English Canada/French Carolina: A Timeline
- Thread starter Gabingston
- Start date
America (although they've basically become the center of the empire by this point), Australia and Patagonia are all British Dominions by this point, and Natal in South Africa is well on it's way.
Part 79: German Colonies
Part 79: German Colonies
After the Second Global War, the two German states acquired many colonial territories, in addition to their existing ones. So, let’s start off with the older colonial territories and then move onto the new, shall we?
The German states completely missed out on the colonization of the New World, even in the Caribbean where even small countries like The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark were able to pick up colonies (granted, The Germans themselves were split into numerous small, squabbling states). Later on, Prussia had plans to colonize New Zealand and New Gotland, but those fell through once the Danish and Swedish respectively beat them to it (likely with a reaction of “SCHEIßE” from the Prussians). Plans to colonize Northern Terra Australis were thwarted by the Portuguese, so the Prussians were officially locked out of any major settler colonies.
However, the island of New Caledonia to the east of Portuguese Capricornia was still colonized by any European power, so Prussia quickly established two colonies on the island, Friedrichsbucht in the south and Großerpunkt in the north. Shortly after colonization in the 1850s, large Nickel deposits were found on the island, which drew in many settlers from the motherland (albeit a small fraction of the total amount of German emigrants).
After that, the Prussians set their sights on the island of New Guinea, which aside from some Dutch outposts in the west remained entirely uncolonized. While it did take a few decades for the Prussians to get around to colonizing it, they did eventually establish bases on the nearby islands of New Britain (which they called Neupommern) and New Ireland (or Neumecklenburg), before establishing bases on the island of New Guinea near the end of the 19th Century. With the advancement in anti-Malarial treatment such as quinine, the islands were able to maintain a small population of Germans, most of them administrators, missionaries or plantation owners, the latter of whom grew coconuts, coffee, cotton and rubber (using native serfs as labor).
On the other side of the world, Prussia had acquired new colonies in Africa (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and The Comoros) after the Second Global War, in addition to their existing colonies on the Gold Coast and in Cameroon. Austro-Bavaria acquired the colonies of Mauritania and Rio De Oro, although both colonies were pretty much a giant sandbowl. Despite that, Austro-Bavaria were able to get some settlers to their main bases of Weißekappe and Dakla, primarily military and administration, albeit only a few thousand.
Regardless, if either German state said “I’m not a wannabe, I’m a real empire”, their collective noses wouldn’t grow, or at least nearly as much as they would before the war. North Germany had a solid colonial empire, while Austro-Bavaria had finally joined the game, albeit with a giant sandbox. Once again, this is another filler update, I’ll get to work on the Russian Civil War soon, but until then, have a good day!
Has the congress of Berlin happened yet?
Else, I'd try and get the Belgian colonies to Austro-Bavaria
Part 80: Russia Falls Apart
Part 80: Russia Falls Apart
After the humiliation of the Second Global War, Russia was a mess. They’d lost Ukraine, Galicia and The Baltics, as well as millions of men, and the mood both among the newly returned veterans and the general public was… not very good, to say the least. Many Russians, especially among the growing urban upper and middle classes lamented the absolutist structure of the Russian government, as well as the agrarian, medieval-ish economic structure. However, I already covered all this in a previous update, so let’s move right on to the actual events, shall we?
After the war, Russians were eager to blame someone for the disaster. While you had your typical scapegoats like ethnic minorities (Jews in particular, because it’s Russia we’re talking about), much of the blame fell on the Czar, who had bungled the war effort and was seen as weak and ineffectual for signing the humiliating treaty (the survival of the French Bourbons would’ve created many butterflies in European dynastic politics, so I’m not going to commit to it being Nicholas II). There’d been plans for a new offensive to push back the Germans the following spring, but the Czar’s peace treaty had axed them, upsetting much of the military leadership, who still viewed the war as winnable.
So, with all this in mind, there was increasing talk in some circles of changing the Russian political system, whether it be a Constitutional Monarchy or a Republic. This was enhanced by a terrible recession that struck the losing countries, of which Russia was no exception. War debts were put upon Russia, which the Russian State responded to by printing massive amounts of money, driving inflation through the roof, greatly raising prices for everything. While this was mainly done out of necessity, this shook faith in the Czarist Government even more than it had already been shaken. With all this, civil unrest gripped the country, with many cities descending into violence and chaos.
One of these incidents occurred in Moscow in April of 1917. A massive demonstration took place in the center of the city, with various groups taking place, from normal Russians who were hungry and demanding food, to ideological Radicals looking to stir up tension. These protesters eventually came into conflicts with the police and guards, and what happened next would change history. How it started and who fired the first shot, but the demonstration devolved into a shootout, which devolved into a full-on battle between protesters and police. Rumors began flying around that the Czar himself had ordered the police to fire upon the protesters, and while he vehemently denied it, it was too late, and Anti-Czarist demonstrations exploded in every major Russian city.
In the Summer of 1917, a variety of Statesmen, Intellectuals, Military and other Public Officials met in Moscow to formulate a plan for the future of Russia. While they agreed on many things such as a new constitution and reform of land laws to give peasants more opportunities, they disagreed on many other things. Some of them were devoutly religious and wanted to protect the status of the Russian Orthodox Church, while others were secularists who wanted to remove the privileges of the Church. Some wanted to get closer to the West, while others looked to form a Russian bloc across Eurasia.
However, the largest disagreement by far was whether to keep the Czar as a Constitutional Monarch or ditch the Czar entirely and become a new Republic, based heavily on the Roman Republic. This was very controversial among the more Conservative members of the council, as while they may not have been fans of this particular Czar, they still believed that Russia should be a Monarchy, albeit with limitations. The debates raged on, so the council agreed to hold a vote. After the cases being made by leaders from both sides, the 200 members of the council voted as such:
Republic: 104
Constitutional Monarchy: 96
Thus, the Russian Republic was proclaimed in September of 1917, also declaring that the Czar was not capable of ruling Russia. About half of the people that had voted for a Constitutional Monarchy went along with the new Republic, while the other half, including some very prominent generals defected to the Czar’s camp, pledging to stand by him in the coming civil war, which was now viewed by both sides as unavoidable. Thus, the stage was set, and Russia was about to fall apart.
I've already done an update on Africa. The Scramble of Africa doesn't happen to the same extent (mainly along the coasts and in Southern Africa). Belgium doesn't exist ITTL.
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Who wins the Russian Civil War poll.
www.strawpoll.me
Who wins the Russian Civil War
Vote Now! [Monarchists] [Divided Russia] [Republicans]
www.strawpoll.me
How centralized do you guys think the Floridian government will be? IOTL, France is a very centralized republic, but since the French Revolution doesn't happen ITTL, France isn't a good precedent. The U.S. and Argentina both ended up with a Federal system, but the U.S. got it through negotiation while Argentina went through multiple civil wars in the 19th Century. It could be a struggle between Unitarians (not the religious sect) and Confederates (not the Confederacy) that ends up with a compromise for a Federal System, or it could turn into a civil war. What do you guys think?
A confederacy would be better to protect the people's autonomy, while a unitary govt. would help the nation politically. It should be somewhere in the middle, like OTL Germany
Poll right now
Monarchists: 7
Republicans: 6
Divided Russia: 4
Should I do a second poll without the Divided Russia option?
Monarchists: 7
Republicans: 6
Divided Russia: 4
Should I do a second poll without the Divided Russia option?
