The Purple Mantle





"A world were Constantinople didn't fall into Ottoman Hands"

History
657 BC.: The city of Byzantium is Founded by Greek colonists from Megara.

293 AC: The emperor Diocletian created a new administrative system: The Tetrarchy, in order to guarantee security and improve his control over his vast Empire. He associated himself with a co-emperor: The Augustus. The Tetrarchy collapsed in 313.

330 AC: The Emperor Constantine I renamed the city as Constantinopolis and transformed it into the new Roman Empire Capital.

395: Emperor Theodosius I bequeathed the imperial office jointly to his sons: Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West.

476: After the deposition of the Last Western Emperor: Romulus Augustulus, Eastern Emperor Zeno abolished the division of the Empire making himself sole Emperor.

527: Justinian I assumes the Throne and begins a campaign to retake the lost territories in the Mediterranean Europe and Africa, as well as multiple reformations.

C.VI to X: The Empire sustained itself through commerce and politics, advancing and receding territories over time.

C.XI: The Crescent Arabic presence and the divisions weakened the Empire. The crusades continue this process.

C.XIV: The arrival of the Seljuk Turks led to the rise of the Ottoman Empire and important advances over the declining Empire.

XV Century: 1427: The  Kingdom of  Portugal begins it's African Expansion.

1448: PoD: The sudden assassination of Murad II and his son Mehmet II (by rival factions on the Turkish tribes) prior to the Second Battle of Kosovo, causes a great defeat the the Ottoman State.

1453: The Ottoman Advance finished the Eastern Roman Empire, but the city remains undefiled and so does the Ancient Tradition in it ...
 * European-Asian Trading Continues.

1465: The Eastern Empire is Gone, What's left is Constantinople and a few surrounding territories, The Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos dumped his Imperial dignities and Created the "Byzantine Kingdom" Instead, using however much of the previous System elements.

1470: The Ottoman State launches another attack on the City of Constantinople, however the siege is curtailed by the joint forces of the Byzantine army/navy, the Wallachian forces and the Italian fleet (fighting more to protect the trading pass than the Byzantines themselves).
 * Internal crisis rises in the Ottoman State, situation exploited by the Byzantines, who re-inforce their defenses and expand their territories.

1492: The Catholic Kingdom of Spain finish the expulsion of the last Arabic Kingdom out of the Iberian Peninsula.

1496: June: Christopher Columbus finally gets an small fleet from the Spaniard Kingdom to travel West after being rejected over the last five years (European-Asian Trading Continuation negated the need of such expedition).
 * August: Columbus arrives to the Island of "La Española" (Current Haiti) However, a disagreement between him and several of his officers sparks a mutiny. Columbus is killed and one of his ships heavily damaged.
 * September: Part of the original crew decides to return to Spain (half of them will be wiped out by a powerful storm on their way back) the rest travel further West to find more advanced kingdoms and richness.
 * November 1st: The Remaining Crew reaches an "Indian" tribe vassal of the Aztec Empire.
 * December 26th: The last men (less than 35) enters "Tenochtitlán" where they're initially mistaken as gods and then taken prisoners after a failed attempt to capture the Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. They are forced to teach the Aztecs about their language, culture, weapons and horses.

1497: March: A second Spaniard expedition is sent to colonize La Española Island.

XVI Century: 1502: An expedition is sent to find the renegades that escaped to the West, after crossing the Gulf of Yucatán, they are informed of the renegade's faith by the local tribes.

1505: Nicolás de Ovando leads a team to conquest the City of Tenochtitlán. However, they're defeated by the Aztecs who already know how to manufacture and use primitives fire weapons as well as counting with cavalry of their own. The Spaniard presence inflicts damage, however, through the dissemination of several diseases brought by their soldiers, causing an epidemic on the Aztec Kingdom, but the Aztec Empire standd still.

1508: Beginning of the Aztec-Spaniard War.

1510: The Byzantine's allies themselves with the French and Venetian during the Holy War of the League of Cambrai. Resulting in a heavy victory for the kingdom and the occupation of several islands on the Aegean.
 * The Kingdom: Begins to expand his commercial fleets beyond the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, creating a port city near El-Cairo, named ανταλλαγή or "Antallagi" (OTL: Port Fuad) to trade faster Indian Products through the Gulf Of Suez (Capture of The City of Suez in 1515 from the Ottomans was instrumental on this).

XVIII Century:
 * 1704:  The Byzantine Kingdom enters the War of the Spanish Succession in the Holy Roman Empire side.
 * Gibraltar is taken by Byzantine troops in preparations for the oncoming Anglo-Dutch offensive against the Spaniards. Fortifications are made and economic appropriation of the routes is made.


 * 1713:  With the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, The Spanish Succession war is Over and Gibraltar is successfully maintained by the Byzantine Kingdom.


 * 1765: The King Mikaelos II, noticing the economic rising from the United Kingdom, decide to follow their steps and endorse local industries and bourgeoisie while taking advantage of the declining local nobility in order to create a powerful modern State.


 * 1798: The final elements of the archaic feudal system is dispatched through the Nikaia Decree, recognizing several rights to the non-nobility subdits.

XIX Century:
 * 1825: The sudden death of the King Androcles III causes a power void, which the Galanos conservative Noble family tries to take advantage by submitting its candidate: Anicetus Galanos, later known as the King Alexios VIII, who is determined to re-instate the Nobility back to its golden ages. However, the local and already powerful bourgeoisie allies itself with the more progressive movements such as the Green Party, the Parliamentarists and several Noble families (Specially the Strategonikos) causing a political war that plunges the country into instability and war.


 * 1828: After several armed conflicts, the Civil War is over and the Galanos have been defeated by the Bourgeoisie and the Parliamentarists, the new Royal family, The Strategonikos, has been selected and appointed by the Parliament, which also has made the Kings from now on to recognize its existence and importance in the political decisions, also vowing to respect and defend a Constitution created by the Democratically elected Parliament.

XX Century: 1905: The Russian Empire aided by the Byzantine Kingdom, ha ve a decisive victory over Japan sealing the "Russo-Japonese War"  and manages to conquer "Port Arthur" as well as several key location over Manchuria (recognizing, however, Korea under the Japanese area of influence).
 * Russia introduces the Duma, and begin to improve the worker's lives while maintaining several key elements improving Industrial progress and Infrastructure.
 * The Leftist movement is diminished and eventually outlawed.

1914: First World War:
 * The Byzantine Kingdom Enters the WWI allied to the "Entente".
 * The Russian Empire Enters the WWI allied to the "Entente", but avoid major involvement, reducing costs. While selling equipment and sending Units along the Byzantine Front.

1918:
 * The Aztec Empire Enters the WWI after remaining neutral the first years, allies itself to the "Entente".