A Composite ATL

[GBW]

Thought I'd revive this from the old board and see if it will gain any interest. I'll post the parts so far.

Basically, the POD is in 1806 and should be self-explanatory. Each successive person takes a set amount of years and continues the ATL onward. If anyone's interested in continuing it, just say so. Back on the old board, I think Grey Wolf had called the next part so, GW, if you're still interested go right ahead. The ATL has so far reached 1840.

The ATL so far follows...

[GBW]

Part 1
1807-12
By Scott Blair (faeelin)

1806- Napoleon wins Austerlitz, Jena. Prussia declares war, and is easily defeated with Bonaparte entering Warsaw in December.

The British attack and capture Buenos Aires. In TTL, the Creole militia is not under the sway of Santiago Liniers, and the British manage to hold down this “New Arcadia”, as it’s called.
Black Bob (Crauford) is sent with 4,000 men to land in Chile. The British capture Montevideo as well, in which the British lose 400 men to 1400 Creoles and Spaniards.John Whitelock is sent to govern the province.

1807- Whitelocke arrives in Buenos Aires. Crauford fails in taking control of Chile, but sacks Santiago. More troops are sent to subdue Vailapraso.

Wellington’s expeditionary force is sped up in TTL, and joins Miranda in Venezuela. Unsurprisingly, the people are less than thrilled to meet him. Arriving in August much of his army is devastated by malaria, killing 7,000 out of the 15,000 sent.

In this time line, due to butterflies, Napoleon’s plans for the campaign against Russia are not captured, and he wins a smashing victory, encircling the entire army under Bennigsnen. The treaty of Tilsit forces the Russians to use their navy to help take Gibraltar (as in OTL), and Prussia loses Danzig to France, and French troops would occupy Prussia.

More captures Copenhagen, taking the Danish fleet. The British subdue the rio de la Plata, part of New Arcadia.

Venezuela declares independence under Miranda. Wellington is among the casualties. Loyalists to the king fight on.

Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal in November; Lisbon occupied by Junot.

1808- Charles of Spain abdicates in favor of Ferdinand who advocates in favor of Joseph. The May risings are put down with thousands of Spaniards dead. Dupont still surrenders at Bailen. House to house fighting in Zaragoza.

Moore lands with 5,000 men in Portugal. Junot impulsively attacks Moore, but manages to drive him off the peninsula with heavy casualties all around.

Napoleon tries to reason with the Tsar at Erfurt and fails. 50,000 men transferred to the peninsula (less than OTL because of the lack of Briitsh presence). Napoleon concedes Moldavia, Finland, and Wallachia, to no success. The Emperor refuses to join an alliance against Austria. Austria plans for an 1809 offensive.

Napoleon then marches into Spain with 110,000 more men. He takes Madrid from the rebels, and then marches on Seville.

1809- Seville fails, and Cadiz is besieged. IT is the last city in rebel hands, and falls in May. The Spanish rebels to Joseph have been crushed, although the guerilla war will continue as in Naples.

Austria declares war in the spring. They stick, thanks to butterflies, with their OTL plan of attacking along the Rhine. Napoleon, in a glorious battle near Frankfurt, defeats the Austrian army of 120,000. Charles’s defeat prevents the Saxon, Bavarian, and Wuttemburg kingdoms from joining with Austria. On the 2nd of June Napoleon fights the battle of Marchfield, an arid and desolate battle north of the Danube. After a long and fierce battle, Napoleon loses 20,000 men to the Austrians 30,000.

The British, meanwhile, decide to attack Flushing, as in OTL, with predictable results. It’s useless, and in October the Austrians sign the treaty of Schonbrunn, in which they cede Illryia, Salzburg, Galicia, Cracow, and Lublin, while paying 85 million in indemnities.

(Given the worse losses in TTL, I almost went with the creation of a Kingdom of Hungary. But I decided that would throw things off too much).

Britain’s economy is suffering, as exports in 1809 only total 22 million pounds. Several Manchester firms go bankrupt(Enforcement is stricter with the Grande Armee in much of northern Europe instead of Spain).

1810-The British help and Spain in chaos, Francisco Venegas, the Bourbon viceroy of Mexico, declares the Empire of Mexico.

Chile is finally occupied by the British.

In France, various firms go bankrupt and spread throughout the rest of France.

1811- Recession in French economy.50,000 workers are unemployed in Paris. Droughts paralyze southern France. The British harvest fails as well.

Britain tries to entice the Tsar to join a Coalition against Napoleon. Napoleon plans for war. Danzig becomes a huge supply depot for a million man army. The Russians are preparing for war as well.

1812- “Just imagine, Moscow taken, Russia defeated… and then tell me that it is impossible for a large army of Frenchmen and their allies to reach the Ganges” (Napoleon Bonaparte).

Napoleon invades with 400,000 men. (A hundred thousand fewer Frenchmen have been called up, thanks to no war in Spain. These additional men will come in handy for whoever does 1813.. On the 28th of June, Napoleon takes Vilna.

The key battle occurs when the Russian army under Bagration is encircled in a “great cauldron” on the 2nd of July. 15,000 Frenchmen die, but they knock out 60,000 Russian troops.

Barclay then continues his plan of withdrawing into the interior, while Napoleon refuses Polish independence. Napoleon has lost 150,000 troops by August 2nd.

It is a somber Napoleon who walks into Vitebsk on July 29. In a heated debate, he considers staying where he is, and Eugene joyously declares they wont’ repeat Charles XII’s folly. By August 11, the Emperor changes his mind, and they march. Napoleon tries to defeat Barclay, who keeps withdrawing. At Smolensk, an attempted envelope of the city fails, and there is bitter house to house fighting. The army is down to 175,000 men.

On September 6, Russian General Kutusov fights Napoleon at Borodino. 100,000 Russians face 124,000 Frenchmen. Napoleon sends Davout to flank the Russians inflicting a massive defeat upon Kutusov. The Russians depart on the 8th of September, and Moscow falls to Napoleon.

The army retreats west in October, and withdraws to the South and west, through land unravaged by supplies. (Thanks to the fewer casualties and weaker Russians, he has the guts to do this). Eugene earns his marshal’s baton, finally, by driving 20,000 Russians away from the army during the retreat.

300,000 French troops had perished on the battlefield, as well as countless thousands of subject nation soldiers. A million Russian soldiers and civilians are dead as well.

Now I turn it over to some one else. (And I’ll note that I didn’t set it up for Napoleonic hegemony over all of Europe. I do suspect, however, that the Russians won’t be able to get past the Elbe.

[GBW]

Part 2
1812-1817
By Stefano D'Adamo (basileus)

1812- December
Nappy comes back home in a hurry after hearing of an attempted coup in Paris, and quickly suppress the rebels with his "old guard".
The shattered remnants of the Grand Armée have retired to Poland. Only 50,000 soldiers, bitter and starved, survived the campaign of Russia.
In Portugal, Britsh and Portuguese loyalist forcese are still besieged by Massena's army. Spain is a mess. Any French can be massacred at will by the firce Spanish populace, the French answer with horrendous mass murders, setting ablaze entire towns. The situation is clearly unbearable for both parts.
1813- Winter
Something begins moving again in Europe. Napoleon's been clearly defeated in Russia - without ever losing a battle!
British troops (mainly Scottish Highlanders and Welsh) land in Calabria from Sicily, having the popular brigand rebellion against the French riexplode. The French forces in Southern Italy are tied down by the rebellion, which quickly spreads to Lucania and all of the inner mountains.
By March the British expetionary corps, well aided by the fleet, can conquer Salerno after a confused battle against Murat's forces. Pulgia rises in rebellion too, limiting French control to Naples.
Meantime Prussia and Sweden are preparing to betray their forced alliance to Napoleon.
Britain and the US go to war over various issues, amongst them continous British meddling in the Western Hemisphere; but Canada resists well any attempt of US invasion, and Quebec doesn't rise rise in rebellion as the Americans hoped for.
While the British do well in the South Cone, in Venezuela they are finally defeated at Maracaibo by Spanish loyalist forces and retire the remnants of their expedition force down there.
In London Pitt & Co. decide for a Mediterranean strategy, concentrating on southern Spain and Italy. Besides this, British agents throughout Europe are ordered to pour oil on the rising fire of nationalism.
1813- Summer
Napoleon plunges in Italy, but his army is still in bad shape and the British have been reinforced and are able to resist, despite a local defeat at Nola in an attempt to encircle and besiege Naples.
To regain sympathy amongst the Italians, Napoleon has the Pope freed from his golden exile and sent back to Rome. But this isn't enough, the Italians are tired of Nappy's endless wars.
Meantime the Prussian rebel at Tauroggen under general Yorck von Wartenburg and oust the French garrisons. A wave of nationalism shakes Germany.
In Japan a young Daimyo, Yasujiro Nakanishi, born and raised in Nagasaki and fond admirer of the West he had known on the "Dutch science" books allowed only there, stages a successful coup against the secualat Tokugawa Shogunate with the help of a motley collection of dissatisfied Daimyos, Samurais and Ronins.
His objective: opening the country to contact with abroad and taking all can be taken to ensure the strength and the progress of the Japanese Empire.
1813-Autumn-Winter
Napoleon has to run back from Italy to Germany - passing from French, because now even the battered Austrians are retaking arms.
The Battle of the Nations in Erfurt (23-26 October) is a bloody and confused affair, in which some 200,000 men are fielded and 30,000 die.
Napoleon has been defeated, but the winners have suffered great losses and their front is far from granitic.
The British in Portugal burst out of their pocket and quickly free the country - Massena has been called back in southern Spain to stop another British landing and a massive revolt of the Spainish Army, but he can't resolve anything and has to retire till the Ebro by December.
In South America the British, with help from antti-Spanish insurgents, occupy all of Argentina and Asunciòn.
1814-Winter-Spring
British troops sack Washington to the shock of the American.
Much more south, Us and Britain clash sharply in Louisiana. The battle of New Orleans is a glorious success for the Americans, led by the brave Andrew Jackson. The Treaty of Montevideo, signed in April, leaves the borders almost unchanged. Minnesota Indians are to have an own territory under US suzerainity but forbidden to white settlement as part of the accord.
The Grand Alliance moves against Napoleon, but he is able to defend after completely retiring from Italy and Spain, where previous rulers make return.
In the battles of Gand, Montmirail and Nancy Napoleon obtains thorough victories, aided by the Russian refusal to participate to the invasion of France.
This leads to the Amsterdam Congress, which put an end to the Napoleonic Wars properly said. France retires in the 1792 borders. Prussia ,Austria, Holland all regain territories and independence. Naples becomes a British puppet, the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia remains as a neutral buffer between France and Austria as several southern German states and Switzerland. Belgium is annexed to Holland under joint Prusso-British guarantee.
Spain is to remain neutral, Portugal a British client.
Spain claims back its South American territories, but the British simply refuse and continue setting up puppet republics. By the end of 1814 also Lima and Callao fall in British hands.
Napoleon bogs down in a "cold war" scenario, with France surrounded by enemies. Bitter over the end of his dreams of glory, he renounces further military adventures, at least for the moment, but continues building up a powerful, modern army for every case.
In Japan, the new Nakaanishi Shogunate quickly crushes the resistance of the last Tokugawa loyalists and opens the country to the West. Following years see the fashion of "Japoneserie" everywhere in Europe.
1815
Europe is at peace, in the end.
But the "French poison" of democracy and liberalism, though not very practised in France itself, still infects Europe.
Naples, Spain, Piedmont and Russia are the portrait of Reactionarism.
Prussia and Austria would eagerly do the same, but simply can't. Not still time for constitutions, but something begins to change.
In South America a never declared war between Britain and Spain continues. Gneral Simòn Bolìvar leads the Nueva Granadan rebel forces, allied to the British, to new victories by taking Santa Fè de Bogotà.
Meantime, the Spanish prepare to try to crush the new Empire of Mexico, who has gobbled up all of Central America and appears in perspective a great power.
A joint US-French fleet devastates the Barbary Coast pirates' nests.
1816
The Japanese are somewhat shocked at the contact with the novelties from the West, but their cleverness has them well suited to adopt this new things from abroad.
The Shogun begins to modernize the Navy, a difficult task after centuries of self-imposed isolation.
A strong spanish Army is sent to Veracruz and marches towards Ciudad de México, but is stopped, defeated and captured at Cerro Gordo by the Mexican Imperial Army commanded by General Agustìn Iturbide on the 26th of June, which from now on is established as the National Day.
Meantime the Spaniards are reduced to Venezuela in South America.
US Marines fight in Libya against the local rogue rulers, forcing them to sue for peace and don't ask any more tributes to any European ship in the Med.
1817
British advisors travel to Japan to help the Japanese build a fleet in change of trade privileges. Japan chooses Britain and Holland as its favourite political and trade partners.
Nakanishi looks at the island of Sakhalin with interest.
In Mexico, the young and ambitious Iturbide overthrows emperor Francisco I, exiliates him in the US and has himself crowned as the new emperor.
In America, the first steamboat is built and successfully demonstrated at Memphis.
In Spain the political situation is serious, liberal sentiments spread in the Army and when news of the final defeat of the Spainsh army in Venezuela at the hands of Bolìvar are heard, a rebellion begins.

[GBW]

Part 3
(Mid) 1817 - (Mid) 1823
By Nosb

1817 –

First Seminole War (July, 1817- May, 1818) – US troops invaded Spanish East Florida to punish hostile Seminole Indians, whose territory had become a refuge for runaway slaves. American troops destroyed the Seminole stronghold of Fort Apalachicola on July 27, 1817 had the. On December 27, 1817, General Andrew Jackson took command, with orders to pursue the Indians across the Florida boundary. Jackson marched his troops into Florida and captured St. Marks on April 7, 1818 and Pensacola on May 24.

Cadiz Uprising (August, 1817) – Following the defeat of the Mexican Expedition and the fall of Venezuela to Bolivar, soldiers in Cadiz mutinied on August 7. The troops were assembled for an expedition to America and were already angry over infrequent pay, bad food, and poor quarters. The mutiny leader, Colonel Rafael del Riego y Nunez, issued a pronunciamiento or declaration of principles to the troops. The pronunciamiento was directed against the government and called for the army to support adoption of a new liberal constitution. The liberal army, with most of the older and more aristocratic conservatives killed either in the Peninsular War or the campaigns in the Americas, quickly through its support behind Riego y Nunez. Madrid was seized by the rebellious garrison and Ferdinand VII was captured.

1817 Spanish Constitution (September 7, 1817) – The principal aim of the new constitution was the prevention of arbitrary and corrupt royal rule, it provided for a limited monarchy which governed through ministers subjected to parliamentary control. Suffrage, determined by property qualifications, favored the position of the commercial class in the new parliament, in which there was no special provision for the Church or the nobility. The constitution set up a rational and efficient centralized administrative system based on newly formed provinces and municipalities rather than on the historic provinces. Repeal of traditional property restrictions gave the liberals the freer economy they wanted.

1817 Anglo–Mexican Friendship Treaty (November 17, 1817) – Emperor Agustín de Iturbide signed a treaty of military and economic alliance with the UK. The UK provided advisors for the Mexican Army and English firms received extensive economic privileges and enmity to the high tariffs that Mexico placed on other European countries in exchange for promises to improve the Mexican economy. The English also gained the right to build a naval base in Veracruz, but had to defend Mexico against foreign invasion.

The US was horrified by this and was shaken to its isolationist core, just years after going to war with the UK; it now found itself surrounded by its Allies and colonies.

1818 –

French Expedition to Madagascar (1818-1825) – After years of trying to colonize the island the French were forced to give up due to harsh climate, natives, and weather and the English embargo of the colony.

Shaka’s Kingdom (1818-1828) –Zulu leader, Shaka establishes warrior state. Many neighboring people flee his victoruis army.

French propes to America (December, 1818) – Napoleon, seeing America’s situation, covertly offers an alliance, but it is turned down, “…until a later date…”.

1819 –U.S. convinces the desperately short-on-cash liberal government of Spain to sell Florida in 1819, although unpopular in Spain American troops could have just as soon seized it.

1820 –

US Presidential Election (1820) – James Monroe was reelected unanimously, the first President to have done so since Washington.

Missouri Compromise (1820) – Architected Henry Clay of Kentucky this Law maintained the precarious balance between Slave and Free States by admitting Maine (Free) and Missouri (Slave) to the Union in 1820. It also provided that the Louisiana Purchase be divided between Free North and Slave South along the 36º30. President Monroe considered vetoing it on the grounds that Congress lacked the authority, but in the end decided against it amid fears that it would precipitated a civil war.

English Succession (1820) – The Prince Regent succeeds to the thrown as George IV following the death of his father George III.

1821 –

Greek War of Independence (1821-1832) – Following a border attack from Russia into the Ottoman Moldavia, sporadic revolts by Greek nationalists began. Within a year the rebels had gained control of the Peloponnese, and in January 1822 they declared the independence of Greece. Internal rivalries, however, prevented the Greeks from extending their control and from firmly consolidating their position in the Peloponnese. In 1823 civil war broke out between the guerrilla leaders. After a second civil war (1824), a leader was firmly, but his government and the entire revolution were gravely threatened by the arrival of Egyptian forces, which had been sent to aid the Turks (1825). With the support of Egyptian sea power, the Ottoman forces successfully invaded the Peloponnese; they furthermore captured Missolonghi (April 1826), the town of Athens (August 1826), and the Athenian acropolis (June 1827).

Favoring the formation of an autonomous Greek state, several European powers offered to mediate between the Turks and the Greeks (1826 and 1827). When the Turks refused, Great Britain, and Russia threatened to send their naval fleets, but were rebuffed by the dying Napoleon threatened to intervene on the Ottoman side. Greek resistance was soon crushed in all but guerilla form.

1822 –

Occupation of Spanish Santo Domingo (July, 1822) – Haitian General Boyer took advantage of internecine conflict in Santo Domingo by invading and securing the Spanish part of Hispaniola in 1822. He succeeded where Toussaint and Dessalines had failed. Occupation of the territory, however, proved unproductive for the Haitians, and ultimately it sparked a Dominican rebellion. Spain seeing its territory again threatened by foreign nations, and change to rally Spanish peasants around the 1817 Constitution, declared war on Haiti. The cream of the Spanish army was sent of to the anarchy of Santo Domingo to return the island to the mother land. The men were in good sprits when they sent off from Cadiz, a port which had already become a national symbol.

[GBW]

Part 4
(Mid) 1822 - (Mid) 1828
By Nosb

1822 –

Spanish Dominican Campaign of 1822-1823 (August, 1822 – February, 1823) – Spanish forces arrived in Santo Domingo on August 7, 1822. Local Dominicans had already risen up against Haitian forces and they gladly turned over control of their city to the Spanish. A Haitian force of some 13,000 soldiers launched an attack against the Spanish hoping to drive them out before they could combine with local militia. The Haitians were defeated decisively by the Spanish in the town of San Cristobal on September 7. The survivors of the battle fled into the mountains of the interior to fight a guerrilla campaign. Afraid of venturing into the interior, the Spanish seized the coast relatively bloodlessly. The Spanish didn’t make the same mistakes as previous Europeans invaders had made and promised not to reinstate Slavery. They kept inside the main cities and recruited locals to fight Haitian units in the disease infested countryside. Haiti signed a ceasefire with Spain and removed it during February, 1823.

Continued Japanese Modernization (1822) – The Shogun’s army and navy, under the leadership of British instructors, continued to make significant improvements. The Shogun’s army was actually only a small portion of the entire Japanese army, recruited from peasants from the cities. The Shogun’s army was trained by British instructors, armed weapons bought from England, and lead by Dutch, French, or English. The reason the army was kept so small was to appease the still very powerful Samurai, who still commanded personal armies.

The navy on the other hand did not worry the Samurai. The Shogun’s royal squadron was the core of new navy. The English and Dutch had sold some moderately outdated ships, the Spanish, Prussians, and Swedes had sold modern artillery and engines, and American and British engineers had assembled it all in British trading posts sections in Kyoto and Tokyo harbor. In the end there was about three modern 30-gun frigates and around dozen support ships.

Founding of Monrovia (Liberia) (1822) – As a result of the efforts of the American Colonization Society, the colony of Monrovia, later Liberia, was established to settle freed American slaves in West Africa. The society contended that the immigration of blacks to Africa was an answer to the problem of slavery as well as to what it felt was the incompatibility of the races.

Brazilian Independence (1822) – Establishment of the independent Empire of Brazil under Prince-regent Dom Pedro I. After severel skimishs with Brazilain militias the Portugesse colonial troops withdrew.

Vesy's Rebellion (1822) – Denmark Vesey planned and organized a major slave rebellion in and around Charleston, South Carolina (he hoped to relieve the blacks of their wretched conditions, take control of Charleston, and, if necessary, flee to the West Indies). Vesey and some colleagues collected many weapons, armed several thousand slaves in the area, and set the date for the rebellion for a Sunday in July 1822. When news of it leaked out the date was moved to Sunday, June 16, but the authorities quickly made preparations to defend Charleston and began arresting black suspects, including Vesey. In the ensuing trials of 136 black slaves, 67 were convicted on minor conspiracy charge, 32 were condemned to exile, and 37 (including Vesey) were hanged for action participation in the attempted rebellion. Four white men, convicted of plotting with the slaves, were fined and sent to prison.

1823 –

Demerara Uprising (1823) –British sugarcane-plantation owners and Christian missionaries argued over social reform and rights for slave laborers in Demerara, a fertile coastal region in what is now Guyana. In 1823, about 12,000 slaves (many of them kinsfolk) rose up to gain freedom, raiding and seizing plantations. Accused of helping foment the rebellion was a sympathetic missionary, John Smith who died in jail awaiting execution. The slaves failed; hundreds of them were wounded or killed, and 33 were summarily tried and executed (only three whites died in the uprising). In 1831 Demrara was united with neighboring Berbice and Essequibo to form the crown colony of British Guiana.

[Note: No Monroe Doctrine]

1824 –

US Presidential Election (1824) – Ever since the alliance of Mexico and Great Britain in 1817 the US had found itself more and more surrounded. Andrew Jackson, a war hero, is elected President, beating John Q. Adams. The election was more about personality then anyone issue. The war horse Jackson was more liked then the perceived Anglophone Adams.

Uprising of Republicans in Veracruz (1824) – After a two year economic decline, after a short term growth following the treaty with England, Republicans rose against the absolute Emperor. In Veracruz, the commander of the garrison, Antonio López de Santa Anna Pérez de Lebrón, rose against Iturbide and proclaimed a republic on December 1, thinking that he had widespread support among the military. Iturbide quickly ordered the main part of the army to Veracruz, were it meant with a British naval contingent and crushed the uprising on December 21. Santa Anna was executed after a court martial on Christmas day.

Even though the uprising failed, Iturbide had to allow a constitutional Cortez (assemble) under British pressure.

1825 –

St. Petersburg Uprising (December, 1825 – Russian soldiers influenced by Western democratic ideas during the Napoleonic Wars formed secret societies with the intention of replacing the czarist monarchy with a republic. An opportunity arose when a succession dispute occurred following the death of Czar Alexander I. Alexander's brother Constantine had yielded his succession rights to his brother Nicholas; but without Constantine’s public acknowledgement, Nicholas hesitated to take the throne. Several regiments of rebellious lead by Republicans tried to storm the Winter Palace, but were delayed by artillery and royal grenadiers long enough for regiments from the country to arrive and defeated the rebellious.

1826 –

The Massacre of the Janissaries (1826) – The need to modernize a military system engaged in a losing struggle to maintain Ottoman control over the Mediterranean littoral and the Middle East was recognized by the first of the reforming sultans, Selim III. He introduced French instructors to train the soldiers of a new volunteer army organized along the lines of contemporary European armed forces, a move that scared the English. However, his efforts were successfully resisted by the janissaries, who concluded that reform foreshadowed an end to their traditional privileges. Rising up in 1807, the janissaries precipitated the sultan's abdication and the dismantling of the new army. Mahmud II eventually became strong enough to challenge the power of the traditional military caste. He reinstituted the reformed army and, in 1826, crushed the janissaries with a massive artillery barrage aimed at their barracks.

1827 –
American Revolt in Texas (1827) – In 1824, Mexico opened Texas to America settlement. An American, Hayden Edwards, secured a charter from Mexico and established a colony of about 200 families near Nacogdoches in eastern Texas. The land had already been claimed by some Mexican settlers, who however, could not show clear title to it. An angry dispute arose, causing the Mexican government to revoke Edwards' charter and to order him out of Texas. He and some followers then seized Nacogdoches, proclaimed the independent republic of Fredonia, and adopted a constitution on December 21, 1826. Edwars' 200-man army, allied with some Cherokee Indians, was overwhelmed by a larger Mexican force in January 1827, and the Fredonian government was ended. Mexican then put a ban on American settlement of the area.

Franco-Spanish Alliance (1827) – In one of Napoleon’s last acts he signs a military and economic alliance with Spain.

Napoleon’s Death (1827) – Napoleon I finally dead on March 7, 1827. Napoleon II, only 17, formally the King of Rome (until 1814) and the Prince of Versailles, is crowned in Notre Dame. Napoleon II is a reformed minded leader with a lot of youthful energy to spare. His advisors were overwhelming young intellectuals and reformist that his father had started to keep around him later in life.

Napoleon II’s Reforms (1827) – Napoleon II quickly restricts the powerful military to its traditional rule outside the government. And also launches a new group of economic reforms to improve the stagnant economy. His popularity skyrockets.

1828 –

1828 – French National Assembly (Jun, 1828) – Napoleon II, under pressure from liberals and moderates within France, aggres to a national assembly, with him as president. The assembly presents a list of demands to Napoleon II, including a new constitution, a Parliament, and separate branches of government along the American model. Napoleon II decides to put it to a national referendum in January 1829

[GBW]

Part 5
(Mid) 1828 - (Mid) 1834
By GBW

1828 -

Democratic candidate Andrew Jackson is reelected to his second term as President of the United States while John C. Calhoun, whom he's increasingly at odds with, is reelected as his Vice President. In the waning months of his first term going into his second, Jackson uses the powers given to him by the Indian Removal Act of 1826 to begin the process of moving the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw and Chicksaw) to the Indian Territory designated by the Treaty of Montevideo at the end of the War of 1812 to join the tribes already there. Many Seminole, led by Osceola, soon denounce treaties signed by their tribe allowing for their removal to the Indian Territory.
The ATL Indian Territory lies in the strip of territory between the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers with it's western border continuing from the source of the Des Moines in a straight line north to the Red River of the North and following it to the American border with British territory.

Due to butterflies, King Radama I of the Merina Dynasty of the Kingdom of Madagascar doesn't die at age 35. He continues his Westernization policies, receiving British aid in modernizing and equipping his army, which had a good showing against the recently abandoned French expedition to colonize the island and in his conquest of the Betsimisáraka kingdom, in return for helping put an end to the slave trade on the island. The Protestant London Missionary Society, which helped to transcribe the Merina language, continues to gain many converts. Foreign trade continues with the British being the most favored.

Approved last year by Russian Czar Nicholas I, the first Russian serfs arrive at Fort Ross at the Russian American Company's New Albion colony in northern Upper California and immediately move inland to the agricultural settlements along the Slavyanka (Russian) River. It's the hope of the Russian American Company that the serfs will enable New Albion to provide enough grain to feed Novoarkhangelsk (Sitka) and the rest of Russian American territory north of Oregon Country, thus allowing for increased revenues from fur trading.

Yasujiro Nakanishi, Shogun of Japan, forms a cabal with his inner circle of initial followers, most of which have since risen to the opportunities presented by the opening of their country to the West and have formed zaibatsu (money clique) that have invested heavily in banking, maritime shipping, shipbuilding and industry and prospered with subsidies and favorable taxes, as well as the more forward-minded daimyo and samurai, the highest officers of the Japanese Shogunate Navy and the modernized Shogun's Army and, finally, various British and Dutch merchants. Nakanishi has decided that the time has come to break the power of the tradition-minded daimyo and samurai that hold Japan back from it's true destiny and, at the same time, rally the people behind him. The naval build up of the 1820s, undisturbed by the complacent samurai that felt they still ruled the land, has built up the Navy to the point in which Nakanishi now feels confident in embarking on a foreign adventure. The call to arms soon spreads throughout the Home Islands: the mighty Japanese army would march forth against the traditional avenue for Japanese imperial expansion, Korea. Columns of armored, sword-wielding samurai, led by their daimyo, soon march to assemble at Shimonoseki and Fukuoka alongside the uniformed, musket-carrying trained peasants of the Shogun's Army and are greeted by cheering Japanese masses. Unsuspecting, the daimyo are pleased at this turn of events and their hopes are high that Nakanishi will lead Japan towards great conquests against Korea and China. The Japanese army is set to embark for the campaigning season of the next year.

1829 -

Napoleon II's national referendum is held in January and the assembly's list of demands are passed by a narrow margin. The hammering out of the details, especially when the numbers on the referendum were so close, proves difficult and drags on for months. Finally, the assembly agrees to the following: the French government would have an executive branch of a President elected for life by direct universal suffrage; a legislative branch embodied in a Parliament that consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives based on the American model; and a judicial branch embodied in a Supreme Court made up of 'independent, irremovable judges'.

The Catholic Emancipation Bill is passed in Great Britain, putting Catholics on the same footing as Protestants except for a few restrictions which will be later removed. The Act of Settlement is still in force, however, and Catholics are excluded from the throne.

Now comfortably sworn into his second term, Andrew Jackson decides to make the short-lived 'Fredonia Revolt' of 1827, along with the following Mexican ban on American settlers, an issue and brings up the unsettled border between America's old Louisiana Purchase and the Empire of Mexico's northern territories. Among the various issues Jackson brings up are American claims to portions of Texas. Mexican Emperor Agustín de Iturbide immediately refuses to recognize the American claims on Texas or repeal the ban on American settlement. Britain, seeing possible war clouds looming, steps in to mediate between the two and negotiations commence.

In early June, Korea, widely known as the Hermit Kingdom, sees it's first invasion since the early 17th century when the Manchu Dynasty made Korea into a Chinese vassal. Under the cover of the guns of the Shogunate Navy, Japanese military forces capture the Korean port of Pusan from the surprised Korean defenders. A smaller force, consisting of mainly soldiers of the Shogun's Army, invades and easily captures the Korean island of Cheju in the Korea Strait. On the mainland, the bulk of the Japanese army marches north towards Seoul while a small portion, which happens to make up the majority of the Shogun's Army and the samurai that had been brought into Nakanishi's cabal, stay behind to garrison Pusan and begin building up it's defenses and upgrading it's harbor. The Japanese invasion force soon runs into difficulties as they face Korean soldiers armed with matchlocks and cumbersome cannons in their march towards Seoul. Time and time again, the Japanese samurai are forced to overwhelm Korean defenders through weight of numbers, causing horrendous casualties, and barrages from the small amount of artillery brought along by the small detachment of the Shogun's Army. By the time the mostly samurai army reaches Seoul, it has lost over a third of it's manpower. In the ensuing Battle of Seoul, it's only the fortunate destruction of the oversized Korean cannons by Japanese artillery early in the battle that allows the samurai to defeat the Korean army and storm Seoul with relatively light casualties. The Korean royal palace is seized and the Japanese flag raised, but the Korean King Sunjo has already fled north towards Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, word of the Japanese invasion of Korea reaches the Forbidden City in Peking in late June and the Chinese Emperor Xuan Zong immediately declares war on Japan and vows to defend the independence of his vassal. A Chinese army begins to be built up in Manchuria soon after. Due to the grinding bureaucracy of the Manchu Dynasty, the army isn't fully assembled until late August and by the time it marches into northern Korea and reaches Pyongyang, Seoul has already fallen to the Japanese.
In mid September, the Japanese samurai army marches north against the Chinese force, which has been steadily getting reinforced by Koreans rallying to their King. On September 26, the two armies meet south of Pyongyang and, though the Japanese samurai and more heavily armored and disciplined, the Sino-Korean force turns the tables on them and overwhelms them with numbers. Though they inflict extremely heavy casualties on the Sino-Korean forces, the Japanese army loses nearly half their remaining army as they retreat back south towards Seoul.
Meanwhile, back in the Home Islands, Nakanishi has taken advantage of the majority of the daimyo and samurai being overseas and has initiated a huge recruitment drive for the Shogun's Army aimed towards peasants in both the cities and the countryside. The Japanese zaibatsu are already turning out hundreds Type 20 Muskets, the Japanese version of the British Tower Musket, or 'Brown Bess', along with uniforms and the other accoutrements of a modern army. When word spreads of the Chinese declaration of war against Japan, nationalistic sentiment runs high and thousands rush to join up. By the end of the year, the Shogun's Army has grown substantially and Japanese officers and British advisors are training them as they come in.

In Indian Territory, the US Army sets up Fort Snelling at the head of navigation of the Mississippi River (Site of Minneapolis) and Fort Des Moines at the foot of the Des Moines River rapids as it flows into the Mississippi (Site of Keokuk, Iowa). As well as for maintaining a US government presence in Indian Territory, the two forts are established as ports to allow the Indians to trade goods along the Mississippi.
Meanwhile, the arrival of members of the Five Civilized Tribes into the Indian Territory has created conflict with the native Ojibwa and Sioux tribes and open conflict has occasionally broken out, especially between the Sioux and the more 'Europeanized' Cherokee, some of whom are even slaveholders.

1830 -

Upon the death of George IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland, William IV succeeds to the throne.

Joseph Smith publishes the Book of Mormon and founds the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fayette, New York. He soon faces hostility from his neighbors.

In the USA, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad holds trials of Peter Cooper's steam locomotive Tom Thumb. The trials are successful and the B&O Railroad adopts locomotives to replace horse-drawn cars. This marks the beginning of a rapid growth of railroads throughout the United States.

Novovologda (Site of Sacramento) is founded by the most recent wave of Russian serfs in New Albion. This most recent rapid growth of the Russian colony attracts the notice of Mexico which has up to this point ignored the relatively small, unprofitable Russian colony within territory it claims. Mexico officially protests to the Russian American Company and orders the serfs out of the valley. The US decides to take Russia's side in the matter and Britain decides to settle the matter alongside the border dispute between the USA and Mexico in the hope of determining set borders from the Mississippi and the Pacific and establish 'a lasting peace' in North America.

A native uprising (1825-1830) led by Prince Diponegoro in Java in the Dutch East Indies is finally crushed. The cause of the revolt were reforms made by the British when they held the islands during the Napoleonic Wars that the Dutch subsequently ignored when they came back to power. As a result, the Dutch authorities adopt a more humane approach.

In Korea, the coming of spring sees the Sino-Korean force on the move towards Seoul. In early April, the Japanese army makes a stand outside Seoul and, as at the Battle of Pyongyang the previous year, the Japanese are again swamped by the numbers of the allied force. Now merely a shadow of it's former strength, the Japanese army begins a long retreat south away from Seoul as the Korean King Sunjo victoriously retakes his palace.
Meanwhile, at around the same time, the naval Battle of Cheju is fought as a Chinese fleet of junks, sailing towards the Korea Strait to block Japanese shipping to Korea, encounters a sizable portion of the Japanese Shogunate Navy near the occupied island. The ensuing battle is a slaughter as most of the Chinese fleet is sunk compared to only a few of the smaller, supporting Japanese vessels.
Overseas, the British and Dutch merchants involved in Nakanishi's cabal have managed to convince certain individuals in the British Royal Navy and the colonial administration in the Dutch East Indies of the possible rewards to be gained in involving themselves with the more open Japanese in their war against xenophobic China and Korea. They soon manage to convince the right people in London and Amsterdam on the behalf of Nakanishi that limited military involvement on the side of the Japanese would bring great profit.
In mid June, the Japanese army returns to Pusan, the Sino-Korean force only a couple days behind in pursuit, to find it heavily fortified and garrisoned by a Shogun's Army that is much larger than it was at the beginning of the campaign. Some of the samurai are quick witted enough to be suspicious of the entire situation, but there isn't much they can do with the numbers, and guns, now on the side of Nakanishi. When the Sino-Korean force reaches Pusan three days later, they find themselves facing a good portion of the Shogun's Army with warships of the Japanese Shogunate Navy lying just offshore. The ensuing battle is a slaughter for the allied force and the Chinese and Koreans are forced to flee northward. Soon after, those samurai with the defeated army that are willing to join the Shogun's Army are allowed to march with them in pursuit of the Sino-Korean force while the more stubborn are herded onto ships for another objective.
In early July, the Japanese Navy again faces the Chinese fleet, reinforced with some Korean vessels, off of the mouth of the Han River and the approaches to Seoul. The Japanese fleet again decimates their opponents and goes on to bombard the five fortresses guarding the approaches to Inchon and, beyond, Seoul. A sizable force of modernized soldiers lands and captures Inchon bloodlessly and then marches inland to capture Seoul, this time capturing King Sunjo and the rest of the Korean royal family. The Korean capital is garrisoned and within days, another Japanese force marches south from Seoul to intercept the Sino-Korean army.
On July 29, when the Sino-Korean force discovers that it's surrounded by modern Japanese forces, Seoul has fallen and the royal family captured, it surrenders after only a brief battle. With no major enemy forces left to oppose them in the entire Korean peninsula, Japanese forces occupy Pyongyang and the rest of Korea up to the Yalu River with relatively little resistance.
The Ryukyu Islands, historical tributaries to both China and Japan, are occupied by the more stubborn samurai from the Korean campaign.
In late August, Japanese forces land in the Pescadores and Formosa and capture the port city of Taipei, then march inland and fight a brief battle at Formosa's provincial capital of Tainan before capturing the city. At around the same time, British Royal Marines land on the island of Hainan and are joined a week later by Japanese forces, who both capture the city of Haikou. British and Dutch ships roam the Chinese coast, shelling and raiding port cities and forts. Despite their failing fortunes and the fall of Korea, the Chinese continue to refuse to negotiate with the 'foreign and eastern devils'.

1831 -

Following a minor dispute, France invades Algeria. Within a month, the dey capitulates but most of the country continues to resist. Napoleon II sends additional forces to the country to crush the resistance to French rule.

Joseph Smith, due to the hostility of his neighbors in Fayette, New York, moves west and establishes a headquarters for his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio. His following is growing rapidly, due particularly to the intensive missionary activity in which members are engaged, both in the US and abroad. Stakes of Zion, as the Mormons call their settlements, are started in western Missouri and Smith prepares to make the region the permanent home for his people.

Muhammad Ali, governor of Ottoman Egypt, invades Syria after Mahmud II refuses to hand over Syria and Morea, which he promised to Ali for his assistance in opposing the failed Greek war for independence. Britain watches on with concern while Napoleon II observes closely.

The Transcontinental Treaty is signed between the United States, Mexico, Great Britain and the Russian American Company. Czar Nicholas I later approves it when the terms reach St. Petersburg. The treaty states the following: the current border between American Louisiana and Mexican Texas is established at the current Sabine River and then north along OTL's Louisiana and Arkansas borders to the Red River; then travels west along the Red River to 100 degress longitude; then travels north until it hits the Arkansas River; then follows the Arkansas to it's source where it then travels in a straight line north to the 42nd parallel, which it then follows straight west to include establishing the border between Oregon Country and New Albion in northern Upper California. In return for the US government adhering to Mexico's ban on American settlement in Texas and other Mexican territory, Britain cedes the Oregon Country to the United States, giving it the Pacific access that it has long sought. As for Russian New Albion, Britain has the Hudson's Bay Company cede it's claims west of the Rockies to the Russian American Company in exchange for transferring New Albion to the British Crown. New Albion's border with Upper California is set at a point between San Francisco and Novovologda that travels from the coast inland to 120 longitude. Iturbide, while unhappy at the arrangement, would rather have Britain as a neighbor than either Russia or America and the US would rather have Russia, who they have had friendlier relations with, than Britain north of strategic Oregon. The border between American Oregon Country and Russian America is set at the 49th parallel, continuing the American-British border west to the Pacific, and Russia is ceded the Czar Nicholas Islands (Queen Charlotte Islands) and Baranov Island (Vancouver Island). In return for losing the grain production of New Albion, the US makes arrangements with the Russian American Company to sell them grain in exchange for preferable trading arrangements for American merchants.

Great Britain, now finding itself with New Albion, begins to consider the possibility of purchasing the rest of Upper California from Mexico.

In late January, a Japanese force lands on the Liaodong Peninsula and marches across it towards the base for the remainder of the Chinese fleet defending the Yellow Sea and the approaches to Peking. The Chinese are taken by surprise and Japanese artillery shatters the junks as they're shelled from the landward side. A few manage to flee but are sunk at sea by the Shogunate Navy.
With his capital itself now open to attack from sea, Chinese Emperor Xuan Zong realizes he can't stand against the technological superiority of his enemies and sues for peace. In April, the Treaty of Shiminoseki ends the Korean War. According to it's terms, Korea is forced to allow Japan to build trading posts in the cities of Pusan, Inchon and Seoul; the ports of Pusan and Inchon are open to British and Dutch trade; China is forced to open the ports of Guangzhou, Shanghai, Foochow, Ningpo and Amoy to British, Dutch and Japanese trade; Korea is forced to cede the islands of Cheju (in the Korea Strait) and Ullungdo (in the Sea of Japan) to Japan; China is forced to recognize Japanese control of the Ryukyu Islands; China is forced to cede the island of Formosa and the Pescadores to Japan; cedes Hong Kong to Holland; cedes the island of Hainan to Great Britain; China is forced to recognize the independence of Korea and Japan guarantees Korea's independence.
Nakanishi is pleased, as are the British and Dutch. Nakanishi has effectively broken the power of the daimyo and established his modern forces as the Japanese land military while Britain and Holland have opened up two rich Asian nations to trade and gained new colonies in the Far East. Holland soon begins construction of a trading center on Hong Kong while Hainan is made into a British crown colony that promises to be quite profitable with it's abundance of tropical hardwoods, climate for tea-growing and rich mineral deposits.
Japan, meanwhile, soon establishes favorable settlement conditions for Cheju, Ullungdo, the Ryukyus, Formosa and the Pescadores. Also, Nakanishi gave specific orders to treat the Korean royal family well while they were in Japanese hands and he met personally with King Sunjo as he was in Shiminoseki for the treaty talks. Despite the recent war, Nakanishi hopes to establish Korea as a solid ally on the mainland and as an economic market for Japanese goods. His overall vision doesn't involve conquests of the Korean or Chinese mainland; instead, he plans to have Japan dominate the waters of East Asia, territorially over the islands and economically over Korea and China, and establish a far-reaching maritime empire of colonies and markets for the zaibatsu, no less than turning Japan into an 'Eastern Britain'. To this end, Nakanishi begins the planning and funding of various exploration expeditions by the end of the year to venture into the Pacific.

(Note: The ATL's Treaty of Shiminoseki doesn't give British, Dutch and Japanese citizens extraterritoriality, putting them under their home countries' law instead of Chinese, as happened after OTL's Opium War. This could provide friction in the future.)

In Hawaii, the Japanese zaibatsu have overtaken American merchants in dominating Hawaii's sandalwood trade with China, being much closer and since America has no actual Pacific ports, and Japanese whalers are beginning to provide some stiff competition in Honolulu. The first Japanese have already begun to immigrate to the islands, working at the growing Hawaiian sugar industry that Britain is thus far dominating but that the zaibatsu are getting in on the ground floor of.

In Indian Territory, the tribes of the region have largely settled their differences and decided to set up different Nations within the territory. The Cherokee Nation is set up in the southern portion of the Territory and includes Fort Des Moines. The Cherokee soon set up a thriving trading center around the fort and their many farms soon yield good crops of grain and corn in the deep, porous soil. The Creek, Choctaw, Chicksaw, Ojibwa, Sioux and Seminole also set up their own Nations and, with the good soil of the territory, crops yields are high and livestock thrive.

1832 -

The Nullification Crisis occurs, in which South Carolina calls a state convention after the enactment of the tariff act and passes the ordinance of nullification. The ordinance declares the tariff laws null and void and a series of enactments in South Carolina puts the state in a position to resist by force any attempt of the federal government to carry the tariff act into operation. President Jackson dramatically issues a strong proclamation against the nullifiers and a force bill is introduced into the US Senate to give the President authority to use the armed forces if necessary to execute the laws. Jackson, however, feels that the South has a real grievance and, behind his show of force, encourages friends of compromise, led by Henry Clay, to prepare a bill that the South will accept.

Shogun Nakanishi, awash in popularity from the general populace with their victory in the Korean War and now with the dominant military force in the land, sets about initiating various reforms in the government and military. First, he officially moves the Shogunate's capital from the old Tokugawa castle in Edo (Tokyo) to his recently completed castle, built with all the latest conveniences, in Nagasaki, the first capital in Japanese history to be outside the island of Honshu. The imperial capital remains in Kyoto. Second, he establishes a Parliament in Nagasaki with a House of Daimyo and House of Commons. Third, he abolishes the samurai class, those samurai that were involved in the cabal and were willing to see the light after their defeat in Korea becoming officers in the newly created Japanese Shogunate Army, and the political powers of the daimyo outside of the House of Daimyo are severely curbed. The Emperor, while respected, has no real power and is trotted out for ceremonial purposes.
As for the military, the Japanese Shogunate Army is created out of the Shogun's Army and, as previously stated, certain samurai. Also, the Shogunate Marines are also formed, based on the British Royal Marines, as a separate service within the Navy, a detachment of Marines to be assigned to every Japanese Navy vessel in the British style. While the absorption of many samurai into the ranks of the Army and Marines will leave an air of the warrior code of Bushido, the thorough embarrassment the traditional samurai suffered in the Korean War leaves it still forward thinking with regards to military technology instead of dependent on the courage of the individual warrior. Nakanishi also introduces peacetime military conscription on the Prussian model.
As well as the various government and military reforms, Nakanishi also begins to actively foster industrial development in close cooperation with the zaibatsu and, this same year, the first railroad in Japan is completed between Kyoto and the nearby port of Yodo.

Japan officially annexes Karafuto (Sakhalin) and the Northern Territories (Kuril Islands). Russia immediately protests but Great Britain, pleased with Japan following the Korean War, points out Russia's acquisitions in North America. Comparing some relatively worthless islands with the increasing prosperity and immigration to Russian America, Czar Nicholas decides to let the matter drop. Nakanishi immediately sets up favorable settlement conditions for the new territorial acquisitions.

In British New Albion, many of the Russians and native Alaskans that live at Fort Ross and the interior settlements decide they don't want to be under British rule and move north. They settle mostly in Baranov Island and along the Russian-American border on the mainland, founding the cities of Czargrad (Victoria, Vancouver Island) and Baranov (Vancouver). Their rapid growth will soon make them a rival for the Russian American Company's headquarters in Novoarkhangelsk.

Davy Crockett, famous American frontiersmen and former Senator from Tennessee, decides to help promote American immigration to Oregon and moves there himself, blazing the new Oregon Trail and settling in the Willamette Valley, founding the new city of Crockett (Portland, Oregon). With immigration into Mexico's northern territories now frowned upon by both the US and Mexican governments, he'll soon be followed by a wave of American settlers that OTL went to Texas, some of which will move on into British New Albion which has no such ban on American settlement.

The Second Seminole War breaks out when Osceola's warriors kill the agent in charge of the removal of the Seminole to Indian Territory. US troops move into Florida and soon drive his band south into the Everglades, but Osceola soon resorts to guerrilla tactics and resists capture.

In Illinois, the Black Hawk War is fought when the chief Black Hawk of the Sac and Fox tribe successfully attacks a larger white force after one of his peaceful emissaries was shot down in cold blood. He then retires into OTL's Wisconsin and is pursued by a large force of US volunteers. The last battle takes place on the Bad Axe River where, trapped, Black Hawk attempts to surrender but is ignored. Almost all of his band, including women and children, are slaughtered but he manages to escape. He surrenders to the Winnebago who turn him over to US authorities.

With his second term up, Andrew Jackson backs his Secretary of State Martin Van Buren for the Democratic nomination. Van Buren gains it and faces the Anti-Masonic Party candidate Henry Clay, the first American election held in which the candidates were nominated by national nominating conventions. The Anti-Masonic party, recently grown in strength with the support of the many anti-Jacksonians, is still in it's formative stage and Van Buren is elected President. This election sets the stage for a future two party rivalry between the Democratic and Anti-Masonic parties.
John C. Calhoun, who had major differences with Jackson during the nullification crisis, declines running again for Vice President and decides to run for the Senate.

(Note: With the failure of the coalition against Jackson in the 1824 election, the National Republicans never got off the ground. With the Anti-Masonic Party already formed and anti-Jacksonian, as well as the party that first held a national nominating convention, the many anti-Jacksonians threw their weight behind the Anti-Masonic Party instead.)

1833 -

In the USA, the compromise tariff is rushed through Congress and, after it's passage, the South Carolina state convention reassembled and formally rescinded the ordinance nullifying the tariff acts. To preserve its prerogative it adopted a new ordinance nullifying the force bill but Van Buren, not wanting to enflame the issue further, decides not to comment.

Japan purchases the trading posts in Kyoto and Edo from Great Britain. Japan immediately leases the shipyard in Edo to the Shimizu company, Japan's leading maritime shipping company that has diverse holdings ashore that consist of mineral and coal mines and lucrative real estate. Shimizu is, in short, one of the leading zaibatsu and they immediately begin construction of new vessels that depend on both sail and steam and also begin looking into the possibility of ocean-going steamers.

In the Kingdom of Madagascar, King Radama I completes his conquest of the entire island and, with British assistance, begins the construction of a Malagasy Navy.

Black Hawk leads the pitiful remnant of his tribe and his family into the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory where they're soon absorbed.

Unwillingly, China is forced to sign treaties with France, Spain and the United States, giving them trading privileges similar to Britain, Holland and Japan.

In Great Britain, the Abolition of Slavery Act is passed. It's main terms are as follows: all slaves under the age of six were to be freed immediately; slaves over the age of six were to remain as part slave and part free for a further four years. In that time they would have to be paid a wage for the work they did in the quarter of the week when they were 'free'; the government was to provide £20 million in compensation to the slave-owners who had lost their 'property'.

A Japanese exploration expedition under the command of Yataro Matsumoto sets sail from Edo and heads south. Sailing east of the Spanish Mariana Islands, he encounters the unclaimed Caroline Islands, so, after meeting with the local king on the island of Pohnpei, Matsumoto declares the islands a Japanese vassal and the king becomes a tributary to the Nakanishi Shogunate. After establishing a fort on the island, he continues south and discovers the northern coast of New Guinea. Checking his charts, he realizes the Dutch only annexed the western portion and, after establishing a fort at site of OTL's Madang, he claims eastern New Guinea for Japan. Continuing along the coast, he sails further out and discovers little explored Solomon Islands. Sailing carefully among them, Matsumoto draws up the first detailed maps of the island group and establishes a settlement on New Britain that will later be called Matsumoto in his honor (Rabaul). He claims the islands for Japan and, after establishing a small fort on the island of Guadalcanal, he sails towards the east, knowing that further south he would encounter British Australia. Sailing along the Santa Cruz Islands, he visits the port of Levuka in Fiji, a growing whaling center, and buys some supplies before heading north. He soon encounters the Ellice Islands (Tuvalu) and maps a good portion of them, then establishes a fort on Funafuti before claiming them for Japan. Sailing north, he does the same with the Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands, establishing a fort at the natural harbor of the island of Jaluit, before setting sail for Edo. Along the way, he discovers Wake Island and, seeing it as the perfect way to end the expedition, claims them for Japan as well. He returns to Japan a relative hero for bringing so many islands into Japan's budding colonial empire, but Nakanishi is nonetheless disappointed. He hands out contracts to the zaibatsu for the exploration and exploitation of the resources of the various islands claimed by the Matsumoto Expedition, but immediately sets in motion another expedition for Matsumoto that will be largely for prestige sake.
Spain immediately protests Japan's 'Move South' but, seeing as how the various islands were seen as unappealing by previous European explorers, it's protests as largely ignored. The only part of Matsumoto's claims that generate any real enthusiasm on the part of Europe is his claiming of eastern New Guinea, but the Dutch decide that Japan is as good a nation as any to claim the rest of the island and Britain decides to let it pass as well. Nevertheless, Japan's famous 'Move South' generates more interest in Europe in exploring the Pacific.

1834 -

In Algeria, the French take Constantine, the last major city to retain it's independence. The Berber leader Abd al-Kader, who rules the hinterland of Oran, continues to resist French rule and Napoleon II sends T.R. Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, who served under his father, as Governor-General to pacify the country once and for all.

In Korea, King Sunjo dies and his son, Honjong, rises to the throne. Honjong is an admirer of the Japanese and, seeing their rise in power, realizes that Korea would be best served by associating themselves with them. Only months into his reign, he signs a military and economic pact with Japan and Japanese military advisors soon enter the country and begin training a modernized Korean army. The Japanese zaibatsu, who have been establishing a profitable trade with Korea via the trading posts, practically invades the country by purchasing various deposits and lucrative real estate, establishing their and, by extension, Japan's influence over the country.

In June, Yataro Matsumoto again sets sail, this time towards the west where Shogun Nakanishi has assigned him on a 'show-the-flag' tour of the Dutch East Indies, India and an exploration expedition of the east African coastline, his ultimate destination being South Africa before returning to Japan. Along the way, Nakanishi has directed him to look for any colonial opportunities and new markets. He reaches Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, on June 18 and then sets sail through the Strait of Malacca towards India.

In British New Albion, Russian serfs that decided to remain at their farm near Novovologda discover gold near OTL's Sutter's Mill. Word spreads quickly and American settlers that have already moved to New Albion flock to the area while yet more begin to move to the area from Oregon.

In Indian Territory, the Cherokee Nation, by far the richest Nation of the Territory by holding some of the richest soil in the Territory and, in fact, all of North America besides being the most ready to adopt new technologies, approves the Des Moines River Improvement Project that the US government also approves. The project is designed to make the Des Moines River navigable from it's mouth to the Raccoon Fork, the site of Fort Des Moines, by constructing a series of twenty-eight locks and dams. The Cherokee dream of unprecedented growth, with steamboats traveling the Des Moines and trading goods from the outside for their grain and livestock while the dams also provide power for the budding Cherokee industry. The other Nations, seeing the rapid economic growth of the Cherokee, begin to adopt their modernization methods.

In Florida, the Second Seminole War continues with Osceola causing heavy casualties against the US Army force sent against him and his warriors.

The issue of an Anglo-Japanese Alliance comes up between Shogun Nakanishi and the British ambassador in Nagasaki in June. Seeing as they both have similar threats from the Franco-Spanish Alliance and Russia, Nakanishi sees it as in both their best interests to guarantee the territorial integrity of each other, as well as that of Korea and China. A term in the proposed alliance limits Japanese involvement to an attack on British territory only as far west as India by a hostile power. The British ambassador is intrigued by the offer and sends it on to London for consideration.

[GBW]

Part 6
(Mid) 1834 - (Mid) 1840
By Nosb

1834 –

The New Albion Crises (1834) – After the discovery of gold in British Albion by Russian settlers a steady stream of American settlers, including Davy Crockett, a resent emigrant to Oregon, migrated illegally to the British colony. The British authorities, who could not stem the tide of immigration, were inundated by the Americans. Deportations of Americans were meant with horror and saber rattling from the Van Buren administration. As 1834 turned to 1835, almost most of central of California, including Novovologda (Sacramento), was majority American, with more settlers coming.

Japanese Expedition to East Africa (1834) – After passing by India and Arabia, the Japanese Fleet went down the eastern coast of Africa. Trading posts and forts were setup along the Indian coasts of present day Tanzania, Kenya, and Somalia, before reaching Portuguese Mozambique. After refueling in Cape Town the Japanese Navy went back to Japan, stopping once more in Zanzibar before returning back to Japan. The Fleet brought back the same Indian and African goods that a Chinese fleet had brought back to Beijing 400 years before, and like in China the amazed the Emperor and the populace.

End of the Inquisition (August, 1834) – Although outlawed in Spain since the Revolution of 1817 it is not until this date that the Spanish Inquisition, which began in the 13th century, is finally suppressed in Mexico.

Southern Australia Act (1834) –Allows for the creation of a British colony there in Southern Australia

Kaffir War (1834) – Xhosa tribesmen clash with the Dutch settlers in South Africa in what becomes known as the Kaffir War. After extensive fighting, the Xhosa are driven back.

1835 –

No US dept (January, 1835) – US pays off dept the federal dept for the first time in history ushering in a period of prosperity

Anglo– Japanese Alliance (February, 1835) – The Japanese proposed pact guarantees the territorial integrity of each nation, as well as that of Korea and China. A term in the proposed alliance limits Japanese involvement to an attack on British territory only as far west as India by a hostile power. The British government signs the treaty proposed by Japan with twos amendment; all French, American, and Spanish traders to be bared from the Japan and the turning over of all claims on Africa to Britain.

The Coronation of the Emperor Ferdinand (March 2, 1835) - Ferdinand becomes Emperor of Austria

Japanese Colonial Charters of 1835 (September, 1835) – After the claiming of many of the Pacific islands the Japanese government was quick to scrooge up colonialists to make their claims prominent. Caroline Islands and Eastern New Guinea were the first islands to be “settled”. In September the Japanese government gave two charters to the leaders of the first groups of settlers to set out. The two pioneer groups quickly setup their colonies relatively easily, but before too long disease started revenging the New Guinea colony.

Sale of Public Lands (November, 1835) – Twenty-eight million acres of public lands will is offered for sale in a land boom in the United States driven by immigration and also by speculative interests.

1836 –

First Colt Pistol (Marsh, 1836) – Samuel Colt receives a patent for the Colt revolver.

Arkansas Joins Union (June 15, 1836) – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th state of the Union.
The New Albion Crises Continued (1836) – With the continued influence of American settlers to British New Albion, tensions between the Americans and British authorities increased. Reaching nearly 50,000 by May, 1836, the American settlers, after being unfairly treated by the British when it came to land allocation for the “illegals” as the Americans were called. Several American organizations, anti-British centered groups sprung up in the biggest American city, Novovologda. The leader of the biggest organization, the American Brotherhood, Davy Crockett openly calls on for revolt and stockpiled weapons. It was for this reason the British raided their headquarters in Novovologda and arrested several sleeping members, including the famous James Bowie.
US Pesidental Election (November, 1836) – Martin Van Buren (Democrat) defeats Hugh Lawson White (Anti-Masonic) in the U.S. presidential election. Although the Jacksonian
alliance of Northern and Southern Democrats assured Van Buren’s election. There were several important issues, manly on economic and slavery issues. Van Buren tried his best to walk the rope between North and South, by stating that Congress did have the ability to end slavery in the nation’s capital, but that he was against it. He also promised to stick to Jackson’s and his rules about not favoring one state above another in government construction projects. On the other hand Van Buren’s main opponents were an odd collection of anti-Jacksonian including with White of Tennessee running with Daniel Webster of Massachusetts as his running mate.

1837 –

Michigan joins the Union (January 26, 1837) – Michigan is admitted to the Union as the 26th U.S. State.

End of the Second Seminole War (March, 1837) – General Zachary Taylor (Old Rough-and-Ready) tricks Seminole leader Osceola into coming out of the Florida Everglades by waving a flag of truce, then arrests him anyway. Osceola will die the following year in prison, and the remaining Seminole will mostly be killed.

The Coronation of Queen Victoria (June, 1837) – Barely eighteen, she was only just breaking free from the somewhat malevolent influence of her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her mother's advisor, Sir John Conroy.

Japanese Colonial Charters of 1837 (December, 1837) – After the claiming of many of the Pacific islands the Japanese government was quick to scrooge up colonialists to make their claims prominent. After the settlement of the Caroline Islands and Eastern New Guinea other islands also received colonization characters, including Matsumotob Island (New Britain) and Wake Islands

Caroline Affair (1837) – After a failed revolt against British rule, Canadian revolutionaries fled to Navy Island in the Niagara river were they establish a government-in-exile. American sympathetic transported supplies to the islands on the steamship Caroline. The ship was seized in US waters and sent hurtling over the Niagara Falls in flames. One was killed in several injured. Troops were deployed to the area and tensions, already high from the New Albion crises continued to mount.

1838 –

Fleet of Mormons (January 12, 1838) - Joseph Smith and some of his followers flee Ohio for Missouri

Afrikaner defeat of Zulu (1838) – Afrikaner forces battle and defeat Zulu natives at the Battle of Blood River in South Africa.

Flight of Frederick Douglass (September 3, 1838) – Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a free Black seaman, future abolitionist Frederick Douglass boards a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from slavery.

1839 –

Capture of Aden (January 19, 1839) – British East India Company captures Aden

Aroostook War (February, 1839 - June 1840) – After several incidents along the river Aroostook, in the disputed part of Maine/ New Brunswick, US and Canadian militia formed along the undefined border. Winfield Scott visited the area to try to arrange a peace twice, first in March 1839, then a second time in January 1840. Both times he was rebuked by the Canadian government the finally he was so angered and asked the Canadian representative, “(if) the people of Canada want to its cities burned and citizens’ blood spilled like they were twenty years ago.”

Formation of the Liberty Party (1839) –The first anti-slavery political party, the Liberty Party, composed of moderate abolitionists who do not subscribe to the radical views of William Lloyd Garrison, runs James Birney for president.

1840 –

British Gain New Zealand (1840) – The Maori tribe in New Zealand cedes sovereignty to Great Britain.
Founding of Wellington (January 22, 1840) – British colonists reach New Zealand. Official founding date of Wellington, New Zealand.
Marrage of Victoria and Albert (February 10, 1840) – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha.
Arrest of McLeod (1840) – Alexander McLeod is arrested by US government in sentenced to live in connection with the Caroline affair. British government demands his realize…

The New Albion Revolt (May, 1840) – When word reaches Davy Crockett of the events back east he sees his change to separate New Albion from Britain. He rallies his several hundred followers in Novovologda. Armed and organized his band seizes the Novovologda government buildings; including the Mayor’s House, the fort, and the post office. British Marines rush from San Francisco to put down the revolt…

Arrest of Daniel Arnold (June, 1840) – British authorities arrest an American in connection to 1837 Canadian revolt. Just days later a skirmish along the Aroostook kills three British and an American, the next day the British launch attacks along the entire Aroostook.

Declaration of War on Britain (July, 1840) – The US government setting the British failure to negate, the attacks on the Aroostook, the arrest of Arnold, and the unfair treatment of Americans in New Albion cause the US government to declare war on Britain.

[Nosb]

hmmm seems familiar...

[Diamond]

Originally Posted by Nosb

hmmm seems familiar...

I would hope so... it says you wrote part of it!

I hope you guys continue this; it was getting good.

[MerryPrankster]

I wonder how the Aroostok War (which is a real war this time) will go?

[Nosb]

Originally Posted by Matt Quinn

I wonder how the Aroostok War (which is a real war this time) will go?

Well, my thoughts are this

Basic outline

Mexico joins the war on the British side

Crockett group will be crushed in Novovologda, him and a small band of fellows will flee into the country side, getting recruits and support from small land-holding Americans in the central areas of the state and getting weapons overland from the Oregon, land Crockett knows better then any other white man.

The British Navy quickly crushes the USN, and can shell most American ports at will.

US army movies into Canada and gets support from both the French and English Canadians. Montreal falls when the outnumbered British fall back up the St. Lawrence to Quebec. Quebec falls to a French uprising trapping the 24,000 British troops in Upper and Lower Canada who now cannot be supplied from their depots in the east.

English sack Washington for the second time in 30 years, but are driven back by US troops on a march to Baltimore. Winfield Scott wheels up artillery to the Potomac and sinks any HMS ships that try to embark the British troops, capturing or killing 8,000 British marines and infantry.

Coastal Oregon falls to British Marines, but the interior remains unholdable for British. The Americans are still able to supply Crockett in California.

Mexican troops, advancing along the Louisiana coast, reach New Orleans. In a desperate attempt to raise troops, 5,000 freed blacks are given pikes and 40 year-old muskets. A young 33 year old engineer by the name of Robert E Lee, being the ranking officer takes command of the mixed group of freed-slaves, Creole militia, USN marines and sailors, an engineer company, several hundred cavalrymen, and half of a regular infantry regiment. The Mexican Imperial Army assaults a hasty American entrenchment west of New Orleans, attacking 4 times and being pushed back 4 times, before a flanking movement through dense marsh by the local Creoles disguised as Mexicans seizes the Imperial artillery and turns it on the Imperial Army, forcing it back.

The British land in Louisiana, east of New Orleans the next spring and march west cutting of New Orleans with Mexican help. Lee, now a colonial, fights on for over a month before being forced to surrender, under terms that allow him and his men to cross the lines to Baton Rouge. Scott, leading 15,000 men down the Mississippi on steamboats meets with 6,000 of Lee’s Brigand at Baton Rouge, and over the course of the next couple months, fights a cat and mouse game over Louisiana, Southern Mississippi and Alabama and Tejas, before the British finally withdraw in 1842.

A double attack on Charlestown, South Carolina and Quebec leads to the eventual fall of both those cities. Carolina slaves are freed by the British, how arm them and actively encourage them to take revenge against whites living in the area. Quebec is held in firm British rule, but the American troops in the rest of Canada are too many and too loosely concentrated, making campaigning overland almost impossible because of attacks on supply columns.

Crockett’s gang eventually leads a successful attack against Novovologda in 1843, seizing the city from the 1,000 British holding it. Later that year San Francisco is taken by 4,000 American partisans, defeating 3,000 British regulars and driving the British from the area.

By early 1844 the Russians are considering joining the Americans in their war against the British, and the French are also sending secret alliance proposals as well. Britain agrees to peace in Amsterdam, seceding California and Upper Canada, but retaining Lower Canada. The US agrees to pay 15 cents an acre for land in Canada and California.

[Glen]

Bump. We should consider continuing this.

[Tom Veil]

1800s are out of my expertise, so I'd put in another kind word for XXth C -- or is XXth C just too gargantuan to dive back into?

[Glen]

Originally Posted by Tom Veil

1800s are out of my expertise, so I'd put in another kind word for XXth C -- or is XXth C just too gargantuan to dive back into?

Bah! Of course it is not!! It is my full intention to get back into that at some point, though not this month....too many other things going on to tackle that.

I can see the XXth C really taking off again this Summer, however, when things are a little more settled.