by Tom Anderson
Peerages awarded to American supporters of Frederick, including Lawrence Washington becoming Marquess of Fredericksburg.
European powers reluctantly recognise Frederick’s government. Frederick cancels William’s signature on the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. France keeps Madras in protest, and many British soldiers die from tropical disease and neglect while in French captivity in Madras, including the unknown (in TTL) Robert Clive.
The proxy war continues in the Carnatic. Britain fails to take Arcot, and Chanda Sahib wins the civil war, becoming the new Nawab of the Carnatic. Henceforth French influence in the region is paramount and Britain rarely exerts much influence south of the Circars.
1753:
King Frederick of Great Britain makes his first and only visit to Hanover.
Alarmed by French attempts to form alliances with the Indians of the Ohio Country, Iroquois leader King Hendrick approaches the Governor of New York, the Duke of Portland, for more Anglo-American assistance in repulsing French influence. Portland agrees and the Anglo-Iroquois alliance is cemented further.
The French build forts in Virginian-claimed Vandalia, at Fort Presque Isle and Fort Duquesne. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, after meeting with Portland and the Lord Deputy, sends troops to eject the French from the Ohio Country.
1754:
Lawrence Washington, despite his new lands, titles and House of Lords seat in Britain, chooses to return to America. This will set a precedent for later American nobles. The young George Washington remains in Britain and is tutored alongside George, Prince of Wales.
Dinwiddie’s Virginian militiamen fail to take the French forts at Presque Isle and Duquesne. Because of this, the Virginian House of Burgesses passes reforms to improve the standard of militia military training, despite the ever-persistent fear of a standing army in British-derived nations.
The Pulteney government in Britain signs a treaty with Prussia, known as ‘Les Deux Frédérics’ in France. This essentially amounts to the British abandoning their commitment to help Austria if Prussia attacks Silesia, in exchange for the Prussians agreeing to defend Hanover in the event of another German war. Austria and Britain have drifted apart since disagreements over accepting the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Carolus Linnaeus visits London and meets the young Joseph Priestley, who persuades him to publish his controversial theories about human evolution.
In South America, the Seven Jesuit Missions agree to move from the now Portuguese territory, but their Guarani Indian friends object. A short war between combined Portuguese and Spanish forces and the Guaranis, which results in the defeat of the Guaranis but causes bad blood between the Portuguese and Spanish.
In China, the Yongzheng Emperor dies and is succeeded by his son Hongshi the Prince Zhong, who becomes the Daguo Emperor. Daguo’s reign is marked for a programme of building defensive fortifications, ‘the Second Great Wall’, against the Dzungars, and for the invasion of Burma.
In the Holy Roman Empire, the Konventionsthaler (Convention Dollar) is created, a standard based on the Austrian dollar to which most of the currencies of the other German states are pegged to.
1755:
July – Corsican rebels finally eject their Genoese colonial occupiers from the island, declaring an independent Republic (technically a kingdom, but with the throne occupied symbolically by the Virgin Mary). It is noteworthy for being considered the first state in which women customarily had the vote.
November – the Great Lisbon Earthquake wreaks havoc in Portugal, and indeed across Europe, but is particularly devastating in the city for which it is named. Countless buildings destroyed and people made homeless. José de Carvalho e Melo, the Chief Minister, organises the recovery effort.
1756-1759: The Third War of Supremacy, also known as the War of the Diplomatic Revolution. Britain, Prussia, Ireland, Hanover, Brunswick, Hesse-Kassel and the Empire of North America vs. France, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Naples and Sicily, and Sardinia. Eventual defeat for the British coalition in Europe with the dismemberment of Prussia, though Prussian army tactics continue to educate the world. Total British victory in North America. Minor French victory in India.
1756:
May – The British East India Company in Bengal has built up a huge army with which to try and retake the lost cities from the French in the Carnatic. However, this army’s existence has made their ally, Siraj-Ud-Daulah the Nawab of Bengal, nervous…
July – In India, Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Abdali conquers Delhi and marries his younger son Nadir to the daughter of his puppet Mughal Emperor Alamgir II.
August – Austria signs a formal alliance with France at Versailles – the ‘Diplomatic Revolution’, ending a century of Franco-Austrian enmity. In response, Britain declares war on France and Prussia invades Saxony. Start of the Third War of Supremacy.
October – After a lightning campaign by King Frederick II of Prussia, Saxony surrenders to the Prussians.
November – Pulteney announces a Cabinet reshuffle. George Grenville becomes Chancellor the Exchequer and Henry Fox takes over as Secretary of State for the Northern Department. Frederick II of Prussia, having secured Saxony, launches an invasion of Bohemia.
December – Death of Queen Mildred of Great Britain. King Frederick sinks into a depression from which he will never quite recover.
1757:
February – Prince George of Wales disappears. He secretly takes up a commission in America under the name Ralph Robinson, fighting alongside George Washington. French and allied Huron and Algonquin forces under Montcalm invade New York. After failing to be reinforced, the American Fort Frederick William surrenders to the French. However, the Algonquins, having different definitions of the rules of war, then perpetrate a looting and massacre on the British and American forces. This outrage increases the resolve of the American people to win the war, and more regiments and militias are raised.
May – Frederick II of Prussia retreats from Prague after an indecisive engagement with Austrian forces, deciding he does not have the troop numbers to hold the city.
French naval forces in the Mediterranean defeat British Admiral Edward Boscawen and take Minorca, which is later returned to Spain. Boscawen escapes court-martial but is effectively exiled to a West Indian command.
June – Siraj-Ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, betrays his British allies and takes Fort William at Calcutta in a surprise attack. British East India Company officers are trapped in the ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’, a tiny prison in which many die. Outrage among the Company and at home leads to an all-out attack on the Nawab’s forces with the Company’s new army, with the result that it is not deployed against the French.
September – Britain attempts a descent on the Isle d’Aix, as part of a strategy of tying up French troops with temporary landings on the French coast. The operation is an embarrassing and expensive failure, as shallow waters make it impossible to reinforce the British troops. Pitt refuses to authorise any more such operations. The French East India Company takes Fort St David at Cuddalore, decisively ending British power in the Carnatic.
November – Frederick II of Prussia wins a brilliant victory against a numerically superior Austro-French army at the Battle of Rossbach.
December – The outnumbered Prussians under Frederick II win a second victory against Austria at the Battle of Leuthen.
1758:
February – Britain occupies French colonies in West Africa, including Dakar.
June – Death of William Pulteney. King Frederick asks William Pitt to form a government. Henry Fox becomes Secretary of State for the Southern Department.
July – A Russian army under Pyotr Saltykov defeats the Prussians under von Wedel at the Battle of Paltzig. In Portugal, King Joseph I survives an assassination attempt, but the wound will trouble him for the rest of his life.
August – In Portugal, a plot by the Távora and Aveiro families against the King is discovered, giving Chief Minister Carvalho an excuse to execute many of their
key members and make the rest flee into exile. Their lands are annexed to the Portuguese crown.
September – The British East India Company defeats the Nawab of Bengal’s forces in a decisive campaign. The Nawab is killed during the final battle.
October – In a battle with Austria at Hochkirch, the Prussians are defeated and most of their artillery corps fall into enemy hands. The tide of war has begun to turn against King Frederick II.
1759:
The Annus Mirabilis, the Wonderful Year of Victories, in America.
May – The British East India Company takes Calcutta. The EIC seizes direct control over Bengal and parcels it out among a half-dozen puppet princes. End of the Nawabate.
July – Alaungpaya, Burmese King of Ava of the Konbaung Dynasty, conquers and annexes Pegu.
August – Frederick II of Prussia defeated by the Russians and Austrians at Kunersdorf, so decisively that he no longer cares for his own life and goes into battle himself, dying heroically after slaying many enemies.
The Hanoverians, neglected by Britain, are defeated at Minden by the French under the Marquis de Contades. However, the French invasion of Hanover stalls soon afterwards as their supply chains become overextended.
September – James Wolfe defeats Montcalm at Quebec, ending French control of Canada. “Ralph Robinson” is wounded and discovered to be Prince George in disguise. The unknown-in-TTL James Cook is killed in the battle. Wolfe is wounded but survives and is eventually made military governor of Canada. With the death of Frederick II and the war turning against the Prussians, a newly confident Saxony re-enters the war and attacks Prussia.
October – King Frederick I of Great Britain begins to sicken from a lung infection.
November – A Prussian army is annihilated by the Austrians under Daun, at Maxen. King Frederick William II of Prussia is a minor, and his uncle Prince Henry is regent. Henry believes the war is lost and sues for peace, knowing it will be harsh.
1760:
January – Treaty of Amsterdam, ending the Third War of Supremacy. This dismembers Prussia, returning Silesia to Austria and giving Cottbus, Liegnitz and the western possessions to Saxony. France fails to receive the Austrian Netherlands, again angering the French people. Britain/America receive the Ohio Country, Senegal and New France/Quebec from France, but the French retain Louisiana. Britain recognises French control of the Carnatic.
February – Death of Frederick I of Great Britain. Rapprochement with his son Prince George, soon to be George III, on his deathbed.
March – King Alaungpaya of Ava (in Burma) dies and is succeeded by his son Naungdawgyi. However, the Konbaung dynasty’s rule is now disputed by General Myat Htun, who wants to restore the former Toungoo dynasty.
April – Under the terms of the Treaty of Aalborg, the Danish crown sells Greenland and Iceland to Britain. Both are in legal limbo for some years, with Greenland eventually becoming part of the ENA and Iceland its own small kingdom in personal union with Britain.
June – Treaty of Cedar Shoals between the Cherokee Empire and the Carolinian colonists. This is the official end to the Indian wars of the 1760s, which resulted in the virtual destruction of the Creek and Chickasaw nations, and formally divides their former lands between the Carolinians and their Cherokee allies.
Part 4: Frontier George (1761-1778)
1761:
January – Third Battle of Panipat in India as Ahmad Shah Abdali’s Muslim Afghans fight the Hindu Maratha Empire. The battle is a crushing victory for the Afghans, with the Marathas shattering into a loose confederacy that then begins a slow decline.
February – Seeking to pull France out of her war debts, King Louis XV appoints Étienne de Silhouette as Comptroller-General of Finances. Silhouette largely fails in his attempts to tax the rich, but does succeed in ensuring that French East India Company profits largely go into the royal treasury.
April – Death of King Ferdinand VI of Spain. He is succeeded by his son, who becomes King Charles III. Charles had formerly ruled in Naples and brings with him his chief minister, Bernardo Tanucci – though for the present he reappoints the Marquis of Ensenada as chief minister of Spain.
November – In the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Jacinto Canek leads the Mayans into rebellion. The revolt is swiftly crushed by the Spanish, but memories of it persist for a long time.
1762:
March – Death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia. She is succeeded by her nephew, who becomes Emperor Peter III.
April – Matters in Burma come to a head, as Myat Htun’s Toungoo forces besiege Ava. The British East India Company offers assistance to the ruling Konbaung dynasty’s King Naungdawgyi in exchange for greater trading privileges. Naungdawgyi accepts.
1763-1767: The First Platinean War. Spain fights Portugal; Britain enters the war on the Portuguese side. Little territorial change, but the Spanish failure to defend the Rio de la Plata from an Anglo-American invasion – while the Platineans defeat the Anglo-Americans by besieging them with their own militias and forcing them to retreat – contributes considerably to the growth of nationalism in South America.
1763:
A Spanish invasion of Portugal fails, partly due to the Portuguese using scorched earth tactics and burning crops in order to starve the Spanish armies operating in Portugal.
The Konbaung forces in Burma, with BEIC assistance, eject Myat Htun’s Toungoo forces from Ava. Myat Htun instead goes north, seeking Chinese help in gaining the throne.
1764:
March – British and American troops, including the 51st and 52nd, invade Florida from what will become the Province of Georgia.
April – Lord Fairfax retires as Lord Deputy of North America. He is succeeded by Lord William North, the Earl of Guilford.
May – Second Spanish invasion of Portugal begins. This will also be repulsed, this time partly due to a British expeditionary force assisting the Portuguese.
June – Many German refugees fleeing religious persecution are settling in Russia, thanks to the Germanophile policies of Emperor Peter III. Among them are a Herr and Frau Kautzman, who settle in the Caucasus near Stavropol.
August – Anglo-Portuguese armies defeat the Spanish at Corunna and conquer Galicia.
1765:
May – British expeditionary force under Admiral Marriott Arbuthnot lands in Rio de la Plata.
June – Arbuthnot’s forces occupy Buenos Aires. In Saxony, Elector Frederick Augustus II, who is also King Augustus III of Poland, dies. He is succeeded by his son Frederick Christian I in Saxony, but the Poles reject him and their szlachta attempt to elect a new king. However, the Sejm is deadlocked.
July – Spanish armies in South America conquer the last of the Rio Grande do Sul (OTL Uruguay) from Portugal.
August – Anglo-Portuguese siege of Ciudad Rodrigo begins. In Lorraine, Duke Stanisław Leszczyński dies and his territories revert to the crown of France.
September – Spanish break the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, forcing the British and Portuguese to retreat.
October – Start of the Crisis of 1765. The American national consciousness has grown considerably due to the recent and ongoing wars. The various liberal political clubs in the major American cities, with the help of Lord North, call a new Albany Congress and elect a North Commission, which travels to London in order to petition the British Government for greater self-rule for the Empire of North America. The Committee is led by Ben Franklin.
November – Birth of Nurul Huq, the future ‘Father of Bengal’, in a small village near Calcutta.
Antonio de Ulloa y de Torre-Girault, managing the quicksilver mines in Peru, is scapegoated by the Viceroy and is eventually reassigned to become governor of California.
1766:
April – Spanish attempt to retake Galicia from the Portuguese, but after some initial gains are defeated by the British near Santiago de Compostela and are repulsed again.
June – Arbuthnot’s army in the Plate suffers its first major defeat, a considerable
embarrassment to Britain, in a face-up battle with the Platinean militias as the British attempt to take the city of Rosario.
July – Emboldened Portuguese and British armies besiege Badajoz. Start of the Polish Civil War as the Sejm is unable to agree on a compromise candidate for king from among the Polish szlachta itself. In Britain, William Pitt dies, receiving a state funeral (while his heir John Pitt receives staggering debts). King George III asks Charles Watson-Wentworth, the Marquess of Rockingham, to form a new Patriot-Whig government.
August – Realising Spanish help is not forthcoming, the people of the Plate organise their own militias and begin attacking the British occupation forces, initially only in small groups. At this time, King Charles III of Spain is forced to flee into France due to food riots in Madrid; his troops soon put these down and he is able to return, but has suffered a considerable loss of face.
September – Even without much support from other Spanish armies, the fortress city of Badajoz weathers and defeats the Anglo-Portuguese forces, who retreat to Elvas. In the Plate, the cautious Arbuthnot withdraws most of his troops to Buenos Aires. In Eastern Europe, Frederick William II of Prussia and Peter III of Russia sign a secret treaty aimed at the partition of Poland.
In China, the Daguo Emperor and his ministers agree to help Myat Htun return the Toungoo dynasty to the Avan throne.
October – A second Spanish invasion of Galicia wins a narrow, unconvincing victory, dislodging the Portuguese from most of the province but the Spanish armies being too badly gutted in the process to contemplate further offensive actions. Little movement on the Peninsular Front for the rest of the war.
November – The Americans finally succeed in their long siege of San Agustín, the capital and last redoubt of Spanish Florida. With its fall, the whole peninsula is now British/American-occupied. In Eastern Europe, negotiations begin between the Russo-Prussian alliance and Sweden to secure Swedish neutrality in the Polish war.
