This is the seventh page of the simplified timeline overview for Look to the West.

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1810:

January - The city of Orangestad in the Dutch Cape Colony (on the site of OTL Port Elizabeth) is founded.

February - Elections in the United Provinces of South America. Acting president-general Baquedano resigns in a Cincinnatian move, recognising his own lack of popularity for ending the war three years before. The elections are won by the new conservative Amarillo Party, rising from the core of the looser Reagrupamiento alliance which had ruled the country since 1807. The new President-General is Roberto Mateovarón. The opposition soon rallies as the progressive Colorado Party, led by the former general Luis Jaime Ayala Santa Cruz. A number of moderate deputies remain aloof from both political poles, being unofficially known as the Blanco Party.

March - The Congress of Copenhagen concludes.

Sun Yuanchang begins his Great Eastern March into southern China.

Pablo Sanchez is mustered out of the Neapolitan army in Aragon. At this point he is believed to have worked menial jobs around the University of Saragossa for some years.

April - While vetting former Republican officials for their suitability to continue service, the new French Royalist regime encounters Georges Galois, Lisieux's former colonial director, who advises that La Pérouse's Land be brought under direct control. Leo Bone agrees and a fleet under Admiral de Foix is dispatched.

With Sun Yuanchang's withdrawal from Burma, Phaungasa Min launches his Konbaung invasion.

May - Philip Hamilton and James Wayne visit the Kingdom of Benin and negotiate a trade with King Ogbebo of palm oil for modern European firearms.

Georges Galois, French head of colonial affairs, replaces Julien Champard with Thierry de Missirien, noted for his colourful language, as governor-general of French India. He begins backing the Scindias in the Maratha civil war to gain influence.

July - Chongqian's troops conquer the city of Jining and overrun southern Shandong province. In the face of this advance, the phantom rumours of Sun Yuanchang's advance up the Yangtze are dismissed.

September - The city of Jinan falls to Chongqian's Green Standard troops, putting them in a position to threaten Yenzhang in Beijing.

October - The city of Wuchang falls to General Sun's troops, putting them perilously close to Nanjing. Reluctantly Chongqian is forced to remove a portion of his Green Standard Army soldiers and send them against Sun, meaning the advance from Jinan towards Beijing stalls and Yenzhang has time to recover his position.

The city state of Toungoo rises up against its ruler Hkaung Shwe and joins Phaungasa Min's advancing Konbaung forces.

Yenzhang, having stabilised the front with Corea, sends General Yu back to Shandong to counterattack against Chongqian's advancing troops.

December - Battle of Niuzhang, in which Yenzhang's forces are defeated by a Russo-Corean army including elements recruited from Japan. This is the beginning of the end for Yenzhang.

1811:

March - To the fury of many Bohemians, Jozef Graf Radetzky von Radetz is executed by the Austrian government for his 'illegal use of men and materiel' in freeing Bohemia from the Cougnonistes a few years earlier. This pours fuel on the fire of Bohemian nationalism, as it seems the government cares far more for the letter of the law than the fact that Bohemians were suffering and dying thanks to the Cougnonistes.

April - Death of Pope Urban IX (Henry Benedict Stuart). With his death (though he had formally given up his claim anyway) the old Jacobite claim on the throne of England devolves (via a distant family connection) to the King of Sardinia, Charles Emmanuel IV. Charles Emmanuel has no intention of actually trying to invoke the claim, given he has quite enough on his plate trying to get Piedmont back.

May - Ottoman Sultan Murad V dies, probably of natural causes. He is succeeded by Osman IV.

The Papal Conclave meets to elect a new Pope, controversially with a rather small quorum of cardinals due to the depredations of the Jacobin Wars. An Italian cardinal, a boringly safe choice (with political connections to the Neapolitan monarchy) becomes Pope on the second ballot, taking the name Pope Benedict XV. He does little to stem the discontent of many Catholics with their Church's leadership and the success of the rival Jansenist Catholicism from the UPSA.

June - Phaungasa Min's armies continue to advance through Burma.

Kazakh Horde under Jangir Khan attacks China's eastern frontier, overruns the former gains in Dzungaria, but is unable to penetrate the New Great Wall.

Death of King Charles VI, VIII and IV of Naples, Sicily and Aragon. He is succeeded by his son Charles Gennaro, who rather than being known as the unwieldy “Charles VII, IX and V”, goes by Gennaro I. He is often known as “Gennaro I of the Three Sicilies”. He is influenced by his advisor, the Pere de Portolà, into a policy which favours the Catalans in Aragon. This serves to make the Catalans a loyal class of administrators in the region, but sparks resentment from the other Aragonese.

July - Death of Sir Sidney Smith, leader of Britain's “Unnumbered” secret service. They are handed over to Conroy, who integrates them into the PSCs as “special constables”, or secret police.

The biggest battle of the Durrani War is fought at Ajmir in Rajputana. As with the war as a whole, the Neo-Moguls come out slightly on top, but reall the only ones to gain are those using the bloody conflict to rebel against the Durranis, such as the Sikhs.

August - Elections to the UPSA Cortes Nacionales result in a continuing majority for the Amarillo Party, though the Colorado Party secures a respectable number of seats.

King Antonio of Mexico establishes Fort San Luis on the site of OTL Portland, south of Fort Washington, in an attempt to stake his own claim to the Oregon country.

September - After a heart attack scare, Alexander Hamilton steps down as Lord President of America and retires from frontline politics. Augustus Seymour takes over and calls an election.

Around this time, organised political parties (the Royalist “Blancs” led by the Duc d'Aumont, Moderate “Bleus” led by Napoleon Bonaparte AKA Leo Bone and Liberty “Rouges” led by Olivier Bourcier) start to form in the French Grand-Parlement.

October - Sun Yuanchang's army is defeated by Chongqian's Green Standard troops at Anqing. Sun is forced to retreat and decides his best option is to raid the southern cities loyal to Chongqian: cut off the supply trains and force Chongqian to bleed off some of his own troops to protect them.

December - ENA general election produces a knife-edge majority of 1 for Seymour's Patriots. The Constitutionalists, having lost three elections in a row, ditch leader Wade Hampton in favour of New Englander Matthew Quincy in an attempt to broaden their appeal.

Sun Yuanchang's army begins its terror campaign by burning Jianning, then sending splinter forces to attack the coastal cities.

1812:

January - Admiral de Foix arrives in La Pérouse's Land (Antipodea) and meets with the aged La Pérouse himself, bringing him back to France. Meanwhile, Europe reawakens to the fact that the matter of this colony must be dealt with.

In China, Fuzhou is attacked by Sun Yuanchang's terror raiders. The Governor, Zheng Kejing, meets public respect by not fleeing from his city and in the aftermath tirelessly working to rebuild. Sun's force becomes known as the Black Army, particularly fearful for its savage Shan and Mon soldiers recruited from Burma.

February - Hearing of Sun's activities in the south, Chongqian elects to call his bluff and does not respond, keeping his troops on the main front. This means they don't lose their gains to Yenzhang's counterattack but it also destroys Chongqian's reputation among the suffering people of southern China.

General Sun conquers Shaoguan.

The city of Ava falls to the Konbaung. However, at the same time, the Threefold Harmonious Accord is signed in Lopburi between Ayutthaya and its allies: Ava, Pegu, the Lao states (Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Tran Ninh), and Tonkin. Thai forces will fight in these other countries in order to take down invaders before they can reach the soil of Ayutthaya itself.

Frederick Paley accepts an invitation to from the new Royal French Academy of Sciences to take up a lectureship. He becomes fast friends with fellow naturalist Georges Audoin.

March - General Yu's counterattack retakes Jinan but then bogs down due to Chongqian keeping his troops concentrated in Shandong.

Sun sends his Mon bannerman Dham Shouang to raid Guangzhou (Canton), only to be bloodily repulsed by a combination of Hu Kwa's private army and forces belonging to the various East India Companies. Sun is furious with Dham's failure and declares that Guangzhou shall be razed to the ground, knowing this ought to force Chongqian to split his troops.

Alaafin (Emperor) Makua of Oyo dies in a suspected poisoning. Fighting over the succession breaks out in Oyo the city and Ahosu Ghezo of Dahomey, Oyo's subordinate vassal, takes the opportunity to use his newly modernised army to break free: the Dahomey War of Independence. Reports from the RAC of Dahomey's use of women warriors (the Amazons) excites the European imagination.

The Flemish chemist Robert Solvay publishes his synthesis of urea from inorganic chemicals, controversially disproving the Vitalist Principle that biological chemicals contain some fundamentally different ingredient to inorganic ones.

April - Ottoman Sultan Osman IV dies, probably assassinated due to his opposition to Grand Vizier Dalmat Melek Pasha. He is succeeded by Mahmud II.

Protesting John Churchill accumulating power through his bullyboys and spies and ignoring the will of Parliament, Richard Burke resigns as Prime Minister of Great Britain. He is replaced by Frederick Dundas.

May - The New Palace of Westminster is completed in London and Parliament moves in. The building is a masterpiece of Neo-classical architecture, but has several misjudged features, such as poor acoustics and being designed for future expansion, so here and now both Houses look uncomfortably sparsely populated with MPs and Lords.

June - The New Spanish establish Fort San Luis on the site of OTL Portland.

The entire Black Army of General Sun converges on Guangzhou with the intent of the total destruction of the city. The thrown-together defenders are outnumbered, but Michel Ouais employs cannons taken from the East Indiamen as artillery and both Sun and Dham Shouang are killed by chainshot. The Black Army disintegrates and Hao Jicai ensures at least a token force is spared to hunt down their remnants as they raid neighbouring cities, making the defenders of Guangzhou heroes everywhere - especially in contrast to Chongqian.

August - Philip Hamilton and James Wayne set out upriver from Dakar in search of the fabled city of Timbuktoo. They eventually find it, but are discovered as non-Muslims, and only escape thanks to a friendly Ashanti minister being present.

Jinan is retaken once more by Chongqian's troops.

September - The Chongqian Emperor sends a token force to Guangzhou to arrest and execute the local officials for cooperating with Europeans in such a way. Enraged by this action, the people of the region turn against Chongqian and his troops are annihilated by the Europeans.

Petty disagreements over the big Maratha houses of Scindia and Holkar (over ownership of land in Berar, which is now British in any practical sense anyway) sparks an all-out civil war in the Maratha Confederacy. In the course of this conflict, the future Great American War General Alf Stotts gets his first military experience as a mercenary drummer boy with the French forces.

October - Riding the wave of public anger, Hao Jicai of the Sanhedui together with his European allies proclaims the restoration of the Ming dynasty (later known as the Feng dynasty). Zheng Kejing, a distant relative of the last Ming emperor, is declared the Dansheng Emperor, with Hao as his prime minister. Risings begin across southern China.

Chongqian's forces throw Yenshang's back across the White River and march on Beijing.

November - Around this time Napoleon Bonaparte's Bleus are dominant in the French Grand-Parlement, despite being the smallest of the three parties, by playing the Rouges and Blancs off against one another. This is known as “l'équilibre politique”. Bourcier attempts to build his own governing coalition but fails.

Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II dies after only a few months as Sultan, assassinated thanks to his opposition to Grand Vizier Dalmat Melek Pasha. He is succeeded by Ahmed IV, who diplomatically decides to avoid arguing with Dalmat.

1813:

February - Elections in the UPSA for the presidency-general after Mateovarón steps down, not contesting a second term. Ayala stands as candidate for the Colorado Party and is defeated by Amarillo candidate José Jaime Carriego López, a more conservative figure than the centrist Mateovarón. After his defeat Ayala steps down as Colorado leader and is replaced by Pablo Portillo de Insaurralde.

End of the Dahomey War of Independence, with Benin also having broken free of Oyo dominance, while the third Oyo vassal of Nupe failed in its rebellion and remains under Oyo control. Oyo is weakened but stabilises under the rule of the new Alaafin Adelu. As a result of all this, the RAC extends its trade deeper into Guinea.

March - Treaty of Blois divides Antipodea between the French south-east, British west and Dutch north.

Partly in response to organisational issues raised in the late Third Platinean War, the Portuguese government creates a Brazilian Cortes (whose members are self-appointed important men from each province, not popularly elected) based in Bahia to help administer the colony.

April - Fighting in Pegu between the Konbaung invaders and the Thai Royal Army supporting the locals. After six months' grapple, the Konbaung Burmese are defeated and withdraw. Minor skirmishes will continue for two years.

In Hanover, William FitzGeorge, Duke of Cambridge, dies. His son Richard succeeds to the dukedom and takes over his duties as de facto governor of Hanover.

May - Parliamentary election in Great Britain produces a big majority for John Churchill's “Rebirth Coalition”. The election was subject to considerable interference and fraud by the PSC browncoats and Unnumbered spies. After the election, Churchill forces out Dundas and makes himself Prime Minister.

The Dutchman Willem Bicker publishes a new and improved code system for heliography.

June - The Battle of Sagar between the Scindias and Holkars takes place in the Maratha civil war. Maharajah Vitthojirao Holkar loses heavily to the French-backed Scindias and agrees to accept help from the British to help recover his position.

July - Death of King Johannes II and IV of Denmark-Sweden. He is succeeded by his son, who becomes Valdemar V and II. His mother, Queen Mildred, encourages him to send help through local trade concessions to her beleaguered home country of Great Britain. Valdemar does so, but only in exchange for Britain agreeing to allow the Danish Asiatic Company to be re-established in the East. The old Swedish East India Company is absorbed into the DAC.

Second Battle of Ningyuan in China sees the total defeat of Yenzhang at Russo-Corean hands. Accounts vary on whether Yenzhang was killed or just wounded, but the remnants of his supporters under Yu Wangshan flee to the west and eventually end up in Yunnan.

August - British forces take Saint-Malo in Antipodea, renaming it New London and the surrounding colony New Kent. Some Republican diehards keep up a Kleinkrieger offensive in the hinterland, with native help.

September - After a brief “retirement”, former Meridian president-general Roberto Mateovarón is appointed Ambassador to the Empire of North America, with the goal of attempting to repair relations between the two countries.

November - John Churchill's third son, George Spencer-Churchill, shocks the country by fleeing to the Empire of North America and writing polemics attacking his father.

December - Death of Charles Bone, former Chancellor of the Exchequer of Britain and father of Leo Bone/Napoleon Bonaparte. Bone the elder's death is supposedly due to a heart attack, but Bone the younger suspects foul play on the part of John Churchill's PSC browncoat bullyboys.

1814:

January - Napoleon Bonaparte attends his father's funeral in London and instigates a new cooling of Franco-British relations when he thanks “the gentlemen, along with Mr Churchill” for attendance.

February - The Holkars, benefiting from British support, beat the Scindias in the Battle of Mandla.

While Bonaparte is out of France, his lieutenant Barras, attempting to hold the Bleu dominance of the Grand-Parlement together, asks King Louis XVII to dissolve the Parlement. Barras has grown fearful of Bonaparte's political dominance and worries about him becoming a dictator.

March - While both are on a grand tour of Greece, British diarist John Byron III meets French political thinker Henri Rouvroy and the two become fast friends. Both are equally unimpressed by the contemporary Greeks and their widely-circulated writings are influential upon western European perceptions of the region.

In Edinburgh, Scottish dissident Alistair Douglas intercepts a new portrait of the military governor, Joshua Churchill (Marquess of Blandford), cuts out his face, pastes it onto a portrait of William IV, and places it in an out-of-reach position on St Giles' Cathedral to mock him. Blandford overreacts and demolishes the whole cathedral, helping earn him the nickname “Bloody Blandford”. For this controversy, he is removed from his position by his father and replaced with Iain Græme, who manages to put down the rebellions roused by Blandford's policies. Many Scots are 'encouraged' to leave for the New Kent colony in Antipodea.

April - On the 13th Louis XVII dissolves the Grand-Parlement in Paris. On his way through the city he is assassinated. The killer is a madwoman who blames her father's death on royal taxes. However French political factions inevitably blame each other and rioting breaks out: the Great Crisis of 1814. Rouge Party leader Olivier Bourcier is hanged in the street from a gaslight by a mob.

Bonaparte returns on the 15th and restores order, uncovering a conspiracy by the Duc d'Aumont and his own treacherous friend Barras to kidnap the young Dauphin, now Charles IX. Bonaparte makes d'Aumont Grand Duke of Louisiana and Barras his chief minister, an exilic punishment. The Dauphin is now under Bonaparte's influence as Regent and Bonaparte begins a period of political dominance as Prime Minister.

May - Suffering from lack of gold reserves, the British Exchequer introduces a new decimal currency based on America's Imperial, the “Royal”.

In China, the Chongqian Emperor's forces have recaptured all the north except those parts of Manchuria held by Corea and Inner Mongolia held by the Mongols. Chongqian proclaims the “Movement to Restore Harmony”, which involves obliterating Manchu language and culture and reorganising the army. Rather than turn on the Feng in the south, and being deluded about the loyalty of the Coreans, Chongqian decides to attack the Mongols in the Reclamation War.

Richard Trevithick or “Vladimir Tarefikhov”, now an important Tula mining magnate, is made a Rytsar (Knight) by the Russian court.

While trying to synthesis quinine from inorganic chemicals for Priestley Aereated Water in the UPSA, the young chemist Agustín Jiménez accidentally discovers the vivid purple dye tyrine. Because the formerly exclusive imperial colour is now available cheaply to the masses, it comes to symbolise radical democratic movements: “every man a king”.

June - In Autiaraux, the two major factions of the Tainui and the Alliance almost come to blows, but this is prevented by the diplomatic efforts of the chieftain Ruatara. This ultimately ensures that the Mauré, exhausted by the Gunpowder Wars, do not render themselves too weak to resist outside encroachment.

July - Henri Rouvroy returns to France and institutes an electoral system by which the decapitated Rouge Party may vote for a new leader. However in the actual contest, Rouvroy is defeated by former Jacobin thug Pierre Artaud. Fearing for his safety, Rouvroy goes into exile in Corsica, in which he writes “Heart of Diamond” and founds the ideology of Adamantianism. Artaud on the other hand proceeds to make a hash of running the Rouge Party and ensures Bonaparte's political dominance is unchallenged.

August - First clash of arms in the Reclamation War between the Qing Chinese and Mongols.

September - The Nguyen Lords of Cochinchina (southern Dai Viet) take advantage of the departure of Tonkin's Chinese protector and invade. Ayutthaya sends Royal Thai Army troops to contest the invasion.

The new Bonaparte regime in France begins using Cayenne in Guyana as a penal colony.

October - La Pérouse finally returns to France and is honoured by King Louis XVII, dying a national hero a few months later.

The New Spanish government, irritated by France's new proclamation of a Grand Duchy of Louisiana and its control over New Spanish-claimed territory, opens up Texas to (Catholic) immigration. A few years later they will have plenty of immigrants from Ireland fleeing the famine.

November - Election in the ENA ejects the Patriots, ending a nine-year reign, and Matthew Quincy's Constitutionalists take power with a majority of 3. However, they are almost immediately beset with rifts within the party.

December - Death of Charles Emmanuel IV, King of Sardinia (and claimant to Piedmont). He is succeeded by his mercurial son, Victor Felix I.

1815:

January - Philip Hamilton and James Wayne return from their explorations of the African interior to find that their enemy Philip Lawrence has been building support among the RAC's board of directors.

February - With his troops bogged down against the Threefold Harmonious Accord troops led by Ayutthaya, Phaungasa Min decides pushing his troops further risks losing what he already has. Peace ensues, with a restored Burman unitary state consisting of Arakan, Ava and Toungoo - but not Pegu.

The Kingdom of Ireland holds a general election. Henry Grattan and his supporters win another term in office, but organise opposition is finally starting to coalesce.

March - Meridian President-General Carriego is hit by scandal when his past involvement in Polynesian slave-trafficking is uncovered.

Around this time it is believed that Pablo Sanchez worked as a bank clerk in Santander, though this is not strongly attested to by biographical evidence.

April - An Etruscan pendant bearing a swastika symbol is unearthed in an archaeological dig at Bolsena. Etruscan culture has long been prized by Italians and especially Tuscans and the news of the discovery means that the swastika, despite being a universal symbol found in many cultures, tends to become associated with the Etruscans.

By this time, Joseph Dashwood has used his natural charisma to become an unofficial leader and man of influence within the Susan-Mary penal colony, with the (disorganised and dismotivated) guards mostly fearing and obeying him as much as the convicts. He receives the nickname “Old Sooty Sweep”, both as a veiled reference to the Satanist Hellfire Club and because he rubs soot into his greying hair to look younger.

May - The French suffer a sepoy mutiny of Muslims in their Indian positions, led by the charismatic leader Imam Mohammed Abbas. They burn a French fleet in harbour, forcing a harsh response from Governor-General Missirien.

John Churchill disposes of a political enemy, Sir Malcolm Greening, by making him Governor of the Isle of Man.

June - The Gorkhas of Nepal invade British vassal states Oudh and Boutan, forcing the British to come to their assistance.

Around this time Pablo Sanchez is known to have worked as a bank clerk in Santander, although biographical details are sketchy.

July - Portuguese influence over the Marathas through their puppet Peshwa Madhavarao Narayan has been increased by the Gaekwad of Gujarat pledging allegiance to him (and declaring neutrality in the Scindia-Holkar conflict), and now further still when Ranjit Singh, ruler of the fortress city of Bhurtpore, does the same.

The Feng Chinese institute a new trade policy, which involves creating “Outsiders' Villages” near major ports in which European traders may dwell but imposing a night curfew. Adventurous Chinese boys often try and get into the Villages after dark and, disowned by their families, are often recruited as translators by the European East India Companies. They are the first 'Gwayese', a term which will later be applied to their half-white children.

August - A mass breakout from the Susan-Mary penal colony, led by Joseph Dashwood. This is odd considering he already had a favoured position within the colony, but it is suspected that this was caused by a rumour that the ENA Continental Parliament was going to reform the colony and crack down there. Over 4,000 convicts escape to the west, together with some turncoat guards, representing about 10% of the population of the colony.

September - Attignee Hurons massacre American settlers led by Luke Stewart in the Confederation of New York's Wisconsin Territory. The settlers are actually caught in the crossfire of a struggle between different Indian groups: the Attignee and several other Huron tribes joined the Sioux “Seven Council Fires” alliance after being pushed west by the Third War of Supremacy and later colonial expansion. The Seven Fires are at war with the rival Ottawa-Ojibwa-Potawatomi Three Fires alliance, and also face internal disagreements over the adoption of “white men's” weapons and tactics and whether they should make peace with their enemy to present a united front against colonial expansion. However this complexity is missed by the outraged American government, who react to the massacre by proclaiming a new Indian war and sending troops westward. This is the start of what becomes known as the “Lakota War”.

October - Meridian Cortes election results in the Amarillo Party losing control of the Cortes for the first time, suffering due to association with the scandal-ridden President-General Carriego.

Though the circumstances are unclear, Joseph Dashwood's escaped Susan-Mary convicts seem to have fallen in with the Arendarhonon (Arenda for short) tribe of Huron Indians around this time. The Arenda are themselves part of the Seven Council Fires alliance, and are now being drawn into the “Lakota War” with the Americans.

November - British and French Indian governors-general Pitt and Missirien meet in Coorg and provisionally agree to stop backing the Maratha factions while they face their own internal problems.

Georges Audoin and Frederick Paley accept a proposal to lead a taxonomic mission to the French colonies in Antipodea and to the South Seas.

1816:

January - Prime Minister of Ireland Henry Grattan dies in office. He is succeeded by John Ponsonby, another important figure in Grattan's party, now known as the Patriots.

February - Death of Thomas Space of old age. His partner Filling tries to name Philip Hamilton as his successor, but is overruled by Lawrence's dominance of the Board of Directors. Lawrence fobs Hamilton off with governorship of Natal, which Hamilton in turn gives to a subordinate, swears off African affairs, and finally returns to America.

Despite opposition from his own party (who run Alfredo Fernando Vallejo y García as an alternative), President-General Carriego attempts to run for a second term and is defeated by Colorado candidate Pablo Portillo.

March - Emperor Paul of Russia's second son Prince Theodore is friendly with Trevithick, and sponsors him to pursue his mad schemes of bringing steam-driven rail carriages out of the mines and use them for transport on land.

Despite issues with their newly reoganised military, the Qing drive the Mongols back into Outer Mongolia. The Reclamation War continues.

In response to the initial attacks by American regular troops in the Lakota War (the Americans attack all Indians in the region regardless of tribe and alliance), the chiefs of the Isantee and Ojibwa tribes agree to suspend their conflict and make an alliance against their common foe. Gradually this alliance will extend to the two tribes' parent confederations, the Seven Fires and Three Fires respectively.

April - Death of Dalmat Melek Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. After an unusually long period of rule, Dalmat had eliminated virtually all opposition, to the point that his death was of natural causes. However, now decapitated, the Empire struggles for leadership. This is the start of the Turkish Time of Troubles. Sultan Ahmed IV is almost immediately assassinated, the details of the act unclear. Janissary leader Kara Suleyman Pasha attempts to seize power as Grand Vizier, with the mad Mahmud III as his Sultan. Neither last more than a few days as rival mobs overrun the city and opposition groups throughout the Empire start assembling armies. Next in line Sultan, Murad VI, escapes to the east, while the Janissaries go through a few more royals before finding the suitably pliable Mehmed V. Alemdar Huseyin Mustafa Pasha becomes Grand Vizier, but he and Mehmed can barely hold onto Constantinople, never mind the Empire.

Lloyd's is reopened in London, representing an important symbolic moment for the recovery of the London financial sector. While Liverpool and Manchester's own finance sectors expanded to try and fill the gap during the preceding decade, London soon overtakes and eclipses them once again.

May - Meeting in Bombay between Pitt, Missirien and Portuguese Indian governor-general Variações. This lays the foundation for the International Oversight Board for East Indian Trade, which helps coordinate relations between the European trading companies to avoid stirring up problems that harm everyone's trade.

Francis II of Austria marries off his eldest daughter Maria Theresa to Alfonso XII of Castile. The fate of his younger daughter Maria Sophia is somewhat problematic due to there being few European monarchies that are willing to accept a Hapsburg bride at this point.

Joseph Dashwood rises to prominence within the Seven Fires Sioux confederation as he and his ex-convict followers help the Indians cope with the battle tactics of the American regulars they face.

June - 1816 is “the year without a summer” due to volcanic eruptions. Food shortages abound. John Churchill receives praise for steering Britain through the crisis with ruthlessly organised rationing, which helps him secure his position as effective dictator.

Death of Duke William I of Hesse-Kassel, a relatively open-minded and forward-thinking figure by Mittelbund standards who let his troops experiment with steam technology. He is succeeded by his more reactionary son William II, who reverses such allowances. Many Hessian mercenaries decamp for the Alliance of Hildesheim rather than be deprived of these useful weapons.

July - Death of Johannes II/John IV of Denmark and Sweden. He is succeeded by his son, Frederick V and II.

The Persian Shah-Advocate, Zaki Mohammed Shah, signs a secret treaty with the Governor-General of Portuguese Goa, Vitorino de Souza. The treaty concerns possible future cooperation against the Ottoman Empire (now beset by political turmoil) and includes a provision that hands over the key Mesopotamian port of Couaite (Kuwait) to the Portuguese in the event of such a conquest.

August - William Goodman, the brother of John Goodman and fellow freebooter, arrives in Autiaraux with the intention of carving out his own kingdom. His ambitions are rudely shattered by his first combat encounter with the Mauré, but he goes on to become an important trader and advisor to the Mauré–he is one of the first Europeans to be accepted as part of their society.

September - Trevithick demonstrates his railways on a small scale as part of an industrial fair in Tula. Theodore persuades his father Emperor Paul to pursue the technology on a larger scale.

The last serfs in Russia are officially freed.

October - Having consolidated his power as de facto head of the Royal Africa Company, Philip Lawrence authorises a plan headed by Hugo Barrio, Alexander Humboldt and Pierre Jacotin to create the “Biafra Cinchona Company”. This seeks to create new cinchona plantations in the Biafran highlands, where the climate suits the tree better, but they have the problem of the key port of Moneba being ruled by the hostile local king Abel.

1817:

February - Enrico Morelli, a Neapolitan immigrant to the UPSA, founds the river steamboat company that will go on to be instrumental years later.

Joseph Dashwood marries an Arenda Huron woman named Skanadario, a chief's daughter.

March - Fighting dies down in Dai Viet as the Nguyen Lords' invading armies are repulsed by Tonkin's troops heavily backed by the Royal Thai Army. This inextricably binds Tonkin into the Threefold Harmonious Accord.

Sophia Mathilde of Württemberg, wife of Francis II of Austria, dies after miscarrying a stillborn son: they already had two daughters, Maria Theresa and Maria Sophia, but no sons.

The Russian government approaches the adventurer Thorvald Nielsen and contracts him to investigate Abyssinia.

April - In France, ultraroyaliste René, Comte de Champagne writes a letter to his nephew Philippe in which he uses the phrase “O, if only there were some marvellous conveyance, perhaps of the steam devices of which the Jacobins and their stooges are so enamoured, that might regress us to that glorious age: a regressive engine, if you will”. This is believed to be the origin of the political term 'Regressive'.

By this point, the civil war in the Ottoman Empire has hardened around two major factions: the Janissary-backed Balkan Party and the conservative and populist Shadow Faction (the name stemming from the Caliph's title of Shadow of God on Earth). Constantinople itself is held by forces loyal to the Janissary Alemdar Huseyin Mustafa, while the rogue agent Abdul Hadi Pasha builds his own power in Egypt.

Launch of the French taxonomic mission led by Georges Audoin and Frederick Paley, on the ship L'Aigle commanded by Captain Émile Rameau.

May - American general election. On the back of early successes in the Lakota War, Matthew Quincy's Constitutionalists increase their majority from three to five. However the Lord Deputy dies during the election and this provokes a dispute (the “Crisis of 1817”) over whether to regard any new Lord Deputy proposed by Emperor Frederick II as being made under duress from Churchill. The crisis is resolved by the intervention of Wesley, who questionably uses his own devolved authority to appoint the Earl of Fingall to the post. Churchill endorses this out of spite, as the Catholic Earl appalls the anti-Papist Quincy.

In Freedonia, Governor Soubise–who had been criticised for not intervening in the Dahomey War of Independence–decides to retire after 13 years as Governor, but fearful of his radical deputy Habakkuk Turner decides to institute an elected Governorship. However, Turner is elected as his successor anyway.

June - Start of the Philippine War between Portugal and Castile on one side and the Empire of New Spain on the other.

Pablo Sanchez joins the Portuguese East India Company. His first voyage on the Centauro takes him to Guinea and Montevideo, both of which influence his thoughts on race and nation. In Montevideo he meets lifelong friend Luis Carlos Cruz for the first time.

Francis II of Austria issues a Pragmatic Sanction re-creating the County of Tyrol, and makes his younger daughter Maria Sophia its ruling Countess and Electress. This appears to be part of a scheme for grooming her to succeed him in case he is unable to gain a male heir from a second marriage.

July - The Treaty of Milan establishes the International Counter-Piracy Agency (ICPA) where ships from different navies are assigned to multinational anti-piracy forces.

Pascal Schmidt completes his university studies at the University of Heidelberg (where he met like-minded patriot Wilhelm Brüning) and returns to Hesse-Kassel.

September - Russia opens the “Zalmanov Line” of Optel semaphore towers linking Moscow and St Petersburg. This binds the two cities' government more closely together and increases the importance of Prince Theodore (Tsar Paul's younger son) who is Governor-General of Moscow.

November - The “March of Icy Death”, as American forces are defeated by the (mostly-Sioux) Confederacy of Seven Fires in the Lakota War and endure a grinding winter retreat to Chichago.

1818:

February - The New Eden is published by Clara Keppel under the pen name “Cuthbert Lucas”. This seminal work launches the new genre of Automaton Literature, both marvelling at the wonders of new technology and warning of the dangers of it growing too ubiquitous.

March - Under the advice of Esad Ali Bey, Ottoman resident in Oman, Sultan Sayyid sends a fleet of troopships to the Red Sea in order to support loyalists in Egypt.

Peter Molnár, a Slovak who has followed the exploits of Benyovsky since his childhood, reaches Yapon. He will go on to join Benyovsky on his last adventure.

April - Final end of the ruinous Durrani War when Hindoos poison Ayub Shah Durrani and both his sons. The West Durrani/Afghan Empire falls apart and the East Durrani/Neo-Moguls move in.

A newly-assembled American army under General Vincent Walker sets out from Chichago westward to strike the Seven Fires Confederacy once again.

The New Eden is (ineffectually) banned in Great Britain due to the perceived attack on the Marleburgensian regime's industrial policies; “Cuthbert Lucas” and her husband flee to Ireland. Of course, the ban only increases public interest in the book both in Britain and elsewhere.

May - Duke Leopold defeats the Italian rebellions. “Emperor” Francis II of Austria agrees to let him inherit Italy while remaining ruler of Lorraine, uniting the two realms. Initially Leopold rejects Francis' calls to join him in intervening in the Ottoman Time of Troubles.

A joint RAC-Freedish operation topples the native King Abel from control of the port of Moneba in Biafra, suiting the Freedish radicals' Freedom Theology and allowing the RAC to establish their cinchona plantations. This removal of a major slave port shocks the Dutch and Portuguese, and the latter begin closer cooperation with the Kongo Empire, whose ruler Henrique III is nervous about the Freedes' fondness for decapitating native monarchs.

Stephen Martin publishes Whither the Imperial Supremacy of America?, often referred to as American Supremacy. This polemic against the Patriot political machine and secret societies in New York, written in the wake of America's struggles in the Lakota War, accuses the establishment of having sent men to die so they could be replaced by pliable immigrants. It forms the inspiration for the Supremacist Party in American politics years later.

June - Maratha civil war peters out with no real change, save that both Scindias and Holkars are weakened and the Portuguese-puppet Peshwa has more influence over the other Maratha princes.

Despite Meridian neutrality in the Philippine War, the Meridian Navy takes the opportunity to plant a base on the disputed Columbus Archipelago (OTL Galapagos).

In the Ottoman Empire, the Siege of Constantinople by the Shadow Faction comes to an end. At the Shadows' moment of victory, a fleet under Khan Devlet V of the Crimea intervenes, killing some of the Shadows' key leaders and scattering them in confusion. The Balkan Party then takes over Constantinople with Crimean assistance. Around the same time, Russia, Persia and Austria all begin their direct intervention in the civil war.

As an employee of the Portuguese East India Company, Pablo Sanchez settles in Goa for some years, working as a clerk. An outbreak of fever kills some of his superiors, and dead men's shoes combined with bribes from Maratha princes looking for influences meaning he can buy promotions means he rises to a fairly high position.

July - Explorer Miguel Juan Díaz y Franco discovers gold along the American River in New California, sparking a new tide of immigration to the New Spanish province.

Austria awakens fear in the Concert of Germany when their declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire contains threateningly vague references to 'reclaiming rightful territories'.

A son, Freedom Dashwood, is born to Joseph and Skanadario Dashwood in the Seven Fires Confederacy.

August - At the Battle of Dendera, the Mameluke-Sennari alliance is defeated by Abdul Hadi Pasha's forces and his Omani allies. The adventurer Thorvald Nielsen is there, fighting on the Mameluke side, and during the retreat comes across a lost Hungarian tribe, the Magyarab.

October - Battle of the Horns of the Bull as Seven Fires Confederacy forces defeat Walker's Americans. This is due to assistance rendered to them by escaped prisoners from the Susan-Mary penal colony led by Joseph Dashwood. In response the American government will assume direct control over Susan-Mary and reform it, using regular troops rather than disaffected guards.

The first oceangoing steamship is launched in the UPSA: the Pichegru, named for the general then thought to have died while leading an expedition through the jungle (though he emerges alive some months later).

L'Aigle visits Gavaji [Hawaii] and Paley and Audoin have a run-in with cannibals.

The Persians complete the conquest of Arabistan in Mesopotamia. They have now regained all territory they lost to the Ottomans in the Turco-Persian War more than a decade before.

November - ICPA forces drawn from France and Naples burn the city of Algiers as part of their operations against Barbary pirates. In the wake of this victory, Malta is essentially commandeered by the ICPA as its forward base, though it remains in name the Knights of St John protected by Britain.

The Persian General Mirza Hossein dies from an infected wound while campaigning in Mesopotamia. Though he was only mediocre as a battlefield general, Hossein was very able at smoothing over ruffled feathers in the army caused by nobles resentful of the Shah-Advocate's more meritocratic reorganisation and modernisation of the army. Deprived of his influence, the Persians have more problems keeping their army under control.

December - When the news of the American defeat at Horns of the Bull gets out, it triggers revolts among the Canajuns in New Britain and other Catholics in Florida, Cuba and Hispaniola (thanks to Quincy's anti-Papism) as well as blacks. The latter revolts are largely put down by former general John Alexander, who gains prestige and political capital because of it. New Spain also takes the opportunity to quietly drop the free trade provisions that were forced on it by the ENA. Louisiana backs Indian raids into Carolina.

1819:

January - The northern part of the British Antipodean colony of New Kent is split off as New Virginia in anticipation of American colonisation.

By this point, Russian forces under Prince Dolgurokov have conquered all the domains of the Khan of Crimea except the Crimean Peninsula itself, which continues to resist.

After noting that the Ottomans are defending Bosnia at the expense of other regions (due to the dominance of Bosniaks within the Balkan Party), the Hapsburg General Alvinczi focuses his own forces on moving into Servia through the Banat, to be joined by Servs as they revolt. Throughout the year, this allows him to cut off and surround the Ottoman forces in Bosnia.

February - Russian explorer Vladimir Lisyansky discovers OTL Walvis Bay, which he names Zaliv Pavlovka (the Gulf of Paul). A few years later, the Grand Ducal Lithuanian African Company is established and founds the outpost of Pavlovsk-na-Baravakhul there.

Meridian presidential election won by Amarillo candidate Alfredo Vallejo, defeating Colorado candidate Juan Sotomayor. Portillo, who had stood down after one term, becomes Ambassador to Great Britain.

March - In Egypt, official Ottoman resident Abdul Hadi Pasha defeats Mameluke rebels and achieves control of the country. Backed by Esad Ali Bey and the Omanis, he will henceforth be the leader of a powerful faction in the Ottoman civil war.

The position of Governor-General of French Guyana becomes vacant and the French government seizes the opportunity to appoint the embarrassing drunkard Joseph Carpentier, Comte de Toulouse, to the position on the other side of the world.

Due to the Meridian crackdown on the slave trade, the brutal slaver Sebastián Duarte decides to try raiding Autiaraux. He raids both the Tainui and the Alliance and ultimately inadvertently brings the two together against a common foe.

April - The death of Bogd Khan on the battlefield comes at the end of the Reclamation War. The Qing Chinese have reconquered all of Mongolia except the Oirat west, which becomes part of the Kazakh Khaganate. However the war has also exposed deep flaws in the Chongqian Emperor's military reorganisation project.

Battle of Narogne in Antipodea between Anglo-American colonists and a group of native Noungare warriors. The Anglo-Americans win, but are surprised to find the Noungare using some European weapons and tactics, having been influenced by (and possibly later interbred with) Jacobin exiles from the former Republican French base there who had fled into the interior, led by Alain Bonnaire. The Noungare will continue to hold the interior and harrass the Anglo-Americans for years to come.

The city of Basra in Ottoman Mesopotamia falls to the Persians almost without a fight, as the only organised opposition in the area consists of disorganised Azadi militiamen.

May - American general election. The Constitutionalists are decimated due to Quincy's unpopularity and Alexander running 'Constitutionalist Whig' candidates in some constituencies against Quincy-loyalist Constitutionalists, splitting the vote. This is known as the Southron Movement. The Patriots under Artemas Ward Jr. get in with a large majority.

Abdul Hadi Pasha and Esad Ali Bey begin their campaign against the Saud family and their Wahhabi faction in Arabia, using their Omani ships to land troops to perform pincer movements against the Saudi forces and lead them on wild-goose chases.

June - Robert Conroy dies when he is run over by a steam carriage. Joshua Churchill takes over control of the PSC browncoats. This represents his return to power after being demoted by his father for the Edinburgh incident, and his influence through the browncoats and the Unnumbered gives him disproportionate power.

Servia (Serbia) revolts and tries to break away from Ottoman control. The Russians under Heinz Kautzman, frustrated at the resistance of Prince Stephanos Ypsilanti in Moldavia, issue propaganda which particularly affirms Slavic solidarity and accuses the 'collaborationist' Greeks like Ypsilanti of being traitors to Orthodox Christianity.

Around this time, Émile Perrier ascends to the (informal) leadership of the Blanc Party in France, reforming the ultraroyaliste group and making it appeal to a broader group of voters by championing causes such as regionalism and criticising Bonaparte's centralisation of power.

July - First formal meeting of the Indian Board in Guntoor, consisting of representatives of the British, French and Portuguese East India Companies as well as the Danish Asiatic Company. The Dutch are excluded.

Death of Horatio Nelson in Naples at the age of 71. He receives a state funeral. The absence of the 'Grand Old Englishman' and the resulting power vacuum throws Neapolitan court politics into a state of flux for some years.

Moritz Wilhelm Quedlinburger (AKA Mo Quedling), an immigrant originally from Prussian Poland, is first elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly as a Radical.

August - As part of a scheme between Chancellor Warthausen of Austria and Foreign Minister Vauguyon of France, Francis II weds Henrietta Eugénie, daughter of the Duke of Orléans. Despite Henrietta's unorthodox views on the role of women in politics that had made her infamous in French high society, the couple rapidly take to each other.

Artemas Ward Jr. sends Lewis Thresher, Henry Lewis and John Vann (among others) to negotiate with the Seven Fires Confederacy. They manage to end the war and convince the Confederacy to allow white settlers to pass through a narrow corridor of their territory, so long as they do not settle there. Vann also attempts to recruit the Sioux to the 'Tortolian Idea' of a pan-Indian cultural alliance to resist white domination, but the Sioux–who consider the Cherokee to be more than half white themselves–refuse.

Pennsylvanian Confederate-level Constitutionalist leader Ralph Purdon forms a new party focusing on frontier issues. His insistence that the party is “neutral” on the slavery issue means it is dubbed the Neutral Party by the press. Following the Confederate election, the Neutrals form a coalition with the Radicals; when the Neutrals break onto the national stage the two parties form an electoral pact.

In the Caucasus, Russian Marshal Dmitri Arakcheyev is frustrated with the slow progress of his armies, partially because many of the Caucasian peoples prefer Ottoman to Russian overlordship. Arakcheyev receives unexpected reinforcements from Colonel Arkady Pavlovich, who comes from the Far East with some of the Russo-Lithuanian Pacific Company's Yapontsi nindzya (Japanese ninja) fighters. Though they do not play a major role in the campaign on paper, they will become an enduring part of the war's legacy in Russian culture.

L'Aigle returns to France in triumph, with Audoin and Paley having collected considerable samples from French Antipodea and the South Seas, and Paley working on his theoretical ideas about evolution.

September - Artemas Ward Jr. covers for the perception of weakness from treating with the Seven Fires Confederacy by securing the handover of the American Squadron from London to Fredericksburg control. It is soon nicknamed the 'Imperial Navy'.

Forces from Russia's allies of Lithuania, Courland and Navarre assist Heinz Kautzman in Moldavia, helping push back the forces loyal to the Ottomans. In particular, Alexander Potemkin comes himself at the head of the Courlander army, helping heal the old wounds of the Russian Civil War.

Having distracted the Saudis and drawn their forces away, Abdul Hadi Pasha and Esad Ali Bey successfully take possession of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina from them.

October - King Ferdinand of Italy dies. Some rebellions in Italy break out upon news of his death, especially in Venetia, but less than many expected. Francis II refuses to contribute troops to putting them down due to his focus on the Ottoman war, which arguably helps the Italian Hapsburgs by making them stand out more from their Austrian counterparts and meaning they are seen as less foreign rulers than before. Ferdinand's son and heir Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, comes south from Strassburg to put down the rebels and take control of the country as the new King.

A Greek revolt against the Ottomans begins, prompted by high taxes exacted by the Balkan Party government to fund the war against the Austrians and Russians.

November - Francis II of Austria comes to Belgrade and proclaims the new Electorate of Servia, in personal union with Krakau.

Thanks in part to Alexander Potemkin personally leading a forlorn hope at the Siege, Russian and allied forces take the city of Jassy in Moldavia. This alarms the Hapsburgs, who do not want Wallachia to fall into Russian hands as well.

December - Sarajevo falls to the Hapsburgs under General Alvinczi after the Balkan Party Ottomans are forced to retreat to avoid being surrounded due to Hapsburg-controlled Servia.

1820:

January - The Portuguese land forces at Couaite [Kuwait] under Admiral Orlando Coutinho and takes control of the key port, according to the provisions of their secret 1816 treaty with Persia. However, both the Persians and Portuguese East India Company had assumed this would not take place until after the war, due to the Persians not wanting to cooperate too publicly with a Christian power. This mess-up is due to the Portuguese's centralising “Aveiro Doctrine” which meant that Coutinho rather than the PEIC was placed in charge of the intervention, and considerably dents the Persians' credibility with Shi'ites in Mesopotamia, cancelling our Grand Vizier Nader Sadeq's otherwise effective print-based propaganda campaign.

February - Grand Duke Peter (Petras) of Lithuania institutes reforms that reorganise the Seimas (parliament) to split the elected representatives between the different classes of society, meaning for the first time commoners have a voice in government, albeit a small one.

March - The Persians retake the city of Nishapur (lost in the Turco-Persian War) as its Afghan masters have now collapsed into anarchy.

When the Persians march on Baghdad they find it defended by Azadis and forces sent by Abdul Hadi Pasha. A long siege sets in.

The Saudis march on Mecca and Medina (occupied by Abdul Hadi Pasha's forces) but Abdul Hadi uses his superior power-projection abilities to send another army to take the Saudi capital of Diriyah. This forces the Saudi leader Faisal bin Saud to split his forces as he cannot ignore either insult for long.

April - The Neapolitans take advantage of Ottoman weakness to descend upon Tunis, conquer it and turn it into a colony, giving them considerable control over the passage of the central Mediterranean. Rhetoric from King Gennaro I about a new Roman Empire defeating a new Carthage alarms the Kingdom of Italy. However, Tunis will turn out to be often more trouble than it is worth.

In the ENA, Radical Party leader Henry Tappan retires from politics and is replaced by Eric Mullenburgh. Due to Mullenburgh viewing John Alexander's embrace of Catholic relief as being a cynical ploy, he emphasises the Radicals' own longstanding commitment to the issue and cracks down on deviants in both his own party and their Neutral allies. Because of this, anti-Catholic Neutral MCP Arundel Ogilvy is expelled from the party. He joins with the Salem Movement, a Confederate-level anti-Catholic party in New England, to form an Imperial counterpart party, the Trust Party (a reference to the Orange Order Motto “In God is my Trust”).

May - Due to the Russians blocking his forces from further expansion in the Azeri lands in the Caucasus, the Persian Shah-Advocate Zaki Mohammed Shah decides to focus on Mesopotamia as he continues his intervention in the Ottoman Time of Troubles.

Birth of Faruq Kalam, later known as the Mahdi, near Delhi in the Neo-Mughal Empire.

June - In Austria, “Empress” Henrietta Eugénie gives birth to a son, Rudolf Ferdinand.

The Kingdom of Italy finally intervenes in the war with the Ottomans by supporting the nascent Greek rebellion.

The French Grand-Parlement passes a law extending the maximum length of its parliaments between elections from two to four years.

July - Having outmaneouvred the Saudis, superior generalship on the part of Esad Ali Bey and Abdul Hadi Pasha successfully destroys much of the Saudi army piecemeal, including the death of Faisal bin Saud on the battlefield. His son Aziz takes the remnants of the Saudi forces and flees to the southern city of Jizan, where they will rebuild their strength in exile. This gives Abdul Hadi's faction control over most of Arabia, including the Islamic holy cities.

August - Danish explorer Malthe Conrad Bruun, as part of his survey of southern Africa, lands in Madagascar. He will later recommend a stopover colony be planted there.

Around this time, the formerly opposing American Indian alliances of the Seven Fires and Three Fires decide to merge in order to better resist American colonial encroachment, having weathered the Lakota War together. The new alliance is called the Thirteen Fires–the other three fires being the Attignee and Arenda Hurons, and Joseph Dashwood's white escaped convicts as an honourary “tribe”.

September - The Austrians reach the Black Sea, having pushed through Wallachia and Dobruja, much to the Russians' annoyance. They set about consolidating their conquest, unpopularly annexing Wallachia directly to Hungary. The Ottoman-allied Prince Stephanos Ypsilanti of the Danubian principalities manages to escape to Poland in exile, provoking diplomatic protests from Russia when he is received by the Polish court.

October - Italian Admiral Enrico Mazzini wins a great symbolic victory over the naval forces of the Ottomans (or at least their Balkan Party faction) at the Second (actually Fourth) Battle of Lepanto.

The Khan of Kalat, reacting to the collapse of the West Durrani Empire (and having somewhat expanded his own domain in consequence) agrees to become a vassal of Persia.

November - Ibrahim Salim Pasha, Governor of the Eyalet of Syria, abandons the Shadow Faction of Ottomans in favour of Abdul Hadi Pasha, in part thanks to pressure from the minorities under his rule suspicious of the Shadows' Islamic supremacism. The “Three Faiths Under One Flag” banner is designed at this time.

The Persian General Ardeshir Gholami, in command of the troops besieging Baghdad, comes closest to taking the city when he manages to breach the walls in several places. However, his attempt comes to naught when Azadi infiltrators sabotage his cannon.

1821:

January - When Abdul Hadi Pasha meets 'Ibn Warraq', leader of the liberal Azadi faction in Damascus, it is revealed that 'Ibn Warraq' is actually Abdul Hadi's brother Said Mehmed Pasha. With this revelation the balance of power in the chaotic Ottoman Empire is immediately altered.

February - Russian astronomer Yakov Struve publishes observations of the deviation of Dionysus' [Uranus'] orbit and proposes that there must be a hypothetical eighth planet beyond, which is provisionally named Ariadne [Neptune].

Joseph Dashwood persuades a group of Thirteen Fires Indians to pursue the idea of agricultural settlement to help boost the Confederation's population and power. Although the idea of a more sedentary life is somewhat controversial to many of the Sioux, the experiment has more appeal with the Hurons and is eventually successful. The Confederation's population also grows due to the absorption of Indians of the Gigaboo (Kickapoo) and Winnebago tribes being expelled from Cismississipia by American colonists and fleeing westwards.

March - Having given up on taking Baghdad, the Persians attempt to bypass and surround it and strike straight for Najaf under General Amir Moderi.

The New Eden is published in German translation. Saxon thinker Albrecht Bergner gives an accompanying critique of the book; the idea that the automata in The New Eden are steam-powered (which goes on to dominate practically all dramatisations and popular-culture images of the book) actually stems from this critique.

The slaver Sebastián Duarte, on his third slave raid of Autiaraux, is defeated and enslaved in turn by the Mauré unified against his threat, who blow up his ship El Dorado.

April - The capital of the Empire of New Spain is officially moved from Veracruz back to the rebuilt Mexico City. The capital of the Kingdom of Mexico is moved from San Francisco (which had always been a rather artificial site, its officials often absentee) to Veracruz. A captaincy-general is installed in San Francisco to govern the Californias semi-autonomously.

Amir Moderi's Persians reach Najaf, but beset by Azadi Kleinkrieger activity and harried by Abdul Hadi Pasha's forces, are unable to hold the city and retreat, a long bloody process commemorated in the poem “The Retreat from Najaf”.

May - An expansionist Ayutthaya, working its way down the Malay Peninsula, invades Kedah and Perak.

After several Russian military successes in the Caucasus, Russia's ally the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti is expanded into a full Kingdom of Georgia. Attempts to create a vassal Armenian kingdom in the same way fail due to a Russian failure to appreciate the political complexities of the struggle, often driving rival Armenian factions to support one or the other of the Ottoman claimant governments.

Having had more success on the eastern front against the Durranis, the Persians decide to effectively withdraw from the Ottoman front of their war, settling for their relatively minor Mesopotamian conquests. They have been successfully repelled from Baghdad, lending much glory to Abdul Hadi Pasha and the Azadis.

The Pere de Portolà, having been an eminence grise for many years, officially becomes chief minister of Naples (and de facto all the Three Sicilies).

June - End of the Philippine War, with Castile (backed by Portugal) being victorious and gaining unchallenged control over the islands. The Sultanate of Sulu has also expanded its influence in the Muslim south of Mindanao.

The Empire of New Spain charters the Atlantic Pepper Company, which sells mostly Guatemalan peppers to Europeans, taking advantage of the Orientalist craze for spicy Indian food.

July - An Italo-Russo-Danish ICPA fleet pursues pirates into Siamese waters and clashes with the small Siamese navy. A minor undeclared war results.

August - Death of Peter IV “the Great” of Portugal. He is succeeded by his son, who becomes John VI. John will go on to replace many of his father's ministers, attempting to escape his father's shadow, but for the moment struggles to establish his primacy. In the background, his ally Jorge de Lencastre, 9th Duke of Aveiro is influential in pushing his centralising 'Aveiro Doctrine' though he does not officially become a minister for some time.

Leopold of Italy makes his younger brother Joseph King of a newly proclaimed Kingdom of Greece. Joseph converts to Orthodoxy to gain the support of the Greeks.

In Austria, birth of the second son of Francis II and Henrietta Eugénie, Joseph Charles.

September - The University of Corte opens in Corsica. It is notable for being the first university to admit female students, although at first only for certain subjects.

November - Death of John Pitt, Governor-General of British India.

King Joseph of Greece is crowned in Nafplion.

1822:

January - A black slave named Caesar Bell escapes his master in Virginia. He becomes the leader of a group of escaped slaves ruling themselves in the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, aided by surreptitious shipments of weapons and supplies from Freedonia smuggled into Virginian ports on Royal Africa Company ships.

February - Meridian President-General Vallejo is still halfway through important negotiations with the New Spanish that will lead to normalisation of relations. He makes the controversial decision to run for a second term, despite having made his political name partly through criticism of Carriego for doing the same. Splits and disagreements in both parties mean that Vallejo does manage to win, but with only 29% of the vote; his nearest competitor is independent “Blanco” candidate and relative of the first President-General, Felipe Riquelme. Though incredibly unpopular, Vallejo does succeed in normalising relations with New Spain in his second term.

Governor-General Carpentier of French Guyana, recognising the market for peppers grown there, decides to quietly start recruiting political prisoners from the penal colony there as overseers and guards as he illegally begins expanding the pepper slave plantations and creaming a share of the profit off for himself. In practice the freed Jacobins soon begin running the colony themselves as Carpentier takes a back seat, a period known as the “Phantom Republic”.

March - Pascal Schmidt leaves Hesse-Kassel, knowing he is about to be imprisoned by Duke William II for his writings. He initially goes to Hesse-Darmstadt, where he meets up with his friend Wilhelm Brüning, and they begin touring Germany together (under false passports) and collecting notes for a book.

May - American general election. Artemas Ward Jr.'s Patriots lose their majority, challenged by the Radical-Neutral Alliance on one side and the surging Whigs on the other, the Whigs broadening their appeal beyond 'the pro-slavery party' by advocating Catholic relief. Ward resigns as leader of the Patriots, being replaced by Josiah Crane. The hung parliament is resolved by the Whigs pledging to support the Patriots in response for concessions. Many see this as a 'corrupt bargain'; the Freedish artist Pueblo Jonas paints “In Memoriam”, claiming that American liberty is dead.

In Northern Qing (Beiqing) China, the eminence grise General Liang is assassinated by a disgrunted junior officer. The state descends into a power struggle that creates a distraction and ultimately delays direct confrontation between the two Chinas.

June - Persia creates an Emirate of Basra out of their southern Mesopotamian conquests under a puppet Emir, one of the al-Sabah family. Real power rests in the Persian resident there, Nader Sadeq–demoted from Grand Vizier due to failures of his policy during the war.

After four years in Goa, Pablo Sanchez (now one of the PEIC's rising stars) leaves for a more prestigious post in China–initially in Portuguese Formosa.

August - The last act of intervention by Persia in the Ottoman Time of Troubles. Aided by Portugal supplying ships, an army travels across the Persian Gulf and begins the conquest of Oman, having been stripped of defences by Esad Ali Bey some years before.

September - Start of the Great Famine of 1822, with potato blight afflicting countries reliant on the potato as a staple, such as Ireland, Poland and Prussia. Emigration picks up with many Irishmen going to New Spanish Texas. In Britain, Churchill is praised for a swift response to the crisis with aid for Ireland, and the Anglo-Irish Friendship Society is organised to support Irish refugees. Its 'asterisk' symbol, an English on an Irish cross, goes on to inspire the symbol of the Runnymede Movement. On the other hand, Scotland is rather neglected, particularly the Highland Crofters, who suffer badly.

Partly as a result of the famine, the Austrian and Russian wars against the divided Ottomans largely grind to a halt and peter out, with the Russians having taken the Crimea, Moldavia and some Caucasus territory, the Austrians having taken Servia, Wallachia and Dobruja, and Greece having become independent under the brother of the King of Italy. The Hapsburgs now control almost the entire course of the River Danube, leading to a new popularity for the name “Danubian Monarchy” to describe their holdings.

Potato-dependent Poland, Bohemia and Prussia also suffer particularly badly from the famine. Perceived lack of action on the part of Saxony and the Hapbsurgs (respectively) foments resentment in Poland and Bohemia.

November - In the Crimea, slowly being conquered by the Russians, the Jews form the resistance movement later known as the Masada Legion, led by David Levitin and Yitzhak Volynov.

After a much-criticised attempt by Prime Minister John Ponsonby to delay the election with the emergency of the potato famine as an excuse, the Kingdom of Ireland votes in its fourth election since the new constitution of 1801. For the first time the Patriots, Ponsonby's party (and the descendants of Henry Grattan's supporters) loses control in a landslide. The result is a three-cornered parliament between the Patriots, the reactionary Liberal-Conservatives and the extremist Radicals. Fearful of the Radicals–who are fuelled by proletarian anger over the potato famine–the Patriots opt to support Liberal-Conservative leader Lewis Abbott as Prime Minister.

December - Persians (with Portuguese help) take the Omani capital of Muscat. Sultan Sayyid flees to the interior city of Nizwa to carry on a Kleinkrieger war. The more hardline Ibadi Islam of the region will influence him and his supporters in years to come.

1823:

January - The Persians install a distant cousin of Sultan Sayyid, as puppet Sultan of a rump, vassalised Omani state, the 'Sultanate of Muscat'. He takes the name Sultan Bakarat bin Hamad al-Sayyid. As payment for Portugal's help in the conquest, Muscat is opened up to Portuguese trade and the Portuguese take direct control of the Omani African trading colony of Zanzibar. They recruit many Persians to help, meaning Zanzibar acquires a considerable Persian minority.

Pablo Sanchez is sent on a spy mission to Yapon (Japan) by the PEIC, who want to scout out how the Dutch are interacting with the southern court. He makes observations of Izumo Han, but does not enter Nagasaki–just as well, as the four spies sent there are all caught and executed. Sanchez records the Izumo Daimyo turning to the Russo-Lithuanians at this time for assistance against their traditional Mori enemies, allied to the southern court.

February - Virginian colonists arrive in New Virginia in Antipodea, establishing Norfolk as their capital.

The Treaty of Nashborough is signed between the Confederation of Carolina and the Grand Duchy of New Orleans, fixing the disputed border between the two entities and their respective Indian federates. This is significant because it represents the first time a Confederate government concluded a treaty without the direct involvement of the Imperial American government.

Optel semaphore communication across the English Channel–using balloon-based intermediary Optel stations–is first demonstrated, and a company is set up to realise the idea fully.

French writer Yves Buillard publishes The Iron Revolution, another seminal work part of the “Automata Craze” in which he draws upon the themes established in The New Eden and mixes them with an allegory for the French Revolution.

Moritz Benyovsky, approaching the end of his life, is the most powerful man in Japan and has changed the Far East forever. But he is bored. The adventurer Thorvald Nielsen tells him of a lost Hungarian tribe in Africa, and he goes on one last adventure with his friends to save them.

March - The scuffle between Siam and the ICPA is resolved. The incident will be exaggerated into a heroic defence against European imperialism by the Siamese.

Frederick Paley publishes On the Abolition of Species, in which he outlines his Theory of Environmental Breeding as a mechanism of evolution. Naturally the book proves very controversial.

The Persian-Portuguese alliance largely breaks down due to a disagreement over Bahrain, which the Portuguese claim as an old colony and the Persians support the Al-Makhdur ruling family there as they have long supported the Zands. Portugal eventually backs down. Although the two countries continue trade relations, their close working relationship has been irreparably damaged and the Persians start looking to broaden their options by cooperation with alternative European powers.

April - The Danes establish the fort of Johanneshavn (on the site of the old French Fort Dauphin) in Madagascar.

The Tropical Fruit Company, founded by the Carolinian Wragg brothers and the scientist Colm Macallister, is floated on the New York Stock Exchange. It is the first company to focus on supplying the products of the Gulf to the northern American Confederations and Europe. Macallister's published observations on the French plantation system in Louisiana go on to inspire “The Burden”.

Abdul Hadi Pasha, having control over Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, finally sends his armies north against the Shadow Faction. Esad Ali Bey becomes his viceroy of Egypt.

French military engineers duplicate Britain's hail shot, meaning the secret weapon is no longer exclusive to Britain and her allies. The design soon proliferates to other major powers.

After some months working in Portuguese Formosa, Pablo Sanchez is able to procure a move to Hanjing, capital of Feng China (OTL Guangzhou/Canton) as it intrigues him. He becomes the third most senior of the Portuguese 'Hongmen' traders there. Influential life experiences he has there include becoming addicted to opium and breaking his addiction, working with the 'Gwayese' intermediaries, and observing that the Chinese have similar corresponding titles of nobility to European powers.

May - In the ENA's Continental Parliament, John Alexander takes advantage of poor attendance that day in Parliament by his Patriot coalition partners to table a motion for Catholic emancipation, which is supported by his Radical-Neutral enemies. The few remaining Patriots present, led by Solomon Carter, fail to stop the motion and it passes by three votes. A furious Lord President Josiah Crane dissolves the coalition and struggles on leading the Patriots as a minority government. John Alexander resigns from Parliament and returns to Cuba, having achieved what he desired, and is succeeded as Whig leader by Benjamin Harrison VII.

As part of the Portuguese 'Aveiro Doctrine', the Brazilian Cortes in Bahia–which had operated for ten years–is dissolved in favour of direct rule from Lisbon.

The British inventor Joseph Paxman invents the Paxman Process for asimconic selection (photographic fixing).

June - While serving as Meridian Ambassador to Britain, Pablo Portillo meets Moronite prophet Weston, who (despite viewing as a fool) he encourages to settle in Tierra del Fuego to help stake a Meridian claim to the island. The Meridian government agrees.

The Trust Party/Salem Movement, incensed by the new Catholic relief law, raise a rebellion in South Massachusetts. The Confederate government is granted troop-raising powers to subdue this uprising.

October - Colorado Party takes control of the Meridian Cortes and pushes through voting reform, leading to universal (male) suffrage. Reforms are also implemented to fix the issues with the last presidential election, with the President-General now standing for a single six-year term without re-election, and a two-round voting system being introduced.

1824:

February - Amid a bitter winter, at the cost of many lives, the Russians finally land on the Crimean peninsula and begin rolling up the Khanate forces.

March - The Thai conquest of Kedah and Perak is completed, alarming Europeans trading in the region.

The Russians under Dmitri Arakcheyev finally conquer the city of Artvin after a long siege, aided by Pavlovich's nindzya assassins. This represents the final territorial conquest of the Russians in the Caucasus, as the Shadow Faction Ottomans are now reunited under the leadership of Bozoklu Ali Pasha and the Persians have turned on the Russians, supporting rebellions in the Russian Empire's new Azeri subject regions. Russian expansion therefore grinds to a halt.

April - Augustus Frederick, crown prince of Saxony, announces his intention to convert to Lutheranism. This disqualifies him from also inheriting the kingship of Poland, beginning the “Polish Question”.

The power struggle in Beiqing China is resolved with the Chongqian Emperor appointing Zeng Lisi, a cousin of Zeng Xiang, as prime minister. Lisi does not have his relative's political skill and is regarded largely as a neutral figurehead to make peace between factions.

May - In China, the Feng authorities complain to their European partners about opium smuggling, warning that individual offenders will be excluded from the China trade. The European trading companies sign a pact against the practice, while the Feng create a legal monopoly for (taxed) opium distribution and begin building a coastal navy to enforce their law.

June - Abdul Hadi Pasha's forces take the centralcity of Angora from the Shadow Faction, badly weakening the latter.

Start of the Aceh War as the Dutch East India Company tried to take over Aceh for its pepper resources, but the Acehnese resist with help from the Portuguese.

July - The brutal and hated Austrian military governor of Bavaria, Wolfgang von Arnstein, is killed by the Hiedlerite Kleinkriegers. In response the Austrians–now no longer distracted by the Ottoman intervention–crack down with large numbers of veteran troops. This temporarily brings a peace of sorts to the 'Bavarian Ulcer'.

Nurul Huq visits Britain after being shipped there by the British East India Company. The experience changes his views somewhat, with him becoming more of a general social equality crusader than a nationalist one when he returns to Bengal.

August - In the Ottoman Empire, the Balkan Party drives the weakened Shadow Faction from the city of Bursa.

September - Elections in France. The Bleus barely hold onto power, betraying that the French people have become fatigued with Bonaparte's stranglehold on power. The Blancs see a boost in strength while the Rouges continue to struggle due to Artaud's extremism and incompetence. This prompts Jacques Drouet (brother of General Drouet from the Jacobin Wars) to pay Artaud a visit and kill him and his hidden bodydugards in a “duel” with a new revolving pistol manufactured by the Fleming Maurice Bergmann. The scandal boosts public interest in the new technology. Drouet turns himself in to the authorities and is transported to the penal colony in Cayenne.

October - “The Burden”, a controversial work which espouses equality between the white, red and yellow races while mounting an intellectual defence of slavery, is published anonymously. Its supporters become known as “Burdenites”. It will not become known until 1828 that the author is Carolinian politician Andrew Eveleigh.

André Malraux is elected new leader of the Rouge Party in France, and immediately begins work on restoring the party's credibility after the disastrous Artaud years.

November - Ottoman Sultan Murad VI, who had vanished into hiding at the start of the Time of Troubles, re-emerges and endorses Abdul Hadi Pasha's faction.

Battle of Teawa, in which Moritz Benyovsky and his allies defeat the Sennaris and save the Magyarab, at the cost of Benyovsky's life when he and Sultan Unsa IV slay each other. The new colony of Russian Erythrea is created. Peter Molnár marries a Magyarab woman named Zoltana and they have a son, István.

December - Pascal Schmidt and Wilhelm Brüning publish The Discerning Traveller's Guide to Germany under the collective pseudonym “Rudolf Danziger”. The book proves a best-seller, with the authorities being slow to realise that its apparently innocent travel-guide content hides a thinly-disguised ideological agenda aimed at toppling the petty German monarchies and creating a united republican Germany.

1825:

January - Khan Devlet V of the Crimean Khanate is killed in a last stand at Qirm as the Russians conquer the last traces of his Khanate. His son Devlet VI has fled into exile in Balkan Party-controlled European Turkey.

Alf Stotts, working as a European officer (his status as an officer based on a bluff) for the Feng Dynasty in China alongside his friend Jack Barton, is promoted to Major.

February - First Meridian presidential election held under the new constitutional rules. Colorado candidate Sebastián Velasco defeats Amarillo candidate Raúl Fuente.

In Africa, Darfur intervenes in the Sennari civil war following the death of Unsa IV at the hands of Moritz Benyovsky. However, with the Darfuri army engaged, this leads to a revolt in the western region of Wadai, conquered by the Darfuris in the 1780s.

March - With John George V of Saxony on his deathbed, the Polish Sejm issues a statement praising their dying King but warning they will exercise their constitutional right to nominate his successor upon his death, with no automatic hereditary succession. This is known as the “Polish Letter” and sparks outrage in Dresden, arriving the day after John George passes away. His eldest son Augustus Frederick succeeds him as Augustus II of Saxony. He proposes his younger (and still Catholic) brother as King of Poland, but in such a hot-blooded letter that it alienates the Poles further.

In Autiaraux, the Mauré sign the Treaty of Tetaitocquerau, sealed with marriage alliances, which unifies the nation against outside threats.

April - King Charles X of France reaches his majority. His long-serving Prime Minister Bonaparte, recognising the people are tired with his rule, is ready to retire, but hesitates over naming a successor. His longstanding ally and would-be political heir François Vauguyon is driven to jealousy by (possibly untrue) rumours that Bonaparte was considering trying to have his eldest son installed as PM. Vauguyon resigns as Foreign Minister, abandons Bonaparte and joins Perrier and the Blancs. Adolphe Réage (nephew to Admiral Réage) becomes Foreign Minister in his stead, and Bonaparte is forced to continue as Prime Minister.

The famous debate at the Royal Society over Frederick Paley's Theory of Environmental Breeding. Erasmus Darwin III and Francis Darwin (“the brothers Darwin”) initially reject the theory over concerns that the age of the earth is insufficient to allow such a process. However they accept Sir Andrew Black's suggestion that disasters such as floods might accelerate the process, which forms the basis of the Catastrophist theory. Paley himself rejects this and instead claims that the age of the earth is much longer than current theories say, which forms the basis of the Gradualist side of an argument that will run for decades.

August - The first boatload of Moronites arrives in Tierra del Fuego. Weston the prophet soon dies of a fever, but new leader William Frobisher advances the idea that the native Fuegians represent unfallen humanity, which will define the Moronites' later actions.

October - Saxony, Russia, and the Hapsburgs are all trying to put their own candidate on the throne of Poland. The Interrex (manager of the succession) wants to keep Poland neutral and also believes a native Polish king would create too many factional divisions and rob the country of international credibility. Therefore, he invites a minor Italian Catholic ruler to become King of Poland, either King Victor Felix I of Sardinia or Duke Rainaldo IV of Lucca. The Sejm votes for the latter and he takes the regnal name Casimir V, moving to Warsaw and leaving Lucca under the viceroy Paolo Geminiani.

The mysterious death of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, on the 31st. He is discovered sitting in his chair in his room in Blenheim Palace with his brains blown out, but speculation will never resolve whether he was assassinated or committed suicide. He is discovered by his son Joshua, Marquess of Blandford, who uses the opportunity to try and seize control in his stead.

November - On the 70th anniversary of the Lisbon Earthquake, Portuguese King John VI can say that the city is now greater than it was before the disaster.

Joshua Churchill goes to Parliament and attempts to have himself made Prime Minister, but fails to impress the House, with opposition leaders David Attwood (Radical) and William Wyndham (Tory) both giving speeches casting scorn on him, and even part of the Phoenix Party rebelling against him. This is the first example of a death-vote (confidence vote) in history. Joshua reacts by shooting Attwood and sending in the PSC browncoats to arrest Parliament en masse. Several MPs are killed, many escape, but the rest are locked in the Tower of London. When Joshua goes to Frederick II to be made Prime Minister, he finds the King has fled–eventually coming to America. Joshua proceeds to rule as a dictator with an empty throne, with the support of the House of Lords alone.

General election in the ENA. A combination of the news of the death of Churchill (making a mockery of recent Patriot rhetoric) and a scandal concerning the sales of peerages means the minority ruling Patriots are reduced to the third largest party group behind the Whigs (fuelled by newly enfranchised Catholic voters) and the Radical-Neutrals. The Patriots fragment into three groups: a few Craneite loyalists, a large number of pragmatists under Solomon Carter, and a group of more principled MCPs under the newly elected Philip Hamilton. A government is formed by the Whigs supported by the Carterite Patriots, with Benjamin Harrison VII becoming Lord President.

December - The last remnants of the Shadow Faction of the Ottoman Empire are destroyed by Abdul Hadi Pasha and the Balkan Party. These two remaining factions continue to fight, but with a singular lack of enthusiasm due to war-weariness after seven years of Time of Troubles.

1826:

January - A political cartoon in The Ringleader is the first recorded evidence of the Runnymede Movement using its purple 'asterisk of liberty' flag.

King Frederick II arrives in America, initially being detained by the Preventive Cutter Service due to his disguise, but being rescued by the Lord Deputy. Lord President Benjamin Harrison VII receives the King but cannot promise military intervention against Joshua Churchill (“Blandford”) due to the platform on which the Whigs were elected.

The new American government passes the Quinquennial Act (1826) which extends the maximum length of a parliament between elections from three to five years.

February - End of the Aceh War, with the Dutch having failed to take control of Aceh but the Portuguese largely being too distracted by interventions elsewhere to take advantage of this.

The Duke of Aveiro officially becomes chief minister of Portugal, having informally been an eminence grise for several years previously.

With the support of Lord Salisbury and Lord Devonshire, Joshua Churchill consolidates his rule and attempts to find a candidate to fill Great Britain's empty throne, using the same constitutional reasoning as the Glorious Revolution. His two main choices (due to familial connections) are William II, Duke of Hesse-Kassel, and Charles II, Duke of Brunswick.

March - The Grand Duke of Louisiana has become suspicious of Governor-General Carpentier's activity in French Guyana, though he does not suspect the truth. He sends his chief minister, the Vicomte de Barras, on the ship L'Avant-garde to investigate. Carpentier tries to cover up what has happened, but Barras smells it out, and in the ensuing fight, Carpentier and Barras are both killed and L'Avant-garde is sunk. A longboat survives and gets back to Nouvelle-Orléans (via Paramaribo) with the news. The psychotic Sans-Culotte soldier Denis Radiguet takes over the now unmasked 'Cayennaise Republic'. Exactly what happened next is unclear, but it seems that Radiguet told the Jacobins to retreat into the interior as the Grand Duke sent forces to re-establish control, and (despite his Racist views) freed slaves to cover their escape with chaos.

Death of Louis Chappe, father of Optel. His son succeeds him as head of his company.

April - Neapolitan writer Luciano Piraneo writes another influential entry in the “Automaton Craze” period, The Cogwheel Turns, in which he proposes a cyclical state of civilisation in which automata overthrow humans, make their own automata to serve them, grow lazy and decadent, and are overthrown in turn. The ending of the book, which controversially suggests that humans might not be the first turn in the cycle, is removed by censors in most editions, giving it a rather abrupt end in place.

The “Galway Scandal” breaks in Ireland. The Dublin Register reveals that the Liberal-Conservative government of Lewis Abbott has been deliberately passing laws supposedly intended to reduce the burden of mouths to feed after the potato famine, but actually with the intention of forcing poor Catholic farmers to emigrate and then seizing their land. Abbott manages to survive as Prime Minister by rallying the people against the threat of Joshua Churchill and calling up new regiments, but these policies are reversed. However, many poor Irish Catholics have already emigrated, usually to New Spain or the UPSA.

May - Augustus II of Saxony abolishes the unpopular feudal tax “socage” and replaces it with a new taxation system, a move intended to appeal to the common people. Saxony's later resistance to Populism is often attributed to this move acting as an appeasement to moderates who otherwise might back a radical movement.

In Africa, the Wadai revolt against Darfur is put down with the use of Mameluke mercenaries under Gamal ar-Rashidi. However, the mercernaries are dissatisfied with their reward of Wadai lands and instead push further west on their own initiative to seize control of Bornu.

June - The Scottish anti-Churchill revolt that becomes known as the “Inveraray Men” begins in Glasgow.

In China, Governor Xu Taihua of Anhui Province dies. As Anhui lies between the two rival Chinese regimes' spheres of influence, this leads to the 'Anqing Incident' when both attempt to appoint replacements and five years of scattered, inconsequential skirmishing ensues. Major Alf Stotts fights for the Feng in both this war and the following First Siamese War.

July - Joshua Churchill's browncoats take advantage of their control of the Optel system by enforcing a new anti-assembly law before the public itself has been notified. The result is the mass arrest of a Runnymede Movement protest on De Trafford Common in Manchester. Their colleagues in Birmingham try the same trick but the secret is leaked, and the Runnymede Movement radicals fight back, forcing the browncoats to call for the cavalry. This results in the infamous Sutton Massacre.

August - Pablo Sanchez visits the Philippines and meets his old acquaintance Captain Sintra, who has found the wreck of the Guaymas, a sunken treasure ship from the Philippine War. Sanchez is able to use his connections with the PEIC to organise a mission to recover the treasure. They hire divers from the Friendly Islands (Tonga).

September - The Flemish engineer Johan Buysse and his wife accidentally discover the principle of chemical batteries.

October - Around this time Wilhelm Brüning and Hermann Klein set up the Committees for German Democracy, a secret “Schmidtist” society operating mainly in the Mittelbund, whose role is to spread the ideas of Schmidt and other German nationalists and infiltrate the current regimes.

November - The Pont Aérien de la Manche, the Channel Skybridge, officially opens, allowing Optel semaphore communication across the English Channel. A message sent in London can arrive in Paris as little as two hours later.

Negotiations between Joshua Churchill's regime and his two potential royal candidates are resolved. Due to a mutual dislike with William II of Hesse-Kassel, Churchill allows the negotiations to be leaked, stoking up resentment against William II from his subjects for the idea he would abandon them so easily. Instead of Charles II becoming King, by a land trade he takes over Hanover in exchange for Hanover's governor Richard FitzGeorge, Duke of Cambridge–related illegitimately to the British royal family–to go over and become King.

December - Stadtholder William VI of the Netherlands dies of pneumonia. He is succeeded by his son, who becomes William VII. William VII is young and inexperienced and ends up relying on prominent members of the States-General for advice, particularly Oren Scherman.

1827:

January - The Zollverein, the German customs union led by Saxony, now incorporates Swabia, the Alliance of Hildesheim, both Brandenburgs and the Mittelbund. All these states use the Koalitionsthaler (Concert Dollar), and the Polish zloty (also used by Prussia) is pegged to it.

William Frederick, Duke of Nassau, is the first German ruler to realise The Discerning Traveller's Guide to Germany's subversive content and ban it.

Having made a fortune from his share of the wreck of the Guaymas, Pablo Sanchez resigns from the PEIC and returns to Spain.

February - Johan Buysse and the Dutch scientist Jacob Luns publish Acidic Electrics, describing the chemical electricity phenomenon discovered by Buysse. The book will eventually be considered one of the most important scientific publications in history, but in the short term makes little impact due to the distraction of the Popular Wars.

Former ENA Lord President Josiah Crane dies. His remaining supporters go over to the Hamiltonite Patriots, and a by-election for his empty seat is also won by the Hamiltonite Patriot candidate.

Gamal ar-Rashidi and the Mamelukes take over Bornu and he proclaims himself mai (king). He soon alienates many by cracking down on the Fulani interpretation of Islam.

March - Charles Theodore II of Flanders dies childless. He is succeeded by his younger brother, a military commander more sceptical of cooperation with the Dutch, who takes the regnal name Maximilian II Charles (the regnal numbers are counted from those of the Palatinate).

Richard FitzGeorge, Duke of Cambridge, is crowned King Richard IV of Great Britain in New St Paul's.

Wilhelm Brüning publishes the popular engraving “The Eagle's Wings”, depicting a surreal and grotesque twist on the usual symbol of the Holy Roman German eagle with the coats of arms of the different states on its wings, instead depicting the eagle's two crowned heads with manic eyes, slashing bloody wounds in the wings and each other while birds representing other countries take advantage–a metaphor for how Germany's internal division under its petty monarchies weakens it.

April - Pascal Schmidt publishes his autobiography, Jean de Lisieux: My Part In His Downfall.

As a consequence of the Sennari defeat by Moritz Benyovsky,

August - Browncoats are sent to arrest Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland, an opponent of Joshua Churchill's rule. One of his sons is killed in the attack, but Percy himself escapes and flees to the Isle of Man (enroute to Ireland).

September - Browncoats under one Andrew Wilson go to the Isle of Man to demand Percy be handed over. Governor Sir Malcolm Greening, hating Churchill and his father, joins with the insulted Tynwald to help Percy escape to Ireland. Wilson retaliates with a brutal revenge attack on the island–the infamous Rape of Man.

Death of Henri Rouvroy, father of Adamantianism, in Corsica. He dies on the eve of the Popular Wars, which his writings would be a significant ideological influence upon.

October - The Friendly Islands are conquered by Apehimana, Warlord of the United Mauré.

Schmidtist students in Berlin stage a symbolic move against the regime of Duke Frederick William II by (in dead of night) hanging a huge version of Brüning's “The Eagle's Wings”, painted on a sail, across the front of Schloss Charlottenberg.

November - Joshua Churchill has the House of Lords pass a law that annexes the Isle of Man as just another English county, and makes Wilson its governor.

An American inventor named Nebuchadnezzar Grimes receives a patent for a cotton-thresher (cotton-gin), a machine which makes cotton harvesting far easier and therefore cotton a more profitable crop. It is soon realised by anti-slavery forces in the ENA that this will also make chattel slavery far more economically viable (and lead to an overly specialised economy) unless they act soon.

December - The Feng Chinese authorities discover that the Dutch East India Company is still involved in opium smuggling in defiance of their treaty obligations.

Joshua Churchill sends an envoy to Dublin to demand the Irish hand over the fugitive Percy; Dublin Castle's gate remains closed and it flies the Cornubian flag in a silent response of defiance.

1828:

January - Lithuanian writer Jonas Sasnauskas writes The Golem, a play on the Automata Craze that transfers the same concepts to seventeenth-century Prague and the legend of the Golem. This is considered to be the start of the 'Golem' subgenre of Automaton Fiction, essentially being the fantasy counterpart to its science fiction in OTL terms. The book is particularly promoted in Austria due to its technophobic (and often anti-Semitic) leadership.

Pablo Sanchez uses some of his riches to enrol in the University of Salamanca in Castile, studying history, geography and linguistics. Although supposedly a student, his experience from travelling the world means he is soon treated more as an unofficial lecturer by many, and is popular with the students.

Pascal Schmidt and Wilhelm Brüning publicly reveal they are the real authors of The Discerning Traveller's Guide to Germany, at the same time releasing a new more overtly political book. Officially it is called On the Failures of the Current Regimes, but it is generally known under the informal title Spitting at Fires, based on a metaphor Schmidt used to describe the regimes' ineffective attempts at suppressing German nationalism.

February - In the last major territorial change of the Ottoman Time of Troubles (amid the far more low-level conflict remaining) Abdul Hadi Pasha's forces take the city of Bursa from the Balkan Party.

The ENA's Continental Parliament passes a series of laws known as the Proclamation of Independence, severing the final ties between itself and Great Britain (save the monarchy itself). This is part of a deal worked out between Frederick II and Lord President Benjamin Harrison VII to try and send aid to anti-Churchill rebels, a sop to the Whigs. As part of this, the ENA's armed forces are officially split off (a de jure recognition of a long de facto state) and the Imperial Navy is chartered.

The beginning of the Brazilian rebellions in Recife and Olinda. Their exact nature is unclear, with revolting slaves being a part of it, but white liberals wanting Enlightenment ideals and self-rule also being possibly involved. Their causes are also vague, ranging from frustration with the Aveiro Doctrine and punishing taxes or tariffs to paranoia over attacks from the jungle that may be connected with the escaped French Jacobins from Cayenne. Whatever the cause, rebellion begins and the Aveiro Doctrine means the Portuguese are slow to respond, the Viceroy needing authorisation from Lisbon for many things.

The Feng impose punishing tariffs on the Dutch and order them to vacate their colony in Formosa. Many Dutch traders go over to the Flemish Ostend Company, which shares many facilities with the Dutch and is not affected by the sanctions. The Chinese are not militarily capable of expelling the Dutch from Formosa, but call on the other Europeans to do so.

March - Opening of Trevithick's masterpiece, the Moscow-Tula railway.

Elections in France. For the first time the Bleus are significantly defeated, with the Blancs almost achieving a majority in their own right. Napoleon Bonaparte resigns as leader of the Bleus in favour of Adolphe Réage as temporary leader and goes into retirement at Angers. Perrier becomes Prime Minister and Vauguyon Foreign Minister. The Rouges under André Malraux also make significant gains.

The ENA Continental Parliament passes the Naval Settlement Act (1828) and the Protection of Ireland Act (1828), which respectively allow British forces defecting from Churchill to join the ENA's forces, and pledges the ENA to intervene if Churchill tries to conquer Ireland. But Frederick II wants more, and Benjamin Harrison VII works harder to try and get it…

In Britain, the prison hulks on the Thames are filled due to the browncoats' mass arrests of Runnymede radicals. Joshua Churchill has the native people of the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Arran displaced to turn them into penal colonies.

In Africa, Gamal ar-Rashidi's control of Bornu collapses when the city is taken by the first combined Hausa-Fulani revolt for a generation. However, the unity fails to last long, and fighting between the two soon breaks out. The Fulani declare a jihad against the Hausa, led by Usama al-Gobiri, better known as Abu Nahda.

April - ENA Lord President Benjamin Harrison VII contracts pneumonia and dies as a result of a long speech in a cold church hall urging Whig Party supporters to back the King's wish for intervention against Churchill. Solomon Carter briefly takes over as Lord President while the Whigs elect a new leader, who–narrowly–is Andrew Eveleigh, racist, isolationist and near-republican. Any attempt by Frederick II to get the ENA to intervene against Churchill now seems doomed.

In a speech, German Populist leader Wilhelm Brüning coins the term “Rattenfänger Revolte” or rat-revolt (meaning “astroturfing”) when he dismisses the Young Germans movement as marching to the pipe of the King of Saxony. This declaration will be somewhat awkward for him later on.

May - George Washington Alexander, the fifteen-year-old son of John Alexander, attempts to sail around the island of Cuba in a small boat with a friend. His father beats him for his disobedience and then treats him to a gala dinner for his courage.

June - With the Portuguese hampered in their response to the rebellion in Pernambuco, the overzealous Dutch West India Company commander and Governor of West Guyana, Hendrik van Nieuwenhuizen, takes advantage of rebel Pernambuco isolating loyal Portuguese Guyana from the rest of Brazil. Van Nieuwenhuizen, an ex-VOC man, is more used to the political climate of the East Indies, where European forces working for rival trade companies can clash without it escalating into a general war, and sends his forces to capture the Portuguese Guyana settlements of Belém and São José de Macapá. The corvette Centauro is fired on by the Dutch and escapes to Admiral Saldanha's fleet, with Saldanha sending a ship to alert Lisbon. This is the start of what becomes known as the Escalada (Escalation) into the Brazilian War.

The Governor of Portuguese Formosa, Fernão Laginha, proposes that Dutch Formosa be transferred to Castile in order to maintain the balance of power. Of course, as Castile is a subordinate ally of Portugal, in practice this would boost Portugal's power in the region. After Laginha agrees to transfer a part of the territory to Great Britain, the British and French give Portugal carte blanche to intervene. However, Dutch Governor Hendrik Cuypers refuses to vacate the colony unless given a letter signed in the Emperor's name.

The new French government breaks with the former's foreign policy largely for the sake of it, Perrier wanting to outline a new course to define his government, and threatens the alliance with Austria. This leads to resentment in Austria towards Francis II's French wife and francophile court, which in turn means they remain secluded in the Schönbrunn Palace more often.

Frederick II, frustrated at the Eveleigh government being unwilling to help him, is approached by an alliance of pro-abolition forces who want to see the end of slavery in Virginia. Eveleigh radicalising the debate on the pro-slavery side and driving moderates away, as well as the economic consequences of the cotton-thresher upon planters owning other types of plantations, has helped build a broader anti-slavery coalition. Frederick agrees to help, more to get revenge on Eveleigh and try to topple his regime than any particular abolitionist feelings on his own part.

In China, General Yu dies. His warlord state, long since shrunken to only Yunnan province, descends into chaos.

July - News of Van Nieuwenhuizen's actions in Guyana reach Lisbon and are received with outrage, treated as attacking without a declaration of war. Rumours blow up, with many people muddling the news and believing that the rebellions in Pernambuco have been more successful than they actually are. John VI immediately retaliates by sending Admiral Ferreira's fleet to attack the Dutch Navy in harbour.

Pascal Schmidt completes his magnum opus, The Inevitable Germany, in which he sets out his ideas on what a united republican Germany should look like. Unlike his other books this is not a collaboration with Wilhelm Brüning, as the latter is busy organising protests and intrigue against the Mittelbund rulers, especially the unpopular William II of Hesse-Kassel. It will not be fully published for some years, though extracts are used in revolutionary pamphlets.

August - Second Battle of Flushing. The Portuguese under Admiral Ferreira win a Pyrrhic victory over the numerically superior Dutch fleet in a surprise attack, sinking or taking many Dutch ships while still in harbour. The Dutch, unaware of Van Nieuwenhuizen's actions (or the seriousness of them) treat this as an unprovoked attack, meaning both sides in the war now regard the other as the aggressor. The States-General–led by the increasingly powerful Oren Scherman–declare war on Portugal, despite Statdholder William VII's reservations, and give the order for the VOC to send reinforcements from the East Indies to help defend the Dutch Republic, now stripped of many of her warships.

September - The Portuguese, with British help, invade Dutch Formosa.

Frederick II marries Elizabeth Washington in Fredericksburg. On the way back from the wedding, the Governor of Virginia, Gordon Blair, 3rd Baron Williamsburgh, is killed in a carriage crash. His Lieutenant-Governor is himself on his deathbed, prompting a constitutional crisis.

The American troops guarding the Susan-Mary penal colony, acting on orders from Fredericksburg to expand the colony, begin massacring the nearby Menominee Indians and driving them off their land. Their actions may have been particularly motivated by the rumour that the Menominee had been helping escapees. One such massacre is witnessed by some Ojibwa Indians, who report back to the Thirteen Fires Confederacy. The Thirteen Fires' leadership are incensed, calling for revenge, and Joseph Dashwood sees a new opportunity…

October - The Dutch are expelled from Formosa. Governor Hendrik Cuypers retreats to Batavia, where–thanks to the death of the Governor-General there–he finds himself as the most senior VOC officer in command of the Far Eastern forces, which have been ordered home.

Swabia opens a key new railway between Baden and Zürich.

Frederick II addresses Virginia's House of Burgesses, saying that while he could use his royal power to appoint a new Governor, he instead suggests instituting a directly elected governorate. Eveleigh opposes this, realising that the King-Emperor is up to something, which exposes him to much ridicule as it goes against his usual principles. The House of Burgesses agrees to create the office, and crucially the election will have universal (white male) suffrage.

November - Burma, under the leadership of Thado Thant, takes advantage of the chaos in Yunnan to launch a military intervention.

December - Radical revolutionaries in the city of Montevideo rise up and begin contesting with the Portuguese authorities for control of Cisplatina. In the UPSA there are calls for an intervention on the rebels' side, but for the moment President-General Velasco refuses. He is waiting for the outcome of his secret negotiations in Lima with the New Spanish.

Amid rumours of a Christmas uprising in Madrid, Pablo Sanchez travels there and gives a speech condemning war and conflict as pointless. He is heckled and attacked by the crowd, being uninjured but badly shaken and shocked by the experience.

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