Dimension 398: Updates Only Thread

By popular demand I present the D-398 updates only thread. I really hope I didn't miss any of them when I was gathering things together.
 
Part 1: Establishing a Balance

*static*

"grss. . .is. . .kytzzs. . .sure?"

*more static*

"Got it! I told you it was three left not right. . . .Ahem, this is agent Centauri. We have successfully entered Dimension 398. We appear to be in an abandoned maintenance tunnel for an underground. Further research is being taken underway. What? . . . Oh, good work. We're picking up radia signals. We will begin studies to determine Point of Divergence. Verification make take some time, as we will finding a relatively unbiased source."

*static*

"Gah!! That's sensitive equipment! Be careful..."

*transmission ends*

*Static*


* * *

"Agent Centauri here, progress is ahead of schedule. We believe we have found the POD fot this time line (TTL), and we are sending the freshly translated information through. . . Now."

The Life of Louis XVI[1]

VIth edition (1897)





Louis XVI is possibly the most celebrated king in all the history of France, but one must remember that his reign did not begin on a joyous note. His father (Louis XV) had fallen ill in August, near the city of Metz , and his death appeared imminent. Thus the future Louis XVI rushed to his father's side, so that he would at least have some of the family there, even though he disagreed with his father on a many things.

The dying king did not see things the same way and, using what little strength he had left, grabbed his son by the shirt and began to lecture him about how he had endangered the Bourbon family by rushing to the battle front. He never finished the lecture though as he died part way through a word [2]. The young Louis XVI was horrified, and became convinced that he was responsible for his fathers death.

This conviction was what led his introverted behaviour for the next few months. He only orders were to keep fighting the war as the generals saw best, saying he was in no position to tell them better ideas. He was somber at his relatively mundane coronation. Many worried that nothing could make him happy, as he even took little interest in his own marriage arrangements. When he first met his wife however he took notice, as the two had a very good match in personality, despite her being three years his elder. The two became alsoinseparable for the next year, young Louis XVI continuing to allow the generals, such as Maurice de Saxe, to fight the war in their own style. This was quite efficient, especially since the young king had little experience in commanding troops, and allowed the French (and their Prussian allies) to enjoy success throughout the end of the war.

The unfortunate young king soon lost his wife though when she gave birth Louis Philip de France[3] on July 28th 1746, which drove him into yet another period of depression, though he recovered within just over two months with a new determination, similar to that of the revolutionary dictators of Europe during the turn of the century. It is at this point he is believed to have created his master plan for France that he followed for the rest of his reign, though some historians would argue that he had only a vague idea and built upon it as time went on.



[1] Not OTL Louis XVI but his father
[2] This being the POD, which we believe to be caused by some bacteria managing a little better
[3] OTL they had a daughter

* * *

"We have found a more up to date bit of information, the transcript is being sent. Do not worry, Louis XVI will not be our only subject of interest"


The Life of LouisXVI
XVIIth edition (1947)



Historically many have believed that Louis XVI simply recovered from his wife's death, this false statement having even been printed in previous editions of this text. However modern mentalytical science[1] has led to the belief that he merely internalised his suffering, and tried to hide it with his grand schemes, perhaps even trying to convince himself that he wasn't suffering. Though some traditionalists still argue that he somehow pulled himself together, this scientific approach allows one to more easily understand the thinking of this remarkable man.

It is clear that he mourned his wife, after all he waited until the end of the War of Austrian Succession before remarrying the Saxon princess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony. Many also believe that he only took part in the marriage for diplomatic reasons as it is widely known that they were not the happiest of couples. Louis XVI was a very diplomatically minded person, at the vary least after the death of his first wife.


One of his greatest achievements was at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, where he managed to regain all the French colonies that were captured during the war. He also managed to gain the formerly Austrian Netherlands[2], though ensuring the British that the Belgians would be allowed religious freedom, with only a minor tax increase, in return for the British returning some colonies. Another major part of the treaty was the return of Madras in exchange forLouisbourg, though this move was somewhat unpopular.

Soon after the war young Louis decided that, in order to compete with Great Britain, France needed a far stronger navy. He decided the best way to fund this project was through taxing some of the lower nobles, a controversial concept. However he managed to use his power to push this through.

Louis XVI also made the controversial move of making New France an area of free religion. This prompted thousands of Huguenots to move to New France, some even arriving from the Thirteen Colonies, wishing to return to a French region. It was around this time that he exiled Diderot to New France partially it is by some, believed because he respected the man and did not want to see the church exact revenge upon him[3]. This particular action would be one of his most lasting legacies, it's effects still a major part of American life today.


[1] psychology
[2] something his father failed to do OTL
[3] this statement has not been repeated in any other source we have found, and is thus suspicious


* * *

"Our research has allowed us to conclude that James Wolfe and Robert Clive both died during the War of Austrian Succession. The following is an update on Ideologies and the New World."


The Originator of Libertism: Rousseau
(1916)

1750 was an important year for Rousseau, as his good friend Diderot had been exiled by the king to New France for his latest work "Letter on the Blind". Diderot had obviously been followed by some of his more devoted supporters, yet Rousseau felt he would need some more support. He also viewed this as a good chance to view his theory of natural society by visiting the native communities to observe how the equality improved in the more natural societies. That is why he chose to voyage to the New World in 1751, after publishing his work "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences".
Unfortunately much of what happened during his early days in the New World has been lost through the propaganda of our northern enemy. Enough still exists to get a vague idea of what occurred though. upon reaching New France he saw that many of the people were happier than back in France, which he felt was the result of the lack of competition for resources. The New World seemed to have limitless supplies, thus their was no need for competition between people. The mixture of laws and abundant resources allowed the colonial societies to reach an almost perfect standard in his eyes. He began writing back to France in early 1752 with stories of the superior way of life available in the colonies and how the laws were somewhat more lax as it was easy to live in the country far from anyone.


It was Rousseau writings that were a major contribution to the immigration boom that hit New France just before the First World War[1] and also aided the continuing immigration after the war. It also caused a slight loosening of laws in New France to encourage further immigration. This was an effect which Louis XVI rejoiced about as he had wanted to get rid of the more revolutionary types, but had been unsure of how until seeing Rousseau's success. By 1755, with the start of the First World War, New France's population had climbed to 96 000.


The Biggest draw back to the war for Rousseau was that he was delayed from visiting the Thirteen Colonies for several years. The events that transpired after the war would however have a significant effect on his political ideology of Libertism that was forming at the time.

[1] OTL Sevens Year War, more or less

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The First British Isolation
(1903 Calcutta)
Following the War of Austrian Succession the Austrian-British relations became chilled, as the Austrians felt that the British had not supplied enough aid. The resulting poor relations caused the Anglo-Austrian alliance to collapse. The Austrians wished to form an alliance with France in place of Britain, however the French had a strong anti-Austrian stance[1], and also preferred having Prussia as a junior partner in place of Austria which would demand an equal power. The British began to panic and tried to find a continental ally, but faced a serious impediment in that both Austria and France wished to prevent their success.


The French strengthened their grip over Prussia with a lucrative trade deal in the New World, while Denmark and Sweden remained strongly neutral. Austria was able to gain Russia's support in 1757 for an invasion of Silesia, which began the European theatre of the First World War, though it was of minimal consequence to isolated Britain. War had already broken out in the Americas when a small army of British soldiers made a failed attack on a french fortress, with only a small number escaping[2]. The Franco-British part of the conflict had began in 1755, and as Britain had no continental allies the French felt safe in sending significant armies to back up both New France and India, where they enjoyed the benefits of their victory during the Second Carnatic war.


It was clear that fighting alone against France would be difficult, especially with the new fleet that the French had built for what Louis XVI said would be a "War that reaches every corner of the World", which is obviously where the term World War came from. Unfortunately for the French their new armies in India were limited by disease, and they had trouble supplying so many soldiers in the Americas. The French also began to regret their decision to concentrate on the colonies when Austria and Russia attacked their Prussian allies. While they could supply some troops under Maurice de Saxe [3], they were able to supply some funds to aid Prussia.


The war started out badly for the British, then turned out poorly for the French and Prussians. It was the Prussians, though, who managed to by enough time for France to ready more soldiers, by defeating a larger Austrian army under Charles of Lorraine at the Battle of Breslau, where Frederick the Great led 38 000 men against the Austrian army of 78 000. The ingenious victory weakened the enemy morale, while helping the French gain a clear advance deeper in to the Holy Roman Empire. During late 1758 the French managed to surprise the British with an invasion of Minorca, and took control of much of the Mediterranean. The French fleet was badly damaged in the assault though and was forced to dock for repairs.


In the colonies things were not going so well for either side. The French armies under Montcalm, while dangerous and better trained than American militia were none the less outnumbered. This meant that almost every major battle was a French victory, but that the British were able to capture numerous under defended fortresses. Then James Abercrombie made a major mistake that many say lost the war. He decided to assemble the vast bulk of the Colonial Army and Militia for an assault on Quebec city, only barely convincing the other major general. Through his native allies Montcalm learned of this and sent his own Forces to block the British army. The British force of nearly 35 000 was ordered to attack the city by following a route up the riverside hills that was discovered watching a laundry woman. upon reaching the top the British army was met with the unpleasant surprise of Moncalm and his 10 000 disciplined troops on the Field of Abraham. The damage of the battle was exceptional. The French lost only 1 500 men, while the bewildered British lost nearly 7 000, with nearly 4 000 more to wounded to participate in the rest of the war[4]. The retreating army was also plagued by assaults by the Native allies of the French.


Hearing of this devastiting defeat the British sent a large number of reinforcements from Britain to try and revenge the loss. After all what were soldiers in Britain for but being sent to colonies that were in danger, it was not as if anyone would be able to get past the Royal Navy. While in hind sight we know just how British overconfidence swayed the course of many things, at the time it seemed like an entirely reasonable plan.

[1]as per OTL until Madame de Pompadour
[2]George Washington was one of those not able to escape
[3]De Saxe did not die of the disease or wound that killed him in OTL
[4]Several sources have contributed this victory more to Moncalm's assistant Francis de Gaston

"We are currently increasing research outside of Europe, India will likely be the focus of our next update."


* * *​

"The history of India in D- 398 is truly interesting, though so is 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]"

* * *

"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."

* * *

"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

* * *

"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

* * *

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

* * *

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).
View attachment 97010
* * *

"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. When 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."

Click Here

* * *

"I hope that this update will aid with the further understanding of D-398. Unfortunately there is little time to give a further update as the recorder had been damaged in a recent partial cave in. Perhaps we really to need to find a location other than a old underground tunnel that lies near a fault."

Louis XVI and the Period of Uncertainty
(Buenos Aires 1903)

The period after the First World war was difficult for France. Even though they had won the war the cost had been enormous, and France was now in serious debt. Louis XVI realized he had two main options, increase the taxes on the poor or tax the untaxed nobility, with only a mild increase on the common people. As the first option seemed likely to cause massive revolt Louis XVI chose to do the latter[1]. This move was quite unpopular with much of the nobility, though they simply complained. Louis XVI's popularity with the people of France increased though, with only a few minor incidences with the tax hike. However France still had some difficulty paying it's debts and was unable to undertake any great projects.

The French Navy suffered considerably during that period of debt, which would cause significant problems for France when the Second World War rolled around. The FEIC however continued to thrive throughout this period, and purchase several ships from the Navy to protect their ships from pirates. As the French experienced more trouble with their debt the FEIC was able to buy the ships for cheaper and soon had a navy nearly the size of the actual government one. This meant that many able bodied sailors went to the FEIC's employment for the better pay.

The need for money caused the French to engage in a rather risky endeavour. They decided that the profit the the British made of Rupert's Land would help them out yet they were in no position to risk war with the British, even if the British were in bad debt themselves. The French thus decided to arm the Inuit, trading with them much as they did with the other native peoples of the new world, except that the Inuit furs would be stolen from British ships. While these raids would prove risky they none the less helped the Inuit improve their living standards. The element of surprise certainly helped the Inuit as a few Kayaks could sneak up upon a British ship quite easily. There was a slightly lower profit margin in dealing with the Inuit privateers over the hunters of further south, but that was simply the nature of the system.


In the end Louis XVI managed to just barely guide France through the post war period of uncertainty. While some would argue that other courses of action could have led France through better Louis XVI's path worked well enough, and that's the
important part.

Awakening a Sleeping Power: Russia's Great Blunder
(Beijing 1907)

Paul III was not a popular man with the nobility of Russia, and this was a fact that was quite evident to him. Thus Paul made to over all policies: improve the conditions of the people to gain their support and exile nobles who spoke out against him to Siberia and Alaska. Thus Paul began the abolishment of serfdom in certain areas. The largest area was Siberia which sparked a massive flow of immigrants into that cold eastern land. He also began a gradual abolishment in Russia proper by freeing any serfs who had been under a noble exiled to Alaska or Siberia. Unfortunately this inflow of nobles into Alaska proved disastrous.

The Aleuts had been subjugated to near slavery[2] in Alaska and the influx of nobles only worsened their situation, thus they began to riot and attack the Russian forts. This prompted a need for soldiers and armaments to be shipped to Alaska. Thus large numbers ships set off from the Siberian cost to supply this demand. Unfortunately one ship, carrying rifles (which saw a fair bit of use by Russians against the small Aleut forces), was caught in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk. The entire crew either drowned or abandoned ship, with a few managing to make it to a Russian port. However the ship did not sink, but was blown of course and landed in Ezochi[3]where it was found by the local Ainu people in mid 1768. News of the ship slowly spread across the Ainu community, and soon plans were being formed for a rebellion using these strange new weapons.

By 1769 they began carrying out raids against the Japanese to try to push them off Ezochi. The terror of the rifles caused panic amongst the Japanese, if the Ainu had had muskets the effect would be far less frightening, but the accuracy of the rifles meant that the Ainu could start picking people off before anyone knew they we there. The Ainu did eventually run low on ammunition, and the superior numbers of the Japanese armies were to much for the few Ainu with rifles and their allies with weapons only equal to what the Japanese forces wielded, if not inferior.

The rebellion still had a major effect on Japan though, as many citizens now worried that the lack of gunpowder in Japan had made them open to an assault by the Europeans. Thus some of the Ainu rifles were smuggled off by these worried people to be studied. The Shogun attempted to stop these efforts, but had relatively little success and the event slowly became akin to a which hunt. Meanwhile efforts to improve the Japanese gunsmithing technology proved very successful, and small groups were soon wielding rifles as protection against the Shogun's police. Then on September 5th 1771 as small group of Riflers, as the group was called, kicked out the officials in the town of Shiroishi. It is unclear what the exact goal of this move was, though most historians now agree it was likely that the head of the local Riflers simply wanted more power, however the effect is clear.


This brought a civil war to Japan that would ravage the country for years to come. The Riflers eventually stated that it was their goal to restore the power of the Emperor and to have Japan once again be a significant force in the world, though these goals were more to gain support than the ideology of the head Riflers. Throughout the War the Shogun kept the Dutch from having any idea what was going on, in order to keep trade profitable and keep the Dutch from aiding the Riflers. It did seem for the first few years that the Riflers would be quickly defeated, but when they switch to raiding tactics the slow rifles managed to proved effective. The war continued bloodily for many long years before either side could make any sort of gains.


[1] As Louis XV did OTL

[2] As per OTL
[3] Hokkaido


* * *

"Agent Centauri reporting. We hope these further updates are of interest to the members of the institute. The local government appears to be in the beginnings of a change for the worse and we will be attempting to escape to a nearby nation, thus updates may not be as frequent as usual. If no updates are received within two months assume the worst. Centauri out."
The Legacy of Paul III
(Moscow 1974)

Paul III is a man who truly left his mark upon Russia and history. This mostly stems from his uncanny ability to be unpopular with the nobility and his decision that it was easier to be rid of nobles than befriend them. Paul III unpopularity began before he even became Czar and many historians have determined that there we likely plots to kill Paul before his coronation. As Paul's reign wore on he grew further and further from almost all the nobility, with only a few friends that he still trusted. After two assassination attempts he descended into what many have claimed was complete paranoia, though more objective views show that it may indeed have saved his life and discouraged many attempts. One of his largest moves was to purge the military of any nobility that Paul did not personally trust, replacing them with inexperienced commoners. While a few gems were found during Paul's purges the mostly just gutted the infrastructure of Paul's armies leaving them disorganized.


The nobles were far from happy with Paul's policies and attempted to resist however they could, yet all they managed to do was make Paul become more reliant on his army for his power. While Paul did mildly improve conditions for the serfs of the Russian Empire only those in the army truly benefited, and conditions for nobility plummeted. Paul basically traded the nobility for a more brutish military, but the advantage was that this new order was that it was entirely loyal to him out of a mix of fear and gratitude. It also helped as the military better understood what the common people cared about, allowing for more effective recruiting and causing Paul's armies to swell with new recruits in time for the invasion of Lithuania.


The Polish Disaster
(Kiev 1997)

Plans for the first Partition of Poland began in the mid 1760s between Prussia and Russia, however by 1770 France had begun to involve itself. This is largely contributed to Louis XVI's fascination with Poland as something to remind him of his mother who had died the previous year. Others view it as an attempt to keep Prussia under France's thumb in response to Russian-Prussian good relations that existed due to Paul III's pro-Prussian leanings. In either regard the French entry into the partnership caused notable changes to the plan. Firstly the plans became much more ambitious, with decisions to divide the entire Commonwealth, in place of simply taking a bit of the edges.

It was decided that Prussia would regain those territories in Poland that were Prussian, while the Russians would be given the Grand Duchy of Lithuanian as a zone of influence and France would had a zone of influence of Poland. The French planned to replace the Polish government with one more pliable for France's needs, in fact hoping to put Louis XVI's second son Louis Joseph Xavier on the throne. The Russians merely wished to intimidate Lithuania into submitting to Russia, possibly moving more pliable Lithuanians into positions of power, their plans at the time are not clear. Some historians believer that Paul III wanted a powerful Lithuania to help keep those Russian nobility with which Paul was unpopular with in line. Prussia's purpose was far simpler, simply wishing to retake land.

While a relatively simple idea the partition would soon descend into chaos over a small point. The French had assumed that Courland, not part of Lithuania would be French territory, while the Russians assumed that as it was not a part of Poland proper that it was clearly Russian territory. The matter had not been brought up during negotiations as neither side believed there was a problem. Thus in early April 1771 French and Prussian forces entered Poland from the west while Russian forces entered from east without this matter resolved. As the French and Prussians were attacking more important lands the bulk of the Polish forces moved against them, leaving Paul's haphazard new army with little opposition, defeating their few enemies by superior numbers.


However as the Polish collapsed further and the Partition war was mostly finished by September the French asked the Russians for permission to cross Lithuania in order to secure Courland, which was responded to by Russian confusion as to why the French were asking to secure Russian territory. As news of this spread some inexperienced and patriotic young Russians captains misinterpreted it as French aggression against the motherland and roused up their men into a patriotic fervour to attack the French 'aggressors'. Even with the poor structure of Paul's reformed army the French were caught so off guard by a Russian assault that they were defeated and shattered in the first few battles. When news of these battles reached the Generals of the two armies the Russians attempted to put a stop to it, but the confusion of the reformed army meant that these orders did not reach the bulk of the army for two weeks, by which point the French had come the to decision that Russia had begun an unprovoked war with France and ordered the French armies to return the favour by attacking the Russians. They Russian armies were thus deep in combat when they got the order to stop fighting the French, some ignored the orders while other groups surrendered.

Prussia was horrified at how it's two allies had entered into a war with one another, and they were left scurrying between the two trying to bring peace without choosing a side. The rest of the world reacted in quite a different manner. The Austrians saw the lack of available allies for Prussia as a chance to strike and regain Silesia, while the British decided that they wanted a rematch with the French for no apparent reason other than mutual loathing. The British managed to secure Danish support, thus protecting Hanover, as well as hiring large numbers of mercenaries from Hesse. Thus what began as a simple move descended into the bloodiest European war of the 18th century.

* * *

"Agent Centauri here. We made it across the border. Unfortunatly Agent Zilevec was shot, but we have stabilised him and he is recovering. We've managed to secure some updates, though the local textbooks are needing heavier editing to ensure minmal bias."

The Life of Louis XVI
(Madrid 1967)

The death of his second wife Marie-Josèph was another sad chapter in the difficult personal life of Louis XVI. Her death seemed to have made him give up on marriage, though with Louis Alexander[1], Louis Joseph Xavier, Louis Stanislas Auguste and Charles-Philippe as potential heirs[2] there was no real need for him to produce another heir. This is not to say he had no further relationships, and it is widely believed that the first real Prime Minister of France, Paul Levrault, was one of Louis XVIs illegitimate children, as well as several less well supported suspicions.
Louis XVI became even more depressed when his mother died the next year, but became convinced that he needed to retake for he family. He spent many months convincing his second oldest son that taking the throne of Poland would be the best course of action for him, as Alexander[3] would clearly be taking the French throne. Eventually Joseph gave in on the condition that if Alexander were to become unfit to rule Joseph would still be made king of France and Stanislas would gain the Polish crown.

Of course Joseph had little in the way of interest in actually travelling to Poland, but did like getting to call himself a king. Louis XVI was meanwhile happy to have someone trustworthy upon the Polish throne so that he could secure his control over his Prussian allies.

The Polish Disaster
(Kiev 1997)

The French armies in Poland were completely cut off by 1772 after the Austrians and HRE declared war upon Prussia, and thus her two allies of Russia and France. Numbering only 45 000 they faced a Russian army of 90 000 and 50 000 Austrians ready to try to take Poland. Prussia was in no shape to aid the French as they had to deal with the bulk of the Austrian and HRE armies, and the British-Danish threat. The French were able to get Chevalier de Lévis into Poland by October with 5 000 men having been diverted from the Hanoverian front. Once in Poland Chevalier managed to turn the luck of the isolated French army.

After the Year of Isolation the French army was down to merely 30 000 men, from battles and desertion. Chevalier thus began to recruit Polish soldiers into his army, which was far from a difficult task as the unruly Russian horde was far from the nicest occupational force, and the Austrians were clearly aiming to annex what they could of Poland. He thus managed to amass nearly 20 000 eager recruits to defend France's new Polish protectorate. He also became desperate for means to keep his men alive, thus he got as many engineers together as possible to find new means to protect his men. What they came up with won them the Polish front, which some Polish revisionists on a certain popular yet unreliable digicom port
[4] would call the main front of the war.

The device was a iron box, with wheels on the inside and slits for men to fire out of. To the Russian and Austrian armies they seemed to be inhuman automatons. The iron was thick enough to protect men from musket fire, though canon fire was another matter. Called 'boîtes d'assaut' they terrified the Russians completely allowing the French numerous easy victories, while the more disciplined Austrians were thrown into a panic by trying to use their old tactics with out any success. While canon fire would have destroy the devices the Russians were too poor of shots to have any success, and the French had decided to sneak their soldiers around the distracted Austrian infantry and captured the Austrian canons.


The Fifth Carnatic War
(Calcutta 1964)

After the Fourth Carnatic War it became traditional for the European caused wars in India to be called Carnatic Wars. The French had grown complacent in India after there triumphs in the Third Carnatic War, where as the British had reformed there EIC after the vicious Fourth Carnatic War. The FEIC did however have a significant naval advantage, having purchased much of the old French fleet during the 1760s, while the Royal Navy had grown more concerned with defending the British Isles. Thus there were fairly few sea battles in the Indian theatre of the Second World War, and the British were cut off, much like the French in Poland. Yet against all odds the British would prove a truly dangerous enemy.

Under the command of Sir Eyre Coote the British recruited significant numbers of Sepoys due to the direct British administration of Bengal. Though not as experienced as the French soldiers form Europe they were better adjusted to the culture and environment allowing the BEIC to engage in a war of skirmishes as ambushes. As the British control when and where the battles would occur the French numbers provided little advantage.

The French tried to request reinforcements, but the war in Europe was one of utter destruction, the British bent on revenge against the French for the invasion of Britain, the Austrians using their reformed army and the Russians being general savage.

The French were worn down, until they finally managed to convince there Indian allies that the British would remove them from the powerful positions France had put them in and also convinced the DEIC[5] that the BEIC would eliminate any competition, whereas the FEIc would try to maintain the balance of power. This allowed the FEIC some relief, but could not change the effectiveness of the BEIC skirmisher tactics. Due to the nature of there war the BEIC switched to a significantly higher use of rifles for accuracy in there surprise attacks, unknowingly adapting tactics much like the Riflers in Japan.


The Dominion: Rise of a Monstrosity
(New York 1965)

On April 5th 1772 there was a naval battle near the southern tip of Africa. The Royal Navy still foolishly believed that the FEIC's naval might was a trivial matter, and that good disciplined British sailors would brake those complacent merchant sailors. Thus the recently constructed HMS Stirling Castle was sent to deal with some FEIC ships that had been attacking British supply ships. On April 5th she met and engaged the enemy. After a relatively short battle it was clear to Captain Micheals that she was no longer sea worthy and retreated to the nearby Bay of Natal. Luckily it was still early an a fog allowed them to escape the pursuing FEIC ships, and make a safe landing. The French blindly bombarded the coast, keeping far enough away to avoid running aground, they missed the HMS Stirling[6], but did hit several natives by mistake. This act of recklessness would have repercussions upon the world for centuries to come.
The crew of the HMS Stirling were stranded and forces to convert the ship into a fortification, a move which became life saving when the natives attacked the ship believing them responsible for the bombardment. Thus relations started out on a very bad foot. The superior weapons of the British allowed them to defeat the nearest group, but this only caused news of there supposed crimes to spread further, and Captain Micheals and his men were left to endure a living hell for the next few years.
Eventually they managed to secure enough land that they could feed themselves and built a basic smithy for maintaining ammunition supplies. After nearly a year they managed to build a smaller boat to send to the Dutch Cape colony, though due to the fact that the Dutch East India Company was fighting it's British counterpart those first men were taken prisoner and the men of the HMS Stirling were left stranded until after the war.

[1]His only child from his first wife
[2]OTL's Louis XVI died in infancy in D-398
[3]This author refers to the numerous Louis by their middle names
[4]Internet Site
[5]Dutch East India Company
[6] The name is shortened frequently in D-398


* * *

"We've managed another update. I needed something to take my mind of the guilt of getting Zilevec shot. Perhaps another agent would be a better leader. Centauri out."

Denmark in the Second World War
(Copenhagen 1937)

Denmark's entry into an alliance with Great Britain in 1770 was one of believed necessity. Paul III had been planning a Russia-Prussia invasion of Denmark since before his rise to power[1]. This made the Prime Minister Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff quite unpopular as he had tried to advocate a more pro-Russian stance when it became clear that France would sacrifice Denmark for Prussia. He was soon replaced by Johann Friedrich Struensee.

Struensee felt that the only hope for Denmark was an alliance with Great Britain. He stated that the Austrians would wait until the Prussians sent enough troops to overwhelm Denmark before moving so that Silesia could more easily be taken, while France was already allied with Prussia. Thus the British with there wish to defend the nearby Hanover seemed to most obvious choice. The chances of this alliance occurring were however somewhat hampered by the the king.

The queen was the Daughter of King Frederick, which would normally be a good thing for an alliance, however king Christian VII was far from a good husband. He had even declared that "loving one's wife is unfashionable"[2] and made Queen Caroline Matilda's life miserable. Struensee was able to convince King Frederick that this was due to King Christian VII's poor health, and that an alliance between Denmark and Great Britain would benefit them both. King Frederick demand that it be proven that apart from the apparently ill king the people of Denmark cared about his daughter Queen Caroline, and took a trip to Denmark to see her.
While sad the Queen did manage to convince her father that the people of Denmark were not to be judge due to the behaviour of the king. Seeing how his daughter favoured Struensee and the poor state of King Christian VII's mental health King Frederick agreed to the alliance but also helped Struensee increase his own control over Denmark.

The alliance went along well until the Poland Crisis in 1771. The British pushed for a strike against the Prussians to retake the land lost during the First World War, while the Danes preferred to try and ride out the war. Eventually the British manage to promise the Danes a big enough, yet vague enough, reward the the Danes agreed to join the assault. The combined forces enjoy a good deal of success at first as the Prussian armies were in Silesia, the Danish delay had meant the Austria had struck first in the opposite of what the Danish government had feared would occur in an alliance with Austria. The Prussians did eventually manage to get some troops to the Danish front, but the couldn't spare enough for a war on two fronts. Frederick thus decided that the Austrians were a greater concern and that he would deal with Denmark later.

The French and Russians viewed things differently though. They were both now at war with Britain and Denmark as part of the defensive treaty they both had with Prussia. Thus the two warring nations both sent forces to fight the Danish army. The fact the the two nations were at war had it's most effect at the battle of Uelzen, where the Danish army of 15 000 was vastly outnumbered by a French force of 25 000 and a Russian army of 35 000. The two armies did not know of the others presence and when they saw each other the battle soon descend into a three sided brawl. In the end the Danes retreated leaving the Russians and French still fighting. The Battle of Uelzen would end up being synonymous with bringing up irrelevant problems, being the origin of the saying "You're starting an Uelzen".


WWII the Colonial Fronts
(Lisbon 1955)

With the start of the Second World War and France's difficult position in Europe the British felt it was time for revenge. For the British the French invasion of Britain was some sort of war crime that had no parallel, a result of there previous impervious-ness that they had enjoyed for centuries. They thus struck back in the Second World War with more fury than was reasonable for there economic situation. They benefited from the fact the French Navy had fallen into disrepair during the peace. The British soon found themselves in easy control of almost every ocean in the world, except the Indian. There they learned the hard way that the FEIC had kept it's fleet as disciplined as any navy, and had been able to purchase the highest quality weapons with there gains from trade in India. The Royal Navy however continued to send ships to try to resupply there troops in India, as India was the most popular of the British colonies and also the most profitable.

The Royal Navy thus loss an excess of ships trying to prove that the FEIC was merely being lucky, while the FEIC managed to expand it's naval force with captured British ships. While the guerrilla warfare in India proved to be a nightmare for the FEIC they were able to rule the Indian Ocean with a great deal of success. There success eventually resulted in the French government asking the FEIC to spread it's operation to the West Indies and became the French Indies Company. There naval forces arrived by 1774, but it had little effect on the land war there as in India. This was because the French would spare a mere 8 000 men for the new world and the British people demand that no soldiers be sent.
The fighting in North America was thus mostly done by the local militias, much to the disapproval of the grow communitarian movement in New France along with the smaller movement in the Thirteen Colonies. This left the Yankees feeling utterly dejected by the British, and while they managed to pull together a militia of 40 000 compared to the total French force of 25 000, they also suffered from poor morale. Sure the French hadn't sent many troops, but they were fighting viciously in Europe, while the British could easily spare at least 10 000 men. It was this, along with the numerous British attempts to tax the Yankees that started the 1773 Boston Riot, which soon spread over a good chunk of New England. The riots used up large numbers of Yankee soldiers, if it weren't for the war the Boston Riots could well have spread across the Thirteen Colonies regardless of the French presence, but the war meant that paranoia was at a high point and many feared the idea that the French would puppetize any Yankee nation.
As a good part of the Boston rioters had pro-libertist opinions these riots stopped libertism from growing to be the dominant ideology of the Yankees, even though it better fit there culture. The war was a long and violent affair, with the Boston Rebellion being put down by 1776, though the fighting between Yankees and Canucks continued for another year.



[1]As per OTL
[2] A slight variation of an OTL quote

* * *

Louis XVII: The Steam King
(Nice 1966)

Louis Philip was always somewhat of an enigma within the French court. He had little interest in the affairs of state, and many wondered if there was something the matter with him. However on his 16th birthday when he was given a small steam powered toy. This awoke a fascinating with mechanics in the young dauphin. His father was overjoyed that Philip had finally become interested in something and made sure his son was given all the books he wanted on engineering, and he boy devoured everything he was given. He soon began trying to get permission to build devices of his own, but this his father denied him, worried for the Dauphin's life.
Philip did however manage to get his father to provide money to engineers, especially those in his two favourite fields of steam power and air balloons. While his father felt that these were wastes of money it kept the prince happy, so he agreed to pay. This is often attributed to the reason why France took the lead in both these fields for much of the later part of the 18th century. The easy ability to gain funding in Paris attracted many inventors to the city, resulting in a mini renaissance. The prince soon began to work closely with the Scottish immigrant James Watt and Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.
This eventually turned into the famous Royal Steam Company, which was in the middle of creating a steam wagon when the SWW[1] interrupted there funds of the company.

The Italian Front in World War Two
(Venice 1943)
With the Austrian invasion of Venice the Italian states were on edge, and when the Second World War came around the Italians rushed to France's side. Unfortunately the Austrians were too powerful for most of the North Italian states, leaving only Genoa and Piedmont to fight with France. The cost of the war was too much for Genoa, which had not yet recovered from the First World War, however they did manage to sell Corsica to France. France had little use for the island, but they needed the Genoan troops more than the money the island had cost. The French would not even act on the purchase until after the war was completed.
The war in Itali[2] was dominated by the Austrians, with there armies being successful enough to push down towards Sicily while still fighting in the north. The Italians front was probably the most successful one for Austria. The French were pushed to the edge of there capacity just slowing the Austrian advance. However unlike the other fronts the Italian war was simply a sluggish brawl between the two opposing sides, with no innovations or stunning victories.
In the end it proved a pointless slaughter ground to the French and Austrian forces, but it began the seeds of the Italian Nationalist movement as forces from Piedmont to Sicily were brought together against the outside Austrian front that had previously attacked Itali unprovoked[3]showing an Italian brotherhood that would lead to the uniting of the country.

The Rise of the Riflers[4]
(Edo 1906)
While the Europeans slaughtered themselves over there petty feuds the Riflers continued to fight for the freedom of the Japanese people from Shogun authoritarianism. The innovations of the Riflers were the key to the success of the revolution. The European 's guns had proved useful, but the people of Europe had grown to rigid in their schools of thought, while the Japanese had managed to determine new more efficient methods of rifle making.
One of the major breakthroughs of the Riflers was the triple shooter. With a rifle barrel, and two quick shooter[5]barrels on the bottom. This allowed accuracy for the first shot of an ambush, and two quick shots soon after. The two quick barrels could also be loaded together more quickly than loading twice, allowing a closer rate of fire to archers. Another invention was the heavy rifle, the size of a canon, but designed with a rifle style barrel for an increase in precision, it was by far the most accurate artillery piece of it's time.
These, and numerous other innovations, allowed the Riflers to slowly push back the forces of the Shogun. Coupled with the teachings of the Riflers, including returning the Emperor's power and returning Japan to being a world power, which caused many who had suffered under the Shogun's rule to side with the Riflers. The Riflers made a major breakthrough in 1775 when they managed to liberate the Emperor from the Shogun's forces. This glorious victory caused many of the Shogun's followers to question his power.
While the war would rage on for another three years it was clear after that point that the Riflers had won, and the People of Japan would soon be liberated and allowed once more to exert there might on the world at large.

The Polish Disaster
(Kiev 1997)
By 1774 it had become clear that the war in Poland was only getting Russian and French soldiers killed, at that the Austrians were enjoying every minute of it. Thus the French and Russians managed to come to an agreement that they would modify the Polish-Lithuanian border to represent the military holdings and Courland would be left independent. This was a great relief for the French, who could now relax no longer surrounded. As the combined Russian and French forces struck the Austrian army they found that the Austrians had managed to adopt the french assault boxes, and the battle was a slow and vicious one.
The British and Danish armies were keeping enough soldiers busy that there would be more reinforcements for the soldiers on that front. The French were soon desperate for assistance and they turned to the only power they could hope to gain assistance from: the Ottoman Empire. The French had little to offer the Ottomans as their treasury was all but depleted, but they decided to offer a distant corner of Poland to the Ottomans. While it angered many Polish citizens an end to the war was viewed as a far more positive thing. Thus in October of 1774 the Ottoman army struck Austria from behind, throwing their forces into disarray.
The Austrians continued to fight for about a month longer, but the Austrians found themselves isolated. They were forced to call for a peace treaty, though it was clear that pushing for anything more than the status quo of the pre war situation would lead to a longer war, allowing the Austrians off easy.

[1] Second World War
[2] An alternate spelling of Italy occasionally used by D-398ers
[3] The Austria excuse is considered nonsense
[4] The Japanese are quite nationalistic, so any Japanese texts are questionable
[5] A reverse engineered musket from the rifles

* * *

The Last True King in Britain: George III
(Delhi 1905)

George III followed the Hanoverian tradition of not getting along with his father. When his Frederick was crowned the young prince decided to try to escape his overly controlling father. He first fled to Hanover, almost as soon as the First World War was over. While there he became very concerned about the precarious situation of the area, and decided that when he became king he would never let the city fall into the peril his father had left it in during the FWW.
after about two years in the home of his family King Frederick decided to follow him. This caused the young prince to flee once more, this time to that hostile land of France, where he was sure that his father would never follow him. The French accepted him as Louis XVI wanted to improve the long term Franco-British relations.
Young George thus went to see the numerous Princes of France. He found Louis Philip was too busy attempting to power everything with steam to be of any interest, and the other Princes were all to convinced of French superiority for George to stomach, as well as being far younger. He soon decided that it was in his best interest to head to another part of the British world, and he rightfully determined that his father would never follow him to the Thirteen Colonies. His arrival was received with mixed feelings, some glad that England was showing true interest in the colonies, others believing that George had been sent by the government to tighten control around the Yankees and collect taxes. Neither group realized that the Prince had rather poor relations with his father.
In the colonies George became fascinated with the land and sure that the crown needed to take more interest in the territory. He became sure that there was the potential to gain as much profit out of the Americas as India if only the land was better managed. This played right into the fears of the many separatist groups in the Thirteen Colonies, prompting more Yankee paranoia. Many historians have argued that it was George III's trip to the colonies that had the most influence on the Tea Rebellion, though most reasonable historians can see that the more wide reaching tax reforms of king Frederick are more likely the cause.
Hoping to find better company in the more loyal southern colonies, instead what he saw disgusted him. The widespread slavery horrified the prince along with the brutality of it all. Thus George soon found he'd run his welcome dry in the south as well.Unfortunately for George the Second World War broke out just before he planned to leave, and it was judge too dangerous for him to cross the ocean with the French Navy attacking British ships. Thus he was trapped in a land where he was far from popular, at least with the male portion of the population as there are numerous case of children bearing a suspicious likeness to the King. Throughout the next few years George travelled a good deal of the countryside, avoiding the border and the New England region. However for all his caution George was still assaulted in three assassination attempts during this difficult period, which numerous redirective history authors[1] have used for there works of fiction.
During the Tea Rebellion the Thirteen Colonies suffered a notable manpower shortage, which George attributed to poor recruiting schemes. He eventually went to some of those regions which had offered few troops and gave fiery speeches about how the threat from with the nation was a greater danger than the outside threat, and that troops raised would be sent to quell the rebellion before the Canadien[2]front. Believing he had used his own charisma to rally these troops George was quite proud of his raising hundreds of troops, little did he realise that he had recruited communitarians who had been reluctant to join the army in case they were sent to fight their fellow communitarians in Canada. Those troops that George raised would soon form the core of the rebellious army that would later affect the Yankee lands, but that is a point for later in this book.
George was soon able to leave the dangerous colonies though, as his father died of a heart attack in 1775. This meant that a truly formidable force was sent to recover the wandering prince from the Americas. When he finally arrived home he was horrified as to just how badly the war was going. With Austria having recently surrendered other than Britain the only nation fighting the French was little Denmark, which would have clearly lost against Prussia alone. George feared that Hanover might fall and ordered as many troops as possible sent to defend the region. George pushed for peace in India, disregarding the fact that the EIC[3] was making gains against the RIC[4], a very unpopular move as India was viewed as the only respectable colony. The RIC quickly accepted these terms, knowing that losses in Europe would not cost there company. George III's desire for troops was so great that there were even Sepoys sent to defend Hanover. The only troops kept in Britain itself were to quell riots of those fearing that the Home Island was being left wide open to French assault, a fear that ignored the Royal Navies massive superiority to her French counterpart, but was still quite wide spread.
George III reign thus began on an incredibly unpopular note as he emptied Britain of it's armies.

A Change of Fortune: 1774-1777
(Helsinki 1985)
The surrender of Austria in 1774 was the beginning of the end for The Anglo-Danish alliance in the Second World War. After there great fortune in the beginning of the war fighting desperately seemed an incredible shock. Luckily the Turks had not continued to fight with France, offended that they gained nothing more than a patch of Polish farmland for fighting Austria. Thus the small Danish army of 70 000, along with the slightly larger British force of 110 000 found itself against the massive forces of 150 000 Prussian soldiers, and far larger numbers of French and Russian soldiers.
Amazingly the allies held out by adopting the style of tactics used by de Gaston. The British coined the term battle crates for there boites d'assaut, and used them to startling efficiency against the Prussians, who had no experience with these devices, and the Russians, who remained as disorganized as ever. The Danes were force to eventually retreat back to the thin Jutland, where there small army could hold out against a far larger force. However king Christian VII hung himself when he heard that Danish territory was being occupied. This nearly through Denmark into a succession crisis were it not for the fact that two days later it was discovered that the queen was pregnant. While she was far enough along that the king could conceivably be the father it is widely believed that Johann Stuensee was the father, and some would go so far as to say that Struensee killed the king to gain the near total control that he gained in the absences of a king. Stuensee's force of personality was however what was needed to allow Denmark to hold out.
In Hanover things were even more bloody. The British had created a desperate defensive line out of numerous trenches ringing the held territory, though they knew there ability to hold out was questionable. Only king George pushed on for the war, believing that if he held out a little longer the enemy would crack and beg for a peace. It was during this period that George III is believed to have begun showing the madness that would later cripple his judgement.
By early Spring 1777 the Russians signed a deal with Sweden, Paul III renouncing his claim to the Swedish throne in order and promising Norway in exchange for Swedish assistance. The deal was sweet enough that the Swedes soon marched into Norway, now utterly surrounded the Danes surrendered. Alone the British held out for but another week, before surrendering themselves. Thus the harsh treaty of Copenhagen was signed, though it did benefit the British in India returning to them the territory they lost in the First World War. It took away the Danish protectorates in the HRE, gave Sweden most of Norway (the Russians took a little to appease the people), and returned the burnt crisp of the Channel Islands to the Stuarts[5].


[1]Alternate History Authors
[2]A popular spelling of Canadian in D-398
[3]The OTL EIC, the French changed the name of there company to
[4]The Royal Indies Company, reflecting the fact that the Company had gained access to the West Indies in exchange for sending ships there
[5]To be covered soon


* * *

"And the map"

* * *

"We hope these new pieces of information should prove interesting, and also surprisingly ironic. At least that is my opinin, Agent Peters claims it is odd but not actual irony. I will let you at HQ be the judges."

The Burning of the Channel Isles
(Lisbon 1994)


Following the start of the Second World War the British decided that it would be in there best interest to rid themselves of the Stuart Kingdom in the Channel Islands. Thus 1 000 men were sent to take the two islands, and to kill or imprison all of the Stuart claimants to the throne of Great Britain. On April 3rd 1773 the man landed on the shores of Jersey first, before there ships took the rest to Guernsey island. The soldiers quickly mopped up the 50 soldiers on the islands and went straight for the palace. There they met the resistance of the rather drunk King Charles III, who they shot claiming him to have been a threat. They then took his wife Queen Clementa[1] prisoner, where she was eventually found guilty of treason and executed. A similar treatment awaited the other close relatives of the Stuarts. In all only one Stuart escaped the horrors, Prince Charles[2].
The Prince had only escaped the conflagration through being in a French military school at the time. When news reached him of the horrors that had occurred on the Channel Islands he fell into a depression that lasted several months. When he finally recovered in September he set off for the Vatican, and was there crowned King Charles IV[3] of Great Britain and the numerous other titles of the British monarchy, except for the note able absents of claiming France. Charles IV had decided to follow this course as his father had renounced his claim to Great Britain in exchange for the Channel Islands, and yet had been killed for it anyway, so the new king decided he might as well go a head and be crowned king.
Back on the Islands the British soldiers had set into place some rather Draconian laws, such as the fact that anyone suspected of having been a Stuart sympathiser was declared an enemy of the Crown, and those who turned in such enemies would be given the property of the convicted. This lead to numerous rather suspicious arrests of business men by there rivals, and other similar situations where patriotism was utterly irrelevant. Many hundreds of people fled the islands, some to France others to Britain.
A significant number of those who left for France decided to serve under King Charles IV, as the True British Army. This group soon gained many Jacobites slipping across the Channel to join it and ended up numbering about 15 000 by the end of the Second World War. Due to the significance of this army meant that the French were pressured to regain the Channel Islands for Charles IV, at the cost of some of there gains in the New World[4]. Charles' army was appalled by what they found upon returning to the islands. Numerous people were found guilty of treason again, though Charles was far less severe than the previous occupiers of the army. Any loss in population was also soon refilled by a rather large inflow of Jacobite families, pushing the population of the islands up far higher than the original population.


The Parisian Ascendancy
(Ula an Baa tar 1991)

With the Second World War over the French steam works once again gained their royal funding. Thus Cugnot and Watt went to work on building Cugnots concept of a steam wagon to carry artillery, at least until the Marshal of France came along. François de Gaston, Chevalier de Lévis was the new Marshal, and he saw the steam wagon as having another use which he believed was far better than Cugnot's scheme to transport canons. Firstly he felt that the canon ran to high a risk of destroying the valuable steam wagon if it backfired and managed to convince Cugnot of this risk. He then put forward the idea that the Battle Boxes could be placed on the steam wagon instead. This idea came from the fact that the boxes were to heavy to be moved very well, and it was impossible to get any sort of design to have a horse move the box with out seriously over complicating things.
Thus in 1778 the first of the rollers[5] were constructed by France, though they were far from the mobile devices found today. They were such slow and unruly devices that de Lévis was left wondering if he had wasted his money on them. Cugnot tried to insist that the rollers had potential if given more time but, against the wishes of the Prince, de Lévis cut the military funding to the project. While Cugnot continued to work away on the devices on a note ably lower budget Watt decided to return home to attempt to gain funding there, a move that would have serious implications for the world later on.
De Lévis did however have interest in the Prince's other fascination of air balloons. The Montgolfier brothers were enjoying numerous success in testing there devices, and in 1780 they made the first ever manned flight. De Lévis immediately saw the usefulness of these devices for scouting and sending orders to armies. He thus increased the funding for air balloon designs, which kept France well ahead of everyone in that field until the Period of Revolutions came along and through the world on it's head.


New Rohan: A History
(Nouveau Morbihan 1966)

After the Second World War Charles de Rohan began to fear his family was to fade away into history. He was the last of the male Rohans, and had had himself only daughters. De Rohan came upon the conclusion that he needed a land named for his family if the name of Rohan was to survive. He thus searched for some time before finding an explorer willing to name a land after the Rohans. He eventually managed to hire Jean-François de Galaup, the count of Pérouse. De Galaup was a hero of the Second World War, having made several raids with the help of France's Inuit allies against British forts on Hudson's Bay.

De Galaup decided that the most reliable place to go would be Nova Zeelandia[6] would be the best place to go, as it was clear that the area was only loosely claimed by anyone, but was guaranteed to exist. De Galaup knew that it was easily justifiable to rename the area, just as the British had done when they controlled Acadia. Thus setting of with three ships were sent off, with plans to build a fort on the North Island to strengthen French claim to the region. Also aboard the ship wee the naturalists Michel Anderson and Pierre Joseph Amoreux.

The ships set of in 1777, and soon reached the Cape of Good Hope. There they traded some supplies for heading east, at one point after leaving the colony De Galuap remarked upon the irony of the Dutch feeding Frenchmen who planned to rename Nova Zeelandia. However before they made it clear of Africa a period of rough weather forced them to try and shelter in the Bay of Natal, where they found the small remainder of the crew of the HMS Stirling. That group, not yet informed that the war was over threatened the French ships unless some payment was made. The French were not interested in a fight that could reignite war and so agreed to give the British a few supplies, such as ammunition and medicine. The British were also shocked to hear that the war was over, but soon decided the French were saying that simply to avoid a fight. After the weather cleared up the French left immediately for India. The only real gain out of staying at Natal was that Anderson and Amoreux managed to study some of the local fossils, which they would compare to those in New Rohan for remarkable importance.

The stop over in India consisted mainly of resupplying, and agreeing to allow the RIC to be in charge of trade in New Rohan, which de Rohan had planned from the beginning, but had been unable to convince the RIC in Paris of. The officials in India were a bit more daring and thought it an interesting idea and agreed to offer some goods and tradesman. The small fleet thus gained a fourth RIC ship. After a rather long time at sea they finally reached the northern island. travelling south along the coast the soon reached a body of water which de Galaup decided to name La Pérouse Straight[7] which they then followed east a bit further until the came to a bay which they named Charles bay, on which they set up there fort of Sud Paris[8]. They then claimed both islands in the name of Louis XVI and of France, renaming the land New Rohan.



[1]In this dimension she did not leave him, as he seems to have been less depressed than OTL as King Louis XVI was more supportive.
[2]Charlotte Stuart was male in D-398
[3]His father Charles had remained a Catholic in D-398 and had thus managed to become crowned by the pope as King Charles III of Britain
[4]These gains were very minor, a British outpost or two.
[5]Roller is a term used for self propelled vehicles in D-398
[6]Due to Britains poorer economic situation Cook did not go to New Zealand
[7]OTL Cook Straight
[8]On the same bay as OTL Wellington

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"This world continues to become further and further from our own home dimensions that it is quite shocking. D-398 really wastes no time cutting to the chase and diverging hard. This next update consists of certain information on the Maori language that we can not tell you how much is OTL and how much is not as we do not have any experts on Maori linguistics with us. The compendium has shown us that most of the terms have wound up being almost perfectly OTL, Centauri out"

New Rohan: A History
(Nouveau Morbihan 1966)

The small French expeditionary force soon made contact with the native people. After a short while of negotiations the French came to the belief that the name of the people of New Rohan was the Tângata, which was in fact the word for people. This confusion would eventually lead to many difficulties when the French understanding of Tângatan language improved. Eventual the Europeans began to be called Tea, the Tângatan word for white, though this term would cause confusion for many British colonists. The term Oui-oui was also used, being the Tângatan word for France, believed to have originated from the French and there constant saying of "oui oui" when trying to get the Tângata to continue.
The French-Tângatan relations where quite peaceful, with the French using the mild intervention that they had originally used in the New World. Unfortunately the Tângatan were far more interested in exploration than the Native people of the Americas, thus de Galaup was forced to keep the Tângata on the island so as not to risk the Tângata encountering other Europeans and ruining the French trade monopoly. The French influence to stabilise to small islands, leading to a form of confederation across the islands, due to French insistence upon peace amongst the Tângata.
Eventually de Galaup could no longer hold back the Tângata demand to explore as was in their Polinesian bones. He thus organized the build of two European style ships for Tângata use, which would be accompanied by one of his own ships. The following journey was one of exceptional exploration, the Tângata insisting on making some contact with almost every island, establishing a loose French-Tângata trade system across the many islands. The greatest discovery would occur in 1780 when the small fleet discovered a series of large islands deep in the Pacific. Believing that these could be the legendary land of Hawaiki[1] the Tângata chose that name for it. The French soon realised that this region would be a very useful trading point and established a trading post on the largest island, which was manned by a nearly even number of Tângata and French.
Back in New Rohan some of the French, especially Anderson and Amoreux, there was a push to explore the little known landmass to the west. After convincing de Galaup that this expedition could prove profitable they managed to gain a ship. After mapping some of the south coast the the land mass of Australe[2], the group landed and began to explore some of the region, and they were surprised to find Lingupteris[3] which they had found in southern Africa, around the Cape colony. This would of course be the first real evidence of the modern theory of Shell Kienism[4]. Unfortunately Anderson would never get to see the the continuation of discovery in India as he would go missing when he went off on his own one day a week into the expedition. Much blame would be placed on the local people, but if the story of the famous Aborigine rebel Théophile Anderson then Michel Anderson did indeed survive to meet another Aborigine nation. However apart from some scientific curiosity there was little of value on Australe, so the men returned home after a month of searching for Michel Anderson.
When de Galaup arrived in India he was shocked to find the news that the British had sent an expedition to Australe. This left him quite upset as he had hoped to claim that land for France as well, after all it may not have been of interest to the RIC it had a chance to be a good land for colonies. If one were to ignore the massive desert that covers most of the continent. The RIC did express interest in setting up more trading forts across the Pacific, to try to bring the world's largest ocean under French influence. Thus the RIC sent ten ships off into the great expanse of the Pacific to establish trade.

The Migrations of the Colonies
(Kingston 1966)

The Twenty Years of Peace saw many great movements of colonists, for numerous reasons. Firstly there was the British panic over the French expedition to New Rohan, which caused many to fear that they French were planning to take Australia[5] as well so as to gain more ports in the Indian ocean and cut Britain off from India. Thus Captain Cook set off with ten ships to establish a series of forts along the Australian shore. ON his way he made contact with the poor stranded crew of the HMS Stirling, and helped them with new ammunition. Seeing the potential value as a stop of on the was to India Cook ordered a ship sent back to Britain with the interest of securing the outpost. Cook meanwhile continued on up to India before moving south again to Australia. Upon arriving on the East coast he was surprised to find a much lusher region than the Dutch stories of the northern coast. While Cook established four forts the news of the good land spread back to Britain. Many loyal subjects of the crown who longed for the frontier life felt that Australia would be a better site than the Americas were dangerous revolutionary sentiment ran high. Thus the British colonies in Australia boomed, reaching 100 000 by the end of the century.
This period also saw the great slavers exodus from the Thirteen Colonies. Abolitionists, both Cummunitarian and Libertist, had made life quite difficult for the slave owners of the southern colonies, inciting revolts or causing boycotts of any goods produced through slavery. Thus many of the Slave owners left of the new colony in South Africa, which was somewhat better suited to there needs than Australia, and more importantly it was closer. This had an interesting effect on the other arrivals in that colony, prisoners. It soon became the common punishment for criminals to be sent to the Natal Colony and sold into a temporary slavery. This was of course the start of the horrors that the Dominion of Africa would later exact upon many people.
This period also saw a mass exodus of Yankee Libertists due to the failure of the Boston Rebellion, and the ensuing taxation put in place by King George III. While crossing New France was difficult, the Spanish government was successfully convinced that this wave of Yankee immigrants would help them secure northern New Spain, especially after the French had purchased the Spanish territory in their claimed territory. This migration has of course left the mark that the northern states of the LRA have a primarily Anglophone population. New Spain also saw the arrival of many loyalists from the Philippines after the French purchased the archipelago from Spain in 1781, for what many believe to have been an insultingly low price. Many of these new arrivals were swept up by the Libertists using the dejection felt from their homes being sold by the king, further strengthening the Libertist hold over many segments of society.
Finally there was also the German wave during this period which saw thousands of new immigrants from the Germanies. New France became the focus for many Prussian immigrants, whilst the Thirteen Colonies saw many Austrians arrive. This group consisted either of those who were tired of the constant war of there home lands or those who felt that both Prussia and Austria were merely using the HRE for there own interests outside of the HRE. These immigrants were only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the dejected feeling in the Germanies, but it was enough to spark counter immigration by both France and Britain, who feared that the number of Germans would eventual eclipse their own people unless the acted soon, though this fear was quite ungrounded.

[1]OTL Hawaii
[2]Using the name from the 1676 novel by Gabriel de Foigny, and refusing to allow the anglophones to translate it to show the French were responsible for much of the early exploration
[3]Glossopteris
[4]Plate Tectonics
[5]As an Anglophone text they use English spelling


* * *

For clarity's sake here are the best diagrams of late 1700s Battles boxes and Assault Rollers that we could find.


* * *


George the Iron Fisted
(London 1908)


George III was a man who was very out of touch with the British people, and the people of her colonies. He felt that Parliament had gained far too much power, and proceeded to use bribery to destroy all it's credibility and independence soon becoming a trivial formality for the authoritarian king. While this would allow George III the freedom he wanted it would ultimately speed the end of the old regime, the opposite of George's hope that more power would show how the royal family was more useful than a bickering parliament. He then set himself on a course of disaster angering almost everyone under British rule, except perhaps the Hanoverians. To pay for the cost of the two world wars he raised taxes in Britain and her colonies, the British citizens were pushed through the worst of if as French privateering had made the colonies far less profitable. Despite this George remained convinced that if he could tighten his grip around the American colonies he could get far more out of them for trade, and in doing so he neglected India the only colony thought truly useful by most of the British people. He thus angered the Yankees and the British people in one foul move that only continued to build up difficulties as George sent more soldiers to try to control the Yankees.
Due to the recent Jacobite uprisings during the Second World War George demanded that the remaining Highland clans swear there loyalty to him. This prompted the 1781 Uprising, where 8 000 Government soldiers fought 5 000 Scottish rebels, killed 1 000 rebels and are rumoured to have killed up to 200 women and children who were unfortunate enough to live in the region. This sealed the Scottish hatred for George, the Irish soon became nearly as angry as anti-catholic policies were strengthened. Many thousands fled to the Americas, passing through British colonies before leaving for New France or New Spain. George was unmoved by this and merely used it as a convenience to replace the Scots with sheep, which would do more for improving Britains economy. This led to many thousands of Highlanders forced into the cities during the 1780s and 1790s, where the angry poor Highlanders met with radical Libertists and Communitarians hoping to prepare Scotland for a revolution.
Meanwhile the EIC was left to rot by the government leaving them desperate for investment. While many prominent businessmen were willing to provide capital the RIC and VOC took interest in the weakness of of the EIC, while the Portuguese and Danish companies sought to strengthen their ally. The RIC was however richer than either of the EIC's allies and was able to by back much of their SWW losses. The EIC decided to expand away from the RIC during this period and used what little funds they had to gaind influence over their northern and eastern neighbours. During this period the EIC also began improving conditions for the locals so as to have some for of defence against the inevitable French aggression.
Finally the only respectable thing that George did was his push for the abolition of slavery, which would have been good if not for the fact that many of the Loyal Yankees were loyal because the Libertists and Communitarians opposed slavery, making the British the better choice in the eyes of the slave holders. The slave holders did remain mildly loyal, and used all there power to keep slavery from being abolished, though they new it was merely an inevitability, leading many to move to either Australia or the Natal colony looking to be able to declare Independence from there. It seemed inevitable that things would end badly for George. He only did one thing that improved his standing at all.
In 1780 he was visiting Vienna when he met Mary Caroline[1] and, despite the fourteen year age difference, they fell in love. This was different from the scattering of affairs that George had had on his travels, something his servants recognized immediately. Many were happy as there was fear that George would not produce and heir, the couple would have to overcome a rather large hurdle . . .


Two English Kings in Vienna
(Budapest 1956)


In 1780 King George III of Britain was visiting Vienna in hopes of rebuilding the alliance that his father and grandfather had destroyed. Also in 1780 Charles IV decided that as the King of England recognized by the Pope he would be able to get Austrian backing as well as French and he therefore set off to Vienna. While in the past the Stuarts had been unpopular with the Hanovarians Charles IV detested the Stuarts for the massacre of his family. At first it was merely a matter of out doing the other, both kings showing up to the best parties attempting to be the center of attention. The desperate Austrians eventually began introducing George as the elector of Hanover, and Charles as the King of the Channel Islands. This was not simply about pleasing both, but also the Austrians not wanting to anger the Pope for recognizing the other King of Britain, but not wanting to ruin a possible alliance with Britain. Things remained chilly, the Austrians needing to please both sides, yet not knowing how much attention would give the right balance.
Things grew more complicated when the sisters of Mary Caroline and Mary Antonia[2] met the two rival kings. Charles IV was between the two sisters in age, while George III was note ably older. Yet Caroline soon fell for George III in what is considered by many a fairy tale relationship, while Charles IV fell for Antonia long before she fell for him. This left their older brother Emperor Joseph II in a very difficult situation. On one side he risked alienating Britain once again, on the other he risked the rage of the Pope, the French, and their allies. Joseph also new that the Catholic Germans would be angered if he chose George III, while the more radical nationalists would be angered if he chose Charles IV. Eventually Joseph II decided that George III was the better choice and attempted to forbid Antonia from marrying Charles IV, at which point Antonia decided she would leave with Charles IV whom she had finally come to love.
The night before Charles IV and Antonia were set to leave Charles IV was attending a dinner that George III was also attending in order to try and outshine George III as always when he over heard George III talking with some Austrian nobles. What exactly was said is still hotly debated to this day by Indian and English historians[3]. According to the English George III said something along the lines of: "I wish Charles had died with his family during the War," while the Indians say the real words were closer to: "It's horrible but sometimes I almost wish Charles had died with his family," which while still quite negative are not as horrible as the English accusation. Hearing this Charles IV immediately demanded a duel in his hot blooded rage, which much to everyone's surprise George III accepted. The next morning the two kings met outside the city for a duel with pistols, George III soon revealed that he had hoped to shame Charles IV into giving up, not realising that Charles IV would still be furious the next morning. The two kings thus faced off in a duel, George III being to stubborn to give in. Charles IV proved the better swordsman, cutting George III on the leg. Thus Charles IV left victorious, and George was left with a tell tale limp that would later cost him his life.

[1]Maria Carolina, Mary Antoinette's sister. She did not marry the King of Naples in D-398 as her older sister Maria Josepha survived to marry him instead.
[2]Marie Antoinette, with her name less Frenchified
[3]The Australians, Scottish, Irish and pretty well everyone else argue the point as well but not to the same ferocity.


* * *

A Study of Anglo-Indochinese Relations
(Stirling City 1921)

After the invasion of Cambodia by the Siamese king P'ya Taksin the stage was set for a revolt in Vietnam, which the famous Tay Son brothers soon capitalised upon. They soon raised an army of peasants against the powers that controlled the region. Nguyen Hue proved a skilled military leader taking his peasant army to victory against the professional forces, though the fact that they were fighting the Nguyen lords has made it quite confusing for many history students to hear of a Nguyen leading armies against the Nguyen armies. When the Tay Son liberated the merchant city of Quy Nohn[1] they gained a decent supply of funds. By this point the Nguyen responded to what he now realised was a serious revolt, making peace with the Siamese to attempt to crush the revolution. As his armies marched towards the rebellious forces to Trinh broke the long peace that had existed with the Nguyen and invaded, capture the Nguyen capital forcing the Nguyen to retreat to Gia Dinh. This was the start of the end for the Nguyen who were eventually captured and killed in 1777[2].
It was then that the EIC became interested in local events. The young John Shore decided to engage in negotiations with the Tay Sons, hoping to gain local support as support from London was wasting away with George III's policy of investing in the Yankee colonies gained momentum. The Tay Sons were interested in the British offer of weapons and alternative tactics. The EIC was soon sending cannons and muskets to aid the Tay Son keep control of the area, and not a moment too soon as the Siamese soon attacked. The spectacular Tay Son victories took the Siamese by surprise and lead to rebellions in Siam. The EIC and Tay Son then divided the Siamese Empire. The three Tay Son brothers put themselves in charge as provisional leaders of each of the three territories while still attempting to gain the return of the emperor. However the Chinese continued to tell the Le Emperor that the Tay Son would render him a mere puppet to them, where as with the Chinese he would enjoy freedom in his own land as long as he remained their ally.
By 1783 the Chinese had prepared enough troops after their disastrous Burmese campaign to invade the Tay Son controlled lands, however the modern armies which the Tay Son and EIC could field were more than a match for Chinese forces. Fighting ruthlessly the EIC under Shore made a surprise attack against the Chinese just after their New Years celebrations, slaughtering the Chinese forces as they rested after the celebrations. As many of the Chinese forces fled the battle in a half panicked state in the early morning of the battle the Vietnamese army lay in wait surrounding the battle to pick off any deserters. The Chinese army was soon surrounded and defeated even though it was far larger then the enemy armies. The British and Vietnamese then came to a point of disagreement, the British favoured striking into China, where as the Vietnamese favoured to leave the Chinese alone so as not to incur the full might of the Chinese empire.
Thus peace was finally made in 1785, while Nguyen Hue was declared the emperor of Vietnam after it became clear that the Le dynasty would not be returning. The British influence lead to the creation of a parliament in Vietnam as a guarantee to the people. With Nguyen Hue the Emperor, a new leader was needed for the Siamese provinces, and the general Thong Duang[3] a popular Siamese general was given the position to keep the Siamese people happy. This lead to a short period of stability until the Burmese invasion of 1785.


The Birth of the Canadien Pacific
(Sableville 1933)

By the early 1780s Louis XVI was growing concerned about the lack of Pacific access for New France. The British had begun to establish themselves in the poorly explored region between Alaska and New Mexico. The main expedition was of course under Arthur Phillip which led to the establishment of the penal colony on Drake Island, named after Sir Francis Drake who claimed to have explored the region, a move that had it's route in the Boston Rebellion's demand to end the penal colonies in the Thirteen Colonies, a policy which king George III agreed with, as he felt that it would help his plan to pacify the region. Thus Arthur Phillip was sent to find a suitable location for a penal colony. While Phillip had proposed Australia the general feeling was that too large of a penal colony near the French colony of New Rohan would lead to rebellion, and some people found Hawkingsland[4] a rather distasteful place to send convicts as they were treated worse than slaves by the plantation owners of Hawkingsland. There was also a growing abolitionist sentiment in Europe, and the widespread slavery in Hawkingsland made the idea of benefiting them with free labour from convicts unpopular. Unfortunately shipping convicts to Drake Island proved more expensive then Hawkingsland, and thus many convicts were still sent to that Southern African Hell.


However this intrigue had little effect of Louis XVI's opinion that the British planned to surround New France via the expanding Hudson's Bay Lands and Drake Island, thus and expedition was prepared to explore the route to the Pacific. This was the beginning of the Famous Baudin and Du Sable expedition. The two men were hired for their adventurous nature, even though both were rather young the forward thinkers of New France saw no problem with that. Along with this famous pair went another twenty men who's names are rarely mentioned. The group set off from the growing town of St. Louis, and headed west. They followed the Missouri river until it's end, stopping to trade with the occasional tribe of natives. The expedition was stalled for some time until they found a route to the Salmon River[5]and followed that river west until they reached the Pacific. They then travelled north along the coast until they found Fort De Langle, named after Paul Antoine de Langle who had set off from India to explore the Pacific and establish a fort in North America.




[1]Qui Nohn, the British went for a less French spelling
[2]This is where things diverge from OTL, as the campaign in D-398 is slower due to worse weather
[3]OTL King Rama I
[4]The Natal colony, named after John Hawkins, Sir Francis Drakes cousin and the first real British slave trader
[5]In D-398 the Shoshone tribes gesture to show swimming salmon is not misinterpreted as having to do with snakes

And a Map.


* * *

"We apologise for the shortness of this update, but Agent Barrin has come down with a rather nasty flu. Interdimensional diseases can be quite nasty as you all know."

Dr Sigé: the Father of Modern Medicine
(Venice 1934)

While many argue that there are no men in history without whom the world would be drastically different, the famous Dr. Sigé is a glaring example of the great men who have lived throughout history. The sheer numbers of radicals changes which Dr. Sigé realised upon the medical world was such that even if any one of his discoveries may have been found the fact that he was able to see them all greatly advanced medical science. He is probably most known for his discovery of the smallpox vaccine. Having grown up in the very dairy based regions of the Augereau[1] River Joseph Sigé noticed that smallpox was much less widespread than in other nearby regions with less dairy production. It was with several years of research, starting in 1768, than he determined that it was cowpox that was providing the immunity. He decided to test his theory on his one of his assistants who volunteered for the test, Robert Garlau. When Garlau recovered from the cow pox he was then exposed to smallpox and showed an immunity. This discovery alone would have made Sigé one of the most famous doctors in history, but his contributions did not end there.
Dr. Sigé was also and avid clean freak, some believing he may have even suffered from mild Obsessive Monomania[2], though there is only conjecture to support this, and it may also be a simple matter of people trying to take away from the incredible contributions of Dr. Sigé. What ever the case Dr. Sigé's attentiveness to record keeping combined with his concentration on cleanliness. This meant that Dr. Sigé had a large amount of information to back up his claims when he pushed for cleanliness he was able to provide examples of how his efforts improved survival rates amongst his patienta. Unfortunately for the world most of the medical practitioners of the world declared that his statistics were the result of coincidence and that cleaning was merely a waste of time. Some also attributed his success to the clean air of the New World compared to Europe, the only argument that has any real truth behind it. Thus his ideas were only able to spread amongst fellow Communitarians, which resulted in the Libertists nations adopting cleanliness in medicine far later with there views that such ideas were Communitarian propaganda and lies.


The Eruption That Shook the World: the Laki Eruption

(Geneva 1944)



The 1783 eruption of the Laki volcano was the most lethal volcanic eruption of the millennium. Some estimates put the death tole at nearly 2 million world wide. Europe, especially northern Europe, was the most affected region. This explains the significant Emigration that occurred during the two years of the eruption. There was a significant flow of Swedes to the Americas as well as Australia, along with many Danes who went mostly to British colonies. There was also a large outflow of Scottish and Irish immigrants, quite equally to both French and British colonies. Amongst the Icelanders themselves there were also many who sought escape from the horror and hunger of their homeland. The VOC realised that this was a capital opportunity, and sent a small fleet of ships to pick up people to move to the cape colony.



The VOC had of course been nervous about the cape ever since Hawkingsland began to pick up, by 1783 the population had already equaled the Cape Colony and there seemed to be no sign that the British and Yankee immigrants would ever stop coming. Thus the VOC had been in desperate need of the Icelanders and was willing to lure them with numerous promises. This resulted in a boom of 4 000 immigrants from 1783 until the Revolutions, a boom which would of course give the Capers a fighting chance against the Dominionists later on. Of couse this wave of immigration eventually wound up tying up enough ships so as to decrease VOC profits and make them less competitive in India, though the owners of the company assured everyone that lack of access to India through the loss of the Cape Colony was far worse and a real threat.
Of course not all of the Icelandic emigrants went south, a large number also travelled west to the Hudson's Bay territory, the offer of jobs in the fur trade being quite alluring for people from a place where the air had turned to poison. Thus nearly 2 000 made the voyage, many stopping in Greenland on their way. However of those thousands many were disgusted by Denmark's lack of aid to their home country, and when they heard plans from Inuit whom they met on the way west, or once they were in British territory, of an attack to liberate the Inuit of Greenland many found themselves wishing to aid the Inuit. There were some who even hoped the Inuit would later help them to free Iceland of Danish oppression, though it would be many years before the Inuit would be in such a position.


[1]The Saint Laurence, renamed after a hero of the revolution to be less religious
[2]OCD


* * *

"This is agent Hastings. I would like to formally request a transfer. It's not that Agent Centauri is doing anything wrong, it's just I can't take the stress of this dimension. The locals are rude an suspiscious of our every move, they nearly took Agent Julag for questioning because he was getting to many books out about the construction of the Triple Assembly. They seemed to think he was part of a bombing conspiracy. And that's another thing, there's terrorism everywhere, our apartment was nearly blown up by a car bomb. Then there was a gun fight yesterday between the government and some partisans from Africa. Then there was that horrid flu that Agent Barrin caught, a few others have gotten it, and the smell is horrible. Please, please, please get me out of here."

*the sound of crying was heard*

Transmission Ends

An official Investigation is to be held to determine if Commander Centauri has acted responsibly.

* * *

"In response to claims that I have been acting irresponsibly, I must say that this accusation is completely ungrounded. This is a dangerous world we're working in, and if any agent doesn't like it he can ask for a transfer, but he should not give the impression to command that I am taking undue risks. I have followed official policy in putting the mission and the security of the TDRI ahead of my own survival. There are safer places to stay for a person in D-398, but these regions are more likely to pick up on our radio transmissions and thus put far more lives at risk."


Napoleon Bonaparte: Our First President
(New York 1937)

Bonaparte, the name itself is enough to evoke images of heroism and grandeur. What other man went from the son of a minor Italian noble, in a minor Italian country, to a hero of France, to an enemy of France. All before the age of 35, making him the youngest of our presidents until our current president Joseph Binkeley. He was born August 14th 1769, named after his uncle. He had a happy childhood until the end of the Second World War, when the French decided to finally take the island. At age 8 his father had him enrolled in the Royal India Company's naval forces, in order to avoid the bloodshed that would inevitably occur when the French moved in.
When he arrived in the naval academy he soon excelled at everything, especially tactics. His teachers frequently said he was clear captain, or even admiral, material, the only problem being they doubted he would ever get a promotion. Bonaparte was in many ways considered too good for his own sake, and no captain would want him on their ship as he would always correct them, an activity he took up against some teachers. Bonaparte did have a great deal of charisma, even at that young age, and was able to gain quite a following amongst his peers. This was of course another reason why he would have trouble getting on a ship, the captain would be afraid that Bonaparte would start a mutiny to take command. The young Napoleon was crushed when it was decided he would be better in the RIC's ground forces then it's navy, his dream of being a sailor smashed in front of his eyes[1].
He did make it to India by 1785, just in time for the Burman war. The only major conflict between Britain and France in India not to be called a Carnatic war, mostly due to the fact that the war started outside what could be called India even in the vaguest sense. The was started as the Burmese feared the growing power of the early Indochinese Empire, which at this point was still labelled the Vietnamese Empire, and thus they decided to attack while the recently conquered Siam was yet to be assimilated. The Indochinese were more than a match for Burma, and British help was little more than the sharpening of the guilliotina[2]. However it did draw the French and Dutch into the conflict, which gave the Burmese a chance. It also caused a serious headache for the British businessmen who did trade in India, and thus prompted the EIC scandal, where numerous high profile businessmen bribed MPs in order to get military support. This was a headache for George III who had thought that Parliament was in his pocket, so for the next election he tightened his control over Parliament further, which only lead him closer to the nightmare of 1801. However that is a matter for another author, and had little effect upon young Bonaparte at the time.
It was the Burmese under Bodawpaya who had the first success, catching the Indochinese off guard. The RIC and VOC also enjoyed early success against their British enemies, and sent forces to aid the Burmese. Bonaparte was one of the 3 000 Europeans, 2 000 of whom were French, that were sent to fight in Burma. There he was introduced to many Eastern tactics, some of which he adopted later, though mostly it taught him to be open and allowed him many of his later victories by thoroughly confusing his opponents. The war was fierce for the two years that it lasted, but when the British reinforcements arrived in March of 1786 the Europeans were unable to help Burma any further, being forced to defend their own territory. The Dutch also found themselves cut off as the British forces had taken the Cape Colony on their way to India. Thus the Dutch quickly surrendered in order to regain the Cape Colony, leaving the RIC alone to fight a large British army. The French soon signed an armistice, not because they ccouldn't defeat the British force, but because the combined British-Indochinese force was too powerful, withdrawing their soldiers from Burma. The Burmese where soon forced to sign a peace as well.
The French brought more soldiers to India during the eight years between the end of the Burmese War and the start of the Third Carnactic war. These new soldiers frequently came from New France, and thus spread to philosophy of Communitarianism. It was one of these soldiers, Jean Moreau[3]who taught Bonaparte about the philosophy of Communitarianism. The two men formed a close friendship which they would keep until Bomapartes eventual untimely death. However for the time being the two men were merely minor players in the intrigues of the RIC's military, left as part of the garrison of Pondicherry. There the two men, along with the many others garrisoned in the city, wondered if they were doomed to have an adventureless carreer that would give them little chance for promotion. This future particularly bothered Bonaparte, who some have claim suffered from a bit of a Grobstraum complex[4], however events would come along to change all that.
The British had fully controlled Bengal since the Third Carnatic War, but it was not until after the Burmese war scandal that the British began acting like they really ran the region. This was brought about by the King's refusal to provide any aid to the EIC, due to his strange conviction that the New World was where profit lay. Thus the EIC needed troops to defend its land, and turned to the locals, leading to far more significant Sepoy forces. IT also saw the construction of several European style ships in India, in order to allow the EIC defence against the large RIC naval forces. If George III had been paying attention he may have grown worried about a large army in the hands of a group of people who didn't really like him, but by the 1790s he was already well along the road to insanity[5]. However the RIC was seen as a more pressing threat to the EIC, and the war that would give both Napoleon Bonaparte and Jean Moreau to fame was about to begin.

[1]Even OTL Napoleon had wanted to be a sailor originally
[2]The guillotine originates in Spain in D-398, and is spelt a bit different
[3] In D-398 Moreau fled to New France when his father tried to make him become a lawyer in place of a soldier
[4]A German revolutionary leader, known for his schemes of grandeur
[5]This is a bit harsh, George was still mostly sane during this period


* * *

“Agent Centauri here with the latest update. I would like to request that several members of our expedition be given a leave to recover from this stressful environment. It has also come to my attention that D-27 seems to be the centre of a good deal of correspondence, and I was wondering if it would be possible to find out what is going on?”


Katō Susumu: the Uncorruptable[1]
(Calcutta 1905)
Throughout history there have been many great man who rose to power and soon lost their way, and many of these men were in a position to take control of Japan when the Riflers won the civil war. However through his good deeds Katō gained a large support base amongst the people and the military, which allowed him to take the helm. The fact that he kept many powerful men out of leadership meant that Katō was the target of many assassination attempts early on, though even the most greedy of his competitors soon realised that Katō was too popular to remove effectively. Thus began a long period of attempts to corrupt Katō, which in many instenses did indeed cause him to delay, but never caused him to choose the wrong path[2].
Katō’s longest standing impact upon Japan was of course the Cultural Reform. The old Shogunate culture was viewed as something that had weakend Japan, thus almost all traces of it were eliminated, a rather annoying move in the eyes of a historian. However this allowed Japan to rebuild even with the islands’ limited ressources, through the adoption of Necessatist[3] building styles. Only Nagasaki was spaired, and the foreignors were removed from everwhere else, in order to keep the world at large ignorant of the growing might of Japan, taking advantage of the Shogun’s unwillingness to reveal the civil war. If not for Nagasaki there would be no trace of the old design styles of Japan Katō’s Necessatist movement being so strong.
Katō also pushed for the use of breech loading canons on ships along with the more accurate, but far slower to load, rifle-canons. The increased rate of fire brought by the breech loaders meant that the inexperienced Japanese ships were more than a match for the more experienced, though slower, European ships. The biggerst technological quest of the Katō period was to create a breech loading rifle, which was seen as the key to Japan bursting back into the world. With such a weapon the European armies would be decimated, thus almost every gunsmith in Japan went to work on the project, for either infantry or artillery. Of course such an acheivement was still many years away, but it is a marked example of the nationalism and forward thinking that had spread across Japan thanks to the Riflers.
Economically the Riflers unkowingly adopt a surprisingly Communitarianist method, due to the fact that Katō felt total control was needed to ensure that the nation retooled properly. Nationalisation of industry also allowed universalised build specification so that there were no discrepencies between a ship built in Kagoshima and a dry dock in Hokkaido. The non military side of the nation did suffer during this period, though all in all it was an improvement over the Shogunate period[4] thus letting the people ignore that they gained far less then the military. Of course this didn’t prevent some from taking up arms in an attempt to restore the corrupt Shogunate, but these brutal rebels only solidified the rest of the nations support for the Riflers and allowed the military experience in real combat.
The only move that Katō made that was truly controversial[5] was the banning of swords in Japan, declaring that the age of the sword was over and that it was now the age of the bayonet. While many of Japans swordmakers made the switch there were still some who were far to stubborn and traditional to abandon the craft, and instead abandoned Japan, providing the outside world with it’s only hint that anything was amiss in Japan. The Dutch, fearing a loss of their monopoly if other powers decided to investigate (and not realising the Riflers had them fooled in Nagasaki) stated that these swordsmen were merely unhappy about the new Shogun and were making up lies to try to get a coup. Katō however saw a silver lining to this crises and chose to send out spies to investigate the world in more detail than the Dutch would supply.
This spies lucked out with the fact that Europe took an interest in Japanese swords, considering them an interesting novelty. Some spies even managed to sneak into the royal courts of France, Russia and the Ottomans[6]. Via France the wonders of steam power were transfered back to Japan, though it did prove impossible to get a working example both out of France and into Japan. Russia provided the Japanese with relatively reliable information as to where Russian military was in Alasaka[7]and Siberia. The Ottomans were mostly a curiousity to Japan, but they took advantage of that position however they could. Another task of these spies was to sow discontent amongst the locals, in a hope that Europe would be distracted when Japan rose. This task prove much too easy as Europe was already marching towards collapse, it is in fact widely felt that the Japanese contribute nothing towards the anger of the European peoples.
Katō managed to turn the only real blunder in his career into an advantage, not just gaining information, but also being able to provide false information to Europe and China, making the true refugees seem like liars. The only unfoutunate part of Katō’s life is that he died during a flood in 1795 at the age of 49, leaving the nation in a brief period of chaos and never getting to see Japan be respected upon the world stage.


The Life of Louis XVI: IXth Edition
(Paris 1907)
Louis realised that his time was running out in the mid 1780s, and also realised that none of his heirs were up to his standards of leadership. His eldest Louis Philip Alexander was a decently compentent man, but was more interested in his toys than ruling the country, while Louis Joseph Xavier had proved a horrid leader, only visiting Poland to be crowned before returning to France, while Louis Stanislas Auguste and Charles-Philippe were both to close to Louis Joseph Xavier in personality for the king to risk leaving the thrown with them. Thus Louis XVI decide it was time to form a permanent états généraux, to be known a ‘l’Assemblé nationaux’, in order to keep the nation from falling under neglect under any of his heirs. Breaking with the usual system XVI arranged things so that the clergy had merely an observational position, he got away with this by informing the Pope that if the clergy had control over the government then the government would reexirt it’s control over the clergy. Thus the Nobles and the Bourgeoisie had equal standing with half the Assembly each. Many feared this would lead to a standstill, but the two segment proved divided enough that the clergy could convince many where to vote.
This move is felt by many as Louis XVI’s most important contribution to France’s stability, and is widely seen as what allowed her to survive the Age of Revolutions while so many others collapsed. It also allowed Louis XVIs youngest son, Paul Levrault to come to power and steer France through Europe’s darkest hour[8]. Thus Louis XVI managed to get his two most talented sons working together, while keeping the country prosperous.
Apart from these political reforms Louis XVI’s personal golden age was over, thus he was up to rather little, besides trying to make sure his grand children grew up well. Thus the greatest of France’s kings was able to enjoy the peace and prosperity he created for our great nation, enjoying the arts and music that thrived due to the golden age, even with much of the more artistic, and thus revolutionary, population living in New France.


[1]It is very hard to find anything unbiased about the early days of Rifler Japan
[2]This seems to indicate that the other felt Katō was originally on the wrong path in many situations as he did frequently change his mind
[3]What the name implies, only what is needed is used, and no decoration.
[4]This is highly debatible
[5]Rather a biased statement
[6]The Ottomans managed to get considered European
[7]Alaska, it was later renamed
[8]Changed in the XVth edition


* * *

"We are currently having difficulty finding useful sources for the 1780s and 1790s. We will provide an update as soon as useful sources are found. We have also noticed some technical difficulties with communication system. Is this related to this crisis in D-27?"

* * *

"Is anyone there? We haven't received any updates for some time now, and many of us are getting rather worried. Has this D-27 stuff turned out to be very serious? In spite of the lack of communications from your end we have decided to still broadcast updates, though we will be recording them more precisely."
[*]

Joseph II: A Man of Controversy
(Centreville[1] 1935)


It is difficult to discuss Joseph II without starting an argument, as the man was, and still is, highly controversial. A hero to some and a villain to others, yet nearly no one will see him as what he was, a mildly decent ruler who tried but came to power in the wrong era. Any attempts to see him as anything more is merely nationalism getting in the was of logical thinking. A serious flaw for any self respecting historian to nurture. Unfortunately his was an era where many nationalists passions originated.
Joseph was over all a forward thinking man and a supporter of the enlightened despot theory, though many have said that he was a little too much of a despot and not quite enlightened enough. He however viewed himself as a highly logical man, many have said that his theories that pure reason made a state well governed was similar to Communitarian views, it also set him apart from his contemporaries due to the absoluteness of his belief. His attempts at reason did however pit him against the rather unreasonable option before him, on one hand there was a rising feeling of Pan-Germanism, inspired by the rise in Italian nationalism, while on the other hand he had to deal with the large Hungarian population that resented his attempts to Germanify them. No where was this problem more evident than when he made German the official language of Austria, in place of the old Latin. This sparked outrage amongst Hungarians, as well as Croatians, Slovenians, Czechs and Slovakians, while also causing many nationalists to see it as an attempt to have Austria dominate Germany totally. This latter view was supported by the Prussians who feared Austria’s might, an unfortunate move that would later cost everyone dearly.
Joseph put a great deal of work into rationalizing and unifying his chaotic empire’s lands, a move which seemed to him perfectly logical, though in fact caused the Hungarians and Czechs, both of whom had enjoyed some independence. He even avoided many of the agreements that had been made with Hungarians when they entered the empire as he had not wanted to lose power. He angered many of his Italian subjects by attempting to regulate their affairs in the same was Austria was run, damaging their economies and prompting an increase in Italian nationalism. He was in fact unpopular with almost everyone in his empire, largely due to pointlessly petty laws based solely of the fact the Joseph had a particular opinion, such as a ban of gingerbread as the Emperor thought it was unhealthy.
His interference in the Church also made him unpopular, both at home and with the other catholic powers of Europe. His moves of tightening government control of the church were the opposite of Louis XVI’s moves of seperating the state and the church, and though the Pope disliked both the Austrian policies cost him more than the French, thus he supported the French to spite Austria.
Joseph had many dreams of grandeur for Austria, and securing British backing for Austrian colonial expansion was a prime example of this. Unfortunately he was blocked by the less the cooperative French controlled Gibraltar and the Spanish. Knowing that they needed a secure route out of the Mediterranean Joseph devised a plan to invade Morocco, which he hoped would get him Portuguese support, as they had lost Mazagan to the Moroccans a mere 29 years earlier. Joseph thus claimed to be engaging in a form of Reconquista, a move which made the idea of the war popular amongst the Spanish and Portuguese people many of whom felt the French had been to open to the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire. The Portuguese began serious discussions for the invasion, but the Spanish were held out by Louis XVI who dominated the weak Charles IV[2], causing yet more resentment among the Spanish people already angry about concessions in North America and the Philippines Sale.
News of the invasion plan soon reached the Sultan Mohammed III, who feared that his nation could not withstand a full invasion by Austria and Portugal. The Sultan therefore turned to France for aid. With French help the Moroccans began to modernize, bringing in some European style tactics and industries. The French were however not willing to directly get involved in the war, however the Austrians were convinced that the Ottomans were. This helped to prevent the war from happening due to events on the border where a small number of Ottomans on the border were mistaken for a far larger number of troops due to poor book keeping due to linguistic difficulties and the fact that Joseph had demanded that book keeping be done in German, which many soldiers had a poor time with. That factor combined with Joseph falling ill in the start of 1789 lead to the cancellation of war plans.This resulted in Joseph resulting lack of activity for much of the 1790s, a mixture of ill health and a loss of ambition.
Due to Joseph’s poor choices the later Wars of Revolutions became much more violent and widespread that would have been without him, yet he also provide Austria with the organisation and reforms that allowed them to hold together during the Wars.

[1]St. Louis, named changed in the mid 1800s
[2]Charles III died slightly earlier in D-398



[*]This update was one of many preserved solely due to the back ups made by the expidition team, as no one was there to receive the transmission.


* * *

"We would like to know what's going on. We're running low on some supplies, and the locals would grow suspicious if we were to buy them."
Chandernagor[1] War
(1923 Bucharest)

The British build up of troops in India had put the French on edge, many fearing that the British hoped to remove them from the subcontinent. How else could they explain the recruitment of tens of thousands of Indians? Thus the French were convinced that any British movement was a threat, and nowhere was the paranoia worse then the city of Chandernagor, a mere 19 miles from the British Raj's capital of Calcutta. The over stressed commander of the city was on the verge of a breakdown due to the large buildup of British troops in the region. On the British side things were just as bad thanks to the multilingual mess that is India. Several British commanders had been sent in from Europe to command these new armies, and few had any real idea of where things were in India; they mostly hoped that their India troops could guide them. On June 3rd 1792 these ingredients for disaster came together when a force of 500 men en route to Calcutta took a wrong turn and wound up approching Chandernagor. The force was marching in a parade style as the commander wanted to impress with his disciplined troops, who unfortunately spoke a different language than the locals. The French saw this advancing British force and began to panic, not sure what the British were up to but sure that it was aggressive. The French commander decided that he could scare the British off by firing a few shots in the air as a warning, however the British commander continued marching believing it to merely be some celebrating soldiers. As his force approached undeterred the French troops decided that this was clearly an attack on the city and fired at the British forces.

The sounds of battle carried for some distance, this prompted other troops in the Calcutta region to begin heading for Chandernagor. Seeing nearly 2 000 more soldiers heading for their position many of the French soldiers broke and ran. The city soon fell, with the British enraged at the French attacking them; the British commander was to embarrassed to admit he had been lost and claimed the French opened fire while his troops were merely passing by. Thus one man's pride ended what was the best chance for George III to have been dealt with without the violence and chaos that followed his removal.

The EIC had by this point 57 000 men, largely Sepoys, under it's command, while the French had a mere 10 000 men, about half European half Indian. A child could have told you how things would ensue. The RIC was crushed on the ground, many of her allies feared this large British force, the threat of Indochina's might also helped keep them out. With the French army all but broken by January of 1793 the EIC decided to charge for Pondicherry. The French generals decided to try to attack the British force just before it arrived, hoping that the British would be tired and that the French force of 4 000 could defeat the 16 000 men who had been sent. The battle was a victory for the British however, as they had moved more slowly then the French had anticipated and both forces were somewhat tired when they finally met. The French managed to inflict respectable losses on the British, but lost close to half their force in the battle. With this humiliation the French forces retreated back to the city, many of the Generals attempting to hop on ships to flee back to France. This was when Bonaparte showed some of his leadership abilities, by convincing those generals that the ships would go faster if they gave up some of their cannons and munitions. The generals agreed to hand over excess rations as well on the off chance that the city could hold out for a siege.

With the higher ups gone Bonaparte and Moreau took control of the city. Bonaparte got all the canons he could mounted on the city walls, practically treating the city was a ship. Moreau got his men to search out deserters as well as recruiting as many sailors as he could, though Bonaparte grabbed plenty for his canons. Pulling together what they could the two got a force of nearly 3 500 together, though they were still heavily outnumbered. The British force was half expecting the city to surrender, thinking it to be filled with a broken army not a force under two competent leaders. As the British advanced the wall of canon fire devastated their forces, while Moreau kept the original city guards mobile, moving across the city to support which ever region needed support. Many British troops became convinced that the French had gotten reinforcements.

Not happy with his troops loss of moral General Robert Brooke[2] decided to lead an assault himself to inspire his men. He was soon struck down by canon fire, leading to a loss of a decent chain of command for the besieging army. This allowed Bonaparte and Moreau to hold out for a month, striking heavy casualties into the British force, while sending out a ship to inform nearby nations that it was now a good time to strike Britain. The entry of the Maratha helped to get Frances other allies to enter the war and send a force to relieve Pondicherry just as the British sent nearly 10 000 more men under Litellus Burrell[3]. when this force arrived they were horrified by the devastation that had occurred around the city, with the city almost spotless due to no British canon being able to get in range of the city without Bonaparte blowing it to bits. Burrell was a reasonable man so he didn't descend into the passionate assaults Brooke had used. His calm approach lead him to sneak cannons forward at night when Bonaparte's forces had less chance of seeing them, and then firing only a few shots before pulling back. This game went on until the Indian armies showed up, a force of nearly 30 000 positioned on Bonaparte's advice so as to trap the British with the only escape route being in range of the city's canons or through the larger army which would allow the French to send out forces to assault their rear.

Burrell was about to surrender when news reached the two armies from a Dutch ship, France an Britain now had a common foe.

[1]Chandannagar, this is the french spelling
[2] Robert lead a somewhat different life than OTL, largely due to not becoming ill in 1775.
[3] Burrell has been promoted faster due to a lack of Brits in India
 
Part 2: The Age of Revolutions

The Birth of the West[1]
(Baghdad 1945)

The West, ah if only we could go back to that age where it was seen as a beacon of hope for humanity. A place where new ideas flourished and humanity found new ways to improve, somewhere to start over if the old ways of Europe or the East were to repressive. Yet recent events make it hard for even the best scholars to look at the west in a balanced manner. I shall attempt to do just that, for what greater task could there be as a historian than to show those lands in a positive light?

The push for independence amongst Canadiens truly began in in 1788 when the Etates General were called by Louis XVI to serve as a permanent advisory to the monarchy. The people of New France were angered that they had been given no voice in the French Parliament. The politicians in France, especially the nobles, feared what the radical Canadiens would do with a voice in the Parliament and therefore barred them from access. The Yankees having this common plight felt a new sense of brotherhood with their western neighbours, something which revolutionaries of both Libertist and Communitarian persuasion supported. However respect was too great for the king amongst the Canadiens for them to rebel, an issue that the Yankees did not have after being first hand witnesses to George III's excesses and indecisiveness[2] when he had visited the colony. Thus the Canadiens simmered unhappily for several years.

In 1793 the golden reign of Louis XVI ended, and his eldest son became Louis XVII. This was seen by the Canadiens as their chance, the new king was unproven and more interested in his trinkets than running the nation. However it still took a few months for the Yankees and Canadiens to get their plans together, but the March 12th riots in Montreal, or Montpeuple as it is now known, and New York showed the unity of the two peoples. Hilfere himself took charge of riots in Quebec when news that the Montpeuple uprising was a success. Within a month there were numerous revolts across Canada and the northern Yankee colonies, while the south remained surprisingly loyal to their respective nations. Then when the loyalists sent troops up to fight in the north the Southern Yankees broke out in riot, though this time it was a mixture of Libertist and Communitarian rebels.

By this point the French and British had both gotten together forces to fight the rebels. The British people were reluctant to fight, after all many felt the colonies had a point wanting representation; George III unpopularity certainly didn't help the war effort either. This lead to a reliance on German mercenaries, a move seen as an insult to German nationalism by many by making it seem like Germans were the toadies of whoever would pay them, not that the nationalists disliked the income and experience it gave the Fatherland. The French were far more cautious, after all they had to worry about the possibility of a land war with Austria if things went on too long, this caused them to pressure Spain and Naples into fighting for them, which angered many a Spaniard and Italian, while also sending the RIC's forces, after all India was now secure following the treaty of Pondicherry which had given Chandernagor to the British along with agreeing to help the British fight pirates (which translated into engaging in less privateering).
En route to the Americas, Bonaparte and Moreau stopped of in France and were greeted as heroes for saving French India from falling in English hands. While these two heroes were not placed in charge of the expedition they were the reason why many enlisted to force. If Louis XVII and his advisers had been paying closer attention they would have kept Bonaparte and Moreau in India, however they did not realise that both men were Communitarians and that they were in fact sending troops who would join the rebels in the end.

The French sent 20 000 men to the loyal port of New Orleans to meet up with Spanish reinforcements and another 30 000 men to Louisbourg to fight the rebels immediately. The British landed 18 000 troops in Boston which had been under military rule since the riots during the Second World War[3] and made their way to New York which was still a battlefield due to the many loyalists there, along with a larger force consisting mostly of Germans Mercenaries to the chaos of Georgia where Libertists, Loyalists, Communitarians and Natives were engaged in a free for all. These soldiers were surprised at just how many Libertist and Communitarian soldiers were freed slaves, and many scholars believe that the effectiveness of these African soldiers is what led to the Dominion of Africa's strangely egalitarian views, though this ignores the fact that these were Blacks fighting and that the Dominion sided with the non-blacks[4] however that is a subject upon which a whole book could be written (though likely not for some time do the scars of the last decade).

Within a few weeks the rebels seemed to be losing, having been pushed back to Quebec, only a few rebels still fighting in New York and the Libertists and Communitarians in the southern Yankee colonies being forced to forget their differences to team up against the loyalists. Then the Americans[5] began to desert en masse, having felt that they were being used as cannon fodder, which was somewhat true with the French sending Spaniards were they didn't want to go and the Spanish sending Americans where they didn't want to go. This not only led to a massive loss of man power for the Royalist forces but also led to marauders between the front and New Spain. Many of these soldiers returned home wanting to live peacefully but the majority went on to riot, these disgruntled men were recruited by the American Libertists, though a few joined Communitarian group. With riots in New Spain the Spanish reasonably requested to fight there instead, however the French generals demanded that they stay in New France, this outraged many of the Spanish people.

In the North things turned bad for the Royalists around the same time. After cutting Quebec off from the rest of rebel held territory the Royalists prepared to attack the city, however the rebels inside got word from Bonaparte's men that he finally controlled enough of the army that he could get them to switch sides. With Bonaparte and Moreau stationing their men in the rear the French army marched towards Quebec city, the generals certain that the small garrison would fall. They were surprised to see Hilfere's small army standing on the Plains of Abraham looking confident. However rather than waiting for the army to move into position the general decided that his forward force would wipe the smile off the rebels faces and he charged. This meant that Bonaparte's men were out of range to enter the fight when it started and the 5 000 rebels faces the front 4000 men of the Royalist force. Before Bonaparte was able to react Hilfere had been killed, though the rebels had managed to inflict heavier losses on the Royalists than they had received. When the Royalists saw 10 000 of their own men suddenly hoist the rebel flags[6] all but a few surrendered.

[1] In D-398 the west has come to refer to the Americas with Europe being it's own category
[2] George III gets a surprisingly harsh criticism in D-398, which is surprising considering what followed him
[3] Not officially but the large garrison of troops there made this fact
[4] We believe the author is referring to the speakers of Khoisan languages here
[5] Remember American refers to Mexicans and Central Americans in D-398
[6] At this point there was no set flag for the rebels, the most common was an inverted royal flag in New France and an inverted EIC flag in the Thirteen Colonies

"This is agent Centauri. There has been an attempted mutiny after the rest of the expedition found out about the code orange, I have taken the precaution of locking myself in the ISOT chamber to prevent them from violating protocol. I don't blame them for wanting to go home, this has to be the worst dimension I know of, however the rules are the rules. I only wish I had packed more food in here . . ."

The First Consul
(Niagare 1897)

Following the death of Hilfere in the battle of Quebec City it became unclear as to who was truly in charge of the nation. While this was not an overly large concern for the first couple months of Bonaparte's campaign through Acadia and New England, however by late 1793 the revolution held land far enough from the front to need a proper government there was a sudden realisation that something needed to be done. Many of the leaders of local revolutions got together at the safe location of Niagara Falls to form the First Consul. While there were close to one hundred who arrived the most notable include Hamilton, Marshall, Babeuf, the notorious Vieuzac and of course the monstrous Robespierre. After several months of debate the constitution of the People's Republic of North America was formalised, declaring that a President would rein for years, yet during times of war if the President's term ended a War Consul would be created to ensure an orderly government without allowing a war mongering President to stay in power indefinitely. It was also decided that the War Consul could nominate the next President.
It was decided, quite logically, that the revolution prevented an election from being held thus causing the First Consul to be officially called. Unfortunately the moderates, mostly Yankees, were unwilling and unprepared for the ruthless ways of the extremists such as Robespierre and his Laurentians[1] and soon the Consul turned into a group of yes-men for Robespierre like so many of the European Republics of the next decade. However Robespierre started off reasonable, if ruthless, a point which many seem to forget. He left the revolutionary armies fight with relatively little influence, though he did spend this period building up a force of special police, the infamous Phrygianists, though for the time they provided the simple position of a decent police force.

He also began the reforming of the old haphazard systems such as the Imperial Measurement and replacing it with the People's Measurement. Such useful reforms as adopting the ten hour day, or the creation of the metre[2], however attempts to improve the efficiency of the calendar did not achieve very much success due to it being somewhat too inconvenient for trade with the outside world. It was in 1795 that the Rein of Terror truly began after the French surrendered Louisiana due to Bonaparte's relentless assault, leaving only the British in the south and the besieged city of Boston to be taken. This gave Robespierre the freedom to punish any suspected political deviants, whom his right hand man Babeuf and the Phyrgianists would arrest for treason and frequently execute. The death toll for the seven month period where Loyalists and Libertists were killed is estimated to have cost 6 000 lives, while driving nearly 100 000 from their homes, many fleeing to the Liberal Republic of America, though most loyalists fled to France or South America. As well a not insignificant number of Hugeunots fled to the British Natal colony where they could practise their beliefs in peace.

Rise of the Second Republic
(Uxesutanshi 1940 [3])

Revolutions are a lot like earthquakes, not merely because they are destructive but because numerous small revolts decrease the odds of large ones, while a long period of calm usually indicates a major event in the making. A perfect example is Britain versus France, France has had many small revolts throughout her history yet over all this has lead to a surprising amount of stability, whereas Britain seems to be a bastion of stability until they rise up and kill of their monarchs as happened during the 1640s, the 1790s and of course the more recent event.
The Yankee revolution was a disaster from Britain, George III refused to give up on the colonies and continued to funnel troops and German mercenaries down the drain causing widespread resentment. When he finally accepted the inevitable in 1799, after 6 years of losing, and signed the treaty of Boston, the British treasury was in ruins and there were many thousands of soldiers suddenly cut off from pay due to the king's attempts to save money. This crisis lasted from November 1799 until December 31st 1799 when an unfortunate group of events culminated in an extreme ending. The following is a reconstruction of that night.

Being New Years many out of work men, including a large number of veterans of the Yankee Revolution, went out to the pubs to drink. One pub in particular was being attended by Thomas Harling a man who would be destined for greatness. As the night went on Harling had a few drinks, talked with fellow veterans about the rage of lack of pay or pay reductions, and he developed confidence that he could motivate these men. He began a speech that, due to everyone being somewhat drunk, was lost and most likely not as impressive as his later works, and soon the men in the pub agreed that action had to be taken and joined him in a march on Buckingham to demand something be done. The fifty or so men from the pub marched out on to te winter street shouting vague slogans, this activity began to collect interest from nearby pubs and the mob grew like the early planets. This process accelerated as they gained more men and caused Harling to travel past more pubs rather than take a direct route to the palace.
By the time the police got reports as to what was going on there were already hundreds of men in the mob, though many probably weren't quite sure what was going on. The police moved in to try and intercept the mob, but due to it changing its path whenever Harling heard of a pub or other venue that would likely have men willing to join his cause, the police were unable to predict the path and had to spread out across much of the city.

Eventually a group of police ran into the mob and attempted to stop them, however the mob didn't respond, largely due to being unable to hear police warning past the drunken shouting and those who could hear feared being trampled if they stopped. One of the constables panicked when the mob approached them and hit a man with a club, at this point the mob became violent and charged the police. Several were badly wounded, and there were at least two killed before they retreated and the mob, now filled with rage marched to Buckingham. When they arrived to find soldiers guarding the palace they surrounded it shouting demands for pay and calling the soldiers who were guarding George III traitors. It is unclear at this point whether one of the mob who had a musket shot first or if it was the guards, some historians will even say some of the guards defected and shot at the one's holding, but a fire fight soon erupted, the numbers of the mob eventually overcoming the guards, for when a mob member with a musket was shot there were others to pick it up.

In overzealous enthusiasm the mob then rushed the palace hoping to take the king hostage. During this confusion the crown prince, future Frederick II, as well as his two siblings managed to escape with their caregivers. The King and Queen were not so lucky, both being taken by the mob. Harling was soon called in and demanded the king dissolve parliament, for reasons known only to himself, and give the veterans of the war back pay. The king swiftly replied that he "would never negotiate with a drunken fool," or so the story goes. At this point Harling was approached by Jacob Finley, a man whom he would have a long and complicated partnership with, who said they should get the king to abdicate, as at this point it was believed that the crown prince was still in the building. After some debate as to what to put in the contract it was decided that they would merely have a sheet saying: "I king George III abdicate". The panicked king agreed only after he became convinced that some of the mob wanted him dead.

When it was discovered that the heirs were all missing the mob panicked and began to try and take all of London before a counter force could be mustered. They soon turned many soldiers to their side, however when they ran into the navy they found an uncooperative force. Fighting soon broke out, and intensified when it was discovered that the princes and princess had made it to RN custody. The mob still was able to push the marines back and forced them to leave the city due to it’s snowballing and attracting support of many political activists angry with the way George III had ruined democracy in Britain.

It was during these desperate early hours of the Republic, before it was truly a republic, that Harling and Finley showed their abilities in propaganda and sent out messengers to the rest of Britain claiming the Royal Navy had kidnapped the crown prince and making his provisional government seem legitimate. While the truth was eventually found out many towns followed his advice and attempted to seize Royal Navy ships to prevent a Naval putsch, this providing the Harling regime with a small naval force.

[1] Named for the Saint Laurence due to Robespierre and many of it's original supporters came from that region. Not changed to Augereau so as not to associate him with the earlier Laurentians.
[2] The D-398 metre is approximately 1.000045m due to a calculation discrepancy and different survey points.
[3] Capital of Japanese North America

"Still trying to reason with the rest of the crew, at least they are listening somewhat now. There is a painting of Napoleon crossing the St. Lawrence, it seems strangely familiar though I'm not sure where I've seen it. They seem to have put a bit too much detail into Napoleon's head if you ask me."

The War of Liberation: Fifth Edition
(Monterey 1947)

The American people had long been surprised by the brutal rule of Spain, yet they had long used the church to back them up as the proper rulers of the land. However when the spark of Communitarian oppression turned into a conflagration across New France and the Thirteen Colonies the American people saw that the Spanish were more concerned with giving a show for France than stomping out the godless[1] Communitarian scourge. When this scourge managed to send soldiers into America[2] it was the Yankee immigrants of the North who first rose up to build the glorious Liberal Republic of America, though soon the American people joined in with the revolution against the corrupt Spanish. In the early days of chaos several revolutionary armies formed, each one's end war territory being on of our modern day states, however the army led by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla whose experience as a priest allowed him to inspire hundreds and convince the fear filled people that god was on the side of the revolution. Unfortunately Mexico city proved a royalist city overall forcing Hidalgo and his supporters to flee to the country, however Hidalgo was able to turn this into an advantage by educating the Amerindian masses that Libertism would grant them total equality with the rest of Americans including Peninsulars. Through sending his followers far and wide he was able to teach thousands who would otherwise of had little idea as to what the revolution stood for.

Using his large army Hidalgo successful cut the Isthmus in two when he captured Mexico City. This was a disaster for the royalists who were soon swamped by the other rebel armies and mercenaries sent out by Hidalgo in order to strengthen his relations with the other rebellions. When victory on the continent had finally been achieved in 1797 Hidalgo called upon the many leaders to meet in Mexico to discuss the future of the nation. In the end it was decided that the most Libertist method of running the nation was to give the central government control over only foreign affairs and the military while the individual states would control everything else. This of course allowed the far different states of California and Nicaragua to have thriving economies without a Federal Government to attempt to steer them into some middle ground that would damage both, a wise move by our founding fathers. It was decided that the Federal Government would consist of one representative from each state and a President, though this was quickly amended due to Mexico State having a far more significant population than most others. As the conference was beginning to wrap up an envoy from Cuba arrived, the Spanish Navy had still controlled the Caribbean so little more than rumours of a Cuban revolution were known at the time. This envoy brought a plea for help, as the godless Communitarians had nearly half the island under their control having snuck propaganda spreaders on to the island past the Spanish fleet and tricked the citizens of much of the island into thinking Communitarianism was something other than a ploy to remove their liberties. Hearing of this Hidalgo promised 10 000 men to liberate the island.

Of course the Communitarians knew what was going on in Cuba and wanted to send troops themselves, however Florida was a major impediment to this, and thus they needed to take the peninsula first before they could send reinforcements to the island. However they had General Bonaparte in charge of the invasion along with nearly 20 000 men, which meant that the fledgling American nation had to act quickly to secure the island. This meant the construction of a navy that could both transport the necessary troops and defend the transports. This meant salvaging any Spanish ships they could find and making deals with several prominent pirate groups in exchange for allowing these pirates to use American ports to avoid British and Spanish ships after the war. Even focusing everything they could on the project the LRA only got 5 000 men on the island by the time Bonaparte had taken Mobile and was besieging St. Augustine. Luckily this was still enough to turn the tide and pushed the Communiatians off the island. This victory did seriously harm PRNA-LRA relations, not that anyone in the LRA trusted the Communitarians at the time, but the PRNA had preferred Libertists to Royalists at the time. It also secured the need for the LRA to build up a significant navy, which the PRNA felt it had to match, sparking one the many arms races the two nations engaged in.

Spread of Chaos
(Prague 1897)
Following the Harlingist putsch in Britain the world watched in fear, all hoping that the British would somehow recover from what was seen as merely a strangely successful riot. However as time went by more and more people began to fear things were spiralling out of control. Then the unthinkable happened, after a short four weeks George III had been caught attempting to send a request for help from France. This provided the revolutionaries a perfect chance to rid themselves of the unpopular King by having him tried and executed for treason, officially against his son the official leader of Britain at the time. Queen Mary was to soon follow him under charges of treason. This lead to the proclamation that England would be a republic after the supposed discovery that Queen Mary had not properly converted from Catholicism and thus her, George III and their children were not valid heirs.

This lead to chaos in Europe as many feared that their own monarchs would clamp down upon them to prevent a similar uprising. In Hungary and Bohemia this lead to full scale revolution against the already widely disliked Joseph II. The Poles took advantage of the rare event that King Louis was visiting at the time (merely his third time in the nation including when he went for his coronation) en route to St. Petersburg and took him prisoner. Unlike the British who worried about the consequences of killing a monarch Louis was so widely despised for having merely put some French stooges in control of Poland with no regard for the people, merely profit. This of course started Louis XVII's famous mourning fashion which soon spread across Europe, even reaching the Polish generals. Prussia invaded Hanover for the official reason of protecting it from revolutionaries, though no one really cared about how thinly veiled the annexation was, after all their two enemies were in civil war. Riots broke out across France, Russia, Spain and Italy, while Germany was mysteriously silent. Then Joseph II decided to make a foolish move.

Joseph decide that since the Czechs and Hungarians were rioting do to reforms he'd put in to appease German sentiment then the HRE had the obligation to send him troops to fight the rebellions. However the leaders of those nations were fearful that they would be victim to revolution if they sent out their troops. Angered Joseph II sent soldiers north to impress service upon men of the HRE. In one town, Unterschleißheim, a fight broke out between soldiers and local men with experience fighting as mercenaries. The soldiers respond by calling some reinforcements and killing dozens of people as well as burning down the town. This act of violence sparked outrage across Germany and one man cashed in on it: Henrich Grobstraum.
Grobstraum claimed to have been one of the inhabitants of Unterschleißheim, stating that he lost his family in the fire that destroyed the city, though any historical inquiry indicates otherwise. Hearing of his supposed loss and tragedy many of the more revolutionary inhabitants of Germany decided to follow him to try and restore glory to the “Fatherland”.

[1]Communitarianism eventually decided that religion was a sign of savagery, even from the start they were rather questioning of the church
[2]Truthfully Mexican Communitarian rebels, but the truth has an annoying habit of getting in the way of good propaganda.

Paul Levrault: Hero of Stability
(Paris 1928)

Europe was in a truly sorry shape as the 19th Century dawned. The Germans, Czechs and Hungarians were rebelling, Poland and England had both killed their kings and riots were everywhere. Belgium was filled with rioters who were slowly coalescing into an actual rebellion, the same was occurring in Corsica. Paris was ravaged by riots, worse than almost any other still monarchist capital in Europe. Many members of the National Assembly had fled the city fearing for their lives, and most of those who remained were either pro-Revolutionary or were trying to convince the king to leave. Very few were still actually attending the Assembly, however there were a few who held fast. One of these was Louis Charles Auguste le Tonnelier, of whom Levrault was an assistant. Tonnelier continued to keep the remnants of the Assembly functioning and on track, managing to keep some semblance of order and keeping information flowing out of Paris so that no one thought the city had fallen. This made him very unpopular with the revolutionaries, who plotted to have him assassinated, and finally managed to act on April 3rd when Tonnelier was called before the king.

While he was riding his carriage and assassin threw a bomb at his cart from a rooftop and killed him. The revolutionaries' celebrations were short lived though, as they were now the victims of a far harder crackdown. In the chaos of Tonnelier's death his head assistant Levrault took charge of the remnant Assembly. He met with the king immediately and proposed his plan to halt the revolution. The logic was simple enough, Paris dominated France, thus whoever holds Paris holds France. He therefore asked the king to pull back all available forces to Paris so as to secure the city. In order to gain more credibility he had his friend Gilbert du Motier, effectively the head of the military in Paris, support him. Motier agreed that not only would France fall if Paris fell, but that Europe would fall if France fell, therefore Paris was more important than anywhere. Louis XVII was suffering from depression, as the latest mentalytical science shows, and therefore didn't really care. He figured the age of kings was over either way and so he approved the plan merely to give the impression he was still doing things. This complicity worried both Levrault and Motier, but the two soon decided to make the best of it and effectively ran the country, much like Harling and Finley in England, however they were far from the dictators that those Englishmen were due to loyalty to King and Country.

With thousands of extra soldiers from across France Paris was soon secured, making running the nation possible. Levrault was however horrified to discover that the Belgian riots had turned into a fully fledged rebellion, and he sent troops to attempt to quell it. Unfortunately the Germans had secured enough of a power base to attack France, with hopes of restoring the HRE border from before the War of Austrian Succession. With the nationalism that the revolutionaries whipped up the Germans had nearly 60 000 men at their command enough to push the 50 000 French, under Armand de Richelieu II, back nearly out of Alsac. Belgium soon became the site of a bloody three sided war. Fearing a potential invasion from Britain, due to Harling's excellent propaganda making Europe think he held most of Britain and had for more troops than he really did, Levrault sent 60 000 men to guard that front. In order to show solidarity between monarchies Levrault sent 40 000 men to Austria through northern Italy. The Austrians provided no assistance in return which seriously angered Levrault, thus he sent orders that those soldiers were to ignore the Czechs and Hungarians and fight the Germans instead. Even with Motier's advice and Levrault's charisma the Revolutionaries seemed to be able to recruit far easier than their traditional adversaries., making every victory merely a delay of what seemed inevitable.

The Great Flight
(Delhi 1925)

Frederick II spent nearly a month on a ship in the Channel as attempts were made to secure the coast, but Harling's propaganda made almost every port either hostile or fearful of becoming the middle of a battle. Therefore Frederick's ship sailed to Lisbon to keep the prince a safe distance from the revolution. Unfortunately riots rocked the panicked Portuguese countryside, who like their Spanish and French neighbours, feared a major crackdown in response to the spreading revolution. As news from the countryside grew worse Frederick II decided his best strategy would be to travel to British Territory elsewhere. In the end it turned out he left with little time to spare as King Charles IV of Spain was soon forced to flee to France for safety just three weeks later, and the Second Republic was soon in contact with the Spanish Republicans, meaning an assassination would have been likely.

Frederick's first stop was Hawkingsland, which was at this point the British colony with the highest population. Many were happy to have the king move in, and with the might of much the Royal Navy being brought along the colony felt truly important. However a certain facet of Hawkingsland culture, the same trait that had disgusted George III when he travelled to the 13 Colonies, rose its ugly head when Frederick II travelled outside of Stirling. Frederick began to openly condemn the practice of slavery in Hawkingsland on convicts, slaves brought from the 13 colonies, and natives. The king's opposition for the practice caused a few to abandon it, however the majority refused this idea and the Age of Revolutions spread to its third continent[1], with riots breaking out across the nation. The Loyalists were outnumbered significantly, but they were able to use a naval advantage and supplied slaves with weapons to fight back.

The loyalists held the Stirling as slavery was not of any importance to the urban population apart from the trade. The other region of Hawkingsland that remained loyal was the frontier were the plantations of the developed regions had not yet become popular and loyalty to the king had been the main reason to move from North America.

[1]Some would say fourth due to the Revolutions in Japan and Vietnam that occurred earlier, but this seems mostly asiocentrics whom ignore the fact that those revolutions had no connection to the ones in North America, Europe and Africa.

"We apologise for this short update but we are currently undergoing a shift change as you know due to the new agents from Dimension 27. We are very glad that you have finally remembered us, though we do find it odd that you have sent two agents from an above 10 dimension at the same time. Also these 27ers are a little arrogant, but I suppose excessive imperialism takes a while to right. Anyhow the agents who they relieved are glad to be home . Also attached is a flag of the PRNA"

The TDRI has never been able to locate the three men who fell into 27 custody in this event, an unfortunate loss mirrored across several dimensions.

Tyrants and Engineering: Robespierre Edition
(2005 Quy Nhon)

So many of the world’s greatest feats of engineering are linked to the reigns of dictators. While our previous discussions of Medieval Tyrants shows that many a great palace or tomb, the age of infrastructure was truly begun with Robespierre. He realised he had several great sources of manpower, freed slaves who would do almost anything as it was better than what they had before, and Loyalists who were unable to escape his tyranny[1] to do the work that was too low for any free man. Robespierre realised that he would need these workers to build an infrastructure on par with that of Europe, for if he did not he felt the nation would fall behind and it would be a mockery of Hilfere's legacy.

His first grand project was the Mississippi-Great Lakes Canal, which would take three years to complete and take numerous lives. It was built concurrently with two other canals: the Niagara and the New York Grand Canal. These three canals were designed to make the Great Lakes the center of the nation, turning the Niagara capital into a strategic position as well as a political one. These moves were dislike by many in the southern states who saw this as an attempt to cut them off from the nation's trade. There was also a popular belief that Robespierre was connect the Francophone territories to prevent Anglophone expansion in the west. The New York Canal helped sooth the northern Yankee opinions somewhat.

He decided to appease the Yankees through the construction of a grand road network west to the Mississippi. This job would take too long for Robespierre's reign though, and many a mountain road was left unfinished until nearly thirty years later. These roads would still prove instrumental in the military movements within the nation as well as settling the regions. Many would ironically prove Robespierre's undoing in the years to come.

Another piece of infrastructure which was not a solid building, but a network which used the roads and routes. This was the People's Postal Department (or P.P.D.), which allowed for both military and civilian messages to be transferred, though the military messengers were given faster horses with more stops so as to ensure maximum speed. It allowed news of invasion and orders for the front to both be carried at maximum speed, essential for so massive a nation.
The greatest mark of Robespierre though was the numerous Halls of Reason created across the nation. Each one was designed upon a standardized designed, which was a scaled down model of his greatest creation, the People's Great Hall of Logic on Consul Island[2], originally Goat Island had been chosen, but it was both smaller and the noise of the falls was considered annoying by many. It also put it closer to Grand Island which was beginning to be seen by many as a better site for a capital than around Niagara Falls.

The structure was designed to hold both the Government as well as a massive museum. It was designed with the style of a Star Fort, and by extension all the Halls were miniature Star Forts, as a display of the might of the People's Republic, though in reality as the Phyrgianists used the Halls as their bases of operation it helped to cement the iron grip of Robespierre and his Consul. Inside the walls a large building built in a very Rococo style, the Triple Assembly, with three floors for most of it, though a small tower in the middle rose another three floors. Atop this a 50ft statue of Hilfere was constructed, with him holding the book of Knowledge and the illuminating torch of Reason. It is estimated that at least 1 000 people died in the construction, though records were purposely obscured to prevent excessive public outcry. When completed, if the statue on top were to be counted, it was the tallest building in the world. Many believe that if Robespierre had been running a conventional nation he would have fast run out of funds, however the natural riches of the New World were still at his disposal and massive shipments of furs, cotton, tobacco and foodstuffs allowed him to pay for these grand projects.


[1] This of course consists mostly of those poorer Loyalists who could not afford ships to other colonies, unlike the rich plantation owners who flooded Hawkingsland
[2] OTL Navy Island

"These 27ers are an odd bunch I must say. They don't seem very good at taking orders and keep researching their own things. Not too sure as to how to deal with them.”

Louis Napoleon: Hero in the Wrong Army
(Frankfurt 1977)

Younger brother to the great Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis was born into a French ruled Corsica. Unlike his brother he drifted into one of the many small independence movements that existed on the island. He spent much of his life giving speeches at small secret gatherings gaining significant experience as an orator. When the 19th Century lurched into its chaotic beginning he was one of the first to join the Corsican Independence Front, a rag tag militia of about 5 000 men who hoped to regain the island's freedom. While they held out for about a year the French would not accept such a uprising and sent an army of 20 000 to clear the island by mid 1801, one of the many fresh armies raised to fight the revolutionary armies plaguing Europe at the time. While many were arrested or forced to fight for France young Louis[1] fled to Italy. He soon fell into the Italian Unification movement seeing Corsica as a part of Greater Italy and joined up with the waves of revolutionaries moving to Naples where the Bourbon king was so desperate to survive he had given up almost any power to the nationalists. He decided that in order to avoid being given power merely for his brother's name he had to change his name and went by the alias Luigi Buonpezzo.

When the "Kingdom" of Naples proclaimed itself the Kingdom of Italy and invaded Tuscany (having procured a right of passage through the Papal States) Louis proved himself quite competent and with the early Italian army not exactly the most capable force on Earth at the time his mildly above average abilities sent him up through the ranks. After the commanding general for the invasion of Florence, Giovanni Rilato, was killed by cannon fire Louis took charge of the assault and captured the city. With the rank of General now his he dropped the name Buonpezzo for his true identity of Bonaparte. With his skills as a speech maker he was soon showing leadership abilities equal or even better than his brother, though his tactics were merely effective. Still with the Austrians focused on Hungary they could not spare the troops to block the Italian army which soon reached a total number of 100 000.

However events transpired to nearly kill the infantile Empire while it had only just begun. The Pope feared what a united Italy would mean for his power and closed off his borders to the Italian army. The reaction amongst the leaders of the revolution was very confused as many were quite religious, yet many others were strongly Communitarian and felt that the Pope was an enemy in the long run anyway. Louis, being something of a moderate, managed to convince both sides that the Pope was merely acting out of fear and that the best move would be to sign a treaty guaranteeing the independence of the Papal States in exchange for free movement of Italian soldiers across them. This did not prove enough for Pope Pius VII who demanded French backing on the treaty. The French were rather annoyed by this request, however they rushed a diplomat over who merely read the statement and agreed that France would declare war upon Italy if they attacked the Papacy, however no amount of support was defined.

With this hurdle overcome the Italians now faced an Austrian army which had been patched together, an army loyal to the Northern Italian states and Ottoman backed pirates to their South looking to grab whatever they could while Europe was weak. Combined with the difficult terrain of Italy the assault was doomed to be a slow and bloody campaign.


The History of the Blackcoats
(Soeul 1912)

The last act of defiance of the Paris Riots was that of a lone gunner. Pistol in hand this mysterious woman, who no one has ever managed to identify, attacked the royal carriage nearly a month after the riots were over. She was bitter over the death of her husband and son during the riots. The guard had relaxed somewhat knowing that soldiers had swept the streets of anyone who seemed a criminally inclined. Thus they were very surprised when a middle aged woman charged up to the royal carriage, especially as she did not draw her pistol until the last second. The guards reacted instantly, however it took them longer to reach the woman that it took to her to pull the trigger and shout "This is for my Husband and my Boy!". An over enthusiastic guard shot the woman before she found out that she had not in fact assassinated the king but his wife Queen Guilhelmina[2].

With both his beloved wife and his eldest brother dead King Louis XVII fell into a state of deep depression and unnatural mourning. It was said that the only thing that gave him joy was working on his steam trinkets. He soon banned anyone from wearing anything but black in his presence and took to wearing only the colour himself, wig and all. This was of great annoyance to all, but especially the military which had a set uniform. However someone realised that a black uniform would be quite symbolic of France's mourning the death of Monarchs across Europe as well as the German hatred for French culture and its victims. The official uniform was quickly change to black and white styles. These new uniforms were complained about by some as a waste of resources but the fear that it struck into enemies was undeniable.

To follow the theme the French army also adopted a black flag with a single white Fleur de Lis upon it. This was likely due more to a wish to simplify the flag than anything else, but as more and more soldiers fought and died for it it slowly grew until it became the national flag it is today.

[1] As Napoleon Bonaparte is known as president Bonaparte his brother gets a first name recognition to differentiate him.
[2] Frenchified Wilhelmina, this Queen was eldest daughter of Prince Augustus William of Prussia, born in 1747.

One Age, Many Styles: A comparison of the Republics of the Great Revolt
(Nova Ptolemais[1][2] 1919)

Many people today think that the many Revolutions of the Great Revolt all followed more or less the same overall plan and that our own was merely the most successful due to the superiority of Roman heritage. While our success was obviously partially due to this it is also due to the different goals of Rome[3] compared to the various rebellions. We shall of course discuss these different rebellions in order of start. . .

The Second English Republic was in many ways Harling and Finley's personal little empire. Through extensive propaganda they maintained control and kept their people strongly believing that the rebellions across Europe were winning glorious victories. For their credit they did work to supply the European Revolutions with the latest British Innovations. Certain smaller weapons, such as the primitive musket cartridges and some higher quality firearms, were frequently smuggled in via Turtles[4], while larger weapons were only occasionally brought in by boat and only when the French were busy elsewhere. Still Britain had the greatest industrial capacity in the world at the time so her shipments could be large enough to aide her allies. The British turtles also managed to sink three French ships during the war, an impressive feat considering how primitive they were. The third contribution the British managed was the occasional bombings of French ports with the use of highly dangerous balloon raids. While these never sunk more than four ships in a total of eight raids the damage to French moral was great and it kept soldiers stationed on the Coast who otherwise could have been fighting France's numerous enemies.

Beyond England Britain was in chaos. Dublin and a small patch of surrounding territory was held by the Second Republic, but the rest of Ireland was divided into Loyalists in the North, Independence fighters in the middle and Jacobites in the West and South. Scotland was in even worse shape, loyalists in the South, Jacobites in the Highlands, Communitarians in Glasgow, Libertists in Edinburgh and Republicans in Inverness and a few other coastal towns. Of course the final part of Britain was perfectly stable under the rule of its Jacobite King Charles IV and his wife Queen Mary[5]. From there thriving mini-kingdom they were able to send help to the Jacobites across the British Isles.

The Polish Republic was a little more stable than the British. A highly militant nation, out of necessity due to its bordering the elite Prussian army and the Russian horde, its armies operated unlike any of the other revolutionary forces. After about six months of chaos and forward assault by Prussia, Andrei Lycenzi took the helm of the struggling republic and came up with a groundbreaking military strategy. Rather than trying to beat the Prussians he realised that any battle Prussia fought would be a Prussian victory and responded by breaking his army into many smaller forces to be able to attack more places than Prussia could defend. This had the added benefit of none of his generals having enough troops to think about turning against him. With this outflanking maneuver the Prussians were soon all but cut off despite having never lost a battle. In the east the Russians were able to match this spreading technique but the Lithuanian locals supported the Poles more and a few riots broke out spreading the Russians thinner. Then of course there was the Eastern Crisis which distracted Russia even more.

The Hungarians watched what their Polish neighbours were doing and copied the strategy. This allowed the Hungarians to cut off General Württemberg's army before the force of 50 000 was defeated by General Alvinczi nearly 8 months later. The also slowly pushed towards the Aegean, not really wanting to conquer Austria but merely to assert their independence. Due to their lack of commitments in their own land they were able to send thousands of soldiers to help their allies of Poland and Bohemia. The Hungarian domestic front was the most truly democratic of any revolution with an election held in 1802 that actually removed the ruling party from power, though the replacements were only slightly different, more based off of how nice to be to the Austrians in Hungary when they eventually gained recognition.

The Belgian revolt was more or less an example of what not to do. They consisted mostly of various pro-independence militias roaming around attacking French and later German supply lines and having no clear post-war plan or attempts to hold any land. They were more a unorganised group of partisans than an army and were about as unpopular with the Belgian people as the French and German armies, due in part to their demanding supplies for free for a cause that most were neutral about. This prompted several towns to pull together militias that shot at anyone who approached. The French responded by mostly leaving said towns alone, while the Belgian soldiers would often lay siege to the towns for a while, though would usually leave when the real armies happened to be nearby, and the Germans would attack these cities for impeding the destiny of the land to be returned to its proper German rule.

The Bohemian revolution was largely similar to the Hungarian one except it had even less interest in expansion. They were able to hold out against those Austrians which did attack them, which were few and far between. They were able to have a successful republic, though they were a bit harsher than the Hungarians in some ways. It has been said that the Bohemians were the best neighbours, but the Hungarians were the best rulers.

The Germans were probably in the worst spot possible for a rebellion, surrounded by the greatest powers in Europe. Yet through sheer fanaticism and the passion and ability of Grobstraum's command the German Republic survived, even if it was more the German Army than the German Republic. Their main uniting forces seemed to be hating the Austrians for abandoning Germany for an empire elsewhere and hating the French for supposedly keeping Germany weak. Prussia was seen as a non-German entity but one that could be ignored until either France or Austria was beat. By 1803 they had found themselves fighting the Dutch as well due to luck against France following the declaration of the Iberian Republic. They had hoped the Dutch would willingly join Germany and that it would be a mere matter of "Marching over to greet our Coastal Brothers," in the words of Grobstraum.

The Roman Empire began after the success of the German Republic, however, unlike the foolish Germans who executed all their kings and princes, or forefathers were smart enough to remain a Kingdom which kept France happy to see a Bourbon Italy. The war with the Austrians was a slow one as the terrain of Italy has never been good for advances, then there was the Papal Betrayal. When that was finally dealt with following French backing to keep the Papal states open to its loyal Italian allies. This allowed our great nation to continue to do battle with the Hapsburg oppressors of the North.

The Greek rebellion was quite short lived. The Ottomans were able to place their full army against it and turned it into little more than an area of partisan activity. It did still serve to give the Porte some experience fighting nationalists, though not enough to help them later. It also served to end any attempts at an independent Greece for some time to come.

Finally the slowest of the Republics to form was that of Iberia. With riots have begun in 1800 the Republic was not proclaimed until after the Spanish king had fled and the Portuguese queen had been captured and executed. Following this first execution nearly 3 000 people were killed in the nation for Monarchism. The Iberians were far less aggressive than the Germans but just as angry with what they saw as French abuse of their nation. With an undeclared invasion of France they managed to capture the Pyrenees and set up fortifications there hoping merely to anger the French and distract them so that the Germans could have the difficulty of marching to Paris.

The rebellions were not limited to merely Europe and Britain though, and for those nations we must look to the South. The first new nation in Africa was of course the Dominion of Africa, however the second is the often forgotten Republic of the Cape. The Dutch settlers of the Cape had long been mistreated by the VOC, and with the VOC's attempts to secure the colony from British expansion of the Hawkingsland Colony the population was now large enough to Rebel with the government busy dealing with the German threat. Unlike their more populous Eastern Neighbours they had a very insignificant number of loyalists and soon gained independence. However the Dominion of Africa soon realised[6] that they needed the Cape to support their growing population and moved in against the less populous nation. The Cape Republic proved exceptionally difficult to defeat despite its small population, due in no small part to inciting slave riots within the Dominion.

Rebellion in Europe and Imperialism in the New World
(Réo de Jenairo[7] 1941)

When news reached the West that the Old World was falling apart the leaders of both nations practically celebrated. Robespierre had been desperate to keep the Charismatic Bonaparte away from Hilfère District fearing that the General might overthrow him, while the people of the LRA had long disliked the fact that the Spanish Empire still held land in the New World and wished to liberate their brothers. Thus the two nations united in a conquest of the European colonies, the LRA dominating the land with its mighty army and the PRNA taking over the islands of the Caribbean with their quite respectable naval forces.

The LRA found itself not being greeted as liberators like they had expected due to many preferring the stability of Spanish rule that would surely improve following the revolution to the unpredictable LRA rule. The disease was also enough to make any military assault a very slow affair with the choice of either trekking through mountains or jungle also making the advance very slow. It has been estimated that nearly 80% of the LRA's casualties were due to disease. Still they managed to advance as the local defenses were very weak.

The PRNA found itself with the somewhat nicer Caribbean, facing only serious conflict on Hispaniola, the other islands all soon fell as slave riots backed by PRNA troops took over. However the number of loyalists was such that Bonaparte decided to ship them to Guyana. This was out of a fear that they could rebel and ruin the PRNA's control of its new territory. He also ensured that the local governor was pro-PRNA, which wasn't hard as the locals weren't even sure if any British Empire still existed.

The Eastern Crises of 1803
(Moscow 1911)

The Japanese had been patiently preparing their armies for an eventual Kamikaze[8] of someone, it wasn’t clear at the time who their intended target was. However the revolutions in Europe provided them with a perfect opportunity to strike even if they weren’t as ready as they would have like to have been. In 1805 they sent an army of 40 000 to attack the Russian Pacific coast. When news of the dastardly attack finally reached St. Petersburg quite some time later it was mistaken for a Chinese assault and sent the Tsar into a panic. He promptly ordered 30 000 men be sent East to attack the Chinese. This lead to a period of confusion as no one quite knew how to get that many men across Siberia at once. The aging Tsar Peter III came very close to order them to figure it out as they went, but managed to calm himself down and accept that this would take time. Thanks to his patience he was able to find out that the enemy was in fact Japan not China which saved him from his original plan to march through Mongolia.

It was eventually decided that they could manage to send 5000 men at a time, but it would still be difficult to supply said men. The old Tsar declared it the best action anyway and the first wave was sent East. When they finally arrived the strange Japanese weapons proved more than a match for the Russian army and the first wave was shattered. The Second wave managed to pick up a good chunk of the survivors and decided to attempt to out maneuver the Japanese until more soldiers arrived.

[1] Approximately Ad Dirsiyah Lybia
[2] Being in Italy don't expect them to be totally unbiased about their own Revolution
[3] Though at the time they were Italy
[4] Submarines, here the name stuck. These ones are very submersible though and often sit at the surface using sails to get around.
[5] More or less OTL's Marie Antoinettem though the personnality is somewhat diffrent
[6] AKA decided
[7] Yep, that's not a typo
[8] In this dimension it means a swift attack much like the wind is quick, think blitz.

"A threat is now on our doorstep that is unlike any we have previously faced. This enemy does not seek glory or territory, they seek to eliminate the very essence of what makes us Human. They would have us all made automen[1] in servitude of their inhuman goals. They cannot be reasoned with and they will not stop until their goal is reached. We must unite to fight this threat which has crown in its dark corner of the globe for far too long, for no nation alone can now stand against them."
-Jean Kaliara, Prime Minister of the International Union, addressing IU Grand Assembly in emergency Istanbul Headquarters 2013

"Our enemies fight us for we have all the virtues they fear and none of the vices they admire![2] This is why we must fight: to show our enemies that they have been wronged by their nations and to free them of said lies!"
-General Aldous Walker, occupied Lisbon 2013

"It appears we have found this world in an interesting yet turbulent period. As war measures are likely to tighten information gathering will become more dangerous than it is already. We are unsure is we can even guarantee any further updates if things go badly enough. Still we shall try."

The Great Flight
(Delhi 1925)

Young King Frederick II was forced out of Africa merely three months after the slavers rebelled due to several assassination attempts. The question at this point was where to go next, for Europe was far from safe, yet only India and Australia remained as options. His sister Mary felt that the growing colony of Australia was the place to go, and was followed by many who felt the climate of India too much for them. Prince Henry meanwhile chose the exotic-ness of India, and received a following of those who preferred to live somewhere that already had an infrastructure. King Frederick II felt it was his duty to visit both locations on a rotational basis for what he had felt would be a brief time. He still felt safest on the ships which had carried him halfway around the world and therefore preferred to stay on board a ship even when in port.

This lead to his power being rather abstract, with the Company and Prince Henry more or less running India while Princess Mary and a collection of nobles and politicians who had escaped formed a loose control over the colonies of the Australian continent. This increased self governance would of course lead to significant effects later on, and a great deal of annoyance to British politician and school pupil alike.

This wave of immigration also created interest amongst the Tângatan[3] Confederacy in New Rohan, whom new that these British refugees consisted of many skilled workers whom would be useful for the Tângatan modernisations schemes especially as they could be played off the French merchants and settlers who were established in the early Tea Departments[4], though the initial British reaction to an offer to live in a Tea Department was total confusion due to the word's meaning in English. Some thought they were going to be taken slaves to work on tea plantations or some such thing in an initial panic. Soon however the British decided that the Tângata could make powerful allies in the region if they could be persuaded to abandon the French.

Interest was also sparked across India as news filtered through that a European King was living on the Subcontinent, at least a good chunk of the time. Of course it was likely that little more than a few Indian Kings would have seen these European Royals if the French hadn't developed a quite complex plot. They had heard rumours that Prince Henry was supposedly even more flirtatious with the local women then he was with European ones. They also had a rather tricky situation involving the attempts of some local merchants in the town of Hanamkonda to gain independence from the Mughal Empire, a move which the RIC supported as a test of the might of the great Indian Empire, however they had felt that they lacked the resources to take on the Empire alone and the Dutch were cut off without Capetown or supplies from their overwhelmed homeland, leaving only the British as potential allies[5]. They knew however that the British wouldn't dare help them with current affairs the way they were, but the British control over the Mouths[6] they had access to a significant population from which to draw Sepoys and had proven their all but cut off EIC capable of equalling the French in the Chandrenagor War. It was out of this pressure that they implemented their overly complicated plan involving the end goal of a marriage between Prince Henry and the daughter of one of the Hanamkonda merchants, and luckily for the French there was one Christian amongst the merchants who actually liked the idea of his daughter marrying a British prince. The French therefore announced they would be holding festivities and invited dozens of prominent Indians, both monarchs and generally rich men, as well as the British.

Much to the French relief not only did Henry fall for the future Princess Gauri, but she also found him charming. The Prince knew that it could be difficult to get his brother to approve though and thus waited for one particular festive night where his brother was in a surprisingly good mood, to ask. Feeling good, and being more than a little drunk, King Frederick II agreed. The Prince soon rushed off to get married. The response across the exiled British society was mixed to say the least. The EIC men supported the move or simply didn't care, many of the people seeking refuge from the Republic back home disapproved, while Princess Mary and most of her Australian council were largely horrified, though not so much out of distaste for the civilized people of India, but the notion that Henry had accepted the exile. When news reached Europe Harling decided to ignore the fact that the new Princess was Christian, and had converted to Anglicanism, and claimed that the royals were showing not only were they of Catholic stock but also willing to further distance themselves from British norms by marrying people who didn't even believe in God. It is rumoured that Harling even debated claiming that it was the King who had become married, but in those comparatively early days he was only willing to warp the truth so much. The biggest response came from the Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II, who became convinced that this was the British revealing support for the Hanamkonda rebels and raised an army to remove them from the Subcontinent.

The French, having wanted the war in the first place, jumped to the British aid, however they would prove less important in the war than the Indochinese Empire which had been quietly reforming over the past decade and now fielded an army more powerful than any European Company. Unfortunately this pulled the Burmese into the war as they feared the growing Indochinese power, which delayed the arrival of Indochinese reinforcements, but also allowed the British to have claim over more of the early victories against the Mughal than would have been possible if the Indochinese had been there. The greatest advantage of the British was the fact that they still had the bulk of their Navy, and used it to attack anywhere on the Mughal cost that they wished, forcing the Empire to keep a disproportionate amount of troops in the West to defend against British raids, allowing British-French armies to push his forces back along the Ganges. This war also attracted Persian interests, as a busy Russia and Ottoman Empire allowed them to turn their attention more to the East. Seeing the Mughals locked in a mostly even war, at least until Indochinese troops finished destroying the Burmese Empire, was a golden opportunity for them to break out of the stagnation they had been suffering from for some time. The Tângatans decided to test themselves as well, though the army they sent was small it still proved more than capable, being especially innovative due to having little idea of the so called rules of tactics.

[1] Robots, though in D-398 the ideas of robots gaining any sort of personality has never occurred in and Science Fiction, thus making it even darker.
[2] Surprisingly similar to a Churchill quote.
[3] Dimension 398's term for Maori, see History of New Rohan updates for more information.
[4] The name for the regions where Whites (and later Indians) were allowed to settle and live by their own laws. These weren't quite formalised by this time, it was more just certain regions where they "Tea" folks could live in peace.
[5] The Portuguese are worse than the Dutch right now, being for the time being actually more technically Brazilians.
[6] Of the Ganges

Frédéric Cuvier[1]: The Life that Forged Cuvierism
(Georgetown 1938)

In any account of the life of a man as influential as Frédéric Cuvier one must start by clearing up misconceptions which abound around his work. Firstly one must make it clear that Cuvier never intended for his ideas to be applied to humans, after all the force behind Preferentialism are conditions no human would willingly instill upon another. While Malthus had of course inspired Cuvier's thought pattern with his writing An Essay on the Principles of Population[2], which discussed human population, Cuvier felt that science would allow humanity to avoid these pressures. He did however point out that it was the poor who would be most affected by Preferentialism if it were applied to society, this helped to deter many of the more reactionist movements from attempting to implement it culturally as they did not want the ruled to become the more "advanced", not truly grasping what Preferentialism truly was.

Cuvier was born on June 4th 17773[3] Montbéliard, in the Duchy of Württemberg, to Jean George Cuvier, a lieutenant of the Swiss Guard, and Anne Clémence Chatel. He proved highly successful in his schooling and was able to travel to Paris for his formal education. Soon after finishing he was unsure as to what to do next, torn between returning to the Germanies or remaining in France, however he became caught up in Parisian life to the point that he soon found himself challenged for a duel due to an affair. This lead to him catching a ride on the next ship with plans to take a long voyage. The ship was of course the Solitaire which set off on its journey around the globe. Over the course of this voyage Cuvier noticed numerous interesting animals, especially on the Galapagos Islands, which began his thinking about the change of animals. He had no idea what force could be behind it, but he recorded everything he could nonetheless.

He was in for a shock when he returned home in 1800 after his five year voyage. He managed to return home to Montbéliard, only to find the name changed to the more German sounding Mountbelar. He also soon found that his parents had been forced to leave the city due to the anti-francophone sentiment of the German Republic. Fearing for his own safety he left the town and went by the name Frederick Bottich, choosing to stay in the Republic as it was far more open to radical ideas than the desperate French monarchy. He soon encountered Malthus' essay and saw it as a potential force behind Preferentialism, however it would take him many years to publish the full detail of his theory. He did publish some of his ideas from time to time though, which lead many a German Nationalist to claim that the French scientist Cuvier stole his ideas from the great Germans scientist Bottich, a misconception that lasted well into this century. He stopped publishing though when he began to see what we would call Social Cuvierism being instigated by the government, though it is debatable whether this was due to him or Malthus' more widely known papers.

Cuvier also had a hobby in gardening that he found calming, but lead to one of his greatest discoveries. While at sea he had realised how much he liked peas, an odd taste, but one that would help science greatly. He enjoyed growing different varieties of peas, but noticed that certain traits would disappear for a generation only to appear again in some of the next generation. His naturally curiosity lead him to research this more deeply and methodically as somewhere in the depths of his mind he realised how important this was. His discovery of what he called Free Characteristics became essential to his theory of Preferentialism. He work was soon however interrupted by . . .

"Agent Mckenzie 'ere. 'aving to sneak in my broadcast so 'as not to get got by these b'ys, eh. These gorbies on the team ain't the smartest, eh, but they are meticulous. Also the hyrdro 's not the cheapest here, so they'll notice if I add extra, eh. An'way, the locals have a group that would fit very well with our goals, if I hadn't known better I'd a thought they were imitatin' us, eh. Got a few goals similar to those vile commies, but not too bad. Will await further orders."

. . .n 1951)

There are few men who bring up as much controversy in the Germanies as Grobstraum, to the point that many wish to try to ignore him, especially in the face of current events. However such a tactic cannot be used, lest we risk falling into the same foolhardy paths that he followed. Many have claimed that Grobstraum was a fool, but if anyone were to look at history with an objective view not clouded by living with the outcome surely they would not see him as a fool for angering the great powers of Europe, but a highly skilled individual for being capable of doing what he did when surrounded by arguably the four greatest powers of Europe[4]. This does not mean that I in any way support his actions, merely that one must not call a man a fool for failing the impossible.

Little is known of Grobstraum's early life, in fact his real name is not even known. All that is really certain is his story of being one of the victims of the Unterschleißheim Tragedy are almost universally accepted, and those who don't accept it mostly do so to go against the mainstream not out of any real conviction. Even the idea of a man becoming a military leader after such a horrific event would be astronomically low, after all one has only to look at the anti-war feelings of Hilferding[5] to realise that such an event would drive one away from war, not to it[6].

Grobstraum also was not the egomaniac he later devolved into, starting out merely a staunch German nationalist. He had no problem with people outside of the HRE, merely a dislike of the Austrians for trying to use the HRE to expand their empire beyond and the French nibbling away at it's Western border. He was a very hands on commander, not trusting his generals with anything but defence or things he saw as lesser campaigns. This militarism prevented any true centralised government from occurring, with envoys from the Departments having to chase him along the front, leading to very little regulation within the republic, apart from recruiting pretty well every German man who could carry a gun into the Republikanischen Garde or the defensive Startseite Miliz. This mass recruitment allowed Germany to hold out against the larger French population and still have men to fight the Austrians and Dutch.

For the first five years of the War of Revolutions Grobstraum concentrated his efforts on holding back the French and trying to make sense of whatever was going on in Belgium, something the French and Dutch wished to understand as well. However in 1806 the Hungarians won the battle of Ljubljana, crushing the Austrian army of 80 000 as well as cutting off the remaining 30 000 men to the South. Grobstraum saw this as the perfect opportunity to knock Austria out of the war and convinced the Czechs and Hungarians to move on Vienna, against their better judgement. Grobstraum brought 40 000 men from the French front and the 30 000 men who had been guarding the border with Austria to march through the heart of Austria. The Hungarian army of 48 000 was the first to approach Vienna though, causing the Austrians to panic and try to intercept them at Bratislava, hoping to use the mountains to confine the Hungarian offensive. The Germans were meanwhile delayed at St. Polten by desperate defenders, who held the invaders off while Vienna could be fortified. However the Austrians we stretched to their limit when Czech army of 27 000 marched across the plains between the two nations and proved the straw that broke the Austrian back. Forced to retreat their outnumbered army of fifty thousand to the unprepared city. At this point the Republicans sent emissaries to offer Joseph II a chance to surrender, to which he replied: "I would rather die fighting for what is right than see your mobs parading down the street. If you take this city I will ensure it will be useless by the time you take it," a statement which he was convinced would deter the attackers from trying anything. It is widely debated whether he thought they would offer a peace or merely begin a siege, which would draw too many Czech troops for them to defend against a Prussian relief, as well as give the Dutch and French a chance to break through in the West. Which ever was his goal the Revolutionaries decided that he was bluffing and attacked. The First Battle of Vienna would last a full month and cost nearly 70 000 lives, not counting civilians, making it the second bloodiest battle of the war.

Grobstraum ensured that Joseph II was captured, in order to have him paraded down the streets of the burnt out city of Vienna. The people were enraged at his stubbornness having destroyed their homes and some even through bits of rubble at him. Of course Grobstraum's martial law would soon manage to make even Joseph II extreme ideas seem mild as the man had begun to spiral into his later madness at the time. Still riding on the glory of conquering Vienna, Grobstraum took 30 000 men North with him and with about 21 000 men withdrawn from Belgium and the 42 000 men already stationed on the Dutch border to make a push for the coast to chop the Netherlands in two. The Dutch managed to make it a difficult campaign, forcing Grobstraum to transfer men from the Miliz to the Garde to replaces his losses. The French also tried to assist the Dutch, but could not make ground on their border with the Germans, couldn't properly supply an army through the Belgian Mess, and couldn't trust the British Turtles in the Channel. After the successful splitting of the Netherlands the Grobstraum decided to turn North to deal with the soldiers trapped their, reasoning that it was better to let some Dutch troops slip into France rather than keep a second front. Many have called this his first great blunder.

[1] OTL younger brother of George Cuvier, who was born in this world, but died at age 10.
[2] Surprisingly similar to the title OTL, with Principle changed to Principles. The text could be seen as a paraphrase of the OTL essay, though all members of the expedition who have read both see D-398's version as much more depressing.
[3] OTL it was June 28, 1773.
[4] What luck for the author that we came along to attempt just the analysis which the author asked.
[5] Hilfère, in non-frenchified spelling.
[6] Ignoring of course King Charles IV, though he was already in military school so perhaps it is an unfair comparison, but so is comparing a four year old to an adult.

"I personally like this video series, sure it's a little campy, but it's still reasonably accurate so I'm sending you the script for some variety. I was pretty tough to find a translated copy though. We are more than a little worried about the potential for a draft which exists in the nation were are residing in . . . Oh yes, script format is a bit different in 398, and I'm no expert on ours so I apologise for any errors."

Transdraigia[1] Parmountcy[2]: A People's History Part 1: The Grand Trek
(Nu Haven[4] 1995)

A poorly lit cabin interior, filled with several men dressed in the red colour of loyalists.

Thomas Garfield:
My friends, we can no longer stay here. Those slaving owning Hawks[5] have already begun punishing our loyal brothers on the coast who could not flee to Australia. It won't be long before they come for us.

Peter House:
We should stand and fight. I see no reason to force our families to march across the desert to God knows where when we can stand and fight!

Thomas Garfield:
You've heard the stories from the Cape, just as I have. Would you put your families through that? It is best we leave for better lands and hope that the civilised world can deal with the Hawks. If not it gives us time to prepare. If we stay we have only oppression or abandoning our humanity as options. If not for my family I too would stay and fight, but I want my children a chance to grow up without the taint of Slavery. If you wish for you families to be raised in an environment of hate then feel free to stay, but freedom lies to the North. Now, will you stay here or will you travel with me to establish a proper country loyal to the King?

All:
To the North!

Cut to a caravan traveling across open country.

Narrator:
And so they departed that land which was doomed to fall further from grace as it grew more dependent upon the corrupting practice of Slavery which had created it. The journey North would cost many lives and was one of the truly great migrations in history. Many nations claim to have been founded on pioneer spirit but the founding fathers and mothers of Transdraigia were true pioneers setting off across uncharted lands with their entire family. Progress was slow, but it also built up trust with the native peoples whom they would trade with until they finally settled down after nearly a decade of nomadism.

Scene changes to a flourishing but small town. Significant numbers of Natives a present. A caravan of people speaking Dutch arrives. One approaches Peter House to try and talk to him.

Dutchman:
Hallo, Ik ben op zoek naar de man in rekening gebracht.

House:
I'm sorry I don't speak Dutch.

Dutchman:
I apologise. Who is leader here?

House:
Prime Minister Garfield is probably the man you want. May I ask what so many Dutchmen are doing here?

Dutchman:
We heard rumours of a place free of the Haviken and so we have come to join you.

House:
This is good news, especially following the rumours coming from the Mthethwa about the Hawks having gone to war with them.

Panning out for a full view of the city and then further to show the whole region of Southern Africa with satellite imaging. Borders appear on the map showing the expanse of the Dominion of Africa to the South along with the local Portuguese Colonies, Native Kingdoms and Transdraigia. The map begins to animate showing the Dominionist campaigns of empire building and the slower growth of Transdraigia as more and more flee the Dominionists.

Narrator:
News reached the early Transdraigians of the constantly increasing threat of the Hawks. In response militia service was deemed necessary for all and any past times which improved one's martial ability were encouraged. Numerous native doctrines were also adopted were useful in the exchange of ideas which the early Transdraigians grew to see as an exchange of equals. The early basis of our modern equal society were born in those difficult early days, though they would need to be strengthened in bloodshed several times before they could truly arise.


The Disaster in Rome
(Budapest 2001)

The Kingdom of Italy was held together in the early days by constant battle. The Austrians had been the main source of distraction, however with the fall of Vienna the Austrian soldiers in Italy offered a ceasefire significantly behind their lines and the Italian Senate accepted as each faction wanted its own men back in case conflict arose. The largest gap was between the Anarchist and Communitarian atheist, the only similarity the two had yet enough to get them lumped together by outsiders, against the Nationalists, Libertists and Royalists, who were fighting for the King not nationalism. This religious divide became particularly noticeable when one army happened to be travelling quite close to Rome itself. The local Nationalist general Giulio Utili was convinced the Communitarians and Anarchists in his army would try something if he let them so he crackdown on them maintaining strict regulation on their movements. The response was a riot by the Anarchists, who then decided to head home on their own. The Communitarians were torn and significant numbers left with the Anarchists.

General Utili saw this departure as proof that the atheists wanted to attack Rome due to their heading closer to the city. He ordered his army to follow in order to try to stop the Anarchists from destroying the city. The Anarchist thought that they could escape to the city and reach safety there due to Utili seemingly moving to crush them. The two armies approached the city at full pace, sending panic into the streets. The Anarchists just barely managed to beat the main army to the city, at which point Utili panicked and began putting his army into battle formation, hoping to scare the Anarchists. The Anarchists we panicking themselves thinking that Utili was about to attack and began barricading themselves in. Suddenly two parts of the army began firing at each other, there is much debate as to why this occurred. Most historians claim it was the Communitarians on both sides who had decided this was the perfect chance to destroy Rome, others that it was the Anarchists attempting to maximize chaos within the nation. It seems more likely though that it was merely someone fired out of panic and the situation spiralled out of control. It is known that the later fires were started by Communitarians hoping to weaken their opposition.

The Burning of Rome sent shock-waves across the Italian peninsula turning things into a civil war. The Nationalists and Royalists soon united under the common goal of imperialism, the only real debate being how much power the King would retain. The Libertists began to Attack the Communitarians for competing with them amongst the people pushing for small government. The Communitarians showed their rational practicality that they would continue to have up until today by avoiding any fight they might loose and attacking anywhere they seemed likely to win. The also were very concentrated on controlling the seas, which allowed them to retreat to Sardinia once the Louis Napoleon led Imperialists, a fusion of Nationalists and Royalists, were clearly winning. Due to the destruction of Rome and the Italians claiming the Papal states when they declared themselves the New Roman Kingdom, the French were forced to declare war upon the Italians, however their difficult situation with Germany prevented any real fighting on that front.

The destruction of Rome and the declaration of the kingdom now being Roman prompted a major revival of Classical ideals, marking the start of the true Neo-Classical Era.

[1] From Dragon Mountains, warped by Afercan[3] speech. The 'g' is hard.
[2] This part of the name comes from the Mthethwa Paramountcy
[3] The local language of rather mangled English, with influence from local languages as well as Cape Dutch and Icelandic.
[4] Capital of Transdraigia
[5] The use of the term Hawk for citizens of the Dominion of Africa did not actually arise until about 1830

"Here is a chart showing several flags which originated during the Age of Revolutions. Not sure how they managed to put writing like that on a flag."

Life in the Eye of the Storm: French Domestic History from 1800-1820
(Paris 1957)
Much has been written on France's performance during the War of Revolutions recently, likely revelling in past glories to forget the present, however these writings have all focused upon the triumph abroad and not the way in which it affected the people at home. It is important to remind these nostalgics that it was not all glory and crushing the German menace at every turn.
Paul Levrault was a more than competent leader having inherited much of his father's[1] leadership abilities and charisma. However no man can run a country on his own, not even Grobstraum or Harling despite the impression that most history texts would attempt to make one believe. Levrault had to deal with the numerous representatives of the National Assembly in order to do anything, though his leadership of the Stability Party[2] he was able to effectively do what he wished, but certain goals were heavily watered down. One of these was his attempts to make France more democratic to weaken Republican sympathies, however most of the Stabilists worried that this was a decent down a slippery slope and chose to cut back almost all his attempts, such as keeping elections every 7 years rather than the 5 he had suggested and refusing his moves for allowing all men above twenty to vote, putting a significant property requirement in place.

Due to France's dire need for fast responses to numerous threats Levrault pushed for, and succeeded in establishing, an large and organised copy of the British Murray Grids, however the French system was far less extensive than the British or North American[3] systems. It did prove enough to keep French communication ahead of the more chaotic German system. Another move of modernisation was improving French industry, however this required coal a resource France was lacking. The only sources of coal in Europe were in Republican countries[4], forcing France to look elsewhere. Her gaze was forced to the West, for the People's Republic North America was the only nation beyond Europe with any coal producing infrastructure. While the trade was unstable, especially during the outcry of the Haitian Slave Riots which were widely seen as Communitarian backed, especially following the revolt when Haiti asked[5] to join the PRNA. France soon realised that she was dependent on the mainly Yankee coal to drive her industries and the short shutdown of trade was ended.

Coal however was not the only thing which France traded with the PRNA. The Robespierrian treatment of Loyalists was abhorred, however it would not be until Bonaparte's presidency that anything would be done. However the idea of punishing dissenters in a productive manner did sit well with the Assembly and the Nation Loyalty Act was soon passed. Under the early NLA those suspected of holding revolutionary sentiment could be sentenced to extensive periods of hard labour for the good of the Kingdom. While in our modern world with recent events still fresh in the memory of many this seems the deepest of evils, but in this era anyone holding radical sentiments was thought to be an enemy of France. The expulsions from Germany and Spain would only strengthen this sentiment. This culture of paranoia would lead many radicals to move to the PRNA or Africa, where they may have started the horrors of the Cape inspired by their treatment back home.

The 1809 elections, France's first real elections, saw an almost completely Stabilist Assembly, due in no small part to most radical members of the Assembly having been arrested under the NLA during the election as well as fear in the population of being seen as a revolutionary for voting for a non Stabilist. The remainder of the Assembly, realising the war still had a long way to go seeing the collapse of Austria and the Netherlands, decided to come together as the National Cooperation Party, standing on the platform of reform to avoid revolution. While this may be similar to Levrault's goals on first glance the NCP advocated reforms that would all but strip the King of power, much like the Italian system while Levrault was more interested in the illusion of reform as opposed to actual reform. However their new stance of be very loud about keeping the King in some sort of power was enough that they were able to avoid the NLA. However this early stance was about to be broken by Grobstraum's unknowing attempt to replicate a Kamikaze strategy.

The End of Terror
(New York 1981)

Robespierre was quoted as saying : "Bonaparte is like a rabid dog. When he is out near your enemies he is very useful, however you do not want him to come home." The fact that he truly held this opinion was shown by his attempts to keep Bonaparte busy in the Caribbean, possibly hoping some tropical disease would do him in. Unfortunately for Robespierre Bonaparte was finished in the Caribbean by 1808 and had become quite popular due to his heroics in spreading Communitarianism. Robespierre and his consul by this time were quite unpopular as well, making Robespierre quite nervous. His fear increased quite a bit when Bonaparte decided to travel with several thousand men North to Canada, on a route that would lead him to the Capital District. Robespierre feared the worst and got his yes men in the Consul to declare Bonaparte and Enemy of the People and gave the Phyrgianists the authority to arrest him. The public outcry was immediate, but with a Temple of Reason in every town Robespierre controlled the nation's urban centers, forcing Bonaparte out to the frontiers.

Using the unsettled Ohio valley to travel to the Hilfere CD seemed a good idea, however it brought the army into the Native dominated Cherokee and Indiana Territories which had been the centre of multiple Colonist-Native clashes as the Native peoples saw their lack of recognition in the government as a sign that the old Yankee methods were being implemented rather than the Canadien style which they had been seen as more or less equals in. Fearing an attack Bonaparte instead called a meeting with the various Native leaders promising them full rights as citizens if they assisted him in removing Robespierre. This soon caused several of his assistants to point to the technological disparity between Europe and North America claiming that the Natives clearly weren't as naturally civilised as Europeans and therefore did not fit in a Communitarian civilization, and were better off in the noble savage obsessed Libertist lands. Bonaparte countered by stating that the Europeans only survived in the New World due to learning from the Natives and gaining supplies from Europe, showing that it was the environment and not the people who were responsible for the technology difference. The debate on this would of course rage until the mid-1940s, however that is not our focus.

Reinforced by nearly 14 000 Native troops Bonaparte now had an army of 40 000 under his command, enough to cause Robespierre to call back all his Phyrangists North of Lake Erie to assemble them at Hilfere for a force of 20 000 taking up position in the fortress of the Great Hall of Logic. It was following this withdrawal that General Pierre Augereau led an uprising in Mont de Peuple[6] that successfully captured Robespierre's head Phyrangist Babeuf. Now in control of Quebec, Ontario, New England and the Maritimes Augereau was able to send a further 20 000 militiamen to assist Bonaparte. Bonaparte's army took up position on Grand Island while Augereau took up position just South of the Horseshoe Falls. Robespierre and his men were supplied for a siege and winter was by this point fast approaching leaving Bonaparte's army the one more likely to have to break. However Bonaparte decided none the less, much to the confusion of his generals. His waiting did turn out to be a good choice as an unnatural cold snap soon occurred. Ordering his men to cross the frozen river, while not risking his canons on the ice, Bonaparte crossed at night, using the bright snow to not need lights and the back around noise of the Falls to muffle his approach. Robespierre's men didn't know about the assault until all of Bonaparte's cannons fired at once at the approximate positions of Robespierre's guns. With the element of surprise Bonaparte was able to take the fort with surprisingly few casualties. This battle was also the first to see the use of balloons in North America by Bonaparte's men to provide a sight for snipers.

Robespierre was found dead on the top floor of the Assembly, having poisoned himself rather than accepting defeat. Due to not having Robespierre nor Babeuf to provide them with the truth the new government was now stuck trying to sort through Robespierre's yes men trying to identify who was a loyal Laurentians and who had been pressured into it through threats. In the meantime Bonaparte was more concerned with the push by his generals and the remaining members of the Consul to accept running for President. After two weeks he finally gave in as even the people of Hilfere began pushing for him to run.

[1] Louis XVI
[2] Not truly a political party in the modern sense of the word, it was more a group of politicians who realised that things would go more smoothly if they decided things as a block. With nearly all the members of the Assembly being in the Stability Party they may as well have been the Assembly with its radical members removed.
[3] People's Republic of North America
[4] The Ottoman and Russian coal regions were rather under developed. The Ottoman source all had pirates enjoying the chaos to do whatever they wanted.
[5] After seeing Bonaparte's army on its border
[6] Montreal renamed

"There are rumours that the war may soon be going nuclear. This will make ISOT based communication rather unreliable. We are attempting to forge realistic papers to get a pass to the North, however the locals have very complex printing methods and I am unsure we will succeed."

Grobstraum's Great Gamble: the Push for Paris
(Zurich 1949)

Riding on the victories of Austria and the Netherlands, Grobstraum seemed unbeatable. He also now had tens of thousands of soldiers freed up from those former fronts to lead a massive assault on France. He feared that the Austrian and Dutch armies which had escaped to France would regroup if he took to long though, so he devised a strategy that would hopefully get him to Paris before any French troops would be able to make it. He planned to command a central army of 80 000 to march straight for the city with the absolute minimum number of supplies for maximum speed while the rest of his military would be split into several smaller armies that would assault any French armies attempting to pursue his main force. On July 4th he launched his massive assault with nearly 250 000 men all along the front assaulting the French positions, while his main army slipped past the French. Early in his attack the French realised this was a truly major problem and sent word to France using the latest Murray Grid, which had been hastily constructed, to send word that the Germans had an army heading for Paris. The word reached Paris just far enough ahead of Grobstraum's army to allow them to use the more thorough coastal Murray Grid to call in troops from Normandy to defend the city. The army of about 50 000 green troops arrived in Paris just ahead of Grobstraum's army, and began setting up hasty defenses. Forming a concave system of earthen mounds they hoped to trap the larger and more experienced Germans. Grobstraum saw the defenses and sent his army to attach the flank, while setting up artillery to hit the mid section of the defensive line and keep the French from moving from one end to the other.

The tactic worked quite well, however Grobstraum's men were still tired thus lowering much of their experience advantage and turning the battle into a vicious slog. A good portion of the French army began retreating into the city to attempt to barricade themselves in there, and many feared a larger version of Vienna was inevitable. It has been said that Grobstraum was discussing lighting the city ablaze and not moving in until the fire had destroyed the city when the tide was turned. A Dutch army appeared on the horizon, having heard the news that Paris was being attacked, but having been disorganised after their retreat through Belgium. Numbering about 33 000 due to having regrouped from numerous smaller groups, they had hurried fearing that the fall of Paris would mark the end of Monarchies in Europe. Attacking Grobstraum's rear the German leader himself came under fire and he was forced to pull back to regroup, however the desperate Dutchmen refused to give him any chance at a break and continued their assault. Reinvigorated by the miraculous appearance of the Dutch the French soldiers charged with them to assault Grobstraum. Showing that he was still an expert general Grobstraum managed to hold out for several hours before requesting a diplomatic meeting with the French. The French knew that their armies weren't doing too well at the main front, due to the Murray Grid, and therefore conceded, but were sure to make him think it was a generous offer.

The peace conference was held at Versailles, with representatives across Europe and Britain invited. The Germans demanded that France return to her 1740 borders and that all signatory powers recognise that the Dutch and Austrian colonies belonged to Germany, the French refused to hand over any of their territory unless Austria and the Netherlands were freed. The Germans decided to drop the border claim in order to hold on to those nations. The Prussians and Poles were unable to reach any agreement on a border for their nations as both saw many of the same areas as key to their nations. France was able to negotiate a natural border out of the Italians who were still unstable at the time, as well a return to the old war with the Spanish. The Russians were forced to hand over Lithuania, which they barely controlled anyway, a large concession but riots due to the Eastern Crisis had them weakened significantly. A limit was also placed on all nations to give a maximum of 250 000 soldiers, though all nations would find a way around that. With all nations but Prussia and Poland at peace the so called 'Phony Peace' began.

Trials of the Presidency
(Victory[1] 1986)

Chapter 1: Napoleon Bonaparte (1809-1814)

Napoleon Bonaparte's position as the first president of the People's Republic of North America was one of the most challenging that any president has ever had, arguably the most challenging. He was nominated to the title by the First Consul's remaining members, the only president to ever receive the title in such a way due to later decision to remove that power from any War Consul, at the young age of 39. His reign consisted largely of establishing what being President meant and how one became President, allowing the rump Consul be involved in most of the effort of actually running the country. It was his decision to make the lower house elections based off of the votes of a portion of the population, while the upper house consisted of three representatives from each state, province or territory, and the president would be elected by a tabulation of all the votes in the nation with no division. He also extended to term of the president from the hypothetical four years to the more reasonable five years due to the difficulty of managing such a vast nation. Some saw this as an attempt to lengthen his hold on power, but the soon followed extension of all other terms to five years helped weaken this argument, though a few claimed it weakened democracy in the PRNA.

Apart from planning the nation's future he also had to deal with cleaning up the remnants of the pro-Robspierre elements found in many cities. For this he sent General Augereau with the bulk of his newly created Grand Continental Army, with the goal of pacifying cities and training militiamen. Bonaparte's old friend Moreau soon found himself head of the Upper Assembly, due to his incorruptible support of democracy, as President Bonaparte had fear the the power might get to his head as it had done to Robspierre he wanted Moreau there to keep him grounded. There is some belief that even at this time Bonaparte was trying to establish Moreau as his successor, though whatever his thoughts were they were interrupted by the news from New Orleans.

Having heard of the fight against Robspierre the Americans felt confident that they could inflict a defeat upon the PRNA, quite probably hoping to gain the Caribbean and possibly Florida. Despite the fact that many of the Southern Republics were busy attempting to conquer Granada and thus were unable to provide support. The Americans still gravely overestimated the ability of Robspierre to hold out against President Bonaparte as well as holding the belief that the Native Peoples of the PRNA would welcome them as liberators. Under this foolhardy misconceptions they sent an army of 22 000 to attempt to take New Orleans. Not only did the city militia manage to hold them out of the city long enough for militiamen from nearby ports to sail in to reinforce them, but the Libertists found the Native People's hostile due to the presidential promise of suffrage in the next election. They were still able to gain a strangle hold on the Mississipi and capture Baton Rouge, making them a major annoyance to the people of Lousiana. In response President Bonaparte ordered the creation of another professional army, due to Augereau's task being too important to abandon. Calling upon the people of the North-East to join his army he decided to sail his army down the Mississippi. Thus in a twist of irony it was Robspierre's ruthlessness that saved the PRNA from the LRA betrayal. Sailing down the Mississippi with 35 000 men, President Bonaparte was able to pull off a surprise attack as the LRA had no idea of the extent of the canal system in the PRNA and was thus expecting if any reinforcements would arrive they would arrive by sea. Finding themselves now all but trapped the American soldiers fled back the Téässe[2] where they met up with the local militia.

It is perhaps a good time to explain the confusing matter of the American military, after all it has been irrelevant to the citizens of the PRNA for almost twenty years now, and it was even more disorganised in the 1810s than it was when it was last on the minds of Yanks and Canadiens. American Republics were in charge of their own militias, though the federal government remained in charge of the professional army and the official foreign policy most of the armed forces was in the militias. The force the northern Republics had asked to be sent was recruited mostly from their lands as the Southern Republics had sent many of their sons to fight in South America against the remnant of the Kingdom of Spain. The total Army numbered only about 60 000 men, with 40 000 fighting in South America and 20 000 having been involved in the invasion of Louisiana. The militias meanwhile numbered close 120 000 before Bonaparte's army arrived. However the South was reluctant to send troops to the North.

Outnumbered by President Bonaparte's forces and the militiamen who had swelled his army to nearly 53 000, the Americans made an attempt to regroup at the Téässian capital of San Antonio. They were able to amass only 39 800 men to defend the city, and President Bonaparte was no fool and chose to avoid urban combat based off of the tales of Vienna. Instead he merely set up his large supply of canons and began to level the city. This forced the Americans to flee, however they decided to attempt to implement Polish Spreading tactics, breaking up into 8 armies of 5 000 in order to attempt to outflank the People's Army[3]. Not wanting to be surrounded Bonaparte similarly split his army into five smaller armies. With battles raging the length of Téässe the LRA's central government realised that it needed to do something before it lost the North Eastern Republic entirely, and opened up the entirety of the LRA to assault. They therefore made a hasty deal with the Iberian republic to concede the Plata to Iberia (not that it had any effect on the royalist Spaniards who lived there) and saw the creation of the Incan Republic in the remaining territory which the LRA realised was too distant for even their loose government to control. This freed up 32 000 men to march North and attempt to hold the People's Army before the Rio Grand. Now facing more than equal numbers Bonaparte felt it was time to call upon the technological breakthroughs of the era to win the war. Balloon sentries, manned by riflemen (often Native)[4], were deployed first as the PRNA had the ability to construct balloons. The other technological marvels were imported, rollers mainly purchased from the French, while rifles and a few Puckle guns[5] were purchased from Britain. While working on the rollers it was a Captain named Earnest Rick who first realised the use of placing a Puckle gun on a roller, though other than his elite roller force no one else would attempt this until the Romans in 1821, close to eleven years later, despite the numerous points where it would be useful in the second half of the Revolutionary Wars.

Pushing forward with the latest in technology, as well as President Bonaparte's military genius, the LRA attempted to counter by calling up more and more militiamen to die. However the thing which did stop Bonaparte was a successful raid by the LRA Navy against New Orleans. While Augereau was actually finished securing the East Coast, President Bonaparte had no knowledge of this when he called for the Peace of San Antonio. The border proposed by the PRNA was along the Guadalupe River, then due East until the Rio Grande at which point it would follow the Pacific-Gulf watershed border until Salmon River, which would finish the border. While the LRA agreed for the most part they demanded the Brazos river be the border not the Guadalupe. The negotiations were going no where when news reached them that the people of Drake Island and Pacifica had formed a militia and invaded Northern California. While this front was far from pressing, and in (unknowing) violation of the ceasefire, it nonetheless prompted the LRA to offer to compromise of the Colorado river. The PRNA slightly modified this border after a bit of further of further negotiating so that the border was less like the original LRA offer, however they still gained the majority of useful Téässe.

Returning home just in time for the elections, President Bonaparte felt that politics was not his place and supported Moreau for the presidency.

[1] Capital of Drake Island, renamed after independence from Phillipsville
[2] Texas frenchified
[3] Not yet called the People's Army officially, though the name was first used around this time
[4] A few have claimed this was due to uncertainty about the balloons and not wanting to risk Whites, though it is a hotly debated subject
[5] A primitive machine-gun
[6] Remember, these Kilometres aren't quite OTL

"The 27ers are acting even stranger than normal, quite odd folks really. Rather anti-social. I suppose it might just be them, but I'm not sure. Oh yes, we managed to secure papers to relocate to some small town, though I cannot say if it will be soon enough, with the war continuing to go how it's going the nukes are likely to start flying very soon."
.
East or West? Home is Best: Russian History 1750-1820
(Moscow 2003)

When Paul I ascended to the throne, following his father's death in 1804, he had two things on his mind: the Polish Republic and the Siberian War. The Polish Republic seemed a far grander threat, tying up over a hundred thousand men, while Japan was seen as having gone mad as no one had found out at that point that the Japanese had modernised. Thus when word was received from Siberia that the Japanese were winning Paul, along with everyone else, was utterly perplexed. Paul decided to send a few thousand more men, sure that a few more men would beat back the Japanese and free up the other men in the East to return in order to fight the Poles. These extra soldiers did do significant damage to the Japanese war effort, but being so far from Russia's heartland the armies were hard pressed to keep supplied with the essentials for war making, while the Japanese were able to maintain their supplies.By 1808 the fighting in the East ended with the Russian army having run out of ammunition and having lost about half their forces. The Japanese celebrating this victory took control of the Dutch ships which had fled to Japan, and began a grand journey to dramatically appear in Normandy slightly over a year later.

The more obvious problem of the Japanese victory was not losing to the Japanese, but the fact that the Russians found themselves unable to hold off the Poles (especially following the wave of uprisings which removed the Russians from Lithuania), and many accused Paul of wasting troops looking to the East when he needed to turn his sights West. The nobles who had avoided his father's purges and exiles were able to use this as propaganda against Paul which managed to get the peasants, who had by this time forgotten how much Peter III had improved their living conditions, on to the side of the Nobles. With the Poles and Magyars less than twenty miles from St. Petersburg itself Paul I was found dead. Officially it was ruled an accident, he had slipped and fallen down the stairs, though most were sure it was an assassination. However killing Paul did not solve the problems of Russia. The Poles and their allies demanded Russia become a republic, something the majority of the Russians would not support. The Republicans responded by besieging St. Petersburg and helping the Russian Republicans to take control. The Royalists were forced to take Moscow as their capital, a move which caused some shifts of allegiances, but resulted in little gain on either side. However the two factions were spread out across Russia widely enough that neither side could really claim to control anywhere beyond their capital, with most of the country being more like a massive riot, while the more mobile members of the nation decided to make their own way of pillaging. This chaos also saw the Crimean rise up against Russia's moves to make a puppet of it. It is likely that the crisis would have turned into a full fledged civil war if not for two events, first the Swedes decided that another republic would be very bad for them and their Prussian allies, and the arrival of the Japanese envoy in France. The Swedes were able to capture St. Petersburg with relative ease, while also forcing the Poles to abandon their Russian puppet due to assaults along the Baltic and reinforcing Prussia. The Japanese on the other hand simply refused to negotiate with the Republicans, sure that only an Emperor's word meant anything. In the end Csar Nicholas I was chosen by the nobles, while a Duma elected by the upper nobles to prevent anymore Pauls or Peters from harming the standing of the nobility too much.

With the internal struggle solved Russia was forced to listen to Japan's rather extreme terms. They demanded Alaska and everything east of the Yenisei. The Russians were taken aback by these dramatic demands to the Lena river down to the Alden then due South from the tip of the Alden to China. The Russians were willing to concede that these demands were more reasonable, but continued to attempt further negotiations, managing to claim ten miles on the eastern side of the rivers. Any further claims were shut down after the Germans and Danes decided to declare war on Prussia, Sweden and Russia. Conceding this significant territorial loss resulted in significant damage to the Russian morale and of resulted in her weak and indecisive state during the 19th century. The regressive and authoritarian views of the Duma and Tsar Nicholas also helped to hold back Russia.
.
Returning the Rightful King: A Complete History of Jacobitism
(Glasgow 1907)

After their low point in the mid to late 18th century, only the success of gaining the Channel Islands to encourage them, the Jacobites saw Republican Britain as the perfect chance to strike. With the Hanoverian hiding in India suddenly it was a Stuart who was closest to London. With quite French backing, to counter the not so quiet British backing of her enemies, the Jacobites of Scotland and Ireland found the weak and haphazard Republican rule easy enough to country. Ireland proved the easier land to liberate as the loyalty of the Royal Navy to the Hanoverian meant that the Republicans needed what little ships they had to protect the Channel. Though the highlands were still buffered by the Communitarians in Glasgow and the Libertists in Edinburgh (often accused of only picking said ideologies to extend their rivalry). Of course Harling claimed that those regions were merely experiencing light revolt that would be put down any day, though this story didn't stop him from sending thousands of troops to "train" through pacifying the region. Faced with the most modern army in Europe the Jacobite cause would likely have been broken, if it hadn't been for the rise of the charismatic and talented Sir Isaac Tolkien, a man who many felt was as foolhardy as his name suggested[1], especially following his attempted Jacobite riot in London itself in 1802. As one would expect, said uprising did not go very well, but did shake up Harling's stories of the stability of the Republic quite well. Tolkien himself only just escaped with his life and fled to Ireland.

Arriving in Ireland he found the Jacobite movement sorely lacking any centralisation and set out to remedy this by placing himself in charge. In order to do so he engaged in one of his exceptional campaigns once again, this time leading an army on a surprise attack of Belfast, which was the centre of Hanoverian support in Britain. To everyone's surprise he succeeded in his insane plot and captured the city. Seeing his potential the leaders of Jacobite Ireland called him to fight a major Republican army, an invitation he gladly accepted[2]. The Battle of Waterford saw his force of 4 000 Irishmen successfully defeat the 5 000 Republican soldiers they faced, though it must be noted that his army lost more men, but kept fighting regardless much to the shock of the Republicans who were forced to break off after losing more men than they found acceptable. Still taking into account the superior weapons and training that could be afforded to the Republicans it was an impressive victory. Charles IV noticed this rising star and called him back to the the Channel Islands to award him a knighting for his services to the services he had rendered the Kingdom, this would of course be the first of many titles he would gain yet would always remain the one he was most proud of for feeling he truly struggled to earned it.

[1] If certain etymologists are to be believed
[2] Belfast returned to Hanoverian hands soon after Tolkien left

"Oh yes, here is the best map we could generate from local sources."

Political History of the People's Republic of North America
(Mexico 2003)

Politics in the PRNA has long been a slightly confused area. This stems largely from the fact that it was a multi-party state, yet also based off of a single ideology based off of unity. With the founding principles of Equality, Community and Good Government being held to the hearts of all politicians there was some reluctance to adopt multiple parties, as shown with the election of 1814. It was only in the election of the President that there was any semblance of party structure, with the proto-Populists backing Jean Victor Marie Moreau while the proto-Reformists backing Robert Owen. While Moreau had name recognition for his deeds in the Revolutions and the experience running the Upper Assembly, however Owen had the advantage of being an Anglophone which was a serious advantage when the Yankees were beginning to grow suspicious of the perceived Canadien control of the People's Republic. Still Owen's advocacy of many extreme reforms lead some to see him as too close to the eccentricities of Robespierre, while Moreau advocated democratic ideals first and reformation second. Certainly having the backing of President Bonaparte did not hurt Moreau's chances either. In the end Moreau one a narrow victory.

...................Votes.....% of Votes

Moreau .......731 920 .........56

Owen .........575 080..........44

Total ...... 1 307 000.........100

With the quite close election tensions had built between the early Reformists and Populists, prompting the effective formation of the parties, though it was not until the 1819 election that the parties themselves would form. This was because of the early method of the runner up becoming the Secretary President, thus keeping to two parties together.

The core of Reformist Ideology was the wish to implement the ideals of Hilfère as quickly as possible. There were two main reasons for this, the Radical subset seemed mostly interested in reform for the sake of reform, whilst the Purists feared that delay would lead to the twisting of Hilfère's ideals due to the original era being to distant. These two different sources of Reformist sentiment did not lead to any division as they maintained the same goal.

By contrast the Populists felt that democracy had to come first and that reform needed to be a gradual process mediated by the ideals of the people. While they held Hilfère to high respect they still felt that it was up to the people when it was time to accept his ideals. They also worried that Reformist passion would cause excessive panic from both foreign governments and potential immigrants.

The Reporter: a Biography of Robert Manx
(New York 1993)

Robert Manx was born in Manchester in 1774, the son of a struggling author, his mother having died giving birth to him. He received the best education his father could provide, but still found himself out in the world at a relatively young age. He did his best to assist his father and soon proved himself to be the better author. Just as his efforts were starting to get him out of poverty his father died, having destroyed his liver through years of drinking in 1797. Feeling somewhat lost in life he began to read the great political writings of the time and found Communitarianism, which he largely embraced. Still when the revolution came to Britain he chose to stay in the Republic of Britain rather than the Popular Republic of Scotland, which was locked in a power struggle with the Liberal Republic of Scotland. He soon found a job in the Ministry of Propaganda, for Harling could not think up his massive propaganda machine alone. In the Ministery Manx learned an important philosophy which served Harling and would serve Manx very well, this idea is summed up well in a quote from Harling : "If you hold the hearts of a nation then you hold the nation". He was praised by Harling himself for his writing abilities, however the Minister of Propaganda, Lord George Murray, grew apprehensive of this rising star out of fear for his position. He hired men to investigate Manx at they found Manx's copy of Hilfere's On the State of Man. With Harling preparing for an invasion of the Scottish Republics Murray was able to construe this as evidence that Manx was a supporter of the Popular Republic of Scotland. Fearing for his life Manx fled to the PRNA.

He arrived in the isolated city of Cabotsville, recently renamed from St. Johns. He founds a thriving town, but also lacking any English Newspaper after years of French Rule. He quickly set himself up to fill this needed role and soon his Cabotsville Times was being read across the Maritimes and Northern New England. With his growing influence he was paid a visit by Robert Owen during the 1814 election and was asked for his support. Manx however worried about sales and feared that holding a political position so soon would be a bad start. Owen was quite disappointed, though Manx pointed out that his readers were mostly Anglophones in Francophone regions and would thus likely vote for Owen to avoid further Canadien control. It did however cause Manx to realise that he could now afford a French paper as well. Naming it Le Phare (The Lighthouse), he wasn't able to see the same success as with the Cabotsville Times, but still made a decent profit. Fueled by this success he was able to purchase a few of the smaller Anglophone papers in the Provences[1] to add to the growing behemoth of his company. By 1819 he felt secure enough to begin displaying his pro-Reformist stance, though he ensured the support only appeared gradually so as to slowly convince his readers.

A History of the British Empire
(Bombai 1981)

The Mughal War was a fairly short affair when one considers the vastness of the distances involved in the war. It began in 1807 with the marriage of Prince Henry and Princess Gauri, which prompted the Mughals into believing the British had been supporting rebellion against them. The Burmese became the only allies of the Mughal, though the Indochinese Empire was able to defeat the Burmese by 1809, giving them a clear path to India. The British meanwhile pestered the Mughals with their mighty navy in the West while their largely Sepoy Army marched from the East. The French also provided support, though they engaged the Mughals in the middle of the subcontinent, having gained the trust of the Maratha that they were not planning to conquer them, but merely that they wished to defeat the Mughal oppressors, even managing to gain some Maratha troops. Finally the Persians assaulted across the mountains. Still with the French busy in Europe it was not until the start of the Phony Peace that the French could send troops in any real numbers, which forced them to accept a division of India more beneficial to the British. While many in France were bitter about what they felt was a hasty action by the RIC it should be noted that they did manage to secure an alliance with the Maratha. The Persian were also bitter at being blocked at the Indus by the European powers, and began to care about French policy elsewhere.

The British undoubtedly benefited the most, however they also did so with surprisingly few losses. This was due to the sending of troops up the Ganges in 1810 travelling by ship. This allowed them to land in Delhi and capture the city. They had in fact merely planned an assault on the city, but just being it released chaos across the Mughal domain, leading to no successful Mughal efforts to retake the city. The British also benefited from the fact that the French refused to allow the Germans access to Dutch ports, but were unable to secure the ports themselves without a declaration of war. They therefore backed the British in securing the Dutch colonies, with the British being extra interested in holding Indonesia so as to provide them with a clear route from India to Australia. They also gained the old Dutch base of Deshima from the Japanese, though this was considered an embassy by the Japanese and not a colony. The Japanese were very interested in gaining British military consultants, they had one their war with Russia but the lack of experience fighting other gunpowder armies had cost them much more than they had cared to admit. The British meanwhile were fascinated by the Japanese multi-barrel rifles which the Japanese had a large supply of.

Now with the heart of India under their control the British began preparing armies to retake the Isles[2], modernising Indian shipbuilding techniques and building infrastructure in Australia. They also engaged in a brief battle with the Dominion of Africa, however they merely managed to secure the Prince Edward Islands. They had hoped that the islands would prove useful for their ships, though difficult weather made the attempts rather unsuccessful.

[1]The Provences= Francophone subdivisions
The States= Anglophone subdivisions
[2] British Isles, 'The Isles' is a commonly used term in India and Australia for reasons which will become clear later

"The war did go nuclear, luckily the nation we are in has surprisingly good missile defenses. There may still be some slight difficulty in near future transmissions from background radiation, but we doubt it should be anything too serious. We also included a map of Europe from right before the start of what Agent Evans is calling the Roman War for some reason. I really think she has too much time on her hands."
Never March to Moscow
(Moscow 2011)

The Phony Peace had been going well enough for the Republics. Iberia had centralised under El Líder Antonio Hervez, fortifying the Pyrenees and sending 50 000 men to assist her allies. Britain had successfully conquered the Scottish Republics, though found the Jacobites in near total control of Ireland and unshakable from their Highland territories, though still managed to send the products of her industry to Germany. The Danes and Germany had pushed Prussia almost to death's door, nearly making poor Prussia an army without a country, especially following the loss of most of Silesia to Hungarian armies. The Swedes were able to hold their ground, or more technically their sea. They had maintained a significant naval advantage in the Baltic, allowing them to ever be on the offensive, however this mobility tied up enemy troops, but did not allow them any serious gains. This left only one member of the Three Northern Courts[1] with a powerful position being Russia[2], despite having only just re-stabilised from the edge of civil war a mere year earlier. The Poles, Lithuanians and Hungarians realised that the Motherland was not yet stable, and that if they could capture the fresh capital of Moscow the nation could implode once more. Abandoning the flanking techniques which had served them so well for the first half of the revolutions they drove straight for Moscow. This was a very bad decision.

The French hadn't been sitting on their hands during the Phony Peace, using the Royal India Company as a loophole in the Treaty of Versailles limitations on their army. They had used the ongoing war with the Mughals, which was never officially ended from a French standpoint due to the collapse of the Mughals as an entity. With an army that soon numbered 350 000, along with 50 000 Dutch soldiers and a further 48 000 soldiers from various other nations France had been waiting for a chance to attack. The attempt to capture Moscow turned out to be what they needed. The primarily Hungarian army had number 240 000 when it had set off, but after travelling across the vast Motherland it had lost nearly 100 000 men[3] and when they finally reached Moscow the winter was setting in. The Russian government swore that they would make Vienna look like a holiday if the Republicans tried to take the city. With the Hungarian general Décsi Csaba having fought at Vienna he felt a siege was the better option and set up his army around the city. This move proved a disaster as Moscow had both had due time to prepare for the siege during the time it took the Republicans to reach the city and had also stocked up for the winter in any case. The Republicans on the other hand found themselves facing a harsh winter in hastily constructed shelters and short on food. They began raiding nearby farms which only helped to cause the wavering Russian people to accept the government in Moscow and take up arms. Surrounded by hostile country and short on food Décsi decided it was due time to retreat, however this ended disastrously and by the time the French declared war his army was down to a mere 43 000.
The Old Alliance
(Istanbul 1961)

Established in 1536 the Otto-French Alliance is the oldest alliance in the world[4]. . .
The Alliance had several ups and downs, however under Louis XIV the Alliance began to recover, though it stagnated somewhat under Louis XV. When Louis XVI took power the Alliance saw a major renaissance, culminating in the Ottoman participation in the Second World War. However it would not be Louis XVII began his grand invasion of the Republics that the alliance would be truly called upon. There had been some working together during the Phony Peace following the discovery of coal in Greece helped to remove French dependence upon the PRNA and also led to the industrialising of the Empire in Europe (as well as a bit of Western Anatolia), but this had still been relatively minor, apart from the French occupation of Malta to secure the trade route. However following the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 the Hungarian army was devastated and it was a perfect chance for the Ottomans to strike.

Thus at the start of feasible campaign season the Ottoman army of 240 000 marched across the Danube North of Belgrade with minimal resistance. The Germans decided to send reinforcements to assist the off guard Hungarians, not realising that the French clean up of Belgium had in fact been cleaning the way to the Netherlands. The French army smashed into Germany in two massive drives, one pushing to Frankfurt (renamed Deutchfurt at the time in a move of Francophobia) and another to liberate the Netherlands. The Germans responded with their usually spread out fighting style, believing the Poles and Danes strong enough to finish off the largely destroyed Prussia and Saxony. Grobstraum was however quite shocked at the Dutch uprisings against his forces when the French crossed the border. In a desperate effort to catch the French off guard his advisor, General Erwachen, devised a plan to invade the poorly organised Swiss Confederacy to outflank the French and strike their rear. Grobstraum approved of the move, apparently forgetting that more than Germans lived in Switzerland.

With the Ottomans forming and awkward alliance with the remnant of Austria that still existed in Dalmatia the Romans were mobilised preparing to invade the Hapsburgs in North East Italy whom they had previously ignored, with Louis Bonaparte having been attempting to bring peace to his little Roman Empire and planning an invasion of Communitarian held Sardinia. The Ottomans for their part had been preparing to invade Italy, but the French were trying to talk them out of it convinced taking the Peninsula would be too costly[5]. Luckily the German invasion of Switzerland provide the French with the ability to bring the Romans onto their side, by stirring up the Pan-Italian nationalism to defend the Swiss Italians. The Romans realised that the Otto-French alliance was winning and that they would be better off if they supported the French and so decided to use this rather weak Causus Belli to declare war upon their former German allies. The Spanish however decided that if they waited they would be doomed and attempted to invade France. This may have done in the French if not for the Moroccan entry into the war freeing up enough troops from Germany (Iberia was clearly not an option for Muslim soldiers) to hold the Spanish in the South while more soldiers were recruited.

[1] The name wasn't used until 1821
[2] Russia is a nation for which it is hard to find unbiased literature one, this text is a little too generous too them, Sweden was in fact the strongest of the three, it merely was relying more on navy than army.
[3] Mostly to having to station men to protect the supply routes
[4] The British-Portuguese fell apart during the Revolutions and due to the complications which arose afterwards.
[5] The fact that the nation was (at least in theory) ruled by a Bourbon monarch probably also influenced things.

"Well that should do-"
*gunfire is heard*
"What in the name of Mitney was that?"
"The 27ers! They've gone nuts!" Agent Zilevec replies.
"What? Why on Earth would they start shooting?" Agent Centauri asks.
"'Cause you gorbies are a bunch of idiots, eh!" a 27er replies.


- - - End of Tape One - - -

- - - Start of Tape 2 - - -
Agent Centauri:"What on Earth are you on about?"

1st 27er: "You gorbies are so out of the loop, eh! They didn't even tell you there was a war goin' on, eh! We're goin' to liberate touts les places you so called "1ers" oppress, eh!"

Agent Centauri: "Oppress? What? We aren't oppressing anyone!"

1st 27er: "What difference does that make. eh? We're goin' to win either way! We've never lost before, eh!"

*gunshot*

Sgt. Riyako (over radio): "We've secured the entrance, however I have to admit these guys are certainly capable."

*gunshot*

Sgt Riyako (over radio): "I suggest you and the other civilians lock yourselves in the ISOT chamber. You should be safe in there."

Agent Maturo: "Sir, perhaps we should evacuate? Take out the ISOTer in the process?"

Agent Centauri: "We don't know where's safe though. We don't want to become stranded or be taken prisoner."

Agent Hastings: "We also don't want to give the locals ISOT tech! Seriously, you know what they would probably do with it. We can't risk that."

*gunfire*

2nd 27er: "Those gorbies trying to plan quelque chose, eh?"

Agent Centauri (shouting): "SURRENDER NOW OR WE BLOW THE ISOTER!"

1st 27er: "You wouldn't dare! It's clear you folks dislike the locals, eh! You wouldn't strand yourselves here!"

Agent Centauri: "Want to test me? We have nothing to lose considering it seems you 27ers might be anywhere we go. You guys meanwhile have everything to lose, ruining your chances to do whatever it is you're trying to accomplish."

2nd 27er: "Why don't we just shoot you then eh?"

Agent Centauri: "Because then Seargent Riyako will be given authorisation to detonate it, and he will be a lot less willing to negotiate."

Sgt. Riyako: "You've ****ing got that right! I see no reason to negotiate with these psychos!"

Agent Centauri: "See?"

*quiet muttering is heard between the 27ers for about a minute*

*gun fire in direction of recorder*

Agent Hastings: *rasping gasp*

Agent Evans: "Hastings! They-they shot him!"

Agent Centauri: "That's it! No more negotiation!"

*closer gunfire moving away from recorder*

*shooting continues for several more minutes with three distinct groups, Agent Centauri, the 27ers and Sgt. Riyako's men. This third group slowly gets louder until the second group eventually stops*

*two short burst of bullets are heard*

Sgt. Riyako: "Well they're dead now."

Agent Centauri: "Still, someone probably heard that. I don't think we can stay here much longer."

Agent Zilevec: "What about Hastings?"

Sgt. Riyako: "Unfortunately we can't do anything for him. The same is true of Corporal Lizvent. We can't take them with us. Gran the ISOTer and go to the truck."

*shuffling is heard.*

*click*

*click*

*sounds indicate the recorder is in a vehicle*

Agent Centauri: "This is agent Centauri. As you have heard the 27ers attempted to take over. Of course who you are listening to this you probably know that already. We have been forced onto the run. Luckily this nation is far too large for even it's authoritarian government to be everywhere. We have been driving three days, and we know that we are wanted, it has been on the television and the internet. Treason is the official charge, as well as unlawful possesion of firearms, murder and disturbing the peace. We are also suspected of forging official documents, but there has been no charge yet. Luckily these woods are so untraveled we should be safe. We have decided to stop broadcasting with the ISOTer as a safety concern, however we will record updates in the same style as before."

*click*

"As promised here is an update, though it is quite short."

The Battle of Frankfurt
(Zurich 1925)

Despite Grobstraum's excellent military abilities his army simply could not hold off the seemingly endless supply of Frenchmen crossing into Germany. As such it took them a mere six months to reach Frankfurt, however trying to take the city would be much more difficult. Many of the German soldiers defending Frankfurt were veterans of the First Battle of Vienna and as such were more experienced than their French opponents at urban warfare. The French therefore decided to lay siege to the city, knowing that unlike the Hungarians at Moscow they weren't going to suffer from winter or starvation themselves. Unfortunately the commanders in Paris felt that this was too slow a process and demand Frankfurt be taken by the year's end, likely fearing that Russia might collapse back in on itself due to the fact the Hungarians had done enough damage to that nation’s farms that there was the beginning of famines that would likely only worsen during the winter. The wisdom of this move has been questioned by many including RIC General Jean Lannes who was commanding the French army at Frankfurt. However General Lannes conceded after the Army Generals threatened to place one of their own in charge, having not trusted the RIC men despite their promotions based off of merit not birth. Further detail on the feuds between the National Assembly (along with the Army) and the Royal India Company are beyond the scope of this text.

Lannes decided to shell the city, being one of the few artillery generals outside of the PRNA, and in the process destroy much of the city before any of his troops even entered. The barrage was very organised, turning many small streets into wide boulevards by destroying the buildings which lined them. While it took nearly two more months Lannes lost a mere 2 000 of his 50 000 men, while the German army of 38 000 was crushed. The generals in Paris however were frightened by the sheer destruction which Lannes had inflicted and feared that having him pacify further cities would cause too much rage amongst the inhabitants. This was however an illusion as what he destroyed was levelled but he only destroyed key parts of the city, unlike in Vienna where everything was burned and broken.

The End of the Republics
(Hanover 1909)

Unlike the other republics of the Age of Revolution (apart from the Italians), the Hungarians realised that the tide had changed by 1814 and attempted to change sides. However they had the more difficult situation of having abandoned the monarchy to deal with, but they found a way around that. Prince Ferdinand[1] had been their prisoner for some time, though he had been treated fairly well due to his having been a critic of his father's treatment of Austrians for some time; some believe his status as prisoner had been merely to satisfy the Germans who had wished to kill any monarchs they could in their bloody fury. As such they managed to pass the motion to make him King Ferdinand V of Hungary, though the move was still reasonably unpopular with the more ardent republicans even they felt that it would be better than Ottoman rule.

This move satisfied the French, Italians, Russians and Swedes it did make the Austrian forces under Prince Leopold[2] feel betrayed, due largely to the fact that Ferdinand had promised not to claim the throne of Austria to satisfy the Hungarians, which of course divided the Hapsburg lands. The Ottomans were also somewhat disappointed, but this is due to their having hoped to take more land than they managed to. Still with the Hungarians having switched sides the days of republicanism were clearly numbered. The Poles began to collapse while the Germans had retreated to their mountainous South just before they heard of the Hungarian's switch. Once more Vienna found itself at the heart of a dying empire, with the new Kingdom of Hungary's army follow the same route they had for the last battle. With a combined army of 30 000 Hungarians, 10 000 Austrians, 25 000 Ottomans and 8 000 Italians attacked from the South against Gorbstraum's 45 000 tired men. The final great battle of the German Republic took place on the fields just outside the city on October 27th 1816. The force of numbers proved too much for even Grobstraum and he attempted to retreat into the city, only to find the citizens to have taken up arms against his army, fearing that their great city would be destroyed once more. Trapped between the desperate citizens and the far larger army Grobstraum ordered his men burn the city and when one of his generals demanded they surrender and hope for mercy he shot the man. The other generals were horrified, and General Meckel shot Grobstraum himself while the megalomaniac was reloading. Meckel then lead the surrender of the German Army, though thousands of soldiers would fight on in the North for several more months not believing what they felt was French propaganda.

The Bohemians saw themselves defeated at this point, but still refused to give in, knowing that support for them in Hungary was still strong and the both Russia and France still had a long distance to cover before reaching them. What they forgot was that Prussia was always an army first and a nation later, so even with most of its territory occupied King Frederick William III was no fool and knew that defeating Bohemia would leave him with one less front, as the Poles and Germans were on the defensive Denmark remained the only other threat at this point, and was easier for the Swedes to defeat than the Prussians. He therefore lead his army of 42 000 into Bohemia, where the local army of a mere 35 000 was swiftly defeated. The Danes were soon all but alone on the continent, with the Iberian Republic being in no position to help them. They attempted to gain a peace, but the Swedes and Prussians were out for blood.

The Iberian Republic made two great blunders during their final days. Firstly when the Italians betrayed the revolutionaries the Iberians declared Catholicism obsolete, enraging much of the population as well as the still strong remnants of the Inquisition. After that they then tried to draw French troops away from Germany, not realising how massive the French army had truly become. With the population enraged, resulting in thousands of militia fighters, and a French army of 80 000 pouring across the Pyrenees the question merely became how quickly they could collapse. What surprised the world was how long they managed to last. With merely 50 000 troops forced to both fight France and Royalists they held on, at least in the fact that most of the army still existed, until 1818 mostly by avoiding any real battles whenever they could. This was no end of annoyance to the French who wanted concrete victories for moral. However once the Second Battle of Vienna was finished they French could soon send a further 40 000 men to the Peninsula, while soldiers also arrived from Brazil to consolidate Portugal. Still, there was one threat left that the French had to overcome before they could claim victory, the industrial power of the Republic of Britain.

The Rise of Modern Warfare
(2008 New York)

The Revolutionary Wars were a period where France showed her technological advantages over the continent. Her rollers devastated the German and Iberian armies, while her industry churned out the huge amounts of weaponry needed to arm her massive armies. Still it was Britain that would show the world the true nightmares that modern war would bring. One of those great weapons was the comedic sounding Puckle Gun, an invention from the early 18th century that had been beyond the abilities of its era. The French had encountered a few in German hands, purchased from Britain, but those had been few enough that how to deal with them was not learned. While most of the so called "War Winning Wonder Weapons" produced by the British scientists were likely wastes of money, such as their hot air balloons and turtles, the numbers of Puckle guns and Rollers which Britain produced was enough to significantly level the playing field with the French.

Having left the remnants of Germany in her allies hands the French prepared a massive force to attack across the Channel. 250 000 men were sent to the cost, as well as 14 000 Dutch soldiers who could be spared to thank the French for liberating their homeland. On March 3rd 1817 the full might of the French Navy clashed with the British Navy[3], and with the support of RIC ships secured the Channel. With the water theirs the French army soon poured onto Great Britain in the thousands. The British army was mostly in Scotland fighting Tolkein and his Jacobites at the time leaving only 20 000 men between the French and London. The horribly outnumbered British soldiers fought desperately, but numbers told and within five days the French were on the gates of the city. Harling decided to sacrifice the southern half of the city, believing the Thames was a better defense than the city's. He therefore ordered the razing of all the bridges, but not before the food in the South was poisoned. When the French arrived in the city and found themselves blocked by the river they decided to take up position on the South side of the river and celebrated over the plentiful food a large portion of their army was rendered ill. Meanwhile the Thames lacked any decent bridges for kilometres[4] and the British defenders were able to reach them first. Trying to find a crossing point, while not wanting to risk British raids being sent across, the French army was soon spread out across most of southern England. Luckily the Murray grid which the British had built in their paranoia proved more useful to the French in controlling Southern England than it had been for the overwhelmed British, allowing them to put down any militia activity with significant armies. At least 40 000 militiamen were defeated due to their inability to organise before a French response reached them.

This relative stalemate lasted for nearly a month, but then the Swedes declared war on Britain as well. With an army of 18 000 landing on the coast near Hull, Harling had to draw men from the South to try to stop the Swedes. The French found out and managed to pour their men across the weak point just West of London. Fearing that he would become trapped Harling fled the city with the 26 000 men he'd had guarding it and headed for the North West. His army was confronted by a French force of 40 000 just south of Aylesbury, but his forces managed to set up a defensive position, and with 50 Puckle guns inflicted severe casualties upon the French force, forcing it to break off and wait for rollers to arrive, due to the open field providing no shielding for the French armies. This delay allowed Harling and his men to successfully pull back to continue the war.

[1] First son of Joseph II, otl he only had daughters
[2] Joseph II brother, same as OTL
[3] The horribly unoriginal name the republicans gave it.
[4] Remember, not the same as OTL in length due to the measurements being done elsewhere

The End of an Age
(London 1899)
With French armies advancing up England and the Jacobites dominating Scotland there was little the Republicans could do but delay the inevitable. This of course they were very successful at. Feuled by Britain's near limitless coal reserves the factories of the North and the Midlands churned out dozens of Harling's so called "War Winning Wonder Weapons", from rollers (with the first hints of future of size classed rollers) to balloons and turtles. The balloons proved mildly useful, mostly for striking deep into French controlled lands and damaging supply depots. The turtles were a significant pest for the French, but they could build new boats faster than the few turtles could sink them, especially after commandeering Dutch docks and impressing men from across both Europe and the Americas, due to France's man power being needed in the Army. The rollers and puckle guns likely made the greatest difference in the end, being significant numbers equalisers. Puckle guns slaughtered to old column formation[1] and did significant damage to the idea of formation tactics in general. However, the Roller Column formation saved the day, with the tactic of sending rollers in front with a line of troops following them[2] until the danger of the puckle guns was taken down, at which point the rollers would stop and allow the infantry to begin fighting a normal battle. However this put serious strain on French coal production and caused them to shift their attention from the plains of England to the mountains of Wales where coal was (and is) abundant. While the going was quite tough in the rough terrain the Welsh people were far more welcoming than the English due to Harling's discrimination against all non-English citizens of the Republic. The hilly terrain, and proximity to Ireland, meant that Jacobite reinforcements were highly useful in Wales and lowered pressure on France herself.

With most of Southern Enlgand and Wales in French hands the Stuarts were safe to return to their rightful place in London. It was with much fanfare that King Charles IV and Queen Mary entered the city to crowned officially in Westminster Abbey. While it sent the French RSS[3] into a security panic, fearing the possibility of Republican assassins. Luckily everything went smoothly and the Jacobins were elated and the Republicans felt devastated. Most of the Republican army realised that they were doomed, but Harling refused to admit defeat, though even his right hand many Finley was trying to convince him the negotiate. Instead he demanded scorched earth tactics, ranting that "A royal family is like a disease, and the only compassionate thing to do for a country with one is to put it down," a piece of madness that his propaganda workers had to spin into something convincing. Still, the near eternal enmity which had existed before that point between Brit and Frenchman seemed to have been enough to convince many a republican soldier he would rather see his homeland burned then under French control. Still, fanaticism could only keep an army going for so long and by October 1818 the Second Republic of Great Britain was at long last reduced to Manchester, Liverpool and some of the countryside in between. Harling himself was in Manchester in that last week when he tried to muster together the 13 000 tired men he had with him defending the city to make a break for Liverpool and attempt to flee to the New World. The Jacobins managed to get wind of this escape effort and attacked his weary army with a force of 18 000, catching them somewhat off guard. The Jacobites soon realised that they could not defeat the smaller force due to its better equipment and successful taking of a defensive position, and therefore merely tried to pin it down until a French army could arrive. Meanwhile Finley's army of 34 000 in Liverpool made no effort to relieve Harling and Finley instead sent word to the French that he was willing to negotiate surrender. The French accepted this surrender and sent 40 000 men into the city, while helping the Jacobites by sending 12 000 men to capture Harling. While Finley and the other leaders of the Republic surrendered, Harling somehow escaped the battle.

Harling's escape started one of the greatest manhunts in history as every nation in Europe feared what he would do if he made it to their nation, or if he made it to the Republics of the New World. It was soon discovered that he had made his way to Southern England, but what no one suspected was just what he was going to do. Managing to find a few Republicans who had avoid RSS sweeps he organised that on the 5th of November they would light fire to several buildings. What they probably did not expect was that the fire would spread out of control and burn much of London. In the ensuing panic Harling once more escaped, keeping all Europe in terror. He would not be discovered once more for many years, having met the rather anti-climatic end of being killed by a Spanish bandit in Galicia (oddly enough, it was Polish Galicia and not Spanish Galicia).

The Stockholm Conference
(Kyoto 1945)

Following nearly twenty years of war Europe was bankrupted and exhausted. Sweden was perhaps the only significant power not to be all but collapsed and therefore was delighted to display its newfound (and short lived) return to the position of Great Power by hosting the peace conference that would redraw Europe. Due to the fear everyone had on France this was a very popular location. The major problem that existed for the conference was that the Great Powers of Europe had changed significantly during the war. While before the war Britain and Austria were unquestionably Great Powers both those nations had been practically destroyed during the war. Prussia meanwhile was utterly bankrupt and devastated by the war, yet had fought enough that no one could claim they had little say. Russia was clearly a major power, yet she also seemed ready to explode at any moment. No one (apart from the French) trusted the Ottomans in anyway, despite their having more or less rescued the Balkans. The only other remaining powers, Italy and Hungary, were seen as pragmatic republics that should have no place in the new Europe.

Another crisis facing Europe was the distinct lack of royal families still alive. The Bourbons were about the only family still alive, and with France already controlling most of Europe the other powers were, rightly, worried that Bourbon kingdoms across all Europe would lead to unending French hegemony. One of the responses to this was to have many states placed in personal union with the other nations of Europe, such as Denmark being handed to the Pomeranians. The French wish to injure the Hapsburgs was also a significant force, leading to the creation of the Kingdom of Triest and the Prussians gaining control of the Kingdom of Bohemia.


[1] Column formations were made famous in OTL by the French Revolution, but they were not invented then. With somewhat different military tactics in D-398 the columns were somewhat more widely used, but also did not burst into prominence during the Age of Revolutions.
[2] Used quite a lot in WWII by the Russians
[3] Royal Security Service, see #7
 
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