Tribute of Angels - A 19th century timeline

[Noscoper]

Idea I've had for a timeline with a pod of 1848 with possible some minor pods before then. Feel free to comment and offer criticism on the timeline. Thank you.

Mexican Cession

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American war on February 2, 1848. The treaty would see the United States gain the Northern 2/3 of Mexico with the border being established just south of the city of Tampico[1]. Coinciding with US president James K. Polk territorial desires in Mexico with the exception of Yucatan. The treaty also saw American payment to Mexico to the tune of 20 million dollars with the United States assuming debts owned by the Mexican government to American citizens[2].The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California during the same year saw a gold rush bring in 300,000 people enabling California in 1850 to become the first state from the land gained from Mexico. The gold rush also saw the start of American settlement even deeper into former Mexican lands with the development of a route from the city of Tampico to Guaymas from which ships headed to San Francisco or travelers headed overland[3]. The new territory and the admission of California into the union would bring up tensions between the Northern and Southern United States over the status of slavery in the newly acquired land. These tensions would be defused for the time being by the compromise of 1850. The compromise saw California added as free state with territories of Mexican cession being able to decide if slavery would be allowed or not along with a fugitive slave law which required the return of any slaves to their owners . James K. Polk in keeping with his campaign promise oped not to run for a second term being succeeded by Zachary Taylor whose death would lead to his vice president Millard Fillmore holding the office until 1852.

[1] The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is more harsh and sees the United States taking even more of Northern Mexico.

[2] Larger amount of land taken leads to a higher amount of the United States pays to Mexico.

[3] With American control over the region a route between the two seemed likely.

 

[Noscoper]

 

[Noscoper]

Muhammad Ali Pasha died on August 2 1849 and was succeed by his son Ibrahim Pasha[1].Muhammad Ali had taken power of Egypt in aftermath of the Napoleon's withdraw. Being made Wali of Egypt and granted the rank of Pasha. His rule would see attempts to modernize Egypt and a successfully conquest of Sudan. Attempts to aid the Ottoman sultan in crushing the Greek revolution would be fail due to European intervention. Demanding Syria as the price for aiding the Ottoman sultan, would spark the first of two wars with Ottomans. The more modern and experienced Egyptian army rustled the Levant from the Ottomans in 1833 with any move into Anatolia being blocked by Russian forces allied to the Ottomans. The second of the wars with the Ottomans occurred in 1839 with the initial ottoman attempt failing in the battle of Nezib. European powers intervened in 1840 against Muhammad Ali with the desire to maintain the status quo, forcing the him to give up all gains outside of Egypt and Sudan but leaving him with de-facto independence and hereditary rule over the two territories.

Continuing the policies of his father, the system of commercial monopolies would be maintained along with new factories being built[2]. Education would be expand with new schools being set up[2]. In addiction the first Egyptian railroads would be built connecting Alexandria to Cairo along with a connection to Suez. Viewing the Sultanate of Darfur as an easy target due to the it's now blind Sultan[3]. Ibrahim Pasha lead a force of 10,000 against the Sultanate in 1856, successfully conquering the region by the following year. With the Conquest of Darfur Egyptian eyes turned to the lands south of the Sudd.

[1] Ibrahim Pasha doesn't get tuberculosis and doesn't die in 1848

[2] Historical would be halted or abolished by Abbas I

[3] Earlier Egyptian conquest as opposed otl 's conquest in 1874

 

[Noscoper]

The recent years had not been good to the ruling Qing dynasty. The country had suffered defeat at the hands of Britain in the Opium in 1842 losing Hong Kong and being forced to pay large war indemnity along granting extraterritorial privileges to the British along with other Europeans in following years. The government lead by the minority Manchu was becoming increasingly corrupt with anti-Manchu sentiments growing. The spark that kicked off the Taiping rebellion would be Hong Xiuquan, a Hakka who had failed the imperial examination multiple times. After receiving a pamphlet from a Christian missionary and connecting it with a visions from years ago. He would proclaim himself as the younger brother of Jesus and begin preaching in the Southern Chinese province of Guangxi. The growing number of converts would face a campaign of persecution by local officials culminating into an uprising by the Taiping.

Hong would declare himself as the Heavenly king on January 11 1851. The Taiping rebels marched north taking various cites and town along the Yangtze river culminating in the conquest of Nanjing on March 1853. After this success, the Taiping launched two expeditions one to the North and another to the west. The Northern Expedition would leave in early May and grow in size with recruits from the areas it passed through. Ignoring any well-defended cities and facing little resistance the rebels reached the doorstep of Beijing by late August and launched an attack on the poorly defend city taking it by early September[1]. The Qing government fleeed north into Manchuria while the Taiping loot the city. In the aftermath the Taiping pushed north to the great wall and begin to fortify both the wall and the city. The Taiping turned to taking the city of Tianjin with the siege dragging on for many months enabling the Qing to gather reinforcements.By early February 1854 the Qing would launch a counter attack on Taiping forces. The Qing forces pushed from both North and South retaking Beijing after a two month siege. Despite being weaken by the cold and raids by hostile locals, the Taiping ensured a Qing attempts to take the city would be costly.

Other rebellions sprung up egged by the fall of Beijing, high taxes,and anti-Manchu such as the Miao rebellion in the province of Guizhouu, and the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan. One such rebellion was the Red Turbans in Guangdong which was lead by Chen Kai with the claim of restoring the Ming to power. The rebellion begin in early January 1854 and succeed in taking the provincial capital of Guangzhou by late February aided by the poor state of Qing forces in the province and the chaos around Beijing[3].

[1] The Northern expedition doesn't siege Huaiqing or Tianjin and goes straight for Beijing

[2] Earlier rebellions

[3] Earlier uprising which succeeds in taking Guangzhou

 

[Noscoper]

The Red Turbans finds it's roots in the various secret societies, self-defense and criminal organizations located in the Guangdong with these disparate groups coming together with the goal of throwing off the Manchu yolk and restoring the Ming, the last Han dynasty of China . Located in the far South of China, Guangdong faced perfect storm of discontent against the Qing as the province suffered from drought the previous decade, a ruined harvest in 1852 due heavy rains and heavy taxes on the peasantry levied by the local government . These heightened tension came to a head with the success of the Taping encouraging rebellion with the Red Turbans taking the helm.

The rebellion by it's very nature was decentralized, but begin to come together as two men who were elected by the strongest of the factions would come to led in April, Li Wenmao and Chen Kai[1]. The capture of Guangzhou(Canton) saw a massive increase in support for the Red Turbans with a growing number of peasants and defectors joining the cause with further uprisings in Southern China. Unlike the Taiping to the North with their unique form of Christianity, The Red Turbans did not seek to destroy the centuries long social order of China as such had a larger appeal to the average Chinese with millions joining the cause. Qing presence in coastal Southern China vanished with the Red Turbans taking the rest of Guangdong, the Southern Half of Fujian, parts of other neighboring provinces within 9 months of the capture of Guangzhou aided by the lack of Qing troops. The nascent state held a shaky peace with the British in Hong Kong and the Taping to the North as it focused on the Qing.

[1] Elected earlier due to an earlier rebellion

 

[Noscoper]

Located in South-East China with Tibet to the West and Bruma to the South lay the multi-ethnic province of Yunnan. The province in the preceding decades faced tensions between the Confucian Han and the Islamic Hui population, encouraged by the ruling Manchu government. These tensions led to an uprising by the Hui population, once news of the fall of Beijing to the Taiping was received. Despite the tensions with the Confucian Han and the Islamic beliefs of the Hui, the uprising was non-religious and aimed at the Qing government as opposed to the local Han population. Blaming the Manchu government for China's problems and calling for their expulsion from China, the rebellion united the Han and Hui along with the other ethnic groups of the province against the Qing government.

The rebellion would come to be led by Du Wenxiu, a Han Chinese convert to Islam after his capture of the city of Dali in mid 1856. Qing overextended thanks to other rebellions in China was forced from the rest of the Yunnan by the end of 1856 following the capture of Kunming. Under Du Wenxiu's leadership, the rebels would declare themselves as an independent state from China with a capital at Dali, the nation of Pingnan Guo or the Pacified Southern State in English. This new nation was a sultanate that blended Chinese administration and Islam with the use of the Arabic language and a ban on pork but however would continue to use a Chinese bureaucracy. Despite the Islamic nature of the Pingnan Guo: Animism, Confucianism, and all other manners of religions were allowed and included within the state.

 

[Noscoper]

Despite the defeat of the North Expedition in Beijing, the few shattered remains of the North Expedition headed South and merged with another rebellion against the Qing. The Nian Rebellion located in Northern China was fueled by a mix of Qing failures, recent natural disasters, and preoccupation with the Taiping. The Nian were a mix of peasants, army deserters, and criminals largely focused on plundering the better off. A coalition of these rebels found leadership under a man called Zhang Lexing in 1855, under whom they would begin to take increasing actions against the Qing government. The Nian grow in number encouraged by the capture of Bejing, swelling in size with a total of 10 armies numbering 30,000 to 50,000 men. These forces would launch hit and run tactics against Qing bogging down units that could be have been used against Taping and other rebels along with cutting off Qing communications.

Further to the South, The Western Expedition unlike it's northern counterpart would see more permanent success for the nascent Heavenly Kingdom. Pushing from the capital of Nanjing in mid May of 1853 to secure the Yangtze River. The Taiping faced heavily resistance in this endeavor from Xiang Army . This army was created from local militia and led by a Han Qing official called Zeng Guofan, a brilliant general halting the Taiping for near a year and a half in the province of Hunan. Following defeats in January and February of 1855, Zeng Guofan would commit suicide[1] leaving the door opened for the Taiping to secure the Yangtze river up to the city of Yibin in the following two years despite a partial recall to defend the capital in of March 1856. With the Taiping taking control of most of the Yangtze river, the remained Qing forces in Southern China now cut off from the North weathered away with the various rebellions in Southern China expanding.

[1] Attempted but failed

 

[Noscoper]

The Grim Reaper found three more souls to take to the afterlife as the president-elect Franklin Pierce and his family died[1] after a tragic train crash in the first week of 1853. Pierce had won an overwhelming victory for the Democratic Party in the 1852 Presidential election, capturing 254 Electoral College votes against his opponent Winfield Scott of the Whig Party 42 votes. The Vice President elect William R. King located in Cuba due to tuberculosis would be sworn in on March 24, 1853, the only US president to do so on foreign soil. The new president return to the United States would see his death on April 18th, now leaving the United States with another President and a new election for the fall.

As per the line of succession established in 1792, the presidency for the intern period went to the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate and fellow democrat, David Rice Atchison. Despite the short amount of time in office, Atchison saw increasing division within both the democratic party and the nation as a whole over the issue of slavery. Atchison, a slave-owner and prominent proponent of the expansion of slavery, filled the lower level federal positions and his cabinet with the pro-slavery factions of the democratic party. Among other things done in this short period, Atchison oversaw the start of planning for a continental railroad which would link the Eastern and Western halves of the United States with a selection of Southern Route. In addition, a vacancy on Supreme court was filled by John Archibald Campbell.

[1] Only his son died in otl

 

[Noscoper]

The 1853 Democratic National Convention was dominated by the same faces as the one last year with the top two candidates being Michigan senator Lewis Cass and former Secretary of State James Buchanan. The Democratic party eventually rallied around James Buchanan with his vice presidential running mate being choose as the intern president David Rice Atchison. The Whig party on the other hand still reeling from the defeat last year choose former president Millard Fillmore with former Secretary of the Navy William Alexander Graham as his running mate. Aided by public sympathy following the deaths of Pierce and King, the democratic party would win the 1853 election with an even larger margin than the last.

One of Buchman's first act was to sign into law the Kansas–Nebraska Act in the May of 1854. The act created the two new territories of Kansas and Nebraska from the unorganized lands of the Louisiana purchase. The act instituted a policy of popular sovereignty for both territories under which the residents could vote on whether or not slavery would be allowed. The act effectively repelling the Missouri Compromise, increased tensions between the North and South over the issue of Slavery. Southerners expected Nebraska to become free state while Kansas to be a slave state, however things would not be so simple. While Nebraska dominated by abolitionists , Kansas on the hand was a mix of those in who were pro-slavery and abolitionists with both sides encouraging supporters to head to the new territory. These factions would come to bloody blows over the coming years, a prelude to an even larger conflict over the fate of slavery spanning two countries.

 

[Noscoper]

James Buchanan's cabinet was created with the philosophy that he should be the top dog and whose members would share his views. The composition of the cabinet would largely consist of a mix of Southerners or Northerners sympathetic to the South. This move would alienate many in the North, even those within his own party. Buchanan had intended to focus his efforts on foreign policy but growing tensions over the status of slavery would defined his term.

Beyond the fighting in Kansas, various incidences and rulings fueled the spilt between the North and South. Such as a number of high profile cases involving the enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act with many feeling that the act undermined local and state laws along with enabling the enslavement of free Northern Blacks. One such case was that of Anthony Burns, who in 1854 was arrested and reenslaved for a time before being given his freedom following payment by Northern abolitionists. His arrest culminated in a mob attacking a courthouse with Boston being placed under martial law. The split over slavery would also see violence within the United States Congress as Senator Preston Brook would attack fellow Senator Charles Sumner in retaliation for a speech criticizing slaveholders. The attack would be supported by Southerners while Northerners saw Sumber as a martyr. Another cause for Northern rage was ruling in the Dred Scott v. Sandford on March 6, 1857. The case was around Dred Scott who had been living with his master in a free states for a few years, who had sued for his freedom. The Supreme Court ruled that the national government could not block someone from owning slaves in any American territories. In addition, the court ruled that as a black person Dred Scott could not be an American citizen and was outside the jurisdiction of the federal court.

1857 also saw the first global economic crisis in September with news spreading rapidly thanks to the telegraph. The crisis was started with the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company which triggered a financial panic on August 24th. Beyond the initial event, the panic was the result of a declining international economy along with over-speculation in the railroad industry and over-expansion of the American economy. The panic saw thousands of business and banks go under with mass unemployment in the Northern Untied States with the South left barely affected thanks to it's more agrarian economy.

 

[Noscoper]

The years from 1853 to the 1857 election saw the decline of the Wings and the emergence of two new political parties in the form of the Republicans and Know Nothings. The former was founded in 1854 by forces opposed to the expansion of slavery. The latter was founded on the basis of anti-immigration sentiment especially that of Catholics. The Republican nominee was former senator of California John C. Frémont, while Know Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore. Buchanan in keeping with a promise made in his inauguration, would not run for a second term. The field was opened to any democrat to take the nomination but the unpopularity of Buchanan would harm the chances of any one chosen or in the case of this election, the two of them. The democrats would split in two along regional lines over the issue of slavery with Southern Democrats nominating David Atchison, while Northern Democrats rallied behind Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas.

In this divided environment, election was ultimately won by the Republican Party by taking a plurality of the popular vote but a majority of the electoral college. With a platform that heavily favored the north ,the Republicans had captured all the states north of the Mason-Dixon line and California. The South fearful of the rise of the new anti-slavery republicans and encouraged by the poor state of the Northern Economy begin to secede from the union one by one starting from South Carolina. The gears for a war between the states had begin.

 

[Noscoper]

Having been the only European power to back Egypt in it's conflict with Ottomans and with a number of French advisers taking part in the conquests and modernization of Muhammad Ali. France was the premier European influence in the decades before the 1850s and with the recent victory in the Crimean war. The already strong French presence increased with more advisors and businessmen arriving daily to take part in the Egyptian economy and government. One particular Egyptian good of heavy interest in France and the rest of Europe starting from 1858, the crop that started the American Civil War, cotton.

Large scale commercial cotton farming in Egypt had begin in the early 1820s with the introduction of a new variant by a French Engineer but the start of the American civil war would kick this into overdrive. With cotton supplies from the Southern United States now cut off to European markets, the European powers turned to Egypt to fill the shortfall. Egyptian profits from the cotton sales would go into reforming the country along French lines and expanding the existing system of factories and education. The Army would see only a mild increase in size with a number of bribes to Constantinople enabling the country to loosen the terms of it's defeat in 1841, which limited the Egyptian military. The growth of French influence and increasing Egyptian revenue would culminate in the joint building of a canal connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea financed by French and Egyptian investors beginning in 1859.

 

[Noscoper]

The late 1850s were not just a time of agricultural and industrial change but also a time of social and political shifts as a result of both the Cotton Boom and European influence. The first Egyptian parliament was found in 1858 made up and elected by the nation's aristocracy. The second-class Christian Coptic minority was brought closer legally and socially with the Muslim majority thanks to the abolition of the Jizya tax in 1855. In addition, the Copt population was allowed to enter the military. But the era also saw negative effects for many Christian and Muslim peasants. The Cotton boom had forced many into a de-facto feudal system to farm Cotton on large estates. Increasing Cotton production saw the cultivation of food decline leading to higher prices, increasing the burden on the peasants. Others still now found themselves leaving agriculture entirely, heading off to work in Egypt's growing industrial sector.