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--- timelines:la_serenissima_eterna_archived_version [2014/07/14 07:24] – Max Sinister
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 ====== La Serenissima Eterna - Archived Text Copy Version ======
-NOTE: All text below the following line is copyright (C) of [[offtopic:Faeelin]].
+**NOTE:** All text below the following line is copyright (C) of [[offtopic:Faeelin]].
+----
 - the Doge, in consultation with the Senate, agrees to launch a full fledged attack on Ottoman territories, in exchange for Thessalonica. The Ottoman navy is quickly destroyed, and the Balkan princes, taking advantage of the chaos, invade Northern Greece and Bulgaria. The Empire, with the support of Venice, besieges Smyrna and quickly takes it. Attempts to move further are repulsed by Murad and Mustafa, who negotiate a peace and nominate Murad as the Sultan.
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 A squadron of French ships leaves La Cruz to deal with the pirates operating from Camelot, in New Albion.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+- Anno Della Vittoria (The Year of Victories). Italian warships, operating from the Baleares, blockade the French coastline. The Italian Doge, Francesco Venier, urges the Senate to crush France once and for all, dismembering its maritime empire.
+The French isles in the Carribean fall to the British, while the Germans take the isthmus of Panama. Although it appears worthless, several Venetians wonder about the possibilities.
+The army of the Mexican Union proceeds to drive the Germans out, although being outnumbered. The French have fewer men, and are equipped to the climate. Thus, they do not lose as many men as the Germans to malaria.
+British soldiers retake Calais, and assist in a Portuguese uprising.
+The Catalonians advance inward, and meet up with the Confederation. But the people of Leon and Castille remain behind their king, as does Porto in Portugal.
+After an eight month long siege, Paris falls to German forces.
+Meanwhile, the day after Paris surrenders, the French attack Camelot, and capture it. Soldiers from the French fleet will discover cinnabar in the region, making it rather more lucrative to the British.
+The Danes keep Estonia supplied by sea .The Russian army will lose forty thousand men over the next year, but Tsar Nikolai continues the siege.
+- Pedro agrees to treat for peace. A series of separate peace agreements, collectively known as the Treaty of Lisbon, end the war. The terms are:
+) France cedes its Caribbean islands to Britain, as well as Calais.
+) The Republic of Catalonia is recognized as independent. It runs along the coast from Valencia, inland to Zargaroza, and then northeast, settling its border along the Basque Kingdom.
+) Italy gains the Baleares Isles, and control of the island of Bourbon from the French. The Republic of Catalonia is also acknowledged as an unofficial Italian protectorate.
+) The Confederation of Al-Andalus is massively enlarged. Its borders now run from Valencia to Madrid to the border with the Kingdom of Portugal. This makes it potentially the most powerful kingdom in Al-Andalus.
+) The Kingdom of Portugal shall have, after much debate, a king selected from among the Polish nobility. Its border is set at the city of Coimbra.
+) The Christian Empire ceases to exist. Pedro must acknowledge that he is the King of Leon-Castille.
+) The largest winner, of course, is the HREGN. Wolfgang is cautioned by the Italian ambassador to be harsh yet just, and takes Lorraine from the French, returning it to its rightful rulers. He also takes Burgundy, as it was once, he argues, an Imperial fief.
+The Northern war continues. Scandinavian troops flee in disarray into Finland, again, after Nikolai’s troops crush them. The Queen of Scandinavia is hoping for a palace coup to remove Nikolai.
+Wolfgang finally announces his cornerstone of his dream for the Empire. He issues the Constitution of the Empire. Among the developments in the constitution is the change to the “Empire of Germany”.
+– The new decade begins with Europe changed. France no longer appears invincible; The Empire of Germany has unified, and the Christian empire has undergone a process future historians will call “Imperialization”. Iberia is once again divided as it was in the 12th century.
+Porcelain enters production in Malaga, and spreads to the Low Countries, Ausburg, and the city of Athene.
+Poland joins the war, in hopes of regaining its Baltic territories. But the Polish army is no match for the Scandinavians, who take Warsaw in 1661.
+- The steam engines in the mines of Bavaria and Austria spread throughout much of Southern Germany. With a centuries long tradition of precide engineering and mining, the steam engine is rapidly developed.
+The German Empire is undergoing a commercial revolution. With the elimination of many of the previously existing tariffs and tolls, trade becomes much easier. In fact, 1661 marks the first year that an iron bridge is built; in Bavaria.
+British and Italian forces clash in India for the first time. The Italian Indian Company, angry at the British takeover of Bengal, bribe the Raj of Orissa to attack Bengal. He does so, but fails, tanks to the efforts of William Rolfe. The Amderstam Indian Company retaliates, and takes over the Raj. This marks the beginning of a long cold war between the Italians and British in India.
+- The Poles withdraw from the war, but while the Swede Frederick Axel leads an army into the Polish hinterland, and takes Krakow, part of Livonia falls to Nikolai’s army.
+Axel, after capturing Poland, marches into the Ukraine. Nikolai greets the report of his invasion of the Ukraine with contempt.
+- The Estates-General, in France, decide to tax the Mexicans in order to pay off their massive war debts. When the Mexicans protest this as a violation of their rights as Frenchmen, King Henri accuses them of being a mongrel race, “part Papist and part Negro.”
+An Italian naval expedition puts an end to the piracy in North Africa once and for all, taking Tripoli. For long the Italians had paid tribute, being preoccupied with the war. But when the leader of the Berbers, Ismail, demanded tribute to not attack the canal, he had gone too far. This inspires the saying, in Italy, “A million ducats for war and not a copper for tribute.”
+A German natural philosopher, Heinrich Jager, sails with an expedition of Wolfgang’s through the South Seas. He notices that sailors who eat sauerkraut are less likely to get scurvy. The German food is enthusiastically eaten by the Italian sailors, who introduce it to the Italian culture at large. In turn, the Neapolitan delicacy of flatbread with cheese and tomato sauce is introduced into Ausburg.
+The revolt of the Cossacks. Frederick’s army had not been marching into the Ukraine for an attack on Kiev, as Nikolai believed. Frederick was inciting a Cossack revolt. It succeeds, as many of them remember the tales form the suppression of the last revolt. Nikolai, furious, marches his army South.
+The Sugar Act is passed by the Estates, and Henri. The Mexican merchants are forbidden to trade gold for the sugar, spices, and other foreign products.
+- The discovery of mercury in New Albion by the Mexicans, ironically enough, leads to its settlement. Irish and convicts are sent to work in the mines, and the British also establish plantations for grapes. Fur trading also spreads, and trappers spread along the coast.
+Wolfgang , Emperor of Germany, dies. He leaves his emperor to his son, Joseph.
+Joseph was not meant to be king. His older brother, Willhelm, had been killed in a hunting accident, and Joseph had little inclination to rule. He is much more content to watch Italian plays, and gamble. This leaves the running of the Empire to his ministers, and the (reformed) Reichstag.
+- The Cossacks choose a Cossack called Pugachev as their king. Pugachev’s rebellion spreads like wildfire through Siberia, as he promises to end serfdom, an appointment of local elected officials, and a weakening of the massive army. With Frederic’s army to form the backbone, the Cossacks become a formidable fighting forc.e
+The Italian Senate, also experiencing protests form its colonies, comes to a characteristically Venetian solution. They are Italians. Therefore, the laws of Italy regarding representation apply to them. Thus, based on how much they pay, they should be entitled to representation. In effect, they compromoise: the Nuova Italians are able to trade freely within the Italian Empire, but must pay taxes and help defend it. Represenattives from Beretta and Nuova Verona arrive by 1667.
+-150 Italian soldiers are killed in “the Black hole of Dehli”. The Italians annex the city in retaliation, but most know that the British inspired the events there.
+From his capital in Saratov, Pugachev sends armies to attack the Russian capital of Moscow. Nikolai sends his forces to face them.
+The Persian conquest of the Moghul Empire is complete.
+- Outside of Tula, the Czar’s army is captured. Nikolai flees manages to escape into Poland, but Moscow is captured by Pugachev.
+Mario Guarnacci, of Milan, launches the first hot air balloon. Some peasants, seeing it, call for their local ministers, believing it to be a demon.
+Peasants in Russia begin burning mansions and feudal records. Pugachev captures the Partriarch of Moscow, who says that he is Christ’s Vicar on Earth. Thus, the revolution takes an ugly turn. Not only are they revolutionaries, they’re also revolutionaries on a mission from God.
+Nikolai asks the Polish sejum to intervene, and Russian nobility also beg the Byzantine Emperor Manuel for support.
+- The Mexicans begin boycotting French good. Terrified by the revolution occurring in Russia, and the rumors of killings there, Henri refuses to give in. He also demands that the Estates-General pass the Colonial Act, which violates the right of the Mexican assemblies to, well, assemble.
+Frederick refuses to assist Pugachev in “liberating the peasants of Poland from their oppressors.” His army is attacked in the night by the Russians, who slaughter it to the last man. Frederick was, according to pugachev’s men, plotting a coup against him.
+Emperor Joseph is roused from his gambling tables long enough to issue a declaration condemning Pugachev.
+- A ship carrying coffee in Veracruz is burned by a rioting crowd of Mexicans, who were inspired by one of their assemblymen to protest oppression by the Estates.
+In Mexico City, the Colonial Act Congress sends a petition of redress to the king, stating the belief in each man’s right to “life, liberty, and property”.
+Pugachev, instead of instituting a democracy, institutes the Committee of Motherland Defense. The Committee, in essence, forms a secret police, which will devastate the ranks of Russian nobility who remain in the country. Many flee to Constantinople.
+- Emperor Manuel, and the Sejum (well, the King, but in reality Ladislas has no real power) of Poland agree to restore Nikolai to his position. Both are experiencing unrest among those in their realms who believe in the Russian ideals of liberty and an end to the aristocracy.
+Henri, now 64, orders the closure of Veracruz. He also orders the disbandment of the Mexican Union.
+The Mexican Union, obviously, refuses, and orders the training of the colonial militias as part of the Union’s small army.
+The Italians discover Australia, and begin sending convicts, Cypriots, and Egyptians there.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+- Pugachev personally leads an army into Poland. Suffice it to say, the Russian Cossacks and the armies from the vast steppes pour into Poland. The Cossacks in the region revolt, proclaiming Pugachev as Christ’s Vicar. Pugachev wisely tolerates the Catholics of the lands he overruns, but persecutes the few remaining Protestants.
+Emperor Joseph’s advisors convince him that a conquest of Poland by a man claiming to be on a mission from God is not something he should allow, and Joseph begins sending messages to Queen Ulreka and the Doge of Italy, Veranio.
+Pugachev’s army rampages through Poland, sweeping through the steppes. Dozens of mansions of the Polish nobility are burned, and their owners slain.
+Vilnus falls to Pugachev’s men.
+In Mexico, meanwhile, French troops begin to station themselves in the residences of the local plantation owners. Protests are met with deaf ears, and tensions reach a boiling point.
+- The Poles make a last stand outside of Krakow. Despite heroic effortw on the part of the nobility, Pugachev’s 3 to 1 numerical superiority simply does them in. King Ladislas flees to the Empire of Germany.
+French soldiers are attacked by an angry mob in Veracruz. In response, one soldiers opens fire. He is then shot by several members of the crowd, as are the rest of his soldiers.
+I response, Duke Turgot, leader of the French army in Veracruz, dispatches men into the countryside to hunt down the local assemblymen, and have them tried for treason. They are also ordered to begin collecting the arms of the local militias.
+The last move terrifies the French and Spaniards in Mexico. If they did not have weapons, there would be no one to suppress the uprising. When the militia of the town of Quebec refuses to “lay down [their] arms, and disperse…” the French regulars fire on them.
+This, of course, leads to open insurrection. The French regulars are shot at their entire way back to Veracruz, and the Mexican militia uses a hit and run strategy, sapping the strength of the French. Eventually the militia is called up from the entire province, and besieges the French inside the city.
+The Mexican Union assembly, in Mexico City, sends another petition of redress to Henri. Henris’s response is to raise another army.
+- Manuel dispatches a fleet to the Black Sea, with Nikolai onboard. Nikolai’s army is to reclaim his title as Emperor.
+The fleet, needless to say, is destroyed. A century of mismanagement have made the Byzantine fleet rather pathetic; the Russians, in contrast, have a fleet developed with the assistance of Venetian advisors. The advisors fled after the beginning of Pugachev’s coup, but their lessons remain.
+Pugachev, in Krakow, capital of Poland-Lithuania, begins carving up the kindom. He incorporates Lithuania into the Russian Republic, abolishes serfdom, and puts his brother, Josef, on the throne.
+Pugachev then leads an army south, into the Balkans.
+After four months of bombardment, the city of Veracruz is deserted by the French regulars, who put to sea aboard warships from the French navy.
+With news of the victory, the assembly in Mexico City declares independence as the United Provinces of Mexico.
+- Almost immediately, the Mexican assembly enters crisis. In addition to paying for the war, there is social instability. Delegates are sent to the Empire, the Confederation, and the Commonwealth to negotiate commercial treaties.
+Henri tries to blockade the coast, but quite simply, there is no navy to do so. With the loss of the Caribbean after the Spanish Civil War, the merchant marine, and hence fleet, have declined greatly.
+Bucharest falls to Pugachev’s army. A massive fleet from Odessa lands an army near Constantinople itself. Pugachev, according to rumor, has come to proclaim himself Emperor.
+Ulreka’s army falls back in the Baltic. Pugachev’s army has grown greatly by the enlistment of Polish and Lithuanian peasants to his banner. She appeals to the Emperor for aid.
+Emperor Joseph’s advisors convince him to assist Ulreka, to preserve the balance of power. A German army marches out of Danzig and into the Baltics.
+- The French navy attacks Tampico. Henri cunningly also issues an edict that all who serve in the French army shall become full citizens upon “suppression of the minor revolt.”
+Fierce fighting along the Mexican coastline. Duke Richeliu’s army marches inland, towards Mexico City.
+Pugachev’s army defeats the German army near Danzig, and the Russian army marches north, into Estonia.
+The Byzantines are trapped in “another Cannae”. Pugachev pulls off a double envelopment of the army, and thousands surrender. He enters Constantinople on Easter, and is proclaimed emperor.
+- Pugachev is declared by the Patriarch of Constantinople as Emperor of “the world”, and is renamed Justinian, after the greatest Byzantine emperor, who reunified Italy and Spain, along with North Africa, to the Empire. Needless to say, most of the world disagrees on both counts.
+So does much of the Empire. The Hungarians, under several local magnates, rise in revolt, with the support of the local garrison. The Armenians also rise up in revolt; especially as the policy of religious toleration only extends to Catholics; not to the Armenian heresies. Pugachev begins ordering all the liturgy to be in Greek; an edict that has not been in force for several hundred years.
+A Russian army in the north defeats the Scandinavians in Estonia. The Baltic, aside from Finland, is ruled by the Russians in the East. But the Scandinavian navy keeps them from trying anything else.
+- The war in Mexico continues. The Mexicans become furious when the French government supports a slave and native revolt in the Yucatan. It will not be suppressed for several years, but pushes most of he neutrals into the rebel cause. The idea of slavery being a god given right takes hold in the Creoles and townsmen of Mexico.
+In London, representatives from the British commonwealth debate what to do about their own colonies. There have been some mutterings of independence, and the population of the British holdings in North America has reached six million. What should be done with them?
+The answer is eventually proposed. The colonies shall become a new autonomous region of the Commonwealth, as Scotland the Low Countries are. From the Great Lakes, along the Mississippi to the border of OTL Virginia with the Carolinas lay the Northern Dominion, named the Confederated Provinces. The lands south of it are called Cromwell, after the English farmer who opened the settlement of the inland of the Carolina’s in the 1630’s. The west coast is referred to as the Dominon of Draka, after Sir Francis Drake, the sailor who discovered it.
+A Russian army overruns the Kingdom of Georgia, and enters Armenia from the north. The Byzantine governor of Armenia, Varton, refuses to make obeisance to Pugachev’s men. The Russians burn the Armenian quarter. This marks the beginning of the Armenian Campaign.
+The Venetians launch an attack on Constantinople. They almost take the city, landing troops near Thessalonica, but Pugachev leads an army and defeats them. He boasts that “Unlike the Byzantines, We can prevent a false crusade.”
+- From Tampico, the French send a force into Texas. Texas is lost for the duration of the war; but many of the army die from an outbreak of cholera. C’est la Vie.
+Gold is discovered in the Dominion of Draka. Settlers pour in from the Commonwealth, Italy, Germany, and most of Europe. There are even a few hardy souls from Egypt, and the first mosque in the New World is opened in Camelot in 1680.
+The Russian army in Armenia begins to suffer, as small bands of Armenians begin to attack the Emperor’s patrols in the region. The Russians scoff at the threat from the brigands.
+Said brigands capture a Russian army which is to conquer Van.
+Pugachev’s army invades the Empire. Bohemia is overrun, although Praugue puts up fierce resistance, and falls after a four months siege.
+- The British Commonwealth hedges its bets. The destruction of Danish hegemony in the Baltic would be beneficial to British trade, and they would certainly shed no tears for the destruction of the Italian commercial empire. But at the same time, the Russian army is proving disastrous to the balance of power in Europe, which has been the cornerstone of British policy since the Tudors.
+The Italian Senate raises more taxes for the war, including one on spices. Unfortunately, around this time, an enterprising British natural philosopher discovers that the plants which produce the fabled spices can be transplanted, threatening the Italian spice monopoly. To revive morale at home, they dispatch Marco Pariani to assist the Armenian rebels. He leads thirteen thousand men from Antioch (taking the levant for Italy) to Saniurfa. The Persians also agree to assist in the war.
+Pugachev is defeated near Dresden. His massive army could not stand before the Italian grenadiers. Which, of course, leads to the popular song, “The Sicilian Grenadiers”.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+What happens when a 300 year tradition of R&D, German tinkering, the steam engine, and Russian hordes collide?
+- The Armenian “bandits” defeat a Russian army twenty thousand strong by Lake Van, with the help of Marco Pariani.
+An Armenian who is residing in Constantinople, offers Pugachev a machine to defeat the Venetian navy. He calls it "a Mechanical Serpent. A Machine which flatters me with much hope of being Able to Annihilate their Navy."
+The machine, named the Nautilus, sinks in the Golden Horn. A second machine sinks as well, and the project is scrapped. The Armenian flees to Italy in a hurry.
+A Russian/Byzantine fleet sorties against Alexandria. They land near the city, but their leader, Severus, is forced to surrender after the Italian navy cuts off their lines of supply.
+Russian soldiers, fleeing from the battle near Alexandria, discover the Rosetta stone. They break it up, and take parts of it home as trophies.
+The Mexicans drive the French out of Tampico. French troops retreat into the Yucatan, but soon are struck by malaria. Their general, Louis Laugier, leads the surrender.
+- Pugachev unites Russia and Byzantium under the mantle “The Holy Empire.” A few Germans at the coronation cough politely, but Pugachev is unaware of history.
+The Armenians take Baku. Pugachev, distracted by his invasin of Germany, is unavailable to crush them.
+-Pugachev retreats from Budapest, but calls for another fifty thousand troops.
+The Italians Senate was badly shaken by the attack on Alexandria. Not so much in terms of material as moral damage. The Minister of War recommends solidifying the Alliance among Italy and the other nations that are “friendly and sympathetic to our causes.”
+The Armenian partisans began rallying local Greek support, and take Elazig. The Italian help from Pariani is greatly beneficial, of course, and newspapers in Italy, Germany, and most of Europe carry reports of his campaign.
+- The war in the Baltic takes a turn for the worse as Riga falls, after a pitched battle. Eleven thousand Scandinavian troops surrender. The massacre of Riva occurs, as the Protestants within the city are slaughtered, after Marshal Petroi’s orders.
+Rudolf Schmidt, a Bavarian tinkerer, begins working on air pressure, and conducts several experiments with it.
+King Louis’s realm is broke. The Mexican colonies have won their revolution, after four years. Simultaneously, the Italians and British Commonwealth recognize the new nation. With the loss of the army in the Yucatan, Louis treats for peace.
+- Trebizond is taken by the Armenians. Their leader, Rafi, proclaims himself King of the Armenians. The distinction between Armenia and Armenians (who are spread throughout much of the Holy Empire) is duly noted.
+- Treaty of London confirms the independence of the Confederation of Mexico.
+The Mexicans, before they receive the final news of the peace treaty, issue the Bill of Privileges, which states what a free man may do. He may own slaves, land, and in return, must perform military service. Voting rights are restricted to those who make more than a thousand francs, or own more than three slaves.
+Hungary becomes a battleground in the war of maneuver between the Russians and the Germans. The British in the North help hold the Russians in the Baltics, but King Rafi’s attack on Ankara proves too much. He loses elven thousand men in the attack, and more die in the retreat.
+The Confederation of Milano is signed. The German Empire, The Republic of Italy, The Republic of Catalonia, and the Confederation of Al-Andalus sign a treaty of mutual protection and free trade. Its purpose is to remove the “disease which is the Cossack King”. Being protestants, muslims, and a few catholics, they have no love for the Butcher of Riga.
+- The Italians approach the Emperor of China about attacking Siberia. It doesn’t fly, of course, but serves as an indicator of how worried the Italians are getting.
+Rudolf Schmidt, a Bavarian, travels to Venice with an idea regarding chemistry, and specifically, a combustible fuel made from Italian oil. He has a proposal for the use of the steam engine. Impressed, the Italians put him to work at the Arsenal.
+More seesaw battles in Poland. The Germans liberate Danzig, with the help of a brigade of Scottish Highlanders.
+Giuseppe Piazzi. Discovers Ceres.
+The Holy Empire invades Armenian held lands, but in the heartland of Anatolia, the troops often die of thirst and starvation, as well as ambush.
+The Englishman William Newton develops the theory of atoms, stating that matter is made up of very small parts.
+- Gold is discovered in the dominion of the Draka.
+To meet the demand for textiles, the Italian corporation “Pariano & Wittensbach” develops a loom that is controlled by using perforated cardboard.
+Russian troops push the Germans out of Hungary, and advance into Bohemia once again. Pugachev says he will saddle his horse in Ausburg within a year.
+- The Holy navy attacks Cyprus, devastating the island. They cannot take Famagusta, but do horrendous damage. The sugar plantations are ruined.
+The first steamboat enters use in the Meditteranean, to transport ore from Iberia to Italy.
+The Germans and Italians prove to be made of sterner stuff than Pugachev thought, and win a tactical victory near Zagreb. But Pugachev encircles the Italian army, which surrenders. The gateway to Vienna is open.
+- The miracle of Vienna. Italian troops receive shipments of weapons from the Arsenal. Pneumatic cannons mow down the Russian lines, as the armaments pour out volleys at the astounding round of thirty shots a minute. Pugachev is wounded leading a cavalry charge.
+The gold rush to The Dominion of the Draka. Thousands of small farmers from Italy, Iberia, and the Commonwealth as well as Germans, pour int the Dominion. Slaves escape from Mexico as well. When Mexico demands them back, the Dominion refuses to do so, stating that they are not slaves by English law.
+And theyr’e useful for farming the crops that are needed to feed the miners.
+- Bavarian tinkerers expand upon the pneumatic cannon. The Arsenal (Think Skunkworks in this era) develops a cannon based upon steam power, making it much more powerful.
+A Russian army near Budapest is mowed down again by the steam cannons. Pariani receives a shipment, and jokes that “Perhaps Pugachev’s horse has been shot out from under him."
+From encyclopedia Italia:
+Rudolf Schmidt- Born 1650. Died 1699.
+	Rudolf Schmidt is viewed by many as the first German tinkerer; but in reality, he was but the beginning of the culmination of a centuries old trend. Born in a small towni n Bavaria, he moved to Austria, where he became involved in steam technology, and became an engineer in the mines near the city.
+Rudolf’s engineering and charisma led to his rapid development, and he soon developed an improved version of the Guerick Pneumatic gun. But when the Cossack war broke out, Rudolf’s weapon was received by the Imperial army with cool interests, and Rudolf traveled to Venice.
+The pneumatic cannon proved unwieldy, but the automatic steam cannon performed much better, and helped break the Holy invasion of Germany.
+Rudolf’s pneumatic gun uses a gravity magazine to fire 15 to 20 bullets from a .50 caliber rifle. In addition, the rifle is silent, and no powder is produced. The cannon uses a spring piston, and thanks to RUdofls’ tinkering, can be mass produced easily. The Arsenal pays him enough money to buy a minor estate in Bavaria, and he sets to work improving it. The Armenian guerillas fell in love with it, as they could fire without giving away their position. 500 men could now fire 100,000 rounds in an hour; 5 times the rate of the Russian muskets.
+Needless to say, Pugachev called it a weapon of the devil and issued strict orders that all who used it against the Holy Empire be shot.
+Rudolf’s inventions changed the course of the war, increasing partisan activity, and devastated the Holy Empire’s human waves attacks.
+Rudolf also began working with rediscovering Greek fire, and in 1693 began tinkering with the possibility of pressuring purified naptha (oil) discovered in North Africa.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Alright, map of the world is ready. Don't expect it to be completely accurate; it's hard to display detail on a map vcovering the world. I've also turned the league into one color, since the Iberians follow the Italian line and the Empire of Germany and the Republic have such close relations.
+- Pugachev withdraws his army back towards Constantinople. His men are terrified by the steam cannons, which have been nicknamed “silent thunder” by his men for their ability to strike down without sound.
+A slave revolt breaks out in Mexico, which is ruthlessly suppressed. Senators in Nuova Italia stand in their provincial assemblies and ask how long it is before that bloodbath spread to their land.
+A Russian force invades Finland. Outside of Helenski, British and Scandinavian forces encircle the Russian army.
+The League’s first act, which is eventually approved by all its members, is the formation of a unified navy, composing the fleets of the Empire, Italy, and the minor ones of the Iberians.
+Heinrich of Wurtemburg builds a typewriter for a countessa. It weighs approximately three quarters of a ton.
+- Emperor Joseph dies in bed with several of his mistresses. His son, Amadeus II, becomes emperor. Amadeus’s first act is to enlarge the national army, and he begins releasing men from debtor’s prisons to fight for him.
+Rudolf Schmidt, in Venice, begins mass producing the pneumatic rifle. Thanks to the Italian tradition of mass production (a heritage going back to the 15th century) there are ten thousand of the rifles in the Italian army by May of 1693. Designs are sent to the other members of the League of Milano, so that they may make copies as well.
+At Mukachevo, a new one hundred thousand man army is defeated by the Italians. The “Silent thunder” lets five thousand Italian soldiers outshoot twenty thousand Cossack cavalrymen, breaking the left of Pugachev’s flank. The retreat back into Greece continues.
+Sokhumi is “liberated” by the forces of King Rafi. Rafi promises to welcome the Georgians as loyal subjects, and end the oppressive taxes that have come with the “freedoms” of Pugachev’s empire.
+- The Empire strikes back. Russia and Lithuania’s vast manpower comes to the forefront as tens of thousands of troops form three new armies. The northern army pushes the British and Scandinavians out of their toehold in the Baltic region.
+The Germans begin producing guns in weapons manufactories which are centralized I massive establishments. To ease the demand on labor, Amadeus decrees that henceforth, they shall divide the task up so simply that even a peasant can do it.
+The League is becoming exhausted. Fourteen years of war, with little or no gain, is tiring them. Diplomats are sent to Pugachev, discussing the possibility of peace.
+The City rises in revolt over the price of grain. Pugachev’s response to the news, from his palace on the Golden Horn, is the famous line “Let them eat sand.” He uses the army to suppress the City, after a three day riot. This, and other uprisings in the Byzantine empire, prevent him from personally leading a campaign. But another army invades the League’s possessions in the Balkans.
+- The Armenians begin receiving the rifles. Russian troops in the region begin to fear leaving their forts.
+The forty thousand strong Russian army is bled to death as it advances through the region. In the end, the Russians withdraw. But the Armenian attack on Crimea fails utterly.
+Italian fire is introduced. Launched by pneumatic cannon, this formula consists of oil treated and sealed in pressurized containers. When released over the Holy fleet, the result is disastrous. One ship of the Holy Empire escapes, and the battle scene is referred to by Leonardo Friuli as “Un mare di anima e di zolfo “- A sea of blood and sulfur.
+Pugachev is so horrified by the reports from that one ship that he agrees to make peace. The Italians don’t bother to tell Pugachev that the chemical was incredibly difficult to make, and that exhausted their stock of Italian fire for the foreseeable future.
+- The Empire, The Republic, and Catalonia and Al-Andalus make a separate peace with Pugachev. The Empire gains some of Western Poland and Hungary, with Venice gaining the Levant. Pugachev also recognizes the Kingdom of Armenia, which spans from Sochi to Trebizond along the Black Sea, to Derbent and Salyan along the Caspian. The British and the Kingdom of Scandinavia withdraw, ceding much of the Baltics to the Russian Empire. The two nations become closer, fearful of the new Russian menace.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+"Throughout it's history, la serenissima has had the ability to rise from the ashes, like a pheonix, astonishing friend and foe alike."- The History of Venice, by John Norwich.
+This part's a little slow, but since everone's kind of taking a breather from the last 15 years of war and chaos...
+- The beginning of the age of diplomacy known as the “Concert of Europe.” The Republic of Italy, along with its ally the Empire and its protectorates in Iberia, face off against the juggernaught of Orthodox Christianity which is te Holy Empire of Pugachev. Immediately King Rafi of Armenia enters the League.
+The League of Milano, to increase the flow of communicatins, develop a league wide postal system
+Italy and Britain, both bankrupt fro the war, begin exporting opium from their Indian territories to China.
+- Italian textile workers protest the increasein the use of machinery. They believe (rightly so) that it will decrease the demand for their skilled labor.
+The UPM adopts the flag consisting of an eagle surrounded by 7 stars, representing the provinces of Mexico.
+- The Republic of Italy extends the vote to landowners in north Africa and Egypt, partly to reward them for their support in the Cossack War and partly to decrease unrest.
+The play “The 4th Crusade” is composed in Turin by Leonardo Capua. It pains the Venetian who sacked Constantinople as avenging an terrifying insult against the city, and ends with the prophecy from the blind Doge of Venice that “You will fall to the Turk, the Russian, and the Armenian.” The end, with the characters returning to Venice with the treasure of the City, helps it to receive critical acclaim.
+- A steamship crosses between Lubeck and Phillipsburg.
+More than one thousand ships transport lumber from Brazil to Italy, which is now nearly deforested.
+Pugachev dies, and is succeeded by his brother, Josef.
+- Josef begins preparations to conquer Central Asia.
+Shah Ismael of Persia receives a diplomatic envoy from Josef. Josef demands access to the Persian ports, trading rights, provisions for his military, and a host of other agreements which would effectively make Persia a vassal of the Empire.
+- Steam pored shipping expands throughout Germany and Italy.
+An Italian ship is wrecked off the coast of Japan. The crew is slaughtered, and considered lost in a storm.
+ThomasHigginson, an Irishman, is sentences to death for plotting treason against the Commonwealth. He was planning on leading an insurrection against the British, and when on trial, answered the charge that he was inspirin disaster by saying: “Nearly all our disasters come from a few fools having the 'courage of their convictions."
+- A border skirmish between Armenia and Persia results in the complete route of the Persian army at the battle of Ganjas.
+- The Erie Canal opens, linking the Great Lakes with the Atlantic. The city of Nieu Amsterdam begins expanding in rapidly.
+- A steam train opens in Bavaria for personal and public use
+Opium smuggling begins to become rampant in China. Almost half of he country’s bureaucrats use it.
+- Abolition becomes a political topic in The Republic. Emperor Amadeus speaks in favor of it, and the two nations agree to end the slave trade by 1710.
+The Poles revolt against their Orthodox oppressors, but are crushed.
+- The Catholic Emancipation act is passed in the Commonwealth, ending discrimination against them.
+Persia invades Afghanistan, with “Russian” assistance. The Italians, in turn, assist the Afghans.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+The United Provinces of Mexico:
+All of Central America, save for the isthmus (which is Italian), Texas, southern California, and southern Arizona and New Mexico are under the rule of the UPM. It’s government is based upon the Estates-General of France, but there are only two groups. There is the First Estate, the plantation owners, and the Second, the bourgeoisie, or residents of cities. The lower classes, largely slaves, native Americans, and many of the poorer mestizos and mulattoes, are the third estate. The third estate has no representation, and, in fact, has been put in a system of effective slavery, as the UPM practices serfdom.
+According to the Mexican Constitution, to be considered a citizen, you must have either several hundred ducats in property value, and you must be a Huguenot. The government’s power effectively resides, then, in the upper class Spanish descendents and the French immigrants.
+Slave revolts are fairly common, and that has led to the develop of large state militias to control the slaves. In the aftermath of the revolution, fifteen thousand slaves and natives were killed.
+Mexico produces a great deal of cotton, sugar, and has extensive mines of silver. Other cash crops, including small amounts of tobacco are grown, but inland cultivation requires extensive irrigation.
+Mexico has uneasy relations with its neighbors. The British commonwealth, while not being opposed to slavery in and of itself (although that htrend has been increasing) has protested the slave insurrections, which result in the escaped slaves fleeing to New Albion or the British territories in Louisiana. Furthermore, border clashes in New Albion are common.
+The UPM has its capital in Mexico city, renamed Victory City (Ville de victoire ).
+The British Commonwealth
+The British Commonewalth is one of the strongest nations in the world. It has a claim of North America from coast to coast, although settlement is largely confined to the coasts. Gold from New Albion has helped to encourage the development of British factories, and has boosted the population on the west coast considerably. Fine wines and brandy are also produced there, and grain ships are beginning to sail from the west coast to Italy.
+The Commonwealth has also developed colonies in South Africa, largely as a stopover on the way to India.
+The British control northeast India, largely because when they took the region over, the Italians were busy elsewhere. They have not been dislodged since, and the Italians show no desire to do so. Textiles produced in the region help fuel the India trade, as does opium cultivation.
+Taiwan is an important stop on the trade route to China, where the British and Italians both sell opium. Opium is used by approximately 50% of the Chinese officials, including the emperor (so it is rumored). Opium sales account for 1/7 of British revenues.
+Britain itself has the strengths it had in OTL. Lumber from the new world is traded extensively, especially with Italy.
+The government has increased suffrage to the middle classes over the past 40 years, and the Catholic Emancipation has helped to reduce tensions in Ireland.
+The Commonwealth flag consists of an orange, white, and blue stripe. The reasons for these colors are unclear, but common legend suggests I helped solve the difficulty of who controlled what town in the British Civil war, when royalist forces rose a flag with the cross of St. George, St. Andrew, and the flag of Burgundy.
+English is not the official language, but most of the country, including the low countries, speak it.
+The Kingdom of France
+France has seen better days. Its Mediterranean coast was taken by Italy, its Mexican colonies have been lost, and only the core of the realm remains. To make matters worse, the country has suffered form bad harvests for the past several years.
+The new King Louis promises a return to France’s place in the center of Europe, and is called “the Sun King”. Louis has made overtures to Josef regarding an alliance.
+Iberia
+Technically this should be several different sections, but for the sake of briefness I decided against it.
+The Kingdom of Castille-Leon is ruled by Filipo, a Hapsburg. The county has suffered horribly economically, with huge fees going to churches and absentee nobles, who are exempt from tax. Phillip views Iberia as the rightful territory of the Christian Empire, which he hopes to resurrect. He too has courted Josef’s alliance, but unlike Louis, is aware he is surrounded by hostile neighbors.
+The Confederation of Al-Andalus is doing surprisingly well. The country has been helped by Italian investment, and the mines help provide Italy with the ores she needs. They are strong proponents of the League, and the common language is Spanish.
+The Republic of Barcelona leads Spain in developing industry, having the third highest concentration of steam engines in Europe (after England, and Italy). Coal mines are being developed.
+Italy
+‘Esto Perpetua”- The Italian national motto.
+The good news: Italy’s commercial empire is larger than ever, the new world is peaceful and prosperous, they haven’t lost to the Cossacks (haven’t won either, of course) and have developed weapons which dominate war. The Republic’s sciences and engineering are flowering, especially in the north and in Sicily. Southern Italy is relatively poor, but unlike in OTL where it had 5 centuries of Bourbon and Spanish mismanagement, it is doing relatively well. Religion has never been a problem for Italy, so the potential dividing line along the north and south over Protestantism and Catholicism never really emerged. Southern Italy, in fact, has provided a great recruiting ground for the army and for colonizing. Think a better off Ireland, and you’re fairly close in what southern Italy is.
+Italian Brazil (Nuova Italia) is doing rather well, with the chief city of Berretta a thriving port. Coffee remains the greatest Italian drink, and thanks to improvements in transportation and productivity, is drunk by most of the nation.
+Egypt has become relatively peaceful. If not enthusiastic about their Italian masters, most Egyptians see them as far better than any alternative. The regio has become more prosperous than any time since the 12th century, and has even become a recruiting ground.
+In North Africa, the Berbers are raiding Italian holding, but Italian soldiers are crushing them when they meet. Some soldiers have noticed some black liquid, which has been identified as petroleum, in the region.
+The Levant has settled down under Italian occupation. The prophecy that “better a heretic than a Greek” has come true. The Italians, not particularly caring how their subjects worship so long as they pay taxes, have ended the Byzantine persecution of the Muslims.
+Crete and Cyprus, after several centuries of light ethnic cleansing (shipping the populace elsewhere) have become largely Italian in culture.
+India has become very prosperous, especially in regards to the opium trade. Several ships have been wrecked off of Japan, and the harsh treatment of survivors has enraged many Italians.
+The Dutch East Indies are no longer as valuable as they once were, due to the spread of spice cultivation to elsewhere. Australia, in contrast, is attracting settlers, who each want their own ranch.
+For the most part, Germans, Andalusis, Barcelonians, and even a few Armenians are welcome in Italian colonies. The Greeks are emphatically not, suffering from centuries of discrimination (witness the play the 4th crusade).
+The bad news: Italy’s lack of resources is going to hurt it, especially in regards to coal. Importation can make up for some of this, but the country has to find a new source of fuel for its factories to remain competitive. The lack of lumber is also slightly hurting, but most Italians are confident about their future.
+If only the Italians could find a source of fuel that they possess in abundance, they’d be set.
+The Italian flag is the Lion of St. Mark.
+The Empire of Germany
+The Holy Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, and then became the Empire of Germany. Amadeus II, Emperor of Germany, rules over the largest realm in Europe west of the Holy Empire. With the Empire centralize, Germany has become a powerhouse, blunting the Russian bear. Joseph has encouraged the development of industry in his empire, and is fascinated by the steam train he saw when in Bavaria.
+Germany’s Reichstag has varying amounts of power. It is largely based upon the support of the middle class burghers, which the Emperors view as their base for power (stemming from their support of the cities, centuries ago). Nobles are left with little to do but increase their political capital to increase their influence amongst them.
+German South America is doing pretty well, with grain helping to feed Europe, after the devastation of the Polish grain fields. Amadeus is a strong support of abolitionism, as he views the aristocrats in German South America and the Caribbean capable of following in Mexico’s footsteps.
+The Holy Empire
+When Pugachev conquered Constantinople, he united all the Orthodox faiths under one ruler. Ruling with an iron fist, he reformed laws throughout his realm, ironically breaking the backs of the nobles. The Greeks enthusiastically welcomed him.
+His brother, Josef, continues ruling after him. Ruling such a massive empire requires a harsh rule, and the capital is in Constantinople. Joesf has begun persecuting the Catholics, who his brother welcomed into the realm.
+The Empire is economically backward. The strength of the Empire rests on its massive army. The Empire is currently attempting to gain access to the Indian Ocean by subverting Persia and conquering Central Asia. This results in the “Great Game” between them and the Italians.
+Josef is having problems, though, with nationalist revolts from the Poles, and the “brigands”, as he calls them, in Armenia.
+The Kingdom of Armenia
+When the Holy Empire invaded Armenia to subdue the heretics, it got more than it bargained for. With the arrival of an Italian expeditionary force, the Armenians appointed their own king, Rafi, and drove back the Russians.
+Today, the kingdom is a member of the League of Milano, and has grown by leaps and bounds since the end of the Byzantine restrictions on trade. A series of fortifications line its borders, and most Armenians own their own pneumatic rifles.
+Armenia also rules Georgians, a few Assyrians, and Turks. The turks in Eastern Anatolia preferred Rafi to the Holy Empire, because of the heretical ideas (largely concerning Muhammed being a prophet and Jesus being the son of God) the Russians did not like.
+The League of Milano
+This isn’t technically a nation, but it is more than an alliance. In the depths of the Cossack War, Italy, the Iberian republics, and the Empire of Germany formed a defense pact. The pact, known as the League of Milano, merged their navies and established a common market amongst the nations. Today the League focuses on containing Russian aggression across the world.
+The Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Scandinavia have a similar, but more unofficial, arrangement. Both nations do not trust the League’s members.
+In the mean time, here's the Scramble for China (and Japan).
+- The Afghan tribes put up a fierce resistance to the Persians, killing them at night, poisoning water holes, and generally having a grand old time against the Persians.
+Shah Ismael asks Emperor Josef for support.
+- Cholera breaks out in Europe. An Andalusi phsyciain, working with medical texts from the 900’s, comes up with a solution. He develops a ystem of wells with limestone throughout The Confederation.
+Holden Caulfield, Presbyterian minister, leads a slave revolt in Cromwell (OTL Carolina, and the name for the entire British south). His insurrection is crushed by the colonial militia.
+Caulfield’s revolt leads to the end of the idea of abolition in Cromwell, but he becomes a martyr in the north, and in London.
+Emperor Amadeus looks at the news from Cromwell with disdain. Drawing allusions to the Egyptians, he says that the world must end slavery. Representatives from Britain and Italy cautiously agree.
+- The First Opium War breaks out. An Italian ship in Shanghai carrying opium was burned by order of the Emperor, leading to a combined Italian and British response.
+Opium has become a real problem for the Chinese. When the new empeor assumed the throne, he declared that to “restore the harmony of th spheres”, he would ban the trade. Chinese officials are arrested or begin arresting the opium smugglers, which leads to the destruction of the “Fortuna”, who, fickle as always, is burned.
+Oil is first used to power an engine, by a steamship engineer in Palmero.
+Josef issues a decree ordering his subjects to fast and pray once a week. He establishes “Orthodoxy and autocracy” as the basis for his empire.
+The day the order is issued, Russian forces succeed in wiping out a band of “brigands” in Afghanistan ten thousand strong.
+- Italian ships bombard, and occupy, Shanghai. The Chinese army is mowed down by the pneumatic rifles of the Italians.
+The British follow up with the occupation of Gangzhou.
+Italian journalists begin playing up the atrocities committed by the “Nipponese” against Italian sailors from the opium trade.
+- More Italian and British troops arrive. The Opium War leads to the “Scramble for China”. The Italians occupy Jinman, Andalusi soldiers make an appearance, and occupy Fuzhou. Ningbo and the surrounding region is occupied by the Germans.
+Josef makes a few noises but can’t really do anything, as he cannot ship an army to Siberia (yet).
+- The Chinese Emperor surrenders. Effectively, the coast belongs to the foreign devils, with the League’s members in the north, and the British in the south.
+Another Italian ship is shipwrecked off of Japan. The flotilla visits Japan, demanding retribution. The Japanese refuse; the Italians open fire.
+ The beginning of the conquest of Japan by Italy commences.
+Italian troops, fresh from the opium war, land near OTL Tokyo, and proceed to conquer the plain of Honshu; the chief rice growing area of Japan.
+The Italians take Edo in August and appoint a new Shogun. Forsome odd reason, the Japanese daimyos refuse to obey him.
+- Russians officially have conquered Afghanistan, but proceed to pacify it for the next twenty year.
+The European powers, flush from the conquest of China, convene in the splendid city of Milan to discuss slaver. The four points plan is hammered out.
+) Slavery is immoral, based upon biblical evidence.
+) While slavery is immoral, as property owners, the slave owners have the right to compensation. Slavery shall be abolished over a 20 year period; all slaves born after 1715 are free, after working for their master until the age of 20.
+) Slaves may use their day of rest, Sunday, to hire themselves out to others for payment. The slaves may then buy their freedom, if they save enough, proportionally; a slave can buy 2 days of freedom, work those 2 dys to buy 3 days of freedom, etc.
+) Slave owners shall be compensated at a fair and reasonable price.
+Many herald this as the dawning of the age of “enlightenment.”
+Italian fire is used in Japan, over the city of Osaka.
+The British, demanding compensation in return for allowing the Italian conquest of Japan, receive the Phillipines and Madagascar.
+- Steam engines begin leading to the rapid industrialization of Armenia, which produces metals in abundance.
+Italian forces complete their blockade of the Japanese islands, and have taken most of the cities.
+Emperor Amadeus passes regulation regarding child labor, which is followed by Italy.
+Some daimyos, mostly the ones on the “outside”, such as Kagoshima, ally with the Portuguese.
+- The Four points regarding slavery is passed by the Italian Senate.
+The Daimyos begin sending their children to Italy for schooling. They don’t know what the Italian troops with their “Kamikazes”, the name given to the pneumatic rifle by the Japanese, have, but they want it.
+Effective resistance in Japan ends. The ronin, merchants, and peasants tend to support the Italians, who rule through local rulers.
+Telegraphs are invented in Amsterdam.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+- The passing of the emancipation act in the Italian Senate leads to a variety of protests from the North in Nuova Italia. Slave owners there feel that they are being denied of their property, not trusting the government to give them a fair price. They also feel that the slaves are not equal; one owner sends a letter to the Doge, asking him if he would marry a freed slave.
+The Doge does not respond, but does rule in favor of the bill when the act is challenged in court. Many goods are boycotted from Italy and the south, hurting industry.
+Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth, things arne’t much better. The bill has become one of the key issues in the elections for the new Prime Minister. George Franklin, in a speech before the House of Commons, says,
+“As I would not be a slave, I shall not be a master. The Cromwellians pride themselves on being a godly, pious folk; but do they know nothing of the Israelites?”
+Gold is discovered in Australia. The Gold Rush begins, and Japanese also participate in it.
+Japan is finally subdued, more or less, by Italy. To the surprise of the Italians, the Japanese will not remain passive serfs like the Indians; almost immediately they begin developing western ways.
+Cromwell’s leading ministers begin to threaten to secede, coming up with a “list of grievances against the Commonwealth” twenty pages long. The Nuova Italians follow suit, as do the Caribbean islands.
+President Charles of the UPM meets with the governor-general of Cromwell, regarding the possibility of a union between areas where slavery is accepted. Charles realizes that the UPM is caged in, and to expand, must take advantage of this opportunity.
+The Peripheral Pact. France, Castille, the Holy Empire, and Persia ally against the League, and “other realms who threaten our sovereignty’.
+- Josef, uncharacteristically, says the rights of the nobles regarding their serfs are unalianeable. The Holy Emperor then proceeds to order the construction of new ships for his fleets.
+The Empire of Germany receives a proposal for the maxim gun. The Maxim gun, consisting of many barrels that fire repeatedly. It enters testing in Ausburg.
+Prime Minister Franklin is elected. The new transaltnatic cable relays the jessage to Cromwell.
+The delegates from Cromwell meet in Louisville (OTL New Orleans). Italian delegates do the same in Beretta.
+In a meeting regarding abolition in Genoa, female abolitionists are prevented from speaking.
+Christmas cards are first produced in Barcelona.
+- The Last Revolt of the Samurai. Samurai from across Japan mass on the Honshu plain, where they are promptly slaughtered in a battle against the Italians. End of Japanese resistance.
+The colony of Newton, on the Mississippi river, leaves the commonwealth. It is followed shortly by most of Cromwell, which joins the UPM. Northern Nuova Italia follows suit.
+This leads to pandemonium in Europe. After a brief crash of the Venetian stock exchange, the Doge promises to crush the insurrection, with the help of fellow league members.
+Emperor Josef declares war upon Armenia, citing border violations. At the meeting of the League of Milano, the nations declare war on the Holy Empire, and Mexico.
+The Commonwealth and Scandinavia sign the Treat of the North Atlantic. They reaffirm their pledges of mutual alliance.
+Maxim guns enter mass production in Bavaria.
+- There is a stand off near Fort Churchill, in the bay of Charleston. A Cromwellian night attack takes the fort after several days bombardment. The British soldiers insides refuse to surrender the fort, and most die. This leads to the song “Remember Churchill” in the singing halls of London and Amsterdam. It goes something like this:
+“We trusted you as brothers,
+Unitl you drew the sword,
+With impious hands at Churchill
+You cut the silver cord.
+So now you hear the bugles,
+We come the sons of Mars,
+To rally round the brave old flag
+That bears liberty’s bars.
+We do not want your cotton,
+We do not want your slaves,
+But rather than divide the land,
+We'll fill your Southern graves.”
+Alright, I've figured out who the new nation which shall challenge the League for global hegemony will be, based upon the trends I've seen.
+- The Maxim gun is attached to horses in the German army, and travels along with infantry units into Poland. Combined with the pneumatic rifles (which are still rare in the Holy Empire, because they simply lack the craftsmanship to build them), the invasion into Imperial Poland is blunted near Krakow.
+The Russian and League navies clash in the Baltic. As the League is joined tye Scandinavians and the English, the war ends in a decisive Allied victory.
+The Republic and the Commonwealth agree to jointly prosecute the war against the United Provinces of Mexico. They agree to a joint naval blockade of the rebels and Mexico.
+The League navy smashes the attempt by the Russian fleet to invade the Adriatic, but the guns of Constantinople render the city impossible to take. Funds for the development of ironclads is increased.
+Thousands of men are raised in the League and in the Commonwealth. The Scandinavians fight in the north, and Finnish cavalry make “the Charge of the Light Brigade”, destroying Holy Imperial troops outside of Estonia.
+Raleigh (OTL Virginia) is a staging point for the first invasion of Cromwell by British troops. With great numbers of abolitionists from the north, the British troops crush the rebels outside of Cromwell (The city. Cromwell is a city, a colony, and a group of colonies. OTL Raleigh).
+The Italians take Beretta, on the mouth of the Amazon. .
+- The Armenians hold firm in Georgia, and using trenches (the first time in the history of warfare) kill the Russian army with an impressive 3:1 ratio.
+To end the threat from the Russian troops in the Eastern end of the Adriatic, the Italian high command focuses on invading Albania. The city of Tirana falls after a three day naval bombardment, and the flag of the Most Serene Republic floats above both sides of the Adriatic.
+Rafi makes a bid against Josef (who is now in his late 40’s). In a move encouraged by the Italians, Rafi challenges Josef’s right to the throne of the Byzantine Empire. Rafi raises the banner of revolt, and Central Anatolia rises in revolt.
+The German troops advance to Danzig, but forty thousand are cut off by a Russia counter thrust. Some are evacuated by sea, but the majority, thirty two thousand, surrender. Emperor Amadeus institutes the draft.
+The League navy retakes Panama from the Mexicans, dividing their links of communication in two. The British take Louisberg, and begin cutting off the UPM from the rebel provinces of the Commonwealth.
+- The LSS (League Steam Ship) San Marco is first used. The San Marco is revolutionary, as it is the first ironclad warship in the history of the world. (aside form those turtle ships in Korea, which don’t really count). The San Marco is used against Constantinople, where, combined with Italian fire launched from pneumatic catapaults, it devastates the city’s defenses. When the fleet sorties out to face the San Marco,
+“The shells bounced off of the walls of [the italian] ship. Nothing we could do damage it at all; like one of the ancient Titans, it was unstoppable, and I surrendered.”- Phillipus Kontos, Admiral in the Holy Navy.
+The Philiki Etairia (Society of Friends), a Greek Resistance movement to Imperial rule, spread up in revolt throughout Hellas (which covers western Anatolia, much of the southern coast, as well as OTL Greece). The Italian army lands by sea to help support the war, and with the occupation of Constantinople, the Empire’s capital is moved back to Russia for the duration of the war. While many of the members favored a reborn Byzantine Empire, the majority wanted a state for only Greeks, extending across Anatolia and into the Balkans. Thus, The Philiki Etairia was largely a Greek resistance movement.
+(Note to readers: Nationalism, due to the largely federalized governments of most of the world, won’t be as large a role here was they were in OTL. The centralized governments will have something to worry about the most).
+Smyrna is taken by the San Marco and a Greek revolt. The banner of the Republic flies alongside the new banner of the Republic of Hellas.
+The Armenians destroy another Russian army, and advance on Tuapse.
+The naval blockade of the UPM and the rebel colonies is completed.
+Rebel armies are crushed in Nuova Italia, and Beretta is taken. The League Members agree that the ban on slavery now applies to all nations, not just the signers of the Treaty on Slavery of the 1710’s.
+- The Italians and British establish coastal enclaves along the Mexican coast. While against it, they can’t really do anything about it. Slaves flock to the enclaves from the surrounding regions, and are summarily drilled and trained.
+Tampico is taken by the British.
+With the support of the Turks, and the lack of Imperial troops in the region, the Armenian armies have reached as far as Corum. The Russians prepare, in Odessa, a fleet to attack the city, but the Italians bombard it and destroy most of the warships in dock.
+The Cromwellian general Richard Drake is shot during battle. The key general of the Cromwellian movement, his death, during the Mississippi campaign, triggers the beginning of the end.
+Danzig is retaken by the German army, which has now increased in size to five hundred thousand men. Scandinavian troops begin liberating the Baltic region.
+Podgorica, along the Adriatic, is taken by the Italians. This marks the end of the Imperial navy having any docks outside of Crimea. To celebrate the advances, Spinella, a composer in Turin, writes the following poem. Some selected quotes:
+White founts falling in the courts of the sun,
+And the Lion of San Marco is smiling as they run;
+There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
+It stirs the forst darkness, the darkness of his beard,
+It curls the blood-red Russian, through Them he rips,
+For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
+They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
+But were wrecked in the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
+And Josef has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
+And called upon the Imperium for swords about the Cross,
+The cold Doge of Italy is looking in the glass;
+The shadow of the Savoy is yawning at the Mass;
+From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Catalan gun,
+And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun”
+The Russians manage to halt the Germans near Danzig, but they cannot retake the city. The Germans take Warsaw, with a southern army.
+Villeivictorie is put under martial law, as the federal district goes through a slave revolt. The Dominion of Draka launches an invasion by sea o0n the Pacific side, and marches towards the capital. They are repulsed, but The Italian general, Alfonso, and the leade of the Commonwealth agree to meet; next year, in Villeivictorie.
+-
+”Strong near Warsaw, formidable near Kiev; invincible near Tobolst.” Amadeus II’s opinion of the Russian army.
+The Russians can raise hundreds of thousands to defend their lands in the East, but Josef’s rule in the west has been crushed, for the most part. Over the next year, secessionist groups will break out in the Balkans, and the Germans will march in to restore order.
+The Greeks advance along the Southern coastline, and their proposal to join the League is considered, and, despite temporary cold feet from the Italian delegate, is accepted.
+Slave revolts wrack the UPM, as Italian and British troops march in to restore order. The fanatical Mexican plantation owners fight on, to the disgust of the British and Italian rebels, who surrender en masse.
+Cromwell is placed under military occupation.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+The Great War wraps up, with Armenia gaining the greatest share of the spoils.
+- Villeivictorie is taken by forces of the Dominion of Draka, which, with British support, proclaims all slaves freed. The UPM is to be established as a free state, where (and nowhere else, mind) racial equality is to be enforced. Ministers and teachers from Europe and the north flock to Mexico, to help teach the freed slaves and natives about the wonders of civilization. (end sarcasm).
+The Armenian army conquers Odessa, and sweeps around the Black Sea.
+Josef dies. His son, Nikolai, becomes the new Tsar. His empire is broke, leaving him with little choice but to make peace. The terms of the treaty of Paris (the only neutral power):
+) Most of Poland goes to the Empire of Germany.
+) He acknowledges the independence of the Republic of Hellas.
+) The Armenians gain Eastern Anatolia, Odessa, and the Caucasus.
+) The Baltic is divided between the Scandinavians and the Empire of Germany.
+) Albania goes to Italy, along with the Adriatic coast.
+) The island of Alaska is renounced by the Holy Empire.
+) The Holy Empire acknowledges the right of other countries and religions to exist.
+) The Serbians are to receive independence. To ease tensions with the Armenians, they are not accepted into the League of Milano.
+) Central and Eastern Romanian are to go to the Armenians.
+The Shah of Iran does not have much choice, now. He makes a treaty ceding Mesopotamia to the Armenians, and Western India to the Italians.
+==== The epilogue of La Serenissima Eterna ====
+Could things have turned out differently? Professor Garbaldi, of Padua University, argued in 1861 that the 15th century represented the culmination of two diverging trends in European history. On the one hand there were the monarchs; the kingdoms of Spain, Portugal, and Aragon, battle hardened from the centuries of reconquista; the Byzantine Empire, and its possible successor, the Ottomans, or Turks; the kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, in their Kalmar Union.
+On the other side there were the republics. Often consisting of an aristocracy of merchants, these republics and leagues were able to form, in the 15th century, cohesive political unity. Venice led the way, smashing the Ototmans, assuring commercial hegemony in the Mediterranean, and unifying Italy. But Milan under Venetian rule was not Milan under the rule of the French; The Senate’s policy of encouraging commercial prosperity, and leaving local affairs to the city governments, assured it a loyalty unmatched. Life in Venetian Milan must have been very different indeed from Alfonso’s Naples.
+The Leagues and kings were an interesting contrast. While Venice would fight wars for commercial hegemony, her mainland empire was not the result of a deliberate policy of expansion; Venice belonged to the sea. The Venetians would fight for commercial hegemony, as the 4th crusade evidentially displays; but it is hard to see them butchering the people of the city as the Frankish lords did. The Hanseatic League was rather similar; their wars were with the Danes over trading rights, not with the Emperor over the right to rule a Duchy. The differing political viewpoints culminated in the twenty years war, where the Christian Empire, launched a holy war against the Protestants. The Venetians, whose worldly, humanist tolerance must have seemed quaint, were able to smash the Christian Empire apart, liberating France.
+Over the course of the 17th century, Italy’s league, and the British commonwealth, led the way in industrializing. The Savoyard dynasty of the Empire of Germany proved to find a middle road between the Emipre and the League, turning the Empire of Germany into a constitutional monarchy which embraced the Swiss and Czechs. Together, Germany, the Iberian Republics, and Italy crushed the last vestige of the monarchy, France.
+The Russian and Byzantine Empires, ironically sharing so much in common, were slain by the same source. The demand for freedom and equality manifested itself in a Cossack named Pugachev, who overthrew both realms to establish the Holy Empire. Here again we saw the demand for liberty, as first the Armenians, and then the Turks, Georgians, and finally, Greeks and Russians demanded freedom. The League of Milano was formed, to defend Europe against the Russian threat, but in time becoming a federal government, after the Second Great War against France and the Holy Empire, in 1770.
+After the Second Great War, in which armored motor vehicles proved their use, and Italian dirigibles rained fire on the Russian cities, the world finally entered “the post-modern age”. The League of Milano transformed into he League of nations. Wars were averted through the use of economics; when the Armenian technocrats tried to invade the Persian empire, the league cut off rubber and metal supplies, destroying the Armenian economy in one swoop.
+Finally, in 1865, the dream of Galileo was achieved; man went into orbit. A lunar landing occurred in 1894, and for decades, space travel stagnated By this point though, the world had reached the large population of 3.5 billion (and creeping up to this day to 4, which has caused numerous debates in the League of Nations over population control).
+Finally, in 1907, the Tunguska Impact occurred. A rogue comet devastated thousands of kilometers of Siberia, and the world logged on to watch the disaster, especially to Russian economic interests. The internet nearly crashed in the aftermath, as people from Nuova Italia to Edo logged on to watch the aftermath. This, in turn, led to the development of the nuclear power plant into a space engine and explosive. Cheap means of accessing space were developed, culminating in the space elevator over Cairo on August 5, 1945.
+One wonders what the Doges of Venice would have thought of where the banner of San Marco flies now.
+Could history have turned out differently? It’s certainly possible. Had the Christian empire won the battle of Alexandria, the nascent republic of Italy may well have been destroyed; the dream of “The Most Serene Republic” would have been destroyed; the Spanish would probably have raped the Bride of the Sea, pillaging it before burning it. Or perhaps Pugachev had achieved his dream, or the Armenian technocrats built their world run by calculations. If you want to get into the realm of the absurd, perhaps the Muslims of Egypt and Syria would have become fanatical suicide warriors, similar to the Chinese in the early 20th century, as Spinella suggests.
+Spinella’s suggestions on that matter are interesting, but ultimately irrelevant. Overall, however, his theories on the “Wealth of Cities and Peoples” was on the mark. The League will always triumph over the Empire, because the League, by its sheer chaos, encourages economic development. As a comparison to the history of Earth, for instance, look at the interstellar empire with its capital in Tau Ceti. Apparently they have been in an evolutionary stasis for millennia, with a religion centered around the worship of their empire. So far, the League has not yet decided whether or not to contact that, but if it does occur, it should ultimately be interesting. The decision must be made soon, because apparently oblivious to the interstellar communications we have developed, our probes have detected a massive armada being built around the inhabited planet. Perhaps they are planning on a visit?
+Class dismissed, and please remember, there is an exam on Monday regarding the industrial revolution in Al-Andalus. “
+Excerpt from Professor Nuttall’s lecture on Spinella’s theories of Leagues Vs. Empires, January 2, 2001, the University of Nova Venezia, L4.
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