Summer of Nations (1848 Victorious)

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Summer of Nations

Great men of history: The validity of historical narratives in modern socioeconomic research (Lumos Syndicate, 2018)

When discussing the history of Europe and the world at large, you find that at certain points it all comes to revolve around a single man and his decisions which regardless of his knowledge will come to shape the world at large. The first one of these is Napoleon, who brought france from a nation in dissaray to an empire spanning across europe, doubtlessly inspiring Jaques Doriot, who would attempt to do the same more than a hundred years later. Between them stands Rugerro Settimo, a Sicilan petty noble who, knowingly or not, would transform the face of Europe and the world forever.

Map of the world as of December 1848
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Hello and welcome to the timeline Summer of Nations, which imagines a world in which the popular rebellions that wracked the core of Europe succeded instead of being put down and the subsequent history of the world.

While attempting to remain plausible (Aka a type I alternate history), the overall "theme" of national revolutions being more successful than OTL might influence and soften the course of historical events.

 

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The turning point of the century

"Deutschland, Deutschland frei und eining
keine kaiser, keine Joch
von den blut auf deutsche mennscher
wir könnt' jetz zusammenhält
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt,
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt!"
-Opening stanza of the German "Victory March" as composed by Hoffmann von Fallersleben​

When the first person on the island of Sicily placed the poster announcing revolution in three days time they could have scarcely realize the magnitude of their act and how it would come to shape history. Following the congress of Vienna, Europe had grown ever closer to a volatile powderkeg, with the dicates of monarchs and princes only serving as sparks to slowly but surely burn away at the fragile order, culminating on the 12th of January, 1848. Despite what some fringe scholars claim [1], the revolutions were indeed inevitable in their scope and sucess. No monarch could possibly have overwhelmed the masses of people taking to the streets all across Europe, erecting barricades and sometimes even convincing regiments of soldiers to take up their cause. As soon as it started, the fires of revolution spread up from the italian peninsula to the alps and the balkans. Books and films have since collected the unnumerable stories of people and the acts they comitted for a better, brighter world, some of wich me may explore throughout this series on the history of the world at large.

Flag of the provisional government of Southern Italy ​

To summarize: Following the sucessful revolution in sicily, southern italy was set ablaze and countless revolutionaries gathered in Palermo to discuss the future of Italy. During what would become know as the conference of Palermo, three camps sprung up: The Unionists, led by Giuseppe Garibaldi who favoured one united Italy stretching from Sicily to Venice; The Confederationists, led by Vincenzo Fardella who desired Two Italies: One Northern and one southern. They believed that a united Italy would only lead to a new system werein the wealthy, comparatively industrialized north would come to dominate the south; And finally there were the Republicans, who wished to reorganize the city-states and other small parts of italy into Republics, but otherwise keeping the peninsula splintered. As they bickered they were nevertheless opposed to the old order and revolutionary forces soon had Naples firmly under control. However, the provisional government of Southern Italy (a suitably neutral name that pacified all three factions) ordered them to stop and entrech themselves and to simply support local revolutions rather than continue to claim territory. In the north however, aside from the separatist aspirations of Venice, there was not the same factionalism in the south and the forces of the Republic of Italy had soon seized Rome itself, entering the city upon the invitation of the Holy Father.

Flag of the Northern Italian Republican movement​

This pattern continued across Europe: for whilst some simply meant replacing the monarch with an elected president [2], other revolutions meant seismic shifts in the european balance of power. A Republican Germany was created under the supervision of the liberal parliament of Frankfurt, incorporating the formerly habsburg Austria despite the protestations of some South German nationalists. Similarly to the Italian confederationists, these wished for two separate Germanies: One northern and protestant, the other southern and catholic. One revolt that took many Germans by surprise was the Bohemian Revolution, who quickly seized upon the rapidly destabilizing balkans to unite the Czechs and Slovaks into one nation and quickly setting up a Rhutenian buffer state against Russian intervention. Whilst Russia had in the beginning supported the revolutions, especially those in the balkans that drove the habsburgs from power and established slavic entities like the kingdom of Serbia-Illyria and Czechoslovakia, the appearance of a previously German Polish state suddenly threatened to sunder the Russian state in the same way it had done to the many nations of central europe, a notion that would be proven correct just a few months into the revolution, as the grand duchy of Finland would soon split away from the monarchy and join its old master Sweden, but this time as an equal in a Scandinaivan Republic rather than as a subservient part of the former. Other revolutions in Ukraine, Rhutenia and the Baltics fared worse however, as the Tsar's troops slaughtered the revolutionaries down to a man.

Flag of the kingdom of Serbia-Illyria​

The revolutionaries would even bring down the mighties empire in europe, as English Chartists and various Celtic nationalists spurred by Breton independence launched their own insurrections agains the British crown, forcing it into exile abroad. Their journey would first take them across the atlantic, were our series will resume next.


[1] Especially those pseudo-historical books like "The man in Neuschwanstein"
[2] Harold Miller, "The lesser revolutions of 1848" (1963)

(So yeah! Next time We'll take a look across the Atlantic, perhaps adress some more European states and hopefully make some friends along the way.)

 

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Across the Atlantic

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As the revolutions consumed Europe, it forced many of the previously ascendant nobilty and aristocracy to flee abroad or renounce their titles to avoid losing their head in the traditional french fashion. The most prominent of these were the British house of Hanover. Once commanding one of the most wide-reaching empires in history, they were now trapped on a small loyalist fleet heading towards Canada. But they would find that they were not as safe in their arctic lands as they would have assumed. News of the revolutions spread to the continent via trade routes, word of mouth and the newly invented telegraph and had stimulated many minds in the Americas, especially those who still remembered something similar. Quebecois, English Canadians and Californians all had revolution fresh in their minds, from the 1837 rebellions to the bear flag revolt. Seeing the old powers reeling, the Canadians decided to seize the moment, declaring independence just a few weeks before the royal family were to arrive in Newfoundland. The independence movement quickly fractured into three however, as there were few interested in a bilingual confederacy. The first to go their own path was Quebec, hoisting the old flag of rebellion over their lands and claiming it as their national flag. With the revolutionaries now split between the atlantic faction that courted the mainly maritime culture and economy of atlantic Canada and the Ontarians, who favoured expansion into the prairies, the two delegations soon went their separate ways as well.

The flag of the Atlantic Union, more commonly know as the "Atlantic Jack"​

Internally, the atlantic provinces were equally split between different factions, all with their own goals. The separatists desired to make every province an independent nation, whilst the Americanists wanted their or all of the provinces to join the United States in a similar manner as Texas. It was the Confederationists that would win out in the end however, uniting the atlantic english colonies under one confederation. To that end, they chose for their flag a new Union Jack to symbolize both their heritage from the isles and the relationships between its constituent provinces, as several nations under one union.

The flag of the Canadian Republic, the first tricolour to utilize a so-called "Canadian Pale"
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As their two compatriots went their separate ways, Canada found itself in somewhat of the same conundrum as its english brother. Was it to petition for annexation by its southern brother, or would it go at it alone? After a heated debate in the Canadian assembly were events such as the war of 1812 were brought to the forefront as examples of Canadian identity, the consensus shifted in the direction of independence. To this end the new flag would fly three maple leaves as a symbol of Canadian uniqueness, whilst the blue stood for the pacific ocean, the white for the snow-covered arctic and the green for its vast forests.

The banner of the 1837 rebellions, now the national flag of Quebec​

The British royals would therefore not receive the warm welcome they had expected, but were instead only allowed to take refuge in the ports of the Atlantic Union for a few weeks to refill supplies and take aboard those americans still loyal to the crown before setting sail once more to the warm waters of Australasia.

On the american frontier, the war between the United States and Mexico was still raging when the news of revolution spread to their inhabitants. Invigorated by the spirit of independece seemingly soaring across the world, an increasing number of Californians began petitioning for independence, much to the chagrin of many slave-owning americans in both nations. After all, the Californians had heard of the complex balance between the slave and free states of the US and therefore risked getting drawn into politics from across the other side of the continet that might even in the end cost them the rights they revolted to maintain. When put in this context, the Californian independence movement quickly gained even more steam and began organizing itself into a proper nation, petitioning the US for annexation of the Baja California in addition to full independence. Recogizing a situation similar to that of the Texan only a few years prior, the US administration decided on a more "hands off" approach and to grant the Californians their wish, in part influenced by the desires of congress to keep the balance of states in check. Thusly, a new version of the bear flag was hoisted in San Francisco february 5th, 1848 and California was recongized as a free and sovereign nation by both the US and Mexico under the condition that California make no northen claims towards the US's route to the pacific.

The famous "Bear flag" of the Californian Republic​

The year so famously titled the "Springtime of nations" would see yet one more nation spring up on american soil, though this one was not as nationalistic in nature as the others. Hearing the news of the revolutions in europe and the independence of California, Brigham Young realized that statehood would not be enough to protect the trations and faith of his promised people and thus chose to himself declare independence, bringing him and his followers protection under the banner of Deseret. However, seeing as the nation was sparsely populated and located far away from any other american capital, no foreign government was aware of the nations existence for several months before news reached Washington and California. In California, the government figured Deseret must have been set up in a similar vein as their own nation and embraced them with open arms, but Washington was less amused. The prospect of fighting a religiously motivated militia for what at this point amounted to sparsely populated rocky desert was not appealing and as such the nation was tentatively recognized with the borders to be fixed at a later date. And after all, if they caused any trouble, they could not be harder to subdue than Mexico.

The flag of Deseret, symbolizing the holy trinity, Zion and the twelve mormon principles.

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Aaand that's it for this update! You may notice the flags are bigger this time. This is because I don't have the patience to struggle with formatting and I'm sorry if this will make the post hard to read. Anyhow, next time I promise we'll finally finish up in Europe and be done with 1848 and actually getting some momentum going.

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1858: The New Decade

Map of the world in 1858

Ten years of change​

The 1848 revolutions are one of the most influential events in modern history, surpassed perhaps only by the later global wars they would help foster. The revolutions revitalized republican ideals and ended the majority of European monarchies, with the notable exceptions of Russia and Scandinavia. Scandinavist sentiment had united the Danish and Swedish royal houses following the revolutions, but had also forced them to cede a majority of their legislative power due to the threat a potential republican rebellion posed. One of the first orders of business for this new nation was the question of Schleswig-Holstein: Before 1848 Schleswig and Holstein had been ruled by the Danish King as loosely connected parts of Denmark although most of the area was majority german. This was further complicated when the new republican frankfurt parliament cause massive administrative changes to modernize the system and essentially abolish the nobility, leaving the status of the area even more unclear.

This was the impetus for the Stockholm conference of 1849, wich would establish a longstanding bond between the two germanic nations. It was agreed that Schleswig-Holstein would be ruled as a condominium, with a local council elected to manage daily affairs, with the tax income distributed equally between the council, Germany and Scandinavia. More importantly however, this conference also concluded in a military agreement between the two nations to support rebels in the Russian Empire. Many Scandinavians felt Russia was the greatest threat to Scandinavian sovereignty and the Swedes in particular desired to retake the Finnish lands lost 1808. Germany on the other hand wished to minimize the threat of a reactionary retaliation to the revolutions with the support of Imperial Russia and also wished to enlarge the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth as a buffer between the two.

The third northern war

Painting depicting German soldiers leaving for the war, 1851
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The third northern war would prove to be the first great challenge faced by the German Republic and its allies following the revolution. The German army at this time was a mix of former professional soldiers, revolutionary milita veterans and newly drafted conscripts. Realizing this, the german parliament appointed a council of the most experienced of the revolutionaries to lead this new army into the field, supported by foreign volounteers from countries like Switzerland and Italy. Having already established a firm foothold in eastern europe in the form of the commonwealth, it would be the forest of Scandinavia that would see the heaviest fighting. The initial advance into Russian territory was greeted well by the Polish and Belarussian peasantry, often rising up in small groups that waged a guerilla war and distrupted Russian supply lines.

At the same time, Russia was busy trying to enforce its rule in the caucasus, which had now risen up in revolt, partially thanks to Iranian encouragement. After a decisive defeat in the baltic at the hands of the Swedish and German navies and the Scandinavian conquest of Finland the Russians finally relented, now fearing the additional threat of a Persian-Ottoman alliance. Scandinavia was granted nearly the entire Finnish peninsula with the promise of permanent access through the danish straits, while the Germans gained control over the duchies of Estonia and Latvia. The commowealth was granted a large swathe of territory that belonged to its older predecessor and at the end of 1855, it rebranded itself as the triple commonwealth: an alliance between the Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian Peoples long in the making.

Banner of the Triple Commonwealth

Tumult in the Balkans​

The Balkans have been a source of instability since seemingly time immemorial and with the changes brough on by 1848, the expected followed. Though a great rebellion had freed a majority of the northern Balkan slavs and unified them under one banner, the Ottoman vilayet of Bosnia would remain under muslim control, despite a considerable number of Serbs and Ilyrians living in the area. This was the result of the primarily muslim aristocracy enlisting Ottoman help to put down the rebellion, wich they managed successfully despite the attempted intervention of Serbia-Illyria. The sultanate was not too keen to advance into the european periphery to try and reclaim its former slavic subjects however, as the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I was wary of republican and secessionist sentiments "spilling into" the Empire and instead forced Serbia-Illyria to renounce all claims to Bosnia and sever many ties with Russia and Greece in thr treaty of Sarajevo 1852. Despite this, the kingdom continued to fund Montenegrin and Romanian separatists in the Ottoman periphery, much to their annoyance. In addition, Greece, Romania and Serbia-Illyria entered into a secret military alliance together to possibly aquire much of their claimed territory in addition to serving as protection against the now rump state of the Hungarian Republic, wich was still in the grips of nationalistic fervor and clamored to regain much of the territory it had in its posession under the habsburgs. For the moment however, the balkans held its breath.

One Italy

Giuseppi Garibaldi, first president of Italy​

In Italy, the birthplace of the revolution, the most important event of the decade was the unification of the peninsula. As the twin delegations finally met, it quickly emerged that there was a large wish for a total reunification of Italy on both sides and soon almost the entirety of the two governments met in Rome to draft a unified constitution. The green-white-red tricolour of a unified Italy was hoisted in Rome on the 12th of January 1852, from then on the national day of Italy. As the first Italian assembly convened, the need for a democratically elected goverment soon became apparent. Whilst the assembly had the support of large parts of the populace, the assembly itself was merely a merging of the two provincial governments consisting mostly of educated nationalists and rebel leaders. The first Italian election was a chaotic affair, as was attested to in the journal of one Mario Giovanni, a shoemaker in Palermo:

"March 4th, 1853. A courier arrived in the village a few days ago, announcing that the first Italian election is to be held in november this year. We though little of it, save for the fact that this might mean our mayor will be finding himself in an elected position as well soon. Just today however, a man dressed in a sharp suit and travelling by carriage arrived today and promptly set up shop in the town square. He began talking about the coming election and the reforms he would promote, focusing particularly on the plight of the peasants. However, he had with him a barrel of wine and whenever he needed to calm his throat he took a hearty glass from said barrel and by the evening he had begun issuing odd proclamations, among wich were that he would call for a crusade against the slavs, that he was the god Dionysis returned to human form and that every town in Italy would get their own fountain full of wine installed upon his election.

Mamma Mia, if the rest of this election is like this I miss the king already."

Despite the doubts of a few, the election itself went surprisingly smoothly, with little to no ruckus reported during the days it took to collect and count the votes. In the end, hero of the revolution Giuseppi Garibaldi beat his chief opponent Rugerro Settimo by around five percent of the votes and thus became the first elected president of Italy.

 

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The Eureka Years

Painting depiciting the famous "Eureka Rebellion" of 1854
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The history of Oceania following the 1848 revolutions would come to be known, at least in the anglophone part of the area, as the period of "the two Eurekas". The first Eureka was the discovery of gold in Australia which directly contributed to the second Eureka, the rebellion of the same name. Elsewhere the Dutch would encroach upon Portugese colonial holdings, only stopping due to the threat posed by the nearby Australasian presecence that now saw its colonial interests increasingly threatened, culminating in the 1852 treaty of Amsterdam werein the twin colonial powers would ally against any potential British attempt to seize their colonies by force in exchange for the full recognition of each others colonial claims and a promise not to interfere with the sovereignty of the other.

Australasia and Exile

Portrait of Queen Victoria, the last British royal to ever rule over the eponymous isles.
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As the small fleet containing the royal family and a large number of loyalists finally arrived in Australasia, they received a warm welcome from the small colonial elite that made up the aristocracy in this far corner of the kingdom. The well-timed discovery of gold proved an immense blessing for the crown: it required a large amount of manpower and was potentially immensely profitable, thus giving the loyalist population an immediate way to make a living. Most of the loyalist lower class set off almost immediately to start small mining towns in the province bearing the name of the Queen herself. The upper class was not so eager, relying more on "indentured servants" from southeast asia (primarily the Indian subcontinent and to some extent Indochina) to run vast mining camps and amassing unimaginable wealth for themselves and to some extent other loyalists, but almost none of the profit from these mines never reached the Australian miners, let alone the native aboriginal population. This immensely boosted the Australasian economy, causing a stream of European and even American immigrants to arrive in Australia. This arragement would be neatly symbolized in a 1853 ceremony were Queen Victoria was crowned "Queen of Great Britain and Australasia". Especially prominent was the coronet used during the ceremony, entirely made out of Australian gold and decorated with gems and other such things from across the empire, but notably nothing from the home isles.

First flag of Great Britain, Ireland and Australasia. Note the replacing of the Union Jack with the royal banner of arms
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This was taken less well by some elements of the population, particularly lower-class miners that felt exploited and trod upon by the royals and wealthy slave elite in equal measure. In addition, some of the British loyalist boarding the ships were actually Republican agitators hoping to spread Republicanism across the empire. This in addition to increasing Australian alienation in the face of the increased British prescence (many Brits saw Australians as little more than criminals due to their status as primarily a prison colony) would lay the groundwork for the so called "second Eureka". What actually transpired during the rebellion (and what to name it) has been a matter of controversy ever since, but what is certain is this: On the 3rd of December 1854, miners and workers in East Ballarad erected a stockade and swore fealty to a "souther cross" Australian flag, now commonly reffered to as "The Eureka flag". The British response was quick and furious. In what has become known as "the Eureka massacre" in Australasian Republican circles, British troops assaulted the stockade and killed or captured all members of the resistance before lowering the Eureka flag. The survivors were then transported to Melbourne were they were publicly beheaded in front of the royal palace. This exceptionally harsh treatment of the rebellion was a declaration that though the Empire was in exile, it was in Australasia to stay, particularly as there was a widespread fear of revolution in aristocratic circles. Loyalist decried the rebels as supporters of "The second Cromwell" (a common nickname for the first English President William Lovett), wilst they were hailed as heroes and martyrs in Republican circles. Regardless, the treatement of this rebellion seems to have had the desired effect as this rump state would continue to uphold its claim to Britain and Ireland until 1919.

Shattering of the Imperial Jewel

Painting depiciting an indian retinue during the Great Rebellion (G.F. Atkinson, 1859)
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Whilst Australasia remained firmly in royal hands, the loss of the arguably more important Indian subcontinent would be the most devastating event up until 1915 for the empire. Called "The Jewel of the British Empire", this vast country produced an innumerable amount of goods for the consumption of their Anglo-Saxon overlords, perhaps most important of all was the much-coveted beverage tea. Whilst Britain could always be reclaimed in due time, the threat of losing their tea supply spurred the entirety of Australasia in action, quickly sending a large taskforce to reinforce the fragmenting rule of the East India Company in the area. Despite a bloody campaign and support from various loyalists, in the end the only thing the British managed to keep was a coastal strip of India in the east. Most of the the rest of the territory was taken over by either the Maratha Empire (In European circles confusingly nicknamed "the Sepoy State") or quickly fragmented into various small princely states similar to before the British arrival.

One of the most important consequences of the expulsion of British rule was the realization by many in India that reform, especially that of the miltiary kind was needed if the subcontinent was to avoid seizure by another imperial power. The Maratha in particular took this to heart, creating many trappings of an 19th century nation-state: The sepoy troops were incorporated into the state and reorganized into a national army (conveniently letting the various rulers in the confederacy retain their own personal troops with little change), a constitution outlining the nature of the confederacy and even a common national flag. Whilst this was a step in the right direction, it would take until the early 20th century for the area to reach European standards, but unlike africa there was no need to throw off an imperial yoke to fully realize their ideas of modern nationhood.

A picture depicting two officers and a private in the newly created Marathan army. They would retain their former uniforms for around a decade until proper standardized uniforms were issued in 1862.

The Marathan flag as outlined in the constitution; arguably the first example of a national flag on the Indian subcontinent.​

 

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Affairs Around Africa

Attack on Algiers from the sea (1855, Théodore Gudin)
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As Europe recovered from the chaos of revolution, the attention of many in circles of power shifted toward Africa. The internal strife of many European powers had now given way to a sense of nationalist renewal and with the prominent naval power of the continent almost a husk of its former self, many seized upon the opportunity to carve up slices of the orient for themselves. Perhaps most prominent of these incursions was the Portugese invasion and occupation of the Moroccan Kingdom which had up to that point remained sovereign in the face of other colonial powers. Shortly after the occupation and formal annexation of Morocco a large part of the territory was given to Spain as a "gift" by Portugal as a form of compensation for the seizure of Galicia during the unstable years folloing 1848.

By accepting, many in Spain viewed this as rescinding the claim of sovereignty over Galicia wich along with the secession of the Catalan Republic during the revolutions bred an isolationist and ethnically supremacist sentiment among Spaniards, who now regarded themselves the only "purely Spanish" part of Iberia. Spain, they reasoned, was to be only inhabited by Spaniards and now that those regions that did not want to be part of Spain had seceded, everyone else was to conform to Spanish standards or be driven away. This resulted in a wave of attacks on minorities ranging from Jews to Catalans caught on the wrong side of the border and an intensifying campaign against the fledgling Euskaran Republic in the northern mountains.

As large parts of Europe was still in dissaray or in the throes of intense nationalism, many of the refugees and victims of this violence and violence like it across the continent fled to the European colonial holdings in africa, often founding entire villages or filling up entire city districts in socio-ethnic enclaves. Derisively nicknamed "Sobras" ("leftovers" in Spanish) this community would come to be both the most ardent supporters of European colonialism and the most opposed to mainland nationalism, proving a thorn in the side of colonial administrations for decades to come.

France, seeing an opportunity to turn attention away from the recent mainland losses of Brittany and Alsace, retreated into a similar popular mindsetas Spain, highlinghting the aquisition of the wealthy Waloon lands and also began incursions and campaings agains the "Barbary states" of the north african coast, seizing total control of the divided Algerian territories by the end of 1856, establishing a permanent prescence there and formally annexing the area the same year despite Ottoman process. French President Adolphe Tiers confidently remarked that "No force, by land or by sea, can now dislodge France from Algeria". Regardless as to the accuracy of his claim, a clear message had been sent across Africa: Europe was here to stay.

Around the Cape​

As Northern Africa slowly fell under European influence, somewhat of a reversal of fortunes was occuring on the other side of the continent in Southern Africa. The collapse of the Britain at home caused a slow drain of supplies and manpower to the now English Cape colony, hindering their plans for expansion and allowing the Boers to cement their legitimacy as nations on par with mainland Europe, at least in regards to sovereignty. However, skirmishes with British forces before 1848 as well as the new threat of a secular and revolutionary advance into Africa forced leading Boers into action. In a meeting led by Andries Pretorius, the various Boer Republics and Territories agreed to unite in a confederacy for the sole purpose of countering foreign and domestic threats. Disputes were to be solved by a Volksraad comprised of one representative from each Republic in the Confederacy, but the constituent nations otherwise retained sovereignty in their affairs. A new banner was unveiled to symbolize this fact, to fly at equal height with the flags of its constituent countries. Whilst some grumbled and accused the whole ordeal of being a simple move by the South African Republic to consolidate their power, the unification of Boer lands was received positively by the general population.

Flag of the Boer Confederacy. In American fashion, it featured nine stars to represent its constituent Republics.
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This unified front on the part of the Boers decisively stopped any dream of South African supremacy the English may have harboured and accidentally shielded part of south Africa from agression, allowing the local Zulu kingdom to expand further into neighboring lands and establish a relationship of mutual coexistence with the Boers, though the relationship was marred by raids across the poorly-defined borders by groups from both sides.

The English had not given up entirely on south Africa however and in 1857 the Cape Colony was formally readmitted into the English Republic as a colonial possesion as the first English ships arrived bearing food, provisions and news from the mainland, followed by contact from the exiled monarchy a few weeks later. Feeling a stronger connection to the mainland, the colony opted to switch its allegiance to the Republic, with the benefit that as the sole colonial territory of the Republic, it would receive all of the attention and resources of England instead of being treated like a frontier colony by the monarchy. This switch of allegiance was marked with the unveiling of a new colonial ensign above the cape, bearing the English Cross and Striped instread of the Union Jack in the corner.

Flag of the English Cape Colony, modeled after the Republican Ensign.​

 

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Chaos Converging in the Caucasus

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The Caucasus War lasted between April 1857 - July 1859 and was fought between the Russian, Persian and Ottoman Empires. The war came about chiefly due to the instability of the Russian and Ottoman Empires and the fracturing of the Caucasus by rebels with Iranian support while the other two empires were putting down rebellions in Europe.

Origins
As a consequence of the wave of revolutions sweeping Europe starting in 1848, the focus of both the Russian and Ottoman empires shifted to the continent in an attempt to put down several rebellions and fighting rival powers to retain their frontier territories. With the collapse of the British Empire to the east, Persia had been given a virtually free hand to act on their ambitions to reclaim their lost caucasian territories. This was facilitated by a number of regional rebellions which were quickly aided by Persia and promised protection under Persian vassalship.

1857
As a consequence of this support Persian forces were allowed to advance deep into the Caucasus relatively unhidered during the early stages of the war, often being greeted as liberators by the local townspeople much to the displeasure of the twin rival powers. Feeling their heartland was particularly threatened, the Ottoman Empire quickly assembled a force to respond to these incursions, with their forces first clashing in late april, prompting formal declarations of war from both sides as well as a Russian declaration to "restore order in the caucasus". Nevertheless the Russian and Ottoman forces were harassed by local rebels during much of the campaign, disrupting supply lines and seriously hindering the transport and use of artillery. It was not until Siirt that the Persian forces were seriously halted when an Ottoman counteroffensive in October ended in a draw.

1858
It was only in 1858 that Russia became substantially involved in the war as a force commanded by Viceroy Aleksandr Bariyatinsky was sent to fortify the city of Ganja, only to find the Persians already moving north of the city. Seeing they had taken the Russians by surprise, the Persian commander quickly routed the unprepared Russians in the ensuing battle, driving them all the way over the Tovuzchay river. After a few weeks of intermittent skirmishing, the Russian forces received reinforcements from Vladikavkaz and forced the Persians into a strategic retreat back to Ganja, where the two sides met in a second battle ending in a Russian victory. A second Ottoman offensive in June that same year forced the main Persian contingent back to the village of Gürpinar, where the two armies once again settled.

1859
The last military action occured in early March with an encirclement of Ottoman forces by the Persians in the town of Edremit, forcing their surrender and a failed Russian attack on fortified Persian Positions in Yevlakh that same month. Faced with continued European instability, the Ottomans and Russia finally agreed to an armistice and representatives of the three powers met in Baku to negotiate. The Ottomans, partly motivated by the increasing separatism of the Eastern Kurdish areas and looming instability in the Bosnia vilayet ceded the contested territory to Persia and consequently put pressure on Russia to accept the Persian demands. Persia aquired most of the rebelling Azeri territory as well as parts of Armenia in the peace agreement that was signed in July that year, formally ending the war.

The war had longterm effect on relations between the three powers, laying the groundwork for further Persian expansion into Ottoman territory, with the implicit recognition by Russia that the Caucasus was a Persian sphere of influence as well as Persias frequent support of regional independence movements reaching as far as Bosnia and Libya.

 

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American "State Nationalism"

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Excerpt from "The end of the American Empire: A historical perspective" (2004, Rosefield Books, Oxford)

As Europe and Americas neighbors were rocked by nationalistic revolutions for self-determination and an end to monarchy, many in the United States saw this as the fulfillment of the American ideals across the world, but also spurred an increased sense of state nationalism. At this time many still more identified with their states than with the actual united states, but the great european revolution and its cultural impact cemented that identity, particularly in areas with large immigrant populations not loyal to the Anglo-Saxon core and formerly independent regions, of particular note being Texas and Florida.

The former had existed as an internationally recognized sovereign Republic for a number of years while the latter had merely hosted a 28-day independence movement outside its concurrent territory before American annexation. Even so, a number of areas in the souther United States now began flying "The Bonnie Blue" along with the Stars and Stripes as a display of regional pride and identity which wouldn't go away even after the civil war.

These forces became increasingly powerful in local elections, with regionalist parties like "Party of the Vermonters" and "The Carolina Party" gaining seats in local assemblies and even in rare cases posts in the senate, but were still outmaneuvered by the Whig and Democratic parties on the federal level. However, a predicament arose as regional nationalism spread across the United States; the narrative of a united people freeing themselves from the chains of autocracy resonated more with one particular group than any other: the large enslaved population of African-Americans, particularly in the south.

This only inflamed the paranoia of many white slaveowners to the extent that many created informal militas to be summoned in case of a slave uprising or "other tyrannies infringing on the rights of southern men", all of wich would erupt into the first American Civil War just a few years later and shape the history of the North American continent up until today.

 

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The first Pan-European games

The flag of the games has remained the same since the beginning; a flame representing a variety of things, from unity to the human spirit itself.
​

From “Transnationalism: from SPQR to CCR” By Dr. Leah Sundström (2008, Stockholm book Syndicate)

One well-known form of transnational interaction is that of sport, which can trace its root back to the inter-city Olympic Games of the ancient Greeks, which reemerged in a new form following the great European revolution of 1848. Conceptualized by the Dutch academic Niels Van Loper, the Pan-European games were viewed as a way to bring the newly minted nations of Europe together in a form of mutual brotherhood across national boundaries. The first Pan-European council (which despite the name was merely a sporting organization) convened in 1859 and gained official status by many of the would-be participants only the year after. Unsurprisingly, the city of Amsterdam was chosen as the hosting city (thought lofty proposals such as the founding of a new “pan-European city” on the border between france, Germany and the Netherlands was also proposed) and in the end 20 nations chose to attend the event, all of them having experienced a successful revolution during 1848.

The events were not quite like they would be recognized today and along with staples like poetry, weightlifting and soccer, more abstract activities including painting and wrestling without a set time limit were included (the latter would be removed following the second games during which the same match lasted several days). Many fraternal and not so fraternal rivalries quickly became prominent during the games’ progression: The French and German teams fought fiercely to top the other, whilst the Slavic teams jokingly mocked each other between games and in many cases even cheered on athletes from competing teams. In the end the winner of the first games was appropriately enough the Netherlands who managed first place with only one medal ahead of the tied nations France and Germany, followed by England.

The games themselves would go on to become more and more popular as time went on, growing in scale with the development of European communication and transportation allowing more spectators along with the political restructuring of authoritarian nations in the rest of Europe leading to more competing nations. The first games were attended primarily by the wealthy and politically affluent along with people from the host country, but would soon become a multinational phenomenon and attracted eyes all over the world by the early 18th century as the event grew into the Trans-Pacific games. Particular rivalries between the nations of the European Isles, France and Germany and the Balkan states have gone into history and are frequently a source of elation or consternation depending what side of the rivalry happens to win a given year.

The formation of the Popular Games and various international tournaments for specific sports have over time loosened the international sporting community, but regardless the games continue on following a 1953 rebranding as simply “The international games” and is to this day seen as a common cultural heritage, beacon of human cooperation and celebration of the human spirit, going so far as to feature commentary in the transnational language Esperanto.​

 

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Australasian Absolutism

Australasian Recruitment poster during the first global war​

Taken from "A history of Australasia" by Professor May Williams (Westralian Publishing, 2018)

In the aftermath of the Eureka Rebellion, many efforts were made by members of the newly "imported" British Aristocracy to reinforce a British identity in Australasian society, especially by Queen Victoria herself. While the British government had always held sway over Australasian affairs, this sudden relocation had cemented its place as sole authority in Australasia. Land and titles were granted to members of the British aristocracy and to a lesser extent those in the top rung of pre-exile Australasian society and cultural phenomenon soon followed, including the erection of countless manors in the British country style across the rugged Australasian islands. A massive cultural initiative soon followed; Union Jacks and pictures of the Queen were handed out to schoolchildren and the populace in general was encouraged to see Australasia not as it's own state, but merely as an integral part of the British constituent nations, solidified in the 1853 Acts of Union between Australasia and Great Britain.

The "Six star ensign" was for a long time emblematic of the Australasian identity: Six starst to represent the British nations of Englad, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. While not an offical symbol, it was widely used and continues to be so in some British-Australasian circles.​

While the cultural grip on Australasia remained somewhat tenuous, the threat of an external enemy and the vast powers of the monarchy served to keep the apparatus of state together. Republican activists were quickly and regularly arrested by the Royal Constabulary, a security organization under direct authority from the monarch to "preserve the peace" with a wide-ranging array of legal power to act as judge and jury, if not executioner. Republicanism was painted as barbarian and tribalistic and its supporters as dim-witted and a common feature of propaganda was to equate anti-monarchist and democratic forces with the "savages" of the Australasian colonies, ironically uniting the twin groups against a common enemy in much the same manner as the monarchists.

Another enemy that was repeatedly blamed was Germany, now the dominant land power in Europe and a naval power only really challenged by Russia and France. The primary fear was a German encroachment onto the Australasian sphere of influence in the souther hemisphere, a fear that proved itself warranted as Germany colonized large parts of Africa alongside other Republican powers and even expanded into New Guniea in a devastating blow to Australasian prestige. These fears provided perfect arguments for a concentration of power in the hands of the Monarchy and Military who proceeded to rule Australasia and its colonies in a proto-labryist fashion, creating a southern empire that would last until the end of the first global war and the Westralian revolution, finally bringing down the repressive political climate of the monarchy and allowing the Australasian peoples to discover their own national identity, ushering in a new era for the region.

 

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The Venezuelan invasion of Guyana was a one-year war between the British Colony of Guyana and the Republic of Venezuela.

Details
The war consisted of only a few skirmishes and battle outside of the capital of Georgetown were the only major battle of the war was fought during the storming of the city in late 1856. The war was started primarily because of the significant weakening of the British Empire as a consequence of the Great European Revolution and the longstanding territorial claims of Venezuela in the area. It was also seen as an opportunity for the Venezuelan head of state Julian Castro to cement his position in the politically unstable country and prevent the liberals from gaining ground in the wake of the revolutions abroad.

The British force consisted of only 450 men and a small number of conscripted locals, who nevertheless held out for three months of continued siege and blockade in the hopes of gaining Australasian reinforcements, reinforcements which never arrived. The surrender of the colony prompted an increased interest by the British Empire in the Southern Hemisphere and the formulation of the subsequent Victorian Doctrine of maintaining a British sphere of influence in the southern hemisphere in general, leading to direct conflict with regional powers like The Empire of Brazil, Argentina and the Boer Confederation due to their several interventions in South America and Africa.

See also

• Venezuelan Province of Guyana (1856-2008)
• History of the Guyana Confederation

 

[Squidfam]

1861

Map of the World 1861​

From "A history of Australasia" by Professor May Williams (Westralian Publishing, 2018)

One of the defining moments of early Australasian political doctrine was the now well-know British intervention in Patagonia to support the self-declared monarchy under Orélie-Antoine I and his "Kingdom of Arucanía and Patagonia". The eccentric frenchman had gathere the local mapuche tribes in a loose confederation under his (percieved) authority and appealed to France for recognition. What he did not expect however, was a British-Australasian offer of recognition in exchange for Arucanían recognition of Australasia as the sole legitimate government of the United Kingdom and the creation of British naval bases in the area. In exchange the British would "Help protect the sovereignty of the Kingdom and the status of its Monarch" against the encroaching powers of Chile and Argentina. This along with a small British delegation to Brazil lobbying it to recognize the nation solified its position as a tangible nation in South America and the influx of British activity in the country would help it on its way to modernization with acess to Australasian materials and expertise.

Ensign of British Patagonia, the collective administration of Australasian Military bases in the Kingdom.​

Australasia had thus secured a foothold on the American continent to maintain some amount of influence in the area, actively competing to keep the Mosquito coast and various Carribean Protectorates under British control. This was aided by a secret agreement with the Brazilian Empire outlining spheres of influence in South America and allowing British Ships full acess to Brazilian ports and vice versa. In addition, the British colonial authorities began the process of regaining its colonial elsewere, establishing a colony on the east African coast and claiming large parts of Papua New Guniea, now also claimed by German and Dutch colonial missions. This would remain the foremost issue in the minds of Australasian strategists for the entirety of the "Twilight of the British Empire" as the period of the United Kingdom in exile is often called. To counter the encroanchment of Republicanism across all continents, the three southern monarchies of Aurcanía, Brazil and the UK would swear to upohold peace and stability in the southern hemisphere, but the only real accomplishment of this alliance was the Canberra conference that attempted to arbitrate and balance the regional claims of South American nations before its effective dissolution following the Brazilian revolution.

Map of Arucanía and Patagonia following the British intervention in 1861.

Orélie-Antoine I, first King of Araucanía and Patagonia.​

 

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(Play for full effect: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPlQS1pzHdA )

Video Transcript: "A house divided against itself" (US department of Education, 1934)

[The scene opens on an image of the American flag waving in the wind as the narrator speaks.]

NARRATOR: "Life, liberty and the pursit of happiness. These are the principles of our great nations founding. We gained these rights by force of arms, against the tyrant King George and none have taken it from us since. Not the Mexicans with their Imperial ambitions, the tyrannical Kings of Australasia, or the Russian Tsars ruling from Europe to Alaska."

[The scene cuts to soldiers marching, a Confederate flag waving in their midst.]

NARRATOR: "These rights have come at a price. No time more clearly then during what we today call the civil war. A time when brother fought brother, state against state, nation against nation. After the election of President Lincoln in 1861, the states of the South Seceded, afraid Lincoln would act tyrant like the kings of old and deprive them of their liberty."

[The scene now depicts a number of slaves in a cotton field]

NARRATOR: "But the right they were protecting was one that deprived others of theirs. The so called 'peculiar institution' of slavery. The southerners viewed the superiority of the white race as the natural order of things and thusly they thought they could treat their fellow man as property."

[Cut to a picture of Abraham Lincoln]

LINCOLN: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy."

[The picture cuts to a map of the United states, with many states below the Mason-Dixon line coloured black, with the notable exception of Texas and the Northern States coloured white]

NARRATOR: "Binding together against the Union, the states of the south united against the Union in the Confederate States of America, determined to retain slavery by force of arms. After the Confederate army laid siege to Fort Caswell in North Carolina April 13th, war was officially declared and both sides began amassing armies for the coming war."

[As the narrator speaks, the picture cuts to Confederate artillery firing at a fort flying the union flag before cutting to Union troops marching.]

NARRATOR: "One state however, was willing to negotiate. Despite bordering the Confederate States to the east and with no link to the Union but the savage wild west, Texas under President Sam Houston seceded separately from the Confederacy, sending an envoy to US congress. Compellingly comparing the secession of the Lone Star state to the European Revolutions against tyranny in 1848, the Texans just barely gained acceptance from congress on the conditions that they abolish slavery according to the european model, help the Union war effort and allow the Union to use their forts and harbours for military purposes. In what would become know as the 'three points compromise', Texas was granted independence and the Lone Star Flag was once more raised high across the state."

[The picture cuts to the same US Flag flying, but this time it slowly fades into the Lone Star Texan Flag and cutting to troops from the CSA, Union and Texas marching and shooting]

NARRATOR: "The war lasted five long, bloody years, pitting families and states against each other in a brutal struggle for freedom."

[A Union and Confederate soldier run towardst each other and bang their rifles together before devolving into a clearly pre-coreographed fight]

NARRATOR: It was only with the decisive Union victory at Dillsburg that the tide firmly turned in the Unions favor and a series of military campaigns drove the Confederacy back across the Potomac river and finally forced the Confederate army under General E. Lee to surrender April 12 1865, thus bringing an end to the war."

[The picture cuts to a line of African-Americans standing in line to vote on election day]

NARRATOR: "Today, black people across our great nation enjoy our rights and liberties like any other citizens of our great nation, thanks to the brace sacrifice of Union soldiers across America. For as the constitution says: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'."

[End. Credits roll to tune of American Anthem.]​

 

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First Great Eastern War

Battle for the provincial capital of Ruizhou
​

"Great Eastern Wars": Western intervention in Chinese affairs by Hao Ning (Bejing University, 2019)

The third and youngest son of a poor Hakka family, the life of Hong Xiuquan was seemingly not destined for anything in particular and he would not leave any decisive mark on the history of the world. Born to Hong Jingyang, a farmer and elected headman and Madam Wang, Hong came in contact with Christianity during his early adulthood from christian missionaries, particularly those from Australasia and began preaching to his local community after a mental breakdown around 1837. He claimed to have received visions from what he would later describe as the Christian God and Jesus himself, giving him the mission of spreading christianity throughout China. From these visions he came to the conclusion that he himself was the direct cousin of God and after some time travelling founded a religious community in southern China.

After amassing a large following of around 2,000 people, the Quing government intervened in an attempted dispersal of the group, but met a strong backlash and were forced to retreat after a brutal engagement. Seeing this as his call from God, Hong declared a "Chinese Heavenly Kingdom" with the explicit intent of reforming or outright replacing contemporary Chinese society with one more influenced by the christian beliefs of him and his small circle of close followers. Emulating the Australasian principle of absolute monarchy by divine right, Hong instituted a repressive theocracy in areas under his control, complete with an infamous "inquisition" granted essetially free reign to root out all beliefs seen as heretical. The war would go on to be one of the most brutal civil wars in east asian history, with horror stories comparable to those coming from Revolutionary Thailand almost two hundred years later.

All of these facts were not lost on the Australasian political upper class, now horrified at this monster ostensibly of their own making. At home this was painted as an attempt by the backwards Chinese to emulate good christian values which had "predictably" backfired horribly and only added more fuel to the rampant fear of all nonwhite asian peoples that had already ravaged society for decades. In part to preserve their somewhat fragile partner in the region and partly due to moral public outcry, the Australasian government would send several officers to train Quing Chinese units in western strategy and tactics to create special "western regiments" that would come to make up the backbone of the Quing dynasty's military might until the end of their reign.

Chinese soldiers of a "Western Regiment", this one in particular led by American adventurer Fredrick Ward.
​

This eventually culminated in the deployment of regular Australasian units to aid the Quing cause, proving particularly effective in pitched battle against Taiping forces, often taking casualties in the tens while routing entire units of battle-hardened Taiping veterans. This can like many other colonial engagements be chalked up primarily to western advancements in battle tactics and military technology that their opponent lacked.

As the last remnants of the Taiping dissolved into bandit armies and with the capture and execution of Hong, it was clear this victory had come with a clear price for the Quing. Australasian business was essentially granted free reign in prevously Australasian-held areas of southern China and would establish a direct trade link between the two empires from where goods worth millions of pounds were transported every year, with the now tax-free tea shipments making up over 30% of yearly traffic on this route alone. The maintenance of this link with China would become one of the primary drivers of Australasian foreign policy up until the kingdoms dissolution and the far-reaching concessions of the Quing would come to lay the groundwork for later political instability across the country.

While contemporary politicians and intellectuals in the west claimed conflict of such a cruel and bloody nature was fundamentally "Oriental" and could never happen in the west, the tides of history would go on to prove otherwise...

 

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Second Wave Colonialism

Colonial officers visiting a village in Australasian East Africa​

A history of subjugation: Colonial peoples during the 19th century and forward (Cairo Publishing, 2001)

European colonial holdings had existed since around 1840, but it was only with as the century was slowly drawing to a close that interest in overseas colonies truly began. On a sunny day in June 1860 the crew of the H.M.S. Indisputable hoisted the Union Jack on a small beach in eastern africa, signifying the first true return to the continent since the exile and truly starting the race to conquer the african coast. To gain their own foothold in Africa Germany quickly claimed and colonized the west saharan coast and made plans to seize territory in the mediterranean. Finding their former countrymen the Boers uncooperative in their colonial efforts, the Dutch opted to settle "new" land in Southwest Africa, whilst England and France merely expanded their holdings.

Even American nations joined the colonial fervor and several groups of missionaries set up small trading posts on the west coast near other European colonies. These were ostensibly free territories following the Republican model, but in reality were mostly protectorates ruled by a small American ruling class, be they black or white. New Deseret became especially infamous as a near-theocracy run by missionaries from Deseret that threatened their Texan neighbors serveral times, straining relations back home somewhat.

Those affected by this most were of course the native African population, who either saw themselves driven out of their homes and towards the interor, were outright massacred or forced into conditions close to slavery whilst working for the white invaders. Notably, the Zulu confederacy would remain the only native-run state free from foreign invasion as the rest of the continent fell under the sway of colonial powers. This can both be attributed to their own relative modernization and effective use of captured european weaponry as well as their Boer neighbors who provided them vital experience fighting european forces, leading to the defeat of the Australasian colonization force at the 1895 battle of Empangeni.

A place where Australasia had more sucess in their colonization project was Oceania, which Australasia would come to dominate until its collapse. Despite their near uncontensted control, the German Republic with the help of Dutch forces laid claim to northern Papua in the spring of 1859, sending shockwaves through Australasian society. The Dutch saw this a way to stem Australasian conquest and potential agression towards their colonies and to give them a guaranteed colonial ally against the Australasians in the form of Germany. While it dissuaded Australasian moves towards the Dutch East Indies, it only fueled their expansion westward, seizing most of Melanesia and setting up puppet states in Hawaii and Polynesia to prevent similar encroachment from Republican forces from America. The treatment of the natives on these islands varied based on a number of factors. Fiji managed to maintain some autonomy within the Australasian nation whilst the Austalasian attempted to depopulate many of the smaller islands with limited sucess. All in all, these colonial tensions would ultimately be one of the key factors in determining both the participants and winners in the several century-defining wars that awaited across the threshold of the year 1900...

 

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The sun had just began its path downward through the sky, lighting the dense foliage in a strange olive colour as Sergeant Noah Hernandez and his group made their way through the underbrush. The men had been searching for an escaped convict since dawn. Like most of them, their target was what they called a "runner", someone who had broken their contract with one of the families that ran the local plantations and it was the job of him and his band to find them. What happened was of course not their concern, they pay was reliable and always very good.

"Hey Noah, someone's up ahead."

The Sergant was quickly snapped out of his train of thought as the group hunkered down into the dense vegetation, eyeing the strange figures up ahead. The men wore sturdy brown, grey and green clothes not unlike those worn by hunters, save for a pair of small yellow patches on their arms. Among them was the escapee, talking to them in a bewildered manner.

"Looks like we found em'."

Noah carefully stood back up and held his rifle downwards as he approached the strangers, the runner growing agitated as all attention was suddenly drawn to him.

"Howdy there fellas, never seen you lot around here before so I guess you're from somewhere down the coast. Now, you folks have someone we'd like to-"

He was cut short as a rifle cracked, sending a bullet straight in between his eyes. Things only escalated and the small clearing was soon covered in smoke as the brief battle ended in the favour of the strangers, with Noah's body being dragged back the way they came by his comerades, bullets still occasionally whizzing through the disorienting landscape.

Liberties New and Old

​

A history of subjugation: Colonial peoples during the 19th century and forward (Cairo Publishing, 2001)

Chapter 5: The Three Brothers

Following the brutal American Civil War and the subsequent initation of reconstruction in the south was a major impetus for three different independently funded colonization efforts by American governments. The first of these was the The American Colonization Society, an organization founded to repatriate slaves to their percieved ancestral homeland in the form of the colony of Liberia which would go on to accept many immigrant in the years following its founding. In what could perhaps be considered irony, the very slaveowners that had for so long tormented and opressed the population now immigrating to Africa followed them back home with the founding of the Second Republic of Fredonia, initially a government-sponsored Texan colonization effort that soon came to encompass many former slaveowners and its defenders from the now defeated Confederacy like the charismatic John Wilkes Booth who would be the first elected governor of the New colony, relying on an exploitative system of african-worked plantations that was slavery in all but name.

Flag of the Second Republic of Fredonia
​

The third group of emigrant was suprisingly Mormon Missionaries who founded a small mission on the African coast in late 1866 which would soon grow into a fully realized colonial venture sponsored by the Deseret government, simply named New Deseret by the local Anlgo population. The colony later came to be compared more to religious orders like the baltic Teutonic and Livonian knights than a nation-state or colonial subject, often taking in escapees from Fredonia and later other colonies to wage war against "heathens" in the interior, eventually expanding their hold on the country via a series of fortified villages running through the interior. This fervent expansionism and acceptance of runaway plantation workers planted the lingering animosity between Fredonia and New Deseret that would not go away even after their borders became physically separated by Scandinavian Africa. Throughout its entire history New Deseret never truly secularized despite immense outside pressure to do so, retaining many element more reminiscent of a totalitarian theocracy than a true democratic Republic.

Flag of New Deseret
​

Whilst often referred to as "the three brothers", the three colonies did in fact have little in common beyond their distincly American parentage and its subseqent cultural influx, but the narrative of the three as bastions of American ideals in a sea of European colonial powers tightly wound together by their shared parentage has not begun to fade in the popular consciousness until recently as a more nuaced view of history becomes commonplace even in many pieces of contemporary media, helped along especially by the increasing influx of anticolonial perspectives following the lifting of the "Radio Curtain" between the CSR and its allies and the West just 25 years ago...

 

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1870

Map of the world in 1870
​

Excerpt from Chapter 3, "A modern political history of the isles" by Thomas Scott[1].(2010, London Publishing)

(...)Ironically, it would be the exile of the Monarchist government that would allow the head Chartists of the time to return home and to some extent reassume control of their political movement, their previous exile granting them a certain status of martyrdom for the cause back home. By 1870 a firm political order had been established with Chartism as the new guiding star in both England and Wales, albeit with significant competition from more conservative parties like the old Whigs (renamed Party of England to avoid monarchist undertones) and various other forces. Finding their country now divided, the English William Jones decied to part ways with his Welsh comerades Zephaniah Williams and John Frost geographically, but the three remained steadfast friends throughout their lives and Jones was even made a honorary citizen of the Welsh Republic in his later years.

William Jones, President of England 1858-1877
​

Under the leadership of Jones and the Chartists the People's Charter after which the movement was named was implemented in full:

1. A vote for every man twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and not undergoing punishment for a crime.
2. The secret ballot to protect the elector in the exercise of his vote.
3. No property qualification for Members of Parliament in order to allow the constituencies to return the man of their choice.
4. Payment of Members, enabling tradesmen, working men, or other persons of modest means to leave or interrupt their livelihood to attend to the interests of the nation.
5. Equal constituencies, securing the same amount of representation for the same number of electors, instead of allowing less populous constituencies to have as much or more weight than larger ones.
6. Annual Parliamentary elections, thus presenting the most effectual check to bribery and intimidation, since no purse could buy a constituency under a system of universal manhood suffrage in each twelve-month period.

In addition, several social reforms like an early pension system and shorter work hours were implemented for industrial workers, but the agenda was also criticized by many radical contemporaries; women were not granted sufferage and English imperial ambitions continued despite the Chartists being ostensibly left-leaning.

John Frost, President of Wales 1857-1880​

Under the leadership of John Frost, Wales implemented much the same policies as the Chartists of England but over time grew distant from its counterpart. Among the more radical policies adopted by Welsh Chartism was a major revitalization of the Welsh and Cornish languages via the funding of schools in both Wales and England in addition to the nationalization of a numer of key industries like mining, coal and rail for both the sake of bettering conditions and as a way to safeguard the national Welsh interest. Welsh Chartism thus grew into a more uniquely nationalist force and consequently did not attract the same number of adherents as the more "mainstream" Chartism espoused in England and to some extent France.

Tricolour of the Welsh Republic, accuratly symbolizing the outgrowth of Welsh Chartism

William Ewart Gladstone, President of the Republic of Scotland 1850-1875​

In contrast to Wales and England, Scotland was less radical politically and the Liberals enjoyed great electoral success up until the turbulent years of the First Global War, perhaps personified best by President William Gladstone. Born in Liverpool to Scottish parents, Gladstone was like many upper-class Scots more British than most of his electorate and even maintained cordial relations with the Australasian exile government, especially by his promotion of free trade and fiscally liberal policies. Like in Wales, he put an end to the campaigns to anglicize the nation but did not actively committ government resources to the cause like in Wales or Brittany and to some extent helped bridge social divides between Low- and Highlanders. Folding to the pressure of a growing Scottish Chartist movement he also supported general male suffrage and secret ballot voting near the end of his career in 1873.

This era of political stability came to an end as the old political guard died away, their loss only further exacerbated by the worldwide political shakeups in the wake of the 1910's, but their social impact would last far into the future. As the year rolled over to 1900 Wales, England and Scotland now stood proudly as independent nationalistic Republics in the vein of France and any lingering unionism died with the Global wars. The Isles would never again be united by military conquest but only by the consent of the governed.


[1]Perhaps most well known for his diverging history fiction work "Thousand Week Empire"

 

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The Platinean Crisis

Paraguayan Artillery Redoubts at the Battle of Ibarreta
​

"The Unknown Continent" a history of South America 1700-1900 by Rosella Stenberg (2012, Stockholm Syndicate)

[...]South America had for a large part of the early 19th century enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity after freeing itself from its Spanish and Portugese colonial overlords, but colonial border disputes in what was at the time uncharted and sparsely populated territory in the interior would lay the groundwork for future conflict, perhaps the bloodiest of which was the Platinean War. At this time South America was divided into three large spheres of interest; The Brazilian, Argentine and the Royal British (Via their Patagonian Proxy).

Following a series of Brazilian interventions in the conflict-torn Uruguay and the British hampering of Chilean and Argentine colonial expansion south, Argentina felt it needed to reassert itself in the face of this two-front advance on its interests. Deeming military action against Patagonia unfeasible, Argentine President Bartolomé Mitre instead chose to reassert its claims in the disputed Platinean area and to install an Argentine-oriented government in the Paraguayan Republic.

On the 1st of March 1870, Argentine troops entered the disputed territory and began seizing ships in the Bermejo river flying the flag of Paraguay, culminating in an incident when a defiant sailor attempted to raise the flag of Paraguay near an Argentine military posting, leading the Argentine soldiers to open fire and kill him. The diplomatic situation quickly deteriorated and Paraguay issued an official declaration of war just a week later, with "Remember the Bloody Banner!" remaining a common rallying cry for the Paraguayan-Brazilian forces for the rest of the war

Flag of Paraguay​

Brazil quickly joined the side of Paraguay, sending almost 140,000 men in total to assist their war effort. Argentine military strategy was something that would later be seen as a forerunner to the tactics used during the global war; the continuous use of defensive positions to thin out enemy lines and attacking in well-coordinated waves pushed Paraguayan forces to the capital in less than a month, their army decimated and only kept in fighting order by a continued stream of Brazilian forces. After several attempts by both sides to encircle each other and repeated attempts by Paraguayan forces to push back the Argentine lines the war would come to a head in brutal street-to-street fighting as Argentine forces bolstered by fresh reserves stormed the capital following several hours of intense artillery bombardment. This was the last major war to feature a major use of bayonets, which were extensively used during the battle for the city once the defenders ran out of ammunition and resorted to using them like the spears of old. Despite the wavering of the tide of battle several times during midday the Argetines eventually emerged victorious, sending their Paraguayan adversaries and their Brazilian attachments into a complete rout and capturing president Fracisco Solano himself. The remainder of the country became in essence a Brazillian occupation zone, as domestic troubles made the situation of the Brazilian crown unstable, only worsened by the poor managment of the war.

In the following treaty of Corrientes Paraguay lost all souther claims of territory to Argentina, who also installed a friendly government in Asuncion. This was followed by secret negotiations between the Brazilian and Argentine governments implicitly agreeing to a regional balance in which Urugay would remain within a Brazilian sphere of influence while Paraguay would remain in Argentina's. This was agains the backdrop of revolution in Brazil with the slow growth of radical republican movements arguing for deposing the monarchy via revolution if the power of the king was not limited, along with a large movement of slaves clamoring for abolition. If it worked in Europe, the reasoning went, why could it not work elsewhere?...

 

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The Alsatian War

Exodus of French Alsatians (1870)​

"Prelude to Apocalypse; the Alsatian War" (1994, Strossburi Publishing)

Ever since the revolution in 1848, the German Parliament and the armed forces ostensibly under its command had maintained an unspoken policy of neutrality towards each other. The German assembly made no attempt to reform the still aristocratically dominated Prussian and Austrian armies and in turn these armies would not attempt to place their own leader in power. This effectively became one of the first instances of a "deep state" as describe in contemporary politics, with military and civilian authorities only working together during emergencies or on a local level. Relations reached somewhat of a detente during Wilhelm Loewe, Sixth elected prime minister of the German parliament in 1866.

Realizing that his policy of Verdeutschung (roughly "Germanization") would likely incur the ire of Germany's neighbours (France in particular) he began an active effort to streamline and truly unify the German military structure. Finding an unlikely ally in the skilled but conservative Helmuth Von Moltke, he formulated a doctrine of Säbel und Zepter (Saber and Scepter); In exchange for constitutionally guaranteeing the "ancient priviliges afforded to the German Nobility" yet maintaining a Republican form of government, the army would fall in line under the parliament for the greater good of the German people. After about four years of work, the new German miltiary was a formidable force; a number of elite Prussian and Austrian regiments made up the core of the standing army and colonial forces, along with an enormous reserve of manpower to call upon in times of European war. The navy was also streamlined and was easily the equal of England and Scandinavia, the two foremost naval powers in the north sea.

Feeling sufficiently secure, Loewe thus began implementing his policies of Germanization in the border regions of Alsace and Lorraine. German was to be the only language allowed to be used by local government and during public annoucements. An entirely German curriculum was introduced in schools and speaking French or Alsatian was entirely forbidden. In addition, shops advertising in French were frequently ransacked by German police or local garrisons, culminating in a stream of Alsatian refugees across the border. Needless to say, the French Republic was outraged and demanded the resignation of Loewe and the immediate cessation of the Germanizing policies in Alsace and Lorraine. The German government dismissed these demands entirely and even increased the military prescence in the area to enforce the measures more thoroughly. These tensions finally culminated as the Alsatian French revolted in several villages, with partisan groups partly armed by the French attacked German military installations. Only hours after the first reports of this rebellion reached Frankfurt, a French declaration of war arrived via telegram as French forces crossed the border. The Alsatian war had begun.

French Cavalry advancing during the early hours of the war​

Although the French achieved early success in crossing the border regions, the forces making up the French spearhead soon found themselves bogged down against the entreched Germans, particularly in cities like Strasbourg. Imitating the tactics used by revolutionaries during the revolution, the army had prepared a vast network of barricades and fortified positions inside the city streets to fall back to once the outer defenses fell, gunning down swathes of French troops with accurate rifle fire from their positions in windows or even shooting rows of French soldiers with cannons placed in the thick of combat. Aside from the town of Sarreguemines where Alsatian partisans successfully destroyed a German ammo depot and triggered a rout of the local forces, the French regulars were essentially bogged down just kilometers into Germany.

The response was swift. Following "Plan V", a scenario formulated by Moltkes staff in preparation for just such a scenario, the first German reinforcements arrived in the early hours of the morning jus the next day after the French advance. Several German commanders employed sucessful flanking attacks on the French, most of whom had half their armies inside the city engaging the entrenched Germans, using close-range artillery to decimate the French cavalry guarding the flanks before encircling the infantry and forcing a capitulation. This in turn created several breaches which the next wave of German reinforcements could exploit before the French had time to fill it with their own forces, pushing them back across the border and a significant distance into France. This eventually threatened the French forces still in Germany enough to call off the main advance and adopt a defensive strategy, retreating behind the Moselle. The German advance resumed as the army began to fill with conscripts and further enhanced by heavy weapons and now began a concerted campaign to swing north towards Paris. There were even secret communications with the Dutch government offering them Wallonia in exchange for encircling the French forces still in the north, but the offer was politely declined.

German troops advancing on the outskirts of Paris​

At this point, the French Republican government was in disarray. Their northern forces consisted mostly of old Belgian forces that had still not been fully integrated into French command, primarily due to a focus on civilian reform by the relatively radical republican forces in parliament. In addition, significant elements of the French military still held monarchist sentiments and was suspected to not be particularly loyal to the republican government. Indeed, rumors of an impending coup already circulated just days after the first German advance past the border.

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The German forces continued their advance in the following weeks, managing to cut off the northern French forces entirely during their retreat towards Paris as well as encircling a significant number of units in the south towards the Swiss border. The Republican government evacuated Paris, fleeing first to Bourges and then the more southern town of Vichy, where it set up a unity government as northern france was increasingly overrun. Their efforts would be in vain, however. A number of Monarchist officers captured by the Germans reached a deal with the Germans as the parliament left Paris; the french would recognize German sovereignty over Alsace and Lorraine in exchange for a guarantee by the German government that all French Alsatians be granted free passage to France as well as a support for a new monarchist government. In the middle of june 1871 Henri V, previously claiming both the French throne and the County of Chambord, was declared the new king of France in the Versailles hall of mirrors and a cadre of French monarchist and military generals subsequently seized Vichy and effectively dissolved the republican parliament.

Henri V, King of France 1871-1883​

Following the treaty of Berlin and the subsequent withdrawal of German troops however, the Royalist junta almost immediately hit a major issue; Henri V wanted to get rid of the "Tricolore" flag so beloved by the French people. After almost a week of intense debating, a compromise was finally reached. The King would reintroduce the white fleur-de-lys flag as his personal standard and a compromise flag would become the flag of state; the traditional Tricolore ornamented by the royal coat of arms.

The "Compromise flag" of the Kingdom of France
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The Alsatian war would go on to have lasting political and military effects for Europe; both providing valuable military experience for the future First Global War to both sides, such as the advantages of fighting from a defensive position, proper use of artillery and the importance of troops transportation. In addition, it put France firmly on the royalist side of Europe and firmly cemented the rivalry and revanchist attitude held towards Germany even as the continent crossed the turn of the century. It would still take a spark in the Balkans, "the powderkeg of Europe", to set the continent ablaze once more...

 

[Squidfam]

"Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch!"

Karl Marx, considered by many the father of Socialism​

"A socialist history of the world" (Lumo Syndicate, 2018)

"A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. "

So begins the 1848 Communist Manifesto, arguably the most influential piece of literature in all of political history. While it's inital publication met with relative obscurity, Marx's writing became widely circulated in European intellectual circles, most prominently in the republics born out of the 1848 revolutions with their relative freedom of the press compared to their monarchist neighbours. The new ideas of socialism nevertheless struggled to gain traction with the nationalist and liberal ruling parties, who saw the socialist focus on labour at best misguided and at worst actively malicious working to counteract their nationalist projects. Even in Chartist England and Wales, his view of the family and female equality raised eyebrows, especially the parts of his work implicitly supporting female suffrage.

This new movement first took form on the 28th of September 1864, when a number of European radicals of different stripes first convened in London. The attendees were of many different schools of thought, from Owenites, Proudhonians and Radical Chartists to Blanquists and German Socialists. Among the last group was Karl Marx himself, though he did not take a large part in the actual proceedings. The meeting unanimously decided to found an international organisation of workers based in London, primarily because of England's relatively radical leanings. Though it was ostensibly a collaborative effort, Marx almost singlehandedly formulated the actual framework for this organization through manipulation of the comittee responsible for creating this framework.

First meeting of the international (Artist's rendition)​

As the movement grew both in size and diversity throughout its many meetings and congresses, a number of different schools of thought appeared and somewhat divided the organization. First of these were the Nationalist Socialists, primarily headed by the Blanquists and Radical Chartists. Their position was one that rejected a large part of the internationalism that was a keystone of other movements, instead arguing for the conservation of the nation. The great European revolution, they argued, was one borne out of the interest of the Bourgeoisie, but the revolutions themselves were a success and could be emulated by a socialist framework, either via a popular movement like the Chartists or a small, armed cadre like the Blanquists. After assuming control of the state, the party or cadre would then institute socialism for the betterment of the nation.

While somewhat similar in the metods employed to achieve these means, the Marxists firmly embraced an international view of socialism, calling for the cooperation of all working classes regardless of nationality to work together to seize control of the state apparatus and shed all nationalist trappings to institute a dictatorship of the proletariat until the dismantling or "withering away" of the state was achieved. There actually existed a small group trying to unify the two schools of thought, advocating for the creation of a kind of "socialist nationalism" by creating an entirely new national identity centered around socialism, with a new intermediary language to replace old ones along with new, entirely socialist traditions and cultural practices. This group found little success, often shifting between the two groups when it came down to indivudal decisions or issues.

Opposed to the existence of the state entirely were the Proudhonians (know today as Mutualists), advocating for the abolition of the state immediately upon revolution and the distribution of the means of production on the basis of occupation and use along with a free market and prefering individualism over collectivism.

Last of these four groups were the collectivists, prominently led by Mikhail Bakunin during the formative years of the international but still a less centralized movement than the others. Like the Proudhonians they argued for the immediate abolition of the state and would like the Mutualists achieve this primarily through economic means like striking and the formation of trade unions. Unlike the Mutualists however, they argued for the collective use and ownership of the industrial means of production via organizations like cooperatives and directly democratic trade unions.

This plurality of thought caused a lot of division inside the international, but also a lot of "fraying at the borders" of these four blocks as they intermingled and combined ideas. One of the primary reasons for the unity exhibited by the first international was that it had not yet actually been attempted to establish socialism anywhere on the European continent beyond the vaugely socialist Chartist movement on the isles. When surmising the reasons for the latency of the socialist movement in Europe, Secretary of the International John Hales concluded "The Republics of Europe see to their workers, the nationalism of the west remains unfettered and the damn International can't even agree wether the sky is blue or not."

It would indeed take until the turn of the century for Socialism to truly become a prominent force on the political stage. As the people rose out of the ruins of the old order after the Global War, the left would sweep across Europe and finally ascend to take its place among its political contemporaries...

Banner of a German chapter of the International (also known as The International Workingman's Association at the time) on display at the Museum of Socialism in Lumos, the CCR.​