alternatehistory.com

15 April

The American Bible Society's northern chapters bends to the wishes of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and begins to distribute bibles to slaves in Delaware, eastern Maryland and Missouri.
This is taken by the southern (Confederate) chapters as evidence of bowing to the will of politically motivated religious thinkers, and the society increasingly splits at the national border.


17 April

The Pussian General Staff completes an assessment of the recent mobilization.

Their overall conclusion is that the speed of the mobilization has been good, and that the field divisions worked quite well. Based on some evidence it is decided that the approach of integrated battalions seems to work best - that is, each battalion consists of both regular and landwehr companies - though in some cases a given brigade may wish to use homogenous battalions, such as for assault purposes.
What is more important, however, is that the command structure has worked well, and that the artillery in particular has proven superb. This conclusion especially is released to the Reichstag, whereupon there is much in the way of smug speeches about the superiority of Prussian artillerymen and of German engineering.



18 April

Early attempts by the Russian Army to identify a route of approach to attack Poland are stymied by the Polish regular army - assisted by their able huszaia piechota and other skirmish forces.
Unlike the previous year, this time the Polish forces have a fairly coherent grip on their eastern frontiers - and while their regular troops still leave something to be desired, their specialists make the situaton hard to handle.


23 April

The Kingdom of Greece formally takes possession of the United States (of the Ionian Islands).

24 April

Emperor Maximilien strongly suggests that a comprehensive land reform law be worked out. His preference is for the rights of the peasants (which in theory are better than in practice) to have much more legal force to them, something which the conservatives in his cabinet are not really able to object to (or, at least, not able to object to and explain why they are).


26 April

The arguments in the Republican party look set to continue. Fremont is clearly angling for the nomination, though he is not the only one (Butler seems to be preparing to throw his hat into the ring) and seems to be attempting to corner the abolitionist vote by way of what could be called a "purity test".
The New York Herald, meanwhile, suggests attacking Canada while it is weak. Nobody is surprised.


29 April

The Sejm formally rejects a resolution that Galicia is an integral part of Poland. (Behind the scenes this was quite a close debate, but most of the factions ultimately agreed that making an enemy of Austria would be a bad idea.)
This does not entirely allay Austrian suspicions, but does look good internationally.


1 May

The Mediterranean Station lays a minefield across the Grand Harbour of Malta. Over the next few days they will sweep it, with both their specialized minesweeping gunboats and with less purpose-built equipment (including oilskin divers).
This is the first of what will become a yearly tradition, conducted with live mines (though only using very small training charges).


2 May

Conclusion of the Waikato Campaign. Though fighting is still going on in New Zealand in the form of the Taranaki War, this becomes a diminuendo over time.


4 May

Reed examines the combat reports of the Rolf Krake (translated from Danish) and determines that the turret system of carrying guns does indeed show the expected benefits - and costs.
He also notes that, while additional armour around the gunports is potentially helpful, the forgings required to cast a single piece of iron with varying thickness (for best resistance) might be difficult.



5 May

Darwin proposes to Mendel an experiemental demonstration into how the process of evolution might affect a given species.
In this experiment, Mendel would grow several generations of pea plants. Each generation would have their seeds harvested, ten percent of the seeds from a given phenotypic group removed, and then the seeds for the next generation would be randomly selected.
Darwin feels that this would accurately simulate a case of a small advantage becoming more prominent over the course of generations.