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Table of Contents
Look to the West : The Timeline
This is the first page of the simplified timeline overview for Look to the West.
Part 1: Before the POD (1688-1726)
1688-1697: The War of the Grand Alliance, aka the 'Zeroth War of Supremacy' or King William's War, in which a grand alliance of powers fight France to a standstill and forms the framing for the Glorious Revolution.
1688:
The First Glorious Revolution, in which the unpopular Catholic King James II of England and VII of Scotland is ejected from the country and replaced with William of Orange and his wife Mary, James' daughter.
On the other side of the world, pretty much the same thing happens in Ayutthaya, as King Narai (seen as a French puppet) is overthrown and trade with Europeans - except the Dutch through the port of Mergui - is banned.
1689:
William and Mary crowned as co-monarchs with the assent of Parliament. Parliament passes “An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown”, which sets down the British Bill of Rights and forms the basis of the British Constitution. Among other things, the Constitution severely limits the rights of Catholics, forbidding them the throne, the vote and public office.
1689-91:
The Williamite War in Ireland, which results in the French and James II being ejected from Ireland, and the country brought under effective British control. The siege of Limerick ends the war, with the 'Flight of the Wild Geese' as many Irish nobles flee to Spain or France. The Treaty of Limerick guarantees Catholic rights, but is rejected by the Protestant-dominated Irish Parliament and Anti-Catholic laws are implemented, to much resentment among the Irish populace.
1694:
Death of Queen Mary. All English judges wear black in mourning - and never stop. William rules as sole monarch.
1701:
By the Act of Settlement, Parliament makes the heir to the throne after the childless Anne Electress Sophia of Hanover, although she dies before Queen Anne and so her son becomes George I.
1702:
Death of William III of England after his horse stumbled over a molehill and he broke his collarbone, which became infected. Jacobites will ever after raise their glasses to 'the little gentleman in black velvet'. James II's second daughter Anne becomes Queen Regnant. End of the personal union between England, Scotland and Ireland and the Dutch Republic, as Willem Friso (no close relation to William III) becomes claimant Stadtholder William IV of the Netherlands. However not all the Dutch provinces recognise this, and so the Netherlands is Stadtholderless until 1747.
1707:
The Act of Union is passed, which unifies England and Scotland as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act abolishes the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Royal Navy, and amalgamates them into their English counterparts.
Birth of Carolus Linnaeus in Sweden.
1701-1714: The War of the Spanish Succession, aka Queen Anne's War and the First War of Supremacy. England/Great Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Savoy, Portugal and the Aragonese vs. France, Bavaria, Hungarian rebels and the Castilians. The war is indecisive, with post-Hapsburg Spain receiving a Bourbon monarch but not entering personal union with France as Louis XIV had hoped. Territorial changes include: Britain receives Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain; Austria receives Naples, Sardinia, Milan and the Spanish Netherlands (the future Flanders); Savoy receives Sicily; British colonies in North America receive French Acadia and France gives up claim to Newfoundland and Rupert's Land.
1709:
Attempted Jacobite rebellion under claimant James III Stuart is defeated by Sir George Byng. Future rebellions will instead be managed by James' son Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie).
1713:
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria, has no male heir. He issues a Pragmatic Sanction recognising his daughter, Maria Theresa, as heir, and makes all the powers of Europe agree to it. However, it will transpire that quite a lot of them had their fingers crossed behind their backs.
1714:
Death of Queen Anne; George I, Elector of Hanover, becomes King of Great Britain and of Ireland. As he does not speak English, Parliament gains more real power during his reign.
In Virginia, the “First Wave of Germanna”, as German Protestant religious refugees from the Rhineland and the Palatinate settle there.
1715:
Death of Louis XIV; his great-grandson Louis, one of the few to survive a series of deaths in the French royal family in the late 17th century, becomes King Louis XV at the age of five, with Philippe, Duc d'Orléans as regent. A Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland, led by the Earl of Mar, is crushed by Marshal Wade. More minor outbreaks in Cornwall and Northern England are also subdued.
1717:
“Second Wave of Germanna” as more German refugees settle in Virginia.
1718:
The Puckle Gun, an early cyclogun predecessor, is invented by James Puckle. Though technically impressive the technology is not viable at the time, though it will be cited as the beginnings of such weapons.
1720:
The South Sea Bubble. Excessive speculation in the South Sea Company causes an economic meltdown in the City of London. Parliament holds an inquiry and several prominent members of the current Whig government are forced to step down, leaving most of the power in the hands of Robert Walpole, the Paymaster of the Forces.
1721:
Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of Britain, i.e. the first minister to dominate a government, although the term Prime Minister is considered vulgar and derisive for years afterward. His official titles are First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons, all united in one.
1722:
Williamsburgh, Virginia, becomes the first city in Britain's North American colonies as it receives a royal charter.