
battle is won. The Romans and Norse enter Moscow and link up with Grand
Duke Ivan’s forces 2 days later. In the wake of this victory, the princes of the
various Rus city states rise up in revolt in support of the Grand Alliance, and the
Christian armies follow up with campaigns to liberate the southern regions of the
former Rus principality. Finally, Khan Muhammed Ozbeg of the Golden Horde
sues for peace in 1332 AD. A treaty is made in which the Golden Horde agrees
to withdraw from Rus. The frontiers of Rus are set by this treaty at the North
Dvina, Kama, and Ural Rivers (farther east than the original Rus Principality...but
the Mongols, being defeated, have little choice but to agree). Grand Duke Ivan
of the city-state of Moscow, with Roman and Norse support, proclaims himself
the first Grand Prince of the newly re-established Principality of Rus. His rule is
not universally accepted by the other Rus rulers, however.

1331 AD--A Roman expedition discovers Cuba. The expedition finds not only
tobacco, but gold.

1331-1353 AD--The Black Death devastates China. Up to two-thirds of the
population dies or is severely incapacitated, and social order in the country
breaks down. The Mongol Empire in China is severely weakened.

1333 AD--The Roman Senate votes to send a colonization expedition to secure
the newly discovered regions in the New World for Rome, and a fleet is sent out.

1335 AD--The Roman colonization fleet arrives in the Caribbean. The fleet lands
in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the settlement of Nova Palatina is founded.
Another settlement is founded on Hispaniola, and named Nova Capitolina.
Successive yearly expeditions will strengthen the new settlements.

1338 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi XII dies, succeeded by Seti XI.

1340 AD--The first major shipments of tobacco and gold from the new colonies
reach Rome. The Norse monopoly on the tobacco trade is broken.

1343 AD--The Kingdom of Majapahit conquers Bali (Indonesia).

c. 1345 AD--The Black Death is in India. Again, huge death tolls result. Worse
still, plague-carrying rats board trade ships in Indian ports, to be carried back to
their home ports by the traders.

c. 1347-1352 AD--In 1347, trade ships carrying plague infested rats from India
arrive in various ports in the Egyptian and Roman Empires. Both empires suffer
less from the plague than did the OTL nations occupying these regions. Roman
and Egyptian habits of cleanliness and advanced civil engineering and sanitation
systems limit the spread of the disease. And Egypt, as it turns out, has a secret
weapon which results in even lower death rates than those suffered by
Rome...the cult of Bast, the cat goddess of Egypt, remains alive and well in
Egypt, and cats are considered sacred there. So there are several million of the
felines available in the empire to keep rat populations low, thus preventing the
plague from spreading to the same extent it does in other regions. Nevertheless,
both Rome (which loses 1/4 of its people) and Egypt (which loses 1/6 of it’s
population) suffer greatly.

c. 1350 AD--Smallpox devastates the Maya states in central America. The
epidemic finally peters out in the sparsely inhabited jungles of what is OTL Costa
Rica, and thus the disease does not penetrate into South America at this time.
Meanwhile, in the Andes, the formula for bronze has spread north from Chile to
Peru, and it is being worked in the Chimu capital of Chan Chan by 1350 AD.
Chimu and Inca armies are gradually re-equipping themselves with bronze
weapons.

1350 AD--Majapahit under prime minister Gajah Mada conquers northern
Sumatra (Indonesia) and most of Borneo. Also in this year, the Black Death
reaches the European portions of the Norse Kingdom and the Rus Principality.
Huge death tolls (exceeding 1/3 of the population of both states) result.

1350 onward--The large death tolls from the Great Famine and from the Black
Death in the lands of Europe have profound effects on the economic and social
structures of those regions. In Rome, a very large proportion of the deaths was
among the slave population of the Republic, who are generally less well fed and
have less medical attention than the citizenry of the Republic and are thus more
susceptible to food shortages and disease. As a result, more and more work
has to be done by free labor, and job opportunities and wages for freemen
increase throughout the Republic. This, along with the continuous drain of
slaves into the military (the laws enacted by Emperor Trajan II are still in force),
reduces the importance of slavery in Roman society ever further, and by the
middle of the next century, the Republic will abolish slavery altogether. In the
Norse Kingdom and Rus Principality, where slavery does not formally exist, the
institution of serfdom is likewise weakened, and peasants gain many more rights
and privileges over the succeeding century. The Black Death will also deal a
death blow to slavery in Egypt, where it was never a large institution to begin
with, and where, like in other regions, slaves are disproportionately affected by
the Plague. Egypt will abolish slavery not many years after the Roman Senate
does so.

1351: King Rama Thibodi I founds the Siam kingdom in Thailand with capital at
Ayutthaya. Also in this year, trade ships carry the Black death to the Roman
colonies in the Caribbean, as well as the Ghana Empire and Bornu Kingdom in
Africa. The Roman colonies are only moderately affected (about 5% mortality),
but Ghana and Bornu are devastated with nearly half the population succumbing
to the disease within three years.

1352 AD--Trading ships carrying the Black Death reach the Norse colonies in
Vinland. The more widely scattered nature and less concentrated population of
the Norse settlements in Vinland limits the spread of the disease, but even so,
before the epidemic burns itself out two years later, over 1/5 of the population of
the colonies will be dead. Norse expansion in Vinland is greatly slowed as a
result. The disease does not affect native Skraeling populations to any great
extent. These populations, devastated by smallpox, are still relatively small and
scattered (although recovering by this time), so the disease does not spread well
and quickly burns itself out when it leaves the borders of Norse-held lands.

1353 AD--the kingdom of Lan Xang is founded in Laos by Fa Ngoun, who
introduces Theravada Buddhism into Laos.

1365 AD--The Turkic-speaking chieftain Timur the Lame overthrows the
Chaghatai khanate and conquers Persia, establishing his capital in Samarkand.

1368 AD--In the chaos following the Black Death in China, the Ming dynasty is
founded by a Chinese peasant and former Buddhist monk turned rebel, Chu
Yuanchang, under whose leadership China regains independence from the
Mongols. Shortly after, the Kingdom of Koryu (Korea) does likewise.

c. 1370 AD--The Aztecs have recovered from the smallpox epidemic, and
Acampitchtli is chosen king of Aztecs. Acampitchtli defeats and overthrows the
Tepanec overlords of the Aztecs, and the Aztec Empire is founded.

1370 AD--A scientist in Egypt discovers the secret of producing granulated
gunpowder. A scientist working in Rome will make the discovery independently
two years later. In both empires, imperial powder and firearm factories are set
up at about this time (prior to this, production of both powder and firearms had
been primarily done in small, privately owned shops).

1375 AD--Pharaoh Seti XI dies, succeeded by Rameses XXV.

1384 AD--Timur the Lame conquers the Ilkhanate.

1385 AD--Timur the Lame invades Mesopotamia. He is met by a combined
Egyptian and Neo-Omayyad army near Baghdad and defeated. Timur is killed in
the fighting (decapitated by an Egyptian cannonball), and his empire will fall into
chaos on his death while his relatives fight over the succession.

1388 AD--The Ming defeat the Yuan (Mongols) and destroy Karakorum. Also in
this year, Umar Shayk, son of Timur, establishes himself as the sole ruler of the
Timurid Empire. Umar, being more interested in art and architecture than in
warfare, is content to rule the empire inherited from his father, and a relative
peace settles on the region for a few years.

c. 1390s AD--Viracocha becomes eighth Inca ruler; an Inca myth tells how he
travelled to the Pacific and never returned.

1392 AD--General Yi Song-gye overthrows the King of Koryu and usurps the
throne. The capital is moved from Kaesong to Seoul, and the kingdom is
renamed the Kingdom of Choson.

1394 AD--Umar Shayk of the Timurid Empire dies, and is succeeded by his
brother, Miran Shah.

1395 AD--the Khazak horde seizes Khazakstan from the Golden horde.

1396 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXV dies, succeeded by Rameses XXVI.

1398 AD--Miran Shah of the Timurid Empire invades India and sacks Delhi,
causing demise of the Abbasid Caliphate. India breaks up into a collection of
small, warring states.
 
Ancient Egypt Survives Until the Present Day--Part Two

c. 1400 AD--Horses, pigs, and cattle find their way into the Valley of Mexico for
the first time. The Aztecs quickly adopt horses for military use.

c. 1400 AD--Horses, pigs, and cattle find their way into the Valley of Mexico for
the first time. The Aztecs adopt horses for military use.

c. 1400 AD onward--The Scientific and Industrial Revolution begins. Over the
preceding centuries, scientific advancement has continued at a somewhat better
pace in this TL than in the OTL. Pharaohs Psamtik IX (“The Great,” reigned
340-329 BC) and Necho V (reigned 329-320 BC) had built the first great library in
Sais, collecting the learning of Greek, Egyptian, Persian and Babylonian
scientists, mathematicians, doctors, etc. in one central repository. This collection
has grown over the years. The Pharaohs have always been great patrons of
learning as well, beginning with their sponsorship of Greek scientists from the
earliest years of the 26th Dynasty. As a result, for some time, the basic scientific
knowledge base for an “industrial revolution” has existed in this alternate world,
and indeed, in some areas where knowledge has immediate practical
applications (medicine and metallurgy, or example), the world of the ATL is
somewhat more advanced than the comparable time period of OTL. However,
the existence of surplus labor in much of the world (much of it in the form of
slave labor) has tended to stifle technological development as it relates to labor
saving devices. Why put a steam engine to work draining the water out of a
mine, when you have a gang of slaves working hand pumps that does the job?
Why harness your looms to a water wheel when you have slaves who can run
the looms manually? Why bother with a computing machine to tally the results
of your imperial census when you have hundreds of trained scribes who can do
the work? But the severe decreases in population due to the various disasters of
the 14th Century (the great famines and the Black Death, above all) and the
subsequent abandonment of slavery in Egypt and Rome have led to labor
shortages in many industries, and this, along with the expanded trade network
which earlier contact with the New World has created (which increases the
demand for manufactured goods to meet the needs of the new markets), creates
an incentive for inventors of labor saving devices to come forth with their ideas.

c. 1400 AD--By this year, China has been extending its power out to sea for 300
years. To satisfy growing Chinese demand for special spices, medicinal herbs,
and raw materials, Chinese merchants have developed a rich network of trade
that reaches beyond island southeast Asia to the fringes of the Indian Ocean.
However, despite the fact that their ships have been trading in the same regions
for several centuries, Egypt and China have had very little direct contact. No
Egyptian ships have traveled as far as China, and no Chinese ship has paid a
call on an Egyptian port. This is about to change. By the beginning of the Ming
Dynasty, China has reached a peak of naval technology unsurpassed in the
world. While using many technologies of Chinese invention, Chinese
shipbuilders have also combined technologies they borrowed and adapted from
seafarers of the South China seas and the Indian Ocean. Advances such as
double-hulled ships divided into separate watertight compartments, the sternpost
rudder, lanteen sails and the magnetic compass have combined to produce
ships which are technically superior to anything produced in Europe or elsewhere
in Asia. Both the Sung Dynasty, and it’s successor, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty,
encouraged commercial activity and maritime trade, so the succeeding Ming
Dynasty inherited large shipyards, many skilled shipyard workers, and finely
tuned naval technology from the dynasty that preceded it. The Ming Emperor
Ch'eng Tsu Chu Ti (who would be known to history as the Yongle Emperor)
came to the throne in 1403 AD. The Yongle emperor wants to impress Ming
power upon the world and show off China's resources and importance, so he
gives orders to construct special "Treasure Ships," ships over 400 feet long, 160
feet wide, with nine masts, twelve sails, and four decks, large enough to carry
2,500 tons of cargo each and armed with dozens of small cannons.
Accompanying those ships were to be hundreds of smaller ships, some filled
only with water, others carrying troops or horses or cannon, still others with gifts
of silks and brocades, porcelains, lacquerware, tea, and ironworks that would
impress leaders of farflung civilizations. The Yongle Emperor selects Zheng He,
a Muslim Eunuch, to command his new fleet of exploration, and thus the stage is
set for a collision between the two very ancient civilizations that will have
profound consequences for all future history....

Early 1400s AD--Expansion of the Aztec Empire in central Mexico. The Aztecs,
with their iron weapons, quickly conquer most of the other city states in the
region.

1400 AD--An Egyptian inventor named Imhotep (living in Amenophis, the capital
city of the province of Ophir, and working on the basis of designs by a Greek
inventor who lived in Naukratis about 65 AD) invents a practical steam engine.
He sells these to Egyptian mine owners in Ophir, who have had a continuing
problem with water seepage into their mines and whose slave labor force was
nearly wiped out by the Black Death. He will also sell them eventually to mine
owners in the Roman Republic and elsewhere in the region who suffer from the
same liability. Other inventors and tinkerers will improve the design over the
coming years.

1400-1600 AD--In Vinland, the Norse colonies continue to expand. By 1600 they
have reached the line of the Mississippi River on the west, and have expanded
their control to the north as well, deep into Labrador and the region along the
south shore of Hudson Bay. At the same time, pressure from the Norse to the
north has led to the formation of a Skraeling state to the south. This
confederation of chiefdoms, called the Creek Confederacy, is a society based on
the remnant of the Old southeastern Mississippian culture, with the addition of
iron working and European domestic animals. The population in this region has
recovered quite strongly from the epidemics brought by the Norse over the past
few decades, and they receive help from a surprising source....Rome, which,
having established it’s colonies in the Caribbean, finds the Creek Confederacy a
useful buffer between it’s own colonies and those of the Norse to the north. The
Romans supply firearms and ammunition, which strengthen the resistance the
Creeks are able to put up against Norse intrusions into their territory. The
Roman Republic also signs a treaty pledging it to defend the independence of
the Creek Confederacy if the Norse attempt to take over. The Norse do not
attempt to do so, and the Creeks are able to maintain themselves in somewhat
uneasy peace for the next 200 years.

1401 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXVI dies, succeeded by Psamtik XX.

1403-1424 AD--The Great Wall of China is expanded by the Yongle
Emperor of Ming China. While parts of the wall had existed since ancient China,
it was only now built into the one continuous fortified wall we know today.

1405-1407 AD--First of the voyages of the Ming Chinese fleet under Admiral
Zheng He. The fleet of 317 ships stops in Champa (central Vietnam) and Siam
(today's Thailand) and then on to the island of Java, to points along the Straits of
Malacca, and then proceeds to its main destination of the kingdom of Calicut on
the southwestern coast of India.

1407-1409 AD--Second voyage of Ming Chinese fleet under Admiral Zheng He.
This second expedition takes 68 ships to the court of Calicut to attend the
inauguration of a new king.

1409 AD--Shah Rukh, who ascended the Timurid throne upon the death of Miran
Shah in 1408, moves the Timurid capital to Herat.

1409-1449 AD--Period of intermittent warfare between Ming China and the
Mongol tribes on the steppes north of China. Chinese troops conduct notably
destructive punitive raids against the Mongols in 1409,1410,1414,1422, and
1424, and the Mongols themselves make serveral incursions into Northern China
during this period as well.

1409-1411 AD--Third voyage of the Ming Chinese fleet under Admiral Zheng He,
with 48 large ships and 30,000 troops, visiting many of the same places as on
the first voyage but also travelling to Malacca on the Malay peninsula and Ceylon
(Sri Lanka).

1413-1415 AD--Fourth voyage of the Ming Chinese fleet under Admiral Zheng
He. In addition to visiting many of the same sites, Zheng He takes his 63 ships
and over 28,000 men to Hormuz on the Persian Gulf.

c. 1415 AD--The Matchlock firing mechanism is invented in Rome. The
innovation, which allows more accurate aiming by allowing the shooter to keep
the target in his sights as he ignites the powder charge, soon spreads to Egypt,
Rome, and the Rus Principality, all of whose armies replace their clumsy
hand-cannon with the new matchlock muskets within the next 20 years. The
matchlock also makes possible the development of two new firearms...the pistol
and the carbine...which will eventually come to be essential cavalry weapons.

1417-1422 AD--Fifth voyage of the Ming Chinese fleet under Admiral Zheng He.
On this trip Zheng He ventures even further, first to Aden at the mouth of the
Red Sea, and then on to the east coast of Africa, stopping at the Egyptian cities
of Nechopolis (OTL Mogadishu, Somalia), and Malindi (in present day Kenya).
Egyptian officials invite Zheng He to visit the Pharaoh in his capital at Sais, and
Zheng He accepts. The Chinese fleet sails through the Suez Canal, and into
the Nile, arriving at Sais in 1420 AD. Zheng He is very interested to discover that
Egypt boasts a civilization with an even longer history than that of his own
empire, a fact that is reinforced when Pharaoh Necho XVIII takes the Chinese
Admiral on a tour down the Nile on the royal barge. Zheng He sees the
Pyramids, the Sphinx, and the great temples at Karnak and Abu Simbel, among
other things, all of which impress him mightily. The Pharaoh, for his part, is very
impressed with the huge Chinese ships, and especially with the fine porcelain
and silks brought by Zheng’s fleet...both items have been available for several
centuries in limited quantities through trade with Chinese merchants in India (and
via a dangerous overland caravan route through central Asia known as the “Silk
Road”), but now the dazzling prospect of large-scale importation presents itself,
and the Pharaoh is very desirous of establishing formal relations, including trade.
Therefore on his return, Zheng He takes with him an ambassador from Egypt. It
will be the beginning of a long and mutually profitable relationship between the
two powers.

1418 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XX dies, succeeded by Necho XVIII.

1419-1423 AD--Costly rebellion in Annam (northern Vietnam) leads to temporary
Ming Chinese withdrawal from the region.

1419 AD--The Kingdom of Choson (Korea) first uses “Turtle Ships” in action
against Japanese pirates. These are flat-bottomed, oar-powered galleys, 100
feet in length with a 25 foot beam and two large masts rigged with large
rectangular sails. The upper decks of these vessels are covered by an arched,
wooden roof, intended to prevent boarding by enemy troops, and the ships are
armed with cannon of various sizes. They devastate the pirate ships they
encounter, but somehow, word of them does not travel to other powers in the
region.

c. 1420 AD--A Roman inventor designs the first mechanical seed sower. Later
that year, another Roman designs the first threshing machine. Both are quickly
in demand from an agriculture industry whose slave labor supply has been
decimated by the Black Death and recurring plagues.

c. 1420 AD and onward: Renewed Roman exploration in the New World. The
Black Death, and repeated outbreaks of the plague in the succeeding decades,
had stalled Rome’s explorations in the new world. Indeed, for a time, the very
viability of the new colonies at Nova Palatina and Nova Capitolina was
threatened by the recurring outbreaks of plague. But by the 1420s, the colonies
(and Rome itself) have recovered enough that exploration can continue, and
Roman ships begin setting out to explore the lands to the north, south, and west.

1420--Shah Rukh appoints his son Ulugh Beg as governor of Transoxiana. The
new governor establishes his headquarters in Samarkand, where he builds the
fabulous Registan and a magnificent astronomical observatory. He will become
one of the greatest astronomers that the world has ever seen, and the
calculations that he will make at his observatory will gain him fame in Europe as
an eminent scholar.

1421 AD--Ming Chinese capital moved from Nanjing to Beijing. Shortly after the
Forbidden City is built, a disastrous fire erupts and destroys much of it. The
Yongle Emperor believes it is a sign from heaven and first asks for criticism, but
soon he kills his opponents.

1422 AD--Arrival of Zheng He and the Egyptian Ambassador to the court of the
Emperor of Ming China. Formal relations are established between the two
powers, and trade agreements are reached. A Chinese ambassador is
dispatched to Egypt.

1423 AD--A Roman exploration expedition discovers the coast of Mexico, and
makes contact with the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs, who while living in Texas
prior to their arrival in the Valley of Mexico had heard of “light skinned men from
the east” and even met the occasional Norse trader, are not overly astonished at
the arrival of the Romans on their shores (unlike in OTL, they definitely DO NOT
think they might be gods returning from over the sea), and they greet the
newcomers cautiously. The Romans discover that the Aztecs have a different
strain of tobacco (nicotiana tabacum) which is far superior to the type introduced
into Europe by the Norse (nicotiana rustica), are rich in gold and silver, and they
have other products which will prove to be very popular in Europe...chili peppers,
and especially chocolate. The Aztecs are very willing to trade for Roman
manufactured goods (cloth, metalwork, pottery, etc.) and wine. The expedition
brings this news back to the Roman colonial capital at Nova Palatina, and from
there it passes to Rome. Also in this year, the first Egyptian trading ships call at
Chinese ports, Chinese trade ships begin to regularly visit Egyptian ports, and
the Chinese ambassador takes up residence in Sais.

1424 AD--First reports of the Chinese ambassador to Egypt reach the court of
the Yongle Emperor. They include reports of Egypt’s governmental system. The
Yongle Emperor has been considering reforms to China’s governmental system,
and the new reports tip the scales in his mind toward reform. The Hongwu
Emperor, founder of the Ming Dynasty, had increasingly concentrated power in
his own hands and in 1380 abolished the Imperial Secretariat, which had been
the main central administrative body under past dynasties, after suppressing a
plot for which he had blamed his chief minister. When the Chinese Imperial
throne became hereditary many hundreds of years ago, the Chinese had
recognized this and established the office of Prime Minister. While incompetent
emperors could come and go, the Prime Minister could guarantee a level of
continuity and competence in the government. The Hongwu Emperor, wishing to
concentrate absolute authority in his own hands, abolished the office of Prime
Minister and so removed the only insurance against incompetent emperors. The
Yongle Emperor, listening to reports of the success of the divided system of
government in Egypt over many centuries, decides to revive the Imperial
Secretariat and the office of Prime Minister. He selects Zheng He as his first
Prime Minister, a post in which the eunuch will serve (under three different
Emperors) with distinction for many years. The selection of Zheng He as Prime
Minister also means a decisive end to a political struggle between the court
eunuchs and the merchant classes (who favor the expansion of trade and
contact with the outside world) and the Confucian scholars (who argue that
China’s true source of wealth is agriculture, that merchants and traders are
parasitical, and therefore China should isolate itself from the outside world).
Where the Hongwu Emperor had heavily favored the Confucian scholars, the
Yongle Emperor favors the eunuchs and merchants. The wealth (and imperial
revenues) which this decision brings to China will serve to make this a
permanent change of direction for the empire.

c. 1430 AD--An Egyptian inventor develops the first mechanical reaping
machine. The innovation soon spreads to Rome and elsewhere.

1425 AD onward--Regular trade is established between Rome and the Aztec
Empire. The Aztecs do not allow Romans to travel extensively within their
Empire, and the Romans set up a small trading outpost (at the site of the OTL
city of Veracruz) called Nova Aventina, where they conduct their business with
the Aztecs. The Romans trade bronze and iron objects, fine cloth and wine for
gold, silver, turquoise (gaudy silver and turquoise jewelry made by the Aztecs
and other Mesoamerican peoples will become a fad in Rome during the next
decade), tobacco, chili peppers and chocolate. They also get hold of Aztec
tobacco seeds, which they transplant to the tobacco plantations in Cuba and
Hispaniola.

1425 AD--The Yongle Emperor of Ming China is killed while on campaign against
the Mongols on the Northern frontier. The throne passes to his son Gao Zhi,
who takes the throne as the Hong Xi Emperor. He continues Zheng He in his
post as Prime Minister and continues his father’s expansionist trade policies.

1426 AD--The Hong Xi Emperor of Ming China dies, and is succeeded by his
brother, Zhan Ji, who takes the throne as the Xuan De Emperor. Like his
brother, he continues Zheng He in his post as Prime Minister and the
expansionist trade policies initiated by the Yongle Emperor.

1426-40 AD--Aztec Emperor Itzcoatl reorganizes the state to concentrate power
in his hands.

1428 AD--Vietnamese king Le Loi (Le Thai To) defeats the Ming Chinese army
and founds the second Le dynasty.

1429 AD--The Aztec Emperor Itzcoatl agrees to establish formal diplomatic
relations with Rome. An Aztec ambassador travels to Rome, and a Roman
ambassador is sent to Tenochtitlan.

c. 1430 onward--An indirect result of the increasing popularity of chocolate in the
Old World is an increased demand for sugar. Chocolate, by itself, is extremely
bitter and unpleasant, but of course, if sugar is added, it becomes not only very
tasty, but almost addictive! Sugar at this time is an expensive product which has
to be imported from India and, to a lesser extent, from Ghana. Rome and Egypt
have tried producing their own sugar, but never with any great success, so they
remain dependent on imports.

1430 AD--Rats traveling on a Roman trading ship (ironically, the very ship
bringing the first Roman ambassador to the Aztec court in Tenochtitlan)
introduce the Black Death to the Aztec Empire. The disease quickly spreads
among the urbanized population of the empire, and from there to the non-Aztec
states to the north and south. By the time it burns itself out two years later, well
over 1/3 of the population of Mesoamerica are dead from the plague. This death
toll is further augmented by the fact that the various native religions practice
human sacrifice, and, concluding that the plague is the result of the anger of the
gods, they all ramp up their sacrifices dramatically in an effort to appease their
deities. Also in this year, a trading ship from the Ghana Empire is blown off
course by a storm and lands on the coast of OTL Brazil. They make contact with
the natives, and discover that they have abundant supplies of cacao beans, the
ingredient for chocolate, which is rapidly becoming very popular in Rome and
Egypt after being introduced by Roman traders They trade their cargo of
Egyptian and Roman wine and cloth to the natives, and take the load of beans
back to Ghana. They also bring word back of the technologically backwards
native society witnessed there.

1431 AD: Siam invades Angkor and destroys the Khmer Empire. Also in this
year, the Roman ambassador to the Aztec Empire witnesses a bloody spectacle.
In one day, the Aztecs sacrifice over 10,000 captives to their gods at their capital
at Tenochtitan. The Roman ambassador in Tenochtitlan sends news of the
barbarity of the Aztecs back to Rome shortly thereafter. Also in this year, the
ruler of the Ghana Empire decides to send a colonization expedition to Brazil.

1432 AD--The Ghanaese colonization fleet lands on the coast of Brazil, near the
mouths of the Amazon River, where the settlement of Umboto is founded. They
initially trade peacefully with the natives, and exploration begins of the Amazon
River and it’s many tributaries.

1434 AD--Zheng He dies. His position as Prime Minister to the Ming Emperor is
filled by another eunuch, Wang Zhen.

1435 AD--News of the bloody sacrifices being made to pagan gods in the Aztec
Empire have inflamed Roman public opinion against the “barbarous” Aztecs (the
Romans have, of course, quite forgotten by this time their own bloody past...now
almost 1,000 years distant...of gladitorial games in the Colosseum and other
amphitheatres throughout the empire). Most notably, the Bishop of Rome is
calling for a “Crusade” to bring Christianity to these “bloody-handed barbarians,”
and to bring them under the civilizing influence of the Roman Republic. The
Roman Senate takes no action at this time, however. Also in this year, the Xuan
De Emperor of Ming China dies and is succeeded by his seven year old son, Qi
Chen, who takes the throne as the Zheng Tong Emperor. As he is not yet of
adult age, Prime Minister Wang Zhen serves as regent during the new Emperor’s
early years on the throne.

1437 AD--By this time, there are several Ghanaese settlements in the Amazon
region of Brazil. There has been some military conflict with the natives of the
region, but after a few sharp defeats and punitive expeditions by the superior
Ghanaese military, the natives are pretty much subdued. Regular shipments of
cacao beans are going to Ghana, and from there, to the Egyptian and Roman
Empires and beyond.

c. 1438 AD--Inca emperor Viracocha dies; his successor Pachacuti expands Inca
empire north to Ecuador.

1438 AD--Sukhothai is annexed into the Ayutthaya (Siam) kingdom.

c. 1440 AD--Automated spinning and weaving machines, operated by water
power, are invented independently in Egypt and Rome. Also, at about this time,
the Egyptian ambassador to Ming China obtains detailed drawings of the
Chinese Treasure Ships, which he sends back to the Pharaoh at Sais. Over the
succeeding decades, many features of Chinese design (especially
double-walled hulls, watertight compartments, and centerline rudders) will be
incorporated into Egyptian merchant and naval vessels, and shortly thereafter, in
Roman and Norse vessels.

1440s AD--Incas build a great fortress at Cuzco. Also during this time, the
Ghanaese introduce sugar cane production to Brazil, where they find the climate
and soil very good for this crop. The first sugar plantations arise.

1440-52 AD--Reign of Aztec emperor Moctezuma; he and his warriors conquer
large areas of eastern Mexico, taking many people prisoner to be sacrificed to
the war god, Huitzilopochtli.

1440 AD--the Uzbeks move south to Transoxiana under Abu al-Khayr.

1443 AD--A dispute between Roman traders and the Aztecs leads to violence.
Several Romans are killed, and several others are taken captive and sacrificed
to the Aztec war god, Huitzilopochtli, despite protests from the Roman
ambassador in Tenochtitlan. The Ambassador sends news of this to Rome.

1444 AD--News of the sacrifice of Roman citizens to a pagan Aztec god reaches
Rome. The public is outraged, and calls for war soon fill the land. The Senate
breaks relations with the Aztec Empire and recalls it’s Ambassador, and a
declaration of war soon follows. A large invasion fleet is soon being readied in
Roman ports.

1445-1452 AD--The Romano/Aztec War. The Roman invasion fleet, carrying an
army of 70,000 men, sets sail in early 1443. It arrives in Cuba, where it
resupplies and is joined by colonial troops, and then sails on to land at Nova
Aventina. The initial encounter between the Roman and Aztecs armies takes
place shortly afterward. The Aztecs have a formidable army...well organized into
regiments and highly disciplined, clad in armor consisting of iron scales sewn
onto quilted cotton and carrying shields, and including archers, javelin men
(whose range...up to nearly 300 yards...is increased by the atlatls they use),
slingers, swordsmen, and spearmen, all using iron weapons. They also have a
force of armored cavalry armed with lances. But the Aztecs are severely
handicapped by several factors. First, they fight to secure captives for sacrifice
to their gods, while the Romans fight to kill. Second, the Romans have a force
equipped with gunpowder weapons (matchlock muskets and bronze field
cannon), which the Aztecs have never seen before. Third, the Roman cavalry
are armed with composite bows as well as lances. And fourth and finally, the
Roman armor and the quality of Roman steel is superior to anything the Aztecs
have. And so, in the initial battle, the Aztecs suffer a devastating defeat,
although they also inflict large casualties on the Romans. But once the initial
shock of this defeat wears off, the Aztecs turn to guerilla tactics, and they prove
to be stubborn, resourceful, and dangerous opponents. As a result, it will take
seven years of hard fighting and a natural disaster before the Roman armies
finally defeat the Aztecs and put an end to their empire.

1447: Shah Rukh of the Timurid Empire is succeeded by his son Ulugh Beg.
Also in this year, Rome launches the first all-gun man-of-war incorporating
Chinese design features (double hulls, compartments, centerline rudder). This
250-foot long behemoth, called THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME, is
armed with 80 cannon, of which 60 are of large caliber, and is powered by three
tall masts with two square sails each and 1 smaller mast with a lanteen rig at the
rear. It is, when launched, the most powerful ship afloat anywhere in the world.
This starts a naval arms race between the Romans, Norse, and Egyptians, and
to a lesser extent the Ghana Empire, all of whom over the next few decades will
compete with each other to produce larger and more powerful ships. By the end
of the century, ships with 120 guns will not be uncommon in the navies of these
powers.

1449 AD--Ulugh Beg is murdered by his own son, Abu Said. Abu Said takes
over rulership of the Timurid Empire. Also in this year, the Roman Senate
abolishes slavery. Also in this year, the Battle of Tumu is fought in northern
China. The 20-year old Zheng Tong Emperor of Ming China, on suggestion by
Prime Minister Wang Zhen, goes on an expedition to the fight the Wa Ci, a
Mongolian tribe on the northwestern frontier. In a humiliating defeat, the Mongols
surround the Chinese army and capture the Emperor, who they will hold as a
hostage for the next seven years. Qi Yu, brother of the captured Emperor,
assumes the imperial throne as the Jing Tai Emperor.

c. 1450 AD--Inca city of Machu Picchu built on high ridge above Urubamba river
in Peru. Also, the Romans begin growing sugar cane in their Caribbean island
colonies.

1451 AD--Muhammad Shaybani becomes the khan of the Uzbeks. Also in this
year, the first textile factory operated by steam power opens in Sais, Egypt.
Within the next two decades, others will open in the Roman Republic and the
Norse Kingdom.

1452 AD--In 1452, a flood devastates the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, and a
two year period of famine follows. This finally breaks the back of Aztec
resistance, and the Romans capture the city. The last Aztec Emperor,
Moctezuma, is captured and taken to Rome, where he marches in chains in the
triumph of the victorious Roman general, Marcus Julius Crassus, before being
executed. The former Aztec lands are incorporated into the Roman Empire and
the province of Aztecaea is born.

c. 1455-1500 AD--Ghanaese traders, moving inland from their colonies in Brazil,
discover the Andes Mountains in about 1460 AD. Shortly afterward, they
encounter outposts of the Inca Empire, and regular trading relations are
established between Ghana and the Inca by 1470 AD. Through them, the Inca
are introduced to iron-working, horses, cattle, gunpowder and firearms, which
they incorporate into their society and and military. They also are introduced to
the less welcome benefits of contact with the Old World...smallpox, Black Death,
and other epidemics. Nearly half the population of the empire dies in epidemics
between 1460 and 1475 AD. But by the end of the century, these have burned
themselves out, and the population has recovered to a certain extent (although
still smaller than it was in 1455, at first contact).

1457 AD--Qi Chen, the former Zheng Tong Emperor of Ming China, is released
from captivity by the Mongols and returns to Beijing. His brother steps down, and
surrenders the throne to the returned Emperor. Qi Chen abandons the now
inauspicious name of Zheng Tong, and assumes the throne as the Tian Shun
Emperor.

1460-1500 AD--Roman expansion in central America. By 1470 they have
conquered the Maya States south of their new province of Aztecaea, and have
moved north as far as the edges of the Sonoran desert. After consolidating their
hold on the region, they have also managed to get the Aztec and Maya gold and
silver mines in operation. The flow of Aztec mineral wealth into Europe will
cause an initial economic boom, but will be followed eventually by inflation.

1460 AD--Pharaoh Necho XVIII dies, succeeded by Necho XIX. Necho XIX will
be known as “The Navigator,” as it was he who sent the first Egyptian ships to
the New World. Also in this year, the Turcomans invade Persia and
Mesopotamia.

1462 AD--Although the Rus Principality was restored in name after the War of
the Second Grand Alliance, and the Princes of Moscow have claimed rulership of
it, such has not been the case. Most city states, although technically
acknowleging the overlordship of the Grand Prince in Moscow, continue to rule
themselves virtually independently. In 1462, Grand Prince Ivan III becomes ruler
of Moscow and sets about to change that, once and for all. He re-organizes
Moscow as an absolutist state, and begins a series of campaigns against the
other city states, deposing their rulers and annexing their territory to his own. It
will take quite some time, but Ivan will eventually be successful in uniting the
country under his rule.

1462 AD--Pharaoh Necho XIX issues an edict abolishing slavery. Despite some
opposition among the nemhu (especially in Ophir, where slavery remains
somewhat useful and important in the mining operations there), the measure is
ratified by the Council of the 400 Elders.

1463-1470 AD--Revolt of the Ophir Nemhu. The nemhu of the province of Ophir,
which is, after Egypt, the single most populous region of the Egyptian Empire,
have long resented being, as they see it, under-represented on the Council of
the 400 Elders which advises the Pharaoh. The nehmu of Egypt-proper receive
200 out of 400 seats on the Council under the current Constitution, and the
nemhu of all the other provinces share the remaining 200 members. Of those
200, Ophir, of course, receives the lion’s share, but nevertheless, it’s
representation on the Council is not, in any way, shape, or form, analogous to it’s
portion of the population of the Empire. The final straw was Pharaoh Necho
XIX’s edict for the abolition of slavery, which was heavily favored by nemhu in
Egypt proper and in most other provinces of the Empire, but completely rejected
by the nemhu of Ophir. And so, in 1463 AD, the nemhu of Ophir rise in revolt,
and they succeed in temporarily establishing the independence of their province
from the Empire. Indeed, controlling the rich gold mines of the region as they do,
they are able to (via merchants from Ghana, Bornu, and Kongo) import large
quantities of arms and other military supplies (from Rome, Ghana, Bornu, and
the Norse), and therefore they are able to field a sizeable field army. Of course
the Pharaoh cannot allow Ophir, the foundation of his imperial treasury, to
secede from the empire, and he sends his armies southward. The war lasts for
seven years and is extremely destructive. Finally, in 1470 AD, the Pharaoh
agrees to an amendment to the Imperial Constitution which portions out seats
on the Council of the 400 Elders among the various provinces on the basis of
population. He also promises to subsidize the installation of new steam engines
at any mine whose owner cannot afford one, and gives a promise of amnesty to
the rebels if they will surrender. The nemhu of Ophir accept this offer, and lay
down their arms. Despite the promise of amnesty, however, the Pharaoh rounds
up the ring-leaders of the rebellion and has them fed to the crocodiles. But
Necho keeps his word regarding the steam engines, and most importantly,
regarding the amendments to the Constitution, which he, like his predecessor
Psamtik XVIII, has engraved for all time on the walls of the Temple of Karnak.
The nemhu of Egypt-proper end up with 120 seats on the council, and the
nemhu of Ophir with 100. The remaining 180 seats are apportioned among the
other provinces of the empire.

1464 AD--Death of the Tian Shun Emperor of Ming China. He is succeeded by
his son, Jian Shen, who reigns as the Cheng Hua Emperor.

1464-1485 AD--For centuries, the Songhay tribe which inhabits the region
around the city of Gao (in the Ghana Empire) have chafed under the rulership of
the Soninke and Mandinke rulers of Ghana. Several times over the past three
centuries, they have rebelled, but they have never successfully established their
independence. In 1464 the Songhay chieftain Sonni, with help from the King of
Bornu, rebels, and this time, Gao achieves independence from Ghana. Sonni is
a gifted military leader, and has created a hard-hitting military composed of
armored cavalry and fast warships. Under his leadership the Songhay armies
will, over the next two decades, defeat the Ghanaese imperial armies and wrest
control of the empire from the Soninke/Mandinke dynasty which has ruled the
state for the past 700 years. The King of Ghana, Tekanemin IV, flees to the
Ghanaese colony in Brazil with most of his army in 1485, where he establishes a
rival state with claim to the Ghanaese imperial throne. A state of intermittent
warfare, mostly conducted between rival fleets at sea, will continue between the
two rivals for several decades.

1466 AD--Dayan Khan unifies the Mongolian tribes again in Mongolia. Over the
next few years they will become a major irritant to the Ming Chinese, who will
fight numerous campaigns, not always successfully, against them.

1467 AD--Until now, the Japanese Empire has had little contact with the outside
world. However, in this year, civil war erupts in Japan and Japan is split among
feudal lords (daimyo). This chaotic state of affairs will last for most of a century,
and will lead to the end of Japan’s isolation from the rest of the world.

1469 AD--Abu Said dies and the western Timurid empire (the Ilkhan) dissolves.
In the wake of this collapse, Rome espands eastward into Armenia.

1470s AD--Inca armies capture the Chimu capital at Chan Chan. Collapse of
Kingdom of Chimor, which is absorbed into the Inca Empire.

1472 AD--The first steam engines are imported into Ming China. They are
initially used to run pumps to help irrigate fields and in the mining industry.

1475-1550 AD--The Ming Dynasty completes extensive renovation and
improvements to the Great Wall of China.

1478 AD--Ivan III of Moscow annexes Novgorod, the last Russian city-state
which does not acknowlege his overlordship.

1480 AD--Ivan III of Moscow assumes the title of Tsar of All the Russias. The
Rus Principality becomes known as the Russian Empire. Also in this year, the
Ming Chinese first import automated machinery for their textile and agriculture
industries (mechanical looms and mechanical sowing, reaping, and threshing
machines).

1485 AD--A Norse inventor named Bjorn Karlssen develops the first steam
powered boat. Also in this year, construction of a new Kremlin begins in
Moscow.

1487 AD--Death of the Cheng Hua Emperor of Ming China. He is succeeded by
his son You Tang, who reigns as the Hong Zhi Emperor.

1471-1493 AD--Emperor Topa Inca expands Inca empire into Bolivia, Chile, and
Argentina.

1478 AD--Husayn Bayqara rules the Timurids from Herat.

1490 AD--Bjorn Karlssen has continued developing his nautical steam power
designs, and in this year a large merchant vessel, powered by sail and
steam-driven paddle wheels, is launched and makes it’s maiden voyage across
the Atlantic to the colonies in Vinland. It completes the journey in record time (as
it is able to use steam power at times when it otherwise would be becalmed by
contrary winds), proving the efficacy and practicality of steam powered vessels.

1492 AD--Pharaoh Necho XIX sends the first Egyptian trading ships to the New
World, thus gaining his sobriquet, “The Navigator.”

1493--Death of Sonni, Songhay ruler of the Ghana Empire. He is succeeded by
Askia I.

c. 1495 AD--The first prototype Flintlock firing mechanisms (actually closer to the
OTL Snaphaunce lock) appear nearly simultaneously in Egypt and Rome. They
are still rather tempermental and expensive to manufacture compared to the
tried and true matchlocks, and do not gain immediate acceptance. Also about
this time, the first factories to produce the mechanical wonders imported from the
west (steam engines, power looms, mechanical farming machines) are built in
Ming China, ending China’s dependence on imported machinery.

1497 AD--Babur, a descendant of both Genghis Khan and Timur, becomes the
ruler of Ferghana and founds the Mogul dynasty.

1500-1600 AD--In Ming China, a number of factors are at work which in the OTL
eventually led to the decline and fall of the Empire and it’s conquest by the
Manchu in the next century. First, climatic changes, with falling temperatures
and greater rainfall in some areas, caused harvests to fail and rivers to overflow
their banks. These same climatic changes also affected the Mongol and
Jurchen nomads to the north, prodding them to unite and raid into China. Large
areas of the north were virtually depopulated as peasants, fleeing from famine
and raiders, fled to the south. These migrations, in turn, caused disruptions and
food shortages in the southern regions as well. Another factor which has
caused problems is that the Ming policy of trade and contact with foreign nations
has resulted in a large influx of gold and silver into China. While this has had
many good aspects and has increased the wealth of the imperial government, it
has also lead to inflation as Egyptian gold and Roman silver have poured into the
economy. Fortunately, through their trade contacts, the Ming Emperors (or
rather their Prime Ministers, since most of the Emperors since the Yongle
Emperor have preferred to live in seclusion in the Forbidden City, engaging in
the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure while leaving the actual government of China
to the Ministers), have been able to import food supplies (Egypt has, for
example, over the past century become a large producer of rice for export to
China) to ease the suffering of the people. Due to the much higher trade profits
the Ming are receiving in the ATL, they have been able to maintain their large
and well disciplined army, so banditry in the countryside is well controlled. They
have also been able to forego many of the burdensome taxes that, when
combined with the other woes besetting the empire, eventually led to the peasant
revolts which toppled the Ming regime in the OTL. And so, when the next
century dawns, the Ming will be in a much better position to withstand the
Manchu onslaught.

1500 AD--The Uzbeks cross the Syr Darya river and enter Transoxiana.

1500-1505 AD--Askia, the Songhay ruler of the Ghana Empire, declares war on
the kingdom of Bornu in 1500 AD. In a series of campaigns lasting five years,
Askia conquers Bornu and incorporates it’s territory into the Ghana Empire.

1500-1511 AD--Ismail I, the founding Shah of the Safavid Dynasty in Persia,
consolidates his rule over Persia.

1501 AD--Pharaoh Necho XIX “the Navigator” dies, succeeded by Thutmoses X.
Also, in this year, the first steam-powered warship, the PHARAOH RAMESES II,
is launched in Egypt. Like Bjorn Karlssen’s earlier vessel, it is a sidewheel and
sail combination steamer. The vulnerability of the side wheels to cannon fire,
however, limit it’s utility as a war vessel.

1502-1505 AD--War between the Russia and the Golden Horde. The Golden
Horde is finally shattered, and Russia expands eastward in to Siberia.

1504 AD--Babur conquers Kabul. Also in this year, the Roman Senate adopts a
mercantilist policy and passes laws to exclude Egyptian and Norse traders from
Roman ports in the New World. Both protest, but take no other action at this
time.

1505 AD--The Shaybanid Horde (Uzbeks) under Muhammad Shaybani expel the
Timurids from Transoxiana and capture Samarkand. Also in this year, the Hong
Zhi Emperor of Ming China dies, and is succeeded by his son, Hou Zhao, who
reigns as the Zheng De Emperor.

1506 AD--The Uzbek Shaybanids capture Bukhara (Uzbekistan) and Herat
(Afghanistan), bringing to an end the Timurid dynasty and forcing Babur to flee.

1508 AD--A Egyptian vessel traveling from southern Africa to Ghana’s colonies
in Brazil is blown off course and discovers the coastline of Argentina.

1510 AD--A Roman named Quintus Publius Strabo demonstrates the first steam
“land ship” (locomotive). The Egyptian ambassador to Rome reports this to
Pharaoh Thutmoses X, who immediately orders Egyptian scientists to match it.
Also in this year, Pharaoh Thutmoses decides to send an expedition to colonize
the new lands found by the Egyptian ship blown off course in 1508. He does this
in view of the Roman mercantilist policies, which are cutting into Egyptian trade,
which makes it seem a good idea to have a foothold in the new lands for Egypt.

1510 AD--The Uzbek Khan Muhammad Shaybani dies in battle against the
Safavids at Merv.

1512 AD--The first Egyptian land ship is built (largely on the basis of stolen plans
and drawings of the Roman original). Pharaoh Thutmoses X is pleased, and
orders the construction of the first railroads in Egypt. Also in this year, Shah
Ismail I of Persia invades Mesopotamia, seizing all of it from the Egyptians and
Neo-Omayyads.

1512-1600 AD--The Egyptian colonization expedition sails from the city of New
Thebes (OTL Capetown, South Africa) in 1512 AD and heads for the New World.
They found a settlement called New Tanis near the mouth of the Platte River
(near the site of OTL Buenos Aires). Successive expeditions will enlarge Egypt’s
holdings as they expand inland along the rivers. By 1600 AD they will also, like
Ghana, be in contact with the Inca Empire to the east, and trade between the
two empires will have begun.

1513-1522 AD--Egypt and the Neo-Omayyad Caliphate renew their old alliance
and declare war on the Safavid Persian Empire. Despite yearly campaigns
spanning nearly a decade, however, the Persians are not dislodged from
Mesopotamia, and in 1522, a treaty is signed which establishes the boundary
between the three empires on the Euphrates River.

1514 AD--Pharaoh Thutmoses X dies, succeeded by Seti XII. Seti XII will
continue his father’s railroad development policies, including beginning of a rail
line which will link the important Egyptian cities, mining and industrial areas of
the south with the Egyptian heartland in the north. Another line will be pushed
westward through the Sahel to link Egypt with it’s trading partners in Ghana. This
proposal is enthusiastically supported by King Askia of Ghana, who agrees to
supply labor and land for the proposed line.

1520-1527 AD--The Great Maritime War between the Norse Kingdom and the
Roman Republic. Norse King Olaf VII decides to try to invade the Roman
colonies in the Caribbean, seeking to take the rich tobacco and sugar plantations
there. A Norse invasion fleet from Vinland swoops down, but is met by a Roman
fleet off the Florida Keys. In the first ever clash between the new model
men-of-war, the Norse are defeated and forced to retreat. The succeeding years
see other clashes at sea between the two powers, and several inconclusive land
battles both in Europe and in the New World. But neither side is able to gain
much of an advantage, and the war finally peters out in 1527. No formal treaty is
signed, however, and the naval and colonial forces of the two powers will clash
intermittently for the next five decades.

1521 AD--Death of the Zheng De Emperor of Ming China. He is succeeded by
his son, Hou Cong, who reigns as the Jia Jing Emperor.

1522 AD--Babur captures Kandahar.

1525 AD--A Greek inventor working in Naukratis, Egypt, develops the screw
propeller. The innovation is put to work on merchant shipping, and Rome and
the Norse soon copy the design.

1526 AD--Babur captures Delhi from Ibrahim, the sultan of Delhi, and founds the
Mogul empire in India

1530 AD--Babur dies and his son Humayun succeeds him.

c. 1530 AD--Rome, Egypt, and the Norse nearly simultaneously launch their first
steam warships powered by screw propellers.

1531 AD--Tabinshwehti founds a dynasty with capital at Toungoo in Burma.
c. 1535 AD--The first Ghanaese merchant steamships powered by screw
propellers are launched. Within a year, the first Ghanaese man-of-war so
equipped will also appear.

1538 AD--Abdullah Shaybanid II expands the Shaybanid (Uzbek) empire and
moves the capital to Bukhara

1539 AD--China launches an expedition against Vietnam.

1540 AD--Completion of the Egyptian Sais to Ophir rail line. Also in this year,
the first Egyptian steam warship visits a Chinese port. The Ming order their
designers to begin work on a competitive design.

1540 AD--Babur's son Humayun loses the empire to Afghan Leader Sher Shah
and goes into exile in Persia.

1541 AD--Tabinshwehti unifies Burma.

1542 AD--Firearms (matchlock muskets) and gunpowder are introduced to
Japan by Egyptians who were captured at sea by Japanese pirates and taken to
Japan while heading home from a trading mission to China. Also in this year,
the first clash between steam powered warships with screw propellers (a Roman
frigate versus a Norse one) takes place.

1543 AD--Egyptian ships, searching for the ship lost in 1542, discover Japan and
begin small scale trading there soon afterward. The warring Daimyo are eager
for shipments of gunpowder and firearms, which the Egyptians provide.

1543 AD--Dayan dies and the Mongol empire disintegrates again

1544 AD--Pharaoh Seti XII dies, succeeded by Necho XX.

1545 AD--Pharaoh Necho XX dies, succeeded by Psamtik XXI.

1550 AD--By this time, there are rail lines linking many of the cities of the Roman
Republic and Egyptian Empire, and railroad development has started in the
Norse Kingdom and the Rus Principality as well. Also in this year, the first Ming
Chinese man-of-war powered by sail and steam, the EMPEROR YONGLE, is
launched. It is the equal of any vessel in the navies of the West, and the first of
many such vessels.

1554 AD--For the past century, the coasts of the Ming Chinese Empire have
been beset by raids from Japanese pirates. Whole towns have been destroyed,
and Chinese merchant shipping has suffered greatly. Up until now, the Ming
forces which have been sent to deal with the problem have been insufficient and
of poor quality, but in 1554 this changes, and Ming Chinese General Yu Dayou
defeats the Japanese Pirates at Wushongsuo. This begins a campaign which
will see the final expulsion of the Japanese pirates from the coasts of China.

1555 AD--The Mogul king Humayun reconquers India.

1556 AD--The Mogul king Humayun dies and his son Akbar becomes the ruler of
India.

1558 AD--Burma invades the kingdom of Siam in Thailand.

1562 AD--Completion of the rail line from Sais (Egypt), via the Sahel to Bornu
City and Timbuktu in Ghana. Trade between the west African empire and Egypt
is greatly facilitated.

1563 AD--Ming Chinese Generals Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou expel the Japanese
Pirates from Guangdong and the rest of southeastern China. 20,000 Japanese
troops are killed. Ming China will be virtually free from the predations of these
pirates for many years.

1566 AD--Death of the Jia Jing Emperor of Ming China. He is succeeded by his
son, Zai Hou, who reigns as the Long Qing Emperor.

1568 AD--In Japan, the Daimyo Oda Nobunaga enters Kyoto and ends the civil
war.

1569 AD--Burmese king Bayinnaung invades and conquers the kingdom of
Ayutthaya (Siam).

1570 AD--After learning of the railroad through the Sahel linking Egypt with
Ghana and Bornu from Roman caravan traders, the Roman Senate decides to
construct a rail line linking their north African provinces with Ghana. The line will
run from Carthage on the north African coast, and like the Egyptian line,
terminate in the Ghanaese city of Timbuktu. The rail line through the burning
sands of the Sahara will prove very difficult to build and will not be completed for
many years.

c. 1570 AD--The first railroads in Ming China are built. At this time the Ming
have to import Egyptian or Roman landships (locomotives), but this will change
within the next two decades.

1571 AD--The Mongols end their 300-year old war with China.

1572 AD--Death of the Long Qing Emperor of Ming China. He is succeeded by
his son, Yi Jun, who reigns as the Wan Li Emperor.

1573 AD--The Daimyo Oda Nobunaga extends his control over all of Japan.

1574 AD--Burma invades the kingdom of Lan Xang (Laos).

1575 AD--In Japan, the Daimyo Oda Nobunaga defeats the rival Takeda clan in
the battle of Nagashino by employing modern warfare (matchlock firearms).

1580 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XXI dies, succeeded by Psamtik XXII.

c. 1580 AD--Egypt, Rome, and the Norse Kingdom begin building railroads in
their colonies in the New World.
1580 AD onwards--Nurhaci, a Jurchen chieftain, begins the process of uniting
the Jurchen tribes of Manchuria.

1581 AD--Russian Cossacks begin colonizing Siberia.

1582 AD--In Japan, Oda Nobunaga is murdered and is succeeded by Toyotomi
Hideyoshi.

1584 AD--King Naresuen regains Siam's independence from Burma, with capital
at Ayutthaya.

1588 AD--Admiral Yi Sun-Sin of the Kingdom of Choson revises the design of
the Choson “Turtle Ships.” The new ships are twice as long as their
predecessors, the arched roof is covered in iron plate with long spikes protruding
from it (serving the dual purposes of deflecting enemy cannon shot and repelling
attempts at boarding), the small cannon on the ships are replaced with large
ones, and a smoke generator (intended to screen the vessel from enemy eyes
as well as intimidating enemy sailors) is installed. The vessels are also now
steam powered, an innovation borrowed from Ming China. The finished product
is one of the most formidable warships existing in the world at that time.

1591 AD--Toyotomi Hideyoshi reunifies and pacifies Japan.

1592-1593 AD--Japanese Daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi tries to conquer Choson
(Korea) and China, but fails. Hideyoshi’s plan was to cross the sea at the head
of a large expeditionary force and form an alliance with Choson's King Sonjo.
Japan would then march northward up the Korean peninsula with Choson troops
in the vanguard and conquer the Chinese Ming Empire "as easily as a man rolls
up a mat." King Sonjo refused, and in the summer of 1592 Hideyoshi sent an
army of 51,000 men, commanded by three of his best generals, aboard a fleet of
700 ships to invade Choson. The Japanese, surprising the Koreans, landed and
were successful in conquering virtually the entire kingdom of Choson on land,
but the Turtle Ships of the Choson Navy, under Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, devastated
Japanese fleets bringing supplies and reinforcements to the Japanese Army in
Choson, which was soon in dire straits. Guerilla resistance by Korean peasants
and soldiers, as well as a Ming Chinese Army (which intervened on the petition
of King Sonjo to the Ming Emperor) of over 50,000 men under one of China’s
best generals, Li Ju-Sung, eventually defeated the Japanese, most of whom
were finally forced to retreat from Choson in the summer of 1593.

1595 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XXII dies, succeeded by Rameses XXVII.

1598 AD--Hideyoshi dies. Japan falls back into civil war. With Ming Chinese
help, the kingdom of Choson expels the last Japanese invaders shortly
thereafter. Also in this year, Abdullah Shaybanid II of the Uzbeks dies and the
Astrakhanid dynasty inherits power in Transoxiana, retaining Bukhara.

1600 AD--At the battle of Sekigahara Tokugawa Ieyasu, a friend of Hideyoshi
and Nobunaga, defeats the other contenders to the leadership of Japan.
c. 1600 onwards--Electricity had been known to science since at least 600 BC,
when Thales of Miletus discovered static electricity can be produced by rubbing
amber. The knowledge had little practical application, however, and little more
research was done. That is not to say that NO research was done, however,
and by 200 BC, scientists in Mesopotamia were experimenting with the first
electric batteries, clay jars lined with copper, capped with asphalt plugs with
conducting wires hanging down into the interior, and filled with a saline solution
to produce a small electric current, which were used for electroplating purposes.
Over the 1800 years since that time, knowledge has come slowly. But by 1600
AD, the basic theories and laws of electromagnetism are known, and scientists
and inventors are tinkering with electromagnets, batteries and static electricity
generators, trying to find practical uses for the knowledge thus gained. Thus the
groundwork for another phase of the Scientific and Industrial Revolution has
been laid.

c. 1600 AD--The true flintlock firing mechanism is invented in Egypt. All major
armies will re-equip with flintlock firearms within the next two decades.

c. 1600 AD onward--Since the 1580s, Russian Cossacks have been migrating
into Siberia, beyond the control of the Tsarist government of Russia. When, in
1600 AD, Tsar Boris I sends his army to subdue the Cossacks and to establish
government control over them, the Cossack migrated eastward to escape the
authority of the Tsar. When a few years later the Tsar’s armies follow, the
Cossacks migrate again, and the process starts all over. By this process, the
Russian Empire will expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean by 1700 AD.

1600-1700 AD--Colonial Expansion in the New World. In this TL, there has not
been anything like the mass exodus of people from the old world to the new
which occurred (especially to the English colonies in the New World) in the OTL.
This has resulted in somewhat slower expansion of population in the holdings by
the various powers in the new lands, and, as a result, slower expansion of the
holdings themselves.
--The Norse have followed the model of colonization used by the French in North
America prior to their defeat in the French and Indian Wars. They are heavily
settled on the eastern seaboard, but in the interior west of the Appalachian
Mountains are somewhat thin on the ground, despite having been in North
America (or Vinland, as it is known in this timeline) since shortly after 1,000 AD.
They have been primarily interested in trading, and for the most part, have
peacefully established trading settlements scattered through the interior among
the Skraeling tribes there. Of course, when one or another of the tribes has
made trouble for them, the Norse have not been above brutally suppressing the
outbreak even to the extent of exterminating the tribe in question. However, as
they have spread farther from their main population centers on the east coast,
and as the native tribes have recovered from the great epidemics and absorbed
old world technology and agriculture, they have found it more and more difficult
to expand westward. During this century, therefore, the Norse cross the
Mississippi, but they don’t expand much to the west beyond OTL Louisiana,
Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and Minnesota, as they encounter strong native
resistance from the Great Plains Tribes, who have had both horses and
ironworking for a long time and now are a formidable military power in their own
right...or would be, if they could unite.
--The Romans have followed something like the model used by the Spanish in
their colonies. They have established themselves as the ruling class in what are,
primarily, native societies, and forcibly imposed a veneer of Roman culture over
the old native civilizations. The native religions are generally suppressed, and
Christian missionaries are busy saving the souls of the heathen. Latin is in the
process of replacing the various native tongues, much as Spanish did in the
OTL. However, unlike the Spanish, they are interested in more than just looting
the new lands of their mineral wealth, which has two effects on their
colonization...they don’t expand as rapidly as the Spanish did (they don’t have
freebooting expeditions going off into unexplored areas seeking “Lost Cities of
Gold,” for example), and the areas they do occupy are more heavily settled by
Romans. Thus, by 1700, the Romans have expanded north to the line of the Rio
Grande, Gila, and Colorado Rivers, where they have...in typical Roman
fashion...established a defensive line marking the northern frontier of their
holdings. They have also settled the northern coast of South America. In the
south beyond their province of Aztecaea, they do not expand, seeing the
steaming jungles of Honduras and Guatemala as not really worth having.
--The Ghanaese colony in Brazil was given a major population boost by a large
exodus of Soninke and Mandinke people who followed their king into exile when
the throne of Ghana was usurped by the Songhay dynasty. However, since that
time, the colony has been in a state of “cold war” with the motherland, and there
has been little immigration as a result. So the colony has expanded slower than
it might have between 1600 and 1700. They have expanded a little farther north
and south along the coast, but that is about it.
--The Egyptian colony in the Platte River region of South America has also
expanded slowly to the south and west. However, the discovery of gold and
silver in the region has lead to something of a “gold rush” which has brought an
influx of settlers from the Egyptian Empire into the new lands, which by 1700 is
fairly heavily settled. The Egyptians have also found the regions to the South
(the Pampas) well suited to cattle raising, and have established that industry
there.

1600 AD--Spurred by the success of the Choson Turtle Ships in the recent war
with Japan, the Ming Chinese Navy launches the first fully armored ironclad
warship, the MEN OF T’ANG. It is a broadside frigate, armed with 50 guns, clad
with 4 inches of iron plate, propelled by two powerful steam engines driving a
screw propeller. The new ship instantly renders obsolete all the wooden naval
vessels in the fleets of the various world powers, but this is not immediately
recognized. The Chinese will launch many more of these vessels, many of
which are more powerful than the MEN OF T’ANG, over the coming years.

1602 AD--Reports about the Chinese vessel, MEN OF T’ANG, reach Egypt and
Rome (via their ambassadors) at about the same time. Both nations
immediately begin work on similar vessels. The Norse soon follow suit.

1603 AD--The Emperor of Japan appoints Tokugawa Ieyasu as shogun, who
moves his government to Edo (Tokyo) and founds the Tokugawa dynasty of
shoguns. The Tokugawa Shogunate divides the subjects into five hereditary
classes of decreasing importance (lords, samurai, farmers, artisans, merchants).
Significantly, in accordance with the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Confucian beliefs,
the merchant class is at the bottom of the hierarchy because it is believed that
trade produces nothing of value to society and therefore merchants are
parasitical. This will have profound consequences later.

1603-1606 AD--In 1603, Shah Abbas I of the Safavid Persian Empire forms an
alliance with Sultan Akbar I of the Mogul Empire against the Uzbek Khanate,
and the two empires declare war on the Uzbeks. The Khanate is conquered
and divided between the two empires.

c. 1605 AD onward--Since earliest civilization, the primary source of lighting in
homes has been lamps fueled with animal or vegetable oils (whale oil or olive oil
being two popular fuels). Candles, of course, have also been available as a
secondary and more expensive means of illumination. Both of these means
give poor light, and the oil-fueled lamps produce foul smelling smoke. And both
whale and olive oil spoiled if left on the shelf too long. Meanwhile, for centuries,
Egypt has been distilling petroleum for use in the manufacture of Egyptian Fire.
Two of the products of this process are gasoline and kerosene. Around 1605
AD, an anonymous brassworker in Egypt has the idea to use the less volatile of
these products, kerosene, as a lamp fuel, and in cooperation with a glassworker
in a neighboring shop, designs a lamp to burn said fuel. The lamp produces a
much brighter light than the old whale and olive oil lamps, there is no unpleasant
smell from the burning fuel, and the fuel can be stored indefinitely. The inventor
knows he has a winner, and arranges to get his new product demonstrated
before Pharaoh Rameses XXVII. The Pharaoh is suitably impressed, and
orders the new lamps for palaces and temples throughout the kingdom. This
presents the inventor with something of a problem...how to produce the large
number of lamps needed within a reasonable amount of time? He talks with
various other brass workers, mechanics, glass workers, and so on, and comes
up with the idea of assembly line manufacture using interchangeable parts. He
basically cuts his lamp apart, makes molds from the various sections, and
produces cast-brass copies of them. He then assembles a group of brass
workers, each of whose responsibility it will be to weld or screw another part onto
a lamp, passing it down the line until it is fully assembled. Using this technique,
the new lamp-making company is able to deliver the lamps well ahead of
schedule, and at significantly less cost to the manufacturer. The success of the
lamp-making firm inspires other manufacturers to imitate it’s manufacturing
process, and mass production is born. It will have profound influences on future
society.

1605 AD--Rome launches it’s first ironclad warship, a monstrous steam ship of
the line armed with 80 cannon and armored with a belt of 4 inch armor plate,
called the JULIUS CAESAR. Later that year, Egypt launches it’s own ironclad,
a steam ship of the line called the PHARAOH NECHO II, armed with 90 guns
and armored with a belt of 5 inch armor plate, and finally, near the end of the
year, the Norse launch the SEA DRAGON, a steam ship of the line armed with
85 guns and armored with a belt of 4 inch armor plate. This marks the
beginning of a new naval arms race among the great powers in which smaller
powers, such as Songhay Ghana and Soninke Ghana, will also participate (but
on a lesser scale, of course).

1608-1652 AD--Reign of the Inca Emperor Manco Capac III. Manco is a
far-sighted ruler who is aware of the growing power of the various old world
empires as they expand in the region. Manco has plenty of gold and silver, as
well trade profits from another product which, since it has been introduced into
the old world in the late 1500s by Egyptian and Soninke Ghana traders, has
proven increasingly popular and profitable....coca leaves. Manco uses these
financial reserves to take steps to modernize his empire. He establishes
relations with Egypt (his negotiations will eventually result in a mutual defense
treaty between the two empires), and from them imports technicians and
machinery which he uses to build an industrial base, including firearms, cannon
and gunpowder factories (the gunpowder industry is greatly helped by the fact
that the Inca possess the huge nitrate reserves of the Guano Islands, off the
Peruvian coast), iron and steel mills, and other vital industries. He modernizes
the Inca military, and expands the empire north to the Isthmus of Panama and
south to Cape Horn. He also establishes, for the first time, an Inca Navy,
purchasing warships from Egypt and Soninke Ghana, and building shipyards
where Egyptian and Soninke Ghanaese shipwrights in the pay of the Inca
Emperor build additional ships for Manco’s growing navy. By the time of
Manco’s death in 1652, the Inca Empire has been greatly strengthened, and is
far better prepared to meet the challenges ahead.

1610 AD--Mass production using interchangeable parts first applied to the
firearms industry in Egypt. Other nations soon follow.

1612 AD--Roman chemist Quintus Lucius Galba discovers that electric current
heats metal strips to incandescence, a principle that would later be used in the
engineering of the light bulb.

1614 AD--Within a couple of decades after the first Egyptian ships began trading
in Japan in 1543, they were followed by the first Roman and Norse ships. And in
the wake of these ships came Christian missionaries. Since that time, these
have been basically tolerated, but now Shogun Ieyasu is becoming increasingly
worried about the effect Christianity is having on Japanese culture, especially in
that it makes people question the rigidly stratified society which the Tokugawa
Shogunate has imposed on Japan. Accordingly, in 1614, Ieyasu bans
Christianity from Japan.

c. 1615 AD--The new kerosene lamps are proving increasingly popular, but the
oil for them is still expensive. Petroleum is being collected as seep oil in various
places around the world, but production is limited...and therefore, the supply of
kerosene is limited. Around 1615 AD, a Greek inventor named Agamemnon
Theopoulous living in Egypt designs a drilling machine, powered by a steam
engine, which he initially sells as a means of drilling water wells. But, while
drilling such a well in the Sinai peninsula, a strange thing happens....instead of
finding water, he finds petroleum instead, deep under ground. Knowing that this
is liable to be MUCH more profitable than any water well could ever be,
Theopoulous tells the landowner (a small farmer, not very educated or worldly)
that there is no water on the land, neglects to mention the find of petroleum, and
offers to buy the now worthless plot from the landowner. The landowner agrees,
and happily goes off to find other fields to till. Meanwhile, Theopoulous forms
his own petroleum company, and gets rich by pumping the “black gold” out of
the ground and selling it to kerosene refiners. Others will follow in his wake, and
the price of kerosene drops substantially over the next few years. Kerosene
lamps begin to make their way into the homes of the poor as well as the rich.

1615 AD--Shogun Ieyasu of Japan captures Osaka and destroys the Toyotomi
clan. His power in Japan is now absolute. Also in this year, an Egyptian vessel
returning to Egypt from the Kingdom of Majapahit is blown off course and
discovers the northwestern coast of Australia. Upon returning to Egypt, the
news is relayed to Pharaoh Rameses XXVII, who decides this might be a good
place to establish a trading colony, as it is close to Majapahit and the Spice
Islands, as well as being a convenient waypoint for ships trading with China.

1616 AD--Nurhaci unifies the Jurchen (Manchus) and creates the state of
Chin/Qing in northeastern China.

1616 AD onward--Egyptian colonization in Australia. In 1616, an
Egyptian colonization expedition sails for Australia. They land near the mouth of
a river on the northwest coast (the OTL Daly River) of the continent, and a
settlement is established. Later expeditions will other establish settlements
along the coast between the sites of OTL Perth and Darwin by 1700 AD. The
Egyptians, of course, meet the aboriginal inhabitants of the continent, and an
uneasy relationship forms between the two groups which is, on the whole,
relatively peaceful. Egyptian settlers introduce cattle and sheep to the region,
and begin cultivating grain and cotton in regions where they find the climate and
availability of water suitable.

1619 AD--Pharaoh Rameses XXVII dies, succeeded by Thutmoses XII. Also in
this year, the Wan Li Emperor of Ming China dies. He is succeeded by his son
Chang Luo, who takes the throne as the Tai Chang Emperor.

1619-1622 AD--Over the preceding centuries, the Neo-Omayyad Caliphs have
become increasingly weak and have retreated, more and more, into a life of
hedonism, which has caused much disaffection among the populace. In 1619,
there is a major rebellion against the Caliph, who is overthrown and killed in the
major riots which take place in Mecca. The entire royal family is hunted down
and killed by the mobs, and the Arabian peninsula falls into chaos. Claiming to
be acting to preserve the sacred places of Islam, Safavid Shah Abbas I of Persia
sends an army to “restore order.” The Persians take control of the entire
peninsula, put down the riots, establish guards over the holy places...and then
stay. Arabia becomes part of the Safavid Empire.

1620 AD--The Tai Chang Emperor of Ming China dies, and is succeeded by his
son You Jiao, who takes the throne as the Tian Ji Emperor.

1620-1650 AD--Expansion of the Ghana Empire in Africa. In a series of
campaign lasting 30 years, the armies of Kings Askia IV and Musa III of
Songhay Ghana expand the empire eastward across the Sahel, following the
trans-Sahel rail line, until they come into contact with the expanding Egyptian
frontier.

1621 AD--Using the principles learned during his extensive studies of electricity,
Roman physicist Lucius Quintus Galba constructs a primitive electric motor able
to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy using electromagnetic
induction.

1622 AD--The Roman railway across the Sahara from Carthage to Timbuktu is
completed, facilitating trade between the two empires.

1625-1629 AD--Shah Abbas I of the Safavid Persian Empire attacks the Khazak
Horde. The Persians destroy the main Khazak army, and absorb most of their
lands. Concerned about the fate of the Christian minority of Russian Cossacks
(who have, for some time, been migrating into the lands held by the Khazak
Horde, where they have been permitted to settle if they agree to pay homage to
the Khazak Khan) who live in the region, Tsar Dimitri III sends Russian armies
into the northern portions of the region. The Persians and Russians clash on
the border, but the fighting is inconclusive. Shah Abbas (now called “The Great”
because of his expansion of the Persians’ domains) dies in 1629, and his
successor, Safi I, is content with his empire, and sues for peace. A treaty is
drawn up, establishing the border between the two empires, in 1629 AD, and
peace settles on the region.

1628 AD--The Tian Ji Emperor of Ming China dies, and is succeeded by his
brother, You Jian, who takes the throne as the Chong Zhen Emperor.

1629 AD--An Egyptian engineer named Neferkare demonstrates a practical
application of electromagnetism in metallurgy by constructing an electromagnet
capable of lifting ten times its own weight. His invention would later be applied in
the development of practical electric motors and telecommunications devices.

1629-1635 AD--The Kingdom of Majapahit conquers the southern half of the
Malay Peninsula.

1630-1670 AD--Expansion of the Egyptian Empire in Africa. Over the preceding
1,300 years, Egyptian settlers and cultural influence have crept ever deeper into
the interior of Africa, and, as mentioned previously, the peoples of the interior
have formed numerous small city states as a result of this influence. Relations
between those states and the Egyptian Empire have, for the most part, been
peaceful, but in 1630, Pharaoh Thutmoses XII decides to follow the example of
his illustrious predecessor, Ahmosi VII, and extend Egyptian domination into the
political realm in these regions as well. In a series of campaigns lasting 40 years
(and completed by his successor, Necho XXI), Egyptian armies move inland,
and subdue large sections of the interior of southern and central Africa.

1633 AD--Concerned by the continuing influx of foreign ideas which are
undermining the rigid societal structure of Tokugawa Japan, Shogun Iemitsu
forbids Japanese citizens from traveling abroad and reading foreign books.

1637 AD--The Manchus, led by Nurhaci's son Abahai, invade the Kingdom of
Choson, which becomes a vassal state of the Manchus

1638 AD--Norse scientist Magnus Anderssen discovers that electric current may
be induced in a wire using a changing magnetic field--the principle of
electromagnetic induction that would later have such important effects on the
electronics industry. He does not publish his findings. Also in this year, Shogun
Iemitsu forbids ship building in Japan.

1639 AD--Shogun Iemitsu of Japan restricts foreigners to Nagasaki. Also in this
year, applying the principles of electrochemical reaction, whereby electric current
may be produced from the conversion of the chemical energy in fuel, Norse
chemist Sven Jorgensen invents the first fuel cell. Also, in this year, the first
Russian Cossacks, moving west to avoid the control of the Russian Tsar, reach
the Pacific Ocean.

1641 AD--Shogun Iemitsu of Japan bans all foreigners, except Chinese and
Egyptians, from Japan. Egyptian and Chinese merchants are restricted to one
small trading post on an island in Nagasaki Bay. Japan now retreats into a
period of self-imposed isolation, from which it will not emerge for a long time.

1644 AD--The Manchus invade northern China, defeat the northern Ming army,
and besiege Beijing. In this time of crisis, the Chong Zhen Emperor is a
weakling who cowers in the Forbidden City and refuses to take command during
the crisis. However, the Prime Minister, Lee Kwan Zhu, is a strong man from a
military family with connections to the Imperial line, and he summons another
army from the southern provinces which lifts the siege and forces the Manchus
north of the Great Wall.

1645 AD--Lee Kwan Zhu, the Prime Minister of the Ming Chinese Empire who
was responsible for repelling the Manchu invasion of 1644 while the Ming
Emperor cowered in the Forbidden City, deposes the last Ming Emperor, with
support from the generals of the army. The Chong Zhen Emperor commits
suicide rather than accept the shame of exile, and the Ming Dynasty comes to an
end. Lee Kwan Zhu takes the throne, founding the Chong Xin Dynasty. Lee
Kwan Zhu is determined that his dynasty will not fall into effete weakness, as it’s
Ming predecessor did. He according takes several significant steps. The new
Emperor finally settles, once and for all, the continuing struggle between the
Confucian scholars who urge isolation and eschew trade and expansion, and the
military and commercial classes, who of course want the opposite. Lee Kwan
Zhu, coming from a military family himself, orders the banishment of the
Confucian scholars from the court, and appoints all of his ministers from among
the military and commerical classes. To ensure that prospective future
Emperors are exposed to the world outside China, he also begins the practice of
sending imperial princes to be educated in Egypt, which has maintained a close
relationship with China since relations were established two centuries ago, and in
Rome. The new Emperor also orders the destruction of the Forbidden City, and
the construction of a much more austere palace which is not isolated from the
rest of the city of Beijing. During his reign, the Emperor Lee Kwan Zhu will also
pursue much more aggressively expansionist policies, both militarily and
commercially. He modernizes and expands, with Egyptian help, the Chinese
military (both army and navy), and greatly expands the Chinese trading fleet. A
sleeping giant is about to awake....

1647 AD--Independently of Magnus Anderssen, Roman chemist Gaius Flavius
Maximius discovers electromagnetic induction and realizes the potential of this
principle in the construction of electric power generators.

1649 AD--Using the principles of electromagnetic induction and electric signal
conduction through wires, Egyptian inventor Ptahkhemwy begins development
on his electric telegraph for relaying electric signals over long distances. Also in
this year, after failing to publish his discovery of electromagnetic induction,
Magnus Anderssen discovers that an electric current may be produced in a
conductor that is disconnected from a battery--the principle of self-induction.

1650 AD--The pirate Koxinga founds a pirate kingdom in the South China Seas,
based on Formosa (Taiwan).

1650-1660 AD--War between the Russian Empire and the Norse Kingdom. IN
1650, Tsar Feyodor III of Russia, desiring to have access to the Baltic Sea,
declares war on the Norse Kingdom and invades the Norse provinces along the
Baltic Coast, starting an exhausting war which will last for a decade between the
two powers. Finally, in 1660 AD, the Russians inflict a major defeat on the Norse
outside the city of Riga, and Norse King Sven III sues for peace. In the treaty,
the Norse cede their provinces south of Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland to
Russia. Russia now has a “window on the west” and begins to build a fleet in the
Baltic.

1651-1663 AD--War between China and the Manchus. Emperor Lee Kwan Zhu
of China declares war on the Qing (Manchu) Kingdom in 1651 AD. In a series of
campaigns lasting over a decade, Chinese armies defeat the Manchus utterly
and destroy their kingdom. The Chinese Empire annexes both Qing and it’s
vassal, the Kingdom of Choson, in 1663 AD.

1652-1689--For a long time, pirates operating out of the archipelago which is, in
the OTL, called the Philippine Islands, have plagued commerce between
Majapahit and China. In 1652, King Jayanagara IV of Majapahit decides to end
this problem once and for all by conquering these islands. In a series of
campaigns lasting almost 3 decades and concluded by Jayanagara’s successor,
Wijayara III, this is accomplished. Majapahit is now at the height of it’s power.

1656--1664 AD--Emperor Lee Kwan Zhu, intrigued by reports he has heard of
the New World, decides to send a fleet of exploration to find the west coast of
the new lands. This expedition sails across the Pacific in 1656 and eventually
explores from Puget Sound all the way down to the Roman settlement of Nova
Ravenna (what in OTL is the city of Acapulco, Mexico) before returning to China.
The fleet returns to China in 1664 AD, laden with trade goods from the New
World and tales of the many strange and wonderful things they have seen.

1658 AD--Emperor Lee Kwan Zhu sends an invasion fleet to subdue the pirate
kingdom of Formosa. The Chinese conquer and garrison the island.

c. 1660 AD--Under pressure from the expansion of the Egyptian Empire into the
interior of Africa, several city states in central Africa unite under the leadership of
the King of the city state of Lunda. Also at about this time, the Kingdom of
Kongo expands into the interior until it makes contact with the frontiers of the
Egyptian Empire. The Manikongo of Kongo makes a mutual defense treaty with
the King of Lunda, and together they are able to halt the expansion of Egypt to
the west.

1666 AD--A Russian inventor named Boris Vladinov invents the first practical
breech-loading musket. The idea does not immediately catch on, however.

1666 AD onward--Having digested the reports brought back by the fleet of
exploration to the New World, in 1666 AD the Chinese Emperor Lee Kwan Zhu
decides to send an expedition to establish a colony in the new lands. The fleet
lands in San Francisco Bay, and a settlement is established there, called
Shanghai Xin. Future expeditions will follow on a yearly basis, establishing other
settlements along the coast. By 1700 AD, Chinese settlements will extend from
San Francisco Bay north to Puget Sound, including another major settlement at
the mouth of what in OTL would become the Columbia River, and on OTL
Whidby Island and the adjoining coast in Puget Sound.

1658--Egyptian inventor Ptahkhemwy successfully demonstrates his telegraph in
public. Independently of Ptahkhemwy, Roman mathematician and physicist
Publius Theodosius Scipio constructs his own electromagnetic telegraph using
two copper wires and a mechanism for detecting electric current. Both Egypt
and Rome begin to build telegraph systems linking the major cities of their
empires. Within the next three decades, the technology will spread throughout
the world.

c. 1665 AD--The first telegraph lines in the New World are built almost
simultaneously by the Romans, Norse, and Egyptians in their respective colonies
in the New World.

1666 AD--Pharaoh Thutmoses XII dies, succeeded by Necho XXI. Also in this
year, Egyptian engineer Sethotep designs an electrical generator powered by
electromagnets that can start itself using residual magnetism left on the
electromagnet. The so-called "self-excited" generator could be produced in mass
quantities because of its reliance on electromagnets rather than steel magnets.

1667-1688 AD--War between China and the Mongols. In 1667, Emperor Lee
Kwan Zhu of China decides to end the Mongol threat to his northern borders,
once and for all, and Chinese armies are sent on campaigns to subdue these
troublesome nomads. It takes almost 20 years and has to be continued by the
succeeding Emperor, but by 1688, the Mongols are firmly subdued and the
region is ruled by a Chinese governor.

c. 1668 AD--the first telegraph lines are built in the Russian Empire.

1669 AD--Roman physicist Carolus Tiberius Cincinatus invents the earliest
electric storage battery, a device that would later be widely using in motorized
vehicles. Also in this year, Emperor Lee Kwan Zhu dies, and is succeeded by
his son, Lee Chin Jiang.

1670-1680 AD--Rome expands it’s holdings in north Africa, seizing the various
city states along the northwestern coast down to the city of Nouadhibou.

c. 1672 AD--the first telegraph lines are built in the Chinese Empire and in
Safavid Persia.

c. 1675 AD--Ever since the invention of the steam engine, various inventors have
been trying to produce a practical steam-powered vehicle for use on regular
roads. A number of slow, clumsy, unreliable, noisy, and dangerous vehicles
have resulted, but they have never been more than a novelty. Other inventors
have been tinkering with the idea of an internal combustion engine, powered by
various fuels (gunpowder, hydrogen, olive oil, kerosene, etc.) but none of these
have been very successful, either. Then, around 1675 AD, a Roman inventor
named Aemellius Paullus designs a practical internal combustion engine fueled
by gasoline, a byproduct of kerosene processing, fired by electrical sparks
produced by one of the new Cincinatus Batteries. Up to this time, most of the
gasoline being produced by kerosene refiners has gone to waste, and has
usually been destroyed by burning (except for small quantities the Egyptian
military uses in the production of Egyptian Fire). It will take a few decades and
improved designs, but the first practical non-rail engine-powered vehicles will
soon follow, and once again, will revolutionize society. Also at about this time,
the first telegraph lines are built in Songhay Ghana.

1675 AD--Pharaoh Necho XXI dies, succeeded by Psamtik XXIII. Psamtik
begins negotiations with the King of Songhay Ghana for a joint project to
construct a telegraph line across the Sahel, following the railroad line, linking two
empires.

1675-1690 AD--For centuries, Japan has harbored pirates which have preyed on
Chinese shipping and made raids on the Chinese coast. Emperor Lee Chin
Jiang of China has sent several demands to the Shogun Ietsuna for the
eradication of these pirates, which have been not only ignored, but rudely
rejected by the Shogun. And so, in 1675, Emperor Lee Chin Jiang orders an
invasion of Japan. A Chinese fleet of 400 transports, escorted by a large fleet of
Chinese men-o-war, crosses the Sea of Japan from Korea and lands at the town
of Tojimbo, on the west coast of the island of Honshu. The Japanese fleet tries
to intercept the invasion force, but, being composed of oar-driven galleys, is
easily smashed by the steam driven, modern Chinese warships. A Chinese
army of 250,000 men lands, and moves toward Edo (Tokyo). The Shogun’s
main army meets the Chinese force outside Edo, and is smashed. Edo is taken,
the Japanese Emperor is captured and executed, and the Shogun flees.
However, Ietsuna is not through yet, and rallies his forces in the countryside. For
the next 15 years, the Japanese will fight a grinding, wearing campaign of
sieges and guerilla warfare against the Chinese, who are forced to reduce city
after defended city, castle after castle, subduing the Japanese piecemeal at
huge cost. But finally, by 1690 AD, the final Japanese strongholds are taken,
and the last significant Japanese military forces are defeated. A Chinese viceroy
takes residence in Edo, and Japan becomes a province of the Chinese Empire.

1676 AD--After much negotiation, King Mansa Askia of Songhay Ghana
concludes an agreement with Pharaoh Psamtik XXIII for the joint construction of
a telegraph line linking his kingdom with the Egyptian Empire and running
alongside the railroad line through the Sahel. Construction begins later that
year, and the line will be completed before the end of the decade. Also in this
year, the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable is laid by the Norse Kingdom, linking
Britain to the city of New Oslo in Vinland.

1679 AD--Norse engineer Lars Olssen designs the first high-voltage
direct-current generator practical for mass production and distribution.

1680-1700 AD--Emperor Lee Chin Jiang of China orders his armies to move into
southeast Asia. In a series of campaign lasting twenty years and concluded by
his successor, Lee You Zheng, the Chinese conquer the kingdoms of Vietnam,
Lan Xang, Siam, and the Khmer city states of Cambodia. Also during this time,
Chinese armies move into Tibet and central Asia, moving westward until they
encounter the frontiers of the Mogul Empire and Safavid Persia. After some
inconclusive skirmishes between these powers, a treaty is arranged establishing
the borders between them.

1681-1698 AD--The Second Great Maritime War. The ongoing naval arms race
between the great maritime powers in the west has increased tensions among all
of them, and there have been a number of border clashes between Egypt and
Rome, or between Rome and the Norse, over the preceding decades. All of
them have quickly fizzled out, however. But in 1681, a border skirmish between
Roman and Inca troops leads the Roman Senate to declare war on the Inca
Empire. Invoking their mutual defense treaty with Egypt, the Inca appeal for aid,
and Pharaoh Psamtik XXIII declares war on Rome (aside from their treaty
commitments, the Egyptians have never been fully reconciled to the loss of the
city of Cyrene and it’s environs to Rome several centuries ago, and see this as
an opportunity to “get back their own”). Rome declares war on Egypt, and in
short order, the Norse Kingdom (seeing an opportunity to perhaps grab some
Caribbean colonies) declares war on Rome. The Russian Empire, which owes
it’s independence largely to Rome and which still harbors ill feelings against the
Norse following their recent war with that kingdom, declares war on the Norse.
The war is is long and exhausting for all concerned, with little accomplished by
either side. The Inca and Egyptian fleets keep the Romans from probing into the
south Atlantic, and as a result the Egyptians are able to feed enough men from
southern Africa into South America in order to keep the Inca from being defeated
by Rome, and so combat stalemates there. In Europe, Russian and Roman
armies gradually beat down Norse resistance. Roman armies invade Syria from
Asia Minor, but dash themselves to pieces on Egypt’s strong defenses there.
Egyptian forces invade Cyrenacia repeatedly, but are repelled. In the Atlantic,
the Roman and Norse fleets battle, while in the Mediterranean the Roman and
Egyptian fleets clash. One historically significant feature of the conflict is that
the first combats between fleets of steam ironclad warships are fought. But
cannon technology has not kept up with the development of armor, and the naval
battles, like those on land, accomplish little except to deny anyone clear
superiority at sea. The war finally concludes when, in 1696, a large
Romano-Russian army destroys the main Norse field army near Helsinki,
Finland, and over-runs the Norse Finnish possessions. Another Roman Army
crosses the Oceanus Britannicus and invades Britain, over-running the island up
to the line of the Humber River. In 1697, Norse King Harald Gustafssen sues
for peace, and in a humiliating treaty, cedes Finland to Russia and southern
Britain below the Humber to Rome. Having gained what it wanted from the war,
Russia drops out at this time, but the war between Egypt and it’s other allies and
Rome continues. Later that year, the Egyptian navy finally establishes some
semblance of superiority in the Mediterranean, cutting off Rome’s African
provinces from resupply, and the Egyptian army defeats the Roman army near
Cyrene, and occupies the province. After that, everything pretty much
stalemates, and in 1698 the remaining powers agree to a peace treaty
recognizing the borders as they stand at that time.

1683 AD--Lars Olssen discovers that his generator may double as an electric
motor. Within the next few years, electrically powered industrial machines spread
through the Norse Kingdom, and shortly afterward, to Rome and Egypt as well.
Also in this year, Roman scientist Licinius Marius Severus confirms the
photosensitivity of the conductive element selenium, an important discovery in
the later development of television picture tubes.

1689 AD--The Chinese Empire and the Russian Empire sign the treaty of
Nerchinsk, to settle the border between the two empires.

1696 AD--Emperor Lee Chin Jiang of China dies, and is succeeded by his son,
Lee You Zheng.

1697 AD--Russian engineer Vasily Kerensky demonstrates the first practical
horseless carriage powered by a gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine.
However, the new vehicle is still slow, unreliable, and expensive. Few but the
very rich buy them, more as novelties than anything else.

1699--A Chinese chemist invents the first practical percussion cap. News of the
invention soon spreads to other empires, and within the next few decades, all
major armies will switch from flintlock to percussion firing systems.

1700-1800 AD--Colonial Expansion in the New World and elsewhere. In this
century, the pace of colonial expanision picks up for most powers.
--In 1720, Rome crosses the Rio Grande, ostensibly in response to the
depredations of raiding Apaches and Comanches, and over the next two
decades has moved up into the central Plains region. However, the Plains
Tribes, under pressure from this Roman advance (and with Chinese and Norse
help, since both powers are concerned that the expansion of Rome northward
threatens their own colonial possessions in the region) have, by 1760, united into
a confederation under the leadership of the powerful Mandan tribe. The
Chinese and the Norse both recognize the Mandan Confederation and make it
known that they will look unkindly on further Roman advances northward, and
the Romans are faced with the choice of either war or negotiation. They choose
the latter, and in 1765 a treaty is signed which fixes the borders of the various
powers in Vinlandia (North America). The only territory on the continent which is
not included in the treaty is a region which lies to the north of the Mandan
Confederacy and which is disputed between China, Russia, and the Norse.
Meanwhile, to the south, Rome absorbs the jungle city-states of central America,
and also expands it’s South American holdings. After another border clash with
the Inca Empire (which almost causes another war between Rome and Egypt),
another treaty is signed in 1778 in which the Inca agree to sell their northernmost
province to Rome (allowing Rome to connect their holdings in North America with
those in South America).
--Egypt, Ghana, and the Incas also expand their holdings in South America,
which by the end of the century is totally under the control of the various colonial
and imperial powers.
--Egypt explores the rest of the Australian continent, establishing settlements on
the south and east coasts, while leaving most of the Outback pretty much alone.
Egypt’s claim to the continent is uncontested by the other powers.
--China’s colonies on the west coast of Vinlandia expand to the north and south,
as well as inland to the line of the Sierra Nevada mountains. By the end of the
century, China rules a strip running from OTL British Columbia to the tip of OTL
Baja California.
--Russia establishes it’s first colonies in Vinlandia during this century.

1700-1709 AD--Revolution in the Norse Kingdom. In the aftermath of the
Second Great Maritime War, and the humiliating peace treaty which the Norse
were forced to sign, the Norse Althing (an elected Parliament which has existed
in the Kingdom for centuries but which up to now has played only an advisory
role in the running of the kingdom) demands a written constitution which strictly
limits the powers of the King and places control of most of the government of the
kingdom in the hands of the Althing. King Harald Gustafssen responds by
dissolving the Althing and attempting the arrest of it’s members. However, the
Althing is warned of this treachery on the part of the King, and flees from Oslo
into hiding before the King’s soldiers arrive to carry out his orders. The Althing
sets itself up in Stockholm, declares that the King is deposed, and begins to
raise it’s own army. Thus begins the Norse Civil War, which lasts for nine years.
The forces of the Althing are ultimately victorious, and King Harald is captured
and executed. His son, Bjorn, is offered the crown on condition that he agree to
a written constitution. Bjorn agrees to this (he had opposed Norse involvement in
the Great Maritime War, and never approved of his father’s high-handed
response to the demands of the Althing), and takes the throne as King Bjorn IX.
After several months of negotiations, a constitution which is mutually agreeable
to all is adopted. It is fairly similar to the constitution of Egypt, in that the King
remains Head of State, with the power to conduct foreign policy and with control
over how state revenues are spent. But the Althing gains the right to approve or
disapprove new taxes and other state activities which may infringe on the rights
of the people, as well as the right to veto any declaration of war or treaty with a
foreign power proposed by the king.

1700-1730 AD--Beginning in 1700, Egyptian explorers chart the eastern coast of
Australia and discover the Great Barrier Reef. Settlement of these areas soon
follows. Also during this time period, they discover the Maori Islands (OTL New
Zealand) and establish Egyptian colonies there.

c. 1700 AD--For the past century, experiments have been going on by most of
the major powers aimed at the development of rifled artillery. However, these
have not been entirely successful, as the rifling process tends to weaken the
cannon barrels, leaving them prone to bursting. Around 1700 AD, inventors in
Rome, Egypt and China almost simultaneously invent practical rifled artillery
pieces. This will have dramatic impacts on both land and especially at sea,
where the higher velocity guns made possible by rifling will allow cannon to
penetrate ship-armor for the first time. Within twenty years, all of the world’s
navies will have either converted to rifled artillery completely, or be well into the
process of replacing their old cannon with rifled pieces.

1701 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XXIII dies childless. As there are no legitimate male
heirs in the royal house, Psamtik willed the throne to a nephew of his wife,
Queen Tiy. Thus Ahmosi XIII comes to the throne, and with him, the 34th
Dynasty. In this same year, gasoline powered horseless carriages are
independently designed in Egypt and Rome.

1703 AD--Up until now, almost all military firearms have been smoothbore
muskets. Rifles, while known for centuries, are difficult to load and have a very
poor rate of fire, making them impractical military weapons. However, in this
year Russian gunsmith Yuri Molotov demonstrates his new bullet design, a
conical bullet which is smaller than the bore diameter of the musket from which it
is fired, but has a hollow base which expands to grip the rifling. Using this
ammunition, a soldier is able to fire as rapidly with a rifle as with a smoothbore,
but is able to fire accurately out to about 450 yards...four times the accurate
range of a smoothbore. The bullet is immediately adopted by the Russian army,
which immediately begins converting it’s smoothbores to rifles. Other armies
quickly follow suit, and within a decade, smoothbore muskets are no longer in
frontline service anywhere in the world.

1705 AD--As early as the 5th-4th Centuries BC, Chinese and Greek
philosophers had described the basic principles of optics and the camera. In
1620, Egyptian scientist Ipuwer had discovered the silver nitrate darkened when
exposed to light. Since that time, inventors have been tinkering with images
exposed on plates treated with silver nitrate, but with limited success. The
images they produce require up to eight hours of light exposure to acquire, and
then fade after only a few hours. But in 1705, Chinese inventor Chang Li Juan
demonstrates the first practical system of photography, using a solution of silver
nitrate on a copper plate, developed over hot mercury until the image appears,
and then the image is fixed by immersing in a solution of sodium thiosulfate or
salt and toned with gold chloride. Images using this system can be acquired
with only 3-15 minutes exposure to light, and are permanent. Chang will
continue to develop the process, and within a short time will have the required
exposure time down to less than a minute, making portrait photography finally
practical. However, one major problem still remains...the Chang process only
allows a single image to be made...no copies can be produced.

1706 AD--Alexandros Kousouni, a Greek scientist living in Egypt, invents a
a device that transmits the human voice over wires using electromagnetic signals. He
calls it the “telephone.”

1707 AD--Using the same electromagnetic principles as those used in
Kousouni’s telephone earpiece, Roman inventor Octavius Marcus Pliny
develops and patents the electric speaker.

1708 AD--Emperor Lee You Zheng of China dies, and is succeeded by his son,
Lee Chung Lo. Also in this year, Octavius Marcus Pliny patents the first really
successful sound recording device, a primitive electric phonograph.

1709 AD--Since the dawn of time, mankind has been fascinated by the
possibility of flight. Over the centuries, scientists have worked out many of the
laws of aerodynamics, and various tinkerers have attempted to make a practical
flying machine. But, other than hot air balloons (which have been around for a
couple of centuries now), and a few semi-successful glider designs, not much
progress has been made, as there was simply no power source which was both
light and powerful enough to get a man-made contraption into the air. The
invention and continued improvement of the internal combustion engine changes
all of that, and in 1709 AD, Norse inventor Haakon Magnussen becomes the first
human being in the history of the world to ascend into the air aboard a powered
aircraft. The flight, made on a sandy beach not far from Cape Hatteras in what is
OTL North Carolina, is less than 500 feet long. But it will prove the first step of
an incredible journey for mankind.

1710 AD--Roman inventor Numerius Lucullus demonstrates the first practical
breech-loading rifle which uses the new percussion firing system. It has a rate
of fire approximately three times that of a muzzleloading rifle. The Roman
military is suitably impressed, orders the rifle into production, and begins
re-equipping it’s legions with the new weapon. Other armies follow suit. Also
in this year, a Jewish inventor living in the Greek city of Naukratis in Egypt,
Josephus Nicephoras, invents a negative/positive method of photography which
is capable of producing multiple copies of a photographic image.

1712 AD--Emperor Lee Chung Lo of China dies, and is succeeded by his son,
Lee Kung Zhi. Also in this year, the Norse Kingdom launches the KING OLAF
TRYGGVASSON, the first warship equipped with revolving gun turrets. It does
not attract much notice at the time, except as an oddity, and indeed is looked up
by most navies as a rather weak craft, since it only carries six guns in three
armored turrets. However, the guns it carries are very large (12 inch bore) rifles,
and are more powerful than the cannon on any other warship at that time.

1715 AD--Rome has been finding it’s occupation of the Norse lands in southern
Britain taken in The Second Great Maritime War, with a large Norse population
completely hostile to Roman control, anything but easy. The conquered area
seethes with rebellion, and it is proving very expensive for the Romans to
maintain control. And so, when in 1714 the new Norse King Bjorn IX offers to
purchase the conquered area back, the Roman Senate decides to negotiate.
By the terms of the Treaty of Stockholm, Rome agrees to withdraw from the
lands occupied during the late war, in exchange for the following concessions by
the Norse...1) The Norse are to pay 5 million gold Kroners to Rome in exchange
for southern Britain; 2) The Norse agree to allow Roman merchant ships to trade
at Norse ports in the New World; 3) The Norse are to withdraw from any New
World territories west of the Mississippi River, and renounce any future claims to
those territories. The Norse Althing approves the treaty at the end of 1714, and
it is approved by the Roman Senate in early 1715. The Romans withdraw from
Britain, and the Norse withdraw east of the Mississippi, later that year.

1718 AD--Norse physicist Bjorn Nielssen demonstrates the first practical
incandescent light bulb. This electric "glow lamp" uses a carbon filament.

1719 AD--Egyptian inventor Menkaure demonstrates the first practical
percussion revolving pistol (very similar to Samuel Colt’s design from the OTL).
It is adopted for use by the Egyptian military, where it is primarily used to equip
cavalry and artillery crews. Similar designs...some copies of Menkaure’s design,
other’s original...will appear in China, Russia, Rome, and the Norse Kingdom
within a few years.

c. 1720 AD onward--Photography has become a sensation all over the world,
and scientists and inventors in every country are working to improve the
processes. By 1720 they have gotten the required light exposure time down to
between 1 and 2 seconds, making photography almost practical for recording
“real-time” images. Within 2 decades after that, the switch from metal and glass
plate negatives to paper and celluloid film will be made, and cameras will have
been reduced in size and bulk to the point where they can be, for the first time, a
truly mass market item. Within a short time after that, the first motion-picture
cameras and projectors will be developed, which by the end of the century will be
attracting mesmerized audiences into theatres around the world. Also by the end
of the century, the first color photographs will be produced.

1720 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi XIII dies, and is succeeded by Ahmosi XIV. Also in
this year, an inventor in the Egyptian Ordnance Department invents the
interrupted-screw breech-locking system for artillery. Egypt begins to replace it’s
muzzleloading cannon with breech-loaders, and other powers will follow suit
(having, via espionage, discovered the secret of Egypt’s system) over the next
20 years.

1720 AD and onward--The Chinese discover gold in their Vinlandia colonies (the
fields that, in OTL, became famous during the California Gold Rush). They do
not announce this to the world, but begin quietly funneling more people and
military personnel to the colonies to exploit and protect the new resources. As a
result, the colonies grow much faster in population than they would have
otherwise, and by the end of the century are quite thickly populated.

1720-1724 AD--Since taking over the throne of the Ghana Empire, the Songhay
dynasty has ruled in a high-handed fashion which has caused much resentment
among the various subject tribes. Unlike the previous tolerant Soninke/Mandinke
regime, the Songhay regime is very ethnocentric. Only Songhay can occupy
high positions in the national government and military, and subject tribes are
liable for various taxes and other disabilities which the Songhay are not. There
have been some revolts by various subject peoples, but these have been brutally
suppressed. One of the subject peoples of the Songhay Ghana Empire is a
powerful people called the Bini, or Edo, who live in the coastal region with their
capital at the city of Benin, near the mouth of the Niger River. In 1720, the Bini
form an alliance with the Yoruba and the Hausa, as well as the remnants of the
Mandinke and Soninke who still dwell in the kingdom (most of those two tribes,
as mentioned earlier, fled to the New World colonies when the Songhay usurped
the throne) and lead a revolt against the Songhay. The rebels are secretly
provided with arms and equipment by Rome, which is concerned by the close
ties that the Songhay dynasty has developed with Egypt, and in a bitter civil war
which lasts four years, the Songhay are defeated and their power is broken
forever. The leader of the revolt, King Oba Eresonyen of Benin, is wise enough
to see that if he claims the throne for himself, his Yoruba and Hausa allies will
likely object, and the kingdom will fragment into squabbling states. Therefore,
with the agreement of his allies, he offers the throne to King Basi IX of Soninke
Ghana (who is a direct descendant of the royal house which ruled Ghana before
the Songhay usurped the throne and thus can be seen as a legitimate ruler by
all). Basi accepts, and the return to Ghana of the Soninke royal house in 1724
AD is a cause of great rejoicing throughout the kingdom.

1721 AD--Bjorn Nielssen, in trying to find a way to keep soot from accumulating
inside his light bulb, inserts a metal plate inside. He observes that he can detect
electrons flowing through the vacuum from the lighted filament to the metal plate
mounted inside the bulb. This discovery, known as the Nielssen Effect (it would
be known in the OTL as the “Edison Effect,” after Thomas Alva Edison, who
discovered it in OTL), means that Nielssen, without realizing it, has created the
first primitive diode, or electronic vacuum tube. But the effect, while interesting
to Nielssen, has no immediate practical application that he can see, so he does
not pursue it further.

1724 AD--War between Russia and Safavid Persia. Claiming to act in defense
of Russian Christians who are supposedly “suffering” under Persian rule in the
former Khazak lands taken by Persia in the last century, Tsar Nicholai of Russia
invades the Trans-Oxian provinces of the Safavid Persian Empire. The Persian
army, which is still armed with muzzleloading rifles, is severely defeated by the
Russians (who are armed with breech-loading percussion rifles firing the new
Molotov bullets), and Russia over-runs these provinces. The war is notable as
the first in which airplanes play a role, being used for observation by the
Russians, as well as the first in which photographic journalists capture battlefield
images (primarily pictures of dead bodies of Russian and Persian troops and
dismembered horses from the battlefields) with their cameras. The gruesome
images they produce are widely distributed, bringing the horrors of war into the
average person’s living room for the first time.

1725-1729 AD--The War of Russian Aggression. Tsar Nicholai, emboldened by
his easy victory over the Persians the year before, in 1725 sends Russian armies
into Iran itself. The Romans, who are not keen to see the Russians expand
southward into the middle east, demand that the Russians withdraw from
Persian territory. Tsar Nicholai haughtily refuses, and the Roman Senate
declares war. Seeing a chance to regain control of the lands lost to Russia in
the wars of the last century, the Norse conclude an alliance with Rome and
declare war on Russia. This is the first major clash between armies armed with
rifled artillery and breech-loading percussion rifles firing the new Molotov
bullets,and the huge casualties which result are shocking. The conflict is also
notable because it is the first in which aircraft were used on both sides, and the
first in which aircraft played a active role in combat (when Roman aircraft drop
bombs on Russian positions outside Teheran). There are even attempts at
air-to-air combat, but not with any degree of success (one pilot does have the
extreme misfortune to catch a rifle slug, fired by the observer of an enemy
aircraft, in the head, becoming the very first air combat fatality). In the naval arena, the
first motor torpedo boats (similar to the OTL ACW Confederate "David" craft, and like
them, armed with spar torpedoes) are used in the Caspian Sea by the Safavid Persian
navy, where they manage to sink a Russian battleship. And last but not
least, the Norse turret ship KING OLAF TRYGGVASSON sees its first trial in
combat, when it encounters the 50-gun Russian ironclad frigate TSAR IVAN I in
the Baltic Sea. The Norse turret ship quickly reveals it’s total superiority, as it is
able to position itself where the Russian vessel’s guns cannot come to bear, and
pound it’s enemy to pieces with it’s huge rifled guns, forcing the Russian vessel
to surrender within 2 hours. It is soon apparent that Russia is not able to cope
with the combined power of Rome and the Norse Kingdom, and in a series of
grinding campaigns, Russian armies are pushed back in Iran and in Finland (the
two major fronts). Finally, Tsar Nicholai sues for peace in 1729, and a treaty is
signed in which Russia agrees to withdraw to the line it held as of January 1,
1725, so the Russian conquest of the Safavid Trans-Oxian provinces is
recognized. Furthermore, Russia is to cede Finland to the Norse Kingdom, but it
gets to keep the former Norse Baltic provinces south of the Gulf of Finland,
which have been under Russian control for almost a century and are now heavily
settled by Russians. Rome gets Armenia (taken from it’s ostensible ally, the
Persians) and the southern Caucasus region. The poor Safavids are left
independent, but clearly reduced to second class power status, and are forced
into a client relationship with Rome.

1728 AD--Russian explorers discover the Bering Strait (which they name the
Strait of St. Nicholas) and the Alaskan coast, which they name Nova Rossiya.
Russian settlement of the new areas begins shortly thereafter.

1729 AD--The first electrically powered locomotive is demonstrated by electrical
engineer and inventor Sethotep in Egypt. His design will later be used in city
streetcars all over the world, the first of which will appear in Egypt within the next
five years. Also in this year, Rus inventor Vladimir Chekov improves the
incandescent light bulb model developed by Bjorn Neilssen and demonstrates
his improved version in Moscow. Word of the new invention soon spreads to
Rome and Egypt.

1730 AD--Chinese inventor Cheng Hua demonstrates the first practical machine
gun. It is a multi-barrel weapon which fires paper cartidges, the cartridges and
percussion caps being gravity fed from a hopper mounted on top of the weapon.
It is still not perfect, though....the hopper feed system, especially for the
percussion caps, has a tendency to misfeed, causing jams and misfires. The
weapon is not immediately adopted, but is interesting enough that the Chinese
government agrees to fund additional research. And, based on the reports of
foreign military attaches who were present at the demonstration, the
governments of the other major powers begin their own research to develop a
similar weapon.

1730 AD onward--The success of the Norse turret ship KING OLAF
TRYGGVASSON in the recent war has caused something of a panic in the
world’s navies, and all and sundry are building turret ships to replace their
current fleets of broadside ironclads as fast as they can. A new naval arms race
is the result, increasing tensions between nations.

1735 AD--Roman and Egyptian physicists (several, working independently)
discover the piezoelectric effect while experimenting with quartz and other
crystals. Their discovery will have important applications in timekeeping devices
as well as in electronics and telecommunications. Also in this year, electric
street lights are installed along the streets of Moscow, marking the beginning of
a trend that would eventually illuminate every city in the world.

1736 AD--One year after the first electric street lights appear in Moscow,
Vladimir Chekov founds the first electric power company to provide electrical
power to subscribers in the city.

1738 AD--Egyptian scientist Amenkare shows that one of two wires used in
overland telegraphy could be dispensed with by using an earth ground.
Reporting his discovery in an Egyptian scientific journal, he looks forward to a
time that the second wire could also be eliminated, and 'wireless' telegraphy
could be used.

c. 1740 AD--Metallic cartridge ammunition is developed almost simultaneously in
Egypt, Rome, and China. The idea will spread to other nations within a few
years, and all armies will convert from using paper cartridges to metallic
cartridges within the next decade, most by converting their existing
breechloaders to fire the new ammunition. Also at about this time, an unknown
inventor in the Ghanaese colony in Brazil invents vulcanized rubber.

1741--Chinese Emperor Lee Kung Zhi dies, and is succeeded by his son, Lee
Ming Kao.

1742 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi XIV dies, and is succeeded by Psamtik XXIV. Also in
this year, Cheng Hua demonstrates a new model of his machine gun which uses
the new metallic cartridges. The Chinese army immediately adopts the weapon,
and by the end of this decade, similar weapons will be adopted by most of the
other major world armies.

1743 AD--Yaholo, a scientist working in the Creek Confederacy, is issued a
patent for a proposed engine in which air would be compressed so much that the
temperature would far exceed the ignition temperature of the fuel (what in OTL
would be known as a Diesel engine). Yaholo wants to develop an engine to burn
burn coal dust, because there are mountains of useless coal dust piled up in
various industrial regions of the world. The first experimental engine uses high
pressure air to blast coal dust into the combustion chamber. This engine
explodes and almost kills Yaholo, and further experiments using coal dust as a
fuel fail, and Yaholo decides to try oil. A compression ignition engine that uses
oil as fuel will eventually successful and a number of manufacturers will be
licensed to build similar engines. The major advantage of the new engine is that
it will burn practically anything, including the heavier, less explosive waste
elements of petroleum that are left over after gasoline and kerosene production.
Not only will this enable profits to be made from previously wasted oil
by-products, but the less explosive nature of these will mean the engine can be
operated more safely than the more common gasoline-powered internal
combustion engine. Other inventors will improve on the design, and by the end
of the century, Yaholo Engines will be in common use throughout the world,
powering trucks, railroad locomotives, and ships.

c. 1745 AD--Hippolytes Mantarakis, a Greek inventor living in Egypt, designs
the first pneumatic tire, made from the recently discovered vulcanized rubber.

1748 AD--Norse inventor Henrik Johanssen does experiments with ether, boiling
it into a partial vacuum, and produces the the first known artificial refrigeration.
Johanssen does not use the result to any practical purpose. He does publish
his results in a Norse scientific journal, however.

c. 1749 AD--Twenty years after the invention of the streetcar by Egyptian
inventor Sethotep, electric street cars have spread to most other countries, and
everywhere they make the suburbs more accessible and cause a large
expansion of city populations.

c. 1750 AD--In this ATL, Ptolemy of Alexandria never existed, and so his
influential ALMAGEST, which would mislead scientists into thinking the earth is
the center of the Universe, and all the other heavenly bodies revolve around it,
was never written. Instead, astronomy has from the Classical times operated on
the basis of the theories of Aristarchus of Samos and Heraclides of Pontus, who
as early as the 4th Century BC had proposed that the Sun was the center of the
solar system, and the planets...including Earth...revolved around it. Therefore,
over the preceding centuries, scientists have been speculating that space travel
might be possible, if a vehicle powerful enough to escape the earth’s gravity
could be devised. Since gunpowder was discovered, scientists and engineers
have been tinkering with rockets, trying to create one powerful enough to do this,
but they have been hampered by the limitations of gunpowder as a rocket
propellant and the lack of suitable alternatives. The beginnings of a
breakthrough take place about 1750, when scientists in Egypt, Rome and China
independently theorize that hydrogen and oxygen, if liquified, might make a
suitable propellant. However, research is stymied by the lack of technology
needed to produce liquified versions of these gases.

c. 1750 AD--Inventors in many different countries are experimenting with various
petroleum products, and a new industry is emerging...petrochemicals. Early
plastics are developed by 1750 AD, synthetic fabrics shortly thereafter, and
other petrochemical products will follow.

1754 AD--Roman inventor Julius Valentinian Luculus constructs the first practical
steam turbine electric generator, a device which would later become the most
common generator in the electric power industry because of its applications in
fuel-burning power plants.

c. 1760 AD--Vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, which have been
greatly improved and are much more reliable, are becoming increasingly
common. The invention of vulcanized rubber and, subsequently, the pneumatic
tire, allows vehicles to provide a much smoother ride, which makes them even
more popular (previously, vehicles all had steel or wooden wheels). In some
major cities, motor cars are now in the process of displacing horses as the
primary mode of individual transport.

c. 1760 AD onward--For a couple of centuries at least, various inventors have been
experimenting with submersible craft. The main problem has been the lack of a really
suitable power source. With the development of the Yaholo engine, this problem is
finally eliminated, and the first submersible craft powered by what in the OTL would be
called the diesel-electric system is demonstrated in 1760. The nearly simultaneous
development of the self-propelled torpedo, invented by Ivan Malenkov of Russia in 1763,
will provide the new craft with a devastating weapon. The various navies of the world
soon take an interest in the new vessel.

1760 AD--A Ghanaese inventor named Obutu Kinte demonstrates the first
repeating magazine rifle using the new metallic cartridges. The design, a lever
action, is judged to be too delicate to stand the rigors of military use. However,
it has a very impressive rate of fire, and research into repeating arms is soon
proceeding in most countries.

1762 AD--Sextus Tiberius, a Roman inventor, saw Henrik Johanssen’s article on
his ether experiments and began experiments of his own. He gives up on the
process used by Johanssen and comes up with his own method of refrigeration.
His basic principle--that of compressing a gas, cooling it by sending it through
radiating coils, and then expanding it to lower the temperature further--is the one
most often used in refrigerators today. Sextus Tiberius begins to produce his
“Cooling Machines” in 1762, selling them to beer makers and meat packers
initially for use in storing their perishable products.

1762-1768 AD--For the past few centuries, the kingdom of Majapahit has played
the role of middle-man between China and the western powers, greatly profiting
in the process. In 1762, Chinese Emperor Lee Ming Kao decides to end this
trade rivalry and declares war on Majapahit. In a series of campaigns lasting six
years, the Chinese conquer Majapahit and absorb it into their empire.

1763 AD--Egyptian scientist Nakhtankh experiments with selenium and light, this
opens the door for inventors to transform images into electronic signals.

1764 AD--Roman scientist Marius Lucius Virgil makes sketches of a proposed
system of wireless telegraphy, consisting of a vertical top-capacity loaded aerial
with a keying device and an indicator, all in series to ground. He writes a brief
description of how the system would "emit shocks (to the atmosphere) affecting
a distant reciprocating apparatus."

1765 AD--Roman inventor Appius Marcus Spurius invents the first gas-operated
machine gun, it has a very high rate of fire (over 600 rounds per minute, more
than twice as fast as the hand-cranked multi-barrel guns which are then in use in
most armies), but quickly fouls with sustained firing and therefore jams frequently
due to the black powder which is still the only propellant available. As a result it is
not adopted by any of the world’s armies. Also in this year, Marius Lucius Virgil
transmits wireless telegraph messages between two mountains in Italy. Virgil
uses two kites flown 18 miles apart, each carrying a 600 foot wire that reached to
the ground. When he interrupts the flow of electricity from the atmosphere,
through the wire, to an earth ground, a galvonometer on the other kites wire
measured a change in current. However, dark clouds passing over his apparatus
cause too much electricity to be collected by the aerials...causing him to shut
down operations. Virgil’s system, while interesting, is not yet practical.

1766 AD--Roman scientist Antonius Castor puts forward drawings for what he
calls a "selenium camera" that would allow people to "see by electricity." This is,
in fact, a early version of television. But it does not spark any immediate interest,
and Castor does not develop the idea further.

1768 AD--Russian inventor Nikolai Kriminsky invents the first practical
alternating current electric motor. Over the next couple of decades, alternating
current (which can be transmitted for great distances over wires) will displace
direct current as the world’s primary source of electric power. Also in this year,
the Ghanaese military adopts an improved version of Obutu Kinte’s repeating
rifle for military use, becoming the first army to adopt a repeating magazine rifle
as it’s standard military firearm.

1770 AD--Pharaoh Psamtik XXIV dies, and is succeeded by Necho XXII. Also
in this year, Egypt and Rome both adopt repeating magazine rifles for their
militaries. By the end of the decade, all other armies will follow suit. Also in this
year, Emperor Lee Ming Kao of China dies, and is succeeded by Lee Fu Yung.
Also in this year, Inca scientist Sulca Yanac reads of the wireless telegraphy
experiments conducted by Marius Lucius Virgil. He begins experiments of his
own.

1771 AD--Nebhotep of Egypt develops a somewhat more complex refrigeration
system which, unlike earlier compression-compression machines which used air
as a coolant, instead contains rapidly expanding ammonia. Ammonia liquefies at
a much lower temperature than water and is thus able to absorb more heat.
Nebhotep’s refrigerators are widely used, and vapor compression refrigeration
becomes the most widely used method of cooling. However, the cost, size, and
complexity of refrigeration systems of the time, coupled with the toxicity of their
ammonia coolants, prevents the general use of mechanical refrigerators in the
home.

1775 AD--Inca scientist Sulca Yanac has abandoned the “wireless telegraphy”
experiments he was conducting in favor of a more promising area of
research...radio waves.

1779 AD--Sulca Yanac successfully transmits a message in Universal Telegraph
Code (also known as “Scipio Code,” after Publius Theodosius Scipio, who
devised the code over a century ago) using radio waves over a distance of
twenty miles.

1780 AD--Chinese inventor Chang Lo Zhi invents the first caterpillar tracked
vehicle. He sells them to the timber industry in China’s Vinlandia colonies for
hauling logs out of remote areas over rough country. They are not widely known
outside of Chinese lands, nor indeed inside Chinese lands. Also in this year,
Sulca Yanac transmits a message in Scipio Code to a receiver located in New
Thebes (OTL Capetown, South Africa) and receives a reply back.

1781 AD--The first cathode ray tubes are developed independently by Chinese
scientist Li Jiao Cong and Russian scientist Boris Roskov.

1782 AD--Norse inventor Harald Svenssen invents the first smokeless powder.

1784 AD--Egyptian scientist Sekehemet successfully transmits the human voice
via radio. Also in this year, Roman scientist Gaius Rufus Caper discovers that
electronic vacuum tubes, using the Nielssen Effect, can detect weak radio
signals and convert them into electricity. He begins working on improving the
basic design created by Nielssen.

1784 AD onward--Now that it is known that radio is a practical means of
long-distance, wireless communication, development begins in all countries. By
the end of the century, radio will be in use by militaries throughout the world,
and it will be making its way onto the market as a consumer good with the birth
of the first commercial broadcasting stations.

1785 AD--Appius Marcus Spurius demonstrates his gas-operated machine gun,
now modified to take cartridges filled with the new smokeless powder. In the
demonstration, his gun fires continuously (with brief changes of the ammunition
belt) for over four hours without a single malfunction. Besides having a
sustainable rate of fire of over 600 rounds per minute, the new gun as another
major advantage...it has only 1 barrel, and thus is much lighter and more
portable than the guns currently in use by the army. The Roman Army is
extremely impressed, and immediate orders are placed.

1785-1787 AD--War between the Kingdoms of Kongo and Lunda in Africa. The
Manikongo of Kongo invades the southern Lunda province of Katanga, and
seizes it. The Lunda are unable to retake it, and a treaty is finally signed in 1787
AD.

1788 AD--Egyptian inventor Hor-Aha demonstrates his recoil-operated machine
gun to the Egyptian army. His gun operates as flawlessly as, and has all the
advantages of, the weapon adopted by Rome three years earlier, and it is
immediately adopted by the Egyptian Army.

1789 AD--Emperor Lee Fu Yung of China dies, and is succeeded by Lee T’ang
Kuo.

1790-1800 AD--All other world armies adopt machine guns based on either the
Roman gas-operated or the Egyptian recoil-operated model by the end of this
decade.

1791 AD--Gaius Rufus Caper introduces a third electrode called the grid into the
vacuum tube. The resulting triode could be used as both an amplifier and a
switch. Many early radio transmitters will be built by Caper using these triodes.
Caper’s triodes will revolutionize the field of broadcasting and are destined to do
much more, because their ability to act as switches will have a tremendous
impact on digital computing.

1792 AD--Pharaoh Necho XXII dies, and is succeeded by Psamtik XXV.

1795-1799 AD--The Great Eastern War. For over a century the Russians and
the Chinese have been eyeing each other warily over a border with which neither
empire is entirely happy. Over this time, there has been much cross-border
settlement by Russian Cossacks on the Chinese side of the border and Chinese
and Mongol peasants on the Russian side. Both empires have, in some
measure, oppressed these immigrant minorities, increasing tensions on all sides.
Finally, in March 1795, Tsar Paul II of the Russian Empire, using the tried and
true pretext of “protecting Russian Christians from heathen oppression,” declares
war on the Chinese Empire, and sends Russian armies into Mongolia and
Manchuria. Both sides are initially able to field well-equipped armies of over two
million men each, both sides are armed with repeating magazine rifles firing
metallic cartridges, gas or recoil operated machine guns, and modern, large
caliber breech-loading rifled artillery, and the casualties are stupendous...in just
one battle near the coastal city of Chung Hua (OTL Vladivostok), Russia loses
150,000 men and China loses 120,000, and that is just one of the many battles
fought during the war. It quickly becomes apparent that direct assault of enemy
forces in prepared positions is simply suicide, and within six months after the
beginning of the war, huge trench systems scar the land on various fighting
fronts, running from Lake Balkash in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east,
supported by extensive railroad networks and supply convoys of
gasoline and Yaholo-engined trucks. A war of stalemate and attrition results, and
casualties continue to mount at a tremendous rate, for little battlefield gain. At
sea, Russian and Chinese battleships fight several large battles in the Sea of
Japan during the first year of the war, but China has a much larger fleet in the
area, and the Russian Pacific Fleet is forced to take refuge in fortified ports in
Nova Rossiya and east Asia, effectively giving command of the sea to the
Chinese for the rest of the war. However, Russian submarines operating from
Nova Rossiya will cause much damage to Chinese shipping until the end of the
war, and China is never able to completely put a stop to their activities. One
major development is in the field of aviation. In the decades since the War of
Russian Aggression, aircraft have developed considerably, and both sides are
now flying all-metal monoplane designs, including both fighters and bombers,
which make a great impact on the fighting. Russian bombers range into northern
China, Japan, and Korea, bombing cities and industrial sites, and cause much
damage even though they take large casualties from the swarms of defending
Chinese fighter aircraft. Chinese bombers reply in kind, but because Russia
has few large cities in the region east of the Urals, China’s bombing effort is less
effective, and, like the Russians, the Chinese bombers take large casualties from
fighter opposition. The stalemate is finally broken when, in the spring 1798, the
Chinese first introduce into battle their secretly developed landcruisers, armored
vehicles on caterpillar tracks which they have been producing and stockpiling for
the past two years in great secrecy. These landcruisers are capable of crossing
trenches and providing fire support to attacking infantry, although they are slow,
ungainly, and prone to mechanical breakdown. Supported by large numbers of
Chinese fighter aircraft and medium bombers, hundreds of land cruisers
spearhead a massive infantry assault which pierces the Russian line in several
places, forcing the Russians to retreat in disorder. The Chinese do not allow the
Russians to regroup and establish a new defensive line, and by the autumn of
1798 have forced the Russians completely out of Chinese territory and are
invading Russian soil. Only the arrival of winter allows the Russians (who are
much better at winter campaigning than the Chinese) to establish a new
defensive line, and even regain some territory by counterattack. But Tsar Paul
can see that the war is lost, and he sues for peace. Emperor Lee T’ang Kuo is
likewise ready for an end to the slaughter, and in May 1799, a treaty is signed at
Beijing which ends the fighting. The terms of the treaty are as follows...
1) Russia agrees to recognize the frontier as it stood on March 1, 1795, as the
permanent frontier between the Russian and Chinese Empires.
2) All Russian settlers are to be removed from Chinese lands, and the Russian
government is to prevent any further migration by Russians into China.
3) Russia agrees to give equal protection under the law to Chinese settlers in
Russian territory, so long as these Chinese renounce their Chinese citizenship
and swear loyalty to the Russian Tsar (those who will not do this must remove to
the Chinese side of the border).
4) Russia will not be allowed to base bombing aircraft east of the Ural Mountains.
5) Russia is to pay an indemnity of fifteen billion gold rubles to the Chinese
Empire.
6) Russia is to cede the southernmost section of their Nova Rossiya colony to
the Chinese (the border between the Chinese and Russian possessions is set at
the Taku River, just south of the location of the OTL city of Juneau, Alaska).
All in all, it is a rather lenient treaty for the losing side, and Tsar Paul accepts the
terms, ending the war. Aside from the innovations in weapons technology, the
war is notable because it is the first conflict in which radio was used to a
significant degree in combat operations.

1795 AD--Russian inventor Andrei Chernekov, using recent advances in
refrigeration technology, sets up a large-scale plant for the production of liquid
air.

1798 AD--Ghanese scientist Kwame Asempapasasa patents a television camera
tube based on the cathode ray tube, which he calls the "electric eye" and which becomes
the cornerstone for further television development.

1799 AD--Andrei Chernekov develops a method for separating pure liquid
oxygen from liquid air that resulted in widespread industrial conversion to
processes utilizing oxygen (e.g., in steel manufacture). It will also have
consequences for rocketry. Also in this year, Kwame Asempapasasa develops
the first cathode ray display device, capable of receiving images scanned by his
“electric eye.” It is, at the time, just a curiosity...
the Red Planet.
 
Ancient Egypt Survives Until the Present Day: Part Three

c. 1800 AD--Scientists have been formulating theories about the structure of the atom
since the 5th Century BC, when Democritus of Abdera formulated the first known atomic
theory. Progress in this arena has been slow. Some discoveries have already been
made...for example, uranium is known, radioactivity is known, x-rays were discovered in
the last century and are already being used for medical purposes, and last but not least, the
basic atomic theories, such as the Theory of Relativity (as per Albert Einstein in OTL, in
the ATL set forth by Hieros Themopoulous, a Greek scientist working in the city of
Miletus, as far back 1620 AD). Up until recently, research has been hampered by the fact
that there have been few ways to test these theories, since the appropriate equipment was
not available. But as the new century dawns, research is accelerating as scientists in
several countries, armed with an array of recently invented equipment, are busy
unlocking the secrets of the atom. The more daring of them are beginning to speculate
that there might be a potential energy source which can be released by splitting the atom...

c. 1800 AD onward--In the aftermath of the Great Eastern War, all the great powers
digest the lessons learned. All of them begin programs to develop landcruisers, and
tactical doctrine is re-written to take into account the devastating effects of the machine
gun, magazine rifles and long-range heavy artillery. All of them also begin research into
means of detecting approaching aircraft from a distance, and of detecting submarines
while submerged.

c. 1800 AD--Petroleum reserves are discovered in several places (southern Iran,
Mesopotamia, and the Arabian peninsula) controlled by the Safavid Persian Empire,
which, since the defeat in the wars of the last century, has been in a state of steady
decline. Since Persia does not have the financial resources or the technical know-how to
develop these resources itself, it invites foreign petroleum concerns to submit bids. A
joint bid by the Egyptian and Chinese national petroleum companies wins, and are given
exclusive rights to develop Persia’s oil fields.

1800-1805--The Russian Civil War. In the aftermath of the defeat in the Great Eastern
War, unrest against the Russian Tsar (which has been bubbling beneath the surface of
Russian society for at least a century, but has been efficiently squashed by the Tsar’s
secret police) bursts forth into open rebellion in the capital. Enraged by the high
casualties of the war (Russia and China lost over six million men each during the late
conflict) and the increased taxes which are now being demanded to pay for the indemnity
imposed on Russia by the terms of the Treaty of Beijing, a mob of peasants and factory
workers storms the Imperial palace in Moscow. Tsar Paul is dragged from his bed and
hacked to death, along with most of the rest of the Imperial family. The triumphant
crowd carries the severed heads of their former rulers through the streets on pikes, hunts
down and kills all members of the imperial family they can find throughout the city, and
all order breaks down in the capital as the Tsar’s officials flee for their lives. When news
of this makes it out into the rest of the country, rebellions flare up throughout the empire.
In the power vacuum which results, several army generals declare themselves Tsar, and
fighting breaks out between armies loyal to the various claimants. Other army units
mutiny, murder their own commanders, and ally themselves with the local workers and
peasants in the regions in which they are stationed. Last but not least, Tsar Paul’s
cousin, Grand Duke Alexei, survived the massacre in Moscow and has rallied many army
units to his standard as the legitimate Tsar of All the Russias. Five years of confused and
bloody civil war follow, which finally resolves itself when in mid-1805, Grand Duke
Alexei defeats the last of the rebel generals near Minsk, and shortly afterward, is crowned
as the new Tsar at Moscow. Alexei proves to be a wise ruler, and works to address the
causes of the unrest which caused the rebellion in the first place. He, for the first time in
Russian history, meets with leaders of the bourgeoisie, the nobility, the church, and other
influential groups within the empire, and he works with them to create a constitution.
The new document is similar to the constitutions of Egypt and the Norse Kingdom, and
creates an elected parliament, called the Duma, which will have the right to approve or
disapprove new taxes, treaties, and declarations of war. A bill of rights is adopted for the
protection of the people, and the Duma is given veto power over any actions by the Tsar
which may infringe on the rights of the people. The Tsar remains head of state, with the
power to conduct foreign policy and to dictate how State revenues are spent. The first
elections in Russia are held the next year. However, representative government is still a
novelty in Russia, and there are many groups within the country which prefer government
by a strongman to democracy in any form. This will have ominous consequences later in
the century.

1801 AD--Andrei Chernekov successfully produces liquefied hydrogen. Inventors in
Egypt, Rome and China will follow suit later that same year.

1802-1808 AD--One of the less desirable by-products of the petrochemical industry
which arose in the last century has been the production of various toxins, especially
various noxious gasses, which have unfortunately gained the interests of the militaries of
the major powers. Military research into poison gasses, which has been going on for a
decade now, results in the deployment of the first gas-filled artillery shells and aircraft
bombs in Rome, Russia, Egypt, the Norse Kingdom and China. China is first, deploying
chlorine gas shells in 1802. The rest of the major powers will follow suit by 1808.

1803 AD--Roman inventor Titus Minucius Felix invents what would, in OTL, be known
as AM Radio (previous radio operated on the “spark” system, which was much more
prone to interference and which used more bandwidth than AM, limiting the number of
stations operating in a single area). Also in this year, Ivan Sikorski invents the first
practical helicopter in Russia.

1804 AD--The Mogul Empire has, for the past two centuries, been in a state of steady
decline. The Mogul Dynasty has produced a string of weak rulers, and the local Princes
have, in most regions of the Indian subcontinent, become virtually independent of the
Mogul Emperor by this time. Egypt and China have, in the same manner as the British,
French, Dutch, and Portuguese in OTL, been exploiting the weak Mogul government in
the various provinces, establishing exclusive trade concessions for themselves. But since
Egypt and China have had close relations for centuries, neither power wants to risk war
with the other, and so neither has wanted to try to do as the British did in OTL and take
over completely. In 1804 AD, the last Mogul Emperor dies without heirs, and to prevent
the region from dissolving into chaos, Egypt and China establish a joint “protectorate”
over the subcontinent. Rome and Russia protest this action, but since these powers have
only limited access to India anyway (Egypt, which controls the Suez Canal, Cape Horn
and the Cape of Good Hope, controls all the major sea routes from Europe to the Indian
Ocean), they take no other action.

1805 AD--Mingo, an inventor living in the Creek Confederacy, successfully launches the
first rocket fueled by liquefied hydrogen and oxygen. It is a small rocket, and only
reaches an altitude of 1,000 feet before running out of fuel. But the successful launch
demonstrates that the theories proposing that liquefied hydrogen and oxygen might make
a satisfactory rocket propellant are in fact correct. Other inventors and scientists will
soon follow his lead. Also in this year, Egypt launches the SPHINX, the world’s first
purpose-built aircraft carrier. This formidable vessel carries an air wing of 75 combat
aircraft (mixed fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers). Prior to this time,
experiments have been conducted in many countries with the practicality of launching
aircraft from ships, but there has been little interest in the world’s militaries, who, up
until the experience of the Great Eastern War, were not entirely convinced of the actual
utility of aircraft in warfare for purposes other than observation. Other navies will soon
follow suit with similar vessels.

1805 AD onward--Economic chaos in Russia. The turmoil caused by the late Civil War
in Russia has caused severe disruption in the economy. Many farms were abandoned
during the civil war, and as a result food shortages are causing starvation. Russia’s
currency is rapidly declining in value as the specie reserves which back it (of which
Russia has never been plentifully supplied) are shipped out to China in payment of
Russia’s war debt, or used to purchase grain abroad to stem mass starvation at home.
Damage to Russian industry caused by the war with China and the subsequent civil war is
only slowly being repaired, and there is large unemployment. The conditions are ripe for
the rise of extremist movements, and the new democratic constitution gives such groups a
realistic chance for power.

1806 AD onward--The Great Depression. The economic chaos in Russia is causing a
cascade effect which spreads through the world economy. The first to be affected is
Rome, whose situation is made worse by it’s own domestic policies. In the latter half of
the 18th Century, a reformist party had taken power in the Roman Senate, which has
remained in power now for several decades. This party, called the Neo-Gracchi, has
followed various socialistic policies (“socialism,” as such, has never come into being in
this world, but the basic “socialist” idea of income redistribution by means of heavy
taxation of the wealthy and government spending to benefit the “needy,” unfortunately,
has) which have severely weakened the Roman economy. As a measure to help pay for
their extravagant spending programs, the Neo-Gracchi governments have been gradually
debasing the Roman currency, causing inflation and loss of consumer confidence. The
collapse of the Russian economy has also had a great impact. Russia was Rome’s largest
trading partner, and the loss of most of that trade due to the continuing economic chaos in
Russia following the Great Eastern War and subsequent Russian Civil War, plus the
imminent threat that Russia might be forced to default on debts to Roman financial
institutions, has created a state of extreme nervousness in Roman financial markets. The
final straw comes in 1806, when the Neo-Gracchi push through yet another large tax and
spend program through the Roman Senate, and announce yet another debasement of the
currency. Consumer confidence collapses, there is a run on the banks, and the stock
markets panic. The Roman Republic is plunged into a deep economic depression, and it
will take quite some time for a full recovery to be made. In order to protect Roman
industry during this time of economic crisis, the Neo-Gracchi push through a series of
high protective tariffs, which leads other nations to raise their own tariffs in retaliation.
The result is a worldwide trade war, which severely disrupts international trade.
Financial markets in Egypt, China, and the Norse Kingdom, which are already jittery as a
result of threatened Russian defaults on international loan obligations, experience panics,
and the economies of these powers, as well, fall into recession. The hard economic times
will provide a fertile ground for the rise of extremist groups in various nations, especially
in the two hardest-hit nations...Russia and Rome. This will have dire consequences in the
years to come.

1809 AD--The Mandan Confederacy, which has been (with Norse and Chinese help)
developing an industrial base, including an aircraft industry, since it’s independence was
recognized in 1765, makes it’s first contribution to the field of aeronautics when Lakota
inventor Wapasha demonstrates a crude jet engine, the first anywhere in the world. It does
not excite much immediate interest.

c. 1810 AD and onward--For the past couple of centuries, scientists and inventors have
been trying to design a practical automatic calculating machine (computer). Indeed,
mechanical calculating machines, used to calculate the motion of various heavenly bodies
as an aid to navigation at sea, had been designed by the Greeks as early as the 1st Century
BC, and other inventors through the years have designed mechanical “difference engines”
and “analytical engines” for calculating large numbers and producing mathematical
tables. But none of these has been truly automatic, and the practicality of large machines
composed of delicate gears and wheels has left much to be desired. But in 1810,
Egyptian scientist Hekhemmut begins work on a binary digital calculating machine using
the new triode vacuum tubes designed by Gaius Rufus Caper. Scientists in other countries
will soon be following similar lines of research.

1810 AD--Unemployment in the Roman Republic stands at 28 percent. A new party, the
Julian Party, is gaining support. The Julian Party, named after Julius Caesar, is militarist
and nationalist, advocating military buildup and overseas expansion as a means of curing
Rome’s economic woes. Party members wear black shirts, with white armbands
emblazoned with the party emblem...a profile likeness of Julius Caesar flanked by two
fasces. Because of this emblem, the Julian Party has another, unofficial name...The
Fascist Party.

1812 AD--The militarist and nationalist Redemption Party, one of the various extremist
groups which has arisen amid the chaos in Russia, makes a very strong showing in the
biennial elections, becoming the second largest single party in the Duma. The party, like
the Julian Party in Rome, advocates military buildup, and expansion overseas “to take
the resources which, by right, should be ours.” Also in this year, Pharaoh Psamtik XXV
dies, and is succeeded by Ahmosi XV.

1814 AD--The Julian Party wins a significant number of seats in the Roman Senate.
They are now the second largest party in the Senate, after the Neo-Gracchi.

1816 AD--In the biennial elections in Russia, the Redemption Party wins a majority of
the seats in the Duma. Vladimir Pushkin, the leader of the Redemption Party, becomes
Prime Minister of Russia. Pushkin loudly declares that it is time for Russia to “take it’s
rightful place in the world” and “avenge ourselves on those who have wronged us.”
Fortunately, Tsar Alexei still controls foreign policy, but he is getting older and sicker
with each passing year...

1817 AD--Inca engineer Chinguan Topa, who has been working with the jet engine
designed by Wapasha back in 1809, comes up with a much improved model. More
development will follow.

c. 1818 AD--Since the end of The Great Eastern War, Egypt, China, Rome, Russia, and
the Norse Kingdom have experimenting with various forms of sonar (for detection of
submersible craft) and radar (for detection of approaching aircraft). By this date all of
these powers have deployed primitive systems.

c. 1820 AD--Radio is in it’s heyday. The price of radio receivers has dropped to the point
that they are affordable to nearly everyone, and radios have become a fixture in homes the
world over. There are hundreds of commercial radio stations in most countries,
broadcasting news and entertainment to a mass audience.

1820 AD--The Julian Party has been growing by leaps and bounds as the Roman
Depression lingers on, year after year. In this year’s Senate Elections, the party wins a
majority of the seats. The two Consuls elected, Flavius Cornelius Tertullus and Gnaeus
Domitius Cyprianus, are both Julian Party men. Later that year, arguing that the
continued Depression constitutes an emergency which requires stronger measures than
the Senate has, heretofore, been willing to countenance, the Julian Party majority in the
Senate pushes through a bill to revive the old office of Dictator. Flavius Cornelius
Tertullus is installed in the new office, and begins a crackdown on members of the
political opposition. He also orders a military buildup to begin. This does have, at least
temporarily, some effect in alleviating the high unemployment caused by the ongoing
Depression, increasing the popularity of the Julian Party with the public. Also in this
year, Egyptian physicist Seqenenre first proposes the idea of nuclear chain reaction, and
files several patents based on this idea. Seqenenre argues that nuclear chain reaction
could be used for power production, or with a correct "critical mass" of chain-reacting
substance, "explosion." He publishes his theories in an Egyptian scientific journal.

1821 AD--Tsar Alexei of Russia dies in an automobile accident. His only surviving son,
Prince Mikhail, is a child of only three years old. According to the Russian Constitution,
the Duma will have the power to select a regent to rule the country during the minority of
any Tsar who has not reached the age of eighteen at the time of his ascension to the
throne. The Redemption Party majority in the Duma (along with it’s extremist allies from
other parties who, together, make up almost 2/3 of the Duma by now) votes to make
Vladimir Pushkin the new regent. Like his counterpart in Rome, Pushkin begins his own
military buildup, which has the effect of dramatically reducing unemployment. The
popularity of the Redemption Party increases. Also in this year, Seqenenre urges
Pharaoh Ahmosi XV to keep his nuclear chain reaction patents secret, as they could be
used to produce a “terrifying weapon of awesome power.” But it is too late...researchers
from several other countries have already read Seqenenre’s article in the EGYPTIAN
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, and patent researchers have already viewed Seqenenre’s
patents in the Egyptian Imperial Patent Office. Research into the possibility of nuclear
chain reaction and, ultimately, nuclear explosives, has already begun, albeit with limited
funding, as most powers are not convinced of the true potential of the new technology.

1822 AD--Emperor Lee T’ang Kuo of China dies. He is succeeded by his son, Lee M’ing
Hua. Also in this year, the biennial elections return a still-larger majority of Redemption
Party members to the Duma. Imperial Regent Pushkin now feels strong enough to make
his play for true power. He arranges to have arsonists burn the Potrovski Cathedral (on
what would, in OTL, be called Red Square), and then arrests a Chinese immigrant for the
crime. In a speech the next day, Pushkin proclaims that the burning is a “symptom of a
great foreign conspiracy against the Russian people,” and he declares a state of
emergency. With the support of the Redemption Party-dominated Duma, Pushkin
declares the Constitution is suspended for the duration of the “emergency.” There will be
no more elections, and the inconvenient Bill of Rights will no longer be enforced. At
Pushkin’s direction, the Duma obediently passes a series of draconian “emergency
measures.” Foreigners, and most especially ethnic Chinese, are arrested and interned in
large, unsanitary Camps located in the more barren regions of Siberia, or Gulags, as they
are called. A new secret police force, the Oprichna, is formed to keep watch on
“subversives,” which in practice means anyone suspected of disagreeing with the policies
of the Imperial Regent. These, too, will find their way into the Gulags. There they,
along with the Chinese, will be slowly worked to death, or simply murdered. The
Russian military buildup accelerates. Also in this year, an aircraft powered by Chinguan
Topa’s jet engine becomes the first non-prop-driven aircraft to make it into the air.
However, the engine is still very unreliable, and consumes large amounts of fuel, making
the aircraft impractical. But it is a start.

1823 AD--Russian Imperial Regent Vladimir Pushkin, noting the similar ideology and
aims of his Redemption Party and the Julian Party in Rome, begins negotiations with the
Julian Party leadership with the aim of a possible alliance. Late that year, a secret treaty
will be signed between the two powers.

1824 AD--Vladimir Pushkin of Russia and Flavius Cornelius Tertullus of Rome, in secret
discussions, reach an agreement to jointly invade and conquer the decrepit Safavid
Persian Empire, where rich sources of petroleum have recently been discovered. The two
leaders also agree, in principle, on future joint action against the Norse and the Chinese,
both of whom possess New World territories which are coveted by Rome and Russia.
Preparations for the invasion begin.

1825-1831 AD--The World War. In April 1825, a staged “border incident’ leads to
escalating “tensions” (or so it seems) between the Safavid Persians and Russia. Russia
issues an outrageous ultimatum to the Persian Shah, which is, of course, refused. Egypt
and China issue statements of their own indicating that they would look at any invasion of
Persia...which would threaten their oil concessions there...as a serious matter, and Flavius
Cornelius Tertullus of Rome issues a statement in support of Russia’s “right of redress
for the insult suffered at the hands of the Persian Shah.” When the deadline for the
ultimatum passes on May 1, the Russians invade. Russian armored columns move
rapidly southward, crushing weak and ineffectual Persian opposition. After conferring
on the issue, Pharaoh Ahmosi XV of Egypt and Emperor Lee M’ing Hua of China issue a
joint ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from Persian soil. When the
deadline for this ultimatum also passes without reply, Egypt and China declare war on
Russia. Flavius Cornelius Tertullus of Rome thereupon declares war on Egypt and
China. And the following day, invoking the mutual defense treaty between his empire
and Egypt, Emperor Atahualpa IV of the Inca Empire declares war on Rome. The only
major powers which have not, at this point, committed itself to one side or the other are
the Norse Kingdom and Ghana, and both of them are receiving feelers from both sides,
attempting to draw them in. The minor powers (Kongo, Lunda, the Creek Confederacy
and the Mandan Confederacy) are also sitting on the fence, having declared themselves
neutral.

This war will be notable for several reasons. It will be the first in which combat
between massed formations of landcruisers will take place, the first in which radar and
sonar will make their presence felt, and the first in which hollow-charge anti-landcruiser
rockets will be used, the first in which helicopters (used primarily as troop transports and
med-evac craft) and jet aircraft (fighters and bombers, both introduced in the final year of
the war) are used, and the first in which poison gas (chlorine and mustard gas primarily)
will be used. Both sides will also fund research into long range rockets, and Egypt and
Rome will deploy systems similar to the OTL German V-1 and V-2 by the end of the war.
However, other than as a terror weapon, long-range rockets will make no significant
impact on the war. They are simply too inaccurate to be valuable for destroying military
targets, and the conventional high-explosive or poison gas warheads they carry are of only
limited effectiveness. Researchers in Egypt and China will develop the first true
electronic binary digital computers (huge machines, composed of tens of thousands of
vacuum tube switches and cathode ray tubes for random access memory, which each fill
up a large warehouse, but have less computing power than a modern desktop PC in OTL),
which are used to calculate artillery ranging tables. Egypt, Rome, Russia, and China will
all fund programs aimed at the development of atomic weapons, but none of them will
succeed prior to the end of the war. Last but not least, the first anti-biotic drugs (based on
penicillin) will be introduced in China, and will begin to revolutionize medicine.

Combat rages on nearly every continent of the world. In the mid-east, Russian and
Roman armored columns rapidly occupy Iran and Mesopotamia by the beginning of June
1825. Rome also invades Egypt’s Syrian provinces, but is met by heavy resistance from
Egyptian forces there and makes little progress. Meanwhile, the Egyptians land an
expeditionary force on the Arabian coast in mid-May 1825, and rapidly occupy the
Arabian peninsula. They are reinforced by a Chinese expeditionary force which lands in
mid-June 1825, and establish a defensive line in the Arabian desert which finally halts the
Russo/Roman advance southward. In the far east, China invades Russian Central Asia.
Huge armored battles take place between Russian and Chinese armies, but neither side
gains much advantage despite heavy losses on both sides. In North Vinlandia, Russian
and Roman forces invade the Chinese colonies and Mandan Confederacy, and occupy
them after heavy fighting. They also invade the disputed territories north of the Mandan
Confederacy, and seize most of these as well. By the end of the year Egypt sends an army
to South Vinlandia, where, in cooperation with the Incas, they invade the Roman
Vinlandia colonies from the south, occupying the Roman colonies on the northern coast
of South Vinlandia. However, the Romans establish a defensive line in the jungles of
Central America, and fighting bogs down there. In Africa, Roman and Egyptian armies
clash in the North African desert as Rome invades Cyrenacia, but is repulsed.
At sea, the first battles between fleets including aircraft carriers take place, as Egyptian
and Roman carrier fleets collide in the Atlantic, and Chinese, Egyptian, Roman and
Russian carriers clash in the Pacific. Losses are heavy, and neither side is immediately
able to achieve naval supremacy. Submarines of all navies prey on enemy shipping, and
are countered by destroyers which hunt them using the new sonar equipment, and for the
first time, submarines take significant combat losses.

Roman, Egyptian, Russian and Chinese air forces begin strategic bombing of population
centers and industrial targets. They are met by fighter and anti-aircraft artillery opposition
which is guided by primitive radar, and suffer significant losses. Their operations do not
significantly disrupt the military production of either side. One particularly horrid feature
of these operations is the use of bombs filled with chlorine and mustard gas against
enemy civilian population centers (first carried out by Roman bombers attacking the
Egyptian city of Memphis and Russian bombers attacking the Chinese city of Mukden in
July 1825). Hundreds of thousands die in these raids, which cause worldwide outrage.
Egyptian and Chinese bombers will retaliate in kind later that year.

For the next three years, the fighting drags on, with neither side gaining a clear
advantage. It is finally submarine warfare which tips the balance in the conflict...by
bringing some of the heretofore neutral powers into the war. Egypt and China have
declared that their submarines will not attack neutral shipping, but the dictators ruling
Rome and Russia have declared a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and warned
that neutrals trading with Egypt, China and the Incas do so at their own peril. In late
1828, after a series of sinkings of Norse and Ghanaese merchant vessels by Roman or
Russian submarines, King Haakon XII of the Norse Kingdom and King Abrafo Adana III
of Ghana declare war on Rome and Russia.

In 1829, Norse, Ghanaese and Egyptian fleets combine to take control of the Atlantic,
and Chinese, Egyptian, and Inca naval forces in the Pacific also finally destroy most of
the Russian and Roman fleets in the Pacific. Russian and Roman forces in Vinlandia are
thereby effectively cut off from supply and reinforcement from that point onward.
Ghanaese and Norse armies cooperate with those of Egypt and the Incas in Vinlandia, and
the Roman and Russian provinces in Vinlandia (including the captured Chinese colonies)
are mostly occupied by the end of 1830. Ghanaese armies also add their weight to those
of Egypt in Africa, and most of Rome’s north African possessions are occupied by the
end of 1830. A Norse invasion of Russia in 1829 makes good progress and forces Russia
to withdraw forces from it’s central Asian and middle eastern fronts. Chinese and
Egyptian forces punch through the weakened lines, and by early 1831 they have pushed
Russian and Roman forces completely out of former Safavid territory and are moving into
Russian and Roman territory itself. In March 1831, Vladimir Pushkin of Russia is
toppled by a military coup, and a junta of generals, headed by General Georgi Scheranski,
takes power. General Scheranski immediately sues for peace, and Russia drops out of the
war. Left in the lurch by it’s ally, Rome finds itself in an untenable situation, but Dictator
Tertullus does not immediately recognize this, and vows to continue fighting. In early
April 1831, the various opposition parties in the Roman Senate unite with dissident
members of the Julian Party to take control of the Senate and topple Flavius Cornelius
Tertullus from power, and Rome also sues for peace. On April 22, exhausted by the
fighting, the other powers agree to an armistice, and peace settles over the world.

1832 AD--General Scheranski declares the suspension of the Russian Constitution and
dissolves the Duma. He declares that he is ruling as regent for Crown Prince Mikhail,
and will relinquish power when Mikhail comes of legal age.

1831-1832 AD--The Congress of Thebes. The armistice which ended the fighting was
not a formal treaty, and it is agreed by the various powers to hold a Congress in the
Egyptian city of Thebes, where the final peace treaty will be worked out. This Congress
will last for over a year, and several times during the intense negotiations, hostilities
almost break out again. But finally, on July 1, 1832, a treaty is signed, officially ending
The World War. The terms of the treaty are as follows...

1) A Council for International Peace is created, to be composed of representatives from
each of the great powers (Egypt, Rome, Ghana, the Norse Kingdom, China, Russia, and
the Inca Empire). This council will serve as a forum for the arbitration of disputes
between nations.

2) The Safavid dynasty is removed from the throne of Persia. The former Persian Empire
is divided, with Mesopotamia and Arabia being given independence. Persia itself is also
to be independent. Elections are to be held within one year in Persia, Mesopotamia and
Arabia to determine if they will become constitutional monarchies, or republics. If the
monarchy option is chosen, rival claimants to the throne will submit their cases to
arbitration by the Council for International Peace, whose decision will be final.

3) Rome will cede it’s territory in Asia Minor east of the Halys River. This territory,
along with some territory taken from the former Safavid Persian Empire, will become the
State of Armenia. Like Persia, Mesopotamia, and Arabia, Armenia will hold elections
within one year to determine whether it will be a constitutional monarchy or a republic. If
monarchy is chosen, rival claimants will submit their cases to the Council for
International Peace, whose decision will be final.

4) Rome is to cede Cyprus to Egypt.

5) The Roman provinces in north Africa will remain under joint occupation by Egypt and
Ghana for a period of ten years. During that period, Rome will pay an indemnity of 10
billion gold denarii, payable in yearly installments of 1 billion denarii each year, to both
Egypt and Ghana. Once said indemnity is paid in full, the north African provinces will be
returned to Rome.

6) Russia will cede the Trans-Oxian provinces seized from the Safavid Persian Empire in
1824 to China (China has a historical claim to the area, going back the T’ang
Dynasty).

7) Russia will cede the colony of Nova Rossiya to China.

8) The Mandan Confederacy will be restored to independence.

9) Rome will withdraw to the line of the Colorado, Gila, and Rio Grande Rivers, ceding
the territory it seized in the last century. Said territory will be divided into two
independent states, ruled by confederations of the native peoples within each
area...Teysas and Arizonac. As in the other new independent states created by the Treaty
of Thebes, elections will be held within one year to decide whether the governments
thereof shall be constitutional monarchies or republics. If the monarchy option is chosen,
rival claimants will submit their cases to arbitration by the Council for International
Peace, whose decision will be final.

10) The Norse Kingdom gets back it’s former territories west of the Mississippi River,
which it had ceded after the Second Great Maritime War.

11) Rome will cede it’s colonies on the northern coast of South Vinlandia, said colonies
to be divided by Ghana and the Inca Empire.

12) The status of the disputed territories in Vinlandia and the Pacific Ocean region are
decided. Egypt gets New Guinea and the other disputed islands in the Pacific. China and
the Norse agree to a division of the disputed territories in North Vinlandia, and set the
border between them. The only disputed territories left in the world now are the Sahara
Desert regions of north Africa, which are disputed between Egypt, Rome, and Ghana.
These are placed under the administration of the Council for International Peace.

13) Vladimir Pushkin and Flavius Cornelius Tertullus are to be surrendered for trial by a
military tribunal appointed by the Council for International Peace for war
crimes...particularly ordering bombing raids using poison gas bombs against the cities of
Memphis and Mukden in 1825. This is the first time in history that such a trial will be
held, and thus this provision of the treaty sets a significant international precedent.

1833 AD--In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Thebes, elections are held in
Persia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Teysas, and Arizonac to determine the form of
government each of these new states will have. Persia and Arabia choose constitutional
monarchies, while the rest choose republics. Also in this year, the war crimes trials of
Vladimir Pushkin and Flavius Cornelius Tertullus are held. Chilling pictures of the
poison gas dead in Memphis and Mukden are introduced, which sway the tribunal heavily
against the defendants (incidentally, their defense attorneys introduce footage showing the
poison gas dead in the Roman city of Capua and the Russian City of Omsk...results of the
retaliatory raids by Egypt and China. These pictures, however, are declared immaterial,
as the Egyptian and Chinese raids “would not have been carried out if Rome and Russia
had not acted first.” Both former dictators are convicted, and sentenced to death by
firing squad, said squads to be composed of one soldier from each of the victorious
powers. The sentences are carried out on August 1, 1833 AD.

1834 AD--Chinese and Egyptian physicists independently produced the first sustained
and controlled nuclear chain reactions. Also in this year, Norse researcher Heimdall
Bjornssen invents the first transistor, a device which will revolutionize electronics by
eventually replacing bulky, unreliable vacuum tubes.

1835 AD--In the aftermath of the war crimes trials of Vladimir Pushkin and Flavius
Cornelius Tertullus, the first of several international conventions is held in the city of
Oslo, capital of the Norse Kingdom, to codify international law with regard to conduct in
war. This will result, eventually, in the Oslo Accords, which be ratified by all major
powers by the end of the century, greatly restraining the increasing tendency toward
barbarism in warfare which has been increasing for the last century.

1836 AD--Ever since Kwame Asempapasasa of Ghana developed the first picture
practical scanning and display devices based on the cathode ray tube, various inventors
have been working on improving the system. In this year, Inca inventor Quillis Sachac
demonstrates the first true television system. Later that year he first broadcasts television
pictures through the airwaves, and the first television broadcasting station is opened
shortly thereafter. Also in this year, Crown Prince Mikhail of Russia comes of legal age
for ascension to the throne. But General Scheranski refused to relinquish power. Crown
Prince Mikhail goes into self-imposed exile in the Norse Kingdom.

1837 AD--The first practical hard disk drive is invented.

1839 AD--Egyptian scientist Paibekkamen develops the first magnetic drum memory for
computers. In this year also, the Roman Senate passes an amendment to the Roman
Constitution which specifically denies the existence of the office of Dictator and bars
such an office from ever being created again. It also states that the two Consuls cannot be
drawn from the same political party.

c. 1840 AD onward--In the aftermath of The World War, world politics continue to be
dominated by conflict between the old wartime alliances. Russia and Rome maintain an
alliance, called the Central Alliance, and cooperate on many issues. The alliance between
Egypt, China, the Norse Kingdom and the Inca Empire, known as the Pacific and Atlantic
Treaty Organization (or P.A.T.O.), does likewise. Ghana follows a more independent
course, and forms, along with the smaller nations such as the Creek and Mandan
Confederacies, Teysas, and the Kingdom of Kongo, the League of Non-Aligned States.
The conflict will not, however, flare into open warfare for the remainder of the century,
but will instead consist of scientific and economic competition and proxy warfare
between client states of the major powers. A rough stability, although often a tense
stability, settles on the world.

1840 AD--China creates the first economically practical nuclear reactor for the
production of electric power.

1841 AD--Egypt’s first nuclear reactor, producing electric power, goes on line.

1842 AD--Rome pays the last installment of the indemnity required by the Treaty of
Thebes. Egypt and Ghana withdraw from Rome’s north African provinces, which revert
to Roman control.

1843 AD--Emperor Lee M’ing Hua of China dies, and is succeeded by his son, Lee K’ang
Tse.

1848 AD--Egypt detonates the world’s first atomic bomb, a small fission device
producing 10 KT of explosive power, at a remote location in the Sahara Desert. News of
this electrifies the world, and all major powers jack up funding to their own nuclear
research programs. Also in this year, the first transistor-based computer is built in Rome
by Claudius Julius Aggrippa. It is equipped with a hard-disk drive. Also in this year,
General Georgi Scheranski, ruler of Russia, dies. In his will, he specifies that Crown
Prince Mikhail is to be recalled, to rule under the aegis of the Russian Constitution,
which Scheranski declares to be unsuspended while on his deathbed. Prince Mikhail,
now a handsome and hardy man of 30 years, returns to Russia and assumes the throne as
Tsar Mikhail V amid mass jubilation. A new Duma is elected later that same year.

c. 1850 AD--Television is rapidly displacing radio as the primary form of home
entertainment worldwide. Inventors in all countries have come up with competing
systems to, or copies of, Quillis Sachac’s television system, and variants of all of these
are being mass-produced in all countries. Also, research into rocketry has been
proceeding by all of the major powers, and significant improvements have been made
over wartime designs.

1850 AD--Pharaoh Ahmosi XV dies, and is succeeded by Thutmoses XIII. Also in this
year, China detonates it’s first fission bomb.

1851 AD--Rome launches the first artificial satellite into orbit. It is a simple device
which broadcasts a radio signal playing Rome’s national anthem to disbelieving listeners
around the world. Egypt, China, Ghana and the Norse Kingdom all accelerate their
rocketry programs.

1854 AD--The first integrated circuit board (precursor of the microchip) is invented in
Ghana by Sese Ompo. With development, this will, like it’s predessor, the transistor,
revolutionize the electronics industry...especially computers.

1855 AD--Rome detonates it’s first fission bomb. Also in this year, Emperor Lee K’ang
Tse of China dies, and is succeeded by his son, Lee Cong Tsu.

1856 AD--China and Egypt both launch satellites into orbit.

1857 AD--Russia and the Norse Kingdom detonate fission bombs.

1858 AD--The Norse Kingdom and Russia each launch a satellite into orbit.

1860 AD--Ghana and the Inca Empire detonate fission bombs. Russia astounds the world
by announcing that it intends to land a man on the moon. As a first preparation for this, it
launches a dog into orbit aboard a primitive space capsule.

c. 1860 AD--The first colour television broadcasts are made in several countries.
However, colour television receivers will be rare for some time to come, due to their high
cost. Also, research into missile guidance systems has been proceeding by all powers.
By this date, heat-seeking and radar-seeking anti-aircraft missiles have been introduced,
and medium range ballistic missiles, tipped with nuclear warheads, will make their way
into the inventories of all of the various nuclear powers by the end of this decade.

1861 AD--Pharaoh Thutmoses XIII dies and is succeeded by Seti XIII. Pharaoh Seti
proclaims that Egypt will meet Russia’s challenge and work toward the goal of landing a
man on the moon. Ghana and the Inca Empire launch satellites into orbit.

1862 AD--Egypt makes an agreement with China and the Norse Kingdom to work jointly
on the moon-launch project. Thus the Tripartite Astronautical and Space Agency
(TASA) is founded. Later that year Egypt launches a cat into space aboard a primitive
space capsule. Also in this year, Rome successfully tests an intercontinental-range
ballistic missile (ICBM) which can be equipped with a nuclear warhead and which can hit
targets anywhere in the world. Tensions between the great powers rise dramatically as a
race to equip themselves with the new weapon results.

1863 AD--In this year, inventors in Egypt, Rome, and China independently invent both
the computer mouse and the floppy disk for portable data storage. Also in this year, the
first communications satellite is launched by TASA.

1865 AD--In this year, Russia launches the first human into low-earth orbit. Yuri Vlasov,
upon his safe landing, is lauded as an international hero.

1866 AD--TASA duplicates the feat of Russia the year before, launching Norseman Lars
Johannssen into low-earth orbit from a rocket base outside of New Oslo, Vinlandia.
Egypt tests it’s first ICBM. China follows suit later that year.

1867 AD--The first computer modem is invented by Egyptian inventor Dua-Cheti. Later
that year, he demonstrates that multiple computers can be networked using these
modems. The Norse, the Inca, and Ghana all test ICBMs.

1868 AD--Rome and Russia agree to work jointly on their moon-launch projects and
form the Central Alliance Space Project, or CASP. Also in this year, what would be
known in OTL as GPS (Global Positioning System) but in the ATL is known as
Worldwide Standard Positioning (WSP) becomes a reality with the launch of a system of
geo-synchronous satellites by TASA. This is a godsend for navigation both at sea and in
the air, and will be widely adapted by militaries around the world for use in guidance
systems for missiles and other aerial munitions.

1869-1878 AD--Border war between Kongo and Lunda. In the years since The World
War, the major powers have not dared to go to war with each other, remembering the
horrid casualties and destruction of that conflict. But that has not kept them from arming
client states whose conflicts serve as a form of proxy conflict between the great powers,
allowing them to test their latest weapons systems against each other. The simmering
conflict between the Kingdom of Lunda (a client of Rome) and the Kingdom of Kongo (a
client of Egypt) is one example of this phenomenon. The Kingdom of Lunda still resents
the siezure of the province of Katanga by Kongo, and, with Roman help, is planning to
take it back. Lunda invades in 1869, sparking a nine year war between the two kingdoms.
Lunda is finally successful in defeating the Kongoese Army, and takes the province back.
But when Lunda invades Kongo proper in 1878, Egypt and Ghana demand an end to the
war, and Rome, not willing to go to war itself on Lunda’s behalf, does not back it’s client.
Sullenly, the King of Lunda withdraws his forces from Kongo, but keeps Katanga. The
war comes to a halt...for now.

1869 AD--TASA launches the first human into full-earth orbit. Egyptian astronaut
Hesire will circle the planet ten times before landing safely. Also in this year, the first
spy satellites are launched by Egypt, China, Rome and Russia. The Norse, Incas, and
Ghanaese will follow suit by the end of the next decade.

1870 AD--Jet propulsion technology has continued to advance, albeit at a somewhat
slower rate than in OTL (All of the major powers suffered large amounts of damage in the
late war, and the cost of rebuilding has limited the amount of funds which could be
expended for scientific research). Nevertheless, more powerful jet engines have been
developed, and along with the introduction of swept wing technology in the aftermath of
The World War, have dramatically increased aircraft speed until, finally, in this year, an
Egyptian fighter aircraft becomes the first to break the sound barrier in level flight. All
other major powers will introduce supersonic fighter aircraft by the end of the decade.

c. 1870 AD--Concerned by increasing levels of radioactivity in the atmosphere caused by
the fallout from testing of nuclear weapons, scientists the world over are urging a ban on
above-ground nuclear testing. Also, by this date, nuclear power reactors are producing
significant amounts of electric power in all the major countries, and in some of the minor
ones as well (Kongo and the Mandan and Creek Confederacies, notably).
Environmentalists have noted a significant reduction in air pollution as coal and oil fired
power plants are phased out in these countries. Colour television receivers are becoming
less expensive, and become more common in households around the world.

1871 AD--The first joint Russo/Roman attempt at full-earth orbit launched by
CASP...also the first attempt at a multi-man mission...fails spectacularly, when their
spacecraft disintegrates upon re-entry into the atmosphere. However, before their
unfortunate demise, co-pilots Vasily Korshikov and Maximus Aius Locutius circle the
earth twenty times. People the world over mourn the loss of the intrepid explorers, and
the CASP space program is put on hold while an investigation is conducted into the cause
of the accident.

1872 AD--Egypt and Rome detonate the world’s first fusion (i.e. hydrogen) bombs. The
other nuclear powers will follow suit by the end of the decade.

1873 AD--The first company providing what would, in OTL, be called internet service, is
founded in Egypt. Other, similar companies will soon be founded in other nations. The
primary customers of these companies are governmental organizations and banks. Also in
this year, TASA launches the first exploratory satellite toward the moon. It goes into
lunar orbit and transmits pictures of the cratered surface of the moon which, when
broadcast over television, fascinate audiences worldwide.

1874 AD--TASA launches it’s first spacecraft carrying more than one astronaut. Three
crewmen, one Egyptian, one Chinese, and one Norse, make the historic journey, orbiting
the earth 28 times. Unlike the CASP attempt three years ago, the TASA craft lands
safely.

1875 AD--The first automatic banking machine (basically the ATM of OTL) is
demonstrated in Rome. The use of these machines, which can dispense only paper
currency, will hasten the final phaseout of gold and silver coinage as the primary medium
of exchange in the world.

1876 AD--CASP launches another attempted full-earth orbit. This time, co-pilots Oleg
Tchaikovski and Aemillius Vipsanius Antony return safely to earth after orbiting 30
times. The Russo/Roman space program begins again in earnest.

1877 AD--The first International Conference on Nuclear Weapons is held in the Inca
capital of Cuzco. Representatives from the various nuclear powers work out an
agreement which bans testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere or in the oceans of
the world, and an agreement to work to limit the spread of nuclear weapons technology
to other powers in the interest of worldwide stability. Several of the smaller powers
(Kongo and the Mandan and Creek Confederacies, notably) protest the latter agreement
vigorously, and refuse to ratify the accord. Others (such as Arabia and Persia) will ratify
the accord, but will continue to conduct their research in secret. Also in this year, the first
true micro-processor is invented in the Norse Kingdom. Development will proceed
rapidly over the succeeding decades.

1879 AD--The last television show broadcast exclusively in black and white anywhere in
the world, “The Gnaeus Marcus Domitius Comedy Hour,” is canceled by the Republic
Broadcasting Network in Rome. The final ascendancy of colour television over black and
white broadcasting is confirmed. Of course, the old black and white shows will continue
to be re-run in syndication for decades to come. Also in this year, the first cable
television service is introduced in Egypt. Similar systems will soon arise in other
countries.

1880 AD--The Kingdom of Kongo launches a communications satellite. Commentators
of various world news agencies note that the same rocket which launched the satellite
could be use to carry a nuclear weapon...if Kongo had one. The Kingdom of Lunda
begins clandestine research to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

1881 AD--TASA launches the first manned mission to the moon. This week-long
mission simply places the astronauts in lunar orbit for the first time...no landing is
attempted. Several other such missions will be completed during the next two year. Also
in this year, TASA launches exploratory satellites to Venus, Mars, and Mercury, which
will, within the next year, send back the first close-up images of those planets.

1882 AD--Emperor Lee Cong Tsu of China dies childless. He is succeeded by his
nephew, Lee Chang Zhi. Also in this year, the first video-cassette recorders are
introduced onto the consumer market.

1883 AD--The first CASP lunar mission successfully places men in lunar orbit. But later
that same year, a TASA mission successfully lands on the surface of the moon. Egyptian
astronaut Khasekhemwy steps down from the lunar lander to become the first human
being to walk on the surface of the moon, followed closely by his crewmates, Norse
astronaut Viggo Olafssen and Chinese astronaut Mao Ling Kwan.

1884 AD--The first successful lunar landing by the CASP space program is made.

c. 1885 AD and onward--Automatic Banking Machines are becoming increasingly
common in the world’s cities. In 1885, Rome becomes the first nation to formally
withdraw gold coins from circulation, replacing it with paper currency with a value
pegged to gold. Silver and bronze coins, up to the value of one denarius, continue in
circulation, since they provide a convenient means of making change. Everything over
one denarius, henceforth, will be paper, however. Other nations will follow suit by the
end of the century.

1886 AD--TASA announces plans to build an orbiting space station. CASP makes a
similar announcement later that year.

c. 1890 AD and onward--Continuing improvement of micro-processors and memory
chips has allowed increasingly smaller computers, with increasingly large memories and
increasingly fast computing speeds, to be developed. In 1890, the first computer small
enough to be practical for home use is invented by Atepa, an engineer working in the
Creek Confederacy. Inventors in other countries will soon follow suit. However, the
devices still suffer from major problems. They are not user-friendly at all...one basically
has to know a computer language to operate one...and they are VERY expensive. So no
mass market in computers immediately develops. But the door has been opened to the
Computer Revolution...

1890 AD--Pharaoh Seti XIII dies and is succeeded by Rameses XXVIII. Also in this
year, the Kingdom of Lunda detonates a fission device in the South Atlantic. The
explosion is detected by seismologists around the world, but Lunda does not admit to
being the source. The rest of the world is left scratching it’s collective head, wondering
who has just joined the Nuclear Club, and what their motives are. Tensions increase
worldwide as a result. The remaining non-nuclear powers capable of doing so, especially
Kongo and the Creek and Mandan Confederacies, dramatically ramp up their nuclear
programs. Also in this year, construction begins on the TASA and CASP space stations.
TASA announces that it is suspending further missions to the moon while construction
proceeds on the station.

1891 AD--CASP announces that it is abandoning construction of it’s orbiting space
station in favor of a more ambitious project...the first permanently manned moon base.
Actually, this announcement is a face-saving measure...the Central Alliance Powers have
run short of funds, and cannot afford to continue with construction. But research does
begin in Russia and Rome into the technology needed for a lunar base. Also in this year,
Emperor Lee Chang Zhi of China dies, and is succeeded by his son, Lee Kwan Pao.

1892 AD--Ch’ung Tse, a Chinese computer programmer, develops the first relatively
“user-friendly” computer operating system. It is similar to OTL Microsoft DOS. It
becomes known as C.T.S. (for Ch’ung Tse System).

1895 AD--The first commercially successful computer video game, a crude, black and
white depiction of a fight between two Roman Gladiators called “Coliseum,” is
introduced by a computer company in Rome. It quickly becomes popular worldwide, and
creates a new industry. Video arcades will become one of the most popular forms of
entertainment worldwide over the next decade, and home video game terminals (similar
to OTL Atari and Intellivision) will be introduced shortly and likewise, will be wildly
popular.

1898 AD--The Kingdom of Lunda launches a commuications satellite into orbit. Of
course, this rocket is also to be the basis of a medium range ballistic missile to carry
Lunda’s secretly developed atomic bombs.

1899 AD--The Kingdom of Kongo detonates a fission bomb in the South Atlantic. Like
Lunda’s detonation a few years before, Kongo does not admit to being the culprit, and
this serves to once again escalate tensions in the world. Like Lunda, Kongo begins to
equip medium range ballistic missiles with atomic warheads. Also in this year, the
TASA Space Station becomes operational. It is still very incomplete, and much
construction remains to be done. But human astronauts take up permanent residence in
space for the first time.

c. 1900 AD--Personal computers running a variant of the C.T.S. operating system are
becoming increasingly popular, and are slowly making their way into homes around the
world.

1900 AD onward--As the Twentieth Century dawns, nuclear power has almost
completely supplanted coal and oil-fired power plants for the generation of electricity.
For the most part this has been a positive process, reducing pollution of the atmosphere
and overall consumption of fossil fuels, while providing clean, cheap, and reliable power.
However, there have been some problems. A few nuclear accidents have occurred,
causing some fatalities. And the fission reactors in use produce highly toxic wastes
which remain highly radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. Scientists have been
researching the possibility of a viable fusion reactor now for almost 20 years. However,
results have been disappointing. The only fuel sources available in sufficient quantity are
Deuterium and Tritium, and the fusion of these two elements produces huge amounts of
radioactivity which would make fusion reactors highly dangerous and require even more
expensive shielding than that required by conventional fission reactors. In addition, the
amount of energy required to be expended to produce the fusion of these two elements is
only slightly less than the energy released by the fusion reaction itself. Scientists have had
promising results from the isotope Helium 3, which produces almost no radioactivity
when fused with Deuterium and which releases much more energy than is required to
make the reaction work. It is estimated that just 25 tons of Helium 3 (roughly one OTL
space shuttle cargo bay load), burned in fusion reactors, would supply the electrical
needs of a major country like the Egyptian Empire or Rome for a year. But, Helium 3 is
almost non-existent on earth, where it can only be obtained, and then only in minute
amounts, as a byproduct of nuclear fission...the process which fusion is supposed to
eliminate.

1900-1910 AD--Continuing exploration of the solar system by TASA (the joint Egyptian,
Chinese and Norse space project). Probes are sent to Mars, to the asteroid belt, as well as
to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

1901 AD--Uba Yobachi, a computer programmer living in Ghana, designs a very
user-friendly interface (similar to OTL Windows) which operates as an overlay to the
C.T.S. operating system (again, similar to OTL Windows). He sells licenses for the
program to distributors in all of the major countries, and his program is soon wildly
popular worldwide. Computer sales skyrocket, and by the end of the decade they will be
found in most homes.

1902 AD--On March 2, 1902, a border skirmish between the kingdoms of Kongo and
Lunda leads to the outbreak of war between the two powers. On March 3, the Kongoese
inflict a sharp defeat on the Lundaese army at the border and advance toward Lunda’s
capital city. Facing defeat, on March 4, Lunda launches a short range missile, tipped
with an atomic warhead, and detonates it above the advancing Kongoese army. The
Kongoese army is incinerated by the atomic fireball. Later that same day, the enraged
Manikongo of Kongo responds by launching an atomic-tipped missile at Lunda’s capital
city. The missile detonates, and a mushroom cloud marks the funeral pyre of over
200,000 civilians. In reply, the King of Lunda, who had been moved to a protected
bunker outside of the capital at the outbreak of war, orders the launch of Lunda’s
remaining atomic stockpile (ten weapons), targeted at Kongo’s largest cities. Kongo,
detecting the launch, does the same, and within 2 minutes all eight of Kongo’s remaining
atomic weapons are airborne. Three of Lunda’s warheads and one of Kongo’s
malfunction and do not detonate. The rest do not. When it is all over, over three million
people are dead, and most of the major cities of both countries are piles of radioactive
ruins. Fallout covers much of both countries for the next several weeks, and some of it is
blown by the winds onto Egyptian soil as well. Thousands more people will die of
radioactivity over the next few months, not to mention the thousands who will die of
cancer and other illnesses in the succeeding decades. In the final exchange of weapons,
both the Manikongo and the King of Lunda were killed. Organized government in the
two countries collapses, and a multi-national peacekeeping force, under the auspices of
the Council for International Peace (or C.I.P.)...the first of it’s kind deployed anywhere in
the world...is sent to restore order and to make possible joint relief efforts by the Central
Alliance and the Pacific and Atlantic Treaty Organization (P.A.T.O.). Kongo and Lunda
cease to exist as nations, and the territory formerly occupied by them is administered by
the Council for International Peace, until such time as the people within them are capable
of self-government once again. Gruesome pictures of the devastation are beamed, via
satellite and in living colour, to television sets around the world. The world is horrified
by what has happened, and public outcry for an end to the “insane competition between
the nuclear powers” is heard throughout the world. These events will strongly influence
two soon-to-be leaders...Crown Prince Peter of Russia, and Crown Prince Psamtik of
Egypt...which will have profound effects on future history.

1903 AD--Tsar Mikhail V of Russia dies. He is succeeded by his grandson, who takes the
throne as Tsar Peter III. Tsar Peter is an idealistic young man of 25, who sees the
continuing rivalry between the Central Alliance (Russia and Rome) and the Pacific and
Atlantic Treaty Organization (Egypt, China, the Norse Kingdom, and the Inca Empire) as
dangerous, non-productive and an impediment to world progress. He begins to work to
build closer relations between the various nations which comprise these alliances. Also
in this year, the compact disk is invented, revolutionizing portable data storage for
computers. Within a few years, an improved version (the equivalent of the OTL DVD)
will also be available. Also in this year, the second International Conference on Nuclear
Weapons is held at Beijing, sponsored by the Council for International Peace (C.I.P.).
Agreements are drawn up to establish “hotlines” between the leaders of the major powers,
with the aim of defusing possible situations which could lead to the outbreak of nuclear
war between them.

1903-1910 AD--To assess the potential viability of a lunar base, CASP (the joint
Romano/Russian space project) sends a series of unmanned exploratory vehicles to the
moon. Some probes photograph the entire lunar surface from orbit, others land and do
tests of lunar soil and rocks. What these probes reveal is very exciting. Water ice is
discovered in craters on the dark lunar north and south poles. And, additionally, it is
found that lunar soil and rocks contains high concentrations of many valuable minerals
and other materials, including the isotope Helium-3, which is relatively rare on earth and
which nuclear engineers believe may be the key to creating a viable nuclear fusion
reactor...seen as essential to meet humanity’s future energy needs. The discovery of
these materials...which is not announced to the rest of the world...convinces CASP to go
forward with it’s moon base project.

1905 AD--Tsar Peter III of Russia makes the first of several proposals that the TASA and
CASP space programs pool their resources and work together, instead of competing and
duplicating efforts, as is happening now. His proposal is rejected by both the member
nations of the P.A.T.O. alliance, as well as by his own ally, Rome. Also, for the past
several decades, concern about air pollution caused by motor vehicles powered by fossil
fuels has lead to various experiments with engines powered by alternative fuels. The
most promising of these is hydrogen. Two technologies have emerged as leading
contenders...an internal combustion engine which runs on liquid hydrogen instead of
gasoline, and an electric vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Both technologies have
problems. The hydrogen fuel cell, in order to keep fuel cell operating temperatures and
size low enough to make installation in a motor vehicle practical, requires platinum
catalysts to promote the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which produces electricity to
power the vehicle. The cost of these platinum catalysts is simply prohibitive, and no
effective substitute will ever be found. The hydrogen-burning internal combustion engine
is a more practical approach, but is limited by the fact that there is no infrastructure in
place for the distribution of hydrogen fuel, and such an infrastructure would be very
expensive to build. Nevertheless, in this year, Zheng Xing Motors of China decides to
take the plunge into a new technological era, and introduces a hybrid vehicle whose
internal combustion engine is capable of being run by gasoline or liquid hydrogen.
Demand for the car is slow at first, limited by the lack of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure.
But as more of them are sold, consumer demand will lead to various entrepreneurs
investing in the establishment of such an infrastructure, and as the infrastructure slowly
goes into place, demand for the car will increase...which of course will increase consumer
demand for more infrastructure. Within 30 years, hydrogen-burning vehicles are being
offered by manufacturers in most countries, and are becoming very popular. By the end
of the century, they will completely supplant fossil-fueled vehicles as the primary mode
of transportation worldwide.

c. 1905 AD--Continuing improvement of microprocessors have increased computing
speeds to the equivalent of OTL 2000 AD, with no end in sight. Commercial internet
service companies are reaching out to the consumer market, and by 1905, more than half
of the computers in the world are hooked up to the worldwide internet, exchanging
information, email, and opinions freely across international borders. The number of
computers hooked up to the system will increase every year, and by the end of the next
decade, there will be very few computers left which are not part of the network. One
interesting facet of this phenomenon has been the rise of internet bulletin boards and
discussion forums. In one such forum, devoted to discussion of an obscure topic called
“alternate history,” the topic of one of the more popular threads is, “What if Pharaoh
Necho II of Egypt had not sent forth the fleet which re-discovered Ophir?”

c. 1905 AD onward--The reduction of demand for petroleum because of the world-wide
switch-over to nuclear power for generation of electricity has caused those of the world’s
nations whose economies depend heavily on oil exporting (especially Persia,
Mesopotamia, Arabia, and Teysas) to fall on hard times, leading to widespread unrest in
those countries. In Mesopotamia and Teysas, there are coups which topple the
democratically elected governments there. In Arabia and Persia, where strong
constitutional monarchies reign, the governments there are able to stave off attempted
coups against them. But because extremism is thus denied a political outlet, it instead
begins to take a religious form. Extremist mullahs begin to preach a doctrine of
Pan-Islamism (the unification of all Muslims under the protection of a powerful Islamic
State, able to compete on equal terms with the great Christian and pagan states which the
mullahs argue are controlling the world for the benefit of non-Muslims). Inspired by
these mullahs, ‘Jihadist’ groups arise among the Muslim populations of those countries
and other predominately Muslim areas, sparking widespread international terrorism. This
problem will continue for many years.

1908 AD--The TASA space station is completed. The permanent stationing of
astronauts aboard the space station is revealing problems with long-term human exposure
to zero and low gravity locales, such as bone decalcification (approximately 1 percent per
month in zero gravity, estimated at approximately 1/6 of one percent per month in lunar
gravity) and muscle atrophy. Research has begun on how best to counteract these effects.
TASA has also developed a relatively low cost ‘taxi service” to ferry astronauts and light
cargoes to and from the station. A space plane, capable of low-earth orbit but not of
reaching the space station itself (which is at a higher altitude than the space plane is
designed to reach) and which takes off with standard jet engines like a normal airplane
from a landing field on earth, is developed. The space plane climbs to an altitude of
50,000 feet, where it is loaded with rocket fuel from two tanker aircraft (one carries
hydrogen, the other oxygen). The space plane’s rocket motors then carry it into low earth
orbit, where it meets and docks with a rocket-powered transport shuttle launched from the
space station itself. Astronauts and cargo are transferred between the craft, and then
either taken to the space station by the transport or returned to earth by the space plane.
The space plane then lands at an airport, just like a conventional aircraft. In Teysas, a
military coup brings General Quanah Misae to power. He will establish an authoritarian
dictatorship in place of Teysas’s democratic government.

1909-1912 AD--War between Teysas and Arizonac. Teysas dictator Quanah Misae, who
overthrew the democratically elected government in a coup the previous year, covets the
rich mineral resources (especially gold, silver, and copper) possessed by his neighbor to
the west. In early 1909 he declares war on Arizonac. Teysas troops cross the border and
move rapidly toward the Arizonac capital, but are halted at the Pecos River. Teysas is a
Roman client state, and Arizonac is a Chinese client, and both powers funnel arms and
supplies to their respective proteges, and fighting bogs down. Neither of these countries
is a nuclear power, and so their conflict does not receive undue international attention
initially. But the Mandan and Creek Confederacies are concerned by the conflict,
happening, as it does, virtually on their doorstep, and in 1912 they appeal to the Council
for International Peace to intervene. They are supported in this appeal by Egypt, Ghana,
Russia, and the Inca Empire (Rome, China, and the Norse...who are also profiting by
selling weapons to both sides...vote against intervention), and the C.I.P. issues an
ultimatum to Teysas...withdraw from Arizonac or face sanctions up to, and including,
possible multi-national military intervention. Quanah Misae approaches Rome for
support, but is refused and advised to back down, which he does, reluctantly. A C.I.P.
peacekeeping force is placed on the border between the two countries to prevent future
outbreaks between them.

1909 AD--A military coup topples the democratic government of Mesopotamia. General
Hassan al-Majid declares himself President for Life, and establishes an authoritarian
dictatorship over the country. The dictator, who hopes to one day establish himself as the
President of a unified Islamic country, will secretly support the Pan-Islamist movement
in India, Persia and Arabia with funds and weapons. He will also secretly (since
Mesopotamia is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty signed at the International
Conference on Nuclear Weapons in 1877) fund efforts to develop nuclear weapons. At a
secret meeting with Mesopotamian nuclear physicists, al-Majid declares, “As there are
Christian bombs and pagan bombs, so there must be an Islamic bomb, and I am
determined that Mesopotamia will have that bomb.” Work begins immediately.

1910 AD--One area where Pan-Islamism has firmly taken root is in India, which for over
a century, since the death of the last Mogul Emperor, has been ruled by a collection of
weak native princes under a joint Egyptian and Chinese protectorate. In the summer of
this year, a series of suicide bombings are carried out against Egyptian and Chinese
troops, military bases, and administrative facilities in India, marking the beginning of a
widespread revolt. Emperor Lee Kwan Pao of China and Pharaoh Rameses XXVIII are
divided over how to respond. The Chinese Emperor wants to move aggressively to put
down the revolt, but his Egyptian ally is urging against that, as it would doubtless mean
large numbers of civilian casualties. Rameses argues that it would be better to establish
a framework for eventual Indian independence, and try to work with moderate opposition
leaders within India to establish a new government. After much cajoling, the Chinese
Emperor agrees to this. As a first step, Egypt and China jointly announce that they are
turning over the administration of India to the Council for International Peace, which will
oversee the transition to a democratically elected government in India within ten years.
By the end of the year, the Egyptian and Chinese occupation troops have been replaced by
peacekeepers from the Council for International Peace (C.I.P.), and negotiations between
the C.I.P. and local Indian leaders has begun with the aim of establishing a native
government for India.

1911 AD--Emperor Lee Kwan Pao of China dies, and is succeeded by Lee Zheng Xi.

1912 AD--Quanah Misae of Teysas is overthrown by a military coup. The army
commander who lead the coup, General Winema Urika, announces the re-establishment
of the old democratic constitution, with elections to be held early the following year for a
new President and Legislative Council.

1913 AD--In planning for the eventual construction of a lunar base, CASP plans to send a
series of unmanned “cargo vessels” full of supplies (several each year, full of food, fuel,
water, tools and construction machinery, prefabricated and pre-pressurized habitat
modules, and the other items they will need to establish a base) to the moon, where they
will remain in orbit. These vessels will be designed to dock with each other by remote
control, and each successive ship will dock with the last to form a continuous chain.
Several launches will be made each year for several years, until the desired stockpile of
supplies has been established. It is also planned to design a lunar shuttle which will be
used to ferry the supplies down to the lunar surface when the time comes to begin
construction of the lunar colony. However, these plans are not immediately put into
operation. Also in this year, elections are held in Teysas. The newly elected President and
Legislative Council take power peacefully as General Winema Urika, as promised, steps
down.

1914 AD--Since taking over the administration and security of India, the Council for
International Peace has been primarily concerned with the suppression of the continuing
Pan-Islamist revolt. Finally, in 1914, the C.I.P. considers the situation stable enough to
begin the process of establishing a native government for the country. Under the auspices
of the C.I.P., the first of several conventions is held in India for the purpose of drawing
up a constitution for an independent India. Leaders from the majority Muslim and
minority Hindu and Buddhist populations are represented at these conferences, which will
meet yearly for the next four years. Also in this year, Pharaoh Rameses XXVIII dies, and
is succeeded by Psamtik XXVI. Psamtik was, as a young boy, horrified by the television
images of the devastation wrought by the nuclear exchange between Kongo and Lunda,
and will, like Russian Tsar Peter III, work to build closer relations between the various
great powers, and promote joint exploration of space.

1915 AD--For the past three decades, both TASA and CASP have been working to
develop a nuclear space propulsion system. In this year, TASA successfully tests a
nuclear thermal rocket (similar in concept to the OTL NERVA rocket) which uses a
nuclear fission reactor to heat hydrogen to extremely high temperatures before expelling
it through a nozzle at the rear of the engine. This design has several advantages over
traditional chemical rockets. Unlike a traditional chemical rocket, this engine cannot
produce the high levels of thrust needed to escape earth gravity, but once in space, would
be able to accelerate continuously over a much longer period of time than would be
possible with a chemical rocket, enabling it to achieve a much higher final speed (over
twice as fast as a chemical rocket). Such speeds would make trips to the moon possible in
1 day, and trips to Mars possible in 3 months. The nuclear rocket is also reusable, unlike
the chemical rockets currently in use, as it’s hydrogen tanks would simply need to be
refilled periodically...which could be done in space...and this would dramatically reduce
the number of expensive launches of chemical rockets. In addition to providing
propulsion, the nuclear reactor would also provide electric power for a manned
spacecraft. And finally, the engine is capable of being refueled with alternate materials
(including methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide) which are plentiful in the atmospheres
of other planets and moons in the solar system, so the engine is capable of “living off the
land,” so to speak. All in all it is a very promising design.

1916 AD--Russian Tsar Peter III and Pharaoh Psamtik XXVI issue a joint statement
calling for the unification of the TASA and CASP space programs into one effort, and
issue an invitation to all space-faring nations to attend a summit with the aim of
hammering out such an agreement. The summit is to be held the next year in Moscow.
Also in this year, test flights of the prototype CASP lunar shuttle are successful.

1917 AD--The International Space Policy Summit is jointly hosted by Tsar Peter III and
Pharaoh Psamtik XXVI in Moscow. Representatives of all the major space-faring powers
attend, except two...Rome and China, both of which boycott the summit. Tsar Peter
announces the discovery of significant deposits of Helium 3 on the moon, as well as the
other discoveries made by the CASP lunar exploratory probes, which stuns the listening
audience. He proposes that a joint effort to exploit these resources be made. Pharaoh
Psamtik XXVI strongly supports Tsar Peter, and they are joined by King Erik XIII of the
Norse and Emperor Viracocha VII of the Incas. These powers agree to form the
International Space Exploration Project (ISEP) to oversee their joint efforts.

1918 AD--After much cajoling by their allies, Rome and China agree to take part in the
International Space Exploration Project. At a summit held in Rome later that year, an
international treaty for the sharing of space resources is signed. Also in this year, a
constitution is agreed upon for India. The document calls for a bi-cameral legislature
(one house for Muslims, and the other for Hindus, Buddhists, and representatives of the
various other minor religious groups which inhabit India), with the President to be a
Muslim, and the Vice President a Hindu, with the President and Vice President to have
joint command of the armed forces...neither can order the military into action without the
consent of the other. An interim government is selected by the C.I.P., which will continue
in power until democratic elections can be held. Elections are scheduled for 1920.

1919 AD--The first Roman, Russian and Inca astronauts are sent to the ISEP (former
TASA) space station, where they join the Egyptian, Chinese, and Norse astronauts
already there to begin joint operation of the station. Also in this year, a plan for the
construction of a lunar base for purpose of Helium 3 mining operations is approved by
ISEP. The main base will be located just outside the Mare Tranquillitatus, where it is
known that supplies of Helium 3 sufficient to supply the needs of earth for several
hundred years exist. Satellite bases, connected to the main bases by rail lines, will be
located near the lunar poles, where workers responsible for mining the lunar ice will
reside. The former CASP plan of sending unmanned “cargo vessels” into orbit around
the moon in preparation for the actual manned missions is adopted, with one major
alteration. Instead of using chemical rockets, the newly designed nuclear thermal rocket
will be used instead, as this will cut both costs and trip times to and from the moon
dramatically. The nuclear rocket will be launched into orbit by a chemical rocket, where
it will rendezvous with the ISEP space station. There it will be married up with cargo
containers, also launched into earth orbit aboard chemical rockets, and take them to the
moon (the first ten of these containers will contain liquid hydrogen, from which the
rocket will refuel itself, when necessary, for the return trip to earth. It is planned that,
once the lunar base is operational, hydrogen will be produced on the moon and placed in
orbit from there for use by the nuclear rocket). The use of the nuclear thermal rocket will
dramatically reduce the cost of these missions, and enable them to be completed faster.
Once a sufficient quantity of supplies has been amassed, astronauts will be sent to the
moon (aboard spacecraft to also be propelled by nuclear thermal rockets) to begin
construction of the base. First priority will making the base independent of re-supply
from earth. Habitat areas (to be initially composed of pre-pressurized modules brought
from earth, later to be constructed from lunar materials); a nuclear reactor to provide
power for the base; and greenhouses for food production, will all have to be built first.
After that is completed, facilities for harvesting water, oxygen, hydrogen and other
materials (nitrogen, various metals) from the lunar soil and rocks as well as for processing
ice mined from the lunar poles (which will be used to provide drinking water, as well as
being split into hydrogen...for use in fueling the nuclear thermal rockets...and oxygen)
will be built. Once all these are in operation, the base will be self sufficient, and Phase
One of the plan will be completed. It is planned to have the base fully established on a
self-supporting basis within ten years. After that, Phase Two of the plan...establishing the
Helium 3 mining operation....will begin.

1920 AD--ISEP places ten nuclear thermal rockets in orbit. Shipments of cargo to lunar
orbit begin this year. Also in this year, elections are held for the new democratic
government of India. The new government takes power in July of this year, and the last
C.I.P. peacekeepers are withdrawn by the end of the year.

1921 AD--The full initial allotment of cargo for the establishment of the lunar base has
been placed in orbit around the moon by June of this year. In July, the first astronauts are
sent to the moon and begin construction of the lunar base. The habitat areas are
established, the nuclear reactor is assembled and activated, and the greenhouses are set up
and begin operations by the end of this year. In order to counteract the deleterious effects
of low lunar gravity (bone decalcification and muscle atrophy primarily), the astronauts
are given a calcium rich diet, including calcium supplements, and are required to
regularly exercise. They are also put on a regular rotation schedule, with colonists living
on the moon for up to three years, then returning to the earth for at least six months before
going back to the moon.
1922 AD onward--Ever since shortly after the introduction of the first practical telephone
by Alexandros Kousouni in the early 1700s, various inventors have been trying to
produce a truly practical mobile telephone. Indeed, the first of these, a battery operated
telephone which could be hooked up to any available telegraph or telephone line by
means of electrodes attached to long poles, was patented only five years after Kousouni’s
invention. But these early, non-wireless systems were not really practical. In the
mid-1800s, the first crude, bulky, vacuum-tube filled mobile telephones operating via
radio signals were introduced. These early models were limited by their short range and
never were commercially successful, and they mainly were used as car phones by wealthy
businessmen or government officials. With the advent of inexpensive microprocessors
and digital switching systems, a truly practical wireless telephone network is finally
possible, and in 1922, the first cellular phone systems are opened for business almost
simultaneously in Egypt, Rome, and China. The new cellular phones become wildly
popular, but will never replace the old, reliable land-line phone, which has none of the
cell-phone’s problems (concerns over security due to the ability of criminals and
government agencies to intercept cell-phone signals from the air, as well as poor sound
quality and dropped calls due to poor signal strength in many areas).

1922 AD--A facility to produce water by heating lunar rocks is established. Production is
slow at first, but gradually increases, reducing the dependence of the base on water
shipped up from earth. The first female colonists arrive at the lunar base. Also in this
year, Islamist violence breaks out again in India, this time aimed at the minority Hindu
and Buddhist populations of India.

1923 AD--By the end of the year, water production is sufficient to fully supply the needs
of the base, as well as to provide feed stock for an electrolysis facility which splits water
into hydrogen and oxygen. Also, the first solar-electric arrays are built to supplement the
electric power produced by the nuclear reactor. The first human conception on the moon
(by a Chinese couple) takes place. Doctors are concerned about the possible risks of
carrying a baby to term in lunar gravity, and the mother is sent to earth during the period
of gestation. She demands that she be allowed to return to give birth on the moon, and
this request is granted. In India, President Mohammed ibn Khalid and Vice President
Mohandas Desai issue a joint statement condemning the Pan Islamist attacks on
non-Muslims in India, and the military is ordered to crack down on Pan-Islamist
extremist groups.

1924 AD--The Electrolysis facility for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is built.
All production is initially turned into liquid form for storage. As with the water
production facility, production is slow at first, but gradually increases. Refrigerated
storage tanks for liquid hydrogen and oxygen are built and slowly begin to be filled. In
this year, the first human child born on the moon...a baby girl...is born to a Chinese
couple living in the lunar base. They name her Chan Juan (‘beautiful moon’). Also in
this year, the first satellite base at the lunar north pole is established. Construction of a
rail line (on which electric locomotives will haul supplies, lunar ice, and personnel
between the two bases) connecting the satellite base to the main base begins.

1925 AD--The first of several specialized cargo vessels, designed to convey liquid
hydrogen from the lunar surface to the hydrogen storage containers in orbit around the
moon (from which the nuclear thermal rockets are fueled), is launched into earth orbit and
then taken to the moon by a nuclear thermal rocket. The vessel is designed to land on the
moon, be filled with liquid hydrogen, blast off from the lunar surface, go into lunar orbit,
dock with an orbiting hydrogen container, refill it, and then return to the lunar surface to
repeat the process as needed. The vessels themselves will be propelled to and from the
lunar surface by chemical rockets...also fueled by lunar hydrogen and oxygen. Also
transported to the moon are three electric locomotives and other railroad rolling stock for
use on the rail line connecting the two lunar bases. Also in this year, small scale
production of various metals begins (iron, titanium, manganese, copper, aluminum, and
others), which will be used, eventually, to create the machinery necessary for Helium 3
mining. Also in this year, President Mohammed ibn Khalid of India is killed by a car
bomb, which explodes outside the Presidential Palace. Although nobody claims
responsibility for the attack, Pan Islamist extremists are strongly suspected. Vice
President Mohandas Desai vows that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Elections
for a new President are scheduled for the following year.

1926 AD--The rail line connecting the satellite base at the lunar north pole with the main
base at the Mare Tranquillitatus has been completed, and mining of the lunar pole ice
begins. This dramatically increases the production of oxygen and hydrogen. Production
of oxygen is now sufficient to begin diverting some of it to the needs of the lunar base
itself. By the end of this year, the lunar base will no longer be dependent on oxygen
shipped from earth. Also in this year, the first shipments of liquid hydrogen from the
lunar surface to the storage containers in lunar orbit take place. A special Animal
Husbandry Dome is constructed, with the aim of raising domestic animals for meat and
dairy production. This will enable a welcome supplement to the largely vegetarian diet
which the settlers have been consuming so far. In India, Hussein Abdullah is elected to
the Presidency. He is secretly in sympathy with the Pan Islamist movement, and will,
behind the scenes, work to undermine efforts to suppress the movement in India.
Publicly, however, he joins with Vice President Desai in condemning the continuing
violence.

1927 AD--The first domestic farm animals (cattle, pigs, and chickens) are transported to
the moon. Metals production is increasing, and substantial stockpiles begin to be
accumulated.

1928 AD--There are now 2,500 people (Egyptian, Roman, Inca, Chinese, Norse and
Russian) living at the lunar base. The base is fully self-sufficient, and with the
construction of new habitats, the population is increasing yearly. Elections in India.
Vice President Desai and President Abdullah are re-elected.

1929 AD--Industrial equipment is transported from the earth, which will be used to
establish a factory for producing mining machinery which will be used for Helium 3
mining operations, as well as rail, locomotives and railroad rolling stock. By the end of
next year, construction on the factory will be nearing completion.

1929-1935 AD--The Indian Civil War. In early 1929, Vice President Desai discovers
incontrovertible evidence that President Abdullah has been secretly funneling money and
arms from military stocks to the Pan Islamist terrorist groups which have been plaguing
India for almost 2 decades. Desai denounces Abdullah before a joint meeting of the two
houses of the Indian Congress, and demands his resignation. Instead of resigning,
Abdullah claims that the evidence presented by Desai is fabricated, and is part of a
“Hindu Plot to subordinate the followers of Allah, the One True God, to rule by pagan
infidels.†Abdullah calls on the Muslim officers of the army (who make up most of the
army command structure) to support him in overturning the government, and a majority
of them do so. Desai calls on the remaining loyal officers of the army (many of whom are
Muslim) to support the government, and fighting breaks out between the two factions. By
it’s charter, the Council for International Peace is powerless to intervene in the conflict
(the C.I.P. is only authorized to intervene in situations involving armed conflict between
two or more nations, or to mediate between two or more sovereign nations when
requested to do so by all parties involved. The Civil War in India, despite the horror and
brutality it has caused, is a purely ‘internal affair,’ as defined by the C.I.P. Charter), and
so it rages on, unchecked, for six years. The civil war that results will be bitter, with
massacres and atrocities committed by both sides on a regular basis. Abdullah receives
much support from Pan Islamist groups in other countries, and in the end, this support
tips the balance. In 1935, Vice President Desai is captured and brutally beheaded on
national television, and without his strong leadership, the anti-Islamist faction collapses.
President Abdullah issues a proclamation declaring that henceforth, India will be an
Islamic Republic, and non-Muslims will be required to either convert to Islam or leave
the country by the end of the year. A mass exodus of Hindus and Buddhists results, with
an estimated 20,000,000 people leaving the country. Most settle in Egypt and China.

1930 AD--Construction begins on the first of several Helium 3 processing facilities...each
capable of processing approximately 500,000 tons of lunar soil a year (enough to produce
approximately 40 tons of Helium 3). The plan is to build one such facility for each of the
individual ISEP member nations, to be run by that nation for the production of Helium 3
to meet it’s own energy needs.

1931 AD--Construction of the factory for producing mining and railroad equipment is
completed. The factory begins to produce robotic mining machinery and railroad rolling
stock. Construction of the first Helium 3 processing facility is completed. Construction
begins on the second and third plants. On earth, construction begins on the first fusion
reactors which will be fed with lunar helium 3. Also in this year, the Creek Confederacy,
which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, detonates an atomic
bomb. It does follow the dictates of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Test Ban Treaty signed
in 1877, and it’s test is done in a specially prepared cavern deep beneath the surface of the
earth. Nevertheless, the announcement of the successful test is met with worldwide
denunciation. In response, the Mandan Confederacy resumes funding for it’s own nuclear
program, which had been suspended during the tide of public horror at the devastation
caused by the nuclear exchange between Kongo and Lunda. Teysas and Arizonac also
begin clandestine work toward development of atomic weapons.

1932 AD--Helium 3 mining and processing begins. The first load of 30 tons of Helium 3
will be transported to earth by the end of the year. It is equally divided between Egypt,
Rome, China, Russia, the Norse Kingdom, and the Inca Empire, all of which have
constructed their first fusion reactors and are just waiting for the arrival of Helium 3 fuel.
Also by the end of this year, the second Helium 3 processing facility is completed on the
moon.

1933 AD--The third lunar processing plant for Helium 3 production is completed.
Construction begins on the fourth, fifth, and sixth plants. In January 1933, with the
recent arrival of the first Helium 3 fuel from the moon, the first fusion reactors are
activated in the ISEP nations (Egypt, Rome, China, Russia, the Norse Kingdom and the
Inca Empire). Once fueled, the new plants work exactly as advertised, producing power
with no residual radiation and no radioactive wastes. The ISEP nations begin
preparations to phase out their existing fission reactors.

1935 AD--There are now over 5,000 people living in the two lunar bases. The fourth and
fifth Helium 3 processing plants are completed. Construction begins on a rail line from
the main lunar base to the lunar south pole, in preparation for the establishment of the
second satellite base. Also in September of this year, Ghana applies for, and receives,
admission into ISEP. The first Ghanaese astronauts take their places in the ISEP space
station shortly afterward, and the first Ghanaese colonists will be transported to the lunar
base by the end of the year.

1937 AD--Presidents Hussein Abdullah of India and Hassan al-Majid of Mesopotamia
meet to discuss the possibility of an alliance based on their shared ideology of
Pan-Islamism. The result is a treaty by which Mesopotamia and India agree to merge,
creating the United Islamic Republic. Secretly, Abdullah and al-Majid begin plotting the
overthrow of the monarchies in Arabia and Persia, as well as cooperating on the
development of “The Islamic Bomb.” Also in this year, Ghana activates it’s first fusion
reactor, and the sixth Helium 3 processing plant is completed on the moon. The ATL
equivalent of HDTV is introduced and begins replacing analog television sets.

1939 AD--Revolutionaries, secretly funded and armed by the United Islamic Republic,
topple the Shah of Persia from power. The Shah flees to exile in Egypt. The
revolutionary government “applies for admission to the U.I.R.,” and is “accepted.”
Arabia is now the only Muslim land not under the control of the Pan-Islamists.

1940 AD--Co-President Hassan al-Majid of the United Islamic Republic dies of a heart
attack. According to the terms of the treaty between the two dictators, President
Abdullah of India becomes the sole ruler of the U.I.R. Also, widespread interest in the
lunar base has generated consumer demand for a lunar tourism industry. In this year,
ISEP grants a charter to a private multinational consortium which will develop a lunar
hotel, to be called “The Lunar Palace,” with regular flights to and from the moon to be
made available to the general public. It is planned to have the hotel up and running
within five years. Tourists will take the space plane up to the ISEP space station, where
they will board a lunar shuttle (propelled by a nuclear thermal rocket) which will carry
them to the moon. ISEP will lease three of it’s nuclear thermal rockets to the consortium
for use in running this shuttle service. ISEP will also profit by assessing sales taxes on
tickets for passengers to and from the moon, as well as levying a sales tax on goods and
services sold (rooms, food, entertainment activities) at the hotel itself. Finally, by this
date, nearly half of the fission reactors in the ISEP nations have been deactivated, or are
in the process of being deactivated, as replacement fusion plants come on line.

1941 AD--An attempted coup against King Faisal of Arabia is crushed by Arabian
security forces. President Abdullah of the U.I.R. vows “revenge for the martyrs” slain by
Arabian security. Also in this year, Pharaoh Psamtik XXVI dies, and is succeeded by
Necho XXIII. His death is mourned worldwide, and he (along with Tsar Peter III of
Russia) is acclaimed as one of the greatest leaders of all time...a man whose tireless
efforts on behalf of peace and unified space exploration have resulted in the great
achievements of mankind in the Twentieth Century. Also in this year, construction of the
lunar hotel begins. It is announced that the hotel will have 500 luxury suites, a casino,
fine restaurants, and will offer lunar “safari excursions” where guests will tour some of
the more scenic features of the lunar landscape in electric shuttle busses.

1942 AD--The rail line to the lunar south pole is completed. Construction begins on the
second satellite base for polar ice mining. Also in this year, the first Virtual Reality
Arcades are introduced, where people can experience almost anything through the magic
of computer generated imagery and specialized “sensation suits.” Like video game
arcades before them, this new form of entertainment will become wildly popular and
spread over the world over the next decade.

1943 AD--Pan-Islamists riot in all the major cities of Arabia. When King Faisal’s
security forces begin firing into the crowds, killing hundreds of protesters, President
Abdullah of the U.I.R. begins massing troops on the Arabian border. When Faisal
protests this aggressive action by the U.I.R., Abdullah calls him a “traitor to the holy
cause of Islam” and demands that the King abdicate. Faisal, of course, refuses, and on
August 1, the U.I.R. invades Arabia. Faisal’s military is no match for that of the U.I.R.,
and Arabia is quickly occupied by fast-moving U.I.R. armored columns. King Faisal
manages to get to out of the country on August 5 (just before the entry of U.I.R. troops
into the Arabian capital of Mecca) and flee to Egypt. On August 20, Faisal petitions to
the Council for International Peace for redress, but his appeal is rejected. Although the
Council issues a statement condemning the aggression of the U.I.R., the member states
do not consider the issue important enough to warrant an ex-post-facto intervention,
especially since it is apparent that there was a lot of pro-U.I.R. sentiment and
dissatisfaction with the rule of King Faisal in Arabia. Arabia is formally “admitted” into
the U.I.R. later that year. The Pan-Islamist dream of a unified Islamic state is realized.
The satellite base at the lunar south pole is completed. Mining of the ice at the south pole
begins.

1944 AD--President Abdullah announces the formal withdrawal of the United Islamic
Republic from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1877. Later that year, the U.I.R.
successfully detonates an atomic warhead beneath the Indian Ocean. His action is
condemned by the Council for International Peace and by nations around the world, but
otherwise, no action is taken. Meanwhile, another benefit of the lunar colony and the
manned space station is made apparent when the first drugs produced under conditions of
zero and low gravity are introduced onto the market. Physicians are also considering the
possible benefits of performing certain procedures in microgravity conditions. The
International Medical Association (established two hundred years ago to establish
uniform standards for healthcare the world over) recommends that a research into the
possible benefits of treatment in microgravity conditions, both surgical and non-surgical,
be conducted. This research will revolutionize the treatment of many illnesses, and partly
as a result of this, the average human lifespan will rise from the 1944 level of 80 to an
average of 90 by the end of the century.

1945 AD--Emperor Lee Zheng Xi of China dies, and is succeeded by Lee K’ung Xi.
“The Lunar Palace” lunar hotel has been completed and is opened for business. Among
the first guests is Pharaoh Necho XXIII, who becomes the first Egyptian monarch to visit
the moon. The hotel is wildly successful, even though the cost of a “lunar vacation” is
quite high...more than six months wages for most people. Plans for additional hotels are
soon announced by the hotel consortium. Approximately 8,000 people now call the
moon home.

1947 AD--Emperor Lee K’ung Xi of China dies, and is succeeded by Lee Chang Lo. Also
in this year, President Abdullah of the United Islamic Republic announces the expulsion
of all non-Muslims from the republic. This action is widely condemned. Christian
refugees generally go to Rome or Russia, while pagans and other non-Christians (Jews
primarily) go to Egypt.

1948 AD--Tsar Peter III of Russia dies, and is succeeded by Ivan XIV. Like Pharaoh
Psamtik XXVI seven years before, Tsar Peter is mourned around the world, and it is
widely acknowledged that mankind’s achievements during this century have been largely
due to his tireless efforts to promote cooperation between the Great Powers.

1949 AD--The Emperor of China, as one of the world’s last three absolute monarchs (the
others are the Inca Emperor and the King of Ghana), is feeling increasingly isolated in a
world dominated by democracies, republics, and constitutional monarchies. Therefore,
in this year, the new Emperor Lee Chang Lo announces the introduction of a
Constitution, patterned on that of China’s long-time ally, Egypt. His decision is lauded
as a positive step by nations around the world. Elections for the first Chinese House of
Delegates (as the legislative body will be called) will be held the next year. President
Abdullah of the U.I.R. begins secretly funding Pan-Islamist terrorist organizations among
the Muslim populations in Egypt, China and Russia.

1950 AD--Pharaoh Necho XXIII is assassinated by a Pan-Islamist terrorist, who shoots
him as he exits his limousine outside his palace at Sais. He is succeeded by Necho
XXIV. The assassin and other members of a Pan-Islamist terror cell are quickly arrested.
Although it cannot be proven, the involvement of the U.I.R. in the assassination plot is
strongly suspected. Tensions rise between Egypt and the U.I.R. Construction begins on
the second lunar hotel, called “The Constellation.” It will have 1,000 rooms, with an
even bigger casino than the one at The Lunar Palace. By this year, Helium 3 production
is such that surpluses are available to be sold to non-ISEP nations. Construction of fusion
reactors begins in the Creek Confederacy, the Mandan Confederacy, Teysas, Arizonac,
and the U.I.R. The final fission reactor in use for electrical power generation in any of
the original ISEP nations, a plant located in the Norse Vinlandia colonies, is deactivated
as it’s replacement fusion reactor is brought on line. Elections are held for the Chinese
House of Delegates. Like the Council of 400 Elders in Egypt, the body will have the
power to approve or disapprove new taxes, treaties, and declarations of war, as well as
any other measure which infringes on the rights of the people as detailed in a lengthy bill
of rights. And, as in Egypt, the Emperor remains head of State, with the right to conduct
foreign policy and determine how state revenues are spent.

1951 AD--The United Islamic Republic successfully launches a communications satellite.
Of course, the rocket on which the satellite is launched will also be the basis for the
U.I.R.’s nuclear weapons delivery system.

1952 AD--The Mandan Confederacy successfully detonates an atomic weapon. Like the
Creek Confederacy, the Mandan Confederacy conducts the test according to the terms of
the Atmospheric and Oceanic Test Ban Treaty, but it’s action is nevertheless condemned
by nations around the world. Teysas and Arizonac both increase funding to their own
nuclear research projects.

1953 AD--One major accomplishment of the international conventions held in the 1830s
and 1840s which culminated in the signing of the Oslo Accords was an agreement to ban
the production and use of poison gas weapons. Inspectors working under the auspices of
the Council for International Peace presided over the destruction stockpiles of poison gas
munitions worldwide, and the destruction of the last such stockpile (in 1863) had been
hailed as a great victory for civilization over barbarism. No poison gas has been used in
warfare since that time. But in 1953, President Hussein Abdullah of the United Islamic
Republic begins secretly assembling a stockpile of chemical weapons (made from
byproducts of his country’s petroleum industry).

1954 AD--The Council for International Peace announces that self-government is to be
restored to the regions formerly comprising the Kingdoms of Kongo and Lunda, with
elections to be held the following year in each region for a new government. Kongo and
Lunda will be restored with their borders as they existed prior to the 1902 war.

1955 AD--Elections are held in Kongo and Lunda, and the new governments take power
in March 1955. The Council for International Peace withdraws it’s peacekeeping forces
from the region.

1956-1957 AD--The Armenian War. Since gaining independence in the aftermath of The
World War, the Republic of Armenia has been following a foreign policy based on
armed neutrality (very similar to OTL Switzerland). It has made no alliances with any of
the major powers, and maintains a sizeable army by universal conscription. Of course, it
cannot hope to compete with the military might of any of the major powers, and has
placed it’s main reliance on it’s ability to play one power off against another. But the
government run by the majority Armenian Christian population has, unfortunately, been
following another policy...persecution of the Muslim minority living in Armenia. In
1956, President Hussein Abdullah of the U.I.R. uses this as a pretext for the declaration
of war on Armenia. U.I.R. forces soon find themselves bogged down, forced to attack
strongly fortified positions in the Armenian mountains, where the U.I.R. advantage in
armor is nullified by the terrain. To break the deadlock, in April 1957, President
Abdullah orders the use of the U.I.R.’s stockpiles of chemical weapons. Armenian
fortifications are blanketed with mustard gas and nerve agents, causing horrendous
casualties to the unprepared defenders. The U.I.R. forces punch through the Armenian
lines, and the Armenian capital falls before the end of the month. The use of chemical
weapons by the U.I.R. is universally condemned by the international community. At the
urging of Pharaoh Necho XXIV, the Council for International Peace adopts a resolution
ordering the withdrawal, within 30 days, of U.I.R. forces from Armenia, the immediate
surrender of the U.I.R.’s illegal stockpiles of chemical weapons, and the verifiable
dismantling of the U.I.R.’s production facilities for said weapons. President Abdullah, in
a televised statement, refuses these “unholy demands,” and threatens to respond with
nuclear weapons if any “infidel army” invades the “sacred soil” of the U.I.R. Egypt,
Rome, China, and Russia begin massing armies on the borders of the U.I.R. The deadline
for U.I.R. compliance with the C.I.P. resolution comes and goes, and Abdullah does not
back down. On June 2, 1957, the allied armies invade the U.I.R. The U.I.R. forces are
pushed steadily back, and Abdullah issues his own ultimatum...withdraw from the U.I.R.
by June 5, or face an all-out nuclear strike by the U.I.R. When the allies do not comply,
Abdullah orders the launch of the U.I.R.’s nuclear weapons. But the weapons are never
launched. Instead, General Ahmed Rasfanjani, commander of the U.I.R.’s Strategic
Rocket Force, refuses to comply with Abdullah’s order, and leads a coup which topples
Abdullah from power. Abdullah is captured as he attempts to flee the capital at Teheran.
Rasfanjani immediately communicates the surrender of the U.I.R. to the Council for
International Peace, which orders a cease-fire by the allied armies. Rasfanjani agrees to
comply in all respects with the C.I.P. resolution, and evacuation of U.I.R. forces from
Armenia immediately follows. The Council for International Peace demands, and
receives, custody of former President Abdullah, who is to be put on trial for war crimes.

1957 AD--Emperor Tupac Amaru III of the Inca Empire, following the example of
Emperor Lee Chang Lo of China, announces the introduction of a constitution, based on
that of the Inca Empire’s long-time ally, Egypt. Elections for the Inca General Assembly
(as the legislative body will be called) are scheduled for the following year.

1958 AD--The war crimes trial of former President Abdullah is held in Rome. Abdullah
is convicted and sentenced to death. The sentence is carried out (by hanging) on May 1,
1958. Meanwhile, General Rasfanjani surrenders the U.I.R.’s chemical weapons
stockpiles and dismantles the U.I.R.’s chemical weapons production facilities, as per the
terms of the surrender agreement. Also in this year, elections for the Inca General
Assembly are held, and the new Inca constitution goes into effect. Ghana is now the
world’s last remaining absolute monarchy.

1959 AD--Baako Nyankomago, a Ghanaese inventor, patents a practical voice interface
system for computers. By the end of the century, computer keyboards and mice will be
all but obsolete.

1960 AD--General Rasfanjani, leader of the United Islamic Republic, is a pragmatist, and
he knows the course the U.I.R. had been following under the Abdullah regime could only
have lead to disaster for the U.I.R. Rasfanjani is therefore trying to repair the U.I.R.’s
international image. Rasfanjani has never been a die-hard Pan Islamist, and he cuts the
U.I.R.’s support of Pan Islamist extremists, which results in a significant decrease in
terrorism around the world. He also applies for membership in ISEP (the International
Space Exploration Project). However, bitter feelings left over from the recent war cause
the application to be rejected. By this year, over 15,000 people are living on the moon.
A second major lunar base, to be located on the northern shore of the Mare Serenitatus, is
under construction.

1961 AD--The withdrawal of their lifeline of money and weapons from the United
Islamic Republic has not, unfortunately, meant the demise of Pan Islamist terrorist
organizations in other countries. Instead, it has lead them to organize on a multi-national
level and seek alternate means of funding. At a secret meeting held in the Republic of
Kongo, leaders of the various terror organizations agree to create a united organization, to
be called The Sword of Allah. The organization’s cells will maintain contact with each
other via email, which will allow them to recruit and coordinate their activities
worldwide. The organization will be primarily funded by trafficking in illegal narcotics
(as in OTL, most nations of the world have laws forbidding the recreational use of
narcotic drugs, which of course has created a large and lucrative illicit market in those
substances), as well as by phony “charitable organizations” whose real purpose is to
collect donations from sympathetic Muslims and funnel them to The Sword of Allah.
Also in this year, Roman inventor Junius Modestus Filus patents the first practical video
telephone, which will replace non-video models by the end of the century.

1962 AD--The second major lunar base on the Mare Serenitatus is completed and begins
to accept colonists. A third major hotel is planned to be built near this base, to be called
The Aurora. It will have 5,000 rooms, and like the other hotels, will feature a casino. It
will also feature an amusement park with rides taking advantage of the moon’s low
gravity to provide special thrills to the hotel’s guests.

1963 AD--Tsar Ivan XIV of Russia dies, and is succeeded by his son, Alexander IV.
General Rasfanjani of the U.I.R. applies, once again, for membership in ISEP. This time,
the application is accepted.

1964-1966 AD--Border war between Teysas and Arizonac. In early 1957, tensions
between Teysas and Arizonac, whose border has never been settled to the satisfaction of
either nation, are on the rise. Both countries demand the withdrawal of the Council for
International Peace (C.I.P.) peacekeepers from their border region, and reluctantly, the
C.I.P. does this. In May 1957, a border clash between troops from the two powers leads
to war. Neither side is able to gain an advantage, and after two years of inconclusive
fighting, they agree to an armistice based on status quo antebellum.

1964 AD--The first astronauts from the U.I.R. arrive at the ISEP space station.

1965 AD--Pharaoh Necho XXIV dies, and is succeeded by Seti XIV. Also in this year,
the first U.I.R. colonists arrive at the lunar base.

1966 AD--The new lunar hotel, The Aurora, opens for business. With the addition of
more and more hotel rooms, the cost of a lunar vacation has been dropping steadily, and
although it is still very expensive, is becoming affordable to the middle classes on earth.
As demand has increased, ISEP and the international space hotel consortium have also
expanded the fleet of nuclear thermal rockets and lunar shuttle ships to accomodate it. By
the end of the decade, over 2,000,000 people a year will be vacationing on the moon.

1967 AD--At a special conference held in honour of the 50th anniversary of the creation
of the International Space Exporation Project (ISEP), Pharaoh Seti XIV proposes that
mankind take it’s next step into space...the exploration and possible colonization of Mars.
He is joined by Tsar Alexander IV of Russia and Emperor Tupac Amaru III of the Incas.
It is decided to send probes to Mars to test the soil, rocks, and atmosphere to determine
the suitability of the planet for colonization.

1968 AD--ISEP begins to discuss contingency plans for a spacecraft to carry out the
proposed Mars Mission. Concern is being expressed about the transit time required to
reach Mars. The longer the crew is in space, the more exposure to dangerous cosmic
radiation will impact their health. Also, a shorter trip would mean less supplies would
have to be carried along to sustain the crew. While the proven nuclear thermal rockets
could make the journey to Mars in about three months, which would be an acceptable
amount of time to prevent exposure of the crew to dangerous levels of cosmic radiation,
obviously, the shorter the transit time, the better. ISEP design boards go to work to find
an alternate.

1969 AD--The first of a series of Mars Surveyor probes are launched. Some of these
probes are designed to orbit Mars and photograph the surface. Others carry sophisticated
instruments, such as gamma ray spectrometers, to survey for water and other important
elements on the Martian surface. Yet others are designed to land on the Martian surface
and do tests on the soil and rocks to determine what resources are available.

1970 AD--Emperor Lee Chang Lo of China dies, and is succeeded by Lee Kai Wang.
Also in this year, results from the first Mars Surveyor probes come in. The orbiting
probes confirm the presence of water ice over large areas of the Martian surface at depths
of between 4 and 6 cubits below the ground. They also confirm that the polar ice caps are
largely made up of water ice. The landers confirm the presence of many valuable
materials in the Martian soil and rocks. Over 30,000 people now live on the moon.

THE WORLD IN 1970 AD...A SNAPSHOT. In the following paragraphs, the political,
economic, and religious structure of the various nations of the world will be discussed,
giving some idea of how society has developed in the preceding centuries.
--Politics. Egypt’s constitutional monarchy has seen quite a bit of development since the
last formal amendment of the constitution several centuries ago. The enfranchised
segment of the population, which once consisted only of the nemhu (property owners),
has been gradually expanded over the centuries, and now encompasses nearly everyone in
the Egyptian Empire. The power and influence of the Council of the 400 Elders has also
increased, to the point where Pharaohs...who under the Egyptian Constitution have the
power to spend state revenues as they see fit...now customarily seek the approval of the
Council before making large expenditures out of the treasury. China, Russia, the Inca
Empire, and the Norse Kingdom have very similar political systems (indeed, those of
China and the Inca Empire are modeled on Egypt’s, with Constitutions adapted, almost
word for word, from that of Egypt). Rome, on the other hand, serves as the model for the
other major political system in the world...the Republic. Rome’s system, like Egypt’s,
has seen much development over the centuries. The franchise, which originally only
extended to property owners and soldiers, has been expanded, and like in Egypt, now
includes nearly everyone in the country. Other countries whose political systems are
based on that of Rome (although most have a single President instead of Rome’s system
of two Consuls) are the Creek and Mandan Confederacies, Teysas and Arizonac, Kongo
and Lunda. Ghana is the world’s only remaining absolute monarchy, with a Soninke
royal house which has ruled continuously since c. 750 AD (although in exile in Vinlandia
for part of that period). However, the Ghanaese King is advised by a council of the kings
of the various subject tribes which make up the empire (Mandinke, Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba,
Bini, Songhay, and many others). This council, although it holds no formal power, exerts
a powerful restraining influence on the actions of the Ghanaese King...who realizes that if
he upsets enough of the subject kings, his empire will quickly fall apart. And finally there
is the United Islamic Republic, which is an authoritarian military dictatorship.
--Economics. The world of this ATL is much more integrated, economically, even than
the modern world of OTL. All countries are industrialized, and international trade,
facilitated by low tariffs, is the lifeblood of the world economy. This economic
integration has accelerated since the founding of ISEP (the International Space
Exploration Project), which has linked all of the major nations of the world in a joint
effort requiring huge levels of economic cooperation and mutual support. One area where
cooperation on this project has had a major impact is on the currency systems in use by
ISEP nations. In order to facilitate economic exchange between them the various nations
have standardized their currency systems...they all still have their own separate national
currencies (the Egyptian Deben, the Roman Denarius, the Norse Kroner, the Russian
Ruble, the Ghanaese Cedi, the U.I.R. Dinar; so on and so forth), but they are traded at the
same value...and indeed, there is some talk about establishing a new international
currency which would replace the various national currencies in the ISEP countries.
--Religion: Egypt, of course, continues to practice it’s old polytheistic religion. The great
temple at Karnak has been continually expanded by Pharaohs over the centuries, and has
grown into a virtual religious city in and of itself, the holiest place in Egypt. The cults of
Osiris and Isis have emerged, over many centuries, as supreme, but most of the old gods
are still worshipped in some form. There are also communities of Christians (although
Egyptian Christians are generally considered heretics by the main church because of their
unusual interpretation of the Holy Trinity...which they identify with Osiris, Isis, and
Horus...and other unusual doctrines) and Manicheans (the last such community in
existence anywhere in the world). China also is a polytheistic state, where a mixture of
Taoism, Buddhism, and (in the Indonesian Archipelago especially) Hinduism is practiced.
The Romans, Norse, Armenians, Russians and Ghanaese are all "Christian." Basically
this is the Catholic Church, although not exactly the same as OTL, as the church has not
been influenced by conflict between the main church and the proponents of various
Eastern heresies (Nestorianism, Arianism, etc.) which never arose in this world (most of
these arose in lands which are under the control of Egypt, and they thus do not arise in
this TL). There was never a "Great Schism" (i.e. the split between Rome and the Eastern
church which created the Orthodox Church in the OTL) in this world, as the Great
Schism arose in great part because of a conflict for power between the Byzantine
Emperor and the independent Pope at Rome. Since there was never a Byzantine Emperor
or an independent Pope at Rome in the ATL, this never occurred, and the church
remained united. And, since the Bishop of Rome has never been in a position to contend
for temporal authority, and has been, to a large degree, regulated by the Emperor/Senate
of Rome, the abuses which finally lead to the Reformation never occurred. There is no
Martin Luther or John Calvin or equivalent figure in this world as a result. Kongo and
Lunda practice a mixture of Christianity, native animism, and Egyptian polytheism. The
Incas, Creeks, and Mandans all practice their own native religions, although of course
missionaries from Rome and the Norse have made many converts in those lands, and the
native religions themselves have been very modified by contact with the faiths espoused
by the major powers (for instance, the Inca no longer practice human sacrifice). Islam is
practiced in the United Islamic Republic...where it is the only religion allowed to be
practiced...and has adherents in Egypt’s Syrian provinces, Rome’s Asia Minor
possessions, Armenia, southern Russia, and China as well.

1970-1980 AD--For several decades now, intensive research has been conducted by the
major powers into the possibility of an anti-missile defense system. A number of
different proposals have been tried, but the one which seems to have the most potential is
a system based on high-powered laser beams. Lasers have been known for a long time,
and low-powered lasers have been used for weapons guidance, in computers, and in
medicine for nearly a century. But there have been several problems which have
prevented deployment of such systems. First, to be useful as a weapons system, the
beams must be generated with much more power than has, up until recently, been
possible. Second, the most powerful lasers developed so far, which derive their energy
from interactions within large vats of dangerous chemicals, have been not suitable for
deployment because of the problems of size, weight, and the hazardous nature of the
chemicals needed to power the laser. And third, they suffer from the problem of limited
range (laser beams are absorbed and dissipated as they pass through the atmosphere). But
an alternative technology has been developed, the free-electron laser. This laser has a
high power level and excellent optical quality (which enhances it’s range) but uses only
water and electricity...no dangerous chemicals...to produce it’s laser beam. Furthermore,
the laser itself is much smaller than comparable chemical lasers, making it much more
suitable for large-scale deployment. By 1970 both the Egyptians and the Romans have a
working model of a free-electron laser that can shoot down ballistic missiles, unguided
artillery rockets, aircraft and even artillery shells. Both powers realize that such a weapon
has the potential to dramatically shift the balance of power by making the nuclear arsenals
of the world’s nations virtually obsolete (by removing any practical means of delivering
them to their targets). Pharaoh Seti XIV realizes this, and therefore, in May 1970, calls a
meeting of the Council for International Peace. At this meeting the Pharaoh makes a
startling proposal...he offers the Egyptian laser system to the C.I.P., for use in establishing
a space-based and ground-based system which will end the threat of nuclear weapons
permanently. Roman Consul Claudius Mucius Crispus, upon hearing the announcement
of Egyptian possession of a viable laser weapons system, announces that Rome also
possesses this technology, and also places the Roman system at the disposal of the C.I.P.
After much debate, the C.I.P. votes to adopt Pharaoh Seti’s proposal. All nations of the
world are presented with an offer to have ground-based C.I.P. laser installations based
within their borders which will protect them from nuclear strikes by short range missiles,
aircraft, or cruise missiles, to be paid for by the nation in which the weapons are to be
based. Most nations accept this offer without delay (the exceptions are Kongo and
Lunda, which decline on economic grounds). Meanwhile, the C.I.P. deploys, in a process
that will consume the rest of the decade, a space-based system which will intercept
medium-range and long-range missiles. The completion of this system in mid-1980 will
be hailed as a major victory for the cause of peace worldwide, and all of the major
countries will begin dramatically cutting the size of their nuclear arsenals (but not totally
eliminating them) shortly thereafter.

1971 AD--ISEP’s Spacecraft Design Bureau has been considering a radical new engine
design...a Nuclear Fusion Rocket. The general idea of the fusion drive is to sustain an
onboard fusion reaction of Deuterium and Helium 3 and fire some of the energy
created...in the form of plasma...out the back of the spacecraft to generate thrust. The
system would have a very high specific impulse (Specific impulse, or Isp, is a measure of
how many seconds one pound of propellant could produce one pound of thrust. The
higher the specific impulse, the longer the engines can continuously accelerate the
spacecraft before running out of fuel). The proposed nuclear fusion rocket has a
theoretical maximum Isp of 100,000...compared to about 450 for a chemical rocket and
about 1,000 for the nuclear thermal rockets which make up the backbone of ISEP’s space
fleet. It is conceded that the theoretical upper limit is unlikely to be reached in the
foreseeable future, but, given the experience mankind has acquired with fusion reactors
over the preceding decades, it should easily be possible to design a fusion rocket with an
Isp of 2,000...twice that of the existing nuclear thermal rockets. This would allow the
Earth-Mars journey time to be slashed to less than six weeks...half the time it would take
with the nuclear thermal rockets currently in use, and 1/4 of the time necessary with a
chemical rocket. Moreover, it would enable missions to depart at any time without
waiting for "shortest journey" launch windows. The experience gained worldwide with
creating sustainable nuclear fusion reactions worldwide for generation of electric power
has amply demonstrated the basic feasibility of this engine, but some technical issues
remain to be resolved. The concept is promising enough, however, that ISEP decides to
focus it’s research on this proposal.

1972 AD--ISEP has decided to use the moon as the construction and supply base for the
spacecraft which will make the journey to Mars...launch of these craft from weak lunar
gravity will be much easier and more cost effective. Construction begins on a Lunar
Shipyard which will build the vessels, which will be launched into lunar orbit by
chemical rockets. Once in orbit, the vessels will be married to their propulsion units
(which will be built on earth and will already be in lunar orbit). Crew and cargo for the
journey will then be loaded using chemically fueled lunar shuttles.

1973 AD--ISEP begins sending cargo containers (full of hydrogen and oxygen,
Deuterium and Helium 3, construction equipment, pre-pressurized habitat modules, the
parts for a fusion reactor, food, water, and other supplies necessary for the establishment
of a Mars colony) to Mars. Like those of the lunar colonization expedition, they are
designed to be placed in orbit around Mars, where they will be docked together and await
the arrival of the colonists who will use them. They are conveyed to Mars by nuclear
thermal rockets. The initial containers contain non-perishable items and hydrogen,
primarily...food and other perishable items will be sent as the actual date for the manned
expedition grows nearer.

1974 AD--On September 11, 1974...a day which will be remembered for years to come as
a day of infamy...a bomb is detonated in the casino of the Lunar Palace Hotel. The bomb
shatters one of the large, reinforced glass picture windows and exposes the casino to the
vacuum of space. Over 800 people are sucked out of the building and are instantly killed
as the atmosphere rushes out through the jagged opening. Fortunately, the emergency
airtight doors separating the casino from the rest of the hotel work as designed, and
catastrophic loss of pressure in the rest of the hotel is prevented. Later that day, a
video-taped announcement is dropped off at major news organizations in several
countries. In it, Suleyman Ismail, the leader of the Pan-Islamist terrorist organization,
“The Sword of Allah,” claims responsibility for the attack. “This attack shows that the
Sword of Allah can slay the infidel wherever he may be. Beware the wrath of
Allah....God is Great!” Later that same week soldiers, sent by ISEP to provide security,
arrive on the moon. They will be a permanent presence hereafter...a stark reminder that
human conflict has not remained confined to the surface of the earth.

1975 AD--Construction of the lunar shipyard is completed. It begins to build
pre-fabricated sections for the Mars spacecraft, which will be stored until the time comes
to assemble and launch them into lunar orbit. The yard also builds the chemically
powered shuttles that will be required to ferry cargo from Mars orbit to the planet’s
surface. Also in this year, a memorial to those killed in the Lunar Palace attack is
dedicated on the moon. Leaders from all of the ISEP nations, including Pharaoh Seti
XIV, attend the ceremony (Seti is only the second Egyptian ruler to visit the moon). In
the aftermath of this ceremony, an international conference on terrorism is held at
Moscow, attended by leaders of most of the world’s nations (Kongo, Lunda, and Teysas
do not attend). A treaty of cooperation against international terrorism, called the Moscow
Accord, is signed, which pledges the various nations to cooperate to root out terrorist
organizations, wherever they exist.

1976 AD--Teysas and Lunda sign the Moscow Accord. Also in this year, the first
holographic television is introduced. Instead of viewing the picture on a screen, a
three-dimensional image is projected inside an open box. The new sets are extremely
expensive and do not immediately become popular. But the technology will be further
developed with time.

1977 AD--ISEP tests a nuclear fusion rocket, but the test fails. It is clear that more design
work is needed. Also in this year, General Ahmed Rasfanjani, President of the United
Islamic Republic, dies. In his will, he has directed that his Vice President, General
Mohammed al-Sadr, will succeed him. General Al-Sadr takes power, peacefully, on
November 5, 1977.

1978 AD--Kongo signs the Moscow Accord. President Al-Sadr of the U.I.R. announces
that the U.I.R. is to have a constitution, and that free elections will be held. He calls on
leaders from the various ethnic groups within the U.I.R. to meet with him to draw up a
constitution, which they do. After several months of negotiations, the constitution is
agreed upon, and elections are scheduled to be held the next year.

1979 AD--Anti-terrorism efforts under the Moscow Accord have been very successful.
The police computer files of the various signatory nations have been linked, making it
much easier to track terrorists across international borders. A multi-national joint
commando force has been created to fight terrorists on their own terms, and joint
commando operations against terrorist training camps, police infiltration of terrorist cells
(made possible by large-scale cooperation by the security forces of the United Islamic
Republic), and crackdowns on “charitable organizations” which are really only a means
of funneling money to “The Sword of Allah” have all had their effect. These efforts are
crowned in July 1979 by the capture of none other than Suleyman Ismail himself during a
commando raid on his hideout in the jungles of south India. By the end of 1979, The
Sword of Allah is effectively broken, and, except for a few isolated and minor incidents,
terrorism ceases around the world. Also in this year, free elections are held in the United
Islamic Republic for the first time. President Al-Sadr is elected by a wide margin to serve
as the country’s first democratically elected President. His inauguration ceremony is
attended by dignitaries from around the world, including Pharaoh Seti XIV of Egypt,
King Harald XI of the Norse Kingdom, Tsar Alexander IV of Russia, and Emperor
Wayna Capac VI of the Inca Empire.

1980 AD--Tsar Alexander IV of Russia dies, and is succeeded by his son, Feyodor V.

1981 AD--In April of this year, ISEP tests a re-designed version of the nuclear fusion
rocket. This time the test is successful. After several other successful tests are conducted
later this year, the concept is considered proven, and ISEP orders it into production. Like
their nuclear thermal predecessors, the fusion rockets will be built on earth and launched
into orbit by chemical rockets. It is planned to establish a fueling station in orbit around
the moon, where the rockets will “tank up” on Deuterium and Helium 3. The fusion
rockets will be ferried to the moon by ISEP’s nuclear thermal rockets and deposited in
orbit around the moon. They will then dock with the proposed fueling station and take on
fuel for the journey to Mars. Also in this year, with the completion of the C.I.P. Missile
Defense System, both Teysas and Arizonac formally announce the abandonment of their
nuclear research programs and invite inspectors from the C.I.P. to verify the dismantling
of their facilities. This is accomplished by the end of the year. There will be no further
proliferation of nuclear weapons. Also in this year, hydrogen-powered vehicles
outnumber those fueled by petroleum products for the first time worldwide. In the more
advanced countries (Egypt, China, and Rome, particularly), hydrogen vehicles have
almost completely replaced older, petroleum-fueled models.

1982 AD--The lunar orbital fueling station for the nuclear fusion rockets is constructed.
It is made of sections built on the moon, which are launched into orbit and then docked
together (similar to the orbiting cargo containers used in the original lunar colonization
expedition). The station will be stocked with fuel produced and stored on the lunar
surface by the same type of craft which have been used to keep full the orbiting hydrogen
containers used to fuel the nuclear thermal rockets. Later that year, the first nuclear
fusion rockets arrive and are fueled at the station. They are used initially to transport
cargo containers from lunar orbit to Mars, greatly speeding up the process of building up
the required stockpiles.

1983 AD--The Mars Colony Ship is assembled in lunar orbit from the pre-fabricated
sections made at the Lunar Shipyard. It is a huge vessel, capable of carrying 1,000
colonists to Mars, along with all the supplies necessary to sustain them during the
month-and-a-half journey. The crew section of the ship is designed to rotate, thus
simulating gravity, which will reduce the deleterious effects of space travel and allow the
colonists to arrive at Mars in good physical condition. The speed of the rotation will
gradually decrease during the journey, thus acclimating the crew to Mars gravity before
their arrival on said planet. The vessel will be propelled by four nuclear fusion rockets.

1984 AD--The Mars Colony Ship is launched from lunar orbit on March 13, 1984. It
arrives in Mars orbit and docks with the waiting supply containers approximately six
weeks later, on May 3, 1984. The first Mars landing takes place on May 11,
1984...exactly 101 years to the day after the first human foot touched the surface of the
moon. Televised pictures of this event are broadcast to captivated audiences around the
world. The first priority of the colonists, of course, is to establish the basics for living on
Mars. Living quarters are brought down from orbit and assembled on the surface. The
nuclear fusion reactor is assembled and activated to provide power for the base. Food,
oxygen, water, and other supplies are brought down from orbit to supply the base.
Construction begins on a facility for extracting water from the Martian permafrost layer,
as well as on an Agriculture Dome where food will be grown. All of this work is well
advanced by the end of the year.

1985 AD--The water extraction facility and the Agriculture Dome on Mars are both
completed by the end of this year. Also in this year the governments of Kongo and
Lunda, which have been negotiating in secret for some time, announce a treaty of
unification between their two countries. The devastation wrought by the disastrous
nuclear war between the two nations early in the century has caused massive cross-border
migration of population, and by now the two are virtually identical culturally and very
interdependent economically. So a union makes good sense. Elections for a government
for the new nation...which will be called Zaire...are scheduled to be held next year.

1986 AD--The Martian colonists begin to supplement their food supplies brought from
earth with crops grown in their newly completed Agriculture Dome. Construction begins
on a facility to split water into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis. Solar-electric arrays
are constructed to supplement the power produced by the fusion reactor. Also in this
year, Pharaoh Seti XIV announces that, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the
founding of ISEP, Egypt will return the island of Cyprus to Rome next year. The forced
cession of Cyprus to Egypt following The World War has long been a sore point between
the two powers, and Seti’s announcement is applauded in Rome and elsewhere. Elections
are held in Zaire. The new government takes power in August, 1986.

1987 AD--Water production is now sufficient to supply the needs of the Martian
colonists, meaning no further imports will need to be made from Earth. The facility for
splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is completed and goes into production. Also in
this year, Egypt withdraws from Cypress, and the island is returned to Roman rule.

1988 AD--The production of food on Mars has reached the point where the colony is
self-sufficient in that item for the first time. Oxygen production is increasing, but
imports of this item are still needed. Also in this year, buoyed by the feelings of
international amity which have resulted from the Egyptian cession of Cyprus to Rome last
year, the governments of Egypt, Rome and Ghana agree on a division of the Sahara
Desert Region. The Council for International Peace removes it’s peacekeeping forces
from the region shortly thereafter, and another potential flashpoint between the powers is
removed.

1989 AD--Oxygen production is now sufficient to supply the needs of the Martian
colony, which is now basically self-sufficient of re-supply of the basic elements of life
from earth. Construction of additional living quarters, using Martian materials, has
begun, in anticipation of an eagerly awaited new shipment of colonists....

1990 AD--In February 1990, the first female colonists arrive on Mars. Their arrival is
greeted with great enthusiasm by the long-deprived male colonists, and several of the
women quickly conceive. The first human baby born on Mars, an Egyptian boy-child
named Ramose, is born on December 11, 1990.
1991 AD--Now that the Mars Colony is mostly self-sufficient (at least in the basic
necessities of life), construction begins on industrial and other facilities which will make
the Red Planet economically viable as well. Factories are built to produce various
equipment, and mining of the Martian surface for metals of various kinds begins.
Scientific research also begins to answer a question which has fascinated mankind for
ages...was there, at some point, life on Mars? And does life still exist there? On the
moon, construction has begun on a third major base, to be located on the northeast shore
of the Mare Nubium.

1992 AD--In the years since meat animals were introduced on the moon, some problems
have arisen. It has been found impossible to produce enough feed for the animals on the
moon itself, making imports from earth necessary. And, because of this factor, no meat
animals have been introduced on Mars as of yet, except fish, which are relatively easy to
maintain in a large tank and do not require large amounts of feed. As a result, the
population there lives on a very monotonous vegetable and fish diet, supplemented
occasionally by frozen meat transported from earth in small quantities. In response to
these problems, scientists have been working on an alternate means of producing
meat...without having to raise live animals...called the Bio-Reactor. It has been found
that fresh muscle tissue, if treated with a special growth serum and electrically stimulated
(to simulate the effect of exercise), can be kept alive and will grow. It has taken a couple
of decades of work to make the process work and the product thus produced palatable,
but in mid-1992, the first artificially produced meat is secretly introduced into the
restaurants on the moon in a test, and the consumers there notice no difference between
beef, chicken and pork produced in the Bio-Reactor and that produced by conventional
means. With the success of the new product, the lunar animal population is reduced to
the point where it can be supported by feed produced on the moon itself, and the moon is
now totally self sufficient. Teysas and Arizonac both launch communications satellites.
They apply for admission to ISEP later that year, and are accepted.

1993 AD--The first Bio-Reactors are transported to Mars and begin production of meat
there, allowing a very welcome supplement to the Martian diet. Also in this year, an
international economic summit is held in Ocmulgee (OTL Macon, Georgia), capital of the
Creek Confederacy. At this summit, a treaty is agreed upon which creates a world-wide
currency system. All national currencies are to be gradually phased out and replaced by
the international currency within 20 years.

1994 AD--Ten years after the establishment of the Mars colony, there are now over 5,000
humans living on Mars. Additional living quarters and agricultural facilities have been
built, as needed, to accommodate the growing population. In May, the Creek
Confederacy applies for admission to ISEP, and is admitted. The Mandan Confederacy
will follow suit later that same year. The only nation left which is not a member of ISEP
is Zaire, which is also the most economically depressed nation in the world and thus does
not have the funds for a space program.

1995 AD--At a conference held in Kumbi Saleh, capital of the Ghana Empire, the future
of mankind’s exploration of space is discussed. It is agreed that the primary value of the
Martian colony will be as a base for the launch of missions to the asteroid belt and
Jupiter, and that preparations for these missions will need to begin. A proposal is made
to investigate the possibility of terraforming Mars with the aim of eventually producing a
planet-wide earthlike environment there. After much discussion, this proposal is also
adopted.

1996 AD--Scientists discover the first fossilized lifeforms on Mars. It seems that much
of Mars was once covered by a shallow sea, and fossils of simple single-celled (similar to
earth bacteria) and multi-cellular plant and animal life (similar to algae and sponges on
earth) are discovered. However, nothing more advanced will ever be found...apparently
shortly after those life-forms came into existence, the great disaster...whatever it
was...which caused Mars to lose most of it’s atmosphere and liquid surface water
occurred, and life was extinguished on the planet. Sadly, scientists will never find
evidence that native life still exists on the planet (it had been hoped that simple
bacteria-like life might still survive in the permafrost layer or in the icecaps, but none is
ever found).

1997 AD--Emperor Lee Kai Wang of China dies, and is succeeded by his son, Lee Ching
Ho. On Mars, construction begins on a space port, from where eventually missions will
be launched to the asteroid belt (where high-value, almost pure platinum-group metal ores
can be mined) and Jupiter (whose atmosphere is rich in Helium 3 and which is planned to
eventually replace the moon as the Earth’s primary source of Helium 3), and a shipyard to
build spacecraft. On the moon, the third major base, on the Mare Nubium, is completed.
Also in this year, construction begins on a second Mars settlement.

1998 AD--It is realized by ISEP that the current rockets available are probably not
adequate for a manned mission to the asteroid belt, let alone to Jupiter. The distance
from Mars to the asteroid belt is nearly as much as the distance from Mars to the
Sun...about 140,000,000 miles. And Jupiter lies another 200,000,000 miles beyond the
asteroid belt. Even the currently available nuclear fusion rocket would take about four to
five months to reach the asteroids from Mars, and almost a year to reach Jupiter. Such
long exposure to the cosmic radiation of space would certainly be detrimental, and
possibly deadly, to the crew. So in 1998 research into alternate methods of propulsion
begins, as well as research to improve the Isp produced by the nuclear fusion rocket
(whose theoretical, probably unreachable maximum Isp would be 100,000, so there is
plenty of room for improvement of this technology). It is recognized that this project will
take quite a few years to complete.

1999 AD--Construction begins on a fourth major base on the moon. It will be located on
the south shore of the Mare Imbrium. Additional industrial complexes will be built there
as well (mining and agriculture).

2000 AD-- As the new millennium dawns, over 75,000 people now live on the moon.
Over the past decade, a political movement has taken root there, seeking independence
from ISEP control and the formation of a local government for the moon. This
movement is opposed by ISEP, but no formal crackdown has been made.

2001 AD--The first Lunar General Assembly is held, composed of representatives elected
by the people of the various lunar bases. This gathering, which does not have the
sanction of ISEP, votes to petition the individual ISEP member governments for support
in allowing the people of the moon to assume self-government. Representatives are sent
to Earth later that year and begin negotiations in many nations.

2002 AD--At a meeting of the ISEP governing council called by King Tekanemin XI of
Ghana to discuss the developing political situation on the moon, Inca Emperor Capac
Yupanqui X sponsors a resolution calling for local self-government for the people of the
Moon. He is supported by Egypt, the Norse Kingdom, Ghana, and Teysas, the Creek
Confederacy, and Russia. Rome, China, Arizonac and the Mandan Confederacy vote
against. The United Islamic Republic abstains. The measure passes. Negotiations begin
with the Lunar General Assembly on the conditions on which lunar independence will be
based.

2003 AD--An agreement has been reached between the ISEP nations and the Lunar
General Assembly as to the basis for lunar independence are concluded. Official elections
for a new Lunar General Assembly are to be held next year. Ownership of the Helium 3
mines and processing plants on the moon will remain in the hands of the terrestrial
powers, but they will pay a small excise tax on all Helium 3 shipped from the moon to
earth (this tax will be the lunar government’s primary source of revenue, along with taxes
on lunar hotel rooms and related items). ISEP will withdraw it’s security forces, to be
replaced by forces of the new government. The new “nation” will be called The Republic
of Luna.


2004 AD--In Egypt, preparations are underway for a huge celebration marking the 40th
anniversary of the accession of Pharaoh Seti XIV to the throne. Meanwhile, in July 2004,
elections are held in the new Republic of Luna. In September 2004, Luna applies for
admittance to, and is accepted into, ISEP as a member with full rights and privileges...the
first extraterrestrial member of the organization. Twenty years after the establishment of
the Mars Colony, there are now over 10,000 people living on the Red Planet.
 
Link to the Thread which spawned this Timeline

If you would like to read the original thread which lead to the creation of this timeline, it is located here.
 
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