4 January, 1865
An engagement takes place in the Bhutan Expedition, a short war on the frontiers of India. The Bhutanese dzong bring chainmail and shields to the fight, while the British bring Enfields and Sniders.
It is not a very long battle, despite the Bhutanese deployment of catapult artillery. (This turns out to be surprisingly destructive, hurling dozens of fist-sized rocks down on the British formations, but the well-drilled British regiment in question simply disperses into skirmish order and snipes out the catapult spotters).
7 January
The black regiment of the Louisiana State Militia debate amongst themselves about whether to pay for breech-loading weapons. No conclusion is reached, but some of the members volunteer to purchase the rifles they are interested in and have a shooting day in a few months.
9 January
It is raining again in Santo Dominigo.
Jessie James and his band of filibusters are doing well, militarily speaking, but today they suffer a humiliating setback as some of their supplies (and one of their Whitworth field guns) get washed away by a flash-flood.
Locals knowingly comment that it was probably not such a good idea to camp in that particular ravine.
15 January
The Victoria Cross is formally extended to soldiers in the Indian Army as well as the British Army, with the full support of the Queen. As a result of this extension, several soldiers in the Indian Army earn somewhat-belated VCs, among them Subedar (now Subedar-major) Thaman Thapa of the 66th Bengal Native Infantry. (He is credited as the main reason for the extension, interestingly.)
17 January
The Confederate Congress, reminded of the matter by the recent Victoria Cross extension (which has appeared in the news, courtesy of the Transatlantic Telegraph), appoints a committee to look into the awarding of the Southern Cross of Honour. Their remit is for roughly one cross per regiment, and also to award a cross for successful commanders - Robert E. Lee among them, although he formally recuses himself from the committee on the grounds that he would otherwise have to debate his own reward. (Some of the Confederate congressmen have no such compunctions.)
20 January
Neville Bowles Chamberlain begins selecting regiments for an expedition into the North-West Frontier, to attempt to root out the Pashtuns who have been raiding the Punjab. He aims for a roughly even mix of British troops (with the Snider), reliable Indian troops (with the Enfield) and less-reliable Indian troops (with the Brunswick), though after some consideration revises this to include more of the second and third categories owing to the relative scarcity of the first.
The resultant organization is already looking distinctly multicultural, in an odd way - Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Christians are all represented. (The joke goes around that "the Zoroastrians did not wish to participate, the Jews were rejected, and not a Catholic could be found", though it is of course inaccurate due to the presence of Irish soldiers among others).
22 January
Radical Fenians in the United States begin planning an Irish uprising to oust the British and install a Republican government.
For reasons known only to themselves, step one is to invade Canada.
25 January
The Ottoman Empire demonstrates that their decriminalization of homosexuality (in 1858) was not a mere statement, as a minor official is harshly punished for attempting to impose penalties on a homosexual male couple.
This is seen as frankly bizarre in much of Europe, and one Punch cartoon portrays the Sultan (Abdulaziz) explaining to a baffled Imam his reasoning - as Punch has it, "in the first case the Hareem is open to all to be members; in the second place it is simply what the Jannissaries do; and in the third place it is being more Greek than the Greeks!"
26 January
The Shinsengumi, and the infantry of the Bakfu in general, begin receiving a training course from two former European sergeants - one British and one French.
The British officer stresses the importance of rifle fire, and the skill of the rifleman in placing his shot; this is received well by those Samurai who had been adept with the bow in their youth, as the principles are more similar than they had realized.
The Frenchman, on the other hand, stresses elan and the charge! This seems more culturally acceptable to many.
Of note is that George Adams (the Samurai) proudly announces his lineage to the British officer, who takes around six tries to comprehend that "Dzhioordzihu Adamasu" is not some kind of Russian name.
28 January
Another meeting of the German Confederation is derailed by the arguments between the Austrian and Prussian viewpoints. It is becoming clear that there is a fundamental disconnect between the two on some matters - Poland chiefly - which are causing some to suggest a confrontation is inevitable.
2 February
After several weeks of drill and mock-combat, a new set of "informal assumptions" is suggested by the Prussian Army. It states that, in the event of a meeting engagement, the Landwehr component of a mixed force should be preferentially deployed forward as the skirmish line. Their lack of Old Prussian Drill is seen as "less of a disadvantage" in this style, and the drilled Regulars can then shift more rapidly to influence events and potentially make bayonet charges.
4 February
Finally fed up with Webb's delays, the Kingdom of Italy takes their two frigates (the Re d'Italia and the Re di Portogallo) off his hands. They are to be sailed to French shipyards, where the Italians will ask the French to please fix the problems with the ships.
Also on this date, the Royal Sovereign enters full commission. She is an odd duck of a ship, a 131-gun liner razeed to form an armoured turret ship (after having started life as a 121-gun sail liner), and her guns are 10.5 inch smoothbores firing 150-lb steel shot - this is partly a test, to see if the US system of large smoothbores in turrets is workable, and she is likely to receive 9 inch Armstrong-Elswick breechloaders once the gun in question has been finalized.
