Odyssey of Fritz, the Turncoat Prince

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    February 1st, 1819

    Manhattan

    It would take more than eight weeks for the election results to be tabulated. Given the vast size of the nation and the communication lag from thousands of miles away from Manhattan would ensure that information would only filter into the capital in bits and pieces. Initially, those Provinces closest to Manhattan would give Daniel Webster the advantage as most of New England (including King's home Province of Massachusetts), New York and others. By December, the electoral votes (out of 160 in Congress) favored Webster 62 to 38. Only a narrow victory in Pennsylvania for King allowed him hope. Then, the remote "Latin" Provinces and the inland provinces of Mackinac, Seneca and others would turn the tide and King would win 92 electoral votes to 68.

    On January 1st, 1819, the final results were in and Congress confirmed King as the President elect a month later on February 1st (after multiple recounts in provinces with close votes like Pennsylvania). King won 80,000 more of the popular vote as well, providing a mandate for King. Having expected a significant victory, Webster would give a falsely modest concession speech in Congress and proceed to plot his next election. He was still a young man and the future remained wide open.

    King had already agreed to retain the services of John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State, though the latter had never been particularly eager for a life in public service. A cold and distant intellectual, Adams had been pressured into a public career by his domineering father (the former Prime Minister) and at the behest of several Presidents whom held his services in high regard.

    Edward Livingston (Attorney General) and William Crawford (Secretary of War) both supported King's Presidency and the President-Elect would deeply desire to keep them on. President-Elect King and the allies he had inherited from Langdon would then canvas Congress to support Prime Legislator Philip Hamilton for another term as leader of Congress. Henry Clay, yet another rival, had vowed to regain this role in 1819's spring election.

    Cartagena

    "General" Jose Tomas Boves




    In the Nueva Granadan port town of Cartagena, the radical Revolutionary Jose Tomas Boves would managed to breech the walls in less than a month. Having already seized much of eastern Granada, the shockingly rapid spread of the rebellion would take Spain by surprise. Most these regions had been sullenly docile in the last with America, not joining the Mayan Republic in rebellion...but also passive-aggressively refusing to assist the crown in any meaningful way. Most Spanish colonials still resented the fact that very little authority had been delegated to the native born Criollos and all real offices still reserved for Peninsulars.

    Since the end of the war, Spain had largely stood down her military. In 1818, the nominal worldwide strength of King Louis III's Spanish and Portuguese armies reached perhaps 40,000 men, about half in Iberia and another half spread from New Spain to Chile to Brazil to Cuba. This seemed like a lot but the regiments were so spread out that they often did more to inflame colonial resentment than they stifled. The British Army in Boston prior to the American Revolutionary War was a similar example.

    Only 2000 Spanish soldiers (including some locally raised troops of dubious loyalty) were scattered across a vast region of over a million square miles populated by over 4,000,000 souls.

    Perhaps worse, the quality of the Spanish-Portuguese troops were the worst in Europe. It was not uncommon to find half-naked soldiers begging for food in the streets of Spanish cities outside their barracks. The colonial forces, if anything, were even worse off. Thus the mob of 10,000 of Boves' main army of conquest brushed aside the "regular" Spanish Army with ease and only the scattered resistance from the gentry slowed him down.

    As typical, the Spanish Empire was slow to react. It would take over a year before forces could be consolidated from Brazil, Cuba and New Spain to attempt to retake Nueva Granada.
     
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    March, 1819

    Manhattan

    President John Langdon, with only a month remaining in office, died at his desk. As he had been prone to take naps on occasion, his aides didn't bother to try to rouse him until supper time when they discovered his body was stiff and cold. A doctor was called and he pronounced the President had been dead for nearly two hours, casting a glare at the President's servants whom had allowed the elderly man to rot for so long as they carried out their own work in blissful oblivion.

    Langdon was carried back to New Hampshire where he was buried with family.

    The nation was defacto without a leader until Rufus King was sworn in in late April. The Constitutional Amendment which called for a "Deputy" President to assume the office should the President die did not specifically call out what happened when that man died as well. After Burr's assassination, Langdon had assumed the role of President but there was no next in line.

    For the most part, in this case, the nation as more than capable of getting along for a few weeks without an executive. The assorted Cabinet Secretaries would continue their work through April (most would remain in office anyway) and any bills passed on to the President's office were simply placed in the "in-box" for President King when he arrived (though any of importance were quietly copied and given in advance).

    Rufus King gave Langdon's eulogy and promised to support a Constitutional Amendment to prevent such a recurrence in the future of the awkward situation. He had Attorney General Edward Livingston work with Philip Hamilton to write up a proposal to send to Congress and the Provinces to ratify. As King himself was considered an old man, he desired this line of succession to be resolved earlier than later.

    late President John Langdon of New Hampshire



    President-elect Rufus King of Massachusetts (and Manhattan)



    Deputy President Jose (Joseph) Fernandez



    April, 1819

    Manhattan

    Congressman Henry Clay would grit his teeth and stifle a cry of dismay. He'd lost the Prime Legislator office to Philip Hamilton...again, this time by only four votes. Several men he'd counted upon would cast their votes for Hamilton. He very much wanted to use his own authority to kill off their pet projects in Congress.

    Instead, Clay realized he had the choice of acting "in opposition", meaning he just fought the administration in everything they did, or pick his moment. He opted for the latter. Yes, it was psychologically gratifying to fight King and Hamilton and making their lives miserable would be, it didn't necessary do anything to help Clay. Indeed, expending political capital to hurt someone else was not a good use of resources. In the end, he'd have to work with his colleagues in the future. Better not to burn a bridge if he didn't have to.

    But Clay would wait and bide his time. By now, he regretted not running for President. Certainly he could have done better against King than that idiot Webster.
     
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    • isabella

    Tamar of the Tamar tribe said:
    Can you please have Napoleon leave descendants ? Legitimate or not, I am a big Napoleon Bonaparte fan and I think it would great if he had descendants who would make a impact on world history! ( OTL even though he became a great Emperor, he didn’t leave any descendants!)
    Click to expand...
    OTL Napoleon left descendants, some of them maybe still alive but they were from his illegitimate and not recognized sons
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Colonna-Walewski and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Léon (http://www.angelfire.com/realm/gotha/bonapartedescendants.html)
     

    Tamar of the Tamar tribe

    Knightmare

    Knightmare

    So given how often the US seems to waltz in and occupy Zacatecas every other war, is it going to be like a common theme? Like, are the citizens and US soliders going to get to know one another over the years?

    Random citizen of Zacatecas: "Oh look, the Americans are here. Hi Bill!"

    Bill: "Hey there, that time of year again it seems. How's your father doing?"
     
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    October, 1819

    Manhattan

    Knowing the formidable powers of Henry Clay, President Rufus King would quietly seek some sort of accommodation. Clay still had a great deal of influence in Congress and the disaffected Ohio Congressman could scuttle a number of initiatives King and Prime Legislator Hamilton would promote.

    In truth, there were not terribly many differences between the leading power brokers in Congress in terms of ideology. Clay, Adams, Hamilton, King, Webster and others tended to prefer higher tariffs to protect the nascent industry spreading throughout the northeastern parts of the country. They desired a strong army and navy (three wars in forty years with European colonial powers was enough to convince most), infrastructure improvements and a credible banking system.

    However, Clay also realized that much of the nation was not being represented in this system. The majority of the nation remained agrarian and the investment would disproportionately aid some provinces more than others. The former "slave" provinces were but the most vocal of this group, not the entirety. The inland and deep south provinces also gritted their teeth when they were forced to pay higher prices for imported goods, feeling this was the government plucking from their pockets. By historical accident, these leading voices for lower tariffs (thus both allowing for cheaper goods and ease of export) had been silenced over the past few years when the slave provinces were removed from political participation. The war made opposition to tariffs unpatriotic. However, these situations would eventually reverse and a large part of the nation would demand change.

    Former Presidents Madison and Monroe had tried to strike a balance between protection and export, north and south, city and country. For the most part, so did Burr. However, the new generation of leaders tended to favor the new industrialist, nationalist and expansionist jingoism of the 19th century. There seemed to be no champion for the rural agriculturalists of the nation nor for provincial autonomy.

    Only an odd series of coincidences such as the war and many of the champions of decentralization (Calhoun being most prominent) being utterly discredited had kept this major faction of American people from being properly represented in the past few elections. Dewitt Clinton, of the remaining high-profile political leaders, was perhaps most identifiable to this political theory and even he had been willing to serve as Deputy to Webster.

    However, the steady undercurrent against the nation's direction would continue to flow even if leaderless. Rufus King, an aging man no doubt performing his last service to the nation, would be reminded to this by an unexpected visitor to Manhattan. He was one of those champions of decentralization whom had been discredited: Thomas Jefferson. After abandoning his post years earlier as Minister to France, Jefferson had lost effectively everything starting with h is reputation. When the rebellion came against America, Jefferson refused to lend even moral support and staunchly condemned the rebels as traitors. This allowed him to travel throughout America but also made him unpopular in his home Province of Virginia.

    Jefferson would request an audience with President King, whom he had known since the American Revolutionary War. Curious, King acceded. They had never been allies or even friends but had no personal animosity. Jefferson was obviously a shell of his former self. He'd thrown in his lot with the madness of the French Revolution and somehow let it warp him. Only after years of blood did he become disaffected and, by the time he returned home to Virginia, his plantation was in ruins and he could only watch as the Slave Provinces rose up against the nation he had helped build. Isolated from any real influence, Jefferson existed upon the charity of friends and relatives like his cousin John Randolph and former President Madison. Only through this did he even keep his own home at Monticello.

    Jefferson, if always somewhat eccentric, was a brilliant mind and King was not averse to hearing him out. The Virginian, with typical disheveled appearance matching his informality, would bring a new sense of perspective to King's problems. Jefferson would point out the widespread desire for lowered tariffs and the fear of an all-powerful central government. This movement would not go away any time soon and would eventually form a true political party. The President considered this. In truth, he'd never given Jefferson credit for such down to earth considerations. He'd always been more prone to philosophical musings wrapped in pretty verse.

    King saw the wisdom that the defacto victory of the "Centralist" or "Nationalist" factions was destined not only to form a true party...but spur the formation of opposition. Only the complexity of the nation's politics and uproarious events like the Wars with Spain and the rebellion had slowed this. Now, with such issues as slavery and opposition to/support for war no longer considerations, the country's future divisions would be on banal yet sensitive subjects like tariffs, taxes and provincial autonomy.

    King knew Jefferson hoped to bring the President over to his line of thinking. In a way, he did. King realized that the dominance of his own political wing would initiate a movement to oppose. He began to realize that perhaps the nation had gone too far in one direction, upsetting the balance too much. He thanked the Virginian for his insight and promised to give it consideration.

    As it was, Congress was debating the current tariff rates. Most assumed they would be kept high. However, Henry Clay (formerly very supportive of tariffs to stimulate industry and pay for internal improvements) was starting to see the benefits of speaking for the leaderless opposition. King knew Clay quite well. He was not intellectually brilliant like Webster or Adams or Calhoun or Hamilton...but he had the rare ability to know human nature and what made men tick. This was an effective trait for a politician.

    King was certain Clay was frustrated by his back to back defeats for the Prime Legislator position in Congress to Hamilton. Rather than let Clay take this political topic as his banner, King would offer Clay what he felt the man could not refuse.

    First, King would bend somewhat on the tariffs, dropping them from 30% down to 15%. To his mind, this was a great concession and was enough to undercut the opposition in Congress. What was more, he offered Clay a position in the government. First, he offered the position of Minister to St. James, the most coveted in the diplomatic corps. As expected, Clay politely declined. Then King made a more interesting offer: the Secretary of State office.

    Clay was stunned. John Quincy Adams had spent years as Secretary of State under Langdon and appeared to be getting along with President King. However, what Clay did not and could not understand was that Adams did not enjoy the public life and only accepted office out of a sense of duty instilled by his domineering father. He had privately tendered his resignation to President King to be accepted at his convenience. While not close, King regretted his loss and confided his plans to nullify Clay's opposition by removing him from Congress. Adams thought it through and realized it was a good gamble. At worst, the relationship between the President and new Secretary of State would fall apart quickly and King could fire him. Clay would be out of politics until at least the next election.

    Seeing little to lose, King proceeded with his gambit. It came to fruition when Clay accepted and the worst of the Manhattan political gridlock died down for the moment. Other issues naturally remained in play: the return of the Slave Provinces to self-government, more wars of rebellion in the Spanish Empire, etc.

    But King at least had a bit of breathing room though he could not help but think he just invited a fox into his chicken coop.
     
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    December, 1819

    Vienna

    The young Emperor Charles II would not wait long to place his stamp upon the Monarchy. Within a relatively short period, he had formally visited several neighboring nations including Poland and Ruthenia (naturally expressing his good will), ennobled or knighted many subjects in his coronation honors and even welcomed several thousand Jews whom had fled violence in Poland. Like his grandfather, Charles would be relatively even handed with Jews, unlike the recent monarchs in Poland and Ruthenia.

    Charles II, though young, had been well schooled in diplomacy and management. He, unlike most of his ancestors, had learned Hungarian as well as the basics of several other of his subject languages in hopes of currying favor with the people. While Charles I had desired to "Germanize" the Empire, namely make German language and culture universal, Charles II knew this to be foolhardy. However, he did try to standardize certain other factors like legal process, taxation and military conscription. More than anything, he wanted to modernize the ridiculously byzantine web of regional parliaments. Even if he could standardize these Parliaments, that may make the Empire governable. But even this proved elusive as the Parliaments would hold tightly to their "ancient rights". Of course, Charles II desired more than this. He wanted but one Parliament to deal with and he was more than happy to make each constituent people equal in participation. Any sane political theorist would agree with the goal. However, he knew well enough that, for now, this was utterly impossible. He would seek to make incremental steps to unifying his haphazard domains and be every bit as frustrated as his grandfather and great grand-mother.

    In the meantime, he decided to start with the German realms. They were more unified culturally and the process had already started of forming a single parliament for Austria, Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia and the Cantons.

    Krakow

    The Polish capital was not the first city to see violence against Jews and would not be the last. Thousands of Jewish residents would be attacked and dozens murdered over the decade and this seemed only the beginning. No one was sure why King Sebastian would quietly approve of these activities. He was not known to be particularly devout. Many conjectured that he did not trust the Jewish bankers which dominated the sector. In his youth, he had seen the high profits the Jews had made loaning money to the Kingdom and was outraged.

    Thus when Jews were attacked, the King would turn a blind eye. When "non-Poles" were excluded from the Diet upon orders of his minions, he shrugged and stated he could not control such things as a "Constitutional" Monarch. Taking the hint, tens of thousands of Jews would depart both Poland and Ruthenia, where Sebastian's brother-in-law reigned and similarly cracked down upon Jews for no identifiable reason.

    Tens of thousands would depart Poland and Ruthenia per year. Many were the "Frankist" Jews which were considered apostates but even Rabbinical Jews began to flee in large numbers. Over 2/3rd's of the worlds Jews in 1800 resided in Poland and 3/4's in Poland and Ruthenia. Some were accepted in Austria, ironic given that they had long been suppressed there. Others, astoundingly, were given sanctuary in Russia, of all places. When RUSSIA was an immigrant destination, that was saying a lot. A few others made their way to Germany or Republican France or even England. However, the majority would travel even further to the Levant or America. In America, the initial Jewish immigrants followed the Russians, Copts and Lebanese to the Gulf Coast (Biscayne Bay, Galveztown, New Orleans, Buffalo, etc). Over time, the Jews would start to spread out along the Atlantic coast. Charlestown had long bore the largest Jewish population in the Americas but soon Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Georgetown soon had thriving Jewish neighborhoods.

    However, with the arrival of the Rabbinical Jews came the Frankists, whom continued to convert the Rabbinical Jews in modest numbers. The behavior of the Frankists were considered somewhat loathsome and were only tolerated as they did not attempt to convert Christians.

    Yemen

    Though the formal alliance had been discussed for years, it was not until December of 1819 that a coalition of the United East India Company, several Maratha Princes, Russia and the Ethiopian Empire would finally get around to stamping down upon the major pirate state of Yemen. Ruled by an Imamate, the Yemenis were a mountain people whom by happenstance also controlled several key ports.

    The UEIC and the Russian Navy provided the majority of the ships while the Marathas and Ethiopians would provide the manpower. With modern ships and weapons, the coalition would quickly seize the port cities of Yemen - Zabid, Mocha and Aden - which served as havens for the pirates preying upon trade in the Indian Ocean. The Zaydi tribesmen of the northwestern Highlands had dominated for years and were bitterly shocked by the easy defeats. They would retreat to the hills to lick their wounds Zaydis followed a Shi'a sect as opposed the Sunni Majority in the south and east.

    Seeing an opportunity to divide and conquer, the allies offered greater independence among the Sunnis in return for their obedience. Some chiefs, nearly independent already, would refuse and found themselves fighting the better armed assailants. Their ancient castles proved no match for modern artillery and men who survived the Zaydis and Ottomans would fall within days or weeks, the occupying army assume control of key fortifications.

    The slaves of Yemen were freed and, if they so desired, returned to their homes. Many were the descendants of east Africans taken by the Omanis from their former stronghold of Zanzibar. This immediately reduced the workforce for the coffee plantations and the lands were distributed among "agreeable" Yemeni noble families and some of the coalition leaders. For the first time in centuries, the first non-Muslim or non-Arab settlers would arrive on the Arabian Peninsula as thousands of Ethiopians, Indians, Mesopotamians (who were actually Arabs but tended to identify with their historical roots), Persians, Russians, Kurds, Jews and others arrived along the Red Sea.

    The Zaydis would not allow this to occur without a fight. However, they were largely on their own. As Shias, and not even mainstream Shias, the Zaydis would get no aid from the Hejaz to the northwest or the Arabian plains of the Najd to the northeast whom had always held the Zaydis in contempt. Indeed, the new "Sultan of the Hejaz" would quietly renew the anti-Shia policies of the past and refuse entry to Mecca and Medina to many of that Sect. The Najd would similarly see mass changes as large numbers of immigrants from the north, mainly Kurds, were given control over key cities and towns and would bring entire clans down into the Arabian Peninsula. By 1840, the Arabs were outnumbered in the Najd by these recent migrants whom were also better connected to the Russian and Persian powers to the north.

    Pleased with the conquest, the allies would realize that the more valuable Imamate of Oman was an even bigger prize. While piracy was less of a problem in recent decades, the population was much lower (perhaps 150,000 souls) and would grant full control over the Indian Ocean to the allies. By 1820, another force seized Muscat, the capital of the Omani Sultanate. Most Muslims of this region were of the Ibadi Sect, generally regarded as a mix of Sunni and Shia by scholars whom admitted knowing very little of them. For the most part, Omanis preferred to keep themselves to themselves but, like other nations blessed and cursed by geography (Poland for example), Oman was situated among key trade lanes and could not be ignored by the rising powers of the region.



    Map of the Omani Sultanate with capital at Muscat.

    Maskat_%26_Oman_map.png
     
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    April, 1820

    Manhattan

    President Rufus King was already getting tired of Henry Clay. The man had been appointed Secretary of State to get him OUT of Congress but he insisted on using his influence on other matters. Inexperienced with foreign policy, the intelligent man was a quick study and Clay was already expanding upon Adams' program of expanded commercial treaties with both Russia and Austria.

    In truth, Clay's politics was not terribly different from King's but the man simply could not stop meddling. Hamilton was no less irritated. Lately, Clay (via his proxies) would press for more internal improvements for the interior provinces whom saw him as their champion. King was sympathetic. The interior Provincial economies were dependent up a navigable Mississippi and the Erie Canal.

    However, King was still able to get through several bills...with Clay's support...for the army and navy allotments. In return, he made sure that Ohio and the other Provinces of the interior received funding for bridges and canals, etc, etc.

    Webster was a problem but was not as inclined to partisan warfare as Clay.

    Biscayne Bay

    After his humiliating arrest and trial in New Orleans, de Buonaparte's reputation was in tatters. Not only had he attempted to bypass Federal Law banning filibustering...but he had proven incompetent at it. Worse, the revolution in Nueva Granada apparently was going along quite well without him. His actions ensured that he would not be offered another command in America any time soon...if ever.

    Still, his ally Miranda was intent on striking a blow for liberty. Western Nueva Granada remained in Spanish Royalist hands. Though not the region of his birth, Miranda was inclined to assist "General" Boves directly or attack on his own. But this would require money and resources.

    Biscayne Bay still held more promise than most locations. Still outraged at the bombardment of the city in the past war, the South Georgian port was full of people happy to strike against Spain, though most would prefer an attack on Cuba. Both Miranda and de Buonaparte knew that this would be near impossible unless an invasion was preceded by a general rebellion and that seemed unlikely. The fortress in Havana was the strongest in the western hemisphere. Without a major portion of the population on their side, any filibustering expedition would be doomed to failure in Cuba.

    But Nueva Granada may yet be another story. With the massive war in eastern Granada, the Mayan territories to the north under rebellion for over a decade and even the Central American Intendancies having recently rebellion, it seemed likely that western Granada was ripe for the picking even if the invasion were modest. Was there any reason to suspect that this portion of the Spanish Empire held more loyalty to the Crown?

    Miranda and de Buonaparte were willing to find out.


    Georgetown

    Princess Charlotte's funeral was a few months in the past but General Hohenzollern had needed that much time to merely go through his mother's finances. The woman was a wonder. She kept records down to the penny and fired any clerk that failed to match her precision.

    In the end, Frederick Hohenzollern was a very, very rich man. His younger half-brother Augustine was also quite well off these days. Even his step-brothers George and Lawrence were left quite wealthy. The soldier knew his mother was rich but he didn't believe this extended into the millions but Charlotte had parlayed the pensions she received from Europe into a real estate empire. She practically owned half of Manhattan and Georgetown.

    Now Frederick received the bulk of her fortune. Most of her precious artworks and the still-in-construction museum was left to the nation. Hohenzollern would carefully go through the correspondence of his mother and step-father to make sure there was nothing embarrassing in there. He planned on leaving their papers to the nation...after a few decades to ensure anyone prominently featured in their diaries and other material would not be around to take offense.

    He did find one particular note from his uncle, before Frederick's birth, where the then-Duke of Mecklenburg inquired if Prince Frederick, the General's famous father, was still having sex with the pageboy or if he was actually touching his wife.

    That letter was burned and Hohenzollern seriously considered burning everything else from that period.

    Eventually, Hohenzollern realized that he would not get through the mountain of paperwork for many years and returned to duty (which he had neglected having taken leave for many months). As it was, he would be extra busy as his wife was pregnant once again.
     
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    June, 1820

    Cartagena

    Jose Tomas Boves would struggle to complete his conquest of Western Granada. Though he had managed to seize the outskirts of Cartagena, the city had stubbornly pushed him out and he resorted to a lengthy siege in which his army was ill-prepared to wage with his mob of conscripted soldiers and volunteers.

    After more than a year, the first Spanish reinforcements belatedly arrived. Two regiments of colonial Regulars and three of militia were deposited near the Isthmus of Panama, well clear of the rebel armies. However, these were colonial forces from New Spain, not Iberia. The regulars were dismally trained and provisioned and the volunteers were actually conscripts. Few were overly interested in actually suppressing the rebellion in Granada and would not fight terribly doggedly.

    Within a few weeks, this new Imperial forces was routed and the Royalists fled south to Medellin. Believing himself invulnerable, Boves would turn away from Cartagena, leaving the besieged city, and chasing the enemy into the highlands.

    This would prove to be an error in two manners:

    1. The Royalists would put up a stouter defense in the high country, blunting his attack southwest.
    2. Cartagena would be assaulted by another enemy, one in many ways more dangerous to Boves than the Spanish.

    De Buonaparte and Miranda made their belated appearance in Nueva Granada, landing in a rebel harbor thirty miles east of Cartagena with 300 American volunteers. Many were freedmen seeking to liberate the slaves of Granada (they would be surprised to find there really weren't that many) and most of the others were of Spanish extraction mixed with a dose of Anglo adventurers. While 300 soldiers did not seem to account for much, Miranda swiftly attracted a number of Granadans whom had been put off by Boves' assault on class and church.

    Within a few weeks, de Buonaparte and Miranda would seize Cartagena via trickery. They offered to bribe some Spanish soldiers and promptly arrested them when they threw open one of the city gates

    Just like that, there were two revolutionary armies in Granada.

    Manhattan

    Though neither the King of Spain nor the President of the United States desired yet another conflict. Neither had come out well in the previous wars. Yes, America gained some border desert territories and the islands of St. Dominic and Jamaica...but many people considered these hindrances to the country, not aids while others were not happy with adding over half a million Spanish (and French) speakers of dusky or black complexion. Both nations had paid dearly for these two wars which severely hindered their finances for years after the fact.

    Rufus King would seek to maintain the moderately warm relations with Spain in the early years of his Presidency thus he was disappointed when the Spanish Ambassador demanded an explanation of why an American military force was allowed to depart from Biscayne Bay bound for Granada. In truth, King could not blame the man. De Buonaparte and Miranda had been arrested for trying to organize a filibuster in New Orleans but had been acquitted by a jury. Then they actually had the nerve to do so again in Biscayne Bay and succeeded in getting away with it.

    The President had the good taste to be embarrassed and promised to renew his efforts to ensure American neutrality. However, the unrest throughout the Spanish Empire would likely encourage further unwelcome intervention. King did not want a few vainglorious adventurers dragging his nation into war, not least of all because Spain had, quite frankly, little that America wanted these days. Beyond Cuba and maybe Puerto Rico, the Spanish-Portuguese Empire would give up no major territories without also gaining millions of Spanish-speakers who may or may not want to be Americans and may or may not be wanted by America.
     
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    August, 1820


    Western Granada

    Jose Boves, the leader of the rebel movement, would be outraged to discover commanders not loyal to him had seized the great prize of Cartagena. Having himself run into a brick wall attempting to seize the inland southwestern cities of Medellin and Bogota (the hills and mountain passes were quite difficult to navigate even without resistance.

    His army exhausted after over a year and a half on constant campaign, his supplies dreadfully low and morale plummeting, Boves would retreat northeast towards his source of power. Upon reaching the fringe of Cartagena, he discovered, to his dismay, that the new faction of rebels had total control over the city and were not inclined to give it up or acknowledge Boves’ authority.

    Knowing that internal dissention would likely doom the Revolution, Boves agreed to return to eastern Granada and resupply…and, of course, wait for the inevitable counterattack by Spain. In nearly two years, Spain had done next to nothing to put down the rebellion beyond issuing a few thousand colonials to help the local Royalists. In truth, this was not a war between colonizer and colony but a civil war between local political factions. With over 2.5 million people in Granada, Spain simply could not hope to dispatch troops in sufficient number to put them down without the aid of a larger Loyalist legion.

    Still, they would try. In August, the first Iberian troops in any real numbers began to arrive west of Cartagena. The strategy was to link up with the Royalists of the west and drive eastward.

    Their first target, after a few months of consolidating, would be Generals de Buonaparte and Miranda in Cartagena. Boves would receive a temporary reprieve.


    Tierra del Rey, Capital of New Spain

    Viceroy Manuel de Godoy was utterly terrified. His “reinforcements” dispatched to Granada were defeated by peasants in the most humiliating manner. The King in Madrid was nothing short of livid by the poor condition of the volunteers. De Godoy had hoped that the King would blame the commanders but no such luck. By the tone of the Minister of State and the letter sent (quite uncommonly) by the King, de Godoy began to realize his tenure as Viceroy was about to end.

    And this was a bad thing as any succeeding Viceroy would find ample evidence as to just how much he’d robbed New Spain blind over the past decades. By utilizing a series of agents he placed in key regional posts, de Godoy had skimmed the silver profits, taxed internal trade for his own enrichment and any other scheme he could think of. Only the natural indolence of the Spanish state kept de Godoy from being recalled.

    De Godoy could not imagine not being held to account for his actions if he returned to Spain. He knew he must set this right or embark upon a more daring path. First, he sent a groveling letter to Madrid assuring the King and his ministers that he would quickly dispatch virtually the entirety of his “regular” forces to Granada. They would either restore his reputation by crushing the rebellion or….or…they would not be in place to move against him.

    Either way, de Godoy’s long tenure as Viceroy looked nearly over. Only the next step was to be determined.
     
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    September 1820

    Paris

    General Jean Moreau had not seen battle in years and was happy enough for that fact. Now in his late fifties, the General remained the most powerful man in France. A virtual dictator when he seized power due to the culture of fear and intimidation in the Estates, he slowly brought Parliament back to respectability and Republican France back to some semblance of law after years of Terror and intrigue. Eventually, even the economy recovered a bit. Good harvests fed the nation and trade ensured a steady flow of grain from abroad should the harvest fail. For the first time in years, the price of grain dropped so much that the price controls were formally removed. An entire generation had never seen such a thing.

    Still nominally allied with the other Republics, the friendship had slowly weakened to the point that Moreau was uncertain of any aid should an enemy attack. Surrounded by potential enemies, Moreau did all he could to avoid a confrontation. "Bourbonist" France (mainly the Brittany, the Vendee and parts of other Provinces like Normandy) and "Stuartist" France (commonly known as Occitania though there was no official term) remained prepared to fight if necessary with potential allies in Austria and Spain.

    Moreau knew the "other" France's could not count upon their allies either. Yet each France feared initiating a conflict as they knew defeat would be the end of their cause. Thus the fragmented nation whose people did not desire fragmentation (unlike other regions like Spain or Habsburg southern Germany) remained broken.

    The "First Citizen" (his title had changed multiple times) would lay awake at night wondering what would happen if Republican France fell to the Royalists, particularly the Bourbons. He suspected that the Republican leaders would be slaughtered at the very least and possible every man whom had served the Republic. Fortunately, King Henry Stuart had been willing to accept the Occitan and was not inclined to risk his Kingdom in a bid for more. When Henry died, his son James (whom had been a soldier for the Papal States) would assume power and follow the same path.

    Better yet, Prince Louis August, the uncle of the exiled King Louis XVII, would not rock the boat either from his post as Regent of "Bourbonist" France to the north east. As Louis XVII was apparently happy to remain in Quebec with his wife (a German Catholic Princess foisted upon him by his family), mistress and large brood of legitimate and bastard children, he left the Regency to his uncle.

    Moreau was happy to let the situation drift. Two decades of war had ravaged all of France and few desired a return even if it meant victory for their own side. Satisfied that, for the moment, the peace would be held, Moreau returned home for the evening. Getting old required a bit more rest than in his youth.

    The following morning, Moreau would learn that the Prince-Regent, Louis August, was dead. His surviving younger brother Prince Charles had been summoned to Brittany to assume the Regency.


    London

    Prime Minister John Cartwright had just about had enough. Over his long tenure as Prime Minister of Britain, he had been attacked from one side for being too radical and on the other for not being radical enough. He'd overseen the transfer of most of the farmland of England to the tenants...usually leaving the country homes to the previous aristocratic owners but without the capacity to pay for their upkeep. The countryside was littered with vacant mansions rotting away under the grey skies.

    The transfer of land did some in Britain good. The tenants kept a larger portion of their bounty and thus put more improvements into the land. Also, the countryside shifted from non-staple products like sheep and sugar beets to grain and pork, thus providing more food for the island. However, Britain possessed limited lands and the population had been rising for years. More and more people were migrating to cities in a country which had long been more urbanized than most European nations.

    Cartwright continued the reforms of his predecessors by limiting the working day and mandating a minimum wage yet the population growth would accelerate so much that wages remained depressed and joblessness continued unabated. Tens of thousands of Britons left for America every year as well as other more exotic destinations like India.

    Seeking to expand upon trade, Great Britain slowly accepted the United East India Company's business and allowed them almost the same rights as actual nations. Shipping in tea, silk and other necessaries, Britain would try to export manufactured goods but the Orient seldom desired anything Britain possessed. The damned UEIC would set up their own local factories for weapons, ships and other goods, thus depriving Britain of even that trade. Worse, India had taken over the global lead in cotton production. This was initially hailed as a benefit as Britons viewed themselves as buying cotton and reexporting as fabric. But India was more than capable of spinning their own cloth and actually exported more to Europe than it imported. The British textile industry never expanded as expected and the drain of silver grew so terrible that the nation was forced to massively tax tea and sugar imports in order to halt the drain.

    The loss of hard currency and high joblessness resulted in a steady drain of emigrants to America which still barely slowed the overall population growth. With joblessness, even with the social protections, came unrest.

    Exhausted, Cartwright would read the writing on the wall and resign before Parliament kicked him out...or the government was overthrown by a mob. It had happened before.

    Cartwright's old friend Francis Burdett was able to form a coalition among the increasingly fractious Parliament representing people who thought the British Revolution would solve all of their problems once the oligarchy under the crown was overthrown.

    Burdett, unfortunately, had the disability of being the heir to a baronetcy. Obviously, he had cast that aside under the Revolution but even a man so committed to egalitarianism would be slurred by his enemies as an aristocrat. Burdett, Cartwright suspected, would have a difficult tenure.

    Vienna

    Charles II of Austria continued with his policy of centralizing the bureaucracy of his disparate realms. Though his intentions were good, various constituent nations under the Habsburg would resent these actions even though they were intended to ease trade and often lightened tax burdens upon the population. The Emperor also would soften various criminal laws as well.

    Still, the diverse Monarchy would struggle to maintain order.

    Russia

    Peter III of Russia died suddenly after a summer cold. If his great grandfather had been "The Great" and his father the "Liberator", Peter III would not be so well remembered though perhaps he should have. He kept the nation at peace with Europe and within, expanded freedoms arguably more than his father and conquered a huge swathe of territory to the south including the hated Ottoman Empire. While the conquest of the Levant and Anatolia would prove far more expensive than expected (cost always exceeded revenues), Peter would be hailed as the protector of both Christians and the minority religions and peoples of the Near East (including Shias).

    During his reign, the Near East demographics shifted enormously as the Sunni Arabs and Turks were pressed out of the Levant in great numbers while Turkish Alevis, Kurds, Assyrians, Mesopotamians, Arameans, Russians, Georgians, Greeks, Jews, Frankists, Armenians, Persians and Copts flowed into the region. Sunni Arabs (excluding the Arameans whom were just Arabs who never converted to Islam) were now merely a plurality in the Levant and not a terribly large one at that. Most estimated they were close to 15% of the population, down from 60% in previous generations. Even as far south at Arabia, Kurds, Mesopotamians and Assyrians moved into the Najd region.

    Peter's son, Peter IV, was already nearing forty and of a more scholastic bent, taking such a view of administration. He would continue the attempts to industrialize in order to provide jobs for the large numbers of peasants fleeing the countryside for the cities but, like Britain, Germany and others, Russia would struggle finding enough employment for so many people. Under Peter IV, the first large-scale emigration of Russians to America would commence, eventually exceeding any other migrant group. However, Russia was a nation of 30,000,000 souls and the 30,000 or so departing for America per year (by 1830) would not do much for the overall population problem (only 1 person per thousand per year emigrating from 1830 to 1850). Yes, others would continue to depart for the Near East (eventually Russians would vie with Kurds and Arabs as the largest quantity of citizens in the Levant) but this also would do little to relieve the pressure.

    Peter IV would try to be a wise Czar. He would do many good things for his nation and his people, though this would never quite be enough to staunch the tide of problems. Possessing the intellect but not the will to control the Diet, Peter would allow demagogues to control the latter parts of his reign and it would be stained by one of the most horrific atrocities in human history, arguably the worst since the Mongols slaughtered millions of people wherever they rode.
     
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    Chapter 303

    December, 1820

    Cartagena

    In the months since they had landed near and seized Cartagena, Generals de Buonaparte and Miranda came to an understanding. De Buonaparte would lead the army while Miranda handled the political side and recruiting of soldiers.

    Soon, these volunteers would be necessary as the Spanish forces made their belated arrival. 2000 additional Spanish colonial regulars had been dispatched from New Spain. This number was matched by another 2000 from Iberia. All would converge upon the region of Cartagena. While the city itself was not assaulted by the Spanish Navy - either out of fear of the formidable fortifications or simply not desiring to destroy the city (probably the former) - the soldiers were deposited nearby....in separate landing areas.

    This gave de Buonaparte time to act. While not contesting the actual landing, de Buonaparte would set a trap. Determining to deal with the Iberians which had landed to the east first, he allowed several hundred raw militia to exchange a few rounds of fire and flee in obvious panic. This left the Spanish forces confident as they marched inland. Keeping a token forces of raw patriot militia before the Spanish, he waited until the invaders were exhausted and carefully calculated his position. He took his forces to the east hidden behind a few hills. As de Buonaparte hoped, the overconfident Spanish commander would order his army to rest upon a wide plateau for the night. De Buonaparte ordered the militia to fire off an odd round or two in the distance every fifteen minutes or so. This accustomed the Spanish to disturbances during the night and led them to think of the noise as an irritation, nothing more.

    An hour before dawn the next day, the Granadans attacked in full force. The Spanish were taken totally unaware and were routed with breathtaking ease. Over 200 were killed and 900 captured. The rest fled, more often than not throwing down their weapons to hasten their retreat to the coast. Virtually the entirety of the artillery and munitions were taken by the rebels, a desperately needed boon.

    De Buonaparte would pursue the enemy to the ships and seize several hundred more prisoners due to the indecisive Spanish commander's inability to determine if his soldiers should reembark or somehow reorganize. By the end of December, the Spanish reinforcement had been effectively destroyed.

    Caracas

    Jose Tomas Boves would curse when he heard of the destruction of the Spanish army with such ease. Not that he desired Spain to win but this victory reinforced Miranda and de Buonaparte's assumed position as "co-leaders" of the independence movement in Granada.

    However, he was not yet prepared to "enforce" his leadership upon the western Granadans as of yet. Having returned to Caracas months ago, Boves struggled to reclaim order and forge a new government....under his guiding hand, of course.

    Invading the western territories was impossible...for the moment.

    Intendancy of Panama

    Panama (or the Darien region) would remain very lightly populated after three centuries of Spanish rule. Even prior to the introduction of Spanish diseases, the native population had been slight relative to Peru or New Spain. Then forced labor inflicted upon the natives by the Spanish to carry the Peruvian silver from the west coast to the east would largely finish what the diseases started.

    Naturally, with the silver supply in the balance, the Spanish turned to slavery. Thousands of slaves were employed at any given moment carrying heavy packs or leading mule trains from one coast to the other. When the slave trade was effectively halted over half a century prior, this meant that the Spanish would have to import slaves from other regions of the Empire, notably Granada, to ensure that this vital portage continued. This would slowly and quietly drain the sugar plantations of the Granadan lowlands of ever its modest quantity of slaves. Males slaves tended to go to Panama to bear the silver shipments while female slaves usually ended up in the cities working as house servants. Black slaves working in fine homes was always a status symbol throughout the western world. Naturally, this segregation of male and female Africans would result in a large number of mulattos (white fathers and black mothers) throughout Granada's cities and zambos (black fathers and Indian mothers) in Panama and the remaining sugar plantation regions.

    In only a generation or two, the small black minority had been bred into the white and native populations of Granada.

    Naturally, when the revolution commenced and first Boves, then de Buonaparte and Miranda issued a call to arms, the slaves flocked en masse to their colors. The once well-trodden portage path in Panama from the Pacific to the Atlantic was overgrown within a few years. The Spanish were forced to ship Peruvian gold all the way around the tip of South America. As one may expect, a particularly fierce storm sank two treasure ships, severely harming Spain's economy in 1820.

    Perhaps worse, the rebellion in Granada and long-running revolt in the Mayan Republic (or Empire depending upon the day), would prompt the Intendancy of Nicaragua to revolt as well, just adding to Spain's problems.
     
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    Chapter 304

    March 1821

    Manhattan

    President Rufus King would continue to regret Henry Clay's constant interference with non Foreign Policy. The Secretary of State would use his influence in Congress to push his own agenda. More often than not, that coincided with King and his allies. When it did not...

    Well, King was not yet ready to make a full enemy of Clay. He would...again...privately demand that Clay fall into line though he questioned if anything would get through the man's head. Apparently, Clay determined that his own prospects were improved by countering the King Administration on several key issues. The President knew that the man was making too many enemies to be popular with the public. If he wanted to be Prime Legislator in the future, that would be more than obtainable. But partisan machinations in Congress did not impress voters.

    By now, King was uncertain why Clay even accepted the office of Secretary of State if he was so dedicated with Congressional minutia.

    Rather that fighting Clay head-on, he froze the man out of meeting not directly involving Foreign Relations. Instead, he tried to set the man on the path of strengthening the brittle peace with Spain. King did not view there being anything of terrible value to take from Spain that would be worth the cost of a war and the prospect of losing.

    And losing was certainly possible. In hindsight, America had been lucky to come out of the last war with Spain as well as it did...meaning actually gaining a bit of territory while putting down the rebellion. It could have been much worse. Much, MUCH worse. King knew that his country had been overconfident and, had Spain been a more dangerous opponent, could have been shattered. Only a series of fortuitous events kept disaster at bay. If that hurricane hadn't damaged so many Spanish ships, if the rebels had managed to hold on for one more campaign season, if de Buonaparte had not proceeded with his utterly unauthorized invasion of New Spain, if...if...if.

    There were too many "ifs" in war and not nearly enough certainties. King would do all he could to prevent his young nation from that pain again. Some (perhaps even the Secretary of State) quietly enjoyed the Spanish Empire's troubles and hinted that now would be the time to "aid the rebels" of the Empire to freedom. Clay had always been expansionary (as were most of the high ranking American politicians of note) and probably fantasized about conquering half of the Americas. This struck King as vainglorious and unbecoming of a democracy. It would take America a century to settle what they already had. What was the use of more?

    King would continue to work for peace though the coming months only to be betrayed by his dozens of his own people.

    Biscayne Bay

    Simon Bolivar had been born among the most wealthy colonial elites in Nueva Granada. However, he had been given a modern education which emphasized rational thought and deemed from an early age that the Spanish Empire was corrupt. His family copper mines made the Bolivar's wealthy and he would promptly offer his services to Boves. However, Boves was fighting as much, if not more, the local elites and promptly refused Bolivar a commission and seized the copper mines.

    Bolivar, irate, fled for America, wanted by both the rebels and the Spanish Imperial forces. He found sanctuary in Biscayne Bay but arrived too late to join the expedition of de Buonaparte and Miranda. Seeking to join them, Bolivar would use the last of his family funds to hire a ship and recruit 60 adventurers to sail with him to Cartagena.

    However, the expedition was seized sailing around the largely vacant islands of the Lesser Antilles (they sailed south to catch the winds and were planning to sail along the "Spanish Main", the northern coast of South America) by a random Spanish frigate. The entire crew, along with the volunteers, were carried north towards Cuba. However, an early spring storm would wreck both ships and throw them upon a mercifully sandy stretch of Puerto Rico coastline. Seizing the opportunity, Bolivar and his volunteers would regain control over the ship and beach the ship, fleeing for the interior.

    They would find that Puerto Rico was already in in the throes of a slave revolt.

    Zacatecas

    Gregor MacGregor



    Gregor MacGregor was a perhaps already the most infamous swindler in the western world. Impoverished in his native Scotland, he had emigrated to America ten years prior. Within months, he had used forged documents to receive loans from financial institutions in Philadelphia and used the money to dupe hundreds of prospectors out of their funds by hiring a ship (he claimed he owned) to sail them to Borealia's gold mines and outfit them with proper equipment. However, the ship was not in any way provisioned...or seaworthy...or crewed and, when the prospectors arrived to board, they discovered an empty ship and no sign of MacGregor.

    Then he moved west and, again using fraudulent credentials and faked documents, "bought" hundreds of horses in Atacapa to sends west to the Freedmen settling the interior with government grants. However, many of these horses unsurprisingly never arrived.

    By that point, MacGregor had grown even more bold. He published an entirely fake account that America's latest treaty stated that a portion of the Miskito Coast had been ceded to America by Spain along with several offshore islands like Roatan due to the Mayan Republic's defacto sovereignty over the past decade.

    Naturally, there was no treaty (nor any particular interest on either side) and this was utter fiction. MacGregor nevertheless convinced over a hundred settlers that he had been empowered to "sell" lots of land ceded by Spain and the Mayan Republic to settlers with the promise that draft animals, tools, etc would already be waiting. This region was considered rich in teak wood and had been a steady income producer for Spain (and before that Britain) for man decades before the Mayan rebellion. Many recalled this and happily sought to reach the fertile lands.

    The ship deposited its human cargo along the coast...and promptly departed, leaving the confused settlers with only nominal supplies. Unfortunately for the settlers, they learned from the Spanish patrol which eventually arrested/rescued them that MacGregor had made the whole thing up and run off with their money. The Captain of the ship didn't fare any better as the vessel sprung a leak off the near-unpopulated island of Roatan and was forced to stop for repairs...and were discovered by a Spanish sloop. Only months before, all American trade in the region had been commanded to halt after de Buonaparte and Miranda landed in Nueva Granada. Naturally, the crew was arrested as invaders as well.

    It would take months for the slow pace of communication to bring news of these events to Madrid and Manhattan.
     
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