alternatehistory.com

21st November

A group of French soldiers return their broken Creusot rifled field guns to the armoury, explaining just how they broke them. The information is taken on board, and some changes to the design are made to prevent two or three of the methods.
No change is made to fix the "design flaw" the soldiers supposedly exposed by throwing one gun over a cliff.


25th November

Maxim's latest sermon is about the Genetic Theory, claiming that if a white man mixes with a negro then the the offspring will certainly inherit negro genes (i.e. inferior ones) but will also inherit white genes. Thus, he explains, it is perfectly justified for a white man to sleep with a slave woman, but the reverse is "planting ill seed in good soil".
Naturally, most of the audience is perfectly fine with a sermon which happens to reinforce their prejudices.


1st December

US Navy review in the Lower Bay of New York, which shows off the reconstituted fleet. Of note are the several ironclads (largely monitors) present, along with the brand-new wooden cruising fleet.
Those ships not present are on foreign station, including off Africa.


8th December

A bitter debate takes place between the delegates to the German Confederation, with some observers noting the development of definite battle-lines.
Many of the larger or more exposed states are aligned with Austria, especially those proximate to the southern German state, while the smaller and more westerly states tend to align with Prussia. (The main exception to this is Hanover, which is definitely large but is also quite westerly.)
The issue at hand is supposedly the Polish Crisis (now approaching three years of age and distinctly no longer a "crisis" as such) but a number of other issues also come up, such as the complicated situation with Italy and what some see as excessive Prussian liberalism.


11th December

Secret meeting between representatives of the Sejm and a Prussian diplomat, in which it is made unofficially official that - in the event of an internal German war - the Poles will stay out unless and until an external power declares war on Prussia or on Poland. In return, the Prussians undertake to include into their plans a provision for their reserve army corps to move east and help defend Poland in the event of a Russian invasion during the hypothetical internal German war (or if the Austrians invade Poland instead).
This is too complex to be referred to as an "alliance", though "mutual non-backstab pact" might be close.


16th December

Recall of Wodehouse from the Cape Colony, after his consideration of "a Morant solution" to the agitation for greater autonomy caught the attention of the London news. (It is unclear if he was serious, but the papers certainly thought he was.)


20th December

Darwin is horrified to learn of the latest twist to Maximism - as a grandson of Josiah Wedgwood the very idea of his work being used to justify slavery is abhorrent - and he repudiates the concept in no uncertain terms.


23rd December

Grand strategy meeting among the allies in the Paragyauan War, highlighting that they are currently stuck in something of a stalemate - the rivers are the important part of logistics in the area, and both sides have the rivers under control with batteries but the Paraguayans have the larger fleet (largely via capture). For the Brazilians to provide a fleet large enough to overcome both batteries and Paragyauan river navy is expected to be quite expensive.


27th December

Accession of Leopold II to the Belgian throne.


31st December

Abraham Lincoln takes on a case relating to the construction of the US Transcontinental Railroad, chiefly in regards to accused irregularities over the exercise of Eminent Domain.
He is reported to find the complicated legal and political snarl "relaxing".


5th January 1866

Snider production is reported to be complete in terms of rearming the British army and the volunteer and militia force, both local and overseas, along with providing for a substantial home reserve. Future production is to be at a slower rate and the rifle is now made available for export (with the Confederate Army expressing a considerable interest, along with the state militias of Virginia, Maryland and South Carolina.)
Interestingly, there are also somewhere north of 100,000 unconverted Enfield rifles in stocks, in case the Indian Army is required to expand in future - the trusted sepoys are not yet permitted breechloading weapons, in accordance with standard policy.


9th January

After some preparatory work, the keel is laid on the Captain at Laird's Birkenhead yard. The estimate of how long the ship will take to build is a little woolly, as she is so experimental, and so the late delivery penalty is more relaxed than for a more conventional ship.


10th January

A rail bridge over the Elbe collapses in the cold, leading to swearing at the Prussian General Staff and the calculation of more contingency rail timetables for mobilization.


13th January

The first order for Sniders is placed - oddly, by the German city of Hamburg, which desires a modern small arm to equip her soldiers.
There is believed to be at least some behind the scenes graft involved with the order, in particular as to the fact that the city gets their rifles straight away instead of waiting for their manufacture at RSAF Enfield.