alternatehistory.com

The Empire Means Peace

Prelude: The Death of the Pious
12 April 1855

Excerpt from the New York Times
Pope Dies in Tragic Fall
ROME, April 12 – A ceremony in the St. Agnes Basilica in Rome turned to a disaster as the floor collapsed, and the 100 people taking part in the ceremony, including the pope fell 20 feet into the catacombs. The fall killed 5 and gravely injured many people, including the pope who would die a few hours later due to injuries incurred on the fall… [1]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
…The Papal Conclave would meet on May 13 to vote on the next head of the Roman Catholic Church. Of the 58 members of the College of Cardinals, only 48 arrived at the Quirinal Palace in Rome to vote on the next individual to succeed the late Pius IX, almost the entire college Italian in origin. Like the Conclave of 1846, the Conclave of 1855 would see the session split between liberals who sought about reversing some of the policies Pius had made since the 1848 revolutions that saw the creation of the short-lived Roman Republic, supporters of the Risorgimento movement, and the conservatives who wanted to establish a more absolutist control over the Papal States.




After two days, the majority of the cardinals cast their vote to Gerolamo Marquese d’Andrea at the end of the fifth ballot, despite a repeated failed attempt by the Austrian Emperor to veto the vote. He would take the name Pope Urban IX.

[1]: Point of Divergence – In OTL Pius IX along with his entourage all survived the collapse and the fall, thus prolonging his control over the papacy until 1878, long after the fall of the Papal States.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Statement: Welcome everyone to my first timeline...ever...of all time. (or at least my first timeline that isn't an AAR in disguise.) The idea around this timeline revolve around a feasibility check that I made three weeks ago: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=250070

Now I'm not going to be very strict when it comes to people born after the main PoD (04/12/1855), though I will guarantee that about 85% or so of those born IOTL after that PoD will not exist here.

Please give comments, criticism, and concerns about mistakes I've made. This is my first TL after all, and while I have an idea on what I want to do up until around 1870, I'm kinda going to run with some of the butterflies from that point.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy my work.
Top