Cinco de Mayo

[KingSweden24]

That's still a while off though... Isn't it? Franz Josef lived until 1916, and Max was notably more physically active and healthy than him, and one could also argue that Charlotte's otl death was a bit premature, given her stressed mental state. Though, this does make me wonder; what will the next generation of Mexican notables look like? And will they attempt to flex Mexico's ttl strength overseas?

Oh certainly! Max will be around some time longer. Charlotte I think probably didn't die too prematurely - 86 was probably long end of the actuarial table for somebody born in 1840, so maybe a year or two max was shaved off her lifespan.

We shall certainly see! Louis Maximilian and Margaret Clementine will be major characters here in their own right, as will a whole array of politicians who maybe didn't get their full shake due to OTL's Revolution...

 

[KingSweden24]

"...Weyler's decision to exile Rizal from Manila for his political activism was one part reluctant, one part ambitious; Weyler, who had made his name slaughtering Carlists twenty years earlier and in Cuba, viewed the platform of "los Indios" as materially similar to what Cuban activists had eventually received as their settlement and was fairly confident in a political solution. However, until Madrid told him otherwise, he was in hoc to the friars, a constituency that existed neither in metropolitan Spain nor in the Caribbean provinces, and they wanted to crush the Propaganda Movement. And so, Weyler acquiesced, arresting hundreds and exiling leadership that would have stirred too much controversy to execute.

Rizal's exile radicalized the Filipino activists, and within weeks the Katipunan or KKK [1] was formed by Andres Bonifacio and Teodoro Plata; where Rizal's organization had hoped for a role for the Philippines within Spain, the Katipunan's eyes were on independence in full, and by the end of 1892 they were armed and disciplined, to Weyler's shock..."

- Rizal

[1] Not THAT KKK, the Filipino one

 

[LordVorKon]

"...Weyler's decision to exile Rizal from Manila for his political activism was one part reluctant, one part ambitious; Weyler, who had made his name slaughtering Carlists twenty years earlier and in Cuba, viewed the platform of "los Indios" as materially similar to what Cuban activists had eventually received as their settlement and was fairly confident in a political solution. However, until Madrid told him otherwise, he was in hoc to the friars, a constituency that existed neither in metropolitan Spain nor in the Caribbean provinces, and they wanted to crush the Propaganda Movement. And so, Weyler acquiesced, arresting hundreds and exiling leadership that would have stirred too much controversy to execute.

Rizal's exile radicalized the Filipino activists, and within weeks the Katipunan or KKK [1] was formed by Andres Bonifacio and Teodoro Plata; where Rizal's organization had hoped for a role for the Philippines within Spain, the Katipunan's eyes were on independence in full, and by the end of 1892 they were armed and disciplined, to Weyler's shock..."

- Rizal

[1] Not THAT KKK, the Filipino one

Perfect example of "Fuck around and find out."

 

[KingSweden24]

"...in finalizing the Exclusive Agreement with the emirs who collectively became known as the Trucial States, Britain further cemented its position north of the Red Sea; with Aden already its key lock on the passage to Asia, now the Gulf was rapidly becoming a "British lake" between its longstanding influence in Qatar and Bahrain, and now further east at the base of the Hormuz. By the end of the decade, Kuwait would also become a British protectorate, giving London a further perch at the gateway to Mesopotamia and forever linking her fortunes to those of the Near East..."

- Chessboard: The Splendid Isolation and British Foreign Policy

 

[Curtain Jerker]

"...in finalizing the Exclusive Agreement with the emirs who collectively became known as the Trucial States, Britain further cemented its position north of the Red Sea; with Aden already its key lock on the passage to Asia, now the Gulf was rapidly becoming a "British lake" between its longstanding influence in Qatar and Bahrain, and now further east at the base of the Hormuz. By the end of the decade, Kuwait would also become a British protectorate, giving London a further perch at the gateway to Mesopotamia and forever linking her fortunes to those of the Near East..."

- Chessboard: The Splendid Isolation and British Foreign Policy

Even in this mild Brit-screw TL there's no real way to plausibly prevent the British from dominating the Middle East.

 

[KingSweden24]

Even in this mild Brit-screw TL there's no real way to plausibly prevent the British from dominating the Middle East.

At least in the Gulf, no. The more robust Ottomans still hold sway in the Levant and Egypt is more or less a French protectorate after all.

Russia and Germany have a hard time projecting power there and France is cozy enough with the Ottomans that London would want a check on anyone else using Basra as a “cannon aimed at India,” as the saying went. Strategically speaking, they have little choice. Same with their policy of preventing any kind of French toehold on the shores of the Indian Ocean (Djibouti can at least be checked from Aden)

 

[KingSweden24]

"...the changes within the family in the early 1890s helped distract Leopold from the deteriorating relationship with Ruiz Zorilla and the Radical Cortes as well as the death of his queen; the births of his grandchildren, particularly Gilly's twin sons in 1891, proved a welcome surprise and cemented the Hohenzollern line in Madrid for decades to come. Leopold also found himself traveling to see his brother Karl in Bucharest for the wedding of his son Ferdinand, informally adopted by the Romanian King as the heir, to his maternal cousin Josephine Marie, daughter of Prince Philippe of Belgium, the soberly respected uncle of the more erratic King Leopold III. It was, ironically, at the wedding in Bucharest that Prince Karl Anton, the youngest of Leopold's three sons, met Marie Caroline [2], Josephine's younger sister; the two fell madly in love, and with Karl Anton the "spare" of Leopold's children, he was given much broader discretion to pursue the romance. So it came to be that he shuttled frequently from Madrid to Brussels over the next year, and by the spring of 1894 was being married himself, thus wedding two brothers to two sisters. The marriages and forthcoming births left Leopold in an unfamiliar position - that of elder statesman, increasingly detached from daily politics, a widower enjoying time with children and grandchildren as he approached the cusp of sixty, no longer the bold young German king who had come to Madrid at the invitation of a clique of liberal nobles but one of Europe's most respected and moderate monarchs..."

- The German on the Spanish Throne: The Reign of Leopold I

[1] Died in infancy IOTL, here survives and replaces Marie of Edinburgh, who of course was never born thanks to Prince Alfred's assassination in Sydney
[2] Modified version of Princess Josephine Caroline, here no longer named after her sister. The circumstances of her meeting Karl Anton of Hohenzollern change, but the marriage does not

 

[KingSweden24]

"...the small fortune assembled from land holdings and inheritance served Roosevelt well when he bought the Journal from the younger Pulitzer; Albert had by 1892 discovered that he lacked Joseph's knack for the newspaper industry and retreated, selling the paper for as little as a third of its value. Roosevelt thus came into possession of a paper that had struggled to make its own mark and had lived in the shadow of the more successful elder brother; that was soon to change. Roosevelt's paper sold for only a penny, cheaper than any competitor; nevertheless, the "penny paper" was able to attract a host of talented writers, cartoonists and reporters thanks to the broad editorial discretion the new owner and oft-opinion writer who ran the paper out of the fifth floor of a small print in lower Manhattan. The Journal had taken no particular political position in its brief, sad existence under Albert Pulitzer; in the hands of Roosevelt, it became full-throatedly populist, as sympathetic to the People's Party as to labor-friendly Democrats, in stark contrast to the viciously partisan Herald from which he'd emerged and the nakedly Liberal line of the New York World. Between its muckracking, common-man appeal, lurid sensational stories, and cheap price, the Journal under Roosevelt was within the span of a few years something New York had not seen before - a truly successful tabloid, going head to head with the World that had previously filled the same space, and increasingly other papers such as the Herald or the Sun..."

- The Sword Draws Ink: Circulation Wars, Newsman Rivalries and the Rise of the Modern Media in the 19th Century

 

[KingSweden24]

"...Charlottetown emerged by century's end as a key entrepot; as a center of free trade with the outside world but exempt from Canada's tariffs thanks to the policies of Westminster and primordial Imperial preference schemes, it was in many ways the gateway of the rest of the world to Canada's slowly growing and closed market. Vessels from the United States and Europe could offload wares that saw only minimal duties applied on PEI's docks; from there, merchants could sell to buyers in Montreal, Halifax and Toronto at modest but not insubstantial markups, creating a thriving mercantile culture on the island that soon made it one of the richest places per capita outside of the Home Nations in the whole of the British Empire. PEI's special trade status, one that would last into modern day, had begun..."

- The Garden of the Gulf

(Eventually, and I'm talking way down the line, think of PEI as a really cold Grand Cayman, essentially)

 

[KingSweden24]

"...the grand designs of the cadre of Guangxu's more reform-minded allies ran aground on the realities of the harshly conservative establishment in Qing society; plans to eliminate sinecures and the traditional examination system were the first to fall under mild pressure. The modernization of the military was one success, however; nobody in Peking wanted to see a humiliation like what had occurred at the hands of France again, not with the Russian bear gazing south through Manchuria at warm-water ports on the Yellow Sea. Where the reformists did find some success was in expanding Chinese curriculum to include math and science and in modernizing the bureaucracy; new ministries to manage the European-owned railroad concessions emerged, as did mercantile academies. Though the rift between strict Confucian traditionalists and the most radical reformers continued to grow, an ever-confident Guangxu, now an adult less reliant upon Dowager Cixi, and his closest advisor, Kang Youwei, forged on; the plan to build a better, stronger China by century's end was still in play..."

- The Dragon Stirs: The Qing Dynasty under the Guangxu Emperor

 

[Curtain Jerker]

(Eventually, and I'm talking way down the line, think of PEI as a really cold Grand Cayman, essentially)

Hmmm. Is PEI still not Canadian here? Are they gonna stay not-Canadian the entire time to get around Canadian taxes?

 

[KingSweden24]

Hmmm. Is PEI still not Canadian here? Are they gonna stay not-Canadian the entire time to get around Canadian taxes?

Correct. Charlottetown went a bit differently and Carnarvon’s heavy-handed Dominion scheme alienated PEI Liberals; the panic of 1870 happening before PEI bankrupt itself with railroad loans as in OTL in 71/72 helped too. So PEI is not part of Confederation and as far as I have planned never will be

(To its advantage - Confederation devastated the trade-based economies of the Maritimes thanks to the Tory National Program that existed to defend Ontarian industry. PEI still enjoys access to world markets in a different way as a result)

 

[KingSweden24]

"...the streets and parlors of Belgrade, Bucharest and Sarajevo emerged as Europe's critical battlefield, as the various Great Powers began to toy with innovations in spycraft. Despite its much-debated "turn from Europe," Russia still viewed Orthodox Southeast Europe as its backyard and deployed a number of avenues for influence, both diplomatic and clandestine, with a well-developed network of agents of influence, particularly in Serbia, where it sought to drum up support for the return of the Karadordevic dynasty. It was this activity - and the awareness that the Information Bureau in Vienna had of it - that created the biggest wedge between Austria and Russia and stymied France's desires for a burying of the hatchet between Habsburg and Romanov to form an isolating vise around Germany from which Paris' fiercest foe could never practically break free. [1] Germany, for her part, did not have as active a presence in the Balkans compared to Austria, Russia and France - which practically governed Montenegro from the offices of its embassy, treating Nicholas I as little more than a satrap - choosing instead to focus entirely on continuing to cultivate its relationships in Romania via the ruling Hohenzollern cadet house there. Nevertheless, for all of Berlin's lacking in a formal spy network, it enthusiastically used a different tactic - that of guns and butter - to keep Romanian officials happy, while quietly letting Russia regain small footholds of influence there and keeping its "Danube Policy," as Chancellor Hohenlohe called it, roughly in alignment with Moscow's interests in order to prevent the worst-kept secret of European power politics, that of Paris' "grand encirclement," from coming to fruition.

Britain, for its part, exercised perhaps the most diverse spy network of them all, embedded in merchant houses, naval liaison offices, and increasingly, the local press. Istanbul was the tip of the spear for Albion's influence campaign in Southeast Europe, by the early 1890s using its considerable sway in Persia and the Gulf to dangle carrots before the Porte, as well as a writedown of Turkish debts to protect its beleaugured banking industry in the wake of 1890, and gradually having some of the most robust information on the goings-on of the affairs of state in the Balkans via a legion of affable Ottoman bureaucrats and businessmen..."

- Shadow Wars: A History of Espionage and Counterintelligence

[1] More on this later!

 

[KingSweden24]

"...the birth of Clementina Maria Carlota Sophia de Habsburgo-Lorena, or Klementina Mária Karola Zsófia in Margarita's preferred Hungarian, was celebrated with tremendous joy throughout Mexico; church bells rang 27 times to commemorate her birth on the 27th of May [1], thousands of citizens wrote letters to Margarita to congratulate her, and a grand banquet was held at the Chapultepec in celebration. Margarita treasured the letters in Hungarian the most, speaking of the pride of those who had come to Mexico that a noble daughter of their native land would birth the heiress (until a son could be borne) of beloved Maximilian's throne. Even more so than her father-in-law, who was fundamentally Viennese in his ways and manner, it was Margarita who connected with the growing Hungarian community, which came to love the Habsburgs of Mexico much more than their countrymen loved the Habsburgs at home. The birth also drew pride from Luis Maximilian; fatherhood seemed to tame him in a way that even marriage did not, and despite his well-known dalliances came to deepen his "imperfect love" for his wife, so much so that he wanted even more children. To Margarita's quiet joy, it was not out of duty, they way that they had conceived Clementina Maria for Mexico (or the attitude he carried towards having at least one son); no, as their family expanded over the years [2], it was because Luis Maximilian found in fatherhood the emotional connection he had lacked his with own father, and despite his brusqueness as a political figure emerged as a warm-hearted figure in private, doting even, though perhaps, as his reputation would eventually come to be, he enjoyed siring children a little too much [3]..."

- The Matriach: Empress Margarita Clementina and the Emergence of a Modern Mexico

[1] Putting us 30 years out from the PoD, almost to the day!
[2] For reference, the real-life Margerethe Klementine of Austria had 8 kids and will crank out a similar number ITTL
[3] And by that I mean bastards. Lots and lots of bastards

 

[KingSweden24]

"...the first boll weevils are believed to have crossed over from Mexico to Texas in mid-1892 near Matamoros; within a few years it would be prominent in the cotton fields of the Rio Grande valley and north, alarming local planters, Anglo and Tejano alike. The weevil fed primarily on cotton, devouring immature boils before they could grow, dramatically reducing crop yields. Only the vast ranchlands between Brownsville and Houston arrested its immediate spread, but the frontier lifestyle of south and central Texas in the late 19th century, and the style of governance that accompanied it, was poorly suited to confront and eradicate the most devastating cotton pest endemic to the Americas..."

- Dixieland

 

[Curtain Jerker]

"...the first boll weevils are believed to have crossed over from Mexico to Texas in mid-1892 near Matamoros; within a few years it would be prominent in the cotton fields of the Rio Grande valley and north, alarming local planters, Anglo and Tejano alike. The weevil fed primarily on cotton, devouring immature boils before they could grow, dramatically reducing crop yields. Only the vast ranchlands between Brownsville and Houston arrested its immediate spread, but the frontier lifestyle of south and central Texas in the late 19th century, and the style of governance that accompanied it, was poorly suited to confront and eradicate the most devastating cotton pest endemic to the Americas..."

- Dixieland

Uh oh. The southern economy isn't exactly vibrant and diversified. The weevil destroyed many farms down there OTL - no reason it wouldn't here either.

 

[KingSweden24]

Uh oh. The southern economy isn't exactly vibrant and diversified. The weevil destroyed many farms down there OTL - no reason it wouldn't here either.

Seeding (hehe) this development early

 

[KingSweden24]

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!! Wish I had some more fulfilling content for y’all today since we’re exactly 30 years out from the POD but Moderna Round Two has laid me out.

More to come!

 

[Curtain Jerker]

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!! Wish I had some more fulfilling content for y’all today since we’re exactly 30 years out from the POD but Moderna Round Two has laid me out.

More to come!

Get well soon buddy. Silver lining is it is generally only 18-24 hours (at least that's how long Pfizer kicked my ass).

 

[KingSweden24]

Get well soon buddy. Silver lining is it is generally only 18-24 hours (at least that's how long Pfizer kicked my ass).

Thanks! Wound up being about 24 for me. Back to my usual chipper self this AM!