World 1970-1980 (Chaos)

1970s: Young people fed up with the movies from Paradies (OTL Rio de Janeiro, TTL Germany's equivalent to Hollywood) and elsewhere, which have become predictable and repetitive, start to make "system movies": Movies without a linear structure, where you can decide - not about the end (which soon becomes boring, as people find out), but about looking at the fate of other characters, background information about them, free associations, and so on.

Germany
1970s: After the success of Märchenwelten (VR) in the last decades, "virtual persons" are sophisticated enough to take roles as salespersons, supporters and other traditional white-collar jobs in the Weltsystem (=internet/WWW).

1971: First free elections at region level. (Second-highest level of administration; precincts are 3rd, districts are 4th).

1972: Olympic Games in Haraldsborg (OTL New York).

1974: After a long time of prosperity, the German economy faces trouble, also because many workers were fired after the factories replaced them by robots. Unemployment higher than 10%. Behind the scenes, the elected politicians and the technocrats try to shift blame.

1975: Germany launches its permanently manned space station, called Deutschland. China soon follows.

1977: Germany makes a law that every firm has to have at least one human salesperson / supportperson, if these positions are necessary, for those customers who insist on human interaction. (Some firms cheat, however, esp. for support.)

China
1970: China presents "smart button" computers: Computers in the size of, well, buttons.

1973: China also announces that they plan to send a manned rocket to Mars.

1976: Olympic Games in Ayutthaya, Thailand (which is a Chinese satellite). The games are overshadowed by the Tangshan earthquake, which kills more than half a million people (exact numbers are hard to get).

1977: The Chinese emperor founds the first university dedicated alone to nanotechnology.

Socialist Block
1972: Ten years after they tried first, the Socialist Block manages to send a manned rocket to moon. The costs are very high, though, and strain their finances - so, they have to cancel the planned permanently-manned space station. Germany decides to prepare for a manned flight to Mars.

1975: The government talks about the weakly developed third sector in the Block. Their problem: After many decades of Socialist propaganda, too few people want to work in "servant" jobs. It's decided to allow immigration from the Chaos, esp. Africa. Computer science professor Kilian Houston, working at the "House of Tomorrow", publishes the "Houston manifest", demanding more use of artificial intelligences for government and manager work. This is seen as criticism by the Socialist rulers and thus suppressed, but the idea becomes very popular among the Logos.

1978: The worst case of smog so far in London (there are rumors that more than 10,000 people died) forces the government to implement measures for the ecology, finally. (There's less individual traffic ITTL Britain, but OTOH they use more coal than oil or gas.)

1980: The Block finally launches its permanently manned space station, called Socialism. While it's very prestigious, and the research work goes well, some people point out that the results could also be acquired by more spionage via the Weltsystem.

Canada and Pacific
1970s: Canadian technicians develop drones for the military - which Canada with its low population base needs more than the other powers. (Most of them are used at sea.)

1971: A flood in Annam kills about 100,000 people. China uses the opportunity to spread its influence when they help.

1973: In the province of Quebec (which is most of OTL Ontario!), there's unrest among the French-speakers.

1974: When the chaos in the area of OTL Burma makes Canada's position in Annam, Thailand and Lan Xang (OTL Laos) too shaky, Canada leaves these countries - its influence replaced by China.

1977: Canadian commonwealth officials are concerned that China might expand its influence into Kambuja, Vietnam and Melaka.

Atlantean Chaos
1970: Ancash earthquake kills more than 50,000 people in Peru.

1973: The famiglia "government" of Potosi (southern half of the Andes) reports that Socialists coming from the small republic Aymaria (OTL southern Chile/Argentine, traditionally friendly with the Red Pirates) tries to infiltrate the country.

1976: The technocrat for the occupied areas finds out that the Mexican immigrants in occupied Texas now form the strongest population group there (the others being: Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Blacks, Atlanteans).

1979: Cocaine smuggling from South Atlantis starts big style.

Russian / Eastern European Chaos
1972: The terrorist group 121 (its name is a reminiscence to the victorious battle against the Germans 121 years ago) is founded in Moscow.

1973: The Steppe republic (roughly OTL Inner Mongolia, Tuva and some areas around) officially becomes a Chinese tributary, which is to their advantage.

1974: Surprisingly, the Socialists manage to take power in Greece, which immediately declares to join the Socialist Block. Germany can't interfere. However, the latest expansion is a drain on the Block's power, since the country is poor and lacks a strong economy.

1977: Vlachian SF author Mircea Savu surprises the world with a satirical novel playing in a galaxy made up not from a few monolithic empires, but a lot of independent small states (Imagine this as a mixture of Stanislaw Lem and Douglas Adams. ITTL, for unclear reasons a lot of good SF comes from the Balcan states). Although he also describes Socialist and Socialist-leaning states, the novel manages to pass the German censorship, since those states aren't depicted exactly positively.

Indian Chaos
1970: The Bhola cyclone kills some hundred thousand people in Benghal (OTL Bangladesh). At least, for a few years the wars in the area end.

1972: Twenty years after Chandramoorthy's death, his followers manage to take power in Puducherry, which is now dubbed by some "the second Vijayanagar" (we remember, this means "city of the victor").

1974: In Bhojapal, a university for Artificial Intelligence is founded.

1979: China starts infiltrating Punjab, Assam.

African Chaos
1968-72: Sahel drought continues.

1971: The Igbo people in OTL Nigeria start to form the center of resistance against German presence in the Niger area.

1974/75: Irish-Catholics and Coptic Christians clash in former Ethiopia. The Jews and Muslims are caught between the fronts. Greater Judea decides to interfere and evacuates the Falasha.

1978: Uprisings in OTL Kenya/Uganda against Germans start. Many Germans (playing an important role as businessmen and such) flee to Australia (OTL South Africa).

Middle Eastern Chaos
1970: At the Algerian coast, an Italian tanker going from Libya to Italia Nuova is damaged, losing more than 100,000 tons of oil, creating the biggest oil spill yet. (Note that German oil tankers are more secure because double hulls were introduced and soon made mandatory earlier, for fear of the Socialist pirates. Poorer states can't always afford this measure, however.)

1973: Mahdi Sudan expands into destabilized Upper Egypt.

1974: Socialists try to topple the Moroccan government, which would expand the Socialists' power onto the African continent. Germany manages to avoid this.

1977: Socialists take power in Kurdistan, threaten Armenia and Azerbaijan, attempt to nationalize oil wells. Germany and Greater Judea interfere, seize Kirkuk and bomb the Kurds into submission.