More European Cities were nuked and US-CSA shared those during the final phase of war, in general NWT trope not exist in TL191, yeah a tragedy, but again between bombing and rape...the latter is far horrible for some.
TL-191.5 The Sun Rises
- Thread starter theg*ddam*hoi2fan
- Start date
More European Cities were nuked and US-CSA shared those during the final phase of war, in general NWT trope not exist in TL191, yeah a tragedy, but again between bombing and rape...the latter is far horrible for some.
I am not trying to argue with you, but China still got shit thrown at them. Nanking still got it worst and Japan never get any flak for it and no deserving just dessert but fucking karma.
Lateknight
Banned
Americans ethical cleansed a lot native America tribes the British massacred thousands after the sepoy rebellion The soviets starved millions of Ukrainians and they all go away it sometimes that's just what happens.
I do admit that my choice of Nanking when I first wrote the March War entry was extremely insensitive - at the time I hadn't thought of that, as I said I'd just selected a strategically and economically important city, since I figured it'd be the most likely target - and I am sorry for my insensitivity. And plain stupidity when I wrote that entry.
The superbombing of a Chinese city was partly because I'd written myself into a scenario where such a response was pretty much guaranteed - ie the outbreak of the March War - and partly to showcase different attitudes to nuclear weaponry ITTL. In TL-191, four major combatants used large numbers of nukes in Great War II - the US even threatening its use in dealing with an internal revolt - so I figured that there wouldn't be such a taboo regarding the use of nuclear weapons. Also, in the framework of the story, this wasn't a first strike. China had used thermobaric weaponry against Seoul and Yangon, causing major casualties. This is why there wasn't international outcry - because nuclear weapons aren't seen as weapons of last resort ITTL, and because it was a response to WMD use.
The complaint about Japan not hitting hard times compared to the rest of the world - I'd figured when I began this that initially they wouldn't have those problems, that they'd only flare up when Japan overreached itself. So far it hasn't, but there's some...interesting times up ahead in the story. And as seen already, their leadership in Asia is bring challenged slowly by Korea and Indonesia.
I'd also like to make it clear that I'm not singling China out for getting the short end of the stick. The Republic of China has had some desperate times, but that's already starting to change, and the way this is planned it's going to become a major player in the world.
I really hope that anything I've written hasn't put anyone off this terminally.
The superbombing of a Chinese city was partly because I'd written myself into a scenario where such a response was pretty much guaranteed - ie the outbreak of the March War - and partly to showcase different attitudes to nuclear weaponry ITTL. In TL-191, four major combatants used large numbers of nukes in Great War II - the US even threatening its use in dealing with an internal revolt - so I figured that there wouldn't be such a taboo regarding the use of nuclear weapons. Also, in the framework of the story, this wasn't a first strike. China had used thermobaric weaponry against Seoul and Yangon, causing major casualties. This is why there wasn't international outcry - because nuclear weapons aren't seen as weapons of last resort ITTL, and because it was a response to WMD use.
The complaint about Japan not hitting hard times compared to the rest of the world - I'd figured when I began this that initially they wouldn't have those problems, that they'd only flare up when Japan overreached itself. So far it hasn't, but there's some...interesting times up ahead in the story. And as seen already, their leadership in Asia is bring challenged slowly by Korea and Indonesia.
I'd also like to make it clear that I'm not singling China out for getting the short end of the stick. The Republic of China has had some desperate times, but that's already starting to change, and the way this is planned it's going to become a major player in the world.
I really hope that anything I've written hasn't put anyone off this terminally.
There should be a nuke ban. Granted that the Great War didn't outlaw chemical warfare, but the numbers of nukes that were used and the outright and absolute destruction for every sides could have spark a movement against nuclear weaponry. The terrorist attack on Manhattan could have been a turning point to having the American public demanding an oversight over nukes. It is just how shockingly short sighted that anyone haven't yet realized the full ramifications of nuclear illness and fallout, and treating the nuke as some big explosive. The evidence of people dying from cancers, mutant deformed babies should have spark the outcries.
I recommend England to be the lead runner in the anti-nuclear movement.
I recommend England to be the lead runner in the anti-nuclear movement.
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July-September:
Asia: July: Korean immigration to Karafuto continues, something that Japanese authorities [FONT="]–[/FONT] and right-wing groups [FONT="]–[/FONT] are watching with a nervous eye.
The Imperial Korean Navy launches the Yulgok Yi I, first of its class of advanced cruisers. Technically, the ship is more a large destroyer than a cruiser, displacing 9,600 long tons, but it has been classified as a cruiser owing to its flexibility in combat. It carries Hwando cruise rockets,capable of striking targets inland from its Vertical Launch Cells, as well as antiaircraft and antiship rocketry and triple torpedo tubes. It also mounts an advanced sonar array and carries two anti-submarine Tonbo. The new cruiser will, over time, be adopted as the main fleet-defence vessel of the IKN. While Japan retains naval supremacy in GEATO and in the Pacific, the new ship is more advanced than Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Tachikaze-class destroyers.Construction is also underway on Korea[FONT="]’[/FONT]s next Sejong Daewang-classairplane carrier, the Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong.
President Aung San continues to resist growing calls for his resignation.
As ill-feeling in Vietnam mounts, Prime Minister Doan flies to Tokyo, to meet with Prime Minister Katayama. He hopes to negotiate a fair deal regarding Japanese corporate practices in Vietnam. However, Prime Minister Katayama is finding things awkward in this regard [FONT="]–[/FONT] his party, Minseito, is the more liberal party in the Japanese political establishment, but it is heavily supported by the zaibatsu who oppose organised labour. The talks, though they publicly reaffirm the long-standing friendship and alliance between Japan and Vietnam, do not achieve anything positive.
Heavy railroad construction in China has allowed the Chinese interior to become better connected to the more urbanised regions of the East. As men [FONT="]–[/FONT]and women [FONT="]–[/FONT] from the interior come looking for work, Chinese industry continues to grow[FONT="]…[/FONT]
The Northern Insurgency continues in India as Muslim rebels rise up across Sind, Kashmir and Punjab. Japanese arms shipments to India spike sharply as additional occupation forces are dispatched.
Afghanistan moves to solidify its control over the old North-West Frontier region. The Pashtuns of both nations have largely come to accept this arrangement. Omar Hamad, however, continues to work to spread insurrection in the territory occupied by India.
An exodus of Hazaras from Afghanistan begins, many moving to the resurgent Persian Empire.
August: Continued attempts at negotiation between the Vietnamese and Japanese governments.
Hanoi and Saigon are rocked by riots as union supporters clash with opponents.
Copying TriStar, Hatta Consumer Electronics begins expanding outwards. It, however, begins targeting Latin America [FONT="]–[/FONT] Farseers and hi-fi material are sold widely. Negotiations begin with the Chilean government regarding building factories in the country.
New Guinea[FONT="]’[/FONT]s economy is growing rapidly, thanks to Indonesian investment. In addition, the spread of Indonesian, Japanese and Korean corporations means that unemployment levels are dropping rapidly. However, with the corporations come Indonesian citizens from the other islands.
Further bombings in Delhi, Kolkatta, Mumbai and Bangalore. At the same time, insurrection intensifies in the occupied territories. In response, Indian forces intensify [FONT="]‘[/FONT]population dispersion[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the territories, breaking up villages and tribes to dilute resistance. Major cities are under curfew. Long-term, of course, the hope is to bring in investors and settlers from the South, but that[FONT="]’[/FONT]s not going to be possible for some time.
September: Prime Minister Katayama decides that, as well as the weaponry being shipped to India, Japanese [FONT="]‘[/FONT]technical advisors[FONT="]’[/FONT] will also be sent. Over the next month, about five thousand intelligence and technical personnel will arrive in Northern India.
12th September: After a crude bomb explodes outside the Presidential Palace in Yangon, the capital is placed under martial law. Protests are forbidden, while commanders with proven loyalty to General Aung San are used to enforce the clampdown.
16th September: Vietnamese workers at the Cuu Long Basin oil facilities go on strike.
17th September: Violent clashes between strikers and Showa Oil Corporation security personnel.
Prime Minister Katayama appeals to the zaibatsu operating in Vietnam to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]follow what has now become local law[FONT="]’[/FONT]. The response is overwhelmingly negative [FONT="]–[/FONT] the zaibatsu fear that bowing to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]disruptive elements[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Vietnam would lead to their (cheap) workers across GEATO demanding similar rights. They don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t really fear the rise of unions in Japan itself, though [FONT="]–[/FONT] corporate loyalty makes this unlikely.
20th September: Prime Minister Doan deploys troops in Cuu Long, to defend striking workers from company thugs.
On national Farseer and radio, the Prime Minister states that foreign corporations need to remember that they operate in Vietnam by the consent of the Vietnamese government, and that the Emperor and people of Vietnam will not tolerate the oppression of the people of the country.
This alarms the corporations. Severely. While they could gut the Vietnamese economy, they also have a great deal to lose in terms of revenue unless the situation is resolved.
A stand-off begins[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Americas: July: Construction begins on a second manned observatory on the lunar surface.
As his Presidency enters its final stages, Patrick Kennedy injects a further dose of federal funding into national infrastructure, with work beginning on refurbishing and upgrading the nation[FONT="]’[/FONT]s railroads, highways and ports.
The US Navy is enlarged by the Fisk-class supercarriersUSS Charles La Follette, USS Al Smith, and USS Irving Morell.
Protests begin to spread in the South: pro-Union, vote-demanding rallies are spreading across Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, and Louisiana.
Series of neo-Confederate attacks on pro-Union rallies.
21st July: Bombing of the Family of the Confederacy headquarters in Louisville. Fifteen people are killed, and Carlton Ford is permanently paralysed while helping survivors from under rubble. This act [FONT="]–[/FONT] an attack on an organisation that exists to remember the old South [FONT="]–[/FONT] leads to massive disgust with neo-Confederate organisations across the South.
Peru and Colombia join Bloc America.
Border authorities report large numbers of Texan men and women leaving the Republic for the United States. Most are peoples who, for one reason or another, cannot live under the Cummings administration.
President Cummings presses forward with a three-point plan for his nation. The first two points are public: the ongoing [FONT="]‘[/FONT]moral reform[FONT="]’[/FONT] of the Republic of Texas; and economic reforms in line with the German Reich. The third, however, is known only to the president and his inner circle: expansion. The President plans to absorb Houston, through encouraging ongoing protests in the state, and to occupy Mexican territory. This is a very long-term plan, to wait until Texas has built up a sizeable arsenal of superbombs. Certain members of Cummings[FONT="]’[/FONT] inner circle, however, have a realistic idea regarding this plan [FONT="]–[/FONT] if the United States is willing to carry out a military campaign in Africa to defend allies, it probably won[FONT="]’[/FONT]t hesitate to slap down Texas if necessary.
The Empire of Brazil is facing stiff opposition in its plans to further [FONT="]‘[/FONT]develop[FONT="]’[/FONT] the Amazon Basin. There[FONT="]’[/FONT]s already been a hefty amount of rainforest clearance, but indigenous groups and conservationists are demanding a halt.
Brazil[FONT="]’[/FONT]s economy is suffering somewhat of a downturn at present.
Exploratory efforts off the Argentinian Malvinas Islands have revealed potentially large oil deposits. President Perez and the Argentinian National Oil Corporation are very excited[FONT="]…[/FONT]
August: Much to the ire of conservationists, President Kennedy authorises drilling in Prudhoe Bay.
Members of the Lightnings are arrested for the Family of the Confederacy bombing.
21st August: 12 students are killed in a dormitory of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Their killer is a fellow student, Duane Bryant (age 18), who is shot dead by local police as he tries to flee the campus. Mr Bryant had come from an ultra-religious [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Dixiestalgic[FONT="]’[/FONT] family, and that [FONT="]–[/FONT] particularly the influence of his father [FONT="]–[/FONT] had driven him into targeting his [FONT="]‘[/FONT]treacherous[FONT="]’[/FONT] fellow-students. FPB investigators find a two-hundred page, handwritten manifesto in his dorm-room, in which he claims that the Confederate States has [FONT="]‘[/FONT]fallen into the Abomination of Desolation[FONT="]’[/FONT] and that any Southerners who support the Union [FONT="]‘[/FONT]do so only because it enables their desires for paganism, miscegenation and deviance[FONT="]’[/FONT]. This tragic event shows that, even though the attitudes of the young are changing, the legacy of the Confederacy runs deep.
President Cummings allocates fresh funding to the Texas Rangers, expanding their military arsenal.
September: Carlton Ford, despite being wheelchair-bound, visits the Lexington campus. Addresses the students, offering his condolences and calling for [FONT="]‘[/FONT]an end to the hatred, an end to the death-grip so many Southerners have on the past[FONT="]’[/FONT].
President Kennedy is coming under increasing pressure to extend the franchise to the South.
The Sons and Daughters of Inclusive America begin the Blackford Memorial Fund, to provide for accommodation for Texan refugees [FONT="]–[/FONT] in particular Say men and women who fled because of the harsher enforcement of the Republic[FONT="]’[/FONT]s laws.
Europe: July: Germany and Italy both demand that Phoenicia withdraw from the Turkish territory that they[FONT="]’[/FONT]ve occupied. However, President Qabbani refuses. He states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]If Turkey wants to take back the land that they unjustly took from us, then they should come and claim it[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Turkey, however, is more concerned with trying to feed its population, recover from an utterly vicious war and extinguish the remaining embers of Caliphate activity. Thus, since Turkey [FONT="]–[/FONT] like Austria, when Italy occupied disputed territories [FONT="]–[/FONT] is not willing to take a stand, the two European powers ultimately shelve any plans for military action, though they refuse to recognise Phoenician occupation of the territory in question. This makes little, if any, difference [FONT="]–[/FONT] especially since the ethnic Turkish population will be evicted in its entirety.
Chancellor Braun signs a major trade deal with the Kingdom of Arabia. In return for increased rights for German and Italian oil companies in the Kingdom, both Germany and Italy will agree to supply them with modern weaponry. Diplomats from the three nations also discuss the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Phoenician problem[FONT="]’[/FONT]. The Kingdom of Arabia, a more theocratic nation, is unhappy with the secular direction of Phoenicia and Egypt.
This month marks the beginning of a territorial disagreement between the Commonwealth of England and the Republic of Scotland. Both nations claim that certain regions of the North Sea [FONT="]–[/FONT] recently found to contain large deposits of oil [FONT="]–[/FONT] belong to them. President Andrew Johnstone of the Republic of Scotland is singularly vocal on the subject, claiming that the territory [FONT="]‘[/FONT]belongs to Scotland and the Scottish people by right after suffering the oppression of England for so long[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Warden Alex Gently, however, is more moderate, suggesting that the Summit Nations arbitrate between the two. President Kennedy adds his own call for mediation. Chancellor Braun, meanwhile, advises his Scottish ally that he has the full support of the Reich.
Higher German tax-rates are introduced in their colonial territories. This earns the ire of the growing urban middle class in Mittelafrika, many of whom have nationalist [FONT="]–[/FONT] or at least maximum autonomist [FONT="]–[/FONT] sympathies.
Hungary announces its intention to hold a referendum next year on continued membership of the Trans-Danube.
Conventional Red forces are suffering heavily against both White and Cossack forces. However, Red guerrillas continue activity in the Don-Kuban and behind White lines.
Nigerian famine is deepening.
August: Major uprising begins in Volkstaat Suid-Afrika, as guerrilla forces begin attack on military, police and infrastructural targets across the nation [FONT="]–[/FONT] both in South Africa proper and in former Rhodesia and Bechuanaland. The South African military, though well-equipped, quickly finds itself overstretched and having to rely heavily on the part-time commandoes of rural Boers[FONT="]…[/FONT]who, acting in defence of their homes, can be far more brutal than the military.
Rebellion in Uganda is finally put down by Ugandan forces, supplied by Italy, and Freikorps-Siegfried. The Freikorps[FONT="]’[/FONT]board of directors is already sending out feelers to South Africa[FONT="]…[/FONT]
The Regia Marina takes delivery of four new destroyers.
In Germany, construction continues on theSMS Kiel[FONT="]…[/FONT]and Chancellor Braun approves the laying down of two more Kiel-class vessels, SMS Hamburg and SMS Bremerhaven.
Talks begin in Geneva surrounding the future of the North Sea oil deposits. There is also discussion of providing relief for Nigeria, but the three major powers with ties to Africa [FONT="]–[/FONT] America, Italy and Germany [FONT="]–[/FONT] are all mistrustful of one another[FONT="]’[/FONT]s intentions regarding the nation.
Contention arises regarding a port visit by an American destroyer to England [FONT="]–[/FONT] protestors demand that it either eave or provide evidence that it is not carrying atomic weaponry. Warden Gently re-affirms the New Levellers[FONT="]’[/FONT] commitment to an atomic-free England.
Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army declares the Christian Republic of Nigeria. Rumours float out of mass killings of non-Christians[FONT="]…[/FONT]
September: Major expansion of the German armed forces begins, as Chancellor Braun declares that the military budget [FONT="]‘[/FONT]should have no limits[FONT="]’[/FONT].
Otto Streicher demands a rollback of the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]socially reprehensible[FONT="]’[/FONT] legislation of the left-wing government that took power after the end of the European conflicts of the previous decades. However, Chancellor Braun is not minded to listen to his ravings. Nor do the youth of Germany have much sympathy [FONT="]–[/FONT] especially since Streicher calls for the banning of English music, literature and film.
Italy works to tighten the military draft, making it harder to gain a deferment. They also continue work on new naval and air hardware.
Germany and Italy continue to provide support to Arabia, as well as to the Sultanate of Oman.
In response, the Arab Alliance begins increased arms purchases from Asia.
Egypt is working to develop its Sudanese territories, building [FONT="]–[/FONT] with Asian support [FONT="]–[/FONT] new roads, railroads, drilling and mining facilities, and other such new construction. Indonesian economic interests are particularly prominent, their shared Islamic faith giving Indonesians common ground with Egyptians.
Negotiations between England and Scotland in Geneva are mired in acrimony, and achieve little. The Scottish Navy becomes increasingly provocative in the North Sea[FONT="]…[/FONT]despite the larger size of the English Navy. However, they feel they can get away with it, owing to the strictly defensive nature of the English constitution.
The Neutrality Bloc suggests that the Global Summit empower it to provide a peace-keeping and humanitarian force to pacify Nigeria. This is supported enthusiastically by the United States, and Japan has no interest in blocking it, but it is vetoed by Germany, who fear the spread of outside influence in Africa.
The Irish government is[FONT="]…[/FONT]torn regarding the situation in the North Sea. On the one hand, their history with England and their [FONT="]‘[/FONT]shared Celtic heritage[FONT="]’[/FONT] means that they have sympathy with Scotland. On the other hand, both Ireland and England are allied with America, and took part in the war with Italy[FONT="]…[/FONT]a nation that is allied with Germany, which is allied with Scotland. Irish military forces are placed on high alert, but don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t know who they[FONT="]’[/FONT]d be shooting at.
October-December:
Asia: 3rd October: Assassination attempt on Prime Minister Doan [FONT="]–[/FONT] a bomb destroys his car, killing his driver and severely injuring one bodyguard.
Two days later, as the police investigation begins, the Japanese zaibatsu begin negotiations with the Prime Minister and his cabinet. They promise to be both highly strained and extremely acrimonious.
A tense peace returns to Burma. Martial law is lifted.
Japanese military aid to India continues, along with the deployment of more technical advisors. Korea is also providing aid, as it manufactures more and more of its own military hardware at the moment.
Prime Minister Katayama is coming under increased pressure to send combat troops into India, though is so far resisting it. He does, however, agree to dispatch naval and air assets.
15th October: Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s attitudes regarding foreigners and foreign influences are highlighted after Yamagata Yuki, a student at Ritsumeikan University Kyoto, converts to Islam and marries Abdullah al-Masri of Phoenicia. Her family disown her and Ritsumeikan ends up expelling her - for a concocted reason, naturally. Right-wing groups use this to start campaigning for an end to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]foreign influences[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the Empire.
Indonesia takes advantage of this to promote itself as an educational alternative in the Arab world [FONT="]–[/FONT] as a Muslim nation, it has a slight advantage in this regard.
Insurgency continues in former Pakistan, together with bombings in Southern Indian cities.
November: The Showa Oil Corporation agrees to permit unionised workers to work in the drilling stations. However, they insist on certain conditions [FONT="]–[/FONT] among them that workers [FONT="]‘[/FONT]not be pressured[FONT="]’[/FONT] to join unions.
Airstrikes begin on rebel positions in Northern India, launched by Japanese aircraft of the First Air Fleet. Cruise rocketry is also employed. At the same time, Indian forces launch major clearance operations. People bombings increase.
Work continues on Izanami-no-Mikoto station. The Japanese government is hopeful that it will begin generating its own power and be fully operational by 1978.
Korean government analysts note that the nation is on track to assume a more prominent role in GEATO. While they will always be short of certain raw materials, Korea will be able to assume an economically dominant role [FONT="]–[/FONT] and very soon.
Chinese Yellow River Automobile Corporation begins producing cars under license from Saab.
December: The zaibatsu, following Showa Oil Corporation[FONT="]’[/FONT]s lead, begin working on the union problem. Over time, the corporations will let union men and women into their factories. However, as will become apparent over the long term, there will emerge two tiers in Japanese-owned factories: union workers, who tend to get stuck in the same position for years; and non-union workers, who get promoted.
Prime Minister Katayama discusses the situation in India with President Virat Gupta. President Gupta is desirous that India should [FONT="]‘[/FONT]be the only nation responsible for finally uniting the country[FONT="]’[/FONT], but at the same time notes that his troops aren[FONT="]’[/FONT]t exactly covering themselves in glory in their efforts to pacify the North. He and Prime Minister Katayama agree provisionally that, barring a significant change on the ground, Japan will deploy troops into India in February.
Yamagata Yukio - now Fatima al-Masri - and her husband move back to Phoenicia.
Americas: October: President Kennedy provokes considerable ire when, at a state dinner, he is overheard saying [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Once a Reb, always a Reb[FONT="]…[/FONT]we can[FONT="]’[/FONT]t let up on them even for a moment.[FONT="]’[/FONT]
Major protests follow. Many are joined by men [FONT="]–[/FONT] and women [FONT="]–[/FONT] from the South who joined the US Armed Forces. Many of whom fought in Western Africa[FONT="]…[/FONT] Kennedy[FONT="]’[/FONT]s supporters don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t make things easier when they bring up his father[FONT="]’[/FONT]s death to a neo-Confederate terrorist attack.
President Cummings takes advantage of this to slam the President, stating that Kennedy [FONT="]‘[/FONT]fears the voice of the truly Godly[FONT="]’[/FONT] in his nation. He ignores the fact that since its inception, the Republic of Texas has been complicit in supressing neo-Confederate activities, even providing military assistance during the Years of Hate [FONT="]–[/FONT] since there was a fear that Texas could be usurped by vengeful Confederates.
Uruguay and Ecuador join Bloc America. The alliance now unites both the American continents.
The United States agrees to shipment of a major arms package to Persia, in exchange for exclusive drilling rights. The package includes F-4 Spectres, modern battle barrels, and the newest Drachen gunships.
November: Presidential elections. After over twenty years of Socialist presidents [FONT="]–[/FONT] largely thanks to the personal charisma of Patrick Kennedy [FONT="]–[/FONT] the Democrats return to Powell House. John Fitzgerald Kennedy is the President-Elect of the United States.
Now in the twilight months of his presidency, Patrick Kennedy assures England of America[FONT="]’[/FONT]s full support in their dispute with Scotland. Also talks to the President of Ireland, requesting support from them.
Protests intensify, as the protestors set about convincing their upcoming President of the necessity to extend the franchise to the South.
FPB operatives note that insurgent activity is down.
December: The FPB are finding things worryingly quiet in the South[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Europe: October: English trawlers operating in the North Sea report large numbers of Scottish aircraft buzzing them. In response, the English begin overflights.
Geneva talks on the North Sea are still deadlocked.
The Army of New Nigeria launches a major offensive against the Sword of God. This sees the first use of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]child soldiers[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Not, alas, the last[FONT="]…[/FONT] In the South, the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army still holds strong, massing forces to confront whoever wins.
Niger and Chad are letting refugees from the combat zone in. However, they are being highly selective [FONT="]–[/FONT] depending on background [FONT="]–[/FONT] and are spreading any refugees out across the whole country, not letting them congregate in large numbers. Benin, Biafra and Cameroon utterly refuse to take any in.
Heavy fighting in the bush in former Rhodesia. Vulkanzin is heavily used by the South African Air Force.
The Whites have now occupied all former Red territory. However, they[FONT="]’[/FONT]re quickly finding that holding that territory is something else. The Don-Kuban, meanwhile, is suffering continued uprisings and bombings.
November: English Air Force pilots report that Scottish aircraft are flying incredibly aggressively, often approaching their planes very closely. The Scottish Army is also holding major exercises along the border.
England is very much against war. However, the Northerners who dominate English politics and votes now are also very much aware that they[FONT="]’[/FONT]re in the firing line if the Scottish cross the border. Thus, anti-war protests still occur, but they stress [FONT="]‘[/FONT]not casting the first stone[FONT="]’[/FONT] rather than outright pacifism.
Ireland finally commits [FONT="]–[/FONT] the President offers England full support.
In Germany, Otto Streicher praises Scotland for taking a stand against [FONT="]‘[/FONT]the appropriation of Scotland[FONT="]’[/FONT]s property by the Socialists[FONT="]’[/FONT].
The Neutrality Bloc again lobbies to be allowed to resolve the Nigerian Civil War.
Period of retrenchment in Russia as the Whites and the federalists regroup.
December: The Volkstaat Suid-Afrika engages the services of Freikorps-Siegfried.
Scottish and English naval vessels are patrolling very close to the disputed region. The Hochsees Flotte is on high alert as well. Chancellor Braun would very much like a share of the oil.
Warden Gently appeals for negotiation [FONT="]–[/FONT] points to how the New Levellers and the Scottish Nationalists worked together to finally topple the royalists in the Second Glorious Revolution. His pleas seem to fall on deaf ears, however[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Asia: July: Korean immigration to Karafuto continues, something that Japanese authorities [FONT="]–[/FONT] and right-wing groups [FONT="]–[/FONT] are watching with a nervous eye.
The Imperial Korean Navy launches the Yulgok Yi I, first of its class of advanced cruisers. Technically, the ship is more a large destroyer than a cruiser, displacing 9,600 long tons, but it has been classified as a cruiser owing to its flexibility in combat. It carries Hwando cruise rockets,capable of striking targets inland from its Vertical Launch Cells, as well as antiaircraft and antiship rocketry and triple torpedo tubes. It also mounts an advanced sonar array and carries two anti-submarine Tonbo. The new cruiser will, over time, be adopted as the main fleet-defence vessel of the IKN. While Japan retains naval supremacy in GEATO and in the Pacific, the new ship is more advanced than Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Tachikaze-class destroyers.Construction is also underway on Korea[FONT="]’[/FONT]s next Sejong Daewang-classairplane carrier, the Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong.
President Aung San continues to resist growing calls for his resignation.
As ill-feeling in Vietnam mounts, Prime Minister Doan flies to Tokyo, to meet with Prime Minister Katayama. He hopes to negotiate a fair deal regarding Japanese corporate practices in Vietnam. However, Prime Minister Katayama is finding things awkward in this regard [FONT="]–[/FONT] his party, Minseito, is the more liberal party in the Japanese political establishment, but it is heavily supported by the zaibatsu who oppose organised labour. The talks, though they publicly reaffirm the long-standing friendship and alliance between Japan and Vietnam, do not achieve anything positive.
Heavy railroad construction in China has allowed the Chinese interior to become better connected to the more urbanised regions of the East. As men [FONT="]–[/FONT]and women [FONT="]–[/FONT] from the interior come looking for work, Chinese industry continues to grow[FONT="]…[/FONT]
The Northern Insurgency continues in India as Muslim rebels rise up across Sind, Kashmir and Punjab. Japanese arms shipments to India spike sharply as additional occupation forces are dispatched.
Afghanistan moves to solidify its control over the old North-West Frontier region. The Pashtuns of both nations have largely come to accept this arrangement. Omar Hamad, however, continues to work to spread insurrection in the territory occupied by India.
An exodus of Hazaras from Afghanistan begins, many moving to the resurgent Persian Empire.
August: Continued attempts at negotiation between the Vietnamese and Japanese governments.
Hanoi and Saigon are rocked by riots as union supporters clash with opponents.
Copying TriStar, Hatta Consumer Electronics begins expanding outwards. It, however, begins targeting Latin America [FONT="]–[/FONT] Farseers and hi-fi material are sold widely. Negotiations begin with the Chilean government regarding building factories in the country.
New Guinea[FONT="]’[/FONT]s economy is growing rapidly, thanks to Indonesian investment. In addition, the spread of Indonesian, Japanese and Korean corporations means that unemployment levels are dropping rapidly. However, with the corporations come Indonesian citizens from the other islands.
Further bombings in Delhi, Kolkatta, Mumbai and Bangalore. At the same time, insurrection intensifies in the occupied territories. In response, Indian forces intensify [FONT="]‘[/FONT]population dispersion[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the territories, breaking up villages and tribes to dilute resistance. Major cities are under curfew. Long-term, of course, the hope is to bring in investors and settlers from the South, but that[FONT="]’[/FONT]s not going to be possible for some time.
September: Prime Minister Katayama decides that, as well as the weaponry being shipped to India, Japanese [FONT="]‘[/FONT]technical advisors[FONT="]’[/FONT] will also be sent. Over the next month, about five thousand intelligence and technical personnel will arrive in Northern India.
12th September: After a crude bomb explodes outside the Presidential Palace in Yangon, the capital is placed under martial law. Protests are forbidden, while commanders with proven loyalty to General Aung San are used to enforce the clampdown.
16th September: Vietnamese workers at the Cuu Long Basin oil facilities go on strike.
17th September: Violent clashes between strikers and Showa Oil Corporation security personnel.
Prime Minister Katayama appeals to the zaibatsu operating in Vietnam to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]follow what has now become local law[FONT="]’[/FONT]. The response is overwhelmingly negative [FONT="]–[/FONT] the zaibatsu fear that bowing to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]disruptive elements[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Vietnam would lead to their (cheap) workers across GEATO demanding similar rights. They don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t really fear the rise of unions in Japan itself, though [FONT="]–[/FONT] corporate loyalty makes this unlikely.
20th September: Prime Minister Doan deploys troops in Cuu Long, to defend striking workers from company thugs.
On national Farseer and radio, the Prime Minister states that foreign corporations need to remember that they operate in Vietnam by the consent of the Vietnamese government, and that the Emperor and people of Vietnam will not tolerate the oppression of the people of the country.
This alarms the corporations. Severely. While they could gut the Vietnamese economy, they also have a great deal to lose in terms of revenue unless the situation is resolved.
A stand-off begins[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Americas: July: Construction begins on a second manned observatory on the lunar surface.
As his Presidency enters its final stages, Patrick Kennedy injects a further dose of federal funding into national infrastructure, with work beginning on refurbishing and upgrading the nation[FONT="]’[/FONT]s railroads, highways and ports.
The US Navy is enlarged by the Fisk-class supercarriersUSS Charles La Follette, USS Al Smith, and USS Irving Morell.
Protests begin to spread in the South: pro-Union, vote-demanding rallies are spreading across Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, and Louisiana.
Series of neo-Confederate attacks on pro-Union rallies.
21st July: Bombing of the Family of the Confederacy headquarters in Louisville. Fifteen people are killed, and Carlton Ford is permanently paralysed while helping survivors from under rubble. This act [FONT="]–[/FONT] an attack on an organisation that exists to remember the old South [FONT="]–[/FONT] leads to massive disgust with neo-Confederate organisations across the South.
Peru and Colombia join Bloc America.
Border authorities report large numbers of Texan men and women leaving the Republic for the United States. Most are peoples who, for one reason or another, cannot live under the Cummings administration.
President Cummings presses forward with a three-point plan for his nation. The first two points are public: the ongoing [FONT="]‘[/FONT]moral reform[FONT="]’[/FONT] of the Republic of Texas; and economic reforms in line with the German Reich. The third, however, is known only to the president and his inner circle: expansion. The President plans to absorb Houston, through encouraging ongoing protests in the state, and to occupy Mexican territory. This is a very long-term plan, to wait until Texas has built up a sizeable arsenal of superbombs. Certain members of Cummings[FONT="]’[/FONT] inner circle, however, have a realistic idea regarding this plan [FONT="]–[/FONT] if the United States is willing to carry out a military campaign in Africa to defend allies, it probably won[FONT="]’[/FONT]t hesitate to slap down Texas if necessary.
The Empire of Brazil is facing stiff opposition in its plans to further [FONT="]‘[/FONT]develop[FONT="]’[/FONT] the Amazon Basin. There[FONT="]’[/FONT]s already been a hefty amount of rainforest clearance, but indigenous groups and conservationists are demanding a halt.
Brazil[FONT="]’[/FONT]s economy is suffering somewhat of a downturn at present.
Exploratory efforts off the Argentinian Malvinas Islands have revealed potentially large oil deposits. President Perez and the Argentinian National Oil Corporation are very excited[FONT="]…[/FONT]
August: Much to the ire of conservationists, President Kennedy authorises drilling in Prudhoe Bay.
Members of the Lightnings are arrested for the Family of the Confederacy bombing.
21st August: 12 students are killed in a dormitory of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Their killer is a fellow student, Duane Bryant (age 18), who is shot dead by local police as he tries to flee the campus. Mr Bryant had come from an ultra-religious [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Dixiestalgic[FONT="]’[/FONT] family, and that [FONT="]–[/FONT] particularly the influence of his father [FONT="]–[/FONT] had driven him into targeting his [FONT="]‘[/FONT]treacherous[FONT="]’[/FONT] fellow-students. FPB investigators find a two-hundred page, handwritten manifesto in his dorm-room, in which he claims that the Confederate States has [FONT="]‘[/FONT]fallen into the Abomination of Desolation[FONT="]’[/FONT] and that any Southerners who support the Union [FONT="]‘[/FONT]do so only because it enables their desires for paganism, miscegenation and deviance[FONT="]’[/FONT]. This tragic event shows that, even though the attitudes of the young are changing, the legacy of the Confederacy runs deep.
President Cummings allocates fresh funding to the Texas Rangers, expanding their military arsenal.
September: Carlton Ford, despite being wheelchair-bound, visits the Lexington campus. Addresses the students, offering his condolences and calling for [FONT="]‘[/FONT]an end to the hatred, an end to the death-grip so many Southerners have on the past[FONT="]’[/FONT].
President Kennedy is coming under increasing pressure to extend the franchise to the South.
The Sons and Daughters of Inclusive America begin the Blackford Memorial Fund, to provide for accommodation for Texan refugees [FONT="]–[/FONT] in particular Say men and women who fled because of the harsher enforcement of the Republic[FONT="]’[/FONT]s laws.
Europe: July: Germany and Italy both demand that Phoenicia withdraw from the Turkish territory that they[FONT="]’[/FONT]ve occupied. However, President Qabbani refuses. He states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]If Turkey wants to take back the land that they unjustly took from us, then they should come and claim it[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Turkey, however, is more concerned with trying to feed its population, recover from an utterly vicious war and extinguish the remaining embers of Caliphate activity. Thus, since Turkey [FONT="]–[/FONT] like Austria, when Italy occupied disputed territories [FONT="]–[/FONT] is not willing to take a stand, the two European powers ultimately shelve any plans for military action, though they refuse to recognise Phoenician occupation of the territory in question. This makes little, if any, difference [FONT="]–[/FONT] especially since the ethnic Turkish population will be evicted in its entirety.
Chancellor Braun signs a major trade deal with the Kingdom of Arabia. In return for increased rights for German and Italian oil companies in the Kingdom, both Germany and Italy will agree to supply them with modern weaponry. Diplomats from the three nations also discuss the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Phoenician problem[FONT="]’[/FONT]. The Kingdom of Arabia, a more theocratic nation, is unhappy with the secular direction of Phoenicia and Egypt.
This month marks the beginning of a territorial disagreement between the Commonwealth of England and the Republic of Scotland. Both nations claim that certain regions of the North Sea [FONT="]–[/FONT] recently found to contain large deposits of oil [FONT="]–[/FONT] belong to them. President Andrew Johnstone of the Republic of Scotland is singularly vocal on the subject, claiming that the territory [FONT="]‘[/FONT]belongs to Scotland and the Scottish people by right after suffering the oppression of England for so long[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Warden Alex Gently, however, is more moderate, suggesting that the Summit Nations arbitrate between the two. President Kennedy adds his own call for mediation. Chancellor Braun, meanwhile, advises his Scottish ally that he has the full support of the Reich.
Higher German tax-rates are introduced in their colonial territories. This earns the ire of the growing urban middle class in Mittelafrika, many of whom have nationalist [FONT="]–[/FONT] or at least maximum autonomist [FONT="]–[/FONT] sympathies.
Hungary announces its intention to hold a referendum next year on continued membership of the Trans-Danube.
Conventional Red forces are suffering heavily against both White and Cossack forces. However, Red guerrillas continue activity in the Don-Kuban and behind White lines.
Nigerian famine is deepening.
August: Major uprising begins in Volkstaat Suid-Afrika, as guerrilla forces begin attack on military, police and infrastructural targets across the nation [FONT="]–[/FONT] both in South Africa proper and in former Rhodesia and Bechuanaland. The South African military, though well-equipped, quickly finds itself overstretched and having to rely heavily on the part-time commandoes of rural Boers[FONT="]…[/FONT]who, acting in defence of their homes, can be far more brutal than the military.
Rebellion in Uganda is finally put down by Ugandan forces, supplied by Italy, and Freikorps-Siegfried. The Freikorps[FONT="]’[/FONT]board of directors is already sending out feelers to South Africa[FONT="]…[/FONT]
The Regia Marina takes delivery of four new destroyers.
In Germany, construction continues on theSMS Kiel[FONT="]…[/FONT]and Chancellor Braun approves the laying down of two more Kiel-class vessels, SMS Hamburg and SMS Bremerhaven.
Talks begin in Geneva surrounding the future of the North Sea oil deposits. There is also discussion of providing relief for Nigeria, but the three major powers with ties to Africa [FONT="]–[/FONT] America, Italy and Germany [FONT="]–[/FONT] are all mistrustful of one another[FONT="]’[/FONT]s intentions regarding the nation.
Contention arises regarding a port visit by an American destroyer to England [FONT="]–[/FONT] protestors demand that it either eave or provide evidence that it is not carrying atomic weaponry. Warden Gently re-affirms the New Levellers[FONT="]’[/FONT] commitment to an atomic-free England.
Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army declares the Christian Republic of Nigeria. Rumours float out of mass killings of non-Christians[FONT="]…[/FONT]
September: Major expansion of the German armed forces begins, as Chancellor Braun declares that the military budget [FONT="]‘[/FONT]should have no limits[FONT="]’[/FONT].
Otto Streicher demands a rollback of the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]socially reprehensible[FONT="]’[/FONT] legislation of the left-wing government that took power after the end of the European conflicts of the previous decades. However, Chancellor Braun is not minded to listen to his ravings. Nor do the youth of Germany have much sympathy [FONT="]–[/FONT] especially since Streicher calls for the banning of English music, literature and film.
Italy works to tighten the military draft, making it harder to gain a deferment. They also continue work on new naval and air hardware.
Germany and Italy continue to provide support to Arabia, as well as to the Sultanate of Oman.
In response, the Arab Alliance begins increased arms purchases from Asia.
Egypt is working to develop its Sudanese territories, building [FONT="]–[/FONT] with Asian support [FONT="]–[/FONT] new roads, railroads, drilling and mining facilities, and other such new construction. Indonesian economic interests are particularly prominent, their shared Islamic faith giving Indonesians common ground with Egyptians.
Negotiations between England and Scotland in Geneva are mired in acrimony, and achieve little. The Scottish Navy becomes increasingly provocative in the North Sea[FONT="]…[/FONT]despite the larger size of the English Navy. However, they feel they can get away with it, owing to the strictly defensive nature of the English constitution.
The Neutrality Bloc suggests that the Global Summit empower it to provide a peace-keeping and humanitarian force to pacify Nigeria. This is supported enthusiastically by the United States, and Japan has no interest in blocking it, but it is vetoed by Germany, who fear the spread of outside influence in Africa.
The Irish government is[FONT="]…[/FONT]torn regarding the situation in the North Sea. On the one hand, their history with England and their [FONT="]‘[/FONT]shared Celtic heritage[FONT="]’[/FONT] means that they have sympathy with Scotland. On the other hand, both Ireland and England are allied with America, and took part in the war with Italy[FONT="]…[/FONT]a nation that is allied with Germany, which is allied with Scotland. Irish military forces are placed on high alert, but don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t know who they[FONT="]’[/FONT]d be shooting at.
October-December:
Asia: 3rd October: Assassination attempt on Prime Minister Doan [FONT="]–[/FONT] a bomb destroys his car, killing his driver and severely injuring one bodyguard.
Two days later, as the police investigation begins, the Japanese zaibatsu begin negotiations with the Prime Minister and his cabinet. They promise to be both highly strained and extremely acrimonious.
A tense peace returns to Burma. Martial law is lifted.
Japanese military aid to India continues, along with the deployment of more technical advisors. Korea is also providing aid, as it manufactures more and more of its own military hardware at the moment.
Prime Minister Katayama is coming under increased pressure to send combat troops into India, though is so far resisting it. He does, however, agree to dispatch naval and air assets.
15th October: Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s attitudes regarding foreigners and foreign influences are highlighted after Yamagata Yuki, a student at Ritsumeikan University Kyoto, converts to Islam and marries Abdullah al-Masri of Phoenicia. Her family disown her and Ritsumeikan ends up expelling her - for a concocted reason, naturally. Right-wing groups use this to start campaigning for an end to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]foreign influences[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the Empire.
Indonesia takes advantage of this to promote itself as an educational alternative in the Arab world [FONT="]–[/FONT] as a Muslim nation, it has a slight advantage in this regard.
Insurgency continues in former Pakistan, together with bombings in Southern Indian cities.
November: The Showa Oil Corporation agrees to permit unionised workers to work in the drilling stations. However, they insist on certain conditions [FONT="]–[/FONT] among them that workers [FONT="]‘[/FONT]not be pressured[FONT="]’[/FONT] to join unions.
Airstrikes begin on rebel positions in Northern India, launched by Japanese aircraft of the First Air Fleet. Cruise rocketry is also employed. At the same time, Indian forces launch major clearance operations. People bombings increase.
Work continues on Izanami-no-Mikoto station. The Japanese government is hopeful that it will begin generating its own power and be fully operational by 1978.
Korean government analysts note that the nation is on track to assume a more prominent role in GEATO. While they will always be short of certain raw materials, Korea will be able to assume an economically dominant role [FONT="]–[/FONT] and very soon.
Chinese Yellow River Automobile Corporation begins producing cars under license from Saab.
December: The zaibatsu, following Showa Oil Corporation[FONT="]’[/FONT]s lead, begin working on the union problem. Over time, the corporations will let union men and women into their factories. However, as will become apparent over the long term, there will emerge two tiers in Japanese-owned factories: union workers, who tend to get stuck in the same position for years; and non-union workers, who get promoted.
Prime Minister Katayama discusses the situation in India with President Virat Gupta. President Gupta is desirous that India should [FONT="]‘[/FONT]be the only nation responsible for finally uniting the country[FONT="]’[/FONT], but at the same time notes that his troops aren[FONT="]’[/FONT]t exactly covering themselves in glory in their efforts to pacify the North. He and Prime Minister Katayama agree provisionally that, barring a significant change on the ground, Japan will deploy troops into India in February.
Yamagata Yukio - now Fatima al-Masri - and her husband move back to Phoenicia.
Americas: October: President Kennedy provokes considerable ire when, at a state dinner, he is overheard saying [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Once a Reb, always a Reb[FONT="]…[/FONT]we can[FONT="]’[/FONT]t let up on them even for a moment.[FONT="]’[/FONT]
Major protests follow. Many are joined by men [FONT="]–[/FONT] and women [FONT="]–[/FONT] from the South who joined the US Armed Forces. Many of whom fought in Western Africa[FONT="]…[/FONT] Kennedy[FONT="]’[/FONT]s supporters don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t make things easier when they bring up his father[FONT="]’[/FONT]s death to a neo-Confederate terrorist attack.
President Cummings takes advantage of this to slam the President, stating that Kennedy [FONT="]‘[/FONT]fears the voice of the truly Godly[FONT="]’[/FONT] in his nation. He ignores the fact that since its inception, the Republic of Texas has been complicit in supressing neo-Confederate activities, even providing military assistance during the Years of Hate [FONT="]–[/FONT] since there was a fear that Texas could be usurped by vengeful Confederates.
Uruguay and Ecuador join Bloc America. The alliance now unites both the American continents.
The United States agrees to shipment of a major arms package to Persia, in exchange for exclusive drilling rights. The package includes F-4 Spectres, modern battle barrels, and the newest Drachen gunships.
November: Presidential elections. After over twenty years of Socialist presidents [FONT="]–[/FONT] largely thanks to the personal charisma of Patrick Kennedy [FONT="]–[/FONT] the Democrats return to Powell House. John Fitzgerald Kennedy is the President-Elect of the United States.
Now in the twilight months of his presidency, Patrick Kennedy assures England of America[FONT="]’[/FONT]s full support in their dispute with Scotland. Also talks to the President of Ireland, requesting support from them.
Protests intensify, as the protestors set about convincing their upcoming President of the necessity to extend the franchise to the South.
FPB operatives note that insurgent activity is down.
December: The FPB are finding things worryingly quiet in the South[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Europe: October: English trawlers operating in the North Sea report large numbers of Scottish aircraft buzzing them. In response, the English begin overflights.
Geneva talks on the North Sea are still deadlocked.
The Army of New Nigeria launches a major offensive against the Sword of God. This sees the first use of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]child soldiers[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Not, alas, the last[FONT="]…[/FONT] In the South, the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army still holds strong, massing forces to confront whoever wins.
Niger and Chad are letting refugees from the combat zone in. However, they are being highly selective [FONT="]–[/FONT] depending on background [FONT="]–[/FONT] and are spreading any refugees out across the whole country, not letting them congregate in large numbers. Benin, Biafra and Cameroon utterly refuse to take any in.
Heavy fighting in the bush in former Rhodesia. Vulkanzin is heavily used by the South African Air Force.
The Whites have now occupied all former Red territory. However, they[FONT="]’[/FONT]re quickly finding that holding that territory is something else. The Don-Kuban, meanwhile, is suffering continued uprisings and bombings.
November: English Air Force pilots report that Scottish aircraft are flying incredibly aggressively, often approaching their planes very closely. The Scottish Army is also holding major exercises along the border.
England is very much against war. However, the Northerners who dominate English politics and votes now are also very much aware that they[FONT="]’[/FONT]re in the firing line if the Scottish cross the border. Thus, anti-war protests still occur, but they stress [FONT="]‘[/FONT]not casting the first stone[FONT="]’[/FONT] rather than outright pacifism.
Ireland finally commits [FONT="]–[/FONT] the President offers England full support.
In Germany, Otto Streicher praises Scotland for taking a stand against [FONT="]‘[/FONT]the appropriation of Scotland[FONT="]’[/FONT]s property by the Socialists[FONT="]’[/FONT].
The Neutrality Bloc again lobbies to be allowed to resolve the Nigerian Civil War.
Period of retrenchment in Russia as the Whites and the federalists regroup.
December: The Volkstaat Suid-Afrika engages the services of Freikorps-Siegfried.
Scottish and English naval vessels are patrolling very close to the disputed region. The Hochsees Flotte is on high alert as well. Chancellor Braun would very much like a share of the oil.
Warden Gently appeals for negotiation [FONT="]–[/FONT] points to how the New Levellers and the Scottish Nationalists worked together to finally topple the royalists in the Second Glorious Revolution. His pleas seem to fall on deaf ears, however[FONT="]…[/FONT]
1977
January-March:
Asia: January: Japanese corporations in Vietnam return to normal operations. However, the tensions in Vietnam have had a negative impact on a number of corporations, and on the nation[FONT="]’[/FONT]s economy.
In response to ongoing work on the Kiel-class battlecruiser, the Imperial Japanese Navy begin looking into a capital warship with a heavy missile loadout. After discussion of the cost involved in building a ship from the keel up, it is agreed: the battleships Yamato and Musashi will be re-commissioned, and modified to carry large amounts of anti-ship missiles, as well as modern electronics and fire-control systems.
The IJN also begins working on a new model of destroyer, the Hatakaze. This vessel marks a significant improvement over the Tachikaze, and will be the first Japanese warship to use gas turbines.
19th January: Launch of KRI Bandar Aceh, Indonesia[FONT="]’[/FONT]s second aircraft carrier, and first domestically-produced model. The ship displaces nearly 60,000 tonnes and is capable of carrying approximately 80 aircraft.
President Tsao addresses the Global Summit, makes another call for international intervention in Nigeria. Pledges Chinese troops for a peacekeeping operation, states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]none can suspect China of territorial ambition in Africa[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Germany and Italy are still opposed to this, though they realise that their opposition is not popular at home.
Ongoing fighting in Northern India.
24th January: Border violence leads to major tensions when Persian air forces cross the border and bomb insurgent positions inside India. In response to protests, the Persian government responds that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]if India can[FONT="]’[/FONT]t keep its territory in order, it should stand aside and let those who can do so[FONT="]’[/FONT].
29th January: Truck bomb attack on the Indian Parliament buildings. President Gupta is injured by debris, while four Cabinet Ministers and 20 MPs are killed.
February: Japanese ground forces are deployed to India. Two mixed infantry brigades, an armoured brigade, and a brigade of aeromobile cavalry arrive in Northern India by the end of the month, with more being prepared.
Airstrikes continue.
Heavy fighting continues in Northern India. As Japanese forces arrive, Omar Hamad calls for [FONT="]‘[/FONT]all those who oppress the Islamic peoples of our watan to meet the same fate as the Indian polytheists[FONT="]’[/FONT].
The Kingdom of Thailand and the Democratic Republic of Burma also despatch troops to Northern India [FONT="]–[/FONT] the government of the former wish to display that they still are a military force to be reckoned with, while President Aung San wants to rally his people behind him by promoting an external threat. Neither Japan, Thailand nor Burma expect that the conflict will affect their homelands.
1st-20th March: Battle of Hyderabad. Insurgents rise up across the city in a mass attack. Japanese and Thai forces are in the thick of the battle. The conflict is a victory for Indian and allied forces, but leads to the destruction of much of the city.
The Global Summit finally agrees to let Neutrality Bloc forces into Nigeria, to try to bring some kind of peace to the country. China begins readying a force for deployment. Among them is Major Nieh Wenjiao.
Americas: January: John Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States.
Shortly into his term of office, the new President meets with leading figures in the financial sector, to discuss his proposed new fiscal policy. The men in question were expecting full deregulation, and are shocked by what the President proposes instead. The President will implement measures that do cut a lot of the red tape that prevents breakaway growth, but he will maintain government controls on particular aspects [FONT="]–[/FONT] and will appoint a new Financial Regulatory body to monitor them. Closely. In addition, in return for his new policy, he wants every financial sector company to sign an agreement to give two per cent of their annual profits to the federal government. This provokes major outcry, with many initially refusing. However, the President informs them that it[FONT="]’[/FONT]s either this, or he maintains tax on the wealthy at current levels, ie 90%. He puts it to them: would they rather pay as individuals, or corporations?
After some particularly heated negotiation, he receives their written agreement.
While John Kennedy wants to make it easier for business to operate in the United States, he also sees how the people of America have benefited from the state-run apparatuses the Socialist Party have implemented[FONT="]…[/FONT]and he knows that cutting funding to them would lead to his being ridden out of town on a rail. At the same time, though, the Democrats[FONT="]’[/FONT] wealthier supporters want tax cuts. Kennedy sees the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]subscription[FONT="]’[/FONT] of the financial sector as being a way to have his cake and eat it [FONT="]–[/FONT] to give his wealthy backers what they want, and at the same time keep enough money coming in to run the nation. He also doesn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t plan to cut taxes too much[FONT="]…[/FONT]
February: The Financial Regulatory Act is signed into law.
The new President visits Kentucky, where he meets with leaders in the franchise movement.
23rd February: After negotiation with the franchise movement, and Cabinet discussions, the President unveils his new [FONT="]‘[/FONT]roadmap[FONT="]’[/FONT] for the South.
Firstly, individual states will be granted representation and self-government gradually, based on recommendations from the Federal Police Bureau, and contingent on a majority of citizens registering [FONT="]–[/FONT] a process contingent on their taking oaths of allegiance to the United States of America.
Secondly, the governments of those states given self-rule will be conducted by civilian [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Truth and Reconciliation[FONT="]’[/FONT] assemblies appointed by the Federal Government for a period of five years, during which time the main political parties will develop apparatuses in the states in question.
Thirdly, the Federal Police Bureau will have the power to override local police forces for the next five years, at which point the situation on the ground will be reviewed.
Fourthly, the franchise in the new states will be restricted to those who have served in the military. Anyone who dodged conscription will not be allowed to vote.
Fifthly, the new states are not permitted to maintain National Guard units until the year 1997.
Finally, the new state legislatures will not be permitted to block or circumvent any Federal legislation that has been agreed up to the present date.
Most Northerners are satisfied with the President[FONT="]’[/FONT]s roadmap [FONT="]–[/FONT] they feel it maintains sufficient safeguards to prevent a repeat of the Years of Hate. And indeed, while many Southerners complain that they shouldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be subject to so many checks and balances, the majority know that they have to prove their loyalty [FONT="]–[/FONT] after all, during the Years of Hate, many of the state legislatures established during the Lovhaug and Wilder administrations turned against the Federal government. Including National Guard units[FONT="]…[/FONT] However, a vocal minority of Southerners are extremely vehement about being forced to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]keep the immoral legislation[FONT="]’[/FONT] foisted on them by Washington. They[FONT="]’[/FONT]re mostly Southern religious leaders.
President Cummings backs up the vocal minority, calling for a [FONT="]‘[/FONT]moral reform[FONT="]’[/FONT] of North America. However, this is having a knock-on effect [FONT="]–[/FONT] politicised religion is increasingly being seen as evidence of neo-Confederate sympathies.
March: Work begins on establishing an assembly for Kentucky, as registration also gets underway. Work is also underway on building up the singularly anaemic police forces in the state [FONT="]–[/FONT] the FPB and the Army have had near-sole responsibility for law enforcement across the South since the Years of Hate ended, and local police have dwindled. Badly.
The President approves an increase in the Navy budget, to allow the construction of two more Fisk-class carriers. He defends this increase citing America[FONT="]’[/FONT]s increased commitments in Africa, and Germany[FONT="]’[/FONT]s increased military spending.
30th March: The [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Truth and Reconciliation[FONT="]’[/FONT] assembly for Kentucky is sworn in. Hurley Maxwell, a prominent leader of the franchise movement and the head of the Southern Fabian Information Society [FONT="]–[/FONT] a Socialist group that gets around the prohibition on politics by being an [FONT="]‘[/FONT]information providing society[FONT="]’[/FONT][FONT="]–[/FONT] becomes Kentucky[FONT="]’[/FONT]s first State Governor since the Years of Hate.
Europe: 2nd January: Four Scottish Taifun fighters enter English air-space. English Spectres meet them. An exchange of fire takes place, during which a Taifun is shot down by an English fighter. Shortly thereafter, English and Scottish border units exchange artillery fire, before being ordered to stand down.
The events of this day lead to a return to the negotiating table.
7th January: SMS Kiel is launched, to begin shakedown.
12th January: ENS Albion is launched, to begin shakedown.
19th January: Oshogbo Massacre. The Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army shoots dead over two thousand Muslim prisoners.
23rd January: Freikorps-Siegfried units act against [FONT="]‘[/FONT]black terror cells[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Soweto. Over three hundred people are killed and many more displaced.
New Puma Main Battle Barrel goes into mass production in Germany.
29th January: After long, arduous negotiation, England and Scotland reach an agreement over the area of the North Sea in questio. From now on, the region will be administered jointly by the two nations. Both sides may site oil-drilling equipment, but must do so in parity with one another (ie, neither may have more rigs than the other side). Neither side may send naval assets into the region, save for patrol boats and fishery patrol aircraft.
12th February: The new Italian supercarrier Giulio Caesare comes off the slips in Riva Trigoso. This comes just as the Massimo F-1 Tigre goes into mass production. It is hoped that the first wing will be finished by the time Giulio Caesare finishes her shakedown, while more will be built for the two carriers to survive the war.
Heavy fighting in Nigeria as the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army pushes North, attacking the Army of Free Nigeria. Heavy casualties are being wracked up on both sides, and on the civilian population.
Russian federal forces launch a major offensive against the Whites. Heavy fighting along the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]border[FONT="]’[/FONT] between the two, and the federal army force a breakthrough at Yoshkar-Ola.
March: Germany continues funnelling weapons to the Whites. While they don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t particularly want the Whites to win, they really don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t want the Reds to end up on top[FONT="]…[/FONT]and really, if the civil war drags on, it wouldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be a great loss. The collapse of Russia into civil war has allowed Germany to solidify its hold over Ukraine and the United Baltic Duchy.
Politicking is under way in Hungary, as opponents and proponents of the Trans-Danube system campaign aggressively.
The Global Summit finally agrees to the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force in Nigeria, as continued reports of massacre and starvation float out of the country. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Tanzania and China begin preparing troops.
West African nations had worried that the change of administration in Philadelphia would lead to a change of policy in Africa. However, development aid continues to roll in [FONT="]–[/FONT] and development and construction continue. The capitals of the WACoN members are rapidly becoming modern cities, with solid infrastructure and utilities, and the fruits of development are making themselves felt outside the cities [FONT="]–[/FONT] slowly, but surely.
27th March: Morocco joins the Arab Alliance, partly for the economic benefits, and partly because they hope to recover the territory that Spain still holds[FONT="]…[/FONT]
In response, the Kingdom of Arabia[FONT="]’[/FONT]s military spending increases.
April-June:
Asia: April: Allied troops intensify operations inside Sindh and Punjab.
At the same time, air and rocket strikes from India, Burma and Japanese carrier air continue.
Persia begins a Balchistan Settlement Initiative, both the secure its new territory and to further secure the loyalty of its newer subjects in what used to be Southern Iraq. Shiite Arabs are given settlement grants in Baluchistan, as well as tax breaks for large families in the new territory.
Korea[FONT="]’[/FONT]s first civilian atomic reactor comes online at Yongbyon.
Chinese forces begin arriving in Nigeria, together with other Neutrality Bloc contingents. The Swedish Navy and Danish commando units secure a bridgehead near Lagos, and heavier troops move in. The Global Summit declares the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army a terrorist organisation.
9th May: Japanese forces patrolling near Hyderabad are ambushed by rebel forces, after their convoy runs foul of Improvised Mines. Eighteen are killed, seven injured.
16th May: Bomb attack in Mandalay kills twelve. The attack is proved to have been carried out by a student at Mandalay University from Lahore, but it causes massive hostility towards the largely peaceful Rohingya people of Northern Burma.
June: String of bomb attacks across India. In response, Japanese commando forces launch a number of cross-border raids into Afghanistan (ie the old North-West Frontier), taking out multiple rebel supply facilities.
More bombings in Mandalay and Bagan. In response, Buddhist mobs target Muslim businesses. Many note that General Aung San has got solidarity among Burmese. Burmese Buddhists, that is[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Neutrality Bloc forces shove inland. As they advance against the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army, they work to distribute food aid and establish refugee camps.
Indonesian clerics call for peace in Northern India, with several imams suggesting that they mediate.
31st June: A people bomb detonates on a tram in Nihonbashi, killing twenty people.
America: April: President Kennedy rolls out his tax cuts. The super-rich are now to be taxed at 70%, not 90%. While this is a substantial reduction, it[FONT="]’[/FONT]s a much smaller reduction than many Democrat voters had expected.
Kentucky is, so far, ticking along OK. However, it[FONT="]’[/FONT]s being monitored closely, and it won[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be for another year that there[FONT="]’[/FONT]s any talk of another state being granted representation.
Trouble flares up in the State of Oahu, as Mormon missionaries from the Free State of New Deseret and Navy sailors on furlough come to blows.
May: Beginning of growth of financial sector. This, plus the increased production in the shipyards, is leading to increased employment.
Series of bombings in Alabama and Florida, aimed at FPB targets. Most are caught without the devices going off, but in Birmingham, eight FPB agents are killed.
At the same time, a series of major arrests are conducted across Georgia. About thirty neo-Confederate paramilitaries are arrested and large amounts of cocaine are seized.
Aside from the bombings, there is very little activity.
June: The Confederated Baptist Church [FONT="]–[/FONT] a particularly right-wing group [FONT="]–[/FONT] leads a series of protests in Kentucky, demanding that the federal government allow the state assembly to vote on the Equal Employment Bill and that certain state government officials (ie, the Fabians) be removed. President Kennedy ignores this [FONT="]–[/FONT] while the FPB uses the old political affiliations of some of the protestors to justify calling in the riot squads.
President Cummings protests loudly, offers the CBC a [FONT="]‘[/FONT]refuge[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Texas. President Kennedy responds with a statement that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Texas needs to remember that it is a member of Bloc America. Does it wish to stay there?[FONT="]’[/FONT]
Europe: April: Federal troops are fought to a standstill by the Whites, but ongoing Red rebellion prevents White forces from launching a counter-attack.
Increased taxes on the working classes are leading to considerable ill-feeling inside Germany.
Algeria is caught between the Arab Alliance and WACoN.
May-June: Continued plebiscite campaigning in Hungary. At the same time, other nations in the Trans-Danube are turning over the idea of plebiscites of their own.
No change in the frontlines in Russia.
Further violence in South Africa as the Freikorps continue to be deployed into 'trouble spots'. The rebels respond with people-bombings in the major cities.
January-March:
Asia: January: Japanese corporations in Vietnam return to normal operations. However, the tensions in Vietnam have had a negative impact on a number of corporations, and on the nation[FONT="]’[/FONT]s economy.
In response to ongoing work on the Kiel-class battlecruiser, the Imperial Japanese Navy begin looking into a capital warship with a heavy missile loadout. After discussion of the cost involved in building a ship from the keel up, it is agreed: the battleships Yamato and Musashi will be re-commissioned, and modified to carry large amounts of anti-ship missiles, as well as modern electronics and fire-control systems.
The IJN also begins working on a new model of destroyer, the Hatakaze. This vessel marks a significant improvement over the Tachikaze, and will be the first Japanese warship to use gas turbines.
19th January: Launch of KRI Bandar Aceh, Indonesia[FONT="]’[/FONT]s second aircraft carrier, and first domestically-produced model. The ship displaces nearly 60,000 tonnes and is capable of carrying approximately 80 aircraft.
President Tsao addresses the Global Summit, makes another call for international intervention in Nigeria. Pledges Chinese troops for a peacekeeping operation, states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]none can suspect China of territorial ambition in Africa[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Germany and Italy are still opposed to this, though they realise that their opposition is not popular at home.
Ongoing fighting in Northern India.
24th January: Border violence leads to major tensions when Persian air forces cross the border and bomb insurgent positions inside India. In response to protests, the Persian government responds that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]if India can[FONT="]’[/FONT]t keep its territory in order, it should stand aside and let those who can do so[FONT="]’[/FONT].
29th January: Truck bomb attack on the Indian Parliament buildings. President Gupta is injured by debris, while four Cabinet Ministers and 20 MPs are killed.
February: Japanese ground forces are deployed to India. Two mixed infantry brigades, an armoured brigade, and a brigade of aeromobile cavalry arrive in Northern India by the end of the month, with more being prepared.
Airstrikes continue.
Heavy fighting continues in Northern India. As Japanese forces arrive, Omar Hamad calls for [FONT="]‘[/FONT]all those who oppress the Islamic peoples of our watan to meet the same fate as the Indian polytheists[FONT="]’[/FONT].
The Kingdom of Thailand and the Democratic Republic of Burma also despatch troops to Northern India [FONT="]–[/FONT] the government of the former wish to display that they still are a military force to be reckoned with, while President Aung San wants to rally his people behind him by promoting an external threat. Neither Japan, Thailand nor Burma expect that the conflict will affect their homelands.
1st-20th March: Battle of Hyderabad. Insurgents rise up across the city in a mass attack. Japanese and Thai forces are in the thick of the battle. The conflict is a victory for Indian and allied forces, but leads to the destruction of much of the city.
The Global Summit finally agrees to let Neutrality Bloc forces into Nigeria, to try to bring some kind of peace to the country. China begins readying a force for deployment. Among them is Major Nieh Wenjiao.
Americas: January: John Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States.
Shortly into his term of office, the new President meets with leading figures in the financial sector, to discuss his proposed new fiscal policy. The men in question were expecting full deregulation, and are shocked by what the President proposes instead. The President will implement measures that do cut a lot of the red tape that prevents breakaway growth, but he will maintain government controls on particular aspects [FONT="]–[/FONT] and will appoint a new Financial Regulatory body to monitor them. Closely. In addition, in return for his new policy, he wants every financial sector company to sign an agreement to give two per cent of their annual profits to the federal government. This provokes major outcry, with many initially refusing. However, the President informs them that it[FONT="]’[/FONT]s either this, or he maintains tax on the wealthy at current levels, ie 90%. He puts it to them: would they rather pay as individuals, or corporations?
After some particularly heated negotiation, he receives their written agreement.
While John Kennedy wants to make it easier for business to operate in the United States, he also sees how the people of America have benefited from the state-run apparatuses the Socialist Party have implemented[FONT="]…[/FONT]and he knows that cutting funding to them would lead to his being ridden out of town on a rail. At the same time, though, the Democrats[FONT="]’[/FONT] wealthier supporters want tax cuts. Kennedy sees the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]subscription[FONT="]’[/FONT] of the financial sector as being a way to have his cake and eat it [FONT="]–[/FONT] to give his wealthy backers what they want, and at the same time keep enough money coming in to run the nation. He also doesn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t plan to cut taxes too much[FONT="]…[/FONT]
February: The Financial Regulatory Act is signed into law.
The new President visits Kentucky, where he meets with leaders in the franchise movement.
23rd February: After negotiation with the franchise movement, and Cabinet discussions, the President unveils his new [FONT="]‘[/FONT]roadmap[FONT="]’[/FONT] for the South.
Firstly, individual states will be granted representation and self-government gradually, based on recommendations from the Federal Police Bureau, and contingent on a majority of citizens registering [FONT="]–[/FONT] a process contingent on their taking oaths of allegiance to the United States of America.
Secondly, the governments of those states given self-rule will be conducted by civilian [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Truth and Reconciliation[FONT="]’[/FONT] assemblies appointed by the Federal Government for a period of five years, during which time the main political parties will develop apparatuses in the states in question.
Thirdly, the Federal Police Bureau will have the power to override local police forces for the next five years, at which point the situation on the ground will be reviewed.
Fourthly, the franchise in the new states will be restricted to those who have served in the military. Anyone who dodged conscription will not be allowed to vote.
Fifthly, the new states are not permitted to maintain National Guard units until the year 1997.
Finally, the new state legislatures will not be permitted to block or circumvent any Federal legislation that has been agreed up to the present date.
Most Northerners are satisfied with the President[FONT="]’[/FONT]s roadmap [FONT="]–[/FONT] they feel it maintains sufficient safeguards to prevent a repeat of the Years of Hate. And indeed, while many Southerners complain that they shouldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be subject to so many checks and balances, the majority know that they have to prove their loyalty [FONT="]–[/FONT] after all, during the Years of Hate, many of the state legislatures established during the Lovhaug and Wilder administrations turned against the Federal government. Including National Guard units[FONT="]…[/FONT] However, a vocal minority of Southerners are extremely vehement about being forced to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]keep the immoral legislation[FONT="]’[/FONT] foisted on them by Washington. They[FONT="]’[/FONT]re mostly Southern religious leaders.
President Cummings backs up the vocal minority, calling for a [FONT="]‘[/FONT]moral reform[FONT="]’[/FONT] of North America. However, this is having a knock-on effect [FONT="]–[/FONT] politicised religion is increasingly being seen as evidence of neo-Confederate sympathies.
March: Work begins on establishing an assembly for Kentucky, as registration also gets underway. Work is also underway on building up the singularly anaemic police forces in the state [FONT="]–[/FONT] the FPB and the Army have had near-sole responsibility for law enforcement across the South since the Years of Hate ended, and local police have dwindled. Badly.
The President approves an increase in the Navy budget, to allow the construction of two more Fisk-class carriers. He defends this increase citing America[FONT="]’[/FONT]s increased commitments in Africa, and Germany[FONT="]’[/FONT]s increased military spending.
30th March: The [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Truth and Reconciliation[FONT="]’[/FONT] assembly for Kentucky is sworn in. Hurley Maxwell, a prominent leader of the franchise movement and the head of the Southern Fabian Information Society [FONT="]–[/FONT] a Socialist group that gets around the prohibition on politics by being an [FONT="]‘[/FONT]information providing society[FONT="]’[/FONT][FONT="]–[/FONT] becomes Kentucky[FONT="]’[/FONT]s first State Governor since the Years of Hate.
Europe: 2nd January: Four Scottish Taifun fighters enter English air-space. English Spectres meet them. An exchange of fire takes place, during which a Taifun is shot down by an English fighter. Shortly thereafter, English and Scottish border units exchange artillery fire, before being ordered to stand down.
The events of this day lead to a return to the negotiating table.
7th January: SMS Kiel is launched, to begin shakedown.
12th January: ENS Albion is launched, to begin shakedown.
19th January: Oshogbo Massacre. The Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army shoots dead over two thousand Muslim prisoners.
23rd January: Freikorps-Siegfried units act against [FONT="]‘[/FONT]black terror cells[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Soweto. Over three hundred people are killed and many more displaced.
New Puma Main Battle Barrel goes into mass production in Germany.
29th January: After long, arduous negotiation, England and Scotland reach an agreement over the area of the North Sea in questio. From now on, the region will be administered jointly by the two nations. Both sides may site oil-drilling equipment, but must do so in parity with one another (ie, neither may have more rigs than the other side). Neither side may send naval assets into the region, save for patrol boats and fishery patrol aircraft.
12th February: The new Italian supercarrier Giulio Caesare comes off the slips in Riva Trigoso. This comes just as the Massimo F-1 Tigre goes into mass production. It is hoped that the first wing will be finished by the time Giulio Caesare finishes her shakedown, while more will be built for the two carriers to survive the war.
Heavy fighting in Nigeria as the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army pushes North, attacking the Army of Free Nigeria. Heavy casualties are being wracked up on both sides, and on the civilian population.
Russian federal forces launch a major offensive against the Whites. Heavy fighting along the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]border[FONT="]’[/FONT] between the two, and the federal army force a breakthrough at Yoshkar-Ola.
March: Germany continues funnelling weapons to the Whites. While they don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t particularly want the Whites to win, they really don[FONT="]’[/FONT]t want the Reds to end up on top[FONT="]…[/FONT]and really, if the civil war drags on, it wouldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be a great loss. The collapse of Russia into civil war has allowed Germany to solidify its hold over Ukraine and the United Baltic Duchy.
Politicking is under way in Hungary, as opponents and proponents of the Trans-Danube system campaign aggressively.
The Global Summit finally agrees to the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force in Nigeria, as continued reports of massacre and starvation float out of the country. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Tanzania and China begin preparing troops.
West African nations had worried that the change of administration in Philadelphia would lead to a change of policy in Africa. However, development aid continues to roll in [FONT="]–[/FONT] and development and construction continue. The capitals of the WACoN members are rapidly becoming modern cities, with solid infrastructure and utilities, and the fruits of development are making themselves felt outside the cities [FONT="]–[/FONT] slowly, but surely.
27th March: Morocco joins the Arab Alliance, partly for the economic benefits, and partly because they hope to recover the territory that Spain still holds[FONT="]…[/FONT]
In response, the Kingdom of Arabia[FONT="]’[/FONT]s military spending increases.
April-June:
Asia: April: Allied troops intensify operations inside Sindh and Punjab.
At the same time, air and rocket strikes from India, Burma and Japanese carrier air continue.
Persia begins a Balchistan Settlement Initiative, both the secure its new territory and to further secure the loyalty of its newer subjects in what used to be Southern Iraq. Shiite Arabs are given settlement grants in Baluchistan, as well as tax breaks for large families in the new territory.
Korea[FONT="]’[/FONT]s first civilian atomic reactor comes online at Yongbyon.
Chinese forces begin arriving in Nigeria, together with other Neutrality Bloc contingents. The Swedish Navy and Danish commando units secure a bridgehead near Lagos, and heavier troops move in. The Global Summit declares the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army a terrorist organisation.
9th May: Japanese forces patrolling near Hyderabad are ambushed by rebel forces, after their convoy runs foul of Improvised Mines. Eighteen are killed, seven injured.
16th May: Bomb attack in Mandalay kills twelve. The attack is proved to have been carried out by a student at Mandalay University from Lahore, but it causes massive hostility towards the largely peaceful Rohingya people of Northern Burma.
June: String of bomb attacks across India. In response, Japanese commando forces launch a number of cross-border raids into Afghanistan (ie the old North-West Frontier), taking out multiple rebel supply facilities.
More bombings in Mandalay and Bagan. In response, Buddhist mobs target Muslim businesses. Many note that General Aung San has got solidarity among Burmese. Burmese Buddhists, that is[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Neutrality Bloc forces shove inland. As they advance against the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army, they work to distribute food aid and establish refugee camps.
Indonesian clerics call for peace in Northern India, with several imams suggesting that they mediate.
31st June: A people bomb detonates on a tram in Nihonbashi, killing twenty people.
America: April: President Kennedy rolls out his tax cuts. The super-rich are now to be taxed at 70%, not 90%. While this is a substantial reduction, it[FONT="]’[/FONT]s a much smaller reduction than many Democrat voters had expected.
Kentucky is, so far, ticking along OK. However, it[FONT="]’[/FONT]s being monitored closely, and it won[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be for another year that there[FONT="]’[/FONT]s any talk of another state being granted representation.
Trouble flares up in the State of Oahu, as Mormon missionaries from the Free State of New Deseret and Navy sailors on furlough come to blows.
May: Beginning of growth of financial sector. This, plus the increased production in the shipyards, is leading to increased employment.
Series of bombings in Alabama and Florida, aimed at FPB targets. Most are caught without the devices going off, but in Birmingham, eight FPB agents are killed.
At the same time, a series of major arrests are conducted across Georgia. About thirty neo-Confederate paramilitaries are arrested and large amounts of cocaine are seized.
Aside from the bombings, there is very little activity.
June: The Confederated Baptist Church [FONT="]–[/FONT] a particularly right-wing group [FONT="]–[/FONT] leads a series of protests in Kentucky, demanding that the federal government allow the state assembly to vote on the Equal Employment Bill and that certain state government officials (ie, the Fabians) be removed. President Kennedy ignores this [FONT="]–[/FONT] while the FPB uses the old political affiliations of some of the protestors to justify calling in the riot squads.
President Cummings protests loudly, offers the CBC a [FONT="]‘[/FONT]refuge[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Texas. President Kennedy responds with a statement that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Texas needs to remember that it is a member of Bloc America. Does it wish to stay there?[FONT="]’[/FONT]
Europe: April: Federal troops are fought to a standstill by the Whites, but ongoing Red rebellion prevents White forces from launching a counter-attack.
Increased taxes on the working classes are leading to considerable ill-feeling inside Germany.
Algeria is caught between the Arab Alliance and WACoN.
May-June: Continued plebiscite campaigning in Hungary. At the same time, other nations in the Trans-Danube are turning over the idea of plebiscites of their own.
No change in the frontlines in Russia.
Further violence in South Africa as the Freikorps continue to be deployed into 'trouble spots'. The rebels respond with people-bombings in the major cities.
July-September:
Asia: July: Prime Minister Katayama declares martial law, deploys the Army onto the streets of Tokyo and other major cities.
The Nihonbashi bomber, it is revealed, was a native of Lahore. The Japanese government orders that all students and foreign workers (very few of the latter) from Northern India report to police stations for registration, while Japanese troops are deployed onto university campuses.
Military units are forced into riot control duty as right-wing groups take to the streets, targeting anyone who has the misfortune to look Northern Indian/Muslim. Heavy rioting convulses Tokyo.
The Burmese military places Rohingya-majority areas under martial law.
Neutrality Bloc forces are shoving further into Nigeria. Chinese forces impress both their Scandinavian partners and foreign observers with their professionalism.
Major insurgent assaults in Faisalabad and Rawalpindi. Tonbo and artillery are deployed.
August: Prime Minister Katayama reaches out to the two autonomous republics within the Empire. As both [FONT="]‘[/FONT]nations[FONT="]’[/FONT] are Muslim majority, he hopes that their troops might be better at winning hearts and minds than Japanese forces. Mindanao agrees, though Malay authorities are more cagy. Moro paramilitary units are prepared for deployment to Northern India.
A large number of Northern Indian (former Pakistani) civilians in Japan are arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist activity.
Protests by Rohingyas are put down by the Burmese Army.
12th-31st August: Battle of Lagos: The Neutrality Bloc peacekeepers drive the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army from Lagos, in the process shattering much of the veteran fighting force and leadership cadre of the faction. Following this, the multinational force will find it much easier to occupy and secure the South of the country.
September: Moro paramilitaries arrive in Northern India. They are able to deal more sensitively with Muslim civilians, and are[FONT="]…[/FONT]favourably(ish) regarded by civilians in the region.
Prime Minister Katayama visits the University of Tokyo, to address students from Arab countries. He apologises for any difficulties they may have faced, states that they are welcome in Japan, and that Japan has nothing against the Islamic world. However, he re-iterates that Pakistan was an enemy of Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s ally, an artificial construct created with aid from China and Germany, and that Japan has merely been assisting its ally in dealing with a long-standing sore. For their part, the Arab students [FONT="]–[/FONT] and indeed, the governments and peoples of the Arab Alliance [FONT="]–[/FONT] mostly couldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t care less about what used to be Pakistan or its people, seeing them as backward and [FONT="]‘[/FONT]not our kind of people[FONT="]’[/FONT], they just want assurances that they won[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be mistaken for Pakistanis by Japanese right-wingers. The only Arabs who really think of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]aid for Pakistan[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the name of Pan-Islamic solidarity tend not to go to study in Japan.
Students and workers from former Pakistan are deported. All of them. As a result, the riots die away. However, things are not unnoticed by clerics in former Pakistan and the Kingdom of Arabia, who thunder loudly about Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s [FONT="]‘[/FONT]hatred of Islam[FONT="]’[/FONT].
24th September: Omar Hamad is killed by a Japanese airstrike into what is now Afghanistan.
Neutrality Bloc forces in control of Southern Nigeria come under heavy attack by Army of Free Nigeria forces. They manage to hold out, however, while missile strikes from Scandinavian naval craft are able to score major damage on the AFN[FONT="]’[/FONT]s forward-most units.
Americas: July: The Kentucky State Legislature comes under further fire from more right-wing elements in the state, who are calling for the removal of certain books from elementary and high schools across the state. The readers in question are opposed because of certain stories they contain: namely, one about human astronauts encountering Martians, who they each see in a different way because of their own background and Martian telepathy. The religious right objects to this because it a) promulgates being accepting of alternative viewpoints and b) telepathy involves witchcraft, apparently. They also condemn feminist and supposedly [FONT="]‘[/FONT]anti-authoritarian[FONT="]’[/FONT] stories in the reader. More worryingly, there is also outcry over the work Thunder Roll and Lightning Strike by Caribbean citizen Mildred Taylor [FONT="]–[/FONT] a Holocaust survivor, who wrote the book based on her own experiences [FONT="]–[/FONT] being used in schools. The Legislature, with support from Philadelphia, politely tells the protesting elements to stuff it.
As President Kennedy privately observes, [FONT="]‘[/FONT]if the former Confederacy of all people think we[FONT="]’[/FONT]re I[FONT="]’[/FONT]m going to suppress educational materials that promote tolerance, they[FONT="]’[/FONT]ve got another think coming[FONT="]’[/FONT].
Further protests in Houston lead to major riot in Lubbock. FPB and military personnel deployed to put them down. Twenty die in two days of rioting.
Scientists in Custer Station find something curious, which they dub Helium-3[FONT="]…
[/FONT] August: Governor Raul Castro of Cuba publicly criticises right-wing elements in the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Old South[FONT="]’[/FONT], states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]in one form or another, such people have been impeding the progress of this great nation since the Second Great War[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Cuba, it should be noted, is a Socialist stronghold, and widely referred to as the most progressive state in the Union. President Garvey of the Caribbean and President Delgado of Mexico also voice concerns [FONT="]–[/FONT] President Garvey is worried that rightist elements are desirous of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]rewriting history[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the United States, while President Delgado is worried about the increasingly nationalist rhetoric coming out of Texas. President Kennedy meets with them in Philadelphia, tells them in no uncertain terms that the United States is not going to allow either internal minority hate-groups or Texas to jeopardise the current peace (relatively speaking) that North America enjoys.
In light of the commercial success of the Across the Stars films, television executives at FVA (Farseer Vista America) begin planning Across the Stars: Phase II, to air when the film trilogy is over. The programme Kyle Rainer: Space Ranger airs in the meantime. Based on an interwar comic, this tells the story of the eponymous astronaut Kyle Rainer, plunged forward in time to the year 2500.
September: The beginnings of a divide are emerging in Kentucky. This is between (generally younger) patriots, who make their loyalty to the US apparent through unreserved support to the new legislature, and more right-wing elements, who aren[FONT="]’[/FONT]t necessarily opposed to the US but are not in favour of certain policies and the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]leftist trend[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Religious rightism is increasingly being seen by young Kentuckians as backwards at best[FONT="]…[/FONT]and unpatriotic at worst, since the right wing in their minds is connected to neo-Confederate sympathies.
President Kennedy is intent on exploiting this to the maximum [FONT="]–[/FONT] while right of centre and a Christian, he also wishes to forever divide the South[FONT="]’[/FONT]s young population from older sympathies.
Continued arms shipments to black rebels Volkstaat Suid-Afrika.
President Cummings continues to encourage civil disobedience in Houston [FONT="]–[/FONT] subtly, to be sure, but he[FONT="]’[/FONT]s doing it. He[FONT="]’[/FONT]s also shipping weapons to the government of Volkstaat Suid-Afrika [FONT="]–[/FONT]doing his best to keep it under wraps.
Europe: July: Chancellor Braun closes a number of German coal-mines, provoking fierce outcry from the miners[FONT="]’[/FONT] unions.
Giulio Cesare is officially commissioned into the Regia Marina, together with a full complement of Tigres. More are coming off the assembly lines for Italy[FONT="]’[/FONT]s other two carriers.
England and Ireland conduct joint naval drills off Cape Clear, for possible defence of Ireland[FONT="]’[/FONT]s southern coast against a naval/amphibious attack.
Ireland begins construction of the Wolfe Tone, a new command ship for the fleet. Displacing 6,300 tons, this will be the largest vessel in the Irish Navy upon completion, as well as the largest domestically-produced ship [FONT="]–[/FONT] though with American assistance.
Situation in South Africa is deteriorating rapidly. Government control is enforced at the point of mercenary guns, while terrorist bombings in the major cities are a regular occurrence.
The Russian Whites approach Freikorps-Siegfried. Many White supporters both inside and outside Russia are wealthy [FONT="]–[/FONT] wealthier than the federal government, so the Freikorps[FONT="]’[/FONT] board of directors theorises [FONT="]–[/FONT] so they agree to deploy men into Russia, via White-controlled ports.
August: Many analysts in Europe observe that Freikorps-Siegfried is essentially becoming an extension of German and Italian foreign policy [FONT="]–[/FONT] that where they go, German and Italian businesses follow.
More accounts of Freikorps-instigated atrocities float out of South Africa.
White Russian and mercenary forces launch major attacks all along the line of control, forcing the federal forces back Eastwards.
Major protests over mine closures in Germany, while unions vote on strike action.
English Broadcasting Corporation releases Curse the Darkness, a science-fiction show in which a group of rebels fight to overthrow the totalitarian Human Federation. It becomes a major hit, and is also notable for being the first popular English show to feature a Say protagonist: Serenita, an alien priestess of the Way (based on Buddhism). Many more conservative elements in England are somewhat upset by that, but ultimately the show is sufficiently popular to do without that group of watchers. Some of the writers of Across the Stars: Phase II observe that and take note[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Algeria formally joins the Arab Alliance.
September: The coal-mining unions in Germany agree to a general strike. Chancellor Braun denounces them, declares that the German Reich does not [FONT="]‘[/FONT]bow to the demands of Socialist thugs[FONT="]’[/FONT].
The Spanish government, with financing from Germany and Italy, is building a new carrier to replace the one lost during the West African War.
Release of the first film of the epic series I Cinque buoni imperatori, Imperatore Nerva. The series is a sweeping dramatisation of the reign of the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Five Good Emperors[FONT="]’[/FONT] of Rome, with films of three hours each.
Many Mittelafrikans are greatly alarmed by the increasingly hard-line policies of the Braun government. Nationalist sentiments are becoming increasingly prevalent in the colony. Not, though, in Namibia (now German majority) or Madagascar.
Ireland formally decriminalises homosexuality for adults over the age of twenty-one. In related news, England formally states that homosexuals of both genders may serve in the military. Again, there had never been any formal statement that they couldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t, but the ambiguity led to problems. Things are now cleared up legally, though it will take some time before the military becomes a completely safe environment.
In Russia, the Whites have punched deep into formerly federal territory. The Freikorps are also putting down Red guerrillas inside White territory, with Cossack assistance.
October-December:
Asia: October: With the death of Omar Hamad, the insurgent activity in Northern India has become disorganised [FONT="]–[/FONT] still dangerous, but without a clear leadership. Indian and allied forces launch major offensives against rebel cells across the North, inflicting punishing casualties.
The Afghan government protests over Japanese violation of their airspace. The Japanese response, as one American commentator puts it, is a diplomatic version of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Whatcha gonna do about it?[FONT="]’[/FONT]. The Afghans come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that there is nothing they can do about it [FONT="]–[/FONT] the Afghan military isn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t enough to confront the Indian Army or their Asian allies.
Burmese Buddhist militias target Muslims in response to the bombings. Many Muslims up stakes and move away from Buddhist-majority areas. A large number move to Southern Thailand/Thai Malaya.
Park Avionics unveils the Chollima supersonic airliner. This plane will be widely used by All-Korea Airways and Japan Airlines on their trans-Pacific route, and will [FONT="]–[/FONT] in time [FONT="]–[/FONT] be sought after by European companies who want to make it under license.
Fresh Chinese forces are deployed to Nigeria. Food aid is being delivered to the South by Scandinavian and Tanzanian ships.
November: Prime Minister Katayama, fearing the rapid advance of the White forces, begins supplying the remnants of the Russian federal government with weaponry via Japanese Siberia.
New bombings in Northern India, largely focused on military R&R areas. However, they aren[FONT="]’[/FONT]t coordinated to the same extent as the previous attacks were.
General Aung San addresses the nation via Farseer. He states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Burma is weathering the storms of disorder[FONT="]’[/FONT], and that the nation is coming together admirably.
17-19th November: Battle of Ogbomoso. Nigerian paramilitaries attack the Chinese 3rd Mixed Infantry Brigade, launching a major offensive as they try to dislodge them. Chinese forces drive them back, inflicting heavy casualties. Major Nieh wins a promotion to Colonel in this battle.
December: A freeze is placed on further troop deployments from Japan to Northern India. However, the forces deployed in Northern India will remain deployed for the moment, to ensure that the situation is calming.
Several of Omar Hamad[FONT="]’[/FONT]s clerical disciples meet in Kandahar, to try to form a consensus regarding regaining control over the resistance movement.
President Tsao begins the preliminary stages of opening a dialogue with Japan. He hopes to normalise relations with the Empire[FONT="]…[/FONT]though any normalisation has to include a formal apology for the destruction of Nanking, along with some form of compensation.
Americas: October: Bombing in Covington kills twelve and wounds thirty. The bomb was not neo-Confederate, however. It was, instead, aimed at a clinic providing abortions. The subsequent FPB investigation reveals that a religious group called the Wrath of the Lamb was behind it. The FPB raids their headquarters across the South, with backup provided by the reconstituted local police [FONT="]–[/FONT] the first operation that wasn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t entirely FPB managed in the South since the Years of Hate.
President Kennedy visits Kentucky, publicly gives his full support to the state government. In private, he tells Governor Maxwell that if Kentucky is to continue as a normalised state of the Union, they need to keep incidents like this from happening.
The President is intrigued by the recent discovery of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Helium-3[FONT="]’[/FONT] on the Moon. In particular, the idea that atomic fusion plants could become a reality, providing clean, safe and reliable energy. Of course, the theory is still a long way from becoming reality, but if it does, then America would have effective control over the source of this power. He authorises an extension of the Rocket and Space Administration[FONT="]’[/FONT]s budget, to allow them to build a second Phoebus craft for travel between Luna and Roosevelt Station.
Great White is released in cinemas in the United States. It becomes an instant hit.
November: America has a functional nuclear booster. Production of an array begins, for the Mars mission. In addition, work will begin on the craft[FONT="]’[/FONT]s hull in the New Year.
Construction of Blackford Station on the Moon begins.
President Kennedy begins discussions with the major oil companies, with a view to introducing a similar [FONT="]‘[/FONT]contribution[FONT="]’[/FONT] from them to that he got from the financial groups - this would allow for more tax cuts in the New Year, without increasing the tax burden on ordinary people. The major executives of the companies are in a quandary [FONT="]–[/FONT] on the one hand, they have no desire to fork over even a small percentage of their profits, but on the other hand, as individuals they rather like the idea of more tax cuts. The discussions will wind on for some time.
Governor Maxwell of Kentucky begins to give encouragement to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]collective enterprise[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Kentucky. Tax breaks will be given to collectively-owned, collectively-run businesses.
December: After much wrangling, the oil companies agree to making a contribution of two percent of their annual profits to the government. In response, Kennedy will cut tax on the wealthy to sixty percent in the New Year.
Religious groups in Kentucky protest the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Socialistic tendencies[FONT="]’[/FONT] of the Governor and his legislature. However, they are in a minority.
Europe: October: Strike begins in Germany. From the outset, the government deploys the police to prevent picketing. Allegations of excessive force and the use of Army men in police uniforms soon surface.
14th October: Kinsevere Mining Disaster in German Mittelafrika kills over ninety workers and injures hundreds. Major unrest is sparked as accusations of unsafe working conditions and maltreatment of native workers circulate.
Defections from Russian federal forces to the Whites begin. The Whites have agreed on General Maxim Ivanovitch Alexeyev as a potential Tsar, in the event of victory [FONT="]–[/FONT] he[FONT="]’[/FONT]s one of the few White generals who[FONT="]’[/FONT]s got any kind of popular support from the populace, but the other generals will be the ones with real authority. Them and the Orthodox Church, of course.
South Africa continues to be convulsed in warfare. Major bombings in Pretoria and Johannesburg kill hundreds.
November: Riots spread across Mittelafrika as copper miners refuse to return to work.
The colonial government plans to deploy troops, should police units fail to restore order.
Ongoing strikes in Germany proper.
The White advance in Russia is checked by a federal counter-offensive, driving them back from Omsk. The Japanese government has begun to supply the federal forces [FONT="]–[/FONT] what remains of them [FONT="]–[/FONT] with weaponry.
December: Askari units deployed as riot-control forces in Mittelafrika refuse to open fire on their own people. Instead, they turn on the German forces deployed with them. The Mittelafrika War has [FONT="]‘[/FONT]unofficially[FONT="]’[/FONT] begun.
Continued fighting in Russia along the Irtysh River.
Asia: July: Prime Minister Katayama declares martial law, deploys the Army onto the streets of Tokyo and other major cities.
The Nihonbashi bomber, it is revealed, was a native of Lahore. The Japanese government orders that all students and foreign workers (very few of the latter) from Northern India report to police stations for registration, while Japanese troops are deployed onto university campuses.
Military units are forced into riot control duty as right-wing groups take to the streets, targeting anyone who has the misfortune to look Northern Indian/Muslim. Heavy rioting convulses Tokyo.
The Burmese military places Rohingya-majority areas under martial law.
Neutrality Bloc forces are shoving further into Nigeria. Chinese forces impress both their Scandinavian partners and foreign observers with their professionalism.
Major insurgent assaults in Faisalabad and Rawalpindi. Tonbo and artillery are deployed.
August: Prime Minister Katayama reaches out to the two autonomous republics within the Empire. As both [FONT="]‘[/FONT]nations[FONT="]’[/FONT] are Muslim majority, he hopes that their troops might be better at winning hearts and minds than Japanese forces. Mindanao agrees, though Malay authorities are more cagy. Moro paramilitary units are prepared for deployment to Northern India.
A large number of Northern Indian (former Pakistani) civilians in Japan are arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist activity.
Protests by Rohingyas are put down by the Burmese Army.
12th-31st August: Battle of Lagos: The Neutrality Bloc peacekeepers drive the Saviour[FONT="]’[/FONT]s Army from Lagos, in the process shattering much of the veteran fighting force and leadership cadre of the faction. Following this, the multinational force will find it much easier to occupy and secure the South of the country.
September: Moro paramilitaries arrive in Northern India. They are able to deal more sensitively with Muslim civilians, and are[FONT="]…[/FONT]favourably(ish) regarded by civilians in the region.
Prime Minister Katayama visits the University of Tokyo, to address students from Arab countries. He apologises for any difficulties they may have faced, states that they are welcome in Japan, and that Japan has nothing against the Islamic world. However, he re-iterates that Pakistan was an enemy of Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s ally, an artificial construct created with aid from China and Germany, and that Japan has merely been assisting its ally in dealing with a long-standing sore. For their part, the Arab students [FONT="]–[/FONT] and indeed, the governments and peoples of the Arab Alliance [FONT="]–[/FONT] mostly couldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t care less about what used to be Pakistan or its people, seeing them as backward and [FONT="]‘[/FONT]not our kind of people[FONT="]’[/FONT], they just want assurances that they won[FONT="]’[/FONT]t be mistaken for Pakistanis by Japanese right-wingers. The only Arabs who really think of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]aid for Pakistan[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the name of Pan-Islamic solidarity tend not to go to study in Japan.
Students and workers from former Pakistan are deported. All of them. As a result, the riots die away. However, things are not unnoticed by clerics in former Pakistan and the Kingdom of Arabia, who thunder loudly about Japan[FONT="]’[/FONT]s [FONT="]‘[/FONT]hatred of Islam[FONT="]’[/FONT].
24th September: Omar Hamad is killed by a Japanese airstrike into what is now Afghanistan.
Neutrality Bloc forces in control of Southern Nigeria come under heavy attack by Army of Free Nigeria forces. They manage to hold out, however, while missile strikes from Scandinavian naval craft are able to score major damage on the AFN[FONT="]’[/FONT]s forward-most units.
Americas: July: The Kentucky State Legislature comes under further fire from more right-wing elements in the state, who are calling for the removal of certain books from elementary and high schools across the state. The readers in question are opposed because of certain stories they contain: namely, one about human astronauts encountering Martians, who they each see in a different way because of their own background and Martian telepathy. The religious right objects to this because it a) promulgates being accepting of alternative viewpoints and b) telepathy involves witchcraft, apparently. They also condemn feminist and supposedly [FONT="]‘[/FONT]anti-authoritarian[FONT="]’[/FONT] stories in the reader. More worryingly, there is also outcry over the work Thunder Roll and Lightning Strike by Caribbean citizen Mildred Taylor [FONT="]–[/FONT] a Holocaust survivor, who wrote the book based on her own experiences [FONT="]–[/FONT] being used in schools. The Legislature, with support from Philadelphia, politely tells the protesting elements to stuff it.
As President Kennedy privately observes, [FONT="]‘[/FONT]if the former Confederacy of all people think we[FONT="]’[/FONT]re I[FONT="]’[/FONT]m going to suppress educational materials that promote tolerance, they[FONT="]’[/FONT]ve got another think coming[FONT="]’[/FONT].
Further protests in Houston lead to major riot in Lubbock. FPB and military personnel deployed to put them down. Twenty die in two days of rioting.
Scientists in Custer Station find something curious, which they dub Helium-3[FONT="]…
[/FONT] August: Governor Raul Castro of Cuba publicly criticises right-wing elements in the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Old South[FONT="]’[/FONT], states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]in one form or another, such people have been impeding the progress of this great nation since the Second Great War[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Cuba, it should be noted, is a Socialist stronghold, and widely referred to as the most progressive state in the Union. President Garvey of the Caribbean and President Delgado of Mexico also voice concerns [FONT="]–[/FONT] President Garvey is worried that rightist elements are desirous of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]rewriting history[FONT="]’[/FONT] in the United States, while President Delgado is worried about the increasingly nationalist rhetoric coming out of Texas. President Kennedy meets with them in Philadelphia, tells them in no uncertain terms that the United States is not going to allow either internal minority hate-groups or Texas to jeopardise the current peace (relatively speaking) that North America enjoys.
In light of the commercial success of the Across the Stars films, television executives at FVA (Farseer Vista America) begin planning Across the Stars: Phase II, to air when the film trilogy is over. The programme Kyle Rainer: Space Ranger airs in the meantime. Based on an interwar comic, this tells the story of the eponymous astronaut Kyle Rainer, plunged forward in time to the year 2500.
September: The beginnings of a divide are emerging in Kentucky. This is between (generally younger) patriots, who make their loyalty to the US apparent through unreserved support to the new legislature, and more right-wing elements, who aren[FONT="]’[/FONT]t necessarily opposed to the US but are not in favour of certain policies and the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]leftist trend[FONT="]’[/FONT]. Religious rightism is increasingly being seen by young Kentuckians as backwards at best[FONT="]…[/FONT]and unpatriotic at worst, since the right wing in their minds is connected to neo-Confederate sympathies.
President Kennedy is intent on exploiting this to the maximum [FONT="]–[/FONT] while right of centre and a Christian, he also wishes to forever divide the South[FONT="]’[/FONT]s young population from older sympathies.
Continued arms shipments to black rebels Volkstaat Suid-Afrika.
President Cummings continues to encourage civil disobedience in Houston [FONT="]–[/FONT] subtly, to be sure, but he[FONT="]’[/FONT]s doing it. He[FONT="]’[/FONT]s also shipping weapons to the government of Volkstaat Suid-Afrika [FONT="]–[/FONT]doing his best to keep it under wraps.
Europe: July: Chancellor Braun closes a number of German coal-mines, provoking fierce outcry from the miners[FONT="]’[/FONT] unions.
Giulio Cesare is officially commissioned into the Regia Marina, together with a full complement of Tigres. More are coming off the assembly lines for Italy[FONT="]’[/FONT]s other two carriers.
England and Ireland conduct joint naval drills off Cape Clear, for possible defence of Ireland[FONT="]’[/FONT]s southern coast against a naval/amphibious attack.
Ireland begins construction of the Wolfe Tone, a new command ship for the fleet. Displacing 6,300 tons, this will be the largest vessel in the Irish Navy upon completion, as well as the largest domestically-produced ship [FONT="]–[/FONT] though with American assistance.
Situation in South Africa is deteriorating rapidly. Government control is enforced at the point of mercenary guns, while terrorist bombings in the major cities are a regular occurrence.
The Russian Whites approach Freikorps-Siegfried. Many White supporters both inside and outside Russia are wealthy [FONT="]–[/FONT] wealthier than the federal government, so the Freikorps[FONT="]’[/FONT] board of directors theorises [FONT="]–[/FONT] so they agree to deploy men into Russia, via White-controlled ports.
August: Many analysts in Europe observe that Freikorps-Siegfried is essentially becoming an extension of German and Italian foreign policy [FONT="]–[/FONT] that where they go, German and Italian businesses follow.
More accounts of Freikorps-instigated atrocities float out of South Africa.
White Russian and mercenary forces launch major attacks all along the line of control, forcing the federal forces back Eastwards.
Major protests over mine closures in Germany, while unions vote on strike action.
English Broadcasting Corporation releases Curse the Darkness, a science-fiction show in which a group of rebels fight to overthrow the totalitarian Human Federation. It becomes a major hit, and is also notable for being the first popular English show to feature a Say protagonist: Serenita, an alien priestess of the Way (based on Buddhism). Many more conservative elements in England are somewhat upset by that, but ultimately the show is sufficiently popular to do without that group of watchers. Some of the writers of Across the Stars: Phase II observe that and take note[FONT="]…[/FONT]
Algeria formally joins the Arab Alliance.
September: The coal-mining unions in Germany agree to a general strike. Chancellor Braun denounces them, declares that the German Reich does not [FONT="]‘[/FONT]bow to the demands of Socialist thugs[FONT="]’[/FONT].
The Spanish government, with financing from Germany and Italy, is building a new carrier to replace the one lost during the West African War.
Release of the first film of the epic series I Cinque buoni imperatori, Imperatore Nerva. The series is a sweeping dramatisation of the reign of the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Five Good Emperors[FONT="]’[/FONT] of Rome, with films of three hours each.
Many Mittelafrikans are greatly alarmed by the increasingly hard-line policies of the Braun government. Nationalist sentiments are becoming increasingly prevalent in the colony. Not, though, in Namibia (now German majority) or Madagascar.
Ireland formally decriminalises homosexuality for adults over the age of twenty-one. In related news, England formally states that homosexuals of both genders may serve in the military. Again, there had never been any formal statement that they couldn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t, but the ambiguity led to problems. Things are now cleared up legally, though it will take some time before the military becomes a completely safe environment.
In Russia, the Whites have punched deep into formerly federal territory. The Freikorps are also putting down Red guerrillas inside White territory, with Cossack assistance.
October-December:
Asia: October: With the death of Omar Hamad, the insurgent activity in Northern India has become disorganised [FONT="]–[/FONT] still dangerous, but without a clear leadership. Indian and allied forces launch major offensives against rebel cells across the North, inflicting punishing casualties.
The Afghan government protests over Japanese violation of their airspace. The Japanese response, as one American commentator puts it, is a diplomatic version of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Whatcha gonna do about it?[FONT="]’[/FONT]. The Afghans come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that there is nothing they can do about it [FONT="]–[/FONT] the Afghan military isn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t enough to confront the Indian Army or their Asian allies.
Burmese Buddhist militias target Muslims in response to the bombings. Many Muslims up stakes and move away from Buddhist-majority areas. A large number move to Southern Thailand/Thai Malaya.
Park Avionics unveils the Chollima supersonic airliner. This plane will be widely used by All-Korea Airways and Japan Airlines on their trans-Pacific route, and will [FONT="]–[/FONT] in time [FONT="]–[/FONT] be sought after by European companies who want to make it under license.
Fresh Chinese forces are deployed to Nigeria. Food aid is being delivered to the South by Scandinavian and Tanzanian ships.
November: Prime Minister Katayama, fearing the rapid advance of the White forces, begins supplying the remnants of the Russian federal government with weaponry via Japanese Siberia.
New bombings in Northern India, largely focused on military R&R areas. However, they aren[FONT="]’[/FONT]t coordinated to the same extent as the previous attacks were.
General Aung San addresses the nation via Farseer. He states that [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Burma is weathering the storms of disorder[FONT="]’[/FONT], and that the nation is coming together admirably.
17-19th November: Battle of Ogbomoso. Nigerian paramilitaries attack the Chinese 3rd Mixed Infantry Brigade, launching a major offensive as they try to dislodge them. Chinese forces drive them back, inflicting heavy casualties. Major Nieh wins a promotion to Colonel in this battle.
December: A freeze is placed on further troop deployments from Japan to Northern India. However, the forces deployed in Northern India will remain deployed for the moment, to ensure that the situation is calming.
Several of Omar Hamad[FONT="]’[/FONT]s clerical disciples meet in Kandahar, to try to form a consensus regarding regaining control over the resistance movement.
President Tsao begins the preliminary stages of opening a dialogue with Japan. He hopes to normalise relations with the Empire[FONT="]…[/FONT]though any normalisation has to include a formal apology for the destruction of Nanking, along with some form of compensation.
Americas: October: Bombing in Covington kills twelve and wounds thirty. The bomb was not neo-Confederate, however. It was, instead, aimed at a clinic providing abortions. The subsequent FPB investigation reveals that a religious group called the Wrath of the Lamb was behind it. The FPB raids their headquarters across the South, with backup provided by the reconstituted local police [FONT="]–[/FONT] the first operation that wasn[FONT="]’[/FONT]t entirely FPB managed in the South since the Years of Hate.
President Kennedy visits Kentucky, publicly gives his full support to the state government. In private, he tells Governor Maxwell that if Kentucky is to continue as a normalised state of the Union, they need to keep incidents like this from happening.
The President is intrigued by the recent discovery of [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Helium-3[FONT="]’[/FONT] on the Moon. In particular, the idea that atomic fusion plants could become a reality, providing clean, safe and reliable energy. Of course, the theory is still a long way from becoming reality, but if it does, then America would have effective control over the source of this power. He authorises an extension of the Rocket and Space Administration[FONT="]’[/FONT]s budget, to allow them to build a second Phoebus craft for travel between Luna and Roosevelt Station.
Great White is released in cinemas in the United States. It becomes an instant hit.
November: America has a functional nuclear booster. Production of an array begins, for the Mars mission. In addition, work will begin on the craft[FONT="]’[/FONT]s hull in the New Year.
Construction of Blackford Station on the Moon begins.
President Kennedy begins discussions with the major oil companies, with a view to introducing a similar [FONT="]‘[/FONT]contribution[FONT="]’[/FONT] from them to that he got from the financial groups - this would allow for more tax cuts in the New Year, without increasing the tax burden on ordinary people. The major executives of the companies are in a quandary [FONT="]–[/FONT] on the one hand, they have no desire to fork over even a small percentage of their profits, but on the other hand, as individuals they rather like the idea of more tax cuts. The discussions will wind on for some time.
Governor Maxwell of Kentucky begins to give encouragement to [FONT="]‘[/FONT]collective enterprise[FONT="]’[/FONT] in Kentucky. Tax breaks will be given to collectively-owned, collectively-run businesses.
December: After much wrangling, the oil companies agree to making a contribution of two percent of their annual profits to the government. In response, Kennedy will cut tax on the wealthy to sixty percent in the New Year.
Religious groups in Kentucky protest the [FONT="]‘[/FONT]Socialistic tendencies[FONT="]’[/FONT] of the Governor and his legislature. However, they are in a minority.
Europe: October: Strike begins in Germany. From the outset, the government deploys the police to prevent picketing. Allegations of excessive force and the use of Army men in police uniforms soon surface.
14th October: Kinsevere Mining Disaster in German Mittelafrika kills over ninety workers and injures hundreds. Major unrest is sparked as accusations of unsafe working conditions and maltreatment of native workers circulate.
Defections from Russian federal forces to the Whites begin. The Whites have agreed on General Maxim Ivanovitch Alexeyev as a potential Tsar, in the event of victory [FONT="]–[/FONT] he[FONT="]’[/FONT]s one of the few White generals who[FONT="]’[/FONT]s got any kind of popular support from the populace, but the other generals will be the ones with real authority. Them and the Orthodox Church, of course.
South Africa continues to be convulsed in warfare. Major bombings in Pretoria and Johannesburg kill hundreds.
November: Riots spread across Mittelafrika as copper miners refuse to return to work.
The colonial government plans to deploy troops, should police units fail to restore order.
Ongoing strikes in Germany proper.
The White advance in Russia is checked by a federal counter-offensive, driving them back from Omsk. The Japanese government has begun to supply the federal forces [FONT="]–[/FONT] what remains of them [FONT="]–[/FONT] with weaponry.
December: Askari units deployed as riot-control forces in Mittelafrika refuse to open fire on their own people. Instead, they turn on the German forces deployed with them. The Mittelafrika War has [FONT="]‘[/FONT]unofficially[FONT="]’[/FONT] begun.
Continued fighting in Russia along the Irtysh River.
Germany seems to be in "win the war, lose the peace" situation.
They can be compared to OTL Great Britain. They massive bad luck seems will not be improving anytime soon.
The German Empire will soon degrade to simply a major regional Power... but with lot of atomic bombs and wounded pride. I don't think that is a good combination. Some hardliner in the Government or Armed Forces could be start pulling even more unnecessary dangerous stunt.
Unfortunately, this is how I figure things would go for Germany in TL-191. Between unstable allies, imperialism still being considered a valid ideology and a desire not to sacrifice national pride... Massive colonial wars. This is one advantage that America and Japan have. America's empire is Anglophone and shares a land border, so assimilation and absorption is easier (in Canada at least). Japan's directly-ruled territory in Siberia had a comparatively small population, so they could flood the habitable areas with colonists...and Japan ITTL was smart enough not to try colonising thickly-populated Asian nations with long proud histories of resisting foreign invaders
Germany, though...its territory is either to the East (ie, Slavs who hate them) or in Mittelafrika. Just to reassure people: this is not abandoned. I plan to take it up to at least the dawn of the 21st century. I've had RL issues plus writers' block. Things will resume soon!
Just curious...
How is situation in Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic States? They not following Austria-Hungary, are they?
How is situation in Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic States? They not following Austria-Hungary, are they?
Still German-aligned, but they've grown more independent since the big wars of the 50s and 60s...
I wonder why nobody not mention this before...
I like that "Across the Stars: the Movie" is basically combination of Star Trek and Star Wars (it is Star Trek Wars...or Star Wars Trek....?)
I wonder if US culture (like movies, music, clothing style, etc) also heavily exported and accepted world wide as OTL?
I like that "Across the Stars: the Movie" is basically combination of Star Trek and Star Wars (it is Star Trek Wars...or Star Wars Trek....?
)I wonder if US culture (like movies, music, clothing style, etc) also heavily exported and accepted world wide as OTL?
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Ukraine hasn't really been doing much this last while. The United Baltic Duchy, on the other hand - when describing the wars of the 60s, I had a bit where they refused to commit further troops to the various fronts.
I like that "Across the Stars: the Movie" is basically combination of Star Trek and Star Wars (it is Star Trek Wars...or Star Wars Trek....?
Yeah - it's the wide, sprawling action of Wars, plus the 'used-universe' aesthetic of the first three films, but the set-up, the crew and the pseudo-science as opposed to spiritualism of Trek (IE, Wars tells you 'the Force did it', Trek comes up with technobabble
) Not as much. While it is exported, and while people overseas do consume American stuff, it has to compete with entrenched culture far more. For instance, Germany and Italy have film industries capable of making films on a similar scale to American production companies - so that means in, say, Ireland, the latest blockbuster in the cinema is as likely to be a German or Italian film as it is an American one. Japanese cinema isn't as popular outside Asia as OTL, but inside Asia it's on an equal footing with anything American. Likewise, there's much more regional variations on music - like, there's different styles of rock within America, some of it Hispanic-influenced, and England has its own unique pop sound based on Northern traditional music.
Also, Western clothing styles have a harder job penetrating certain markets than OTL. See Japanese disdain for the TTL equivalent of the bikini as an example of that (sort of truth in television - I've been told by Japanese people of my generation that there's a feeling that 'proper' Japanese women don't wear such things, and that's after decades in America's cultural orbit).
There should be a map - that'll show Souty America's borders.
Apologies for the lack of updates. I've been doing a lot of study lately, and the time I have for AH has largely been funnelled into my original TL, What Rises Must Set I do intend to return to this in a week, maximum, however - ideally, there'll be an update by Saturday.
I've been new here for a couple of weeks & your TL is so fascinating!!! Can't wait to see more!
I've been new here for a couple of weeks & your TL is so fascinating!!! Can't wait to see more!
Well, thanks. Now I feel guilty for pretty much abandoning this for my What Rises Must Set and As One Star Sets, Another Rises timelines
Lateknight
Banned
Well, thanks. Now I feel guilty for pretty much abandoning this for my What Rises Must Set and As One Star Sets, Another Rises timelines
It's cool though are pretty good too though it would be cool to see a update for this.
Well, thanks. Now I feel guilty for pretty much abandoning this for my What Rises Must Set and As One Star Sets, Another Rises timelines
Huh, I'll have to check it out.