Ephraim Ben Raphael
Banned
Continuation of my Rebel North Map two pages ago, beware of walls of text;
The American Civil War begins with a string of Union victories against the FUA as experienced southern troops smash untrained northern conscripts and General Robert E. Lee sends George McClellan's Invasion of the Great Plains (an attempt to link up with abolitionist sympathizers in the Pacific Northwest and extend the Federal Union from sea to sea) back in dismay. Fighting rages from the rebellious counties of North California to Pennsylvania but gradually superior northern industry and the replacement of several Northern commanders with more competent leaders makes a difference. The initial southern naval superiority erodes in the face of newly constructed northern ships but the decisive factor was British and French aid to the rebels- particularly British aid flowing down from Canada. In 1865 the flagging United States government under President John Breckinridge finally agrees to recognize President Thaddeus Stevens’ government in New York when Britain began to make noises about intervening militarily.
Angry and revanchist, the USA began a program of "national revitalization" led by Breckinridge and subsequently Jefferson Davis. The north had been able to break away due to its superior industry and that meant that it was time for the Union to turn away from agrarianism and focus on industrialization. Railway tracks were laid across the country and state-sponsored factories rose in Georgia, Alabama, and California. Then in 1869 the Third Mexican-American War erupted over a trifling border incident.
In 1861 a coalition of European countries had intervened in Mexico after the unstable government of Benito Juarez stopped making interest payments on its loans. Most of the countries pulled out after a short time but France remained, taking advantage of the powerful conservative movement in the country to re-establish the Mexican Monarchy under Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg. Juarez and the liberals had been effectively discredited by their capitulation to the United States in the Second Mexican-American War and when Emperor Maximilian approached Juarez about the possibility of his becoming Prime Minister (offer was made OTL, but refused), Juarez accepted. In the eyes of the USA the Mexican Empire was a French puppet and a violation of the Monroe doctrine that could not be tolerated, hence when given the opportunity Washington declared war. The Empire was backed by France and the Federal Union of America but fighting a two front war it was defeated repeatedly, and when the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War cut off French aid Juarez and Maximilian surrendered.
America was jubilant. They had established once again that despite their failure in the ACW they were yet a power to be reckoned with. The Mexican Empire was forced to cede yet more northern territory as well as land in the south that was added to the Yucatan. Belligerently the Union thrust itself back onto the world stage, annexing Santo Domingo in 1870 (almost happened OTL, didn’t pass the senate) and reducing Haiti to the status of a protectorate. In 1880 the USA finally outlawed slavery after a series of violent slave revolts supported by Britain and the North, although former slaves were expected to work off their value before becoming truly free. Crooked book keeping and high rates of interest meant that ex-slaves remained in bondage- many transferring their debt to their families when they died. Needless to say black suffrage did not exist and free blacks were strictly second class citizens. American influence in the Caribbean spread via a series of wars and interventions and America entered into the Naval Race with Britain, France and Germany wholesale- its failures at sea during the ACW having not been forgotten. Mexico was dealt with at last in 1878 when a coup by conservatives opposed to Maximilian's reforms overthrew the empire and America subsequently occupied the country and enforced a protectorate over it. In 1885 the USA and the Peru-Bolivia Confederation went to war with the Grenadine Confederation, resulting in the annexation of Panama and the outlying islands by the USA and the Quito region by PB. In 1886 a tribal uprising in Liberia prompted the Liberian to government to ask for American assistance, assistance was followed by protectorate status and in 1890 annexation. A British-backed attempt by Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador to counter US influence by forming a Greater Republic of Central America in 1896 almost triggered a war between Britain and America and ended with the GRCA forced to concede the Miskito Coast and acknowledge Washington's hegemony. In 1897 the Spanish-American War erupted over US aid to rebels in the Philippine Islands and resulted in the United States gaining most of the remaining Spanish Empire.
By 1899 the USA is a deeply racist dominant party republic with a large and growing overseas empire (they bought Alaska after a bidding war with Britain and annexed Hawaii when a wealthy group of American planters on islands appealed for annexation in 1893). The Democratic Party controls congress and the Presidency, however the Populist Party offers local opposition. Its primary allies are the Peru-Bolivia Confederation, the Republic of Brazil, Germany, and Japan. The Union has made great strides in industrializing and building up a navy but both have yet to be tested against a major adversary (unless you count Spain).
The Federal Union of America is a heavily industrialized, highly populated country whose politics are dominated by the Republican Party, with limited opposition from the anti-immigrant American Party and even more limited opposition by the Workingmen's Party of America. It's very laisse faire and is struggling with unionization. The FUA's primary ally is Great Britain.
In South America the continent is even more divided than ever. Chile, which was initially cautious about the PB Confederation and even fought with then against Argentina, is now definitely certainly that the PBC is Public Enemy Number One. After a bloody war instigated by the dictator of Paraguay PB annexed the isolated, backwards country in 1870, also annexing their puppet in the Chaco region in 1871. The PB alliance with America, as demonstrated by their co-operation in the war with the Grenadine Confederation is a serious cause for worry by Chile who is now started strengthening its former adversary Argentina in an effort to build a bulwark against the PBC. The Argentine Confederation once more includes Buenos Aires and Viedma, Chilean assistance in regaining those states has gone a long way towards healing their former animosity. Brazil is another danger, a close ally of the United States they outlawed slavery after America did, relying on US aid to pull their country out crisis and stabilize. Revanchist and Conservative, Brazil seeks to regain the territory of the Riograndese Republic that it lost so many years ago- it's prevented from doing so by British assistance to the RR (Britain is also helping Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela out in an effort to counter the Americans).
Back in Europe the balance of power was disrupted in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War when Otto von Bismarck negotiated a dynastic marriage between Prince Fredrich of Prussia (his father successfully prevented his marriage to Victoria ITTL) and the Archduchess Gisela of Austria. Although the marriage would not take place for a number of years as Fredrich was 35 and Gisela was 10 at the time it set the stage for the eventual union of Prussia and Austria as a united Germany. In 1871 the Second Neuchatel Crisis erupted when pro-German nationalists in Northern Switzerland launched an uprising to restore the German principality of Neuchatel and join the (now largely unified) German Confederation. When Bismarck and William I supported the rebels an incident where the Prussia, French and Swiss borders met triggered the Franco-Prussian War in 1872. The German Confederation including Prussia and Austria-Hungary were pitted against Switzerland and France. The war lasted only one year and ended with an overwhelming victory for the Germans. Switzerland was partitioned between the German Confederation and a French-speaking rump-state and France ceded Alsace-Lorraine. In 1874 Fredrich and Gisela were married, in 1880 William I died, and Emperor Franz Joseph was prevailed upon to abdicate allowing the dynastic union of Prussia and Austria and the formation of a German Empire that included virtually all of German-speaking Europe.
Tensions have been rising since then between Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece on one hand and Britain, France, and Russia on the other due to the Naval Race, the Scramble for Africa, and general competition. Russia is backing Serbian and Czech separatists in Germany. Other things that happened in Europe- different Russo-Turkish War and subsequent Congress of Berlin resulting in a largely independent Balkans with no Serbia. Romania chose to align itself with Germany rather than Russia. There was no Berlin Conference ITTL, instead colonial borders in Africa were settled by separate treaties and remain somewhat unclear. The intensification of the Scramble for Africa that occurred following the BC OTL never happened. There was no Mahdi so no Mahdist War, and Britain withdrew from Egypt like the Liberals wanted to do IOTL.
In Asia Japan overthrows the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1867 and goes full Meiji, industrializing and modernizing with help from America who wants to see a strong counter-balance to Britain and France in the Pacific. They win wars with the Taipings and Korea, extending a protectorate over Korea and the Qing Era administrators in Hanian and Taiwan. (Did I mention the Taipings won their rebellion?) A rump Qing dynasty survived under Russian protections in Manchuria, the Russians also annex Tannu Tuva and Outer Mongolia after their puppet Emperor ceded those areas to them, the Hui states of West China are equally under Russian protection. Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly Kingdom first seems like it will collapse under its own weight, splintering as the various Taiping Kings and Princes fight each other after Hong's death in 1870. However his son Hong Tiangfu (same name as OTL, completely different person) is able to defeat the warlords and centralize power in himself, constructing the apparatus of a powerful Taiping State. Tiangfu takes a pragmatic approach, normalizing relations with the west and building a powerful cult of personality around the Emperor that draws equally from Confucian values of duty and fidelity as it does from Taiping Christianity. As a descendant of god and member of the heavenly dynasty, he takes traditional Chinese emperor worship to a new extreme making it more widespread by incorporating elements of Confucianism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Tiangfu sends trading missions to Europe and the Americas to study western industry and science, he promotes industrialization and modernization in conscious imitation of Japan although he does still have catching up to do and is beaten by Japan in 1892. Britain and France gradually warm up to Taiping, first aiding its industrialization as a means of countering Russia and increasingly later as a means of countering growing American and Japanese influence in East Asia and the Pacific.
In Southern Africa gold and diamonds are discovered in 1866 and 1886 respectively in the Boer Republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, triggering a massive influx of "uitlanders'- European and American immigrants seeking riches. Said uitlanders are kept disenfranchised, to the dismay of Britain and John Gordon Sprigg intrigues in South Africa to extend British control into the lucrative Boer areas. Sprigg is smarter than Rhodes and never actually goes forward with his plans, seeing how unworkable they are, but word still reaches the Boers that Britain is making plans to potentially invade. When an aborted effort by private British filibusters to break away part of the Orange Free State fails in 1895 Fredrich I of Germany sends his congratulations to the Bloemfontein government, building ties between the Boer Republics and Germany and gravely worrying the British. The Boers exacerbate the situation further by purchasing arms from Germany as a safeguard against British aggression. British leaders began talking about annexation of the Boer Republics as necessary for the security of the Cape Colony. In 1899 Transvaal and the Orange Free State negotiate a union named the "Union of South Africa" and tensions come to a head. Negotiations in Bloemfontein break down and in September of 1899 Britain issues an ultimatum to South Africa to dissolve its union and grant equal rights to British uitlanders. The Boers refuse and Britain declares war.
At this point Germany chooses to defend South Africa and declares war on Great Britain. France and Russia, honoring a secret treaty, declare war on Germany. And America, as delineated by its own secret treaty with Germany, declares war on the Triple Entente. Worldwide the allies of the Great Powers are also drawn in.
The Great War has begun.
The American Civil War begins with a string of Union victories against the FUA as experienced southern troops smash untrained northern conscripts and General Robert E. Lee sends George McClellan's Invasion of the Great Plains (an attempt to link up with abolitionist sympathizers in the Pacific Northwest and extend the Federal Union from sea to sea) back in dismay. Fighting rages from the rebellious counties of North California to Pennsylvania but gradually superior northern industry and the replacement of several Northern commanders with more competent leaders makes a difference. The initial southern naval superiority erodes in the face of newly constructed northern ships but the decisive factor was British and French aid to the rebels- particularly British aid flowing down from Canada. In 1865 the flagging United States government under President John Breckinridge finally agrees to recognize President Thaddeus Stevens’ government in New York when Britain began to make noises about intervening militarily.
Angry and revanchist, the USA began a program of "national revitalization" led by Breckinridge and subsequently Jefferson Davis. The north had been able to break away due to its superior industry and that meant that it was time for the Union to turn away from agrarianism and focus on industrialization. Railway tracks were laid across the country and state-sponsored factories rose in Georgia, Alabama, and California. Then in 1869 the Third Mexican-American War erupted over a trifling border incident.
In 1861 a coalition of European countries had intervened in Mexico after the unstable government of Benito Juarez stopped making interest payments on its loans. Most of the countries pulled out after a short time but France remained, taking advantage of the powerful conservative movement in the country to re-establish the Mexican Monarchy under Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg. Juarez and the liberals had been effectively discredited by their capitulation to the United States in the Second Mexican-American War and when Emperor Maximilian approached Juarez about the possibility of his becoming Prime Minister (offer was made OTL, but refused), Juarez accepted. In the eyes of the USA the Mexican Empire was a French puppet and a violation of the Monroe doctrine that could not be tolerated, hence when given the opportunity Washington declared war. The Empire was backed by France and the Federal Union of America but fighting a two front war it was defeated repeatedly, and when the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War cut off French aid Juarez and Maximilian surrendered.
America was jubilant. They had established once again that despite their failure in the ACW they were yet a power to be reckoned with. The Mexican Empire was forced to cede yet more northern territory as well as land in the south that was added to the Yucatan. Belligerently the Union thrust itself back onto the world stage, annexing Santo Domingo in 1870 (almost happened OTL, didn’t pass the senate) and reducing Haiti to the status of a protectorate. In 1880 the USA finally outlawed slavery after a series of violent slave revolts supported by Britain and the North, although former slaves were expected to work off their value before becoming truly free. Crooked book keeping and high rates of interest meant that ex-slaves remained in bondage- many transferring their debt to their families when they died. Needless to say black suffrage did not exist and free blacks were strictly second class citizens. American influence in the Caribbean spread via a series of wars and interventions and America entered into the Naval Race with Britain, France and Germany wholesale- its failures at sea during the ACW having not been forgotten. Mexico was dealt with at last in 1878 when a coup by conservatives opposed to Maximilian's reforms overthrew the empire and America subsequently occupied the country and enforced a protectorate over it. In 1885 the USA and the Peru-Bolivia Confederation went to war with the Grenadine Confederation, resulting in the annexation of Panama and the outlying islands by the USA and the Quito region by PB. In 1886 a tribal uprising in Liberia prompted the Liberian to government to ask for American assistance, assistance was followed by protectorate status and in 1890 annexation. A British-backed attempt by Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador to counter US influence by forming a Greater Republic of Central America in 1896 almost triggered a war between Britain and America and ended with the GRCA forced to concede the Miskito Coast and acknowledge Washington's hegemony. In 1897 the Spanish-American War erupted over US aid to rebels in the Philippine Islands and resulted in the United States gaining most of the remaining Spanish Empire.
By 1899 the USA is a deeply racist dominant party republic with a large and growing overseas empire (they bought Alaska after a bidding war with Britain and annexed Hawaii when a wealthy group of American planters on islands appealed for annexation in 1893). The Democratic Party controls congress and the Presidency, however the Populist Party offers local opposition. Its primary allies are the Peru-Bolivia Confederation, the Republic of Brazil, Germany, and Japan. The Union has made great strides in industrializing and building up a navy but both have yet to be tested against a major adversary (unless you count Spain).
The Federal Union of America is a heavily industrialized, highly populated country whose politics are dominated by the Republican Party, with limited opposition from the anti-immigrant American Party and even more limited opposition by the Workingmen's Party of America. It's very laisse faire and is struggling with unionization. The FUA's primary ally is Great Britain.
In South America the continent is even more divided than ever. Chile, which was initially cautious about the PB Confederation and even fought with then against Argentina, is now definitely certainly that the PBC is Public Enemy Number One. After a bloody war instigated by the dictator of Paraguay PB annexed the isolated, backwards country in 1870, also annexing their puppet in the Chaco region in 1871. The PB alliance with America, as demonstrated by their co-operation in the war with the Grenadine Confederation is a serious cause for worry by Chile who is now started strengthening its former adversary Argentina in an effort to build a bulwark against the PBC. The Argentine Confederation once more includes Buenos Aires and Viedma, Chilean assistance in regaining those states has gone a long way towards healing their former animosity. Brazil is another danger, a close ally of the United States they outlawed slavery after America did, relying on US aid to pull their country out crisis and stabilize. Revanchist and Conservative, Brazil seeks to regain the territory of the Riograndese Republic that it lost so many years ago- it's prevented from doing so by British assistance to the RR (Britain is also helping Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela out in an effort to counter the Americans).
Back in Europe the balance of power was disrupted in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War when Otto von Bismarck negotiated a dynastic marriage between Prince Fredrich of Prussia (his father successfully prevented his marriage to Victoria ITTL) and the Archduchess Gisela of Austria. Although the marriage would not take place for a number of years as Fredrich was 35 and Gisela was 10 at the time it set the stage for the eventual union of Prussia and Austria as a united Germany. In 1871 the Second Neuchatel Crisis erupted when pro-German nationalists in Northern Switzerland launched an uprising to restore the German principality of Neuchatel and join the (now largely unified) German Confederation. When Bismarck and William I supported the rebels an incident where the Prussia, French and Swiss borders met triggered the Franco-Prussian War in 1872. The German Confederation including Prussia and Austria-Hungary were pitted against Switzerland and France. The war lasted only one year and ended with an overwhelming victory for the Germans. Switzerland was partitioned between the German Confederation and a French-speaking rump-state and France ceded Alsace-Lorraine. In 1874 Fredrich and Gisela were married, in 1880 William I died, and Emperor Franz Joseph was prevailed upon to abdicate allowing the dynastic union of Prussia and Austria and the formation of a German Empire that included virtually all of German-speaking Europe.
Tensions have been rising since then between Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece on one hand and Britain, France, and Russia on the other due to the Naval Race, the Scramble for Africa, and general competition. Russia is backing Serbian and Czech separatists in Germany. Other things that happened in Europe- different Russo-Turkish War and subsequent Congress of Berlin resulting in a largely independent Balkans with no Serbia. Romania chose to align itself with Germany rather than Russia. There was no Berlin Conference ITTL, instead colonial borders in Africa were settled by separate treaties and remain somewhat unclear. The intensification of the Scramble for Africa that occurred following the BC OTL never happened. There was no Mahdi so no Mahdist War, and Britain withdrew from Egypt like the Liberals wanted to do IOTL.
In Asia Japan overthrows the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1867 and goes full Meiji, industrializing and modernizing with help from America who wants to see a strong counter-balance to Britain and France in the Pacific. They win wars with the Taipings and Korea, extending a protectorate over Korea and the Qing Era administrators in Hanian and Taiwan. (Did I mention the Taipings won their rebellion?) A rump Qing dynasty survived under Russian protections in Manchuria, the Russians also annex Tannu Tuva and Outer Mongolia after their puppet Emperor ceded those areas to them, the Hui states of West China are equally under Russian protection. Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly Kingdom first seems like it will collapse under its own weight, splintering as the various Taiping Kings and Princes fight each other after Hong's death in 1870. However his son Hong Tiangfu (same name as OTL, completely different person) is able to defeat the warlords and centralize power in himself, constructing the apparatus of a powerful Taiping State. Tiangfu takes a pragmatic approach, normalizing relations with the west and building a powerful cult of personality around the Emperor that draws equally from Confucian values of duty and fidelity as it does from Taiping Christianity. As a descendant of god and member of the heavenly dynasty, he takes traditional Chinese emperor worship to a new extreme making it more widespread by incorporating elements of Confucianism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Tiangfu sends trading missions to Europe and the Americas to study western industry and science, he promotes industrialization and modernization in conscious imitation of Japan although he does still have catching up to do and is beaten by Japan in 1892. Britain and France gradually warm up to Taiping, first aiding its industrialization as a means of countering Russia and increasingly later as a means of countering growing American and Japanese influence in East Asia and the Pacific.
In Southern Africa gold and diamonds are discovered in 1866 and 1886 respectively in the Boer Republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, triggering a massive influx of "uitlanders'- European and American immigrants seeking riches. Said uitlanders are kept disenfranchised, to the dismay of Britain and John Gordon Sprigg intrigues in South Africa to extend British control into the lucrative Boer areas. Sprigg is smarter than Rhodes and never actually goes forward with his plans, seeing how unworkable they are, but word still reaches the Boers that Britain is making plans to potentially invade. When an aborted effort by private British filibusters to break away part of the Orange Free State fails in 1895 Fredrich I of Germany sends his congratulations to the Bloemfontein government, building ties between the Boer Republics and Germany and gravely worrying the British. The Boers exacerbate the situation further by purchasing arms from Germany as a safeguard against British aggression. British leaders began talking about annexation of the Boer Republics as necessary for the security of the Cape Colony. In 1899 Transvaal and the Orange Free State negotiate a union named the "Union of South Africa" and tensions come to a head. Negotiations in Bloemfontein break down and in September of 1899 Britain issues an ultimatum to South Africa to dissolve its union and grant equal rights to British uitlanders. The Boers refuse and Britain declares war.
At this point Germany chooses to defend South Africa and declares war on Great Britain. France and Russia, honoring a secret treaty, declare war on Germany. And America, as delineated by its own secret treaty with Germany, declares war on the Triple Entente. Worldwide the allies of the Great Powers are also drawn in.
The Great War has begun.
