~1921: The fun just never ends
January 1921: Because of diversion to war needs, US businesses have lost a significant portion of their market share in Latin America. They are now finding difficult to regain it due to hostility after the Mexican War. In an attempt to improve relations with the US, the Empire begins supporting US efforts to restore access to these markets.
January 1921: The Air Ministry issues a specification for a long range aircraft suitable for mail flights in Australia, Canada and India.
January 1921: With resistance and sabotage continuing in Wallachia, the Entente decides to maintain the occupation force indefinitely.
February 1921: Italy begins work on converting the armoured cruiser Varese to an aircraft carrier.
February 1921: Having been expelled from India, the Dalai Lama relocates to Yao China to continue his campaign in Tibet. Seeing an opportunity to destabilise the Gaige, the Japanese give him generous support.
March 1921: The Conservative Unionists under Austin Chamberlain narrowly win the British elections, bringing to an end over fifty years of unbroken Liberal government. Chamberlain is committed to retrenchment of government spending, extending the competence of the Home Nations assemblies and advancing the pace of movement toward Imperial Federation.
March 1921: The construction of homes for veterans commenced as part of the Nation fit for Heroes program has lifted the US out of the post war depression and the economy begins to boom.
April 1921: As calls for reform grow stronger in Russia, Tsar Nicholas II begins a crack down, arresting many liberal leaders.
April 1921: With concerns regarding the depletion of whale populations growing within the Empire, the new Chamberlain government begins a campaign for international regulation of the whaling industry. As part of this an aggressive program is begun to find alternatives for whale products.
20th April 1921: Spanish aircaft designer, Juan de la Cierva, witnesses the crash of an experimental bomber due to stall. He begins development of a rotor craft to avoid the issues of stall.
April 1921: Former US President Roosevelt begins a campaign to save the endangered American Bald Eagle and restore Buffalo stocks.
June 1921: The first of the R17 RN class patrol airships enters service. While the class is cramped, they prove successful in service.
June 1921: After several bloody battles, President Wittelsbach's forces oust the communists from Saxony.
June 1921: With the terms of the Treaty of St Germaine finally implemented, the Entente occupation forces begin to withdraw.
June 1921: The ongoing Syrian revolt proving a drain on French resources, a request is made for the Empire to uses its influence in the Arab states to cut off support to the rebels.
June 1921: With the hard line enforcement of the post war treaties clearly causing massive instability in central Europe, the liberal US government of President Parker comes round to the Imperial position on moderating their implementation.
July 1921: The Mombasa Imperial Conference addresses the French request for assistance in halting support to the Syrian rebels. After much discussion it is decided to refuse the request for fear of harming the Empire's standing in the Arab world. The Conference also develops a long term Imperial strategy. The Mombasa Doctrine establishes the Empire's primary focus should be on the Indian Ocean and Far East. The East Indies are identified as a barrier to protect the Indian Ocean and Pacific Dominions, while the development of Gaige China is to be encouraged as a counter to Japan. In Europe, the policy will be to keep the Entente off balance and focused on Europe to prevent interference in the East.
August 1921: The Empire orders four new fast battleships. Displacing 48,000 tons, armed with nine 16" guns and capable of 32 knots, the Malta class are the most powerful battleships in the world. The fleet itself is to be reduced to 28 active battleships, with another 24 maintained in reserve for reactivation in the event of war. With newer far more capable carriers coming into service, the Pegasus is decommissioned as a depot ship at Chatham.
August 1921: With racial violence continuing in the US, the Volestead Act is passed requiring all firearms to be registered and requiring a permit to purchase automatic weapons.
August 1921: Chamberlain institutes program to foster long air transport within the Commonwealth through generous airmail subsidies.
September 1921: With the Imperial refusal to intervene to end Arab support for the Syrian rebels, the French begun fomenting unrest in the Arab states in an effort to halt supplies to rebels.
September 1921: In recognition of Indian participation in the Great War, the Government of India Act is passed. The act establishes representation on the basis of population, though at Indian request the franchise remains limited to the anglised middle and upper class and greatly expands the assembly's competence, with only defence and internal security remaining under the Viceroy. Most importantly, control over the Indian railways is given to the assembly.
September 1921: President Wittelsbach begins his assault on Berlin. Once again the fighting turns into bloody street battles. However President Wittelsbach's superior numbers and heavy weapons allow him to gain the upper hand.
October 1921: The R21, the first of three passenger airships designed to improve Imperial communications makes its first flight.
October 1921 The last of the Entente occupation forces in Austria and Hungary are withdrawn. With their departure, political violence begins to escalate in both states.
October 1921: With the Italians now possessing ten dreadnoughts against the seven French, work is resumed on five French dreadnoughts halted at the beginning of the war. Financed by loans from the US, while they are modifiy in light of war experience, their design only incorporates the lessons of Jutland to a limited degree. The damaged German battlecruiser Hindenburg, awarded to France and scheduled to be scrapped, is to be converted to an aircraft carrier as the Gauchet.
October 1921: With Austria sliding into chaos, President Karl Renner declares martial law and begins mass arrests of left and right wing activists. Both respond with the formation of militias to resist government forces, beginning the Austrian Civil War.
November 1921: Berlin is finally secured, bringing an end to the German Civil War. President Wittelsbach immediately calls for the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. The Entente unofficially allows the BSk to be retained as the Deutsche Sicherheitskräfte, or DSk provided its strength is restricted to 50,000 men. However, in secret defiance of the limits, an additional 100,000 men are retained in various guises as a reserve force.
November,1921: The Entente by now split into two blocks. The moderates of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and headed by the US, seek to ease the implementation of the post war treaties. They are opposed by the hard liners of Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Serbia and Slovenia, jointly headed by France, Italy and Russia, who had call for their strict implementation. Due to the overwhelming strength of the hard liners, the moderates ability to influence Entente policy is limited.
November 1921: Shah Reza of Persia signs the Treaty of Tehran, making Persia a formal Imperial Protectorate.
December 1921: A strike by white mine workers in South Africa leads to a crisis for Prime Minister Jan Smuts as the strike takes on an increasingly racist and socialist tone, moving toward open rebellion.
December 1921: US and Japanese cooperation is formalised with the Treaty of Kyoto, creating the Pacific Alliance. The treaty commits both sides to jointly maintaining security in the Pacific. The US takes responsibility for the Pacific, while Japan is responsible for the South Pacific, East and South China Seas, including the defence of the Philippines. This treaty causes a great deal of alarm in the Empire, with calls for defences in the Far East to be strengthened.
