In The Name of the King: Mk 2

[Mumby]

#68: Lets Get This Party Started

The Great Crises had now truly begun. Half of Europe was in turmoil, and via Britain, conflict had spread outwards across every continent in the world. But there was still time for new players to enter the game. The violence in the British colonies spread into their neighbours, especially in India where the example of the Sepoy Mutiny inspired other Asian peoples oppressed by colonial masters. The disruption to the world's trade would drag states otherwise unconnected into turmoil and war.

The rise of Grotius van Buren to the unprecedentedly powerful position of Prime Minister, Lord Regent and Protector of the Realm, saw a great deal of unrest in Britain, adding a new front to Britain's existential conflict. Chartists became violent but as well as that, groups of hardline Tories and aligned Physiocrats also caused a ruckus, strengthening the resolve of the National Unity Government. Van Buren founded the Myrmidons, a national internal security force to crush and drive out these rebels. Mackenzie Gladstones, a Tory-Physiocrat MP was quietly detained by Myrmidons for inciting sedition against the Crown. He was one of many who were arrested under the wartime government. The black uniforms and red ant symbols became an emblem of fear for those who stood against Van Buren in Great Britain herself. They were the harbingers of change, of the new era that Van Buren would usher in.

Van Buren made sure to create a Cabinet Of All The Talents. He placed the firebrand Radical MP from New York, Bill Gladstones as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The elderly Duke of Wellington was appointed Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. These three men were the face of the National Unity Government, of the three major parties which had united in opposition to the CSA and the other rebels across the empire.

The situation in Europe had only worsened, with conflict spreading into Portugal, Poland and the Balkans. Radicals were also rising in High Romantic Russia, and with Bismarckians emerging in Scandinavia, it looked like all of Europe could fall into war. While the Revolutionary Wars had seen revolution limited to France and war waged by most of the continent against them, this time internal ructions were a problem for all Europeans.

In North America, battles were already being fought between militias of the CSA and the Northern Continent, and the French and Spanish war was turning to stalemate in Tejas as both sides dealt with internal problems. In South America, the Argentine Republic had emerged from her long isolation. She had taken advantage of the latest technological innovations and had attracted Jacobins from France and Italy since the Revolutionary Wars. She now meant to reunite the former Spanish colonies in South America in a great Jacobin republic. As Portugal descended into her own problems, South America saw violence spread here.

In Asia, China trembled as the country suffered the losses of European distraction. The fragile economy teetered and as a new series of anti-Qing rebellions broke out, it finally collapsed. The country's silver had been bled out by France, and they had huge numbers of opium addicts who were now on cold turkey. The combination was cataclysmic and chaos reigned, especially in the south of the country, which had greater proximity to the main European trade entrances.

The Great Crises was more of a world war than either the Seven Years War or the Revolutionary Wars. But while they were all linked, by alliances and bonds between states and movements, they were as much civil wars as they were anything else. This was a global war, but it was a local war at the same time.

 

[Essam]

I have just come across this TL (as I am not online much, aside from updating my own alt-North America TL) but I must say I am thoroughly impressed! The focus on narratives, anthropology/sociological perspectives as well as sociopolitical ones; along with class-based analysis and understanding is fascinating...in my opinion the truest way to understand OTL, but even better in ALT history! Admittedly, I haven't read it all word-for-word (I've spent the last 40 minutes generally reading over it...) but I look forward to where it is going.

Keep it up, this is excellent work and you have a latecomer new subscriber

 

[Mumby]

I have just come across this TL (as I am not online much, aside from updating my own alt-North America TL) but I must say I am thoroughly impressed! The focus on narratives, anthropology/sociological perspectives as well as sociopolitical ones; along with class-based analysis and understanding is fascinating...in my opinion the truest way to understand OTL, but even better in ALT history! Admittedly, I haven't read it all word-for-word (I've spent the last 40 minutes generally reading over it...) but I look forward to where it is going.

Keep it up, this is excellent work and you have a latecomer new subscriber

I'm glad you're enjoying it. You're words are hugely complimentary and I hope future chapters really can deliver on your expectations.

 

[Mumby]

#69: Our Man In Hindoostan

In India, chaos reigned. As the European empire descended into the chaos of the Great Crises, so ripple effects spread into this wealthiest of subcontinents. Ancient kingdoms were destabilised, roving bands of rebel sepoys crossed borders on a whim, and the order and prosperity promised by Europe was not forthcoming as troops were used to keep order in their homelands and certain colonial centres. This was a time of trials, in which there were losers, and winners.

Two states in particular emerged as winners. One was Hyderabad, the other was the Sikh Empire. Hyderabad had acted as Britain's second-in-command in India for a long time. With the Mutiny and Britain suffering an empire-wide crisis, Hyderabad's crucial role in maintaining law and order became far more central. The Nizam saw an opportunity. As his well-armed, well-trained troops crushed sepoys, he gained the loyalty of princes under British rule. The sepoys mostly followed their own rules, and were more Jacobin than nationalist in many ways. The princes didn't want to be guillotined, and so pledged allegiance to Hyderabad. As Britain concentrated on crushing the rebellious shires in North America, on defeating the Chartists and bringing Australia to heel, as well as myriad other problems, India became a sideshow. As the sepoys built their own state in Bengal, curiously backed by North German arms coming from the small factory there, so any semblance of British rule withdrew to Mysore. Towards the end of the Great Crises era, Hyderabad used its military clout to force the princes under its influence to officially declare their submission to the Nizam. The New Mughal Empire of the Deccan was declared, the Nizam pointing out the Mughal legacy of his state, and how the old Mughal Empire had died.

That brings us round to the Sikhs. From their centre in the Punjab, the extremely professional Sikh Army or Khalsa had conquered a great stretch of land. In previous wars, they had brought the struggling remnants of the Mughal Empire under their protection. As the sepoy regiments marched on Delhi proclaiming their intention to remake an Indian Empire under the Mughals (albeit entirely different to the old Mughal Empire), the Sikhs panicked. While Hyderabad blocked Sepoy expansion southwards, the sepoy armies had secured Bengal, and were marching north along the Ganges. The Sikhs officially annexed the Mughal remnant, opening the door for the Hyderabadi to proclaim a new Mughal empire in the Deccan. An epic battle was fought in Delhi that prevented further expansion of the Sepoy Republic, and turned Gurjaratra into a de facto neutral state.

The result from the Great Crises was the permanent marginalisation of the European colonial empires. No longer could any one power aspire to dominance of all India. Portugal's experiment in expansion had been halted within her current boundaries, almost sixty years of neglect had seen Britain's once might Indian empire reduced to a southern pocket, and all other European outposts were city-states or factories. The foundation of the two powerful Indian empires, were a reaction to the emergent ideology of the Sepoys, and after they had failed to inspire continent wide Revolution or seize the Mughal Dynasty to proclaim a reborn Empire, they took their existent conquests in Bengal and the Ganges and built a Republic there. The neutralisation of Gurjarartra saw it stabilise into a vaguely Noble Republic form, a necessity since internal schisms could see it neighbours seek to take advantage which could lead to continent wide war.

The Great Crises in India spurred on the collapse of Afghanistan, further expanding the Sikh Empire and allowing Persia to strengthen her grip over Sindh. The Sepoy example would also influence others around the world, particularly North Germany, who had the most contact with them.

 

[Analytical Engine]

Cripes.

No wonder your PL/ASB thread didn't have any mention of a British India as part of the New British Empire. There wasn't much of one there at the time of the Fall.

Also, I hope a new map will be forthcoming after all of this craziness has been resolved.

 

[Mumby]

Cripes.

No wonder your PL/ASB thread didn't have any mention of a British India as part of the New British Empire. There wasn't much of one there at the time of the Fall.

Also, I hope a new map will be forthcoming after all of this craziness has been resolved.

There will be a new map eventually. And I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

 

[Analytical Engine]

There will be a new map eventually. And I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

Hey, any TL with an area having more British Empire in it than IOTL is my kind of TL.

Somewhat sad by the smallness of British territories in Asia, though.

 

[Mumby]

#70: Rational Choice

In South America, Argentina was on the march. Ever since their independence, they had operated in an isolationist fashion, and had been ignored by a world happy to be ignorant. But they had spent the best part of twenty years building a fearsome army, using the techniques perfected under the the Jacobins in France to conscript men, and manufacture armaments. Balloons had allowed the Argentines to link up their country in a way that rail never could in a continent split by the Andes. While in many ways they were primitive, inadequately industrialised and riven by corruption and cronyism, the Argentines were a disciplined society driven by clear goals and desires. Their enemies, which basically amounted to everyone in South America did not have such advantages. While Argentina industrialised, built a vast army and built upon the legacy of Robespierre and Heberte, Peru had become embroiled in internal squabbles and even limited civil war. Regional secessionists plagued the elitists government. Argentina had enacted her own Terror, and thanks to a lack of interruption by outsiders had created what they called a 'true, revolutionary society'.

With war breaking out in Europe, Brazil was distracted by having to take up the slack of Portugal's empire, as well as rebellions from amongst her own populace. With the continent's main power ill suited to intervening, Argentina had her chance to spread the revolution across the continent. They launched an invasion of Peru, her disciplined soldiers led by ideologically pure officers. Peru could either join the Revolution, or perish in flame. They would not be in the history books, remembered only as tyrants. Agents stirred the pot in Brazil, arms were clandestinely smuggled in my boat and night-balloon.

The Great Crises caused problems for Colombia also. While Colombia was a more egalitarian place than Peru, they suffered from regional secessionist movements in Quito and the east of the country which felt hard done by from the proximity to Dutch Guyana. These issues had been boiling away for years before the 1840s, and in 1842, the elections produced a situation in which the government adopted a hardline nationalist approach, trying to bind the provinces together through violent rhetoric. When the Great Crises came and the Netherlands along with the rest of North Germany collapsed into war, the shaky government saw their chance to win over the eastern provinces and restore the country.

Their invasion of Dutch Guyana went very badly. They reckoned without the garrison of Prussian soldiers, who had yet to be shipped back to their homeland. While the Colombians had numbers, their navy remained weak and the Prussians were well trained and armed. Not only that, but the Colombian's continuance of the Spanish racial caste system, made the native population anatagonistic to Colombian invasion and they helped the garrison melt into the forests and make their lack of numbers match the Colombian superiority in numbers.

So as Argentina stormed northwards and 'liberated' rebellious regions of Peru, and the quick war in Guyana turned into a bloody slog, rebellion was sparked in Quito. As soldiers from Guyana crossed the border into eastern Colombia to wage a guerrilla war, violence broke out there. The war to unite the country was tearing it apart.

The result of the conflicts across the continent was broadly a victory for the forces of revolution. Colombia was torn apart and the Republics of Quito and New Granada gained independence from Colombia, leaving it a rump state. Guyana's borders remained the same. Peru was torn in half, with the rump successfully repelling further Argentine invasion as they overstretched themselves. The Argentines annexed the remainder of Peru, the largely mountainous inland region east of Lake Titicaca. The rump Peru, fell to a military coup after the war, something which evolved into a Jacobin dictatorship aligned with Argentina as the economic links they once had became dominated by Argentina, and they became reliant on their erstwhile enemy for survival, leading to political imitation. They also took land, largely uninhabited from Brazil, though the couldn't risk further antagonistic behaviour. Argentina also managed to separate off a Lusophone puppet state in the far south of the country.

 

[Komnenos002]

Great Crisis is an apt name for this turmoil. It's more like a web of sometimes interlinked conflicts than anything else.

 

[Mumby]

Great Crisis is an apt name for this turmoil. It's more like a web of sometimes interlinked conflicts than anything else.

That is what I wanted to convey, and I hope its coming across well. The plan next is for whats going on in North America.

 

[Mumby]

#71: Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory

In North America, there were essentially three wars, fought in parallel, all connected. This was typical of the era of the Great Crises. The first was the Franco-Spanish War fought between illegal French settlers from Louisiana and the New Spanish authorities. The second was the war between the British Empire and the rebellious colonies of the Continental South and the Caribbean which had dubbed themselves Confederated Shires of America. The third and smallest war was the scrabbling on the Anglo-Spanish border in Oregon. This was a sideshow war. New Spain was too concerned with fighting her war with France and dealing with a restive Old Spain to worry about some sparsely settled, dull frontier. Britain was stretched to her very limits fighting against practically her whole empire, including much of the populace of the Home Isles. But this war fought largely between bands of hard-bitten settlers, grizzled mountain men and Natives allied to both sides (or trying to find some path in the middle) would be the front which would decide the fates of the two larger wars being fought a continent away.

As the government of Grotius van Buren established the dominance of the National Unity Government, and order was restored thanks to the Myrmidons, so she channelled the aggression of the British people outwards. The assassination of the Queen was weaved into a narrative of fear, outlining a vast conspiracy of Jacobins, Slavers and Sepoy Traitors. That in India and Australia these things often overlapped, was a great convenience for Van Buren, and the cabal of cross-party figures whose vision would mould Britain for generations. They had crushed Chartism at home but still had a restless population and were keenly aware that their government was vulnerable to internal dissent. Van Buren presented the war as a righteous one. They would defeat the Slaver Dictatorship in the South, the Murderous Jacobin Regime of Australia, and they would restore rebellious India to order. He was well aware that some of these goals were well beyond his control. But the vision he presented of a Britannia reforged in the fires of war, of the citizen-soldiers which waged a crusade of freedom, order and unity across the wars justly rewarded and elevated as heroes after the war was a potent one.

Millions of men poured into Britain's recruiting offices. The engines of industry were retooled for an epic war. The Continental North was rallied in more religious terms, but as factories sprouted up in the Northern shires and the shiploads of fresh redcoated men from Scotland and Cornwall were disgorged into New York and Boston, it truly felt like a national mission of glory. As the Myrmidons stamped on workers' movements in Britain, mass arrests were carried out, and other men joined the armed forces, the industrial capacity of North America took up more of the slack. It was clear that the South didn't stand a chance once Britain had properly mobilised.

It was at this point that the erstwhile loyal and peaceful colonies of West Africa suffered their own contribution to the Great Crises. For years, the Royal African Company had enjoyed a monopoly on slaves being sold in West Africa, an after the abolition of the slave trade, they had developed profitable relationships with various native states, and had become an exporter in minerals and various foods. But many of the Kingdoms who had placed themselves under the British Crown continued to practise slavery, and many of the industries on which the RAC relied were fuelled by the muscle and sweat of unfree labour. When Beresford's government abolished slavery, it had been quickly enacted in the RAC's direct holdings. But when it became clear that slavery was considered to be illegal in the Kingdoms that when the trouble started.

The 'citizen army' raised in Britain was diverted to West Africa to slog out a bloody, disease ridden war in the jungles for a few years. The inevitable swift end of the CSA was postponed, and a kind of uneasy back and forth war developed.

Back in Louisiana, the French (or more appropriately, the Louisianans) were getting the upper hand over the New Spanish. The centralising measures undertaken by the government had led to destabilising frontiers, and this was when Juan Fremon struck. His father had been a fugitive, a Canadienne who escaped prison and then fled British America, first into Louisiana, and then into New Spain. He had settled in California and raised a family there. Juan was his son. Juan was two things. A Francophone and a Californian. Now a full grown man, he saw the Frenchmen in Tejas as kin. He believed that the centralising policies of the New Spanish government were nothing but tyranny. Alongside likeminded men, he attempted to carve California into his independent Republic. He found few allies amongst the Hispanic peasantry, or the natives. So he tried a different tack, and led an expedition of his loyal comrades northwards on an epic trek now adapted for the screen.

Here in the Pacific frontier of New Spain, he fought the British, a people he hated far more virulently than the New Spanish. He would return to California a hero, and spur the country to secession or he would earn the respect of Mexico City and democracy would be restored. He was living a fantasy of course, but it was his actions not his beliefs which would change the wars being fought in North America. As a wanted man, he failed to win over the New Spanish troops already fighting there, and the settlers who did live there didn't really see themselves as Californians and certainly didn't identify with Fremon. His army would fight a guerrilla war with the New Spanish and the British, and would devolve into bands of raiders who preyed on settlers they despised. With the New Spanish caught much worse off in this deal, the British settlers began to push back. The recruitment of more natives to the British Army here in return for treaties to secure ownership of their own land, allowed them to win the numbers game. The New Spanish were cut off and divided. Mexico City sent a new army north. And all hell broke loose. The tribes of the Great Plains had united under British rule, and now descended from the fasts of the great Missouri Colony, to wage a running war against the New Spanish. With Fremon thrown into the mix this was a massive guerrilla conflict which consumed half a continent. And as the New Spanish frontier collapsed into internecine warfare, the British made sure the Louisianans got the supplies they needed.

The New Spanish succeeded in crushing the rebellions elsewhere but it would be a hollow victory indeed if they lost half their country anyway. They sought terms. Upper New California was sold to Britain and Tejas up to the Nueces River was sold to Louisiana. And now Britain had an army, they could proceed with their war against the rebellious slavers. Of course they had prepared and Confederate pirates would continue to plague the Caribbean for years. But the fires of British industry twinned with the flame of Siouxan warriors promised homes and freedom in return for blood, was a potent mix and not one that could be halted by such an impoverished and rural nation. Not only that but another army had arrived on North America's shores. Ships from West Africa brought an army of New Floridians and Freedonians to the South. An army of the sons of slaves and Seminole would fight the men who had put them in shackles and forced them from their land.

As it was, Van Buren eventually came to terms with the West Africans, allowing the Kingdoms to continue their economic practices, just so long as they didn't call it slavery. He had achieved his goals. Civil war in Britain had been avoided, the rebellious shires of North America had been crushed and he had settled many of the Empires internal problems for a generation. Now he only had a few last things to clean up...

 

[FleetMac]

I just read through this TL up to now, and I gotta say this idea is pretty neat. On one hand, as an American I have to cringe at the notion of a not-independent *America so closely tied to Britain. On the other hand, were the Revolution to fail or never happen, I think the result may well end up quite like this. Other than the path shown in "For Want of a Nail", I think this just might be the best Loyalist America TL idea I've ever seen. I may well subscribe yet given how impressive this is, the only thing I'm still puzzling over is what the shires are named given the different borders and such.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Mumby]

I just read through this TL up to now, and I gotta say this idea is pretty neat. On one hand, as an American I have to cringe at the notion of a not-independent *America so closely tied to Britain. On the other hand, were the Revolution to fail or never happen, I think the result may well end up quite like this. Other than the path shown in "For Want of a Nail", I think this just might be the best Loyalist America TL idea I've ever seen. I may well subscribe yet given how impressive this is, the only thing I'm still puzzling over is what the shires are named given the different borders and such.

Keep up the good work!

America is starting to become a more equal part of the Union, and culturally Britain is rather more 'American' ie National Destiny, earnest patriotism, self-mythologisation. Thats partly the goal of this TL. Thank you for all your kind words. Its that kind of thing which fuels me.

 

[Mumby]

#72: Reorientation

The most obvious victims of the Great Crises in Asia were the European colonies, as the nations which ruled them turned inwards and had to alter their methods of rule in order to keep control. China collapsed into a multi-sided civil war, while Japan's ages old Shogunate teetered.

As the fronts of the Americas settled themselves, the armies raised by the British, French and Spanish to combat the threats they faced there could be used elsewhere. By this point, the Great Crises had been going on for several years and the world was on the edge of the 1850s. The 1840s had been dominated by a long protracted era of on and off conflict, and there seemed to be no way of resolving it in Europe. The injection of hardened troops from settled fronts would change that.

So Asia remained a backwater, ignored by all but a few. And so from rotting morass of Qing China burst forth a nest of writhing dragons. The Manchu Qings were pushed ever northwards by a Ming revivalist movement fuelled by undercurrents of xenophobia born from the suffering that had come with the war with the French. The fringes of the Empire stirred restlessly, threatening to tear themselves away from China.

But a new force was emerging down the middle, from the rural central China far from the centres of Manchu rule in the North and the urban areas dominated by the Ming hardliners in the South. Emerging from what few European missionaries and the like had penetrated into the interior, they had a new religion combining aspects of Catholicism with Chinese folk faiths and some of the more esoteric elements of Buddhism. Starting off small, they had some other advantages. Their vague and warped notions of Christianity as well as Buddhism caused them to reject the xenophobia of either the Qing or Ming, and so they attracted investment. A trickle of arms, smuggled in via French Vietnam and the French treaty ports and through an underground network of Chinese agents slowly delivered the scarce materials that Europe had to offer. If the League of Black Dragons, as they were called, could build a new dynasty in China, which would be open to business, that would suit Europe (and especially France) right down to the ground.

For now though, the trickle was just that. The contest remained mostly between the two older dynasties, with small or isolated rural communities most inclined to side with the Black Dragons, who mostly concerned themselves with defending such communities from the scavenging that the larger armies usually took part in, and from the predations of bandits. Of course, as the two opposing dynasties established their strongholds, it looked like the war would be a long protracted one. The rise of the Black Dragons was ignored by the greater dynasties, and would be allowed to go unchecked for some time. And as they grew more sophisticated, a leader would emerge from amongst their ranks.

Elsewhere in Asia, Siam arose from relative obscurity as between France's stagnant Vietnam colony and the swirling energy of the Sepoy Republic, they resembled a rock of calm, extending her borders and accepted suzerainty over her weaker neighbours.

In Japan, the Shogunate teetered. Trade had been deliberately isolated before, but now all trade had virtually dried up. This wasn't technically the Shogunate's fault, but it was nonetheless blamed on them. Their lifeline was British trade extended from Pacific North America, strengthened after the war was settled there. With this lifeline, the Shogunate just about clung to power but was keenly aware of just how reliant on Britain they were. They refused to open up entirely, but a few reformists were already making noises, pointing out it was their very isolation which had led them to the brink of British domination and foreign rule.

 

[Mumby]

#73: Pass The Ammunition

In Europe, matters were proceeding apace. While the wars in the Americas had been settled, things had only gotten worse in Europe. Bismarck had returned to North Germany and the country had risen in support of his vision, facing off against more conventional German nationalists, Jacobins and the still extant state governments of the Confederacy. Similarly Sweden was suffering rising from Bismarckian nationalists as well as from the Norwegians and Finns on their own terms. Russia's own Finns were also problem but they were having more problems with nationalities and Jacobin radicals. The principalities on the Black Sea were also agitating, with Rumanian and Bulgarian nationalists alike arising and wanting to reunite their broken nations. Similar to Italy, there were also Jacobin nationalists and nationalists for their own state.

In the Hapsburg states, the sides remained much the same as in earlier phases of the war. For Austria, the nature of the Empire was such that ironically she was stronger in Hungary, and what happened in the rest of the Empire could almost be decided by what happened to her neighbours. But if Austria rallied, it could change all of Europe. Iberia was torn apart by factions of revolutionaries and France was simultaneously at war with herself and her neighbours. The arrival of troops from the French and Spanish colonies in North America would radically change the balance of power in these states and hence the rest of the continent.

For Spain, the troops arrived in time to crush Jacobin sentiment but not in time to prevent the New Cortes Convention. The Convention had made as a collection of the aggrieved groups in Spain who agreed to moderation at the King's behest. They set out ideals for a new Constitution for the Spanish Empire which would prevent Old Spain becoming a backwater to New Spain. It took in old and new ideas, combining Enlightenment notions with much older Spanish feudalism. It was in its way a forerunner of Romantic Democracy, or Low Romance.

The Convention was well-aware that the presence of New Spanish troops in the country could make their Convention be worth nothing. So they organised a peaceful rally, and confronted the New Spanish soldiers in Madrid. The soldiers were already being organised to move north and confront the French invasion which had stalled as the Italians proved difficult and internal ructions stymied mobilisation. The Convention tried to stop them. The King marched with them.

The New Spanish generals eventually agreed to sit down with the Convention and hear their piece. After a great deal of talk, some amendments were made and a Provisional Constitution signed, immediately going into action in Spain before it could be ratified in Algiers and New Spain making it official. Essentially it proposed a kind of tricameral legislature overseeing the whole empire in charge of certain things like the military, aspects of the economy and foreign affairs. The lowest chamber was the Chamber of Deputies, composed of representatives elected from across the empire, representing roughly equal constituencies. No universal manhood suffrage yet, but it was certainly reasonably enlightened. Above that was the Chamber of Peers, which was composed of appointed representatives of newly created Grand Duchies which essentially copied the borders of the old Spanish Kingdoms (and in New Spain, Captaincies-General). These representatives were appointed by the Grand Dukes of the Duchies themselves. These Grand Dukes were to be initially chosen by the government of the Kingdom, and confirmed by the King, with normal inheritance taking place thereafter. The finally layer was the Imperial Council, composed of single representatives for each Kingdom, who advised the Imperial Government and had powers to amend but not block laws. The King-Emperor himself sacrificed much of his power to the Imperial Council, but he himself sat on it, and via this had written his precise role into the Constitution.

With this, the Convention put their full support behind the troops, now theoretically commanded by the newly convened New Cortes. Its members were mostly composed of representatives of the Convention itself and New Spanish officers in the absence of any others. With the New Spanish troops now actively supported by the Spanish government and the meagre troops Old Spain had to hand, France was steadily repulsed. As France looked defeat in the face, and the war was already won in the New World, they agreed to a white peace, a huge victory for a country which expected to lose epically.

In France the influx of troops allowed them to put down the most egregious rebels but they were forced to make deals with the larger and more moderate groups. In particular, they agreed with the more Ultra-nationalist groups who wanted to return France to some mythic Golden Age but the largest group were the civil resistance groups who wanted an end to the war. They negotiated an end to the conflicts which saw them annex some territory from both Italy and Austrasia but not to the extent the initial government had desired. Internal borders were altered to a more old-fashioned form, and while the monarchy didn't increase in power, the power of regional government and the Church did, a mild return to the ancien regime albeit through the lens of the post-Revolution reforms.

In North Germany, the Bismarckians eventually achieved victory, when the Danish King came out behind the movement, realising that the Nordic unity ideals of the movement would allow him to reconcile the division between the German and Danish populations of his domain. From this base, the Bismarckians spread through North Germany, making deals with friendly monarchs. Winning over the Prussians and Dutch ended the problem, with Hanover the last bastion of the old North German Confederacy to fall. A few chunks separated off entirely, specifically Thuringia which ended up aligning with the Austrian backed Free German League. The North German Confederacy was dissolved, reformed as the Teutonic Union, a close federation of the Kingdoms of the old Confederacy, headed by a bicameral Congress. The lower house was composed of representatives elected from the Kingdoms, the upper house was a Union Council of members elected for fixed terms from the whole populace, which elected the President who sat for life. Thanks to the nature of the union, they how had colonies inherited from Denmark and the Netherlands spread across the world. In Sweden, Norway and Finland broke away, with Norway becoming a Teutonic satellite state. The Teutons also annexed the meagre Swedish colonial empire, further expanding the potential area of the Teutonic colonial empire.

For Austria the main groups to be combatted were German nationalists and the Hynkelist Romantics. From Hungary, the Austrians reinforced themselves in the Slavic parts of the Empire and as the Teutonic Union isolated German nationalists in southern and central Germany, they were able to defeat the Germans, and because of that defeat the Hynkelists. The mighty Hapsburg Empire had survived, just. Thanks to the strong civil institutions of the Empire and inclusive structures they had been able to rally the bulk of the Empire outside Germany who stood to lose out from either a nationalist or Hynkelist victory. What happened was a confirmation of the Bismarckian theory of the division of the Germanies between a Nordic, maritime, Protestant north and a cosmopolitan, continental, Catholic south. The Austrians established the Free German League over the remaining German states, as a buffer between them and the Teutons and the French, similar to the status of Austrasia. Thanks to Austria's re-establishment of order, they were able to move into Italy and prevent an unstable Hapsburg monarchy from collapsing, coming to an agreement with the Cesaristes to usher in a constitutional government while retaining the Hapsburg Crown. Italy moved slightly out of the Austrian sphere, but continued to be an ally. Thanks to the Hapsburg-Cesariste alliance, Italy annexed the shaky Republic of Rome and a couple of bordering areas of Sicily.

Meanwhile in Britain, the young King George V had reached his majority in the early 1850s, removing a great deal of Grotius van Buren's executive power. However, he was the man who had remoulded the British Empire, who had ensured its survival throughout the Great Crises. Maintaining the National Unity Government, he moved to ensure his legacy was secured. He bound together his coalition much more tightly and kept up the Myrmidon campaign against sedition especially on the Home Islands. The return of the rebellious counties to colonial status on a temporary basis ensured the Physiocrats were wiped out and they would eventually merge with anti-establishment Tories. Van Buren had handily subverted Britain's tradition of democracy, building a Parliamentary Autocracy centred around the office of Prime Minister. Though he was no longer Lord Regent and Protector, the King was his creature and he wielded the limited power of the King as his own. Those few theoretical powers became immense in the hands of a Prime Minister. The 'Direct Empire' was centralised, taking the few powers of the old colonial governments outside those necessary for administration and within any other county's purview, and at the same time reforming constituencies equalising representation of those from the Northern Continent with the Home Isles, the halving of the size of the Empire in North America allowing this without North American MPs dominating Parliament.

With both Austria and Russia dealing with their own internal problems, the secondary powers of the Balkans began to take charge. Both Greece and the Osmanids had escaped the worst problems of the Great Crises. The Osmanids however were more concerned with maintaining the uneasy peace with Persia, and so didn't want to risk a protracted conflict to reclaim the Balkans. However, they were still apprehensive about the vulnerability of the city of Islambol, and struck a deal with the Greeks. Greece would guarantee the Sublime Porte's claim to Islambol. In return, the Osmanids would back Emmannuel II's ambitious power grab. Exploiting division and a sense of dissatisfaction amongst the monarchs who were further from Vienna or Moscow's control, he sent ambassadors across the Balkans. He offered a deal similar to the one he had with his cousin in Serbia. They would nominally acknowledge him as suzerain but in practical matters they would be much more independent. Rumelia and Albania accepted his offer. Emmanuel met with the other kings to found a new alliance. The New Latin Empire was in most respects little more than a military alliance bound together by the primacy of the Greek Emperor. In fact, it was modelled on the old Holy Roman Empire, albeit better structured for the 19th century. Allied with the Osmanid Caliphate, they had a strong benefactor to head off any Austrian or Russian reaction, and they also acted as a stable buffer to a Russian attempt to conquer Islambol.

As for Russia, the preparations of the High Romantics before the war stood them in good stead. They also had the benefits of loyal vassals in the Baltics which prevented anything disastrous there. The loss of Rumelia to the New Latin Empire was a blow but it freed up Russian soldiers to hold down the rest of the Black Sea vassals, an easier job due to them bordering Russia proper. Jacobin groups were pursued and crushed without fear or favour, with penal colonies set up Alaska for their deportation. The victory of the Tsar without foreign aid saw Russia withdraw further into Slavic Exceptionalism, with a more distrusting attitude to the Western ideals which had brought the empire to the brink.

 

[Mumby]

#74: Outro

With a semblance of peace and normality returning to Europe, the Americas and Africa, only Asia remained. The armies of Europe, honed in North America and Europe marched to bring order to their rebellious colonies and possibly shift a few pieces in the wider game.

Britain concentrated on the rebellious colony of Australia, and on her Pacific sphere in general. The Jacobin Republic of Australia only had a very small population, and while the Republic had been governing itself for a fair few years before Van Buren's National Unity Government got round to dealing with it, the diverse mix of peoples found it difficult to get along when the common threat of the Imperial boot was missing. They came back together to resist the invasion forces, but they suffered from a clever divide and rule strategy. Britain offered incentives to native groups in Australia and New Zealand to raise troops or guerrillas to bring the penal colonies to order, as well as winning over the less radical groups within the colony who could see which way the wind was blowing. It helped that Britain promised to end the colony's penal status, and the shipments of Myrmidon uniforms to the local allies and a threat that only open rebels would be treated harshly brought the war to an end rapidly. Diehards like the Chartist-to-Jacobin radicals, strange Scottish nationalists and a few ex-slaves fled into the interior. British Australia was broken up into more manageable chunks with a place for the Natives guaranteed in the political process. Britain also extended her intervention in Japan, forcing the current Shogun out of power and supporting a new one in return for favourable trade relations. The lessons of the Tokugawa in establishing a long-term stable government whilst undermining the Emperor were quietly learned by Van Buren, and the mistakes noted.

For France, the situation was one of control. Her Vietnam protectorate was punished with a coup and with Tongking being broken off as a new protectorate, as well as the annexation of treaty ports. While the couldn't prevent the foundation of a Ming Empire in Canton, they sent a flood of support to the Black Dragons who founded a new empire, reducing the Qing to their holdfasts in the North. The island of Formosa was left isolated, and a government officially declaring itself a Qing successor state. Korea managed to reassert some independence. The new Long Dynasty established itself over most of China outside the rump Ming and Qing Dynasties, and pursued trade relations with Europeans especially the French.

 

[Mumby]

And heres a map!

 

[Emperor-of-New-Zealand]

I just read the bits about the Great Crisis and I have to say it's all very interesting and well-written. Bravo.

 

[Mumby]

I just read the bits about the Great Crisis and I have to say it's all very interesting and well-written. Bravo.

Thank you for your kind words.

 

[Analytical Engine]

Yay map.

That is one mightily big *Argentina. (Which still doesn't have the Falkland Islands )

Will (Long) China grow larger?

I'm assuming there is some sort of "temporary demotion to colony/military district" thing going on in the Brit-American south, similar to what happened to the former CSA IOTL.

It would be nice to see these divisions of British Australia, also.

Anyway, what's with the North German Denmark. Explain!