1849

January - On New Year's Day, with New Spanish troops in California off hunting Russian bandits, a coup is staged by Californian revolutionaries (secretly led by Emilia Mendoza AKA 'La Zorra') who overthrow the New Spanish captaincy-general government in Monterey. An Independent Adamantine Republic of California is declared, with Mendoza ably playing off Russian and American allies for her cause.

In Carolina General Jones leads his troops on an audacious drive to the west from Charleston, taking the key city of Congaryton on the 20th. American troops are funnelled over the seas around neutral Virginia and through Charleston to support him, but the politicians argue about the direction of futrue campaigns. In the end Jones is ordered to continue on to loyalist Whitefort (itself besieged by pro-rebel forces), against his own recommendation to take the key naval base at Savannah.

February - An attempt by the New Spanish authorities to crush the Californian rebellion is foiled when Commodore Fowler of the ENA intervenes on the rebels' side. The New Spanish promptly assemble a fleet at Acapulco to defeat Fowler.

The loyalist town of Whitefort falls to Carolinian rebel forces on the 12th, but is freed again by General Jones only two weeks later. In this part of Carolina the Americans are welcomed as liberators. Carolina has been cut in half, with North Province separated from the rest. The Americans seek to crush the Carolinian forces trapped in North Province by heading northward from their salient.

March - Georges Villon sends respected colonial officer Nicolas Bertrand to Nouvelle-Orléans with an ultimatum for Grand Duke Jean-Luc (the so-called Vœu impardonnable) which results in Bertrand being tarred and feathered before he is sent back with a Declaration of Independence. Villon vows to crush the revolt.

General election in Great Britain. William Wyndham's Regressive Party is re-elected, even making gains, though still short of a majority. Wyndham plans to retire and is looking for a successor, but stays on to help his King-Emperor fight the Carolinian rebels (though he himself has misgivings about the war). The opposition is divided between squabbling Populists and the new alliance between the Green Radicals and old Phoenix Party, eventually led by 'the last Whig' Stephen Watson-Wentworth.

April - Pope Innocent XIV issues the papal bull Incorruptibilis, in which he dramatically changes the nature of the Papacy by abandoning all its land possessions to either the King of the Three Sicilies or a newly created Roman Republic. Innocent is subject to many failed assassination attempts. The bull is rejected by the Hapsburgs, who launch the Patrimonial War against the Three Sicilies.

Over the 14th and 15th the naval Battle of Monterey Bay is fought between the Americans under Fowler and the New Spanish under Ortiz. The superior New Spanish numbers mean they almost carry the day, but Mikhail Pozharsky of the Russo-Lithuanian Pacific Company arrives with a fleet of his own and joins the American-Californian side. The rebellion survives to fight another day.

News of the outbreak of the Great American War reaches Colonel Alec Jaxon of the 74th (North Carolina) Emperor’s Own Dragoons, the only Carolinian regiment assigned to garrison duty far outside Carolina (Fort Hancock at the confluence of the Des Moines river in Britannia province). Jaxon leads a series of Kleinkrieger attacks against his former comrades from the Imperial forces, leading to his men becoming known as the Devil's Own and a mythic fear to future western settlers.

May - First elections to County Corporates in Scotland (two years later than England and Wales). The bodies receive mixed responses from the Scots, with Donald Black's party calling for them to be combined into a single Scotland-wide body.

Presidential election in the UPSA. Adamantine candidate Diego Luppi defeats Unionist Rodrigo del Prado, largely fought on Luppi's support for the Carolinian rebels. However the UPSA never becomes more than lukewarmly pro-California neutral, and in some ways will end up on the opposite side of the war. There is more bitter infighting between the Germanophile and Neo-Jacobin factions of the Colorado Party which finishes third.

June - The Batavian Dutch fleet raids and burns the Cochinchinese port of Tam Thang, where the Belgian Ostend Company has an outpost. This, together with Siamese army manoeuvres, leads to the Cochinchinese cutting ties with the Belgians.

Things look bad for the Carolinian rebels as American forces close on Raleigh, the trapped Carolinian forces in North Province retreating, and a ‘Provisional Continuity Government of the Redeemed Confederation of Carolina’ is set up in Charleston. However, at this point Captain Trimble of the Nottingham, leading a Carolinian mission to seek support in the UPSA, is subject to an attempted attack by his enemy Captain Alfred Benton of the Harrisville from Falkland's Islands. Intendant Padilla of Buenos Aires province is wounded in the attack, as well as Buenos Aires being damaged, and Trimble is able to prove via Optel intercepts that the Americans were responsible. This leads to race riots directed at American businesses in Buenos Aires and, eventually, a Meridian declaration of war on the ENA.

In theory a Virginian gubernatorial election should be held by this date, but Governor Owens-Allen spins out his term with parliamentary loopholes and talk of the 'ongoing emergency'–though this can only go on for so long.

July - French forces, led by the armourclad [i]Périclès[/i] under Admiral Rivet and General Dufaux, attack Nouvelle-Orléans and rapidly seize control, abolishing slavery. “King” Jean-Luc takes those loyal to him and continues the fight from Baton Rouge.

In Carolina, the city of Charlotte surrenders to General Jones as the rebel General Rutledge withdraws northward, trapped against neutral Virginia.

The Meridian frigate Intrépida, operating out of Demerara, is intercepted and captured by one of Admiral Warner's ships, HIMS Chesapeake, before it had even heard of the declaration of war. This is an embarrassment to the UPSA and accelerates the timetable for their planned attack on Falkland's Islands.

The Meridians attack the Anglo-American base on Falkland's Islands. Captain Benton tries to fall on his sword and take full responsibility for his actions 'acting independently' to avert war. However, a British trader, the Toucan, is fired on by the Meridians and returns fire. Benton is thus given no chance to surrender when he tries to give an explanation and the Harrisville is destroyed when a Meridian shell touches off its magazine. The so-called 'Second Cherry Massacre' means full-scale war between the UPSA and ENA is now inevitable.

August - As part of his naval campaign to sweep up the Carolinian islands of the West Indies (many of which have rebelling slave populations), Admiral James Paul Warner of the ENA lands in Cuba.

Slave rebellions have erupted across Carolina, but most are suppressed fairly quickly - however, in the Cherokee Empire the Yazoo revolt (no connection with the tribe of the same name beyond geographic identifier) is more successful and Emperor Moytoy VI is killed by a rifle-wielding rebel slave mythologised as 'Good Eye Fred'. Things descend into chaos. The ultimate result of this is to weaken Cherokee control over their lands and ensure they will effectively be carved up in the postwar settlement.

General Alf Stotts, in command of the main body of Carolinian troops massing at Ultima, enacts a plan using intelligence networks, misinformation and an appropriated press balloon to organise a breakout of General Rutledge's troops in the north before they can be fully pocketed by General Jones' Imperial forces.

September - A French fleet from Bordeaux is sent to reinforce Dufaux and Rivet. In the course of its journey it intercepts near Aruba a ship carrying slaves out of Nouvelle-Orléans and ends up in a fight with patrol boats from the Republic of Guyana. This has the effect of souring Franco-Meridian relations.

With Cape Horn cut off by the Meridian declaration of war, William Wyndham orders a British fleet under Admiral Compton and HMS Rifleman to go the long way around to support the Californian rebels. Compton splits his forces, one half going via Cygnia and the other via Bengal. Only the former half actually reaches California as the latter, under Edward Cavendish, instead get involved in the Great Jihad.

General Stotts' plan is a great success, with Rutledge's forces escaping to the south and linking up with the main body. A furious General Jones pursues and the crucial Battle of Cravenville is fought. The close battle is decided when Jones is wounded and the Imperial forces retreat–as does the pragmatic Stotts, abandoning North and South provinces to the Imperials. The temporary loss of Jones means the Imperials lose the initiative in the war for crucial months, with command falling to the more cautious Generals Cushing and Day.

October - Around this time, Haitian black rebels (many of them ultimately descended from the Haitian African Republic of Vincent Ogé from a half-century before) have seized control of the whole island of Hispaniola with some held from Admiral Warner and the Americans. Similar rebellions have taken over all of Jamaica except Kingstown but the situation in Cuba is more complex and the island seesaws between Carolinian loyalists, black rebels and Admiral Warner's forces.

With General Day advancing only cautiously, the remainder of the campaign season in Carolina is sacrificed in favour of both sides building up their forces–the Imperials bring in more troops via Charleston and the Carolinians enhance their railway network, build up Ultima's modern defences (the Alexander Line), put down slave revolts and recruit new soldiers.

1850

March - Admiral Compton's British fleet (or rather his half of it) arrives in California.

The First Siege of Ultima begins on the 13th, with General Day's forces encircling the Carolinian capital. Ultima's modern Alexander Line defences come into play and the siege descends into the misery of trench warfare.

The American armourclad Lord Washington leaves Charlston harbour as Admiral Barker takes her out on a tour to sink Carolinian and Meridian ships in the Mediterranean, as the Meridians had been doing the same with their own armourclad Antorcha de la Libertad. In the event the two ships never meet.

April - Around this time the First Riverine War in China peters out with a Feng victory, gaining control over the Yangtze River and Jiangnang (Nanjing).

With the absence of the Lord Washington from Charleston, the rebel underground makes an assassination attempt on the military governor Sir Wallace Bennett, wounding him, and blows up several stores of powder. The Lord Washington returns and Admiral Barker cracks down ruthlessly, his forces incidentally offending a harmless inventor named Elias Watson.

May - The First Siege of Ultima is broken when General Day retreats to Mildredville, his supplies exhausted by over a month of siege warfare. This is a huge morale boost for the Carolinians.

American forces attemtping to take Tucsón are repulsed by New Spanish toops under Rodrigo Valdés.

June - General Day is removed from command by the Continental Parliament after his failure at Ultima and is replaced by Daniel Phelps. Phelps appoints the demoted Day to consolidating the Imperial position in North and South provinces.

July - Death of former French Prime Minister André Malraux.

Augustus Dorsey, brevet General in command of the American garrison in Santa Fe, Nuevo México, is temporarily pushed out of the city by Rodrigo Valdés. Dorsey is reduced to commanding Fort Canzus and attempting to retake Santa Fe.

Enraged by his treatment by American forces, the Charleston inventor Elias Watson uses his submarine invention (with help from the rebel underground) to badly damage the Lord Washington on the 14th, even as the rebels seize control of the city. Admiral Barker is forced to withdraw the ship north to Newton before she sinks. Charleston is back in rebel hands, though the Imperials subject it to scorched-earth tactics as they retreat north to Cravenville and Georgetown.

Naval Battle of Currituck between Captain Márquez of the Meridian ship Venganza and Captain Denison of the Imperial Navy. Márquez had strayed into Virginian waters and was retreating when he was successfully ambushed by Denison. This victory restores some American morale after the attack on the Lord Washington and lends support to the Unconditional Imperialists in the Continental Parliament. Márquez is court-martialled in the UPSA.

August - With the Carolinian and Santa Fe fronts having bogged down and Meridian naval forces beginning to have an impact in the West Indies, the Continental Parliament of the ENA passes the Conscription Act (1850) to supplement the Imperial army. This provokes riots in many American cities, especially in New England.

September - General Flores of the UPSA allows the Carolinians to produce cycloguns according to the Meridian patent.

October - Meridian forces fighting in Carolina advance on two major axes, one aimed at Salisbury and the other at Tarborough. The Imperial forces are almost divided into three, but the middle portion escape to the western or eastern ones. These are gradually pushed back towards Whitefort and Newton.

November - Major Julius Beauregard of Carolina realises that the Meridian cyclogun can be married to the Carolinians' Pioneer steam artillery platform to produce a deadly weapon.

The Meridian-Carolinian army takes Raleigh in North Province, though the city has been wrecked by Imperial scorched-earth tactics. Imperial reinforcements continue to pour into Newton.

December - The city of Crosscreek in North Province, Carolina, suffers from food shortages in the winter and survives by eating horsemeat from recent battles between Imperial and Carolinian-Meridian forces. This creates a tradition for hippophagic cookery in the area for decades to come.

By this point the Meridians and Carolinians have overrun most of North Province. Newton switches from a point of entry for Imperial troops to a point of withdrawal. Parts of General Jones' northern army become trapped.

1851

January: Imperial American troops continue to be withdrawn from one North Province port after another as they return to Carolinian hands. They are covered by the Lord Washington at first, but the ship was more damaged during the attack in Charleston than it appeared and Admiral Barker is forced to withdraw when the ship's Meridian counterpart Antorcha appears in the area.

February: Pablo Sanchez publishes the short work On Democracy.

The Northern March: General Jones' trapped troops push for the Virginian border, pursued by the Meridians and Carolinians. As they pass through Tarborough, Virginia finally holds its gubernatorial election, with Owens-Allen having put it off for as long as he can. His opponent Sir James Henry almost wins an absolute majority, but the present of the Maryland nationalist George Hume Steuart III in the race means he just falls short and according to Virginian law a runoff must be held. As this will trap Jones' troops against neutral Virginia for a few crucial weeks, the Continental Parliament organises a 'Velvet Coup' that installs Henry in power without a second round. Owens-Allen flees, but his VPB paramilitary goes to the Great Dismal Swamp and, together with the Meridians and Carolinians, manages to trap most of Jones' army anyway, taking Jones himself prisoner and badly damaging the Imperial war effort. Virginia is now joined with the rest of the Empire in the fight, but there remain many pro-Owens-Allen or pro-Carolinian partisans.

March: Largely without their reluctant Meridian allies, the Carolinians under General Rutledge march north into Virginia towards Fredericksburg. Imperial forces, in disarray and confusion due to Virginia's still ambiguous and chaotic status and many of them only just having arrived, are defeated by the Carolinians at the Battle of Lunenburg. In the aftermath of this, Simon Studholme is removed from the leadership of the Patriot Party by the Unconditional Imperialist (peace and unity at any cost) MCP Francis Bassett. Bassett creates a pro-peace alliance consisting of both old Patriots and members of other parties and independents, including Mo Quedling's Pacific League.

April: In China, Xie Bokang, Viceroy (i.e. warlord) of Sichuan, signs an agreement that brings formerly neutral Sichuan into the Feng sphere of influence, indicative of the Feng being on the rise.

May - General election in France returns the Rouges (now the Adamantine Party) under Dupuit to power, helped by the 'Threadbare' voter group who have suffered under Villon's economic policies. Villon continues as leader of the Verts in opposition. The Eden City of Paradis Terrestre in the Massif Central remains unfinished. As a consequence of Dupuit's victory, France's engagement in Louisiana is drawn down due to seeing defence against European wars (and profitable involvement in them) to be a far higher priority.

Carolinian troops assail Fredericksburg (really, they only get as far as the surrounding counties, but that is how it is presented). Lord President Martin attempts to resign his post to Emperor Frederick II, but there is no sufficiently unifying alternative.

July - A “Meridian” force - actually composed mostly of Guayanese and Pernambucanos - brings Jamaica under the control of a Meridian-friendly government.

“Darkest Hour” for the Empire of North America as for the first and thus far only time Fredericksburg is seriously threatened by a foe. George Spencer-Churchill gives a famous speech of defiance in the Continental Parliament. However, the Carolinians are already running into the problems of lukewarm support from their allies and superior Imperial reinforcements pouring into the area. The Carolinians are soon forced to retreat, General Rutledge being 'convinced' by General Stotts (possibly specifically by his right hook).

August - The Battle of Goochland. Marylander reinforcements led by George H. Steuart III score a decisive victory over the Carolinians. Though the Carolinians were already in retreat, this is such a dramatic piece of good news that it is trumpeted by all the papers and as a consequence Steuart becomes too popular for the government to go after for his role in making the Virginian election more chaotic and perhaps dooming General Jones' troops.

Henry Frederick Owens-Allen resurfaces in Williamsburg and tries to start a rebellion against Sir James Henry in Virginia, but is rejected by the mob and shot and wounded in the process. Nonetheless his attempted act does increase his popularity in Carolina, where he goes to recuperate.

September: Pablo Sanchez publishes The Winter of Nations, the third in his main trilogy of works.

October: The last Carolinian troops are driven south back over the Virginian border. Lord President Peter Martin, never really up to his role in the war, is found to have hanged himself. Former Liberal leader John Vanburen is asked by the Emperor to take over the government, despite being a divisive figure and his party having fewer seats in the coalition than the Supremacists.

1852

April - General election in Great Britain (DETAILS LATER)

1853

March - In Southeast Asia, start of the Siamese-Cambodian War.

With the Great American War effectively over, the depleted 74th (North Carolina) Emperor’s Own Dragoons (the Devil's Own) must cease their rebel attacks in Britannia province. Some return to Carolina but many go to settle in the new Superior Republic rising from the Indian and Métis peoples.

April - The Rudolfine Reforms in Austria–converting it into the new Danubian Confederation–are completed. Rudolf III takes the title 'Erzkönig' (Arch-king) in preference to Emperor.

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