@Alt History Buff: no need of a personal union between Henry and Adelheid reigns... They have many children so one of their younger children will inherit Adelheid‘s lands (see how England handled the Coburg succession)
America - Albion's Orphan - A history of the conquest of Britain - 1760
- Thread starter Alt History Buff
- Start date
Chapter 320
1866
Java, headquarters of EIC
For the past several years, the EIC had been purchasing armed and armored steam ships for their expanding navy. Having lost their pseudo-sovereign powers in portions of the Maratha Empire, this also meant that the Company was no longer constrained by the Peshwas and were allowed to act entirely in their own interests with few restrictions.
While the purchase of these steam ships were certainly expensive, the Company naturally found a way to make money by mothballing the arms and armor and use them as merchant ships until the demand for war was raised.
Cape Colony
For the past several years, the EIC had dispatched "ambassadors" and "emissaries" to the feuding tribal leaders of what had once been a unified Zulu Empire. Now assorted Zulu and affiliated (or once subordinate) Kings were engaging in on and off warfare with one another. The EIC employees would ensure their safety by providing assorted gifts to the local warlords, mainly trinkets which the tribal leaders had never seen. More importantly, the Company officials were present to gage the relatives strengths of each faction and how they related to one another. Perhaps more importantly, the officials were to investigate more thoroughly the initial reports of both diamonds and gold in the vast and dysfunctional Zulu domain.
Even the cursory checks would reveal the potential for a huge strike of various minerals as well as great agricultural possibilities. But it would take time for the Company to tap these resources and it was unlikely the chaotic political situation in Zululand (as was the unofficial exonym) would allow for this.
Thus, the Company officials would review the data and make alliances based upon what best served them. As many of the lands now controlled by the Zulu and other tribes were controlled by those most adjacent to the expanding Jewish settlements, the Company would determine to make allies with the enemies of these tribes, those further east which did not necessarily have anything the Company wanted.
Soon this would be discovered and several tribal leaders proved predictably livid. But the EIC army, augmented by Dutch, Jewish and native allies, were already marching east in response to a series of petty "offenses" by the inhabitants of the region.
Zanzibar
Though Muslim power had been felt along Eastern Africa for nearly a thousand years, the EIC has managed to evict the Omani Dynasty from the island of Zanzibar with relative east. With the company ascendance to power, a wave of Christian missionaries were funded by the Company and sent into the interior. This was considered an odd decision for a profit-motivated entity. However, the Arabs had long been loathed by the local tribes for having sustained the slave-trade (something the Company halted) thus the assorted Christian missionaries proved popular on the East African mainland in many areas. In this case, Christianity was a tool used against the Musselmen. In other cases, the Company would have been perfectly happy using Islam against Christian enemies.
Once in control, the Company would ally with various tribes to exploit the agricultural bounty of the region in production of crops like groundnuts, fruits and, most profitably, coffee. The Company had already partnered with the Ethiopian King and dominated the African coffee trade. Expansion south would prove a reliable profit maker as well as creating yet another source of manpower for the EIC forces.
Assorted tribes would happily allow their warriors to join the Company army believing, what would turn out to be correctly, that these forces would largely be used to crush regional enemies if and when that time came.
By 1866, a regiment of Kikuyu, perhaps the most powerful of the many tribes in the region of East Africa controlled by the Company, would sail for Southern Africa under command of Company soldiers including several Black and Asian senior officers.
The baffling array of races, nationalities and languages affiliated with the company would often cause problems as the EIC had no "lingua franca". The Company had long been a multi-ethnic group even before the conglomeration of the Dutch East India, French East India, British East India, Swedish East India and other companies into a defacto sovereign nation focused on India but having fully sovereign control over Eastern islands like Java and Sumatra.
While Dutch remained the common tongue in Java and Sumatra, the Company officials tended to speak French or English in India and were similarly fluid by situation. In southern Africa, Dutch was commonly used by default among the bureaucrats assigned to the Dutch Cape Colony. However, by 1866, Yiddish and Polish was used more often to the east and, of course, the assorted African languages were used in tribal areas.
Large numbers of Javan, Maratha (usually Christians from India), Americans, now Bantu-speaking Kikuyu and other forces comprised Company forces in southern Africa augmented by Dutch Cape forces and Yiddish-speaking Jewish settlers evicted from Poland. Even an Ethiopian regiment arrived armed with the latest rifles.
By 1867, this bizarre conglomerate of soldiers were being readied for a large-scale warfare against several tribal nations to the east who had what the company wanted.
The Congo
Throughout the 1860's, the Congo would remain quietly profitable as the rubber, palm oil, cotton and other crops would become more and more lucrative. Eventually cotton was dropped as a major crop as rubber and palm oil prices rose. Demand was high throughout the world and simply could not be satiated.
Any resistance stamped out brutally.
John Rowlands, promoted again and now controlling nearly a quarter of the Company claims, would dispatch his militia and police to slaughter any village which refused or failed to heed the corvee of labor.
While somewhat embittered that his old friend and mentor (who turned out to be the American would-be regicide Armstrong Hyman Thruston) had been forced into the jungle by American political vendetta, Rowlands knew that the Company did what it had to do. Rowlands DID, however, take greater pleasure in hunting down and slaughtering the cannibals who killed him and even received international praise for wiping out these peoples. Now matter how unpopular Thruston was, killing and eating people, especially Europeans, could not be allowed.
Despite controlling the most remote inland series of plantations, Rowlands received a reputation as a high performing executive destined for greater things.
To continue along this career trajectory, Rowlands would brutally crush any dissent, killing at will. Every able-bodied African was expected to support the company policy of maximizing production. There was to be no exception anywhere.
Java, headquarters of EIC
For the past several years, the EIC had been purchasing armed and armored steam ships for their expanding navy. Having lost their pseudo-sovereign powers in portions of the Maratha Empire, this also meant that the Company was no longer constrained by the Peshwas and were allowed to act entirely in their own interests with few restrictions.
While the purchase of these steam ships were certainly expensive, the Company naturally found a way to make money by mothballing the arms and armor and use them as merchant ships until the demand for war was raised.
Cape Colony
For the past several years, the EIC had dispatched "ambassadors" and "emissaries" to the feuding tribal leaders of what had once been a unified Zulu Empire. Now assorted Zulu and affiliated (or once subordinate) Kings were engaging in on and off warfare with one another. The EIC employees would ensure their safety by providing assorted gifts to the local warlords, mainly trinkets which the tribal leaders had never seen. More importantly, the Company officials were present to gage the relatives strengths of each faction and how they related to one another. Perhaps more importantly, the officials were to investigate more thoroughly the initial reports of both diamonds and gold in the vast and dysfunctional Zulu domain.
Even the cursory checks would reveal the potential for a huge strike of various minerals as well as great agricultural possibilities. But it would take time for the Company to tap these resources and it was unlikely the chaotic political situation in Zululand (as was the unofficial exonym) would allow for this.
Thus, the Company officials would review the data and make alliances based upon what best served them. As many of the lands now controlled by the Zulu and other tribes were controlled by those most adjacent to the expanding Jewish settlements, the Company would determine to make allies with the enemies of these tribes, those further east which did not necessarily have anything the Company wanted.
Soon this would be discovered and several tribal leaders proved predictably livid. But the EIC army, augmented by Dutch, Jewish and native allies, were already marching east in response to a series of petty "offenses" by the inhabitants of the region.
Zanzibar
Though Muslim power had been felt along Eastern Africa for nearly a thousand years, the EIC has managed to evict the Omani Dynasty from the island of Zanzibar with relative east. With the company ascendance to power, a wave of Christian missionaries were funded by the Company and sent into the interior. This was considered an odd decision for a profit-motivated entity. However, the Arabs had long been loathed by the local tribes for having sustained the slave-trade (something the Company halted) thus the assorted Christian missionaries proved popular on the East African mainland in many areas. In this case, Christianity was a tool used against the Musselmen. In other cases, the Company would have been perfectly happy using Islam against Christian enemies.
Once in control, the Company would ally with various tribes to exploit the agricultural bounty of the region in production of crops like groundnuts, fruits and, most profitably, coffee. The Company had already partnered with the Ethiopian King and dominated the African coffee trade. Expansion south would prove a reliable profit maker as well as creating yet another source of manpower for the EIC forces.
Assorted tribes would happily allow their warriors to join the Company army believing, what would turn out to be correctly, that these forces would largely be used to crush regional enemies if and when that time came.
By 1866, a regiment of Kikuyu, perhaps the most powerful of the many tribes in the region of East Africa controlled by the Company, would sail for Southern Africa under command of Company soldiers including several Black and Asian senior officers.
The baffling array of races, nationalities and languages affiliated with the company would often cause problems as the EIC had no "lingua franca". The Company had long been a multi-ethnic group even before the conglomeration of the Dutch East India, French East India, British East India, Swedish East India and other companies into a defacto sovereign nation focused on India but having fully sovereign control over Eastern islands like Java and Sumatra.
While Dutch remained the common tongue in Java and Sumatra, the Company officials tended to speak French or English in India and were similarly fluid by situation. In southern Africa, Dutch was commonly used by default among the bureaucrats assigned to the Dutch Cape Colony. However, by 1866, Yiddish and Polish was used more often to the east and, of course, the assorted African languages were used in tribal areas.
Large numbers of Javan, Maratha (usually Christians from India), Americans, now Bantu-speaking Kikuyu and other forces comprised Company forces in southern Africa augmented by Dutch Cape forces and Yiddish-speaking Jewish settlers evicted from Poland. Even an Ethiopian regiment arrived armed with the latest rifles.
By 1867, this bizarre conglomerate of soldiers were being readied for a large-scale warfare against several tribal nations to the east who had what the company wanted.
The Congo
Throughout the 1860's, the Congo would remain quietly profitable as the rubber, palm oil, cotton and other crops would become more and more lucrative. Eventually cotton was dropped as a major crop as rubber and palm oil prices rose. Demand was high throughout the world and simply could not be satiated.
Any resistance stamped out brutally.
John Rowlands, promoted again and now controlling nearly a quarter of the Company claims, would dispatch his militia and police to slaughter any village which refused or failed to heed the corvee of labor.
While somewhat embittered that his old friend and mentor (who turned out to be the American would-be regicide Armstrong Hyman Thruston) had been forced into the jungle by American political vendetta, Rowlands knew that the Company did what it had to do. Rowlands DID, however, take greater pleasure in hunting down and slaughtering the cannibals who killed him and even received international praise for wiping out these peoples. Now matter how unpopular Thruston was, killing and eating people, especially Europeans, could not be allowed.
Despite controlling the most remote inland series of plantations, Rowlands received a reputation as a high performing executive destined for greater things.
To continue along this career trajectory, Rowlands would brutally crush any dissent, killing at will. Every able-bodied African was expected to support the company policy of maximizing production. There was to be no exception anywhere.
That is assuming that Adelheid's son will be willing to give it up.
1. Does the EIC own any real territory outside of Africa?
2. The EIC becoming a powerful force reminds me a lot of this timeline, where the Dutch East India company manages to take over Indonesia (while treating the natives horribly), even splitting away from the Netherlands and becoming the Batavian Kingdom in the early 19th century. They even fight a huge war with the French in India in the 1830's where both sides form giant alliances (the Batavian side loses badly, except for Batavia itself which manages to secure almost all of Sumatra asides from the city of Aceh), and by the dawn of the 20th century have some 38 million people (around a quarter of which are of European descent [somehow, I honestly don't know how that many Europeans in a populated place like Indonesia is possible]]) and have an alliance with Burma and Vietnam called the Batavian Pact. Unfortunately, their racism and arrogance bite them in the ass in the Great War where in just 2 years they are beaten and dismantled by both the pro-France and anti-France alliances (yeah, no one liked Batavia). 11 million Indonesians die, and the archipelago is partitioned.
Sorry for the long paragraph, just that the EIC is starting to remind me a lot of the Batavian Kingdom (which was even run by the company board of directors, although they were awful rulers).
2. The EIC becoming a powerful force reminds me a lot of this timeline, where the Dutch East India company manages to take over Indonesia (while treating the natives horribly), even splitting away from the Netherlands and becoming the Batavian Kingdom in the early 19th century. They even fight a huge war with the French in India in the 1830's where both sides form giant alliances (the Batavian side loses badly, except for Batavia itself which manages to secure almost all of Sumatra asides from the city of Aceh), and by the dawn of the 20th century have some 38 million people (around a quarter of which are of European descent [somehow, I honestly don't know how that many Europeans in a populated place like Indonesia is possible]]) and have an alliance with Burma and Vietnam called the Batavian Pact. Unfortunately, their racism and arrogance bite them in the ass in the Great War where in just 2 years they are beaten and dismantled by both the pro-France and anti-France alliances (yeah, no one liked Batavia). 11 million Indonesians die, and the archipelago is partitioned.
Sorry for the long paragraph, just that the EIC is starting to remind me a lot of the Batavian Kingdom (which was even run by the company board of directors, although they were awful rulers).
Personal pride, a desire to be considered "European", dislike of the younger sibling, hopes that it may be useful someday, etc, etc.
It is also possible that, unlike the British political classes' opinion of Hanover, some Americans would view their King owning a small territory matter of pride as well.
Naturally, there will be others who may resent the King for a foreign province but I don't see a future American King leaving America every summer to spend months in Germany as George I and II tended to do.
Also, I would imagine that any King would understand that America's policy will not be dictated by Oldenburg. They won't go to war with France or the Dutch Republic or Denmark or any state which may look enviously upon Oldenburg. Recall that there are no huge German states like Prussia to gobble up the rest. If anything, France and Austria may be looked upon as the protectors of these little states.
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Sounds bad to us but Tikhookeaskoya is just the Russian term for Pacific.
I doubt Alexei I of Tikhookeaskory would care how it sounds to foreigners.
Chapter 321
1867
Manhattan
The legislative year of 1867 would prove among the most divisive in recent memory as the First Lord, with the support (or at least PUBLIC support) of his Ministry, would push for a national mandate removing race as a consideration for suffrage. While the majority of black and mulatto men of voting age currently lived in Dominions where their status was implicitly supported, a shrinking number of dominions in the Eastern Central Dominions and, oddly, the Northern Central (midwest which held few Blacks anyway) would stubbornly refuse to even consider the issue, though this was as much a matter of indifference in some cases as discrimination.
More and more Dominions would join LIncoln's faction. Even Florida and Hanover, which had long made no hindrance to black voting, would explicitly clarify in their Dominion Legislatures that suffrage was not race contingent.
Unfortunately, there were distractions which prevented the Ministry from focusing this support. While black suffrage was the issue of the day, there was also a growing women's suffrage movement which brought upon a host of other issues....and detractors. There was also the anti-immigration movement which viewed Catholic, Orthodox and, in the coastal Dominions of the Bahia de California, limited Chinese immigration which tended to align with the shrinking numbers of Dominions not in support of black suffrage.
Lincoln, who remained largely in office due to a desire to resolve this issue, had spent the past two years making only incremental gains.
The First Lord needed an issue, a symbol which his allies could rally behind. It was just a matter of timing.
Spanish America
Despite the general decline in Imperial authority over the colonies (now generally called Viceroyalties), this did not mean the end of conflict. For years, the gentry of the Americas would push for the King of Spain to cede power....but only to THEM. The common peoples of Spanish America remained very much removed from the political spectrum. Only a very small minority possessed votes and those who did not held few hopes of achieving this status, especially the Indian or Mestizo majorities throughout much of the Empire.
Resentment was simply transferred from the crown to the oligarchy now assuming defacto control in my Viceroyalties. Indeed, it became commonly accepted that the assorted Viceroys were more inclined to protect peasant rights than the Cortes of the New World.
With California, Anahuac and British North America leading by example in greater, more inclusive democracy, the political situation throughout Spanish America never ceased to convulse.
Paulgrad
King Alexei, perhaps the only person on earth who did not consider his wife Alexandrina (often called "Drina") a total bitch, would conceive the idea of sending Her Majesty on a goodwill tour. Those who knew Alexandrina best would find their opinions divided. No, they did not believe that Drina visiting foreign royals a good thing for the new nation of Tikhookeaskoya but were also happy at the idea of getting rid of her for a few months.
Thus, the King's advisors eventually encouraged Alexei to dispatch his wife to California, Anahuac, New Spain and British North America. The Queen would take with her her eldest daughter who, like her mother, was considered a beauty but, unlike her mother, was not a bitch.
Manhattan
The legislative year of 1867 would prove among the most divisive in recent memory as the First Lord, with the support (or at least PUBLIC support) of his Ministry, would push for a national mandate removing race as a consideration for suffrage. While the majority of black and mulatto men of voting age currently lived in Dominions where their status was implicitly supported, a shrinking number of dominions in the Eastern Central Dominions and, oddly, the Northern Central (midwest which held few Blacks anyway) would stubbornly refuse to even consider the issue, though this was as much a matter of indifference in some cases as discrimination.
More and more Dominions would join LIncoln's faction. Even Florida and Hanover, which had long made no hindrance to black voting, would explicitly clarify in their Dominion Legislatures that suffrage was not race contingent.
Unfortunately, there were distractions which prevented the Ministry from focusing this support. While black suffrage was the issue of the day, there was also a growing women's suffrage movement which brought upon a host of other issues....and detractors. There was also the anti-immigration movement which viewed Catholic, Orthodox and, in the coastal Dominions of the Bahia de California, limited Chinese immigration which tended to align with the shrinking numbers of Dominions not in support of black suffrage.
Lincoln, who remained largely in office due to a desire to resolve this issue, had spent the past two years making only incremental gains.
The First Lord needed an issue, a symbol which his allies could rally behind. It was just a matter of timing.
Spanish America
Despite the general decline in Imperial authority over the colonies (now generally called Viceroyalties), this did not mean the end of conflict. For years, the gentry of the Americas would push for the King of Spain to cede power....but only to THEM. The common peoples of Spanish America remained very much removed from the political spectrum. Only a very small minority possessed votes and those who did not held few hopes of achieving this status, especially the Indian or Mestizo majorities throughout much of the Empire.
Resentment was simply transferred from the crown to the oligarchy now assuming defacto control in my Viceroyalties. Indeed, it became commonly accepted that the assorted Viceroys were more inclined to protect peasant rights than the Cortes of the New World.
With California, Anahuac and British North America leading by example in greater, more inclusive democracy, the political situation throughout Spanish America never ceased to convulse.
Paulgrad
King Alexei, perhaps the only person on earth who did not consider his wife Alexandrina (often called "Drina") a total bitch, would conceive the idea of sending Her Majesty on a goodwill tour. Those who knew Alexandrina best would find their opinions divided. No, they did not believe that Drina visiting foreign royals a good thing for the new nation of Tikhookeaskoya but were also happy at the idea of getting rid of her for a few months.
Thus, the King's advisors eventually encouraged Alexei to dispatch his wife to California, Anahuac, New Spain and British North America. The Queen would take with her her eldest daughter who, like her mother, was considered a beauty but, unlike her mother, was not a bitch.
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Chapter 322 - Breeding Season
1868
Paulgrad
After the birth of the fourth son of Alexei and Drina (the sixth of seven children the couple would produce), the Tikhoodeaskoya throne appeared secure.
However, in 1868, a terrible typhoid epidemic would kill two of the four princes and turn the third into a deaf-mute (largely considered incapable of ruling). Only the eldest son escaped the onslaught. Fortunately, the Queen and two princesses were bound westwards on a train from Manhattan at this point and avoided the epidemic which killed over 20,000 residents of the capital.
By this point, the King was not only distraught over the losses of his family but fearful of the danger to his throne. He would realize that he and his wife were not getting any younger (both were in their mid-thirties and further children may not be possible though they would, two years later, bring another daughter into the world). While he didn't object overly if, should his remaining healthy son die, one of his daughters inherited the throne in the future, this was not preferred. Even in the 19th century, a male inheritor was considered more stable.
Thus, he determined that his son Alexei, now nearly thirteen, would not waste overly much time in marrying. As it so happened, one of the high ranking ministers in his brother's court in Moscow was a second cousin once removed (or was it first cousin twice removed? Who remembered?) and had a plethora of young daughters around Prince Alexei's age. So far removed from Europe, it was unlikely that, in the future, the prince would have the opportunity to inspect the Princesses of Europe. Besides, Alexei was of the bent that he'd prefer a Russian Orthodox of noble birth to some daughter of a petty Protestant German state. So why not arrange a bride now from Russia?
Thus the King would communicate with his mother to select one of these Russian noblewomen from this family, a pretty girl of obedient character, who would be "invited" to "winter" in Paulgrad as a guest of the King with the obvious intent of inspecting her to see if she would make an adequate breeder for the Prince. If the lady should not measure up....well, no actual announcement of engagement would be made so both parties could back away if they deemed it preferred.
As it turned out, while Queen Alexandrina was visiting Manhattan (and putting off the Americans with her poor temper, haughtiness and bad manners), the Queen's eldest daughter would spend weeks in play with the heir to British America on the King's Hudson River summer home (the Russian woman taken up north in hopes that she'd stop offending everyone she met). Like Henry II and Princess Adelheid of Oldenburg, this childhood affection would eventually hearken to another dynastic marriage in the far future.
Kingdoms of California and Anahuac
As it so happened, dynastic survival was being heavily considered in the other North American monarchies. The Prince of Anahuac would travel from Guadalajara to San Diego with the purpose of inspecting the Royal Princesses. In short order, he eliminated the fat one and the ugly one and selected the prettier eldest princess (which also happened to avoid complications as it was assumed that the eldest sister would marry first and thus, had he chosen one of the younger princesses, may have caused a problem.
While the Prince of Anahuac was in San Diego, the Prince of California was in Europe on his own mission for matrimony. Here, he would take the "Grand Tour" not only to culture himself but to search for a bride. Most of the larger nations he visited (Paris, Rome and Vienna) would receive him with amused curiosity but it soon became apparent that his lack of pedigree would prevent him from landing a bride from one of the foremost Houses of Catholic Europe. However, there were plenty of German petty Catholic states and he spent much of the summer in Baden where he took a keen interest in a seventeen year old Princess. He inquired of the King of Baden may be prevailed upon to hold off on any offers for the Princesses' hand until the Prince made it back to San Diego to solicit permission from his father.
In an ironic twist, the occasional European sense of superiority in family breeding to their American cousins would result in an improvement of the bloodlines in America. By choosing attractive mates of admittedly lesser houses (Wales and Oldenburg in the case of British North America), the North American monarchies would have both a healthier, non-inbred, bloodline as well as considerably more attractive children.
Paulgrad
After the birth of the fourth son of Alexei and Drina (the sixth of seven children the couple would produce), the Tikhoodeaskoya throne appeared secure.
However, in 1868, a terrible typhoid epidemic would kill two of the four princes and turn the third into a deaf-mute (largely considered incapable of ruling). Only the eldest son escaped the onslaught. Fortunately, the Queen and two princesses were bound westwards on a train from Manhattan at this point and avoided the epidemic which killed over 20,000 residents of the capital.
By this point, the King was not only distraught over the losses of his family but fearful of the danger to his throne. He would realize that he and his wife were not getting any younger (both were in their mid-thirties and further children may not be possible though they would, two years later, bring another daughter into the world). While he didn't object overly if, should his remaining healthy son die, one of his daughters inherited the throne in the future, this was not preferred. Even in the 19th century, a male inheritor was considered more stable.
Thus, he determined that his son Alexei, now nearly thirteen, would not waste overly much time in marrying. As it so happened, one of the high ranking ministers in his brother's court in Moscow was a second cousin once removed (or was it first cousin twice removed? Who remembered?) and had a plethora of young daughters around Prince Alexei's age. So far removed from Europe, it was unlikely that, in the future, the prince would have the opportunity to inspect the Princesses of Europe. Besides, Alexei was of the bent that he'd prefer a Russian Orthodox of noble birth to some daughter of a petty Protestant German state. So why not arrange a bride now from Russia?
Thus the King would communicate with his mother to select one of these Russian noblewomen from this family, a pretty girl of obedient character, who would be "invited" to "winter" in Paulgrad as a guest of the King with the obvious intent of inspecting her to see if she would make an adequate breeder for the Prince. If the lady should not measure up....well, no actual announcement of engagement would be made so both parties could back away if they deemed it preferred.
As it turned out, while Queen Alexandrina was visiting Manhattan (and putting off the Americans with her poor temper, haughtiness and bad manners), the Queen's eldest daughter would spend weeks in play with the heir to British America on the King's Hudson River summer home (the Russian woman taken up north in hopes that she'd stop offending everyone she met). Like Henry II and Princess Adelheid of Oldenburg, this childhood affection would eventually hearken to another dynastic marriage in the far future.
Kingdoms of California and Anahuac
As it so happened, dynastic survival was being heavily considered in the other North American monarchies. The Prince of Anahuac would travel from Guadalajara to San Diego with the purpose of inspecting the Royal Princesses. In short order, he eliminated the fat one and the ugly one and selected the prettier eldest princess (which also happened to avoid complications as it was assumed that the eldest sister would marry first and thus, had he chosen one of the younger princesses, may have caused a problem.
While the Prince of Anahuac was in San Diego, the Prince of California was in Europe on his own mission for matrimony. Here, he would take the "Grand Tour" not only to culture himself but to search for a bride. Most of the larger nations he visited (Paris, Rome and Vienna) would receive him with amused curiosity but it soon became apparent that his lack of pedigree would prevent him from landing a bride from one of the foremost Houses of Catholic Europe. However, there were plenty of German petty Catholic states and he spent much of the summer in Baden where he took a keen interest in a seventeen year old Princess. He inquired of the King of Baden may be prevailed upon to hold off on any offers for the Princesses' hand until the Prince made it back to San Diego to solicit permission from his father.
In an ironic twist, the occasional European sense of superiority in family breeding to their American cousins would result in an improvement of the bloodlines in America. By choosing attractive mates of admittedly lesser houses (Wales and Oldenburg in the case of British North America), the North American monarchies would have both a healthier, non-inbred, bloodline as well as considerably more attractive children.
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1. Yes, the EIC controls most of Indonesia without any pretense of subordination to a Europe King. Now, they control three of the greatest access points to central and southern Africa - the Congo, Zanzibar and South Africa.
1. I see. Is there a significant European minority in Indonesia? A large amount of Europeans gives the company "loyal" soldiers and workers (since the EIC won't trust the natives out of racism) and a somewhat stronger hold on the land.
Chapter 323
1867
Cape Colony
The Western Chieftains of the old Zulu Kingdom were the first target of the East India Company's army. Dozens of Zulu (and associated tribes) had started to raid the Jewish settlements east of the Cape Colony. This was adequate pretense to an invasion.
Armed by the latest repeating rifles and even a few of a new weapon designed by an American named Gatling, the Company forces (under command of Prince Felix comprised 2000 infantry under George McClellan (including Maratha, Javan and African troops), 300 Cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest, 2500 Dutch and Jewish infantry volunteers as well as 1000 African irregulars) would march east into the western Zulu lands. In a series of battles, the repeating rifles of the Company would crush the small Zulu armies with frightening ease. Eventually, entire Zulu settlements would be abandoned as the tribes escaped eastward. Those which did not would find their towns burned and their livestock seized.
Thousands of square miles were annexed to the nominal Cape Colony. However, the EIC would determine that the influx of Jewish settlers would be transferred to this area, largely ignoring the Dutch desires.
Among the most effective of this EIC army was the cavalry unit under Forrest. His subordinate, Custer, would routinely sweep forward with pistols blazing, wiping out large formations of Zulu infantry before retreating to rest, rearm and attack again. The advantage of cavalry would prove decisive against the Zulu, who had been famous for rapid infantry movements. But the combination of accurate, repeating rifles and competent cavalry would prove decisive and the African Armies which had crushed the Dutch only a generation before were routed with relative ease.
However, an insurgency would commence in which Africans attacked settlements and outposts in the night would prove more effective. But the frustrated EIC army commanders would only retaliate with such brutality that all Zulu settlements for hundreds of miles were wiped out without prejudice.
By 1867, the Custer brothers, their friend Nietzsche and the Wyatt brothers had largely given up any intention of returning to America. Huge landgrants to the victors were offered and, while they would remain in uniform, the individual soldiers would receive deeds to large tracts. The company pay always arrived on time and it seemed likely that, upon their release, they would have enough money to purchase cattle and building supplies.
In order to ensure a large number of militia volunteers, the Jewish settlers of the eastern colony were given Sharpe's, Winchesters or other modern repeating rifles to protect their homesteads and Kibbutz'. As the farmers themselves were not taxed heavily (or at all as farmers were given 20 year exemptions from paying property tax), the Jewish settlers would frequently write back to Poland (and nearby regions with Jewish populations) of the welcoming embrace of the Cape Colony, increasingly dominated by the EIC. By the end of the 1860's, the already remarkable flow of Jewish settlers (often subsidized by the Kingdom of Poland) would expand to a flood.
George McClellan, who would command the infantry, would find himself promoted to General Officer and placed in command of the Western Cape Colony forces. This was, of course, a move prompted by Prince Felix who could not stand the pompous, preening ass and was happy to dump him upon the Dutch settlers of the west. While in the East, McClellan had actually gathered up significant support among the Jewish settlers. He would ride around with his staff and arrive in the evening at assorted Jewish settlements inquiring if his horses may "water". Naturally, the Jews invited him to dinner and he would reply with exaggerated manners.
When moved westwards, McClellan would socialize with the Dutch of Cape Town no less, always attempting to ingratiate himself to the locals. By 1868, Prince Felix was begging the EIC to remove the imbecile from his command. No, that was unfair. McClellan was clever, diligent and hard-working. But he was so politically driven that he drove his superiors and counterparts to distraction. Letter after letter was written to Batavia in hopes of reassigning the man with suggestions that Zanzibar or the Congo may require such a heroic figure.
Cape Colony
The Western Chieftains of the old Zulu Kingdom were the first target of the East India Company's army. Dozens of Zulu (and associated tribes) had started to raid the Jewish settlements east of the Cape Colony. This was adequate pretense to an invasion.
Armed by the latest repeating rifles and even a few of a new weapon designed by an American named Gatling, the Company forces (under command of Prince Felix comprised 2000 infantry under George McClellan (including Maratha, Javan and African troops), 300 Cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest, 2500 Dutch and Jewish infantry volunteers as well as 1000 African irregulars) would march east into the western Zulu lands. In a series of battles, the repeating rifles of the Company would crush the small Zulu armies with frightening ease. Eventually, entire Zulu settlements would be abandoned as the tribes escaped eastward. Those which did not would find their towns burned and their livestock seized.
Thousands of square miles were annexed to the nominal Cape Colony. However, the EIC would determine that the influx of Jewish settlers would be transferred to this area, largely ignoring the Dutch desires.
Among the most effective of this EIC army was the cavalry unit under Forrest. His subordinate, Custer, would routinely sweep forward with pistols blazing, wiping out large formations of Zulu infantry before retreating to rest, rearm and attack again. The advantage of cavalry would prove decisive against the Zulu, who had been famous for rapid infantry movements. But the combination of accurate, repeating rifles and competent cavalry would prove decisive and the African Armies which had crushed the Dutch only a generation before were routed with relative ease.
However, an insurgency would commence in which Africans attacked settlements and outposts in the night would prove more effective. But the frustrated EIC army commanders would only retaliate with such brutality that all Zulu settlements for hundreds of miles were wiped out without prejudice.
By 1867, the Custer brothers, their friend Nietzsche and the Wyatt brothers had largely given up any intention of returning to America. Huge landgrants to the victors were offered and, while they would remain in uniform, the individual soldiers would receive deeds to large tracts. The company pay always arrived on time and it seemed likely that, upon their release, they would have enough money to purchase cattle and building supplies.
In order to ensure a large number of militia volunteers, the Jewish settlers of the eastern colony were given Sharpe's, Winchesters or other modern repeating rifles to protect their homesteads and Kibbutz'. As the farmers themselves were not taxed heavily (or at all as farmers were given 20 year exemptions from paying property tax), the Jewish settlers would frequently write back to Poland (and nearby regions with Jewish populations) of the welcoming embrace of the Cape Colony, increasingly dominated by the EIC. By the end of the 1860's, the already remarkable flow of Jewish settlers (often subsidized by the Kingdom of Poland) would expand to a flood.
George McClellan, who would command the infantry, would find himself promoted to General Officer and placed in command of the Western Cape Colony forces. This was, of course, a move prompted by Prince Felix who could not stand the pompous, preening ass and was happy to dump him upon the Dutch settlers of the west. While in the East, McClellan had actually gathered up significant support among the Jewish settlers. He would ride around with his staff and arrive in the evening at assorted Jewish settlements inquiring if his horses may "water". Naturally, the Jews invited him to dinner and he would reply with exaggerated manners.
When moved westwards, McClellan would socialize with the Dutch of Cape Town no less, always attempting to ingratiate himself to the locals. By 1868, Prince Felix was begging the EIC to remove the imbecile from his command. No, that was unfair. McClellan was clever, diligent and hard-working. But he was so politically driven that he drove his superiors and counterparts to distraction. Letter after letter was written to Batavia in hopes of reassigning the man with suggestions that Zanzibar or the Congo may require such a heroic figure.
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I am going to make up a number and say 50,000 to 100,000 Europeans (disproportionately Dutch). I don't think that Europeans would make up the majority of the military forces but I'm not sure that the Javans, Sumatrans and other Indonesians would necessarily cause too much trouble. If the islands were prospering and no one was messing with their religion (as the EIC would no doubt go out of their way NOT to mess with), I would think that a few thousands well-paid and loyal Indonesian soldiers would not be difficult to find, much as the British Raj never had trouble outfitting the Indian regiments which propped up the Raj.
Chapter 324
1868
Rome
While hardly the most reformative of European monarchs, the House of Habsburg were willing to willing to adapt to an extent. The unified peninsula of Italy was granted a new constitution in which larger numbers of Italians were granted suffrage in voting for Parliament. Ironically, this % was higher than most of the other Habsburg Kingdoms (Silesia, Bohemia, Hungary, Austria, Bavaria, Croatia) but still the Italian Parliament was LESS powerful than those of these other Kingdoms where the high-born oligarchies would bear ancient privileges which drove the Emperor's to distraction.
While it temporarily placated the Italians, who increasingly felt their futures were in their own hands, it would leave the peasants of the other Habsburg lands restive, not necessarily against the Emperor but against the noble oligarchies controlling the Diets.
Madrid
Carlos VI would approve several Constitutional amendments which further reformed the political system of Spain. Unfortunately, this was not enough for the reformers and too much for the current establishment.
In 1868, a mentally unstable aristocrat would attempt to assassinate the King, only to fail when his ancient pistol misfired. He was taken away to prison. A week later, a radical student would manage to put a bullet in the King. For weeks, Carlos VI was feared on the door of death. But His Majesty pulled through.
Tired of the political turmoil, Carlos VI would seek to take more direct control over Spain's affairs than ever before from his ministers and the aristocratic-leaning Ministry. He would commute the sentences of both would-be assassins to 20 years of prison rather than death and personally begin directing Spain in a manner not seen in over a hundred and fifty years.
Educational, penal, bureaucratic, military and other reforms began getting proposed by the Ministry in ever greater numbers. Whenever the Corte balked at approving them....the King knew that he had the public on his side as well as the military. Little by little Spain would modernize her government.
Luanda
Once a prime slaving point of Portuguese Africa, the port of Luanda had come, under the Spanish Empire, to be largely controlled by Brazilian traders. With slavery long banned, the region would be contested by the EIC.
After years of near-warfare, the King of Spain would cede the region to the EIC for a modest payment and trading privileges in the east. While many of the Brazilians who exploited the resources of the region objected, the deal was done with little fanfare and many of the Brazilians invited to stay on.
Sao Tome and Princip
Over the course of the past century, the Portuguese Empire had effectively dissolved. Only a few islands in the Atlantic remained under Portuguese control including the old slaving stations of Sao Tome and Princip off the coast of Africa. While the post-slavery islands were profitable sugar plantations in the 18th century and cocoa plantations in the 19th, labor disputes with contract African workers resulted in a defacto rebellion eventually prompting the Portuguese to evict most of these men and women (after pardoning them) to the mainland.
With the islands virtually useless to Portugal, the American government inquired if they may be for sale as that nation desired an expansion of their naval power by acquiring naval bases. The King of Portugal would astonish the Americans with an offer of not only Sao Tome and Princip but the Azores and Macronesia (which included Madeira) as well.
The Portuguese government was so hard up for funds that they were willing to part with islands they'd controlled for centuries to balance their budget. For a mere 15,000,000 American pounds sterling the American government may have the whole unprofitable lot of them which included over 100,000 souls, a mix of Portuguese, Jewish, black and mulatto (and others). The King of Portugal, who was seen the same demands for reform that other nations in Europe were receiving, feared a general revolt in the somewhat backwards and undeveloped land.
Thus, in 1868, the American agreed to purchase all of these islands for the requested price of 15,000,000 plus 5,000,000 more for a fund to pay of Portuguese landowners who did not want to live under American rule.
The move would prove controversial on both sides of the Atlantic as many wonder in America what the nation needed with such advance bases while outraged Portuguese patriots would revolt upon learning their patrimony was being sold off. Indeed, the ensuing years of rebellion would cost the King more than 15,000,000 American pounds sterling.
Rome
While hardly the most reformative of European monarchs, the House of Habsburg were willing to willing to adapt to an extent. The unified peninsula of Italy was granted a new constitution in which larger numbers of Italians were granted suffrage in voting for Parliament. Ironically, this % was higher than most of the other Habsburg Kingdoms (Silesia, Bohemia, Hungary, Austria, Bavaria, Croatia) but still the Italian Parliament was LESS powerful than those of these other Kingdoms where the high-born oligarchies would bear ancient privileges which drove the Emperor's to distraction.
While it temporarily placated the Italians, who increasingly felt their futures were in their own hands, it would leave the peasants of the other Habsburg lands restive, not necessarily against the Emperor but against the noble oligarchies controlling the Diets.
Madrid
Carlos VI would approve several Constitutional amendments which further reformed the political system of Spain. Unfortunately, this was not enough for the reformers and too much for the current establishment.
In 1868, a mentally unstable aristocrat would attempt to assassinate the King, only to fail when his ancient pistol misfired. He was taken away to prison. A week later, a radical student would manage to put a bullet in the King. For weeks, Carlos VI was feared on the door of death. But His Majesty pulled through.
Tired of the political turmoil, Carlos VI would seek to take more direct control over Spain's affairs than ever before from his ministers and the aristocratic-leaning Ministry. He would commute the sentences of both would-be assassins to 20 years of prison rather than death and personally begin directing Spain in a manner not seen in over a hundred and fifty years.
Educational, penal, bureaucratic, military and other reforms began getting proposed by the Ministry in ever greater numbers. Whenever the Corte balked at approving them....the King knew that he had the public on his side as well as the military. Little by little Spain would modernize her government.
Luanda
Once a prime slaving point of Portuguese Africa, the port of Luanda had come, under the Spanish Empire, to be largely controlled by Brazilian traders. With slavery long banned, the region would be contested by the EIC.
After years of near-warfare, the King of Spain would cede the region to the EIC for a modest payment and trading privileges in the east. While many of the Brazilians who exploited the resources of the region objected, the deal was done with little fanfare and many of the Brazilians invited to stay on.
Sao Tome and Princip
Over the course of the past century, the Portuguese Empire had effectively dissolved. Only a few islands in the Atlantic remained under Portuguese control including the old slaving stations of Sao Tome and Princip off the coast of Africa. While the post-slavery islands were profitable sugar plantations in the 18th century and cocoa plantations in the 19th, labor disputes with contract African workers resulted in a defacto rebellion eventually prompting the Portuguese to evict most of these men and women (after pardoning them) to the mainland.
With the islands virtually useless to Portugal, the American government inquired if they may be for sale as that nation desired an expansion of their naval power by acquiring naval bases. The King of Portugal would astonish the Americans with an offer of not only Sao Tome and Princip but the Azores and Macronesia (which included Madeira) as well.
The Portuguese government was so hard up for funds that they were willing to part with islands they'd controlled for centuries to balance their budget. For a mere 15,000,000 American pounds sterling the American government may have the whole unprofitable lot of them which included over 100,000 souls, a mix of Portuguese, Jewish, black and mulatto (and others). The King of Portugal, who was seen the same demands for reform that other nations in Europe were receiving, feared a general revolt in the somewhat backwards and undeveloped land.
Thus, in 1868, the American agreed to purchase all of these islands for the requested price of 15,000,000 plus 5,000,000 more for a fund to pay of Portuguese landowners who did not want to live under American rule.
The move would prove controversial on both sides of the Atlantic as many wonder in America what the nation needed with such advance bases while outraged Portuguese patriots would revolt upon learning their patrimony was being sold off. Indeed, the ensuing years of rebellion would cost the King more than 15,000,000 American pounds sterling.
Chapter 325
1868
Beijing
The Emperor was pleased that so many foreign experts were arriving throughout the Empire to teach these latest technologies to the Chinese people. Though he loathed the expedient, the Emperor was willing to purchase the latest examples of steam ships, locomotives, telegraph and other new technologies if it would benefit the nation. While the Emperor wondered at the utility of some of these advances, his Mandarin bureaucrats would positively RAVE about them, particularly the technologies which allowed them to control remote provinces. For the first time, the Emperor realized how much power had been delegated to regional governors and determined to reign this in.
With these new technologies, he foresaw the nation's capital knowing the productivity of every farm, the mental state of every region (and if they were considering rebellion).
In the meantime, the plantation of Manchu to the northern regions once inhabited by the Russians was proceeding apace. Every once in a while, another band of Europeans would be discovered and escorted unharmed (per the Emperor's orders) to the borders. Indeed, the large-scale migration would see the construction of a new railroad along the northern border. Already huge new railroads were being completed or started throughout the nation.
The Emperor would prove the sponsor of all this modernization which he believed would bind the country together in ways never before imagined.
By 1868, the Emperor was wondering if he may take greater control over his pseudo-vassals of Southeast Asia.
The Maratha Empire
Much like China, the Maratha Empire was experiencing a wave of centralization never before imagined due to the new technologies being deployed. Previously, regional potentates could expect months, if not years, before seditious behavior could expect an Imperial response.
But the telegraph and rail systems would allow the Peshwa to swiftly deliver troops to any region of the country he desired in weeks, if not days, of hearing of the rebellion.
In 1868, the Peshwa controlled the Empire more directly than any time in history.
The House of Wesley, that of the King of Bhutan, would provide many capable Generals and were no longer held suspect by some factions in court for their European origin (now two generations in the past). They were loyal Hindus and subjects of the Peshwa. Even the handful of Wesleys serving the East India Company in Africa begged permission first of the Peshwa to serve abroad.
By 1868, the Peshwa was wondering if he may expand his Empire eastward into Southeast Asia.
Nippon
By 1868, the Emperor of Nippon was happy that no one on earth cared enough about his island Kingdom of bother molesting them. He was happy to be forgotten after years of abuse by the Mandarin.
Beijing
The Emperor was pleased that so many foreign experts were arriving throughout the Empire to teach these latest technologies to the Chinese people. Though he loathed the expedient, the Emperor was willing to purchase the latest examples of steam ships, locomotives, telegraph and other new technologies if it would benefit the nation. While the Emperor wondered at the utility of some of these advances, his Mandarin bureaucrats would positively RAVE about them, particularly the technologies which allowed them to control remote provinces. For the first time, the Emperor realized how much power had been delegated to regional governors and determined to reign this in.
With these new technologies, he foresaw the nation's capital knowing the productivity of every farm, the mental state of every region (and if they were considering rebellion).
In the meantime, the plantation of Manchu to the northern regions once inhabited by the Russians was proceeding apace. Every once in a while, another band of Europeans would be discovered and escorted unharmed (per the Emperor's orders) to the borders. Indeed, the large-scale migration would see the construction of a new railroad along the northern border. Already huge new railroads were being completed or started throughout the nation.
The Emperor would prove the sponsor of all this modernization which he believed would bind the country together in ways never before imagined.
By 1868, the Emperor was wondering if he may take greater control over his pseudo-vassals of Southeast Asia.
The Maratha Empire
Much like China, the Maratha Empire was experiencing a wave of centralization never before imagined due to the new technologies being deployed. Previously, regional potentates could expect months, if not years, before seditious behavior could expect an Imperial response.
But the telegraph and rail systems would allow the Peshwa to swiftly deliver troops to any region of the country he desired in weeks, if not days, of hearing of the rebellion.
In 1868, the Peshwa controlled the Empire more directly than any time in history.
The House of Wesley, that of the King of Bhutan, would provide many capable Generals and were no longer held suspect by some factions in court for their European origin (now two generations in the past). They were loyal Hindus and subjects of the Peshwa. Even the handful of Wesleys serving the East India Company in Africa begged permission first of the Peshwa to serve abroad.
By 1868, the Peshwa was wondering if he may expand his Empire eastward into Southeast Asia.
Nippon
By 1868, the Emperor of Nippon was happy that no one on earth cared enough about his island Kingdom of bother molesting them. He was happy to be forgotten after years of abuse by the Mandarin.
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I see nothing but tolerance, cooperation, and fraternal mutual aid between these two massive empires and the resource-rich states stuck in between them.