alternatehistory.com

8th December

An expedition into the Pashtun regions runs afoul of Pashtuns angry with the expedition, and with the British more generally. A series of running rifle skirmishes begin, in which the British battalions (those with the Snider, as opposed to the Indians armed with the Brunswick or Enfield) are hard pressed to keep the perimeter under control in the face of thousands of sniping tribesmen.
Not wanting to surrender, Neville Chamberlain (the commanding officer) elects to fort up on Crag Piquet and Eagle's Nest, and has the order passed to strictly ration ammunition.

9th December

Friar Mendel reads the article Eine Untersuchung des Problems der Vererbung und der Fehler der Blending Vererbung, und Implikationen für die natürliche Auswah, and has what he will later describe as a moment of holy revelation.
He immediately writes a letter to the author of the article - Charles Darwin - in which he explains that he believes he has strong evidence for a non-blending form of inheritance which will answer most or all of the problems Darwin outlines in the article.
Mendel does not explain the details of his system in this letter, choosing instead to say that he will be sure to send Darwin a copy of his first paper on the matter as soon as it is published, and additionally begs with Abbott Napp that he may be afforded some relief from his duties so as to publish a paper which he considers of great importance.
Abbott Napp (a kindly man who sponsored Mendel's formal education and who considers him a conscientious man and possible successor) grants him this leave, sure that Mendel will not be wasting the time.


11th December

Much of the Prussian III. Corps has been mobilized, and the combined formations begin refresher drill - both rifle shooting and square-bashing. There is much loud German shouting over the poor drill quality of the Landwehr incorporated into the divisions, but this fades to a more neutral rumbling when the shooting takes place as the Landwehr (all very enthusiastic about the whole affair) have largely been doing the odd practice session outside official training courses and are quite good overall.
The artillery, of course, is very good, and the Prussian general staff furnishes several possible advance routes and operational approaches to both Holstein and elsewhere.

12th December

The modern Prussian navy (consisting largely of SMS Thetis) is readied for potential combat at sea.
The Prussian naval officers consider that they would really like some more modern ships, especially as the Danish navy includes an ironclad. Someone asks if they can have a Zodiac class ironclad from Britain - SMS Widder (ram) has a good ring to it.

14th December

As a proof of the accuracy of his formulas on iron resistance as a function of temperature, Palliser performs an experiment outside Edinburgh to much fanfare. He has the noted scientist William Thomson select randomly which of two (identical) cannonballs is to be fired at which target, and also has Thomson select randomly which of two halves of a long armoured plate to douse with hot water from a steam engine.

After five minutes of hot water, both rounds are fired in quick succession against the plate. The doused section is dished in, resulting in a little spall on the far side, but the undoused section is pierced spectacularly.