Ludovico of New Rome (Chaos)

Emperor Ludovico of  was born in 1823. Always a follower of the emperor Alessandro I, he soon rose through the ranks, becoming governor of Turin}} quite early in his life.

In 1847, Alessandro died, and his appointed successor Benedetto became emperor. He had to appoint a successor for himself too. Despite the fact that he had four sons himself, for the sake of the empire, he decided to keep the principle of adoption. Although he didn't expect that it would become necessary soon, he decided to make his governor colleague Ludovico his successor. Then, in 1853, he died surprisingly (some people suspected the Russians), and thirty-year-old Ludovico became one of the mightiest men on Earth.

1858: Pegu becomes a New Roman protectorate.

1859: Emperor Ludovico takes Ceylon, laying the foundation for his Indian empire.

1863-68: New Roman Empire builds Nicaragua canal.

1870: Braseal (used by New Rome as an exile colony for all kinds of resistors - Italian republicans, French and Spanish monarchists and nationalists, Inca nobles, anti-Imperial Catholics and other Christian minorities, Arab and Berb resistors, ordinary criminals, separatists of all kinds, defeated Indians) rises against New Roman Empire. Emperor Ludovico decides to grant them independence, and they go in peace. Given the ethnic mix of Braseal (there are descendants of the original English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish settlers; of French, Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, Catalanians, Basques and Bretons; of Arabs and Berbs, both slaves and free people; of Mexicans, Quechua and other native Atlanteans; of exiled Indians; and of black slaves of many different West African people), nobody expects anything but chaos to develop out of it. Indeed, the country falls into civil war; in the cities, the various ethnics street- and housefight each other, while on the countryside, every latifundia owner becomes a little king, and many slaves flee into the jungle.

1860/61: First French-Roman War. France has to cede Savoy and Nice to New Rome, let Andalusia and Portugal leave its sphere of influence. The Andalusians soon accept the charismatic Ludovico as emperor.

1863: One Monteleone prince of the royal Spanish family (who was imprisoned after the New Roman conquest of Morocco) accepts emperor Ludovico's offer to become new king of Andalusia.

1872-74: Second French-Roman War. All of Catalonia ceded to New Rome, Castille also changes into New Roman camp. Toledo declared Second Capital of New Roman Empire. Basque lands stay French. In this war, Indian soldiers were used by New Rome for the first time in a European war.

1875: After Castille was lost by the French, the king of Andalusia becomes new king of Castille; the kingdom of Andalusia goes to the oldest son of former emperor Benedetto. Catalonia, however, becomes another kingdom under emperor Ludovico's eldest son, as a kind of training ground for him. His father advises him to build up the Catalonian identity in contrast to Castille and France.

1877: Emperor Ludovico has the Castillians attack the Portuguese republic, making it another New Roman satellite.

1878: After its conquest by Castille/New Rome, Portugal becomes a kingdom under another Monteleone prince.

1864: After emperor Ludovico has met the Czar of South Russia and even married one of his daughters to a prince in Kiev, South Russia and New Rome ally against the Muslim powers, Persia and the Seljuk Jumhuriya.

1876-80: When Vijayanagar falls into Civil War, emperor Ludovico decides to interfere. Since the first contact 75 years ago, Italians have learned Indian languages, advised local rulers and trained Indians. Now they can use their knowledge to bring the land under their control, making half of India a New Roman protectorate. Indians who resist are shipped to Braseal. By playing out the various groups against each other, the Empire can keep "the most valuable jewel in the crown" under control. Over the decades, Indian soldiers are transplanted into other parts of the Empire.

1865-69: With emperor Ludovico doing negotiations, the two Russias, New Rome, various Indian princes, European Germany and Judea ally to fight the Anti-Persian War. The Negev, Aqaba and Petra are ceded to the Jewish protectorate; Delhi, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia and Aden to New Rome; Madagascar and East Africa around the capital Zanzibar to the Germans; Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and North Persia to Russia. Palestine gets a special status; Hejaz and Oman become independent. Shiite Persia (+ Afghanistan, southern Mesopotamia) survives as a rump state.

1881-85: Anti-Seljuk War of New Rome and Russia. Cyprus, Cilicia, Greece go to New Rome, the whole North Coast (incl. Constantinople / Czargrad) to Russia. The last Muslim power has fallen.

1895: New Roman troops pushing south from Egypt to secure the land are unable to defeat the Muslim partisans. Sudan is declared "chaos" officially.

1890s: New Roman linguists study the development of Braseal French (which has influences from many different languages and is very simplified - many claim that it could be called a distant variant of Occitan, Catalan, Italian or Spanish as well). The Empire uses their new insights to play out one Gaulish (the Empire proclaims that since the French are descended from the Gauls, there's no reason why they should name themselves after a German tribe) group against the other, creating many different, mutually unintelligible dialects in the place of the republic's unified French language.

1886/87: Third French-Roman War. Basque lands, Asturia (which become two grand duchies), Occitania (which is added to the kingdom of Catalonia) go to New Rome. French military reduced to 100,000 men standing.

1886: In the Third French-Roman War, the New Romans take France's last possessions on the Iberian peninsula, Asturia and the Basque country, with the help of the local population. Afterwards, their troops are stopped by the French machine-gunners - but since this happens along France's natural borders, the Alps and Pyrenees, this isn't fully understood by the strategists.

1887: After the Imperial Navy destroys the French ships, New Rome lands a big army in Aquitaine, which is mostly undefended, progressing rapidly.

1889/90: Socialists take power in Paris and other industrial cities of the French republic. Weak French military unable to suppress them. Germany and New Rome ally against them, invade France. Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands make a military alliance that will last even after the war. Burgundy and Wallonia become a German satellite (called Lothringen, which also joins the Mitteleuropäischer Zollverein), Brittany and Aquitaine become independent grand duchies (de facto New Roman satellites), New Rome may station troops in rest-France. Paris declared Third City of New Roman Empire. People in Germany and New Rome now hope for peace after so many wars and uprisings in the last seventy years, and emperor Ludovico and German chancellor Hornung proclaim "everlasting peace in Europe".

1888: Emperor Ludovico hosts the first modern Olympic Games in Athens.

1892: Second modern Olympic Games in Rome.

The end
1900s: The relations between the Germanies and the New Roman empire cool down, for an end of slavery in the latter isn't in sight. (Italy proper has abolished slavery, but even after the end of transatlantic slave trade, there's enough inner-imperial slave trade in Roman Atlantis and North Africa left, plus the more discrete slave trade with its neighbors Songhay and Braseal until recently.)

Italians start to drill for oil in the deserts of Libya and Algeria, to support their new car industry.

1904: Olympic Games in Paris. Again, the Games are sadly disturbed when a radical tries to assassinate old emperor Ludovico.

1909: Prince Ludovico of Occitania - designated successor of his father - dies. The New Roman empire mourns for him. Behind the scenes, members of the imperial family (including that of former emperor Benedetto, and the Spanish Monteleone family), the government, the bureaucracy, and the court try to influence the emperor about his decision about the new successor.

On July 16th 1910, Emperor Ludovico died, and again the New Roman empire was shook up. Many people in its government wondered whether the empire was in danger, as the new emperor, Ludovico's grandson Alessandro II, was far less talented than his grandfather. Many also criticized that the emperor had broken the principle of adoption, but this party couldn't succeed in making him rethink his decision while he was still alive.