Timeline (Out of One, Many)

Timeline
1787 - (P.O.D.) American Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia collapses due to the inability of delegates to reach agreement on congressional representation (equal representation for all states vs. representation by population). The United States are left with Articles of Confederation which have proven politically and economically inadequate.

1788 - Vermont War. New York attempts to enforce its claims to the quasi-independent state of Vermont by military invasion. N.Y.'s aggression is condemned by Congress - in turn, N.Y. recalls its congressmen and secedes from the United States. Congress is forced to withdraw from New York City and move to Philadelphia. Massachusetts and Connecticut, without the authority of Congress, answer Vermont's appeals for aid - as does New Hampshire, which gives up all territorial claims to Vermont in return for the promise of a cash settlement. The three state militias and Vermont's "Green Mountain Boys" defeat New York's forces in a series of battles down the Hudson River valley. New York City and surrounding areas rebel against state government at Albany, and ally with New England states.

1789 - Congress unable to resolve N.Y. situation. N.E. states lose patience and, declaring that the Confederation as a "perpetual union" had ceased to exist when N.Y. seceded the previous year, themselves secede. The Confederation of New England is formed, including Vermont and the "rebel" government in New York City. N.Y. is partitioned among Vermont (Adirondacks), New York City (Long Island and the mainland north to the 42nd parallel), and Massachusetts (everything else). Claims by Massachusetts and Connecticut to the U.S. Great Lakes region are renewed by New England.

Meeting of Estates-General in France. Beginning of French Revolution. Storming of the Bastille.

1789-94 - Remnants of United States increasingly unstable. Increasing distrust between southern states and Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Also, Virginia, as most populous and most powerful state, is distrusted by the others. Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia renew their own claims to the U.S. territories west of the Appalachians.

1792-1802 - French Revolutionary Wars in Europe.

1794 - Great Britain and the United States government sign a treaty dealing with, among other things, British evacuation of forts along the Great Lakes (a separate agreement has already been reached between Britain and New England regarding the St. Lawrence forts). Virginia, as the state with territorial claims in the region, insists that its state militia, rather than a federal force, take possession of Forts Detroit and Michilimackinac. Congress refuses. Virginia secedes in September. In October, Congress dissolves itself, and the United States of America ceases to exist.

1795 - Militia units of the Commonwealth of Virginia, arriving to take possession of Detroit and Michilimackinac, find New England troops already there. Travel via the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes was faster than the overland route from Virginia. After a series of armed skirmishes lasting into the following year, Virginia and New England agree to joint occupation of the region north of the 41st parallel.

North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia form the Carolina Confederation. N.C. and Georgia sell their western territories to the new Confederation government; S.C., with no claims in the region to sell, is compensated by having the Confederate capital established at Charleston. The new government undertakes a war against the Creek and Cherokee tribes along the lower Mississippi, with varying success.

1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power in France.

1800 - By Treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain cedes Louisiana to France.

1802 - Treaty of Amiens establishes peace between France and the rest of Europe. War is renewed the following year, however.

1803-15 - Napoleonic Wars.

1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French.

1805 - Battle of Trafalgar; Battle of Austerlitz.

British forces land in Louisiana and capture New Orleans. The French governor and his staff escape and flee north, re-establishing a French colonial government in St. Louis.

1805-15 - While war rages across Europe, a series of smaller, undeclared wars is fought in North America. Virginia, Carolina, and New England, the French in St. Louis, the British in New Orleans and the Canadas, and the Native Americans, all fight each other in various combinations, struggling for control of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley. During this period, settlers from Virginia (mostly soldiers and ex-soldiers wuth their families) occupy the Ohio Valley, improving Virginia's strategic position vis-a-vis the Great Lakes, where N.E. is tacitly supported by Britain. Virginian and Carolinian settlers also oppose British control of the lower Mississippi, which threatens one of their main trade routes to the outside world. Also during this period, none of the American states by themselves are strong enough to successfully oppose Tecumseh's efforts to unite the Indian tribes.

1810-24 - Latin American Wars of Independence.

1812 - Russian-American Company establishes colony at Fort Ross, north of modern San Francisco, in territory claimed by Spain.

1815 - Congress of Vienna; end of Napoleonic Wars. Britain agrees to return Louisiana to France, in exchange for the remaining French possessions in India and the West Indies.

Virginia terminates its agreement with New England regarding joint control of the Great Lakes.

1816-18 - Northwest War between Virginia and New England. The strategic situation of twenty years before is now reversed. N.E. has been less successful in settling the west than Virginia, and so has little logistical support to draw on. This leads to longer lines of supply for its army (from the Great Lakes it is 2-3 times farther to N.E. "proper" than it is to Virginia's Kentucky and Ohio territories). Expected British support for N.E. fails to materialize. In the end, Virginia annexes almost all of the Northwest; N.E. retains only Connecticut's "Western Reserve" on Lake Erie, which in 1820 would join the Confederation as the state of Erie.

1818 - Treaty of Wabash between Virginia and Tecumseh's League of Indian Tribes. The League surrenders all lands east of the Wabash River. Whites already living west of the river are allowed to remain, and further settlement is permitted - but newcomers now have to pay the League for the right to do so, according to a set fee schedule. A similar agreement is eventually reached between Carolina and the Creek Confederacy.

1818-48 - Period of consolidation in North America. Immigration from Europe accelerates. Virginia and Carolina continue to colonize their territories between the Adirondacks and the Mississippi. The system established by the Treaty of Wabash soon breaks down under the pressure of white immigration, especially after Tecumseh's death in 1832; however, the Indian tribes remain an important political and cultural force in the region. In New England there is less available arable land, and as that disappears people move west into northern Pennsylvania and Virginia. New England tacitly encourages this, as it is hoped that settlers originally from the Confederation would support any future efforts by N.E. to regain the regions lost to Virginia. Otherwise, New England concentrates on maritime commerce, and attempts to compete with Britain in trans-Atlantic trade. Canals are dug to connect the Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Mississippi watersheds; later, railroads are also built. Settlement and economic development follow similar lines in the British colonies (the Maritimes and the Canadas) and in Louisiana, where the French supplement their colonization efforts by transporting criminals and political prisoners.

"Industrial Revolution" in Britain and Europe continues.

1818-30 - Population growth north of the Ohio leads to reduction of the political power of Virginia's slave-owning aristocracy. Visible cultural differences begin to emerge on either side of the Ohio. "Free-soil" advocates force abolition of slavery by 1825. Many slave-owners emigrate to Mexico, where they are granted land in Texas and California.

1820 - Spain, distracted by the colonial wars elsewhere in its empire, is unable to maintain order in Florida. Forces from the Carolina Confederation move in and occupy the sparsely-settled colony, formally annexing it the next year. By 1840 Florida's population would be large enough for it to be admitted into the Confederation as a state, joining Tennessee (1806), and Upper and Lower Mississippi (1825).

1835-36 - Texas, settled by French and Virginian slave-owners, rebels and gains its independence from Mexico. Later attempts by Texas to push the frontier west to the Rio Grande fail, and the Mexican border stabilizes along the Nueces River. To the east, the French in Louisiana push back their own border with Texas.

1837-38 - Anti-British revolts in Upper and Lower Canada. Many French-Canadian patriots flee to Louisiana.

1840 - Union of Upper and Lower Canada.

After leading a failed coup against the regime of King Louis Philippe of France, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of the late Emperor, is exiled to Louisiana. Bonaparte eventually establishes himself as a publisher, author, and political leader in New Orleans.

1848 - February Revolution in Paris overthrows Louis Philippe and establishes the Second Republic. Revolts spread throughout Europe, but would be largely put down by 1850. The republican government in France survives, but reverts to conservatism after a radical uprising in June 1848, and the election of General Louis Cavaignac as president in December.

When news of the revolution reaches New Orleans, the colonial government of Louisiana is overthrown. The revolutionary council (including Louis Napoleon Bonaparte) at first accepts French sovereignty, but insists on home rule. This is rejected by the Cavaignac regime, and by 1849 the popular mood favors complete independence. The Republic of Louisiana is proclaimed on Bastille Day (14 July); Bonaparte is elected president later that year.

First Carolina Slave Revolt is put down with great severity. Five thousand black rebels are hung in the streets of Charleston.

Revolt by Virginian and other English-speaking settlers in California. Hudson's Bay Company, which administers Oregon Territory and has considerable investments in California, persuades British government to intervene to maintain stability. There is also suspicion of the Russian presence at Fort Ross. A Royal Navy squadron is sent, and within a year the region is under British occupation. Gold is discovered in 1850, and the resulting rush of prospectors and fortune-seekers forces Britain to establish a colonial government. As slavery had been outlawed in the British Empire since 1833, there were some concerns among local slave-owners regarding their "property"; a compensation package is eventually agreed-to. Mexican attempts to re-assert control are defeated by British forces and local militia, and Mexico surrenders all territorial claims in 1852.

1852 - Louis Napoleon Bonaparte proclaims himself Louis Napoleon I, Emperor of Louisiana and Protector of the Indian Nations. He also claims the French imperial throne.

Renewal of sporadic guerrilla warfare in Canada's French regions, with the patriotes receiving clandestine support from Louisiana.

1854 - Louisiana signs treaty with Plains Indians, guaranteeing their lands in northern Louisiana and closing them to white settlement in return for swearing allegiance to Emperor Louis Napoleon and agreeing to provide soldiers for his army. The native irregulars eventually would gain the nickname "Red Cossacks".

1855 - Louisian forces enter Texas to "protect" it from Mexican "aggression".

1856-58 - Crimean War. Britain and France succeed in pushing Russia back from Turkey and the Mediterranean; Fort Ross is quickly occupied by colonial militia from British California. France is exhausted from its military effort, and goes into a steady military and political decline.

1860 - Shifting its focus east after the Crimean War, Russia begins to expand its presence around the Pacific. Russian America (Alaska) is fortified, and fur trade activities are expanded to compete with the Hudson's Bay Co. A Russian naval squadron visits Japan and tries to open trade relations with the Shogunate - Japan refuses.

1860-62 - Texan War. Armies from Louisiana (including Sioux and Cheyenne cavalry, and led in person by Louis Napoleon) and Texas invade northern Mexico. The allies eventually advance to the Colorado River. Texas annexes the region east of the Rio Grande and south of the Red River; Louisiana takes everything else to the Colorado, along with a stretch of coast on the Gulf of California for a Pacific seaport. Near the end of the war, militia from British California occupy the regions west of the Colorado, including Baja California, to "keep the peace".

1860-1900 - Era of rapid industrial and economic development in Louisiana and Virginia, fueled by continuing immigration from Europe, firmly establishes them as the two dominant powers in North America. Louisiana's economic heartland is the Mississippi and lower Missouri valleys. Industrial development in Virginia is concentrated north of the Ohio River, and among the Appalachian coal-fields. Ship-building is the dominant industry on Chesapeake Bay, and Norfolk joins Boston, New York, and Philadelphia as the major ports on the east coast of North America. Other regions south of the Ohio remain primarily agricultural. Political power in Virginia continues to shift north, but rivalries between the old "planter" families and their supporters, the industrialists, and the "populists" are usually set aside in the face of threats from Louisiana. Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New England also industrialize, but their smaller markets hinder growth, and attempts to reduce tariffs between them fail. Carolina remains largely agricultural. Development in the colonies of British North America follows similar paths, with Canada and California leading the way.

Period of increasing European influence in China, through missionary activity, commercial intrusion, and political interference.

1865 - After five years of negotiations, Japan and Russia enter into a trade agreement. Dutch merchants in Nagasaki are forced out, and Russia gains a near-monopoly. British attempts to gain access to Japan are also rebuffed - Anglo-Russian relations cool.

First Austro-Italian War. Sardinia attempts to conquer Lombardy and Venetia, but is easily defeated in a short war.

1865-66 - Second Carolina Slave Revolt is on the verge of defeat when Louisiana intervenes, ostensibly in the name of liberté, egalité, et fraternité. Carolinan Navy bombards New Orleans, but the Louisian Imperial Navy is able to turn the tables with its fleet of ironclads. Originally designed to patrol the Mississippi, they have been adapted for open-sea voyages, and are used to bombard Mobile and Pensacola. On land, after a series of pitched battles, Nashville and Birmingham are occupied. Virginia threatens to intervene on Carolina's side, but sending part of the ironclad fleet up-river, plus raids across the upper Mississippi by Sioux "outlaws", neutralize this threat long enough for Louisiana to achieve its military goals. In the peace treaty, Carolina is forced to abolish slavery. Louisiana annexes western Florida and occupies the east bank of the Mississippi, where an "American Negro Republic" is established.

1866-67 - Austro-Prussian War, triggered by disputes over leadership in the German Confederation, proposed Austrian membership in the Zollverein (German Customs Union), and how to handle the on-going dispute with Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein. The military reforms instituted in Prussia are partially off-set by Austria's high degree of military preparedness in the wake of the recent war with Sardinia. The stalemate continues until Sardinia invades Lombardy, and most of the other Italian states declare war on Austria and call for Italian unification (this part of the conflict comes to be called the Second Austro-Italian War). Austria, facing a war on two fronts, sues for peace. Formation of North German Confederation under Prussian leadership, and reorganization of the Zollverein without Austria. Austria surrenders Lombardy to Sardinia, and Venetia becomes "independent", intended as a buffer state.

1867 - Proclamation of the United Kingdoms of Italy (including Venetia, but not the Papal States).

Three British North America Acts create the Dominions of Canada (re-organization of original union of Upper and Lower Canada) and Columbia (California, Oregon, and Vancouver Island), and the Maritime Confederation (New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island). Each dominion is granted responsible government (i.e. political power is dependent on the legislatures, rather than the royal governors) and considerable local autonomy; in Canada this satisfies all but the most fanatical patriotes.

After watching Louisiana's naval successes in the Carolinan War, the Royal Navy begins experimenting with ironclad ships.

1868 - After the humiliations of the previous two years, the Austrian government is forced to negotiate with Hungarian nationalists, which had opposed the Habsburg government since their unsuccessful revolt during the European rebellions of 1848-49. The "Ausgleich" (compromise) creates the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1869 - Treaty of Kyoto extends Russian trade privileges in Japan. The treaty also includes political provisions, which in the Japanese version allow the Shogun to ask the Tsar's government for advice and assistance, but which in the Russian version (which is the one made known in European diplomatic circles) give Russia control over Japan's foreign affairs.

1872 - Japan Crisis. British diplomats reveal the inequities in the Treaty of Kyoto to the Japanese government. Japan demands that all Russian merchants and political advisors leave. Riots break out around the country in which many Russian nationals are killed, and Russian ships bombard Nagasaki in retaliation. The arrival of a Royal Navy squadron out of Hong Kong forces the Russians to withdraw, but Britain and Russia remain on the brink of war for several months.

1873 - Death of Emperor Louis Napoleon of Louisiana.

Purchase of Russian America by the Hudson's Bay Co. Public outcry in Britain against the company's deal with the "barbarous Russkies".

1875 - Shogunate abolished in Japan. Beginnings of political, economic, and military reform.

Under political pressure in Britain, H.B.C. sells all its lands south of the 60th parallel (except southern Alaska, the "panhandle") to Canada and Columbia. The two dominions, in turn, split the so-called Northwest Territories along the 105th meridian. The Indians and Métis (French/Indian half-breeds) already living in these territories are not consulted, and land surveys are begun in preparation for white settlement.

1876-78 - Revolt of Métis and Plains Indians in the Northwest Territories, led by Louis Riel. Rebels receive covert support from Louisiana (more "Red Cossack outlaws"), and Britain, distracted by war in the Balkans, fails to provide adequate support. A surprise Métis/Blackfoot victory over Columbian forces at Batoche turns the tide in late 1877, and by the next year the Dominions are forced to accept the independence of the Métis and their Indian allies. Columbia withdraws west of the Rockies and north of the Red Deer and South Saskatchewan Rivers, while the Canadian border is shifted east to the 100th meridian.

1877-78 - Russo-Turkish War. Since the Japan Crisis, Russia has turned its attentions back to Europe. A series of anti-Turkish revolts in the Balkans leads to Russian intervention. The Ottoman Empire is defeated and all but driven out of Europe, and by the Treaty of San Stefano, Bulgaria (including Macedonia) is established as an independent kingdom under Russian tutelage. Prussian minister-president Otto von Bismarck persuades Britain and Austria-Hungary not to intervene, but is unable to mediate a compromise; Russia retains its dominant position in the Balkans, but becomes isolated from the other Great Powers. However, its success encourages Russia to enter a period of expansionism in the Balkans, Central Asia (pushing south towards India), and the Far East (expanding its presence in China, and trying to regain a position of influence in Japan). Suspicions in Vienna and London of Russian ambitions are reinforced, while the alliance between Russia and Prussia, which had dated to the Napoleonic Wars, is now in tatters.

1880 - Fourteen years of economic union in the Zollverein, growing political and popular sentiment for political unity, and a general desire for security against the Russian threat, culminate in the unification of Germany. Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, Hesse, and Luxembourg - along with Schleswig-Holstein, which has recently seceded from Denmark - join with Prussia and the rest of North Germany to form the German Empire, with Prussia's King Wilhelm I as German Emperor (Kaiser), and Bismarck as Chancellor.