1965:
January 1, 1965—In Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian government announces the beginnings of its own “Great Rebuilding” projects. Although most will consist of slum clearance operations, the centerpiece of the Brazilian Great Rebuilding will be the construction of a new capital city, in the interior of the nation, in the Brazilian Highlands: Salvação
[Salvation (OTL Brasilia, more or less)]. It is meant to showcase Brazil’s status as a Great Power.
Within the next few days, Brazil’s South American allies (and fellow Independence Movement associates)—Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela all announce their own “Great Rebuilding” initiatives. Among the most notable will be Colombia’s Isthmus Canal
[OTL Panama Canal], which will not be completed until 1972. It is meant to compete with America’s own Nicaragua Canal, as well as a way to generate a larger volume of revenue.
January 2, 1965—Advisors from the Ottoman Empire arrive in the newly independent Central Asian nations to begin training armies for their new allies. However, no permanent bases are planned in this region, for fear of renewing conflict with the Russian Republic.
January 4, 1965—The first American advisors arrive in Russia to begin training of the country’s planned Grand Army. At the same time, a number of Russian officers are brought to West Point for more specialized training.
January 7, 1965 onwards—In Berlin, the Fleischer Commission releases its findings to the government, declaring that the mysterious illnesses emerging in German ports is similar, if not the same disease which Dr. Michael Fleischer himself first discovered in the Congo. The Commission recommends both the development of a plan to contain the disease before it spreads further, and the mounting of a permanent expedition to Mittelafrika to further investigate the virus’s source.
Subsequently, German officials alert their American counterparts about the threat potentially posed by Fleischer’s Syndrome. The new Department of Health will begin conducting investigations of its own starting this year, and will uncover numerous cases similar to those discovered in Germany.
January 20, 1965—In his second inaugural address, President Humphrey pledges to continue his enhancement of America’s space program, as well as hastening the readmission of the former Confederate states. Though much of the speech focuses on domestic issues, observers note veiled criticisms apparently directed towards the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, along with explicit denunciations of the regimes governing both South Africa and Rhodesia.
January 21, 1965—In reaction to President Humphrey’s address, Rhodesia breaks off diplomatic relations with the United States. In retaliation, Congress will pass sanctions on that country similar to those already in place against South Africa.
January 25, 1965 onwards—The Reichstag, after much debate, passes the Energy Securities Act: among other things, this Act funds the construction of a number of new nuclear power plants, and invests heavily in both electric and hydrogen vehicle technology. It also funds what will become the Empire’s first solar stations, near Windhoek, Lüderitz, and Gaborone respectively, in German Southwest Africa.
Within the next three months, Austria-Hungary will approve of similar legislation, out of the same fears that prompted the German move. Over the next few years, a number of other members of the European Community, including Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden (among others), will begin their own versions of the Energies Securities Act.
January 31, 1965—The Ottoman Empire begins the building of their Crescent Star Base, near the town of Al Mukalla.
February 1, 1965—Construction begins on the Empire of Brazil’s Atlantic Star Center, near the city of Salvador.
February 2, 1965—In the first national elections of the Russian Republic, the Socialist Party wins an expected landslide victory, winning over seventy percent of the seats up for grabs in the Duma. The remainder is split between the Communist Party and the negligible anarchist, nationalist, and ethnic-based parties. Subsequently, Viktor Turov will be confirmed as President by the Duma. Vasily Rebikov will be among those voting for him, having won his own Moscow race.
President Turov will spend his first year in office laying the groundwork for this three main initiatives: a distribution plan to relieve the plight of the peasantry by encouraging greater ownership of land, a massive public works program to relieve unemployment and to remove urban blight, and the modernization of the Republic’s military (enhanced with American assistance).
February 23, 1965 onwards—Construction begins in New York City’s Lower East Side on the nation’s first “Farming Tower Complex,” a radical innovation in urban design that is funded by the Clean America Act (along with multiple renovation projects, expansion of parkland, and the like in the metropolis).
This building, the Flora Blackford Towers, named after the Lower East Side’s famous (and now retired) representative (and designed by her acquaintance, retired Captain Alex Schwartz), will be opened for residency in January of 1968 for its first tenants. Its building (along with the other such projects approved for the city), reflects the growing worry of local politicians about the dangers of congestion, air pollution, and lack of food. Besides serving as a residential complex, the FBT will also have its own gardening center, and will be within walking distance of a farmer’s market.
Besides New York, the cities of Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Havana, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, St. Paul, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Winnipeg, and Vancouver will all develop similar “Urban Farming” projects of their own during this time period.
March, 1965—The Russian government, as part of both its public works and military modernization program, at long last begins a laborious expansion and enhancement of the uncompleted New Siberian Railway (which is supposed to end in Magadan).
March 17, 1965—The first members of the newly established Fleischer Research Institute arrive in Wilhelmsville
[OTL Kinshasa], where they begin planning their first field trips to discover the source of Fleischer’s Syndrome.
April, 1965 onwards—The German Empire begins its national plan to quarantine cases of Fleischer’s Syndrome.
April 1, 1965 onwards—In Togoland, one of the wealthiest of Germany’s colonial territories, a new organization—Togoland United—is launched in the city of Lome. It calls for a referendum on the colony’s future association with Germany, with the only options being either full political integration with Berlin, or else independence.
Although the TU starts off a small movement, support soon builds, thanks to the backing given by the wealthiest citizens in the colony, although a referendum on the colony’s future will not occur until the very end of the decade.
Over the next year, mirroring the political activities of Togoland United, similar organizations (of varying strength are established in the German West African colonies of Dahomey
[OTL Benin], Goldene Küste
[OTL Ghana], Elfenbeinkuste
[OTL Côte d'Ivoire], Kamerun
[OTL Cameroon], Senegambia
[OTL Senegal and the Gambia], and Sierra Leone.
April 11, 1965—With the imprisonment of Josiah Muzorewa, the militant wing of the Rhodesia People’s Union spits away from the main body of the civil rights organization to create the Revolutionary Army of Southern Africa (Revolutionary Army for short). It is led by Muzorewa’s rival in the RPU, Thomas Sithole. This marks the beginning of the so-called “Turbulence,” a low-level guerilla war against the Rhodesian government (assisted by the Independence Movement, especially by the Ottoman Empire), which will last until the end of the decade.
April 23, 1965 onwards—Congress authorizes funds to allow for the construction of a causeway linking Cuba and Florida. Pushed hard by Cuba’s Congressional delegation, this mega-project will not begin construction until 1970, due to the enormous technical and logistical challenges of the task ahead. The Caribbean Causeway will utilize a radical design: a floating tunnel, anchored to the seabed.
April 29, 1965—In Moscow, Viktor Turov convenes a secret meeting of his nation’s most prominent physicians and engineers to discuss his plans for a Russian space agency. Disillusioned upon hearing precisely
what such a proposal would cost (on top of all of his other plans), Turov begins to ponder combining Russia’s efforts with the American program.
May 1, 1965—In the German Congo, an Advisory Council is established in Wilhelmsville, as part of the gradual transformation in that colony since the exposure of the Congo Affair. Johannes Kasa-Vubu, a Berlin educated theologian and lawyer, is appointed as the first “First Citizen Advisor” of the Congo’s AC.
In Tanganyika, Matthias Neyere addresses a rally of what some reporters claim is at least 200,000 people, in Dar es Salaam, where he calls for the immediate establishment of a similar institution for German East Africa. In fact, the Reichstag is in the process of considering implementing just such a plan, though it will not be established for another couple of years.
Throughout the Co-Prosperity Sphere, Japanese troops brutally put down attempted demonstrations (organized by socialists and labor leaders) that erupt in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, and Tsingtao. This reflects the simmering unrest that has continued in many of Japan’s overseas territories since the end of the Second Great War. As in the case of the Singapore Riots, Tokyo is quick to blame the United States for being the instigator of these “disturbances,” with gets the Japanese government a cold denial from the Humphrey Administration in turn.
May 14, 1965—President Humphrey announces two new programs to further bind the nations of the Compact of Democratic States together: the Conservation Corps and the Farmer’s Corps, which will send volunteers to work on agricultural and conservation projects, respectively, in the poorer regions of the CDS. Observers are quick to note its similarities to the Ottoman-Brazilian Alliance for Peace and Friendship, though in fact the mandates of these two programs are much more limited in scope, for now at least.
May 19, 1965—Germany and Austria-Hungary shock the world by launching a second satellite from Tanganyika—the “Franz Josef.” American plans to launch their first satellite are appropriately accelerated.
June 1, 1965 onwards—The Portuguese government, after over a year of intensive meetings regarding the future of the empire, formally announces that a commission, convened in Lisbon, will now be established to decide on the best course of action for reform. One idea that has gotten the most traction so far consist of either transforming the empire into more of a federation, with extensive local autonomy granted. The Lisbon Commission will make its recommendations in January of 1966.
June 17, 1965—The
New England Journal of Medicine mentions Fleischer’s Syndrome for the first time, and details several cases that have emerged in New York City, Philadelphia, and St. Louis which resemble those reported in Germany.
July 4, 1965—The first American satellite, the “Theodore Roosevelt,” is successfully launched from the La Follete Space Center, with President Humphrey and Vice President Magnuson in attendance. This comes after a nerve-wracking series of checks to ensure the device is in proper condition, which will later be shown in excruciating detail in the 1995 comic-drama
To Infinity on the Fourth of July.
August 1, 1965—In the United States, Arkansas, Georgia, and Louisiana are readmitted into the Union.
August 6, 1965 onwards—Italian architect Guiseppe Sant’Elia [1] proposes the building of a “Città Giardino”
[Garden City], as part of a government sponsored contest for the urban renewal of Rome (a mega-project to showcase a roaring economy, and made possible by the oil revenue extracted from North Africa). The Garden City concept would be a radical design, which would turn vast stretches of the Italian capital into wide boulevards and brightly colored skyscrapers, coupled with the establishment of wide swaths of parkland in all available space (not unlike the Urban Farming projects under construction in the United States). Although this design is rejected in the contest, Sant’Elia will later bring his ideas to the Empire of Brazil, where several of his concepts will be used in that country’s Great Rebuilding projects. The idea of “Garden Cities” will be proposed in the coming years separately in Austria-Hungary, Bengal, Bharat, Germany, and Japan, though not all proposals will be constructed.
August 23-30, 1965—In Washington, scientists working for the newly established USAIA, begin a series of discussions on the best way to catch up the joint German-Austro-Hungarian space program. It is formally decided at these meetings to attempt the first Moon landing. Inspired by a quiet proposal from Moscow for a joint U.S.-Russian effort at space exploration, it is decided to invite all other member states of the C.D.S. to contribute their best scientists and engineers to work for the USAIA.
September, 1965 onwards—Massive oil deposits are discovered by a Norwegian surveying company in the North Sea. Subsequently, an agreement signed in Berlin between German, Norwegian, Dutch, and British representatives will result in the establishment of the North Sea Petrol Authority (NSPA), to guarantee equal shares in revenue between the four countries.
September 1-7, 1965—The German and Austro-Hungarian governments begin a discussion of their own, held in Budapest, called the “Space Summit” by the press in both nations. The purpose of this meeting is to plan out a coherent pathway for their combined space program. In the end, it is agreed to attempt a Moon landing by 1980 at the very latest.
To increase their lead over the other major powers even further in the field of space exploration (and inadvertently mirroring the American proposed pan-C.D.S. program), all member-states of the European Community—even Britain and France—will be invited to send scientists to a combined space program, to be established within the next year.
September 16, 1965—President Humphrey and Cassius Madison both speak at the dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C. marking the opening of the United States Holocaust Museum, meant to honor and remember the victims of the former Confederacy.
October, 1965 onwards—In what historians will later dub the “Cape Town Mercy Mission,” some 10,000 refugees displaced by the ever-growing breakdown of civic order in the Republic of South Africa are evacuated from the city of Cape Town by an American expeditionary force (an event made possible due to a deal brokered quietly between American and South African envoys). Most of the evacuees from this first mercy mission will be resettled throughout the Southwest of the United States. This is a foreshadowing of the Great Evacuations that will begin in earnest later this decade, as South Africa continues its descent into violence.
October 22, 1965 onwards—At the University of Budapest, an engineering student named Bernard Polgar submits a paper in which he proposes a “combine” of computers to better coordinate military defenses. Polagar’s ideas will soon be picked up by the Austro-Hungarian and German militaries, and the young student will immediately be hired by the Austria-Hungarian Ministry for War to refine his ideas further.
November 12, 1965—The Japanese begin construction of their rocketry base at Tayabas Bay, in the Philippines.
November 29, 1965 onwards— In the Ottoman Empire, as part of the Great Rebuilding, construction begins on the planned city of Bu Kaynak
[the source] [2] next to the city of Konya, in Anatolia. Initially meant to serve solely as a university town, Bu Kaynak will eventually gain the distinction in the 1970s as the first city in the world powered primarily by solar power.
December, 1965—In the United States, the Department of Health begins a plan approved by the White House to quarantine suspected cases of Fleischer’s Syndrome.
December 20-25, 1965—President Viktor Turov becomes the first leader of Russia to visit the United States, spending Christmas Day at the White House as a guest of President Humphrey. The two leaders, at the “Christmas Summit,” earnestly discuss the possibilities of Russia joining the planned C.D.S. space program, as well as the new increased exchanges in technology and culture proposed by President Humphrey. In a signed agreement, Turov agrees to allow both the Farmer’s Corps and the Conservation Corps to send volunteers to his nation as an, “act of goodwill between our two great republics.”
In private, the two leaders spend most of their time discussing the possibilities of the Russian Republic entering any hypothetical war between the C.D.S. and the Co-Prosperity Sphere on America’s side, though Turov insists that his nation requires more assistance in training and outfitting its Grand Army if Russia is to be of any help.
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An ATL descendent of our world’s Antonio Sant'Elia, an Italian architect who died in WWI. In TL-191, due to Italy’s neutrality in the First Great War, the elder Sant’Elia lived long enough to pass his futurist architectural beliefs to a wider audience.
[2] Inspired by our world’s planned metropolis of Masdar City [the source], in the United Arab Emirates.
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