Uncharted Territory (Look to the West Book 2)

by Tom Anderson

  1809:

  January – Brussels, now starving and resentful thanks to the huge French armies encamped there, is attacked by the forces of the Mittelbund, Flemings and Alliance of Hildesheim. Bitter winter urban fighting sets in.

  Petersburg Colloquy in the capital of Russia. Emperor Paul and his ministers decide to enter the war in Europe, sending ten regiments directly to France using Danish transport ships.

  American general election returns an increased majority for Lord Hamilton's Patriots thanks to the war fervour.

  February – Pascal Schmidt, then a young Hessian soldier, controversially kills General Poulenc when the Frenchman is captured.

  A newly assembled French army under Stéphane Pelletan attempts a defensive campaign against the advancing British and Royal French.

  The long and bloody Siege of Kaifeng begins by Yenzhang in China. Over the next year it will be repeatedly relieved and restored, the whole front turning into the meat grinder of the Chinese civil war.

  March – The French are thrown out of Brussels and retreat in the greatest defeat of Boulanger's career thus far.

  Incensed by the Corean attack, Yenzhang sends General Yu with reinforcements to throw them back, while handing over the Kaifeng/Henan front to Cao Qichang. As Cao is a less capable commander and has fewer men, this means Yenzhang's forces' previous advance there stalls. As increasing numbers of Green Standard troops from Chongqian are sent against him, all he can do is hold the White River line.

  April – Pelletan's army suffers a series of defeats to the western allies. General Alexander, who was involved in the fight, records in his diary that his experiences fighting alongside Catholic soldiers from Royal France and Ireland has forced him to re-evaluate the anti-popish assumptions he was raised to believe. This is the start of what will lead Alexander to favour Catholic relief in the ENA years later.

  Second Meridian Constitutional Convention in Cordoba makes significant revisions to the U.P. constitution, restricting the president-general to three-year terms and re-elections rather than being a life position.

  End of the Turco-Persian War of 1806-09 with a Persian defeat.

  In Guinea, Ghezo becomes Ahosu (King) of Dahomey. He institutes policies that increase trade and collaboration with the Royal Africa Company, using their Jagun army to help train and modernise his own in preparation for trying to break away from the dominance of the Oyo Empire.

  May – Pelletan arrives in Paris to deliver his report in person to Lisieux, only to find that L'Administrateur is nowhere to be found, and no-one can account for his location. Lisieux's disappearance will be an unsolved mystery to baffle the historians and conspiracy theorists of the future.

  Bourcier seizes power, reverses most of Lisieux's constitutional changes and reconvenes the National Legislative Assembly, presided over by René Apollinaire.

  In China General Yu counter-attacks the Coreans but is unable to prevent the fall of the Manchu city of Girin Ula, which King Gwangjong identifies with the historical capital of Balhae, Kungnaesong.

  June – Bourcier's new Republican regime delivers a plea to the western allies offering the crown to Louis XVII, seeking a bloodless transfer of power rather than suffer under the rhetoric-spewing Germans advancing from the east. Louis accepts and 50,000 allied troops march on Paris.

  Russian force under Heinz Kautzman lands in Dieppe and heads towards the capital.

  July – The British, Royal French, Americans and Irish occupy Paris and Louis is crowned King of all France.

  Boulanger hears of the change of power, goes berserk and turns his remaining army around, planning one last quixotic attack in an attempt, if nothing else, to ensure the Revolution is remembered as something more than a bunch of pragmatic turncoats. He will march on Paris.

  Philip Hamilton and James Wayne return to the Royal Africa Company as heroes.

  August – On the 4th, the last and greatest battle of the Jacobin Wars is met before Paris. 80,000 Republican troops under Boulanger face 55,000 Allied troops defending the city. It is the first major engagement in which both sides deploy steam cannon against each other. The Allies hold to breaking point, only to be rescued at the eleventh hour by Kautzman's Russo-Dano-Lithuanian force taking Boulanger's army in the rear. Seizing an opportunity in the thick of battle, Lord Mornington challenges Boulanger to a duel in a gamble to keep the French commander from reorganising his forces. Boulanger defeats him, but is shot down by Carolinian general John Alexander, who argues that the Jacobins long since abandoned any claim to be treated according to the laws of war and honour. General Trenet takes over the Republican remnants and surrenders. The war is over.

  September – In China, Yenzhang's forces face reverses on all fronts as the outnumbered Coreans hold their gains and fight General Yu to a standstill, while Chongqian's General Liang Tianling liberates Kaifeng and General Cao is thrown back across the Yellow River. However, there is one piece of good news: Sun Yuanchang, the governor of the Burmese provinces conquered fifty years before, is loyal to Yenzhang and is now striking into Chongqian-held southern China with his army (including Shan and Mon native troops). The purpose of this attack is to strike into Sichuan and then up the Yangtze to eventually reach Jiangnang. Its actual effect will be quite different…

  October – Death of Nadir Shah Durrani of the East Durrani (Neo-Mogul) Empire. He is succeeded by his son Mohammed Shah II. However his cousin Ayub of the West challenges him for the throne, calling him soft and Indianised, unworthy to be an heir to Ahmed Shah Abdali. In reality Ayub wants to use the war to reunite his squabbling peoples. The Neo-Moguls, benefiting from reforms under Nadir, prove to be a deadlier foe than Ayub expected.

  November – The Congress of Copenhagen is held in the eponymous Danish capital, in which the postwar settlement for Europe is hammered out. France escapes serious dismemberment, its only major loss being the Duchy of Lorraine detached by the Hapsburgs. The Russians possess disproportionate influence thanks to their key role at the Battle of Paris, and split off a “Kingdom of Navarre” around Bayonne, under a Lithuanian noble, to effectively give themselves a warm-water port. A shaky Franco-Austrian pact, put together by the nations' foreign ministers, manages to exclude most of the north German states from possessing much influence at the Conference, forcing them to band together. Broadly, the status quo as of the closing stages of the war is allowed to serve as the peace.

  December – In China, the Chongqian Emperor becomes convinced that if Heaven is to favour his cause, he must finally do something about the weakness of foreign trade, and proclaims an end to all trade with foreign barbarians…it remains to be seen whether this proclamation will be enforced…

  Part 7: The Watchful Peace (1810-????)

  1810:

  January – The city of Orangestad in the Dutch Cape Colony (on the site of OTL Port Elizabeth) is founded.

  February – Elections in the United Provinces of South America. Acting president-general Baquedano resigns in a Cincinnatian move, recognising his own lack of popularity for ending the war three years before. The elections are won by the new conservative Amarillo Party, rising from the core of the looser Reagrupamiento alliance which had ruled the country since 1807. The new President-General is Roberto Mateovarón. The opposition soon rallies as the progressive Colorado Party, led by the former general Luis Jaime Ayala Santa Cruz. A number of moderate deputies remain aloof from both political poles, being unofficially known as the Blanco Party.

  March – The Congress of Copenhagen concludes.

  Sun Yuanchang begins his Great Eastern March into southern China.

  Pablo Sanchez is mustered out of the Neapolitan army in Aragon. At this point he is believed to have worked menial jobs around the University of Saragossa for some years.

  April – While vetting former Republican officials for their suitability to continue service, the new French Royalist regime encounters Georges Galois, Lisieux's former colonial director, who advises that La Pérouse's Land be brought unde
r direct control. Leo Bone agrees and a fleet under Admiral de Foix is dispatched.

  With Sun Yuanchang's withdrawal from Burma, Phaungasa Min launches his Konbaung invasion.

  May – Philip Hamilton and James Wayne visit the Kingdom of Benin and negotiate a trade with King Ogbebo of palm oil for modern European firearms.

  Georges Galois, French head of colonial affairs, replaces Julien Champard with Thierry de Missirien, noted for his colourful language, as governor-general of French India. He begins backing the Scindias in the Maratha civil war to gain influence.

  July – Chongqian's troops conquer the city of Jining and overrun southern Shandong province. In the face of this advance, the phantom rumours of Sun Yuanchang's advance up the Yangtze are dismissed.

  September – The city of Jinan falls to Chongqian's Green Standard troops, putting them in a position to threaten Yenzhang in Beijing.

  October – The city of Wuchang falls to General Sun's troops, putting them perilously close to Jiangnang. Reluctantly Chongqian is forced to remove a portion of his Green Standard Army soldiers and send them against Sun, meaning the advance from Jinan towards Beijing stalls and Yenzhang has time to recover his position.

  The city state of Toungoo rises up against its ruler Hkaung Shwe and joins Phaungasa Min's advancing Konbaung forces.

  Yenzhang, having stabilised the front with Corea, sends General Yu back to Shandong to counterattack against Chongqian's advancing troops.

  December – Battle of Niuzhang, in which Yenzhang's forces are defeated by a Russo-Corean army including elements recruited from Japan. This is the beginning of the end for Yenzhang.

  1811:

  March – To the fury of many Bohemians, Jozef Graf Radetzky von Radetz is executed by the Austrian government for his 'illegal use of men and materiel' in freeing Bohemia from the Cougnonistes a few years earlier. This pours fuel on the fire of Bohemian nationalism, as it seems the government cares far more for the letter of the law than the fact that Bohemians were suffering and dying thanks to the Cougnonistes.

  April – Death of Pope Urban IX (Henry Benedict Stuart). With his death (though he had formally given up his claim anyway) the old Jacobite claim on the throne of England devolves (via a distant family connection) to the King of Sardinia, Charles Emmanuel IV. Charles Emmanuel has no intention of actually trying to invoke the claim, given he has quite enough on his plate trying to get Piedmont back.

  May – Ottoman Sultan Murad V dies, probably of natural causes. He is succeeded by Osman IV.

  The Papal Conclave meets to elect a new Pope, controversially with a rather small quorum of cardinals due to the depredations of the Jacobin Wars. An Italian cardinal, a boringly safe choice (with political connections to the Neapolitan monarchy) becomes Pope on the second ballot, taking the name Pope Benedict XVI. He does little to stem the discontent of many Catholics with their Church's leadership and the success of the rival Jansenist Catholicism from the UPSA.

  June – Phaungasa Min's armies continue to advance through Burma.

  Kazakh Horde under Jangir Khan attacks China's eastern frontier, overruns the former gains in Dzungaria, but is unable to penetrate the New Great Wall.

  Death of King Charles VI, VIII and IV of Naples, Sicily and Aragon. He is succeeded by his son Charles Gennaro, who rather than being known as the unwieldy “Charles VII, IX and V”, goes by Gennaro I. He is often known as “Gennaro I of the Three Sicilies”. He is influenced by his advisor, the Pere de Portolà, into a policy which favours the Catalans in Aragon. This serves to make the Catalans a loyal class of administrators in the region, but sparks resentment from the other Aragonese.

  July – Death of Sir Sidney Smith, leader of Britain's “Unnumbered” secret service. They are handed over to Conroy, who integrates them into the PSCs as “special constables”, or secret police.

  The biggest battle of the Durrani War is fought at Ajmir in Rajputana. As with the war as a whole, the Neo-Moguls come out slightly on top, but really the only ones to gain are those using the bloody conflict to rebel against the Durranis, such as the Sikhs.

  August – Elections to the UPSA Cortes Nacionales result in a continuing majority for the Amarillo Party, though the Colorado Party secures a respectable number of seats.

  King Antonio of Mexico establishes Fort San Luis on the site of OTL Portland, south of Fort Washington, in an attempt to stake his own claim to the Oregon country.

  September – After a heart attack scare, Alexander Hamilton steps down as Lord President of America and retires from frontline politics. Augustus Seymour takes over and calls an election.

  Around this time, organised political parties (the Royalist “Blancs” led by the Duc d'Aumont, Moderate “Bleus” led by Napoleon Bonaparte AKA Leo Bone and Liberty “Rouges” led by Olivier Bourcier) start to form in the French Grand-Parlement.

  October – Sun Yuanchang's army is defeated by Chongqian's Green Standard troops at Anqing. Sun is forced to retreat and decides his best option is to raid the southern cities loyal to Chongqian, cut off the supply trains and force Chongqian to bleed off some of his own troops to protect them.

  December – ENA general election produces a knife-edge majority of 1 for Seymour's Patriots. The Constitutionalists, having lost three elections in a row, ditch leader Wade Hampton in favour of New Englander Matthew Quincy in an attempt to broaden their appeal.

  Sun Yuanchang's army begins its terror campaign by burning Jianning, then sending splinter forces to attack the coastal cities.

  1812:

  January – Admiral de Foix arrives in La Pérouse's Land (Antipodea) and meets with the aged La Pérouse himself, bringing him back to France. Meanwhile, Europe reawakens to the fact that the matter of this colony must be dealt with.

  In China, Fuzhou is attacked by Sun Yuanchang's terror raiders. The Governor, Zheng Kejing, meets public respect by not fleeing from his city and in the aftermath tirelessly working to rebuild. Sun's force becomes known as the Black Flag Army, particularly fearful for its savage Shan and Mon soldiers recruited from Burma.

  February – Hearing of Sun's activities in the south, Chongqian elects to call his bluff and does not respond, keeping his troops on the main front. This means he doesn't lose his gains to Yenzhang's counterattack but it also destroys Chongqian's reputation among the suffering people of southern China.

  General Sun conquers Shaoguan.

  The city of Ava falls to the Konbaung. However, at the same time, the Threefold Harmonious Accord is signed in Lopburi between Ayutthaya and its allies: Ava, Pegu, the Lao states (Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Tran Ninh), and Tonkin. Siamese forces will fight in these other countries in order to take down invaders before they can reach the soil of Ayutthaya itself.

  Frederick Paley accepts an invitation to from the new Royal French Academy of Sciences to take up a lectureship. He becomes fast friends with fellow naturalist Georges Audoin.

  March – General Yu's counterattack retakes Jinan but then bogs down due to Chongqian keeping his troops concentrated in Shandong.

  Sun sends his Mon bannerman Dham Shouang to raid Guangzhou (Canton), only to be bloodily repulsed by a combination of Hu Kwa's private army and forces belonging to the various East India Companies. Sun is furious with Dham's failure and declares that Guangzhou shall be razed to the ground, knowing this ought to force Chongqian to split his troops.

  Alaafin (Emperor) Makua of Oyo dies in a suspected poisoning. Fighting over the succession breaks out in Oyo the city and Ahosu Ghezo of Dahomey, Oyo's subordinate vassal, takes the opportunity to use his newly modernised army to break free: the Dahomey War of Independence. Reports from the RAC of Dahomey's use of women warriors (the Amazons) excite the European literary imagination.

  The Flemish chemist Robert Solvay publishes his synthesis of urea from inorganic chemicals, controversially disproving the Vitalist Principle that biological chemicals contain some fundamentally different ingredient to inorganic ones.

  April – Ottoman Sultan O
sman IV dies, probably assassinated due to his opposition to Grand Vizier Dalmat Melek Pasha. He is succeeded by Mahmud II.

  In protest at John Churchill accumulating power through his bullyboys and spies and ignoring the will of Parliament, Richard Burke resigns as Prime Minister of Great Britain. He is replaced by Frederick Dundas.

  May – The New Palace of Westminster is completed in London and Parliament moves in. The building is a masterpiece of Neoclassical architecture, but has several misjudged features, such as poor acoustics and being designed for future expansion, so here and now both Houses look uncomfortably sparsely populated with MPs and Lords.

  June – The New Spanish establish Fort San Luis on the site of OTL Portland.

  The entire Black Flag Army of General Sun converges on Guangzhou with the intent of the total destruction of the city. The thrown-together defenders are outnumbered, but Michel Ouais employs cannons taken from the East Indiamen as artillery and both Sun and Dham Shouang are killed by the same chainshot in a fluke. The Black Flag Army disintegrates and Hao Jicai ensures at least a token force is spared to hunt down their remnants as they raid neighbouring cities, making the defenders of Guangzhou heroes everywhere – especially in contrast to Chongqian.

  August – Philip Hamilton and James Wayne set out upriver from Dakar in search of the fabled city of Timbuktoo. They eventually find it, but are discovered as non-Muslims, and only escape thanks to a friendly Ashanti minister being present.

  Jinan is retaken once more by Chongqian's troops.

  September – The Chongqian Emperor sends a token force to Guangzhou to arrest and execute the local officials for cooperating with Europeans in such a way. Enraged by this action, the people of the region turn against Chongqian and his troops are annihilated by the Europeans.

  Petty disagreements over the big Maratha houses of Scindia and Holkar (over ownership of land in Berar, which is now British in any practical sense anyway) sparks an all-out civil war in the Maratha Confederacy. In the course of this conflict, the future Great American War General Alf Stotts gets his first military experience as a mercenary drummer boy with the French forces.