America - Albion's Orphan - A history of the conquest of Britain - 1760

[Alt History Buff]

1871

Lands east of Bengal

In retrospect, given the swift rise of Islam in Eastern Bengal under the Mughal Empire, it was surprising that the animist peoples to the mountains were not converted centuries before. However, they were largely left alone by the Bengali monarchs and it was....somewhat oddly....Protestant missionaries under the brief British East India Company and later East India Company which had converted the mountain peoples of the lands between Bengal and Burma to Christianity. The Naga and other tribes would surprisingly prove eager recipients of the Protestant faith though there was some friction between the early Methodist and Presbyterian Ministers and the later Lutherans.

Particularly under the Company influence, this encouragement of religion had monetary roots. By providing a "regional" religion owning its existence to the Company, it ensured that that highlands would be beholden to the EIC for protection. By 1871, the remote mountain regions, largely ignored by local powers for centuries, had quietly become profitable tea producers for the Company. The land was perfect for the crop and the Ministers helped keep the local tribes in line without the need for an army like in the Congo.

By separating these people on issues of faith by the neighboring Muslims (Bengal) and Buddhists (Burma), the Company ensured a division which they could exploit.

However, the young Peshwa, while much more sympathetic to religious minorities within his Empire than most of his predecessors, would be something of an expansionist and considered these remote regions the logical route for expansion. After all, expanding into the Muslim territories of the Baluchs and Afghans might be emotionally satisfying given that these peoples had raided, often with Persian help, the Subcontinent for centuries and helped found the Mughal Empire....but there seemed no profit in this, most likely enormous expense and probably would result in problems with the Peshwa's Muslim subjects.

The Peshwa, unlike his father, attempted to treat his subjects with respect regardless of religion. He withdrew religious-based taxes and prohibitions upon Muslims serving in the public sector. New regiments of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities were formed and treated with a respect they hadn't received in the years before. Many high-ranking soldiers and bureaucrats of non-Hindu faith were granted honors and prestigious posts. Universities were ordered to open their doors to minorities throughout the nation.

Oddly, this would further centralize the power of the Maratha Empire (often called "India" but officially called the "Maratha Empire") as local Kings would object and give the Peshwa cause to take over their Kingdoms directly. By 1872, nearly half the land of the Maratha Empire was controlled by Peshwa-installed governors, not Kings. The others, seeing the bureaucracy, transport nodes, taxation and army under the Peshwa's control, dared not offend the Peshwa lest their Kingdom's be next. The Peshwa could stand as a defender of liberty....all the while seizing more and more direct power himself.

While the 19th century was a time of technological advancement and political centralization on the subcontinent, the massive resources granted to the Peshwa would allow foreign adventures to take place if he so desired. But an expensive conquest of the Durrani Empire, nearly entirely Muslim, would cause no end to problems while the massive Chinese Empire to the north was blocked off by the mountains...and the fact that the Chinese Army was probably as strong or stronger than the Maratha.

Therefore, the Peshwa naturally looked East, towards Southeast Asia, a mix of about a dozen Kingdoms (and Company) lands.

Exactly what the Peshwa WANTED with these lands was somewhat unclear even to the Peshwa. It seemed likely that any tax revenues would never touch the costs associated with conquering any particular region.

But Empire virtually DEMANDED conquest. That was the true base for the Peshwa's ambitions. And his actions.

Oddly, it would not be the remote and hard to reach Nagas and other Christian tribes which would be the first target of the Marathas but the far easier to reach Burmese.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1872

Madrid

Carlos VI had spent his entire reign giving up power to his subjects. He deemed not only was this necessary to maintain his thrown but to allow for the growth the nation and the Empire. Gone were the days when a single man (more often the King's favorite than the King himself) would or could control a huge empire. Instead, massive numbers of bureaucrats were necessary to maintain power. More and more funds were dispersed to local regions for education, transportation, etc.

The Spanish Army and Navy were in terrible shape. Witnessing the East India Company so easily tear apart the best of the Dutch fleet was eye-opening for all of Europe. While America, France, Russia, the Maratha Empire, the Chinese Empire and a few others sought to maintain their position in the naval race, Spain seemed to fall further and further behind. The Naval Yards were producing substandard ships already obsolete by the time they were launched. The Spanish Army was....well, to put it mildly....pathetic.

Carlos VI would accept that Spain was behind in education, technology, financing, etc and put men in command of his government that agreed. However, the solutions to this always seemed to be....more cessation of power to the people. In truth, the King himself was more willing to accept this than his Ministers.

Many Spanish peasants, no less than the political classes and clergy, would find the idea of ceding power to the colonies abhorrent. However, King Carlos VI would realize that Spain's capacity to defeat a colonial rebellion was poor to say the least. This applied to but ONE colonial rebellion. If they ALL rebelled at once....well, it was absurd to think that even the entirety of the Spanish Army sailing to the New World would make a bit of difference.

Many of the Spanish colonies, particularly Rio Plata (almost entirely purebred European) and Brazil (culturally diverse), would feel they were more than ready for self-government. Others, like New Granada, New Spain and Peru, would remain mired not in opposition to the crown, but between the higher and lower castes of colonial society.

Carlos VI would find that doing nothing would quite often be the correct path. His Empire largely beyond his control, the King simply opted to act only when called upon by the majority of his citizens. Given the great divisions in society and politics, this was comparatively seldom, perhaps less than a political observer might think.

Paris

King Louis XVIII, perhaps the most able French King in two centuries, would expire after 35 years on the throne. Louis XVIII had been hard-working, intelligent and flexible. He realized that the world was changing and he must change with it.

His son, Robert III of France (King Louis was tired of the naming convention of Louis, Henri and Charles of recent centuries) was crowned King of the French in 1872. Just entering middle age, Robert III was brought up by his father less as a warrior but as a bureaucrat who looked upon the educational and industrial aspects of his reign as just as important as his foreign or military duties.

A new kind of King for a modern age, Robert would spent most of his time attempting to find work for the masses rather than plotting to invade foreign countries.

Vienna

Emperor Francis III would spend his years in Vienna fighting a series of seemingly never-ending battles with the constituent parts of his Empire. The Italians, Hungarians, Bohemians, etc, etc, etc, were always demanding more and more autonomy even as the Emperor attempted to centralize the region under educational and social reform.

The battle seemed endless and the Emperor wondered if he had the heart to wage it any longer.

Moscow

Alexander III of Russia would no doubt echo his peers' frustration in that the monumental task of governing overwhelmed him. Unlike many, however, he continued to attempt to control it himself and through a series of trusted advisors. His son and heir, Paul, with whom Alexander had a strained relationship, would point to other nations and argue that consolidating so much power in a few hands was asking for rebellion. If the Czar would only give up some to the various regions, the peasants would have someone else to blame when they were unhappy. When was the last time the Americans rebelled against THEIR Czar...errrr....King?

Never! That was the answer.

Even if the Russian Czar and his Ministers did the best job the world had ever seen by a monarch, the people would still blame them for all their problems. Perhaps it was best to all the people a greater say in the Diet. While the Russian Parliament was somewhat titular rather than effective, mainly giving advice rather than enacting legislation, the Prince was of the opinion that granting the people a say was not only preferential but necessary for the continued existence of the monarchy.

Sooner or later, he argued, the people would rise up in rebellion and, unlike other rebellions, the monarchy would be abolished in Russia, leaving a Diet without any real experience in governance in control. No doubt the nation would be poorly served by these people. Thus, the Prince wondered, why not allow a measure of public control before it was too late?

The Czar, of course, thought this was nonsense. After all, was HE not the great reformer, who cared so much about his people to liberate the serfs, grant huge amounts of land to them on good terms and work assiduously to create jobs in the towns?

Why would the Prince say such things?

The battle between father and son would wage for years.

 

[Alt History Buff]

British North America - 45,000,000

51 Dominions: 1872
Quebec - 1.400,000
Montreal - 850,000
Nova Scotia - 525,000
Charlottia (New Brunswick, former Acadia west of the Isthmus of Chignecto) - 250,000
Newfoundland - 200,000
Vermont (including the contested Hampshire Grants and the western portion of the former district of Maine under the colony of Massachusetts) - 1,400,000
Sagadahock (formerly the eastern portion of the district of Maine under the colony of Massachusetts) - 350,000
Massachusetts - 2.400,000
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations - 600,000
Connecticut - 2,000,000
New York - 2,500,000
Long Island -1,600,000
Manhattan - 900,000
New Jersey - 1.600,000
Pennsylvania - 3,500,000
Delaware -900,000
Maryland - 1,800,000
Virginia - 2,100,000
Kanawha (West Virginia) - 800,000
North Carolina - 1,200,000
Catabwa (West North Carolina) - 405,000
South Carolina - 850,000
Wateree (West South Carolina) - 400,000
Georgia - 1,200,000
West Florida (South Alabama, South Mississippi and Florida Panhandle) - 900,000
Mississauga (Peninsular Ontario) -1,100,000
Maumee (Western Kentucky) - 800,000
Shawnee (Eastern Kentucky) - 750,000
Westsylvania (Western Pennsylvania) - 850,000
Watauga (Eastern Tennessee) - 820,000
Tennessee (Western Tennessee) - 860,000
Hanover (Louisiana) - 950,000
Caledonia (Parts of Northern Texas and Oklahoma) - 750,000
Aethiopia (Southern Texas and parts of northeast Mexico) - 1,100,000
Arkansas - 600,000
Miami (OTL Indiana) - 850,000
Ohio (Most of OTL Ohio) - 1,200,000
Michigan (Lower Peninsula) - 800,000
East Florida and the Bahama Islands (Florida minus Panhandle) - 650,000
Indiana (northern Mississippi and Alabama) - 850,000
Chicago (Illinois) - 410,000
Marquette (Wisconsin) - 250,000
Mauretania (Iowa) - 180,000
Thracia (Missouri) - 100,000
Hibernia (Oklahoma) - 180,000
Baetica - 160,000
Lycia - 106,000
Pamphylia - 120,000
Cappadocia - 135,000
Belgica - 90,000
Lusitania - 105,000
Moesia - 90,000
Aquitania - 70,000 (received Dominion status in 1874)
Cilicia - 75,000 (received Dominion status in 1875)

Assorted British North American Territories (not yet Dominions) - est 500,000
Hudson (Northern Ontario)
Labrador (Eastern Quebec Peninsula)
Laurentia (Northwestern Quebec)
Denedeh
Inuit
Raetia
Pannonia
Noricum
Galatea
Iceni
Dobunni
North Zealand
South Zealand
Van Diemens Land

 

[Alt History Buff]

 

[Alt History Buff]

1873 - January

Manhattan

William Seward would expire in December of 1872, just a few days to New Year while most of Parliament was on leave for Christmas. Unlike previous generations, the availability of rail and steamship travel would allow for most Parliamentarians to actually go home over the break. Thus few members were around to even receive the official count of the 1872 election.

Seward would lay in state for several weeks in the Capital before being laid to rest in his family graveyard in New York. The King would not attend the funeral per tradition but several members of the Royal Family would. Abraham Lincoln, who remained in Manhattan after his retirement, would speak eloquently and concisely, as was his wont, about the man with whom he'd allied and often clashed over the years.

With the new Parliament to be seated only a few months away and with few major issues expected to crop up over the next months, the King would request that one of the other members of the Seward Ministry assume provisional control over the government until that time (per American law, the King may do so for up to three months under certain conditions). The Wataugan Andrew Johnson, previously the Interior Secretary, would assume this responsibility. He was a man with few enemies and not likely to be a strong candidate for the First Lord of Finance position in the coming election. This was acceptable to the ambitious men of Parliament who did not want a REAL candidate assuming even a provisional role. This may be seen as the King attempting to give a preferred candidate an edge. It was a canny decision by the monarch. Henry II always read public opinion well.

This allowed the other members of Parliament a four month period to campaign for support. When the official 1872 electoral votes were in and new members of Parliament were announced in February, these new Parliamentarians were virtually besieged in their homes by allies of the various contenders.

One particularly shocking new member was Victoria Woodhull of Ohio, the first woman to be elected to Parliament who won a close election amid nearly 12 candidates. While women had occasionally run for and won local offices (usually when they ran unopposed), there had never been any serious contenders for Parliament. Technically, there was no prohibition within the Constitution which tended to use the term "candidate", "subject" or "American" when describing electoral law while "man" was seldom in evidence.

Many Americans assumed that Victoria Woodhull's victory would be rejected by Parliament however Johnson referred the matter to the Supreme Court which stated that no law prohibited female candidates. By the time Woodhull was being sworn in in 1873, there was a faction which desired to close this "Constitutional" loophole by legislation and remove Woodhull from Parliament. However, by this time, the race for the First Lordship's office was on and the "Ohio Fluke" was seated without incident.

Among the contenders were Horatio Seymour, the former Governor of New York, James Blaine of Vermont, Rutherford Hayes of Ohio, Acting First Lord Andrew Johnson of Watauga, Richard Bland of Thracia, John Sherman of Ohio, John Abbott of Montreal, Andrew Jackson III of Kanahwa, Henry Clay III of Shawnee, Charles Mason IV of Pennsylvania and many, many others. Few of these men had bad reputations and each possessed some popularity in Parliament.


Old Parliamentary leaders like John A. MacDonald, Salman Chase, Benjamin D'Israeli, the publishers George Brown and Horace Greeley and others would push for their own candidates.

The 1870's would be an odd time as there were few powerful figures in Parliament able to drive votes as Stephan Douglass or Henry Clay had done in generations past. The vigorous politics behind closed doors would dominate the nation for months in the leadup to the first votes...and weeks after as no candidate would receive anything close to a majority. Finally, the "elimination" votes commenced as the lowest vote-getter would be eliminated from contention each tally. The lead contenders Horatio Seymour and Rutherford Hayes would seek allies but eventually the vote was whittled down further and further, and Seymour's attachment to the Tammany faction would weight against him.

The final five contenders were Seymour, Blaine, Hayes, Johnson and Abbott.

Eventually, the Dark Horse John Abbott, a lawyer from Montreal would take the lead. Hayes, sensing his own momentum lost, would throw his support to Abbott in exchange for a Cabinet position. Acting First Lord Johnson, also knowing that he no longer had any chance of maintaining his position, would throw his support to Abbott mainly because he hated Seymour. Blaine, the youngest of the Candidates, would agree to support Abbott as well in exchange for a Cabinet position.

Thus, finally Abbott received a majority on the 14th ballot.

Hayes would be made Lord High Chancellor and Blaine the Interior Minister. D'Israeli would assume the office of Foreign Minister despite some apprehension over his aggressive ideology. John Sherman would get the Exchequer. As a courtesy, Andrew Johnson was offer the ceremonial position of Lord Privy Seal (a holdover from an ancient position in the ancient British government.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1873

Moscow

Though at great expense, the Russian Imperial Railroad now maintained spokes well throughout Central Asia. By 1873, only the Kingdom of British North America possessed more miles of track and none had LONGER railroads. Fortunately, the high standards in rail construction demanded by the German engineers hired by the Czar would come in handy. If the cheaper construction endorsed by the Russian engineers had been followed throughout the entire network, the trains eastward may have proven virtually worthless. However, several much-publicized failures of the Russian design early in the process of expanding Russian railroads (poor materials failed frequently, bridged collapsed, the "one-track" policy only allowed 1 way traffic, thus stranding passengers for days or weeks at a time as well as led to several head-on collisions). Eventually, the Russian track was replaced by higher quality German designs.

The Czar took this technological failure personally and demanded an expansion and improvement of the assorted Russian technical colleges. It was impossible to think that the mightiest Empire in the world (to Russian eyes) suffer such embarrassing failures.

On the positive side, the Russian Naval Shipyards were producing highly competitive ships relative to the French and American designs. A particularly clever advancement in construction led to easier welding of larger and thicker hulls and the latest Russian ships were larger than anything afloat spurring the French and Americans to react.

By 1873, the American gunnery and armor was considered the most advanced. The French had highly efficient, powerful and fast engines. The Russians had the greatest displacement.

The Marathas, Chinese, Spanish and East India Company were forced to buy several ships in hopes to maintaining their position until their own shipyards were updated.

Somalia

The Horn of Africa had long been a prime trading hub between three continents....and also a den of pirates. Throughout the 1860's, the Gabroom Dynasty had been the most powerful clan among the Somali peoples of the time. However, a defeat at sea by the East India Company had savagely been repulsed. Then a local war would see the end of the Gabrooms. Other local Kings and Nobles would vie for power in a regional free for all.

By 1870, the old trade focus of the Somali coastal towns had turned to piracy with the loss of the peace and effective government. The pirates lacked the modern ships to seize modern vessels but some of the older sailing ships still afloat, mainly Maratha, were within their reach. Hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors of many nations were seized and their cargos and ships sold in various ports. Ransom demands were issued to the Maratha Authorities for the safe return of sailors.

However, this was not the 17th or 18th century and these Somalis were not the Barbary Pirates.

Instead of sending a ransom, the Peshwa in 1870 dispatched soldiers and sailors to lay waste to the entire Somali coast. without prejudice. Over 50,000 men with modern arms were shipped to the Horn and leveled one village, town or city after another. Later estimates held the pre-war Somali population as being as great as 500,000 souls. By 1874, the largely sea-based Somali culture and economy was utterly destroyed. An estimated 50,000-100,000 people were butchered by the Maratha forces while perhaps three times this many died of exposure, starvation, thirst or disease in the two years which followed. Forced inland where few resources were available, the Somalis diminished until a neighbor took pity.

The Ethiopian Emperor reigned over his people, a mix of Christian and Muslim, with what he attempted to be a measure of equality. But the Emperor was a Christian and thus the large-scale proselytizing of the mostly Animist Southern Sudan was relegated only to the Christians. In the past fifty years, the Ethiopians had managed to convert, usually peacefully and voluntarily, nearly half the South Sudanese tribes and established an influence throughout the region.

To the north, the Egyptian Kingdom had overrun the mostly Muslim Northern Sudan in an attempt to reinvigorate the old Egyptian glories.

Seeing the waste of human life in the Horn of Africa, the Ethiopian King was moved to tiers. Even though they were not his co-religionists, these were god's children and he did not want to see people starve. Having long held good relations with the Maratha Empire, he begged for the Somalis be given relief. But the Peshwa was not moved and desired to eliminate the Somalis altogether as a threat.

Finally, a compromise was reached. The Maratha Empire, the Ethiopian Empire and the EIC (the latter reimbursed, of course) would transport the Somalis to a new home. But where?

The last thing the Ethiopian Emperor wanted was hundreds of thousands (no one was sure of the count) of non-Ethiopian Muslims in HIS country. Similarly, he did not wish to transport them to the Southern Sudan where his proselytizing was hardly complete or accepted in depth by the population.

Then, he realized that the Egyptian King had largely evicted many of his own peoples generations before (Copts, Sufis, Shi'a). Would there not be room in Egypt?

While the Ethiopians had long loathed the Egyptians for the eviction of their co-religionist Copts so long ago. However, seeing the Somalis dying by the hour, the Emperor inquired if the Egyptians would take in these Muslims. The new Egyptian King was a much less aggressive man and considered accepting these peoples into his King as a public act of mercy which would put the Egyptians in good stead in world opinion. Egypt was enjoying the revenues of the new canal as well as renewed exports of grain, cotton and other goods throughout the world.

However, the King did not want the Somalis in the Lower Nile. However, he was more than happy to dump them into the northern Sudan. Thus a four tiered transportation was arranged between the Maratha, Ethiopian, Egyptian and EIC resources to relocate the rapidly diminishing number of Somalis via land or sea to the Northern Sudan. Some marched through Ethiopia directly to the northern Sudan. Others went via the Southern Sudan. Most would be ferried from 1872 to 1874 via several dozen steam ships provided by the four powers.

The Somali form of Islam was often influenced by Sufism, the same sect which had been brutally repressed by previous Egyptian Kings. While the recent King had allowed far greater leeway in respect to Islam, this was not well-received by the helpless and disarmed Somalis who were effectively dumped along the Upper Nile.

The local Sudanese, who were not consulted on the matter, proved shockingly welcoming of these peoples. Indeed, several local Sects demanded hospitality to these co-religionists including one led by a young Imam who already held great grudges against the Egyptians.

In less than a decade, the Somalis would prove eager converts to this Sect, adding much prestige as the Northern Sudanese looked upon their distant Egyptian overlords with a measure of political hatred and religious contempt.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1874

New Orleans, Hanover Dominion

Despite the admirable efforts of the River Cows (Hippos) imported over the past century to the lower Mississippi, the seemingly endless varieties of weeds introduced to the Mississippi threatened to choke it off. One local inventor would even produce a specialized "weed-catcher" intended to be put upon the prows of steamships as they travelled up and down the Mississippi River tear out the noxious weeds. But this would never be put into practice.

In all reality, the weeds were likely in the Mississippi to stay though the River Cows kept the worst effects from halting traffic. It was the local tributaries which caused the most trouble but this could be dealt with especially as River Traffic was, while still importantly, no longer the only transport artery north and south. At least two railroads ran adjacent the Mississippi and transport could be made from Chicago to New Orleans without ever setting foot upon a boat.

Still, the city of New Orleans, which always had a habit of being unique, would find a way to be successful. Better than most American cities, it would accept virtually all comers. Here Catholics did not bear witness to any "No Irish Need Apply" signs while Negroes and Mulattos were welcomed to reside wherever they could afford. Most settled into "Ethnic" neighborhoods but, unlike other regions of the nation, the black district was as pretty....and filthy...as their white counterparts. Various shades of brown moved in as well including Roma, Copts and other southern Mediterranean types like Greeks, Lebanese, etc.

Already possessing a legacy population of French, it would receive a healthy Spanish (including Mestizo, Mulattos, etc) immigration from the West Indies and New Spain. New Orleans also, for unknown reasons, became one of the first possessors of a visible Italian neighborhood in British North America. No one knew exactly how they arrived. Some say a group of Italians immigrated from the Peninsula to Brazil, found some labor contract unsatisfactory and opted to return home but lacked the funds for a full voyage and somehow ended up in New Orleans. Eventually, they would prosper and send for their families. No one knew if this was true but the story would be believed by many.

It was often said one could walk blindly and dumb throughout each neighborhood and know where one was by the smell of cooking fires alone.

Each ethnic neighborhood would form their own enclave but the overall culture of the city became mixed. The Catholics - French, Black, Roma, Spanish, etc - would celebrate Mardi Gras as few other places would on earth. Even the Orthodox would take the time to enjoy the show. Protestants would hold themselves aloof....but that was understood as they were Protestants, after all, and it would take another century before they started to partake in the show (which by that point had little practical religious connotation).

One particular great event in American history occurred in 1875 in Hanover:

In 1874, the Tulane University "Fighting Hippos" would challenge the Louisiana University (the name Louisiana hailed from a secondary school which once occupied the grounds before the Dominion was renamed "Hanover") "Ragin Royals" to a match of La Soule. The game was taught by a Bourbonian who played in that French colony years before where various plantations would pit their men, largely Pacific Islanders, against the others. However, here the rules were finally set down including a ban on passing the ball forward, codifying that each team was to possess only 12 players and attempted to stamp down upon the worst of the violence. The schools would give one year to learn these new rules (during which time these codes had been sent to other schools in the region) and then the two were to play in 1875.

The Tulane squad travelled from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and, before an enormous crowd of 800 people, would batter one another for an hour until Tulane won out, 18 to 15. This was the first recorded "La Soule" game on American soil and it would soon spread throughout the nation particularly after 1900 when the then-King would pronounce it his favorite sport and insert further modifications of the code to reduce unseemly violence and ask that any gentlemen wagering do so away from the field.

Meanwhile, another code which banned any players utilizing their hands would become popular in the north and, for two generations, the north and south looked upon one another's respective sports with disdain.

Manhattan

With a smirk, King Henry II would realize that three of the last six men he'd knighted were, of all things, Jews. These included Judah Benjamin, Benjamin D'Israeli and Lionel de Rothschild. There was already some grumbling over this but all three had served the nation honorably.

Benjamin had elected to retire from government, D'Israeli had lost a power struggle to his colleagues in the Ministry and was ousted from his Foreign Secretary position while de Rothschild's bank of New Jersey had served almost as a second national bank for the Kingdom.

His son and heir, Alfred (the King had determined he didn't like being "Henry II" or the "second" of anything so why not give his son a unique name?), would ask for permission to travel on a "North American Grand Tour". Apparently, he wished to see Russian America (who could pronounce the full name), California and Anahuac and possibly even New Spain. The King agreed...in another two years or so when he was sure his son could comport himself.

In the meantime, the King's doctors would become concerned with a lump on his neck and referred him to a specialist.

South Zealand

Over the course of the 1870's, the islands of North Zealand, South Zealand and Van Diemensland would realize that they met the qualifications for Dominionhood in British North America....but had not been given any formal invitation by the government. While local assemblies had been formed decades before and the King's appointed governors had actually granted a measure of independence GREATER than most American territories, the people of these remote islands would begin to wonder as to their future.

Would they seek greater autonomy?

Or would they choose to seek Dominionhood?

Isthmus of Panama, Viceroyalty of Nuevo Granada

As the Kingdom of Spain (or her dependents) lacked any realistic level of engineering expertise for the great project ahead of them, the King of Spain would select a French engineer to lead the project of cutting a swath between the two oceans.

While the physical labor itself was daunting, the general opinion among the technological community was that disease was the true enemy of this project.

Within months, thousands of men fell ill of malaria while hundreds died. The massive Spanish Empire would bring in laborers from New Spain to Rio Plata and by 1875, the cemeteries of Panama were already being filled by a diverse workforce.

By 1876, laborers would be scarcer and scarcer. Eventually, the assorted governments would look to fill their quotas of recruits by emptying the jails of Latin America as forced workers. Many Vice-Royalties were elated with the opportunity to evict these malcontents. However, public opposition soon formed in many regions.

It was also pointed out that non-Europeans were disproportionately represented in these manpower harvests.

The actual managers of the project also loathed the prisoners, who had little to no reason to work hard, and derided them as "inutile aux seins sur un taureau" (useless as tits on a bull).

Eventually, the forced labor was abandoned as non-functional while the deaths of malaria and yellow fever added up. Finally, a female mulatto nurse by the name of Delphine would read a medical journal of Dr. Carlos Finley of Cuba that mosquitos were the carrier of these diseases and determined several ways to combat the mosquitos including draining stagnant swamps, pouring oil and chemicals into pools of water, etc.

While Delphine was forgotten to history for nearly a century, Carlos Finley was, in the 1880's, presented with a belated medal for his theories. Indeed, the "Finley Prize" would be bestowed upon doctors worldwide from 1896 onward by French Kings for great contributions to the advancement of Medicine.

By 1880, the methods to control the mosquito proposed by Delphine were studied and adapted by French army Doctor Charles Laveran and the plague of both malaria and yellow fever were reduced to annoyances. Laveran would receive the Finley prize himself in 1897 for his efforts to eliminate the plague in the West Indies.

Then, construction could recommence in earnest and the "Isthmus Canal" would make rapid progress with the latest construction machines and dynamite, a relatively recent invention of the brilliant Swedish man Nobel.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1874

Southern Africa (now an official EIC subsidiary)

By 1874, the Company mines (the EIC maintained a monopoly on all below ground resources) were churning out huge amounts of metal wealth. Though this still paled in comparison to the agricultural wealth being pulled from the Congo (mainly rubber, palm oil and cotton), Southern Africa was rapidly increasingly in importance to the Company. While the Company did little to halt panning for gold or diamonds in alluvial deposits (this was deemed not worth the effort), the deep mines were controlled directly and the workers well-paid. More and more Europeans migrated in and, in a stunning move, formed a successful union. While the company paid competitive salaries, the unions were more interest in maintaining their dominance and thus managed, in a series of general strikes, to ensure that "African" labor not be utilized in the future. This was deemed a challenge to the Company power and some Directors would recommend simply closing the mines, getting rid of ALL the workers and replacing them with Africans or Javans.

However, this would result in years of reduced revenues and this the Company could not abide. Thus, the agreement was reached. The EIC would follow provided that miners would continue to arrive in adequate numbers (which they would for decades).

By the mid-1870's, the demographics would swiftly change in Southern Africa. Jews had been the first major group enticed to the region but eventually the number of miners required greatly exceeded those Jews willing to do the work (they preferred working on their "Kibbutz's" or what-have-you). The Poles, Germans, Russians, etc (who the Jews were trying to escape) began to arrive in greater numbers, largely to the northern or northeastern regions of Southern Africa to work the mines. Of course, many did not desire to do so and swiftly turned to farming or other useful occupation.

The Jews began to realize that their leverage over the EIC was waning. While they may be profitable farmers, etc, that did not mean that their presence was profitable to the Company. Slowly, the Jews would begin to organize should the Company ever deem their presence or power a threat.

Burma

The King of Burma, facing several internal rebellions, would receive offers from BOTH China and the Maratha Empire for aid. However, the offer from the Marathas included more modern weapons AND fewer actual Maratha "advisors", which left the King feeling that he was less likely to became a pawn to the easterners rather than the northern Chinese.

This single...and entirely rational....decision would eventually be a major step towards war in Southeast Asia.

Manhattan

With Aquitania receiving official Dominion status in 1874 and Cilisia in 1875, the Kingdom of British North America continued to grow.

King Henry II would plan on formally being present in these regions for the first major elections to take place in the winter of these regions. Not for the first time, a King of British North America would agree to travel to a warm region during the harsh Manhattan winter.

In the meantime, the Queen (seemingly perpetually pregnant) would face greater questions as to how she would govern the Kingdom of Oldenburg. Her mother died years before and she'd only been back to Europe twice since. It was apparent that Her Majesty had no intention of relocating to Germany. Instead she seemed content to leave the petty German state to her Minister, Maximillian van Washington, in perpetuity.

However, there was always a backdrop of concern, stemming from a century prior, that the monarchy would somehow force America to be beholden to the whims of a tiny European country. Several high-ranking politicians advocated that Her Majesty cede her European patrimony to her younger son or one of her daughters when the time came. To this, the Queen utterly refused and her temper soon became legendary. While not a generally unpleasant woman, Queen Adelheid did not like being told what to do and quashed any such talk. Her eldest son had been born to rule and thus he would!

When the King was approached privately on the subject, he caustically retorted that American Ministers should not deign to interfere in "Foreign Relations". The King had never done a thing to advocate Oldenburger interests via American power and vowed never to do so. If His Majesty ever were to place his wife's patrimony before his own....THEN the government may approach him. Not before.

Most took the hint and opted to remain silent, including the leaders of the government.

While the issue was not dead, it was put to rest for the moment.

Aquitania

Henry II would spend several weeks of his journey to Aquitania being worn down by his son regarding his "Grand North American Tour". Eventually, the King realized the true reason behind this torture. Alfred had been in communication with the young Princess Alexandra (Drina) for years and sought to learn if she was as pretty as the pictures sent to him indicated). While the King did not believe his sixteen year old son was ready for such worries, he determined to let him go in 1875, a year earlier than planned.

Henry II had been given the gift of marrying the woman he desired (within limits) and he felt his son deserved no less.

Father and son would personally welcome Aquitania to Dominion status in 1874 and their visit was remembered for generations. The power of monarchy was like that.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1875

Manhattan

For the second time in history, the King of British North America would Knight a man of color. This one was a semi-professional mathematician and astronomer who had successfully estimated the orbit of the eight plant in the solar system in 1864 and found it in 1866. Naming the planet "Hades" after the God of the underworld, the solar system would grow greatly. Indeed, the large moon orbiting the planet was even named after Hades' wife, Persephone.

With his eldest son (of two) off on his "North American Grand Tour", the King concentrated on mundane issues. He would travel west again this year to Cilisia where yet another Dominion was due to join the nation. He assumed some ribbon cutting or something would occur.

Fortunately, this was a quiet time in America, relatively speaking. The economy was good in most regions as no banking failures had occurred since the last major retoggling of the banking system. Peace did not seem to be disturbed in Europe or Spanish Latin America (no further rebellions).

Immigration was beginning to become an issue as the cities were becoming swamped with foreigners. Half of Brooklyn and the Bronx was German even as Irish immigration had finally tapered off after the "Indenture Act of 1874" officially banned most forms of Indenture, particularly relating to foreigners. Naturally, the south-central coastal regions like South Carolina would protest but there was little they could do as their workforce dried up. As it was, the recovery of Ireland from their Famine had reduced the number of Indentures to a nominal amount by the 1860's and the institution had apparently run its course.

It was under these circumstances that the King was informed that the tumor on his throat appeared to be malignant.

The Ottoman Empire

By 1875, the last remnant of the old Ottoman Empire was cast aside when the new Sublime Porte formally renounced any further claims outside her borders and withdrew any persecutions upon the by-now tiny non-Muslim minority in the Empire.

The Ottoman Empire was declared defunct and the Sublime Port officially renaming his country "Anatolia". He publicly vowed to make his nation the most modern in the world and thus commenced a massive campaign of social, religious, educational and economic reform. Many western and eastern rulers (including Spain, Egypt and China) had attempted to do this but few with such dogged determination as the Porte. He would close down dozens of religious institutions and move the money towards "modern" centers of learning with an emphasis on engineering, economics and other suitable "modern" pursuits.

Though many of the old guard would object, the Porte had the backing of the military, industrial and reformist sectors and the Imams and other groups were pushed aside. Within a few years, Anatolia had a greater percentage of her youth studying industry and technology than any other on earth.

Paulgrad, Tikhookeaskoya

Prince Alfred of British North America would not realize at the time (though he would by the end of his life) that kneeling before his beloved would become tradition, the act of the Prince on bended knee offering his beloved a diamond ring would carry on through the ages.

Knowing that marrying a common like some of his aunts had done was utterly unacceptable for the future King, the Prince would think more and more about the pretty Russian princess he'd met years before and pressed his father to allow him on a good-will tour of Tikhookeaskoya (and other North American regions, of course, but the Prince only cared about Paulgrad).

If anything, Princess Drina had grown only more beautiful in the years since they'd met and her genuine warm personality (so different from her bitch of a mother) could not help but come through. Surprisingly, the Princess had learned English (the King of Tikhookeaskoya believing that a match with British North America may do much to preserve his own Kingdom) and the two were able to converse in relative privacy (always observed but not always within earshot).

As a sign of his earnestness (not to mention desire), the Prince knelt and offered the Princess his ring in representation of his intention to demand her hand once his father approved. Tired of her parents, the Princess was more than happy to agree (again, pending her father's approval).

Only the most dire urgings of the Prince's escorts and advisors (including the elderly Abraham Lincoln) would even get the Prince to continue his Grand Tour to the regional Kingdoms and Vice-Royalties. It was pointed out that California, Anahuac and New Spain would be insulted if the Prince failed to arrive per his plans. Fortunately, the Prince WAS persuaded by worried and amused attendants to continue the adventure (these men ASSURING him that the Princess would not change her mind in the following few weeks) and the general experience proved positive both for the Prince and American relations with her neighbors as Alfred proved capable of diplomacy once his hormones calmed down.

But his self-pleasuring pursuits behind closed doors would not allow for the Prince to wait a single day after arriving home in Manhattan to demand that the King agree to the marriage. The King assumed that he had a few months to "think about it" but the alarmed Prince would so vehemently stalk his father than Henry II agreed just to shut his son the hell up.

By the end of 1875, the marriage negotiations were complete and the Prince already pining for spring of 1876 in which his beautiful Russian bride arrived. The Prince had been raised to respect the Church and therefore pre-marital sex was not accepted. However, the Prince was already being advised by friends, advisors and his father of what to expect and Alfred was more than ready to go.

Some Americans would be put off by the girl's religion (though she agreed to abide by the Church of America (the Church nominally led by the King) but the King would point out that the Queen had accepted this faith, thus who in America would deign to argue with the throne?

In the end, there would be some short-term resentment when Drina arrived but this would not last long, particularly when the young couple began shooting out heirs.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1875

Southern Africa - EIC

Over the course of the past years, George Custer, commander of the 1st Cavalry Regiment (the South African Rangers) and his brothers would keep tabs with their friends "Freddy" Nietzsche. The fellows were apparently doing well out east with their saloon and brother business. Naturally, Libby Custer would not be told about the latter as Custer's wife would no doubt frown upon this. George had been promoted to Brigadier and placed in command of all cavalry as Nathan Bedford Forrest had finally succumbed to the temptation of mining and rode northwest to use some of his land grants (most of the mining lands were already taken) for a ranch. However, as the company controlled all "reserves", deep mines were forbidden and only surface panning and more modest (i.e. covert) mines were worked. The best Forrest could do was hope that some diamonds happened to be near the surface of his remote and arid homestead (they would not and Forrest would make his living as a shopkeeper in coming years).

Custer was now in command of ALL cavalry forces, though this was largely only thousand effectives by 1875. The worst of the African tribal warfare was over and the Company didn't pay regulars to sit around all day. The Custers, even as officers, would work part time in the assorted company mines, being given a share of the proceeds they dug up. While stationed at the "Big Hole" in the north in 1874, the trio of brothers made a decade's worth of salary (even on the generous Company payroll) in but 7 months before they were reassigned. The trio had even contemplated resigning and working as laborers when the company changed its policy at the "Big Hole" and the generous % of an individual's take was split up among all miners to be paid a "bonus" at the end of the year. This was intended to make it more fair and granted a base salary to the miners but it also meant no one man could dream of getting rich.

Thus the Custers were happy to be transferred out east. George was able to pick his "command post" among the dozen or so cavalry stations in Southern Africa and was able to bring his Major (his brother Tom) and Captain Boston Custer along with him (Boston being in command of the 10th Troop stationed in this headquarters).

In truth, Prince Felix of Salm, the commander of Company forces overall in Southern Africa, had gotten along well enough with Custer. The American, while almost ridiculously dressed (even by European standards), had proven a worthy subordinate. Custer attempted (with partial success) to learn some of the local languages as well as some German (which he'd partially learned at West Point) and Dutch (relatively close to German). The man was certainly active and hadn't completely abandoned his duties as so many soldiers hired by the Company had done (usually in search of gold or diamonds). But, in the end, Prince Felix felt a little of George Custer went a long way and was happy to

With a combination of salaries, their diamond gains and their land grants, the Custers were able to purchase a huge plantation only a dozen miles away from Troop 10's headquarters on land which had been picked over by wildcat miners and found empty. While it did not appear to have much in the way of resources, the land was arable (not all in the region could claim that) and appeared more than useful for cattle rearing. The Custers would hire miners who had gotten tired of mining to tend the flocks and commenced building a large plantation house.

As it so happened, Troop 10's headquarters was also (not entirely by chance) nearby the boomtown of Witwatersrand where the Earps and Freddy Nietzsche owned much of the land in town as well as hotels, saloons, brothels and, oddly, three churches. Real estate rents were a steady and profitable business for the partners which now included their older brothers Newton and James and younger brother Warren.

By 1876, over 50,000 people lived in the environs of Witwatersrand and the Custers were surprised that 10,000 acres were actually free so close by (they would buy another 28,000 over the coming decades). However, in these early years, no one moved to the area to farm and non-metal producing lands were less than worthless to prospectors. The brothers would find a large market for their meats (beef, lamp, chicken), wheats and fruits.

In the meantime, the Custers would renew their friendship with the Earps and Nietzsche though Libby Custer would refuse to socialize with brothel managers.

Of course, Libby would have to learn to deal with a lot of new things. Her brother Thomas would marry a mixed breed Indian-Portuguese daughter of a Topass officer. Boston would marry what he called a "lasped Jew".

In October of that year, the George and Libby would welcome their second child, this time a boy, George Jr., who joined his elder sister Trudy in the nursery. Eventually, Libby would spend most of her time in the homestead while at least two of the three Custer brothers would be at the army post.

At the post, George would hire an African housekeeper and eventually sire four half-breeds of his own with her.

In 1873, a pair of Americans by the name of Frank and Jesse James arrived as "volunteers". Though Frank and Jesse had reportedly been accused of "Jayhawking" (usually cattle-theft) in Thracia, they managed to escape to Hanover where they formed a volunteer group with Frank as the commanding officer. Most of these soldiers would be merged into the 3rd Troop of the 1st South African Cavalry but Frank (and his brother) would be transferred to the 10th with Frank as one of the Lieutenants. After their three year enlistment was up (and no one believed the James brothers would actually serve out their term), they were granted land grants near the Custer property, which they promptly sold to the Custers and settled into property as overseers. Their friend John "Doc" Holliday, a South Carolinian by birth, had recently graduated from Dental School in 1873 and was happily received by the army as a travelling dentist. Unlike the James brothers, Holliday would keep his regional land grant and create his own little ranch adjacent to the Custers. While most of his time was spent in town, Holliday would "hire" five black girls ages 12 to 17 from their dying father, a tribal man who had not been evicted with the rest of his tribe as he had served his former employer well in one of the former Dutch towns) and effectively keep them as a harem in Witwatersrand and "Holliday Manor" as it soon became known. A century later, "Holliday Manor" would become reknowned as a large animal preserve.

While, once again, Libby was taken aback by the unseemliness of these men, she had little say in the matter and attempted to turn a blind eye to the behavior of her family, employees and neighbors.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1876

Manhattan

The marriage of Prince Alfred of British North America and Princess Alexandrina would be the event of the year, perhaps the decade, in British North America. Parties were held for weeks as the Tikhookeaskoyan King Alexei and Queen Alexandrina would arrive with the Princess to help prepare for the wedding. While invitations were sent out to other neighboring nations in North America and, of course, to Europe, only a handful of Royals would make the trek. These included the Czar of Russia's and King of Tikhookeaskoya's mother, now into her seventies, as well as the American-born Queen of Scotland, the Prince of California and, in a surprise, the younger sister of the King of France. Naturally, the assorted Ambassadorial staffs were augmented by a mish-mash of Royals.

Still, for the former colony, this was an unusual amount of royalty gracing their shores and every wealthy resident of Manhattan fell over themselves to throw a party. More than a few would regret the costs, though.

By 1876, it was readily apparent that the growing nation of British North America (usually just called "America" with more and more people omitting the "British") was becoming a power in her own right. With a population exceeding any in Europe save France or Russia, a vibrant economy and a powerful navy, America was not a nation to be trifled with.

For the first time in her history, America was a capital EXPORTER as it invested abroad, largely from banks based in posh Trenton or venerable Philadelphia. Soon these became the primary financial centers in the nation despite efforts by Boston, the Bronx and Baltimore to challenge them. It would not be until the following century when Chicago and St. Louis would claim much of the American banking market.

The importance of these markets could be attested by the fact that, in the past decade, two of King Henry's sisters were married to wealthy bankers. The acquisition of a princess was considered quite the social advancement for new money men. Henry would not begrudge this as there were few enough Princes around to marry his sisters, and he suspected in the future, his daughters. While his predecessors had wisely negotiated not a fixed fee for court expenses but a % of national revenues (at the time 1% of a very modest government budget), the expansion of population, wealth and taxation would see the Royal Family in far better stead. However, the remarkably successful breeding of five generations of American Royals would put pressure even on this figure.

Even with the policy that only the King's direct children and those of the Royal Heir would take the title of Prince or Princess allowed for dozens of such people demanding handouts from the King's List. The men of the family were expected to serve somehow, most in the army or navy, while the women, if they could not find a Royal match by a certain age, were given approval to marry a wealthy commoner. This may reduce the esteem of the House of Hanover in the eyes of European Royalty but it also meant a significant savings in Princess costs.

Only after the Royal Wedding was over and a confirmed success, one of the greatest scandals in American history unfolded. The King's youngest sister, Princess Tara, finally admitted to her illicit marriage to an investor in several successful banks in Philadelphia who was also a large property owner in the Baltimore area. This alone was hardly shocking, though it was certainly practice for a Princess to get Royal Approval for marriage. But Tara cared little about Royal protocol and routinely flouted social mores. She often dressed as a man and rode about Manhattan. Finally, her mother sent her away from the capital to get her to stop embarrassing the family. While residing in Baltimore, she met her future husband.

No, what was shocking was that the somewhat flighty Princess Tara had married.....Henry Smith.

While the name may be mundane and ordinary, his background was not. Henry Smith was the half-Inuit son of the infamous attempted regicide Armstrong Hyman Thruston. Having built up a fortune before he could read via sales of his father's tell-all book and revenues from the long-standing play "Rascal", Henry Smith would, in his late teens and early twenties, invest in several banks which resulted in him rising to great wealth.

Even the man's name was appalling. Rumor had it that, when the midwife presented the boy to the drunken Thruston, she asked what his name was. Thruston, having a half-century before attempted to murder Henry I of British North America, caustically shouted "Henry" and laughed so hard he fell to the ground unconscious.

While something of a minor celebrity, Henry Smith didn't bother to apply to most high level colleges and opted to remain nearer to home at the University of Maryland where his ethnicity was more derided than his parentage. His mother long dead, Smith would prove a generally solitary man despite his near popularity in the seedier portions of society. When Princess Tara arrived in Baltimore, she sought out the man and the two bonded over their unique quirks.

Tired of America, the pair determined that they should marry and determined to leave the Dominion behind. Learning that one of his friends and business partners, Nathan de Rothschild, was planning to sail to the EIC lands of Southern Africa to investigate setting up banking concerns (and possibly other businesses), the young Smith inquired if he and "his future wife" may join Nathan. This was readily agreed and the trio departed for Southern Africa, Nathan only learning after the ship sailed the true identity of Smith's wife.

Tara's letter to her parents had detailed her decision and asked for their best wishes. It would not arrive in Manhattan until after her departure from Baltimore. Rumor had it that the King immediately drowned his sorrow in a bottle of Elijah Craig Bourbon (a type of whiskey named after the street in New Orleans from whence it was shipped) and Jack Daniel's "Uncle Nearest" Whiskey (the latter having only started production a few years before and the bottle mailed to the King with Jack Daniel and his master distiller, Nathan "Nearest" Green's, compliments), The use of these two brands would allow the Maumee Bourbon distiller and Tennessee Whiskey distiller very powerful positions in the national whiskey market for centuries. Indeed, whiskey would see a rise in popularity over gin, rum, beer and other drinks as it became perceived as much a "Royal Favorite" as Lobster a la King (which Henry II, ironically, absolutely hated).

Nathan de Rothschild knew full well how this would go over in Manhattan when the King found out and feared his family may be blamed. Eventually he extracted a promise from Henry and Tara to explicitly and publicly state that Nathan had no knowledge of the affair. Eventually, the trio would stay in Southern Africa for years and work with several local bankers and property owners to challenge the EIC dominance over control of the minerals of the region. This failed miserably and Nathan was forced to return home to face the wrath of his family. But Henry and Tara would instead approach the Company as an investor and offer to head up the new bank himself...under Company auspices. THIS would prove to be acceptable and eventually Henry would consolidate virtually all company diamond production into a single holding company (owned by the EIC) which would effectively control the supply and pricing of the baubles by the end of the century.

Naturally, Tara was never again spoken of in public by King Henry II and Queen Rhiannon. However, several of Tara's sisters would maintain a life-long correspondence with her and their letters would eventually become important records of the era in both North America and Southern Africa.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1876

Southern Africa (EIC control)

The population surge into Southern Africa continued unabated. Indeed, despite Dutch attempts to lure Dutch or Protestant settlers to the Cape Colony, the East India Company controlled Southern Africa would see nearly 100,000 migrant inflow per year, nearly 10x that of the Dutch. By 1876, the political situation with the native Africans had largely stabilized as most of the actual powerful tribes (largely Xhosa) had been pushed northward en masse into the northeast where they met a hostile reception by local African tribes supported by....the East Africa Company.

While much, indeed a bare majority, of the influx since 1874 had been Jewish, the remainder had been a mix of peoples from throughout the world. Plans to turn over many of the mines to Javan or Sumatran contract workers (or even Indian or Chinese, both ideas being presented) were met with resistance from the Jews who were becoming demographicly dominant or the non-Jews (largely European Christians) who represented 70% of the company workforce. A massive strike in 1876 across several major mines had forced the Company to cancel plans for mass-importation of Asians to do the work (presumably at a cheaper rate). While several mines managed to form a union, the Company managed to get them back to work without directly recognizing the Union. However, the labor clashes would grow ever more threatening and the Company began to wonder if they'd made a mistake putting so much of their power in the hands of the Jewish farmers and townspeople and the European miners. With most of the native tribes pushed out, the miners managed to gain concessions from the Company to ensure that people of colour would not be hired. This "black-balling" as it became known would be particularly effective as, even if the Company managed to regain control over the mines, it would be years before adequate hands could be imported (at great expense) to Southern Africa.

Just as the EIC managed to seize more and more power from the Cape Colony, the Company began to realize that the Jews and the Unions were doing so to them. However, the loyalty of the hireling army was perhaps less than desired despite the EIC having a reputation of paying on time. With large desertion percentages every year, the EIC Army would always be understaffed and many Directors would bemoan the cost despite the profitability of the colony.

By 1876, a unique political tension had erupted and the Company feared that the residents of their territory were becoming less and less eager to tolerate Company rule.


Witwatersrand

By 1876, the American Nathan Bedford Forrest was getting increasingly frustrated with his luck as a merchant and, having been rejected by the Company to reinstate him as a General, was considering retiring home to America. But going home would mean going home nearly broke and a failure. This seemed unacceptable.

However, the arrival of new train lines in 1876 to the Witwatersrand region allowed Forrest a reprieve as these trains carried south huge amounts of gold and other metals from the Witwatersrand to the coast. Forrest, now aging, would gather up a gang of six men (ironically four of them black as Forrest was reknowned for hating Africans in America and almost as much in Africa) and commence a series of daring robberies of stage-coaches, trains and banks.

The local garrison commander, Brigadier George Custer, would be tasked with assembling a posse to hunt these men down. With thirty cavalry soldiers and another twenty-five volunteers including the five Earp brothers, the EIC Cavalry gave chase. When the trail went cold, the General decided to break up his force into four groups and dispatched them in several directions.

At a remote trading outpost named Rorke's Drift, the Earp Brothers and their friend John Holliday could up to Nathan Bedford Forrest and gunned down Forrest and three of his men as they frenetically attempted to saddle their horses and load their ill-gotten gold. Virtually all of the gold was recovered and, as a reward for their work, the Earps were given a 5% commission for the recovery, enough to purchase their own plantation near their friends the Custers.

While George Custer by law as the commanding officer would have been entitled to a share, he gallantly opted against and instead recommended that the Earps choose some charitable endeavor for his share. They Earps would choose to fund a hospital in Witwatersrand, later to become world famous as the Earp Hospital, ironically known by the 1970's as

Much of the Earp Ranch would be purchased from land the Custers had never used and the two families would remain friends for generations until, nearly a century later, an Earp and a Custer would run for the same office, commencing a bitter feud.

The Congo

Governor-General John Rowlands had, by 1876, ascended to Governor-General of not only his far eastern district but the entire Congo. Young for his rank, Rowlands was famous for getting the job done and harvests collected according to forecasts and promises. The cotton, palm oil and, most importantly, rubber production remained high as his pseudo-military tribal police ensured that the other tribes provided enough labor no matter the cost. Any resistance was put down brutally.

Indeed, unlike other regions of Africa, the Congo would see a net DECREASE in foreign residence over the 1870's as fewer white and Asiatic soldiers were required to maintain control. Instead, privileged tribes would be granted police powers over the others under Company auspices.

Despite every bump in production, demand increased even further, driving up prices. By 1876, only Brazil provided competition for sales and there was enough demand for great profits for both regions. Unlike Brazil, however, the Congo was never to see the benefits that the Amazon cities would see. Instead, exploitation would remain the order of the day as thousands were slaughtered on a regular basis to ensure a docile workforce.

Zanzibar

Though a predominantly Muslim island, Zanzibar had swiftly profited from the multi-cultural and multi-religious East India Company conquest. Zanzibar would prove a depot for all of East African trade. Ivory, ground nuts, furs and whatever else could be gleaned from the soil on the mainland (maize, grains, sugar, tobacco, and expanding coffee industry, etc). There were even exciting finds of gold in the northern regions though these would turn out to be less productive than in Southern Africa.

Brigadier General George McClellan would spend years pining for his promotion to Full General, which finally arrived in 1876. He was also promoted to the role of Governor of all of Eastern Africa (with local Lieutenant-Governors reporting to him).

It would turn out that McClellan was more interested in the forms of his office than actual political control and McClellan's few major disputes with his subordinates centered around personal vendettas rather than actual policy. While McClellan was surprised when several of his landward subordinates were from the Subcontinent or Java, he didn't evoke much discrimination against them provided they offered adequate admiration of their esteemed leader (which Indians or Javans were accustomed to doing in the EIC ranks).

The newly formed EIC region of "East Africa" would not prove quite as profitable as metal rich Southern Africa or the cash-crop rich Congo but nevertheless would prove a steady earner. The expected (and expensive) wars were relatively few and far between in East Africa as local conflicts were usually relatively easily resolved by alliances of local tribes and technologically superior company forces. On several occasions, McClellan would be forced to march inland to put down some tribal revolt and defeat them easily.

As a great honor, McClellan saw his name given to the northern highlands city (OTL Mombassa) under auspices of friendly tribes, European traders, Company officials and assorted Javan or Sumatran laborers.

However, the expansion inland was hindered by the sleeping sickness epidemic of the "Great Lakes Region" at the time as well as other areas of inland Africa. Animals were felled by a similar blight and the Company influence tended to occur in regions not afflicted by what would later be applied to the tse-tse fly. Under Company protection, Christian missionaries (deemed an aide in pacifying the natives) would convert most of inland central and southern Africa during the late 19th century).

While there was some conflict by the various Christian congregations (the company hardly cared if it was Catholic or Protestant), the proselytizing continued. Had the Company believed that Muslim preachers would have enhanced their power, they would have been happy to send Imams. However, given that the Maratha Empire still tended to frown upon Muslim power figures (and the Maratha Empire remained a profit center for the Company) and the leadership of the EIC remained largely Christian and European, the preachers allowed (or even funded) to move inland tended to be Christian.

The Horn of Africa

Over the 19th Century (and before), the Horn of Africa had seen great climate change and the once-thriving Ethiopian Empire had constricted. However, with European, EIC and Maratha aid, the Ethiopian Empire was armed with modern weapons and allowed to push her people east into the once-homeland of the Somalis. By 1876, the Ethiopians outnumbered the Somalis in the region and by 1886 would significantly outnumber them. Most of the migrants would be Christians and the Horn of Africa would see a new ethnic stewardship.

Coptic Christian emissaries (those of the Ethiopian Church) would not only flow towards the southern Sudan (mostly animist) but southwards into the lands of the high-plains tribes where they contested with Protestant and Catholic denominations funded by the EIC. Indeed, happy to see the Christian faith advanced without cost to them, much of the EIC funding to missionaries was removed and the Ethiopians allowed to spread the Coptic faith throughout East Africa on their own costs.

Northern Sudan (Nubia)

Muhammed Ahmad had spent most of his twenties in study of Allah. By 1876, he was so entrenched into the word of Allah that he realized that the Egyptian domination over the region of Nubia that he could not allow this to go on any longer.

In 1876, seeing the oppression of the Egyptian authorities of the Nubian (Sudanese) peoples, Muhammed Ahmad would declare himself the Mahdi, the Redeemer akin to Isa (Jesus). This was naturally and immediately denounced by the orthodox Sunni majority in Egypt but the mystic and Sufi oriented Sudanese swiftly transferred their loyalty to the new Mahdi. While, for some, this was a political decision as they desired an end to Egyptian dominance, others saw this as a natural outlet of their own long-standing faith.

With the Ethiopian Empire dominating the south, the Mahdi would first determine to free his people from the oppressors of the north. The Somali people, who had largely been resettled over previous years, were among the most fervent converts to the Mahdi's words. They formed the core of the Mahdi's army as it formed and turned first against the Egyptians of the north who denounced Muhammed Ahmad as a heretic.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1877

Big Hole, Southern Africa

The arrival of an American princess and her wealthy husband would cause quite a stir in the rustic and somewhat free-wheeling city of Witwatersrand. However both were welcomed (no one had ever heard of an "Inuit" in Southern Africa before and most assumed that Henry Smith was a "Topass", (a half European and half Asian).

With aid of an Englishman named Cecil Rhodes, the new American-born Director of the EIC would swiftly purchase up all remaining northern lands adjacent the "Big Hole" as well as similar diamond production mines and consolidate them under the name of the East India Company (which he was a significant shareholder).

Indeed, by the end of their lives, Henry and Tara Smith would see revenues which rivaled the tax revenues of America allocated to the Royal Court of Henry II and his successors. Henry would organize what could only be described as a "cartel" and dominate diamond production for centuries. Eventually, when northern South Africa lost her dominant production position, the "cartel" would buy up diamond mines in the east as well as other parts of Africa (eastern Africa) and continue to control the price of the precious gems.

Naturally, Henry wanted to find a fitting name for the EIC Cartel and determined to name it "Princess Tara Diamonds" after his wife. Even a century and a half later, advertisements would use "Princess Tara" as a byline for quality.

As the EIC cared little about such petty issues as names, they did not object especially when the profits rolled in. It turned out the half-Inuit bastard son of a regicide had a keen business sense.

And what else mattered?

St. Petersburg

Alexander III would personally dedicate a new canal in St. Petersburg. The Czar had seen much since his childhood including a humiliating defeat to China which cut off the Empire (effectively) from the Pacific and a great expansion into Central Asia. Via the Trans-Continental Railroad, millions of Russians, Ruthenians, etc had moved eastwards into the lands taken from the Turkic peoples.

The advancement of transportation technology had greatly (and effectively) allowed this and canals were seen as another outlet for modern technology.

Indeed, the Suez Canal, of which the Czar was a 1/4 owner, would see the Russian Empire gain greater power over Mesopotamia, Arabia and southern Persia than ever before.

However, the Ottoman Empire (now located solely in western and central Anatolia) was offering a truce to their long-term adversarial relationship. The Empire wanted technology. This previous Russia Czars would refuse given their long-time mutual hatred. But the political situation had changed in the past century and the Turks could be seen as much as an ally as an adversary in 1877.

The Ottoman was seen as a trading partner in recent decades and the wealthier the trading partner, the more likely they would be useful to Moscow. Hence, the Ottoman was given more access to the Levant and Southern Balkans than previous generations. No longer a "military" power, the Turkish peoples of Anatolia were rapidly advancing under their most recent Sublime Porte and becoming an industrial power which benefited the region.

As it was, the most difficult decision Alexander III had to make in 1877 was the distribution of the Hawaiian islands. These central Pacific Islands were uniquely distributed to support the former Russian America. Now that these mainlands were offered to his younger brother Alexei, there seemed no reason to hold onto the Hawaiian islands. Alexei was hinting via letter than he would be appreciative of gaining these islands. However, the Americans were willing to pay.

This would be something Alexander III would consider deeply.

Burma

The King of Burma, facing internal rebellion, had opted to gain Maratha technology rather than Chinese support against these rebels. This would lead to great consequences to the region as the King of Siam would seek out Chinese help given the apparent Burmese acquisition of arms in the 1870's.

Malaya

The Malay Peninsula was comprised of a number of petty Sultans and assorted potentates, almost entirely Muslim in character. Both China and the Maratha Empire were actively courting these peoples as proxies in 1877.

Manhattan

John Abbot, First Lord of the Treasury, had no particular affection for the African man but the reports from his own sources would lead him to believe that electoral fraud had been common in several districts in 1876's election. This the First Lord could not allow thus he ordered civilian and military personnel to monitor elections in these Dominion districts in 1878's election with a promise to the King himself that no further fraud would be tolerated.

Thus the First Lord publicly declared his full support of the Suffrage Act of 1874.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1878

Manhattan

Though still in their teens, Prince Alfred and Princess Drina would welcome their first child, the Princess Anastasia (yet another foreign name soon to become popular in America). King Henry II would not be particularly pleased with this but realized his own sisters were named via Welsh names and daughters were named after Germans. Why not Russian names for his Grand-daughters?

It was apparent that Prince Alfred, like his father, was quite taken with his bride. Thus perhaps the family lineage would extend a generation further.

As it was, the King was more worried about Queen Adelheid's intention for their mutual son and heir to inherit Oldenburg as well as British North America. He feared the disapproval of Parliament. This had been a long-term concern with his ancestors George I and II of Great Britain when it came to Hanover. No one liked the idea of the King's attention being diverted. Proposals that the asthmatic second son to assume the throne of Oldenburg were rejected by her Majesty.

But the King would sustain his faith in the approval of his subjects and the fact that Alfred had never BEEN to Oldenburg and was therefore unlikely to sacrifice American interests for a modest German Kingdom. Certainly, it was unlikely that Parliament would lift a finger if Oldenburg was threatened and the House of Hanover had long learned to whom they owed their thrones (it was not via legitimate succession but by invitation of Parliament).

Brazil

Having approached the King of Spain for years seeking assistance in enticing labor to Brazil, the Viceroy would finally break down and summon funds from his constituents to pay for passage himself.

The Brazilian economy remained strong and only required investment and labor. For the rest of the century, the Brazilian government would underwrite the costs of transportation to Brazil. Many were Italian and nearly 40% of these would return to Italy after their contracts but most would remain in Brazil long term.

Oddly, the Brazilians would not pay for Irish immigration or non-Catholics but plenty of these peoples would arrive anyway over the coming decades.

Beijing

The Mandarin would look upon the Maratha interference with the King of Burma first with disdain, then with alarm. For the first time, the largely Buddhist southeast Asian nation may be influenced by a nation other than China.

This was unacceptable.

Cairo

The Khedive of Egypt would get increasingly tired of this "Mahdi" and get his Imams to condemn the man as a heretic. As if Allah's messenger would be some wretch from Nubia. It was time to put an end to this nonsense.

And to think the Egyptians had taken in the Somali peoples as a Muslim charity.

Something must be done with these people, no doubt. An army must be assembled to regain control over the Sudan.


Persia

Having been defeated by the Russians a few years prior, the Persians had seen most of their remaining tribute states and peoples stripped away. Within a few months, rebel Persian forces would split the nation in two.

The southern region would fall under sway of a local warlord.

Moscow would look favorably upon this development as Persia remained arguably the most dangerous potential foe in the Near East.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1878

Manhattan

1878 would prove to be a hard year for the Royal Family's reputation. While Princess Drina would give birth to the next Princess Royal (Anastacia), the second son of Henry II, Prince Arthur, would embarrass the family when it was revealed that Arthur had married without his father's permission a commoner named Madeleine Wilkes, the great, great grand-daughter of the famous writer, political commentator, Parliamentarian and wit.

As Madeleine was half a decade older than Arthur and a widow with one child, it would no doubt have been considered an inappropriate match by the King and permission withheld. However, what Madeleine lacked in pedigree, she more than made up for in looks. Considered one of the great beauties of the age (somewhat of a surprise given her great, great-grandfather's notoriously ugly face), Madeleine skillfully inserted herself into the prince's life and enticed him into marriage.

While the marriage would result in three children, it would not be a happy one as the King's disapproval would see the new couple banned from Court, a great insult to both Arthur and Madeleine. Ironically, this would have the unintended effect of binding Arthur to his wife further.

This would have more than familial repercussions as Henry II would seek Parliamentary support for a new law requiring Royal permission for all immediate members of the family to marry, else the marriages be considered illegal. John Abbott, usually possessing a keen sense of political climate, considered this a Royal prerogative and advanced a Bill to Parliament. However, the First Lord badly underestimated the backlash and huge swathes of both Parliament and the American people would react in outrage. Both Henry II and John Abbott had assumed that, as the Bill only affected a few members of the Royal Family, no one in the nation would care.

However, this was seen as an attempt by the King to bring the American Episcopalian Church which the King nominally headed to supremacy over other Churches under the law. Since Henry VIII of England made himself the head of the Church of England, the Kings and Queens of Britain had held this position and, when the House of Hanover was forced to flee to America in the 1760's, the Kings of British North America headed the Episcopalian Church. However, unlike England, America held a large number of dissident Churches and, from day 1, complete religious parity was demanded (though Catholics were often considered an exception).

To be fair to the assorted Kings of British North America, few attempts to force the Episcopalian Church on the public were made and even the old tithes were abolished. Public offices were available to all and the King's would promote as many non-Episcopalians to high office than Episcopalians. Indeed, Henry II himself was somewhat irreligious himself, only attending church out of social obligation.

Thus the King was shocked when the American public reacted with vehement opposition to the nominal head of a Church claiming authority over marriage. Truthfully, the King didn't even think this could be an issue as it only affect Royals who were all Episcopalians anyway.

But Abbott, being attacked in Parliament, would quietly ask the King to withdraw his request as it was apparent that the issue would cause more trouble than it was worth. Stinging, the King held off for a few weeks until even HE recognized that even a successful effort to pass the legislation would undermine Abbott's Ministry and the King's popularity. Eventually, he would make an announcement withdrawing his request and the public furor died down.

However, Prince Arthur and Princess Tara remained out of favor in court and the Prince refused to attend without his wife (who, by now, was proving to be a shrewish nag). Even the Prince's elder brother, Prince Alfred, would encourage Arthur to divorce his wife. This only created a rift between brothers.

Eventually, the King would become so frustrated that he would offer his son the office of Royal Governor of Noricum. To his astonishment, Arthur accepted (much to his wife's dismay) and the couple would move to the remote Territory in 1879 where most of their children would be born. The Princess would utterly loath the posting and nag Arthur within a few years to the point that they could not stand to look upon one another. Eventually Arthur took a mistress, the wife of a local merchant (the man being compensated for use of his wife), and sired a shadow family with her.

What Arthur did not realize was that his father, Henry II, had spent years attempting to get his wife to put aside the elder son's claim to Oldenburg and grant the petty European state to Arthur. The younger son's action of marrying a commoner would no doubt place the family in poor esteem among their peers should Arthur have inherited. But, by 1878, Henry II was so disgusted by his second son that he gave up pressing his wife on the matter and accepted that, upon their deaths, Alfred would inherit both America and Oldenburg. Perhaps Alfred would have a second son and be able to split the two.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1878

Burma

Having defeated the northern rebels in his domain with the aid of his Maratha friends, the King of Burma would look towards the ill-defined border with Siam. For centuries, the two nations had contested these border regions. Indeed, one of the inland territories was actively controlled by a warlord giving nominal fealty to BOTH nations. Now armed with modern weapons, the King of Burma would invade this region, upsetting the delicate balance of power.

Malaya

Having been granted the use of Chinese "Volunteers" armed with modern artillery, one of the many claimants to southern Malaya would attack the region controlled by his younger brother. What he did not realize was that the Maratha Empire had sent "advisors" to this particular Kingling and stiffened his military spine. By 1878, the two brothers were at war and both China and the Maratha Empire were shipping soldiers to the region.

The Peshwa would demand that his "subjects", the East India Company, provide weapons and training as well. While the EIC controlled much of the East Indies and Africa, the Company Directors dared not refuse the Peshwa's will lest they lose their still impressive possessions on the subcontinent.

Of course, the Company did not want to offend China either. After decades of ill-will, the Company now carried a large share of Chinese trade to the rest of the world and were loath to risk this. The EIC was more than willing to fight a war if it benefitted them but the Directors saw no particular path to profitability to this situation. Thus the EIC sent ambassadors to all sides hoping to quiet the conflict.

Northern Sudan

After Muhammad Ahmad declared himself the "Redeemer", he effectively placed himself and his followers outside of mainstream Islam. Some Imams throughout the Islamic world would view the self-proclaimed Mahdi as not only a heretic but the tool of Satan himself. When the Mahdi declared his intention to "reunify" Islam by conquering Egypt, the Holy Cities of the Hejaz, the Levant and even Anatolia, this was enough to gain Egypt significant support in the Islamic world.

Eventually the resurgent Ottoman Porte and the reigning princes of Mecca and Medina (both largely independent as was most of Arabia) would send funds and manpower to help Egypt put down this latest claimant to God's word.

In 1878, a force of 15,000 well-armed infantry and cavalry would march southwards into the Sudan with the intention of executing this heretic. Near Khartoum, the exhausted and thirsty army would be surrounded by tens of thousands of "Mahdist" cavalry and cut to pieces. Less than 10% of the force would ever return home. Among the dead were two Egyptian princes and the heir to the rule of Mecca.

Western Africa

Having largely been influenced by France over the past few decades, the coastal cities founded by the Freedmen of the Americas would eventually gain supremacy over the inland tribes via their superior technology. These American-born blacks and mulattos became the ruling class of the Americas. Speaking a Creole language of mixed French, Spanish, English and assorted African dialects, a new nation was being formed just south of the Senegambia River.

Almost entirely Christian, these people would take their faith inland and convert many of the local tribes.

However, in the Senegambia, the predominate Muslim majority would take exception to this and launch a series of attacks on the coastal towns. Eventually, by 1880, the Christians had been thrown into the sea and the survivors taken south to the lands of Sierra Leone and more southerly regions.

Having promised to aid this new country, France would take it upon themselves to organize the Christian regions south of Senegambia into a large Confederation called Guinea which spread from Sierra Leone (the original French settlement area of Freedmen from the New World) along the Gulf of Guinea in the 1870's.

While it was not the intention of the French, the new nation would swiftly gain control over the hinterlands and, remembering the harsh Muslim treatment of Senegambia, retaliate against many of the Muslim tribes of the inland regions eventually carving a swathe inland towards the center of the continent by 1900.

 

[Alt History Buff]

1878

Beijing

The Emperor nodded to his advisor's request to put down yet another rebellion in Mindanao. When would these damned people learn?

China had, over the past century, crushed the drug-peddlers of the west, defeated the Russians, put the Viets in their place, conquered the region the Spanish called "Philippines", savaged Nippon (it was not spoken that Nippon eventually forced China to retreat) and stifled any internal dissent. The occasional Christian proselytizing would be stamped out while the much larger Muslim problem was effectively contained after the Uyghurs and other Muslim tribes of the northwest were evicted from Chinese soil and the southeastern Muslims slaughtered en masse.

There were problems, of course. Both the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers had suffered horrendous floods in recent decades but that could be put down to nature, not failure to govern.

China remained the strongest, wealthiest, wisest and culturally most profound nation on earth. The Middle Kingdom only deigned to deal with others when it benefitted China. The rest of the world existed to serve the Empire.

Now, the Peshwa dared challenge Chinese domination over Southeast Asia?

Yes, over the century, the Musselmen of the Mughal Empire had converted Malaya and those islands now controlled by the vile East India Company. But the Mughals seldom sought political control over the region in the way this Hindu Peshwa apparently desired.

The Marathas were forgetting their place. It was time to teach it anew.

Bourbonia

The governor of Bourbonia in 1878 was the Francois, Marquise de Lafayette, scion of the great dynasty dating back to the middle ages. Viewing the reporting hardening of Chinese and Maratha positions by the mid-1870's, Lafayette would request that the King of France augment the naval forces of the great island. Indeed, even accounting for New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Borneo, Sulawesi and other French possessions in Southeast Asia, he could not point to a particularly good harbor from whence the French Navy could defend the region.

Over his long ten-year tenure, Lafayette had become known as a champion of the Polynesian and Melanesian peoples taken from their neighboring islands (many of which now stood empty due to the severity of the defacto enslavement for Bourbonia's sugar fields). So voracious had been French demand for labor that the local islands were "fished out" as was the common slang, this included much of the Solomons. A region of hideous tropical heat, there seemed no real manner to set up a viable naval base to defend the largely lightly populated northwestern Bourbonia.

If the Maratha and Chinese Empires came to blows, would that not endanger Louis' domains?

With most of Bourbonia's population on the southeastern region, the danger was obvious.

Lafayette would even go so far as to discuss the subject with the American Governor of Van Diemensland, a cousin of the current King and nephew of Henry I via one of his sisters. That the man was not referred to as "Prince" as the French Princes of the Blood would was somewhat baffling but Lafeyette didn't care overly much about the matter thus he did not bother to inquire.

However, Lafayette DID want to know what would happen if either or both of these Asiatic Empire threatened American interests as well. Perhaps the limited resources of the two nations in the region may be pooled. Certainly, Lafayette knew that only the Foreign Secretaries of the two nations could determine this but the Governor wanted that conversation initiated as soon as possible. Things seemed to be rapidly rolling downhill.

Viet Kingdom

The King of the Viets, his own family placed upon the throne by Chinese authorities, would ensure the Emperor's embassy that the Viet Kingdom would come to the aide of the Emperor should it be of need.

He really had no other choice.

Kyoto

The Emperor would command every group of ambassadors who landed to leave his shores. Nippon had attempted to modernize and paid for that arrogance with decades of oppression. Only a stubborn partisan campaign had evicted the Chinese and the last thing the young Emperor wanted was to see foreigners walking around his lands.

Nippon was not interested in foreign trade any more than it was in foreign ideas. Nippon needed nothing from gaijin.

Let the rest of the world get by without the Land of the Rising Sun.

Central Africa

The rinderpest plague would be accidentally introduced to Africa in the 1850's. This would kill huge swathes of the cattle population in eastern Africa, leading to great famines. As the cattle died, the grazing land would be replaced by bush which proved ideal hosts for the tsetse fly. This insect carried the sleeping sickness pox which affected many hooved species as well as humans.

Vast swathes of land would be depopulated and replaced by savannah unsuitable for large-scale habitation and agriculture. Later generations would call the tsetse fly the "Best Game Warden In Africa".

By the 1870's, the epidemic would make its way further and further south to the area where the remnants of the Zulu Empire, having been pushed out of their ancestral lands, were trying to conquer the peoples of Mozambique. However, the destruction of the cattle herds which the Africans depended upon would seen the entire regional political and economic base collapse. Huge numbers of people would starve and the complex polities would become extinct for generations.

Eventually, some of the Zulu and affiliated tribes would attempt to migrate further south where the tsetse fly held no sway but were immediately and violently flung back northwards by the East India Company who feared an invasion.

Region affected by Tsetse fly

 

[Alt History Buff]

1878

Eastern Africa

General George McClellan would sigh as he witnessed the bones of dozens of horses thrown into a heap. These animals would have been the mounts of his cavalry. However, this damned tsetse fly reportedly had killed so many horse that a full regiment could not be mounted.

The Masai tribe of northern EIC Eastern Africa (a mounthful to say but largely correct terminology) had been trouble lately and the General ordered into the hinterlands to crush them. However, upon reaching many of the Masai villages, McClellan found huge pits bearing not horse bones but human. Later historians would estimate nearly 2/3rds of the Masai tribe died out in the late 1870's due to starvation and starvation-influenced disease due to the loss of their cattle to rinderpest and the tsetse fly.

While McClellan was only inconvenienced, the native tribes reliant on cattle were nearly wiped out.

If there was a silver lining, it was that McClellan was able to conquer these inland tribes relatively easily over the 1870's as the political structure was in chaos. Largely using Javan, Sumatran or affiliated African infantry, the General carved out a huge swath of land for the Company to grow export crops.

Beyond the political conquest, the EIC's missionaries, hired or allowed to proselytize, would gain rapid conversions among these distressed peoples looking for salvation from somewhere.....ANYWHERE.

A century later, visitors would see the huge amounts of bushland and assumed this was what eastern Africa always looked like. In fact, these lands had been used as pasture for centuries or even millennia and only returned to this state after the loss of cattle and human settlement. Native fauna would be rejuvenated in only a few decades and lions, giraffes, elephants, rhinos and other animals soon became abundant in numbers not seen since before the birth of Christ.



The Habsburg Empire

The 1870's would prove a series of repeated political unrest throughout the assorted nations under the Habsburg flag. Each nation sought more national autonomy even as they also sought, collectively, to push back Imperial rule.

Perhaps more than any individual country in Europe, the struggling Habsburg Empire was tearing itself apart under a series of strikes, protests, political unrest and other factors preventing the well-meaning Emperors from reforming as THEY desired.

There was a growing opinion among the European political classes that the Habsburg Empire was perhaps on its last legs and, ironically, being destroyed from within after centuries of defeating foreign enemies.

Northern Confederation, Europe

The Northern Confederation was made up primarily of the Dutch Republic, northern German predominantly Protestant states, Poland, Scandinavia, etc. For over half a century, the Northern Confederation had banded together in order to protect themselves from Catholic Europe.

However, by the 1870's, it was readily apparent that the Habsburg Empire, long perceived the greatest threat, would not be invading any time soon. Eventually the religious and political turmoil within the Confederation resulted in the German members becoming more and more of a block. Eventually, the Kingdom of Poland withdrew in 1875 after decades of alliance (they joined in order to find allies against Russia and Austria, neither proving to be great threats during this time). The Dutch Republic would do the same in 1877.

By 1878, even the King of Denmark was considering withdrawal. However, the King's German domains of Hanover, Schleswig and Holstein were less than eager to do so and demanded that they remain. Eventually, the King accepted this but withdrew his Scandinavian nations from the Confederation.

It would not be recognized in 1878 but this would have great consequences for Europe in the future.

 

[Alt History Buff]

 

[Alt History Buff]