Dimension 398 or How a Few Bacteria Changed the Course of History

Beedok

Beedok

"The history of India in D- 398 is truly interesting, though not much more so than the rest of this interesting world."​
The Carnatic Wars
(1937 Dhaka)​

. . . Therefore Chanda Sahib saw a window of opportunity in the Hyderabad civil war to make some personal gain. He and Muzaffar Jung began to plot for the downfall of the Nawab of Arcot Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan, with Chanda Sahib hoping to fill this role himself. Dupleix moved to support these to apparent rising powers, helping them to build up their power base. This soon attracted the British who decided it would be prudent to prevent the French from gaining to much power. The BEIC therefore supported Muhammad Ali Khan Walajah and Nasir Jung.

The FEIC and their allies managed to defeat their enemies in battle and had the BEIC backed leaders assassinated. By 1750 the French had clearly one, though the British and their remaining allies fought valiantly until 1752, with the treaty of Calcutta, which placed Chanda Sahib upon the thrown of Arcot.

There was a chilly peace between the FEIC and BEIC that lasted until the start of the Third Carnatic War, the Indian theatre of the First World War. When rumours reached India of tensions between the French and British elswhere rising the BEIC decided to use it's local naval advantage to strike the French before they could gain reinforcements. Raiding the Coast of French India the BEIC recked devastation upon the FEIC's finances. The French decided to respond with and overland assault upon the British held territories. The British managed to gain some warning of this and began upgrading their defences, a move which angered the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-Ud-Daulah, who took the city and forced the local British forces into the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta.

When the French arrived and saw the city no longer under British control they decided to offer the Nawab military aid against any British attempts to retake the city. The FEIC assistance proved invaluable when European reinforcements arrived a few months later. The French reinforced the city, though the British sent a far larger army to take back Calcutta. While the British were busy in the North the rest of the French army moved across the sub-continent to attack other British forts.

By 1758 the British managed to retake the city but could do little else, though the British fought courageously until 1760. Thus while the war raged in Europe and the Americas, the Indian theatre was at last at peace with the French in control of Madras and a few more minor BEIC holdings. The bitter British began to plot against the French, which would allow for the Dramatic events of the Fourth Carnatic war, yet for the time being both European nations pulled their troops back for the other theatres of the war.

"We hope to be able to answer any inqueries pertaining to our discoveries ITD [in this dimension]"
 
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codger

This is a tamer version of the kick-ass French Empire from the other dimension is it?

Is there a dimension where Louis XIV is as powerful as Godzilla?
 
Beedok

Beedok

Things are going well for the French now, but that won't necessarily stay that way. And I'm not sure about the second bit, he's a good leader, not unstoppable.
 
Beedok

Beedok

"Agent Centauri replying to you're inquiry. We apologise fro the brevity of our updates, but the local authorities monitor all broadcasts. We therefore have to be quick to avoid detection, as unauthorized broadcasting is illegal. We would head to another nation, but that would require passports, which would obviously be a problem. As well you can tell how unfortunate our capture would be if we tried to cross illegaly. We are working on better compression software, but have yet to have much success. Agent Centauri out."
 
Beedok

Beedok

"The compresion algorythm is still be worked on. We can however supply you with this update."
The History of the Royal Secret Service​

(1974 Lyons)​

The Royal Secret Service (RSS) was founded in 1748 by Louis XVI, based of plans his father had had. While Louis XVI originally followed his fathers idea of using the RSS to spread anti-Austrian sentiment[1], he soon realised that the British where the greater threat, as most of his allies were allies due to a mutual dislike of Austria. He knew that Prussia would never ally itself to Austria, but, due to weakening Anglo-Austrian relations, Britain would likely try to gain Prussia's aid.
With agents of the RSS spread out across the courts of Europe Louis XVI was also able to gain some better intelligence than previous Kings of France. Many believe this was a major source of his early success. It also proved a great annoyance to the British, finding that French counter intelligence was blocking them quite well, though the RSS had very little success trying to gain information from Britain. This deadlock did have more benefit for France as previously the British had a easier time gaining intelligence on France.
When the First World War broke out many thought that the RSS would be of little use, but through sabotage and gathering tactics it was clear that they could still serve a purpose. Likely their greatest achievement was preventing the British from gaining any more than rumours that France could be planning an invasion. It was thus due to the RSS's ingenuity that the British were tricked into letting their guard down.


French Invasions of Britain​

(1993 Glasgow)​

For a long time after the Normans the British Isles seemed and impenetrable nation fortress. The failure of the Spanish armada as well as numerous French attempts made the British quite confident that they could never be invaded. It was true that there were the some landings in Scotland to rouse up rebellion, but no one had had actually landed and army in 700 years. This over confidence led to the British mistakes.


When the combined French-Spanish force attacked Gibraltar the British were horribly out numbered, thus fearing that the French and Spanish Mediterranean fleets would be able to escape to the Atlantic the British sent a significant force to reinforce the port. They never suspected that the assault was a mere distraction.


At the same time they sent reinforcements to the Americas in order to defeat the French in the New World, making up for their losses in India. That army enjoyed much success, due in some part to the French having withdrawn nearly half their army back to France to work on the invasion. While some believe this was all part of the French plan there is little to back this up, it was more likely a matter of good luck then Louis XVI being some sort of godly ruler as some French Patriots would have us believe. The debate about the competence of Louis XVI is a hefty enough topic for it's own book, so I shall say no more on the matter.


The Prussian invasion of Hanover drew many of the remaining British troops of the isles, putting their number down to a rather dismal 10 000. The French, who began retreating large numbers of troops from the Germanies (where they had been over extended to to Louis XVI's reckless desire to cut the Germanies in pieces), were able to pull together 40 000 men for the invasion plan. They gathered up large this number of men to the northern coast of Normandy. Just two days before they were set to leave there was a vicious storm that lasted four days, but luckily for the French the damage was minimal.


Thus August 27th 1761 became a day burned into the memory of every British citizen, the day the French landed. The commander of the invasion was Louis Charles César Le Tellier, duc d'Estrées, a relatively competent leader. While the French managed to sneak most of their force across under the cover of night the dawn soon rose and the Royal Navy struck their French counterpart. After a massive battle the British one a Pyrrhic victory, retaking control of the Channel, but the damage was done as 35 000 French soldiers had landed in the countryside of southern Britain. Over the next week d'Estrées won a series of victories against the British militias as he marched towards London. Parliament and the King were both terrified, and therefore negotiated a peace, though Great Britain was treated rather harshly.


Britain was forced to cede Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, Newfoundland, Acadia and the Quebec peninsula. The French placed James Francis Edward Stuart upon the throne of the Channel Islands as long he never openly called himself the king of Britain. On the mainland the Prussians managed to get their demands for Lauenburg and North-East Bremen.


The invasion left a deep emotional effect upon the British opinion. The fact that troops had been sent in such large numbers to Hanover and the colonies caused deep resentement amongst the British people. The course of events that led to the terrors of the early 1800s had been set into motion.​




[1] A sentiment that Louis XV had OTL until Mme. Pompadour came along
 
Beedok

Beedok

"We have been unable to work out a few bugs in our compression system, we would like to request the sending of a specialist at the next available point in time. We hope that the next update helps to spark more interest into TTL."
The History Romanov Dynasty
(Moscow 1899)​
The First World War was winding down by mid 1762, with the French having defeated the British, the Prussian and French armies were now marching east, along with their allies. It was a difficult time for Russia, and this stress made an already weak Queen Elizabeth fall into her final stages. By July 3rd 1762 she died, though she had been barely running the country for sometime, with her generals and advisers desperately trying to show a front of solidarity. Nearing the end of her life she had begun to make bizarre demands in her dazed state. The Russian armies in Prussia were ordered to retreat back to Eastern Prussia in May and then ordered to attack cities on the old front in June. It was after her outrageous demands that forgot her orders of the previous month that alerted the Russian Generals to the fact that the retreat had been the actions of a mad women, not some advance strategy. During the last two months of her reign she gave numerous orders of varying coherency that never made it beyond the palace, though she was continuously informed of how wonderful her strategies were. In fact the last words anyone ever heard her say were: "Burn Berlin, tell Saltykov to burn Berlin" [according to official documents].
With the death of Elizabeth Paul III was now the Tsar, though not a very happy one as his wife had just recently died of food poisoning on June 27th[1]. The melancholy tsar was an ambitious man, but the recent deaths were too much for him at the time, which worked in his favour in the long run. He did call peace with Prussia, which while unpopular at the time was soon viewed as a wise choice as the French begun to push back the Austrians on all fronts and the Prussians occupied Saxony. While it is now known that many of Paul's plans for the future were already though out to some degree his sorrow at the deaths of the Empress and his wife masked his intentions from those with whom he was least popular. Had he been less devastated he may very well of been the victim of a coup, in stead of the mild unrest that marked much of his reign. Paul III did begin several economic reforms during the beginning of his reign, such as the abolishing of sugar importations and the use of serfs for industry. These two small yet positive changes helped to create wealth, especially for workers, and made Paul popular with the lower classes, though the workshop owners and some nobility disliked him for this.
By 1763 Paul III married his former mistress Elisabeth Vorontsova. The marriage seemed to give him a new found confidence, and he soon began plotting the first partition of Poland with Prussia, a move that would eventually result in the Second World War. He also began to improve relation with the Crimean Khanate, partly through trade and partly through trade partly through immigration by Ukrainians and Russians. All in all the reign of Paul III began on a quite positive note.


[1] Another significant divergence from OTL that seems to have been caused by a few bacteria
 
Beedok

Beedok

I will switch the [#]s to italics, if that helps. As for maps I'm trying to find some good base maps, but it's hard to find nonconflicting ones of India and a good one of Europe (I had one, but misplaced it, and can't remember where I got it).
 
Beedok

Beedok

Austria after the First World War​

(Estbourg[1] 1945)​

The Austrians were in deep trouble by 1762, with the Russian failures in Poland, and France now turning it's full might against them (the Prussians were still fighting the Russians). For all Maria Theresa's reforms the Austrian army just couldn't stand up to the combined might of France, Spain, Genoa and Naples and Sicily. When Russia brokered a peace and Prussia and Sweden turned their full attention to Austria it was simply too much for the Austrians. They were forced to surrender by Septembre 30th.
The failure of Russia to hold together angered Maria Theresa, which led to a period of relative isolation for Austria. The tactically minded Queen decided that the army needed another overhaul, this time removing several general whom she felt were inadequate. Many of her top generals were quite competent, so she had them give a detailed examination of the ranks based solely of ability. Several hundred men were reassigned after the three year process, but in the end Austria know had one of the most disciplined armies in the world, with only Prussia and possibly Britain surpassing them.
Of course this army needed to be tested to ensure that it was a capable as it was supposed to be. While the Ottomans and Prussians where both classic enemies of Austria they were also too strong for Austria to use as only a test, and the First World War was too recent for Austria to pull together a full army. The reforms had also been quite expensive, thus the enemy needed to be wealthy, which led to the conclusion that Venice was the most viable option for a war. There was the slight matter of a causus belli, which posed a serious problem for any attempts for Austria to honourably engage in the war. Eventually sifting through vast amounts of history the Austrians found a very shaky grounds to invade, one so shaky that it has been lost today.
The small Venetian army crumbled in the face of the organized Austrian force when it invaded in 1766, while the Ottomans joined in on the fun taking some of southern Dalmatia while the Austrians were busy in the north. The Ottoman involvement made the war unpopular in Austria, though the wealth that still remained in Venice was enough the satisfy the Austrians. The rest of Europe was shocked at the short war. However it did make the Prussians and Russians more confident about their chances of success with the planned partition of Poland, and made it so that Austria couldn't protest their actions without revealing total hypocrisy. This fact would later come to haunt the Austrians.


The Originator of Libertism: Rousseau
(Guatemala 1916)​

Many Historians looking back at the actions of Rousseau point to how quickly he rushed to the Thirteen Colonies as a indication of why Libertism failed to gain much standing with the British Americans, even though their way of life should have made them quite receptive to his ideals. He was labeled as a Frenchman, and thus an enemy by the Yankee[2] intellects, so few showed any interest in his ideas of a society based on only the most necessary laws. While Rousseau had little influence upon the philosophies of the Thirteen Colonies, the way of life that the Yankees had affected Rousseau. The lack of taxes seemed in Rousseau's eyes to lead to an increased happiness over their Canadian[3] neighbours, and led Rousseau to add low taxes to the characteristics of his ideal society.


Thus an event of historical irony occurred for poor Rousseau. Had he waited his ideas would have been more accepted, but would have lacked the influences that made them fit more with the Yankee mentality, since the administration of taxes began just months after Rousseau left in 1764. Returning home Rousseau found that his ideas had lost much of their appeal, largely through the actions of the creator of Communitarianism the recent Prussian immigrant Karl Hilfère, born Hilferding and went by Hilferd in the Thirteen Colonies. Hilfère had pointed at how Rousseau's plans would lead to an army that was little more than a militia along the lines of the British forces in the Americas during the First World War. The idea of having such a disorderly mob[4] defending them horrified many Canadians, and helped spread the ideals of the more authoritarian Communitariansim through the use of these scare tactics[5].


Facing this strong resistance Rousseau tried to keep his ideals alive, even managing to gain some support in the Thirteen Colonies by the late 1760s. Then in 1770 the aging Rousseau moved to New Spain for it's warmer climate, tired of frigid Montreal. The people of New Spain had long heard of his ideas, while Hilfère ignored the American peoples[6] and concentrationg on the Yankees. Thus Rousseau atlast found a place to spread his wisdom while being able to relax and live out his last years. ​




[1] OTL Louisbourg, the name was changed in the 1790s
[2] Yankee is a term referring to Anglophone Americans that is considered relatively formal in D-398, due to numerous types of "Americans"
[3] Canadian is an anachronism here
[4] Rumours during the war had indicated that the American militia had pillaged it's own people, and been quite drunken and disrespectful when visiting towns
[5] This is somewhat of a hyperbole, but this book is still the best for Rousseau's life
[6] Remember that this is from the Liberal Republic of America, so they use the term Americans for themselves
 

codger

What's the story going to be with New Spain? Are they still ruled by one of Louis XIV's grandsons? Is it still a place governed by the Inquisition?

I ask because I think such a place would have difficulty incorporating Rousseau.

Otherwise, there's some good psychological profiling of these leaders and an interesting revision of actual events.
 
Beedok

Beedok

codger said:
What's the story going to be with New Spain? Are they still ruled by one of Louis XIV's grandsons? Is it still a place governed by the Inquisition?

I ask because I think such a place would have difficulty incorporating Rousseau.

Otherwise, there's some good psychological profiling of these leaders and an interesting revision of actual events.
Click to expand...

Rousseau lived on the frontier regions of the north, partly out of preferance, partly out of nessacity. He was fairly popular with the people though not the government, thus if the inquisition were to try to catch him he would be warned and would have left to another town. This text merely wishes to gloss over the difficulties of one of the LRA most respected heroes.
 
Beedok

Beedok

A world map from about 1766. The Prussian colour in New France is there as the Prussians are the majority in that region (if just barely).
world1.png

world1.png
 
Beedok

Beedok

"We are experimenting with a slightly more efficient transmission method, hopefully all will go to plan. The present state of D-398 is beginning to make more an more sense as we research it's past, however it is still surprisingly different from OTL, more so than most Dimensions."
The Reign of King Frederick[1]
(New York 1976)​


With the death of his father in 1760, Frederick became the king of Great Britain, king Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and elector of Hanover. He had some very different views from his father, which had resulted in his numerous quarrels. It was of course Frederick, and the newly instated John Stuart who authorised the sending of soldiers to the colonies and Hanover, leaving Britain largely unprotected from the French invasion. Frederick had tried desperately to resist many of the French demands, but in the end had to concede almost every French demand or risk the burning of London. He soon became quite bitter, and when the Whigs took control under George Grenville he became even more angry. Of course his ally John Stuart had little chance of getting back in power after the French invasion, so Frederick was left in opposition of Parliament for the rest of his reign.
During this period Frederick invested into the BEIC, and pushed to get them support for a campaign in India. While the thought of sending soldiers to the colonies was unpopular it was conceded that their was no danger as long as they kept peace with the FEIC as well as the other EICs. Out of habit that campaign became known as the Fourth Carnatic War, and while it is an inaccurate name it stuck none the less. As we all know the victories against the Nawab of Benegal and the conquering and puppeting of Benegal would prove crucial to Britain later on, but the immediate effects were nearly as profound. Frederick started to be seen as a decent king, who had made a mistake in his inexperience and poor timing for coming to the thrown, while India was seen as a place for many young adventurers to visit once again. It also showed the French that they couldn't keep the British down. There was a surge of nationalism and many young men left to spread British control over India, however the French were just as ready to head off for an adventure, as tensions escalated in European India.
Frederick did prove to ambitious a leader though, wanting to expand Britain's empire as well as the control over the Empire. Frederick supported attempts to strengthen government control in the thirteen colonies, a strategy that would prove unpopular amongst the colonials, and have notable ramifications later on. Getting the Yankees to pay for the soldiers who had been sent to defend them at Britain was a popular idea, until it became clear that more soldiers would have to be sent to enforce the act. A few riots broke out, and the act was soon repealed, but Frederick continued plotting to centralize the empire.

Hilfère: The Father of Communitarianism​

(Buchtstadt[2] 1941)​

Born in Silesia, during the middle of the War of Austrian Succession, Karl knew war from a young age. He learned very quickly to despise it when he was four, as during the final year of the War he and his father left their village to help his uncle, and when they returned the found the entire town had been raided and his mother had been murdered. Karl was sent to live with his uncle while his father slowly died of sorrow. This early events shaped Karl's disgust for war that would be so prevalent in his philosophy, though the difficulties of reality would force him to admit that sometimes war is necessary. His youth was relatively uneventful afterwards, though he got a decent education, until he First World War when he was forced into the Prussian army at the age of 16. His experiences in that war only made him despise militarism further, and he decided the only way to escape it was to leave Europe altogether. This option became available soon after the war due to a deal that had been signed between France and Prussia.
The Prussians were to be aloud to establish a trading company in New France, though they did still have to pa taxes to France the company was nonetheless predicted to bring significant profit to Prussia, as well as tying Prussia to France for sometime. Hilfère understood all this, but didn't care about the intrigues. He just wanted to get away from Europe and all the horrid memories that he had from the old continent. The fact that the New World was becoming known as a land of philosophy helped to make the deal even sweater. Like many Prussians Hilfère settled in the area between Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and became a clerk for the Prussian New World Company. His job led him to travel to many parts of New France, and he soon began to see how much happier people seemed to be in the New World compared to Europe. Unlike Rousseau he did not attribute this to the fact that the people had the bare minimums of civilization, but that the people were happy because they were spreading civilization to a new land.
While young Hilfère was still quite eloquent and charismatic, allowing him to bring numerous people into his following. While Rousseau was on his futile voyage to the Thirteen Colonies Hilfère gained exceptional popularity with his theories own the ideal civilization. His theories were all based upon a society of equality, in contrast with Rousseau's ideals based upon freedom. He proposed that a society of equals would be far more stable and thus safer than the semi anarchy of Rousseau's theory, and could support a more effective army, resulting in a smaller army as well. Hilfère soon dominated the revolutionary sentiment of New France, which due to Louis XVI's policy was a pretty significant chunk of the colony. Feeling that he could safely voyage Hilfère travelled to the British Colonies.
He soon found that the Yankees had their own ideas about how to run their country and he had a great deal of difficulty getting his views to spread, though he did have somewhat more success than Rousseau had had five years earlier. Due to the fact that he was clearly not French the Yankees let him in on their suspicions of the French and the common fear that if they were to rebel the French would invade and turn them into a puppet, or at least take a good chunk of their land. Karl realized that both the Canadians and Yankees would have to rebel at the same time, or else neither would, yet they both had a great distrust for each other. Realising it was a nearly impossible task Hilfère set out to try to creat a sense of brotherhood amongst these two peoples, showing that hey both were on the common goal to spread civilisation to the new land and it's unfortunate people who had had the bad luck to end up in a land with nothing good to start a civilization with.
[1] Note that he did not receive the cricket wound that killed him in OTL
[2] The main Prussian city in New France, built on the Western tip of Lake Ontario

"Here is an approximate map of Europe, we apologise for the simplicity, but none of us are that good with the pain software."
*Crash*
*Yelling in the Backaround*
"It would appear that the agent from D-2 has got into another argument about the ideologies of the People's Republic of North America... I apologise, but I must go. Beedok out."
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398.png
 
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codger

Okay. So this King Frederick is the father of OTL's King George III, whose been givin the chance to reign. I get it now.

I'm interested in watching this attempt to foment rebellion and a shared political culture in North America!
 
Beedok

Beedok

The Doctor said:
Is France going to remain a major power like it did in your other great story or become more like OTL?
Click to expand...

France will remain a major power, but it's not going to reach the level that the British did OTL. They aren't quite a economically secure as Britain OTL, and they don't have dominance in India or North America.
 
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