by Tom Anderson
September – Fall of Civitavecchia and Ancona to Hoche's army.
In the face of successes by Benyovsky and Lebedev, Tsar Paul declares the formation of the Russo-Lithuanian Pacific Company, granting them official status. He steps up his policy of sending his political enemies to Yakutia to serve as labour for the RLPC. The RLPC also includes Aleksandr Baranov's fur-trading operation in Alyaska.
All Prussian lands west of the Elbe are now lost to Saxony and her allies. The Berlin Plot reacts by arranging Frederick William III's death on the parade ground 'to a misfiring cavalry carbine'. His infant son Henry William becomes king, with plotter-in-chief Lützow as regent. However, this results in civil war and the complete degeneration of Prussian unity, with the anti-Lützow forces led by foreign minister Ludwig von Stülpnagel.
October – The French take Córdoba (in Spain, not the UPSA), the Spanish government having relocated in turn to Seville.
Naples finally intervenes directly, sending troops to try and save the Papal States as Hoche continues to easily defeat the small Papal army.
The Fox Ministry appoints the abolitionist Patrick Petty as Governor of Dakar and upgrades the Lieutenant-Governorship of Freedonia (still held by Olaudah Equiano) to a full Governorship. Equiano has the right to appoint a new Lieutenant-Governor as his deputy and de facto successor, and appoints Julius Soubise to the position.
November – The Spanish under Bernardo de Gálvez win an epic victory over the French under Drouet at Granada. However, this is too little too late to stem the French tide.
The Rape of Rome. As Hoche himself is campaigning in Bologna, his Jacobin troops go rogue, torch the city of Rome rather than trying to take it, and murder both Pope Benedict XV and countless senior Catholic clergy in the streets. This is one of the most catastrophic PR disasters in history, with the winter of 1802 seeing countless numbers of Hoche's Italian troops defecting or deserting, and widespread condemnation of the Italian Latin Republic.
December – With the fall of Seville to the French, Philip VII and Saavedra finally retreat to the fortress city of Cadiz.
In France, Lisieux reacts to the Rape of Rome by launching his long-planned purge of the Republican leadership on December 25th, known as La Nuit Macabre. At least eighty senior army officers and politicians of suspected Jacobin sympathy are assassinated. Lisieux blames the atrocities in Rome on the Sans-Culottes and begins his campaign to rewrite history and abominate Le Diamant, banning his La Carte. In this he is assisted by France's growing semaphore communications network.
1803:
January – Portugal approaches the Carlistas in Spain with the offer of an alliance. Charles IV hesitates.
In Africa, the Hausa subject peoples of the declining Bornu Empire rebel against its authority.
February – The Neapolitan army wins its first major victory over Hoche at the Battle of Frosinone, helped by Hoche's desertions.
Philip Hamilton, on assignment to Liberty City in Freedonia, meets Olaudah Equiano.
March – The French take Cadiz and Philip VII surrenders. By the Treaty of Cadiz, the French allow a Kingdom of Spain to remain, but annex much of the Pyrenean border region to France and keep an armed presence in the major Spanish cities.
Meridian navigator José Rodriguez-Decampo, working for the Persians, is the first person to map the Shatt al-Arab using modern scientific techniques.
Hoche attempts to invade Naples but is defeated at the Battle of Teramo by Prince Mario Pignatelli Strongoli. Soon afterwards, however, he holds against an attempted Neapolitan follow-up at Ascoli Piceno.
The Austrians are defeated by the Turks before the gates of Sarajevo, finishing their attempt to retake Bosnia or southern Dalmatia.
Lützow's Prussian forces withdraw to Ducal Prussia with the infant King Henry Frederick as Stülpnagel rules in Berlin over a vanishing electorate of Brandenburg.
April – Saavedra assassinated, probably on French orders, leaving Philip VII bereft of advisors. He does the bidding of the French occupiers, issuing death warrants against Charles and the other Infantes.
New York Assembly rather reluctantly abolishes slavery by gradual manumission, though the law does not apply to unincorporated territories or the Iroquois/Howden protectorate.
Archduke Ferdinand leads another small Austrian army over the Alps into the Venetian Terrafirma, but as of yet Hoche's forces in that region still hold firm.
A Louisianan force, together with allied Indians, is defeated by Vincent Ogé's Haitian rebels and the Haitian African Republic is proclaimed.
The Enterprize visits the Oregon country and stakes an American claim at Fort Washington (site of OTL Seattle).
May – With a combined Felipista/French army approaching, Charles IV agrees to the Portuguese demands. He assents to a Portuguese occupation of Galicia and the border cities, in exchange for ships to take him and the other infantes to the New World.
Edo, capital of Japan, hears that the situation in Edzo has stabilised and there is a new Daimyo of Matsumae. Emperor Tenmei and Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi are rather relieved, as they are still struggling to make the Japanese economy recover after several devastating natural disasters in the last two decades, and did not want to finance a military expedition. Little do they know that the Daimyo is only a puppet of Benyovsky's Russians, who have seized the town…
Austria and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Austro-Turkish War; the treaty is very favourable to the Ottomans, who obtain the vast majority of the former Dalmatian territory of the Venetian Republic and also increase their holdings in Bosnia. The euphoric aftermath of the war in Constantinople, however, leads to a sense of victory disease and military conservatism.
The Cuba Question comes to a head in the ENA. The ruling Constitutionalists want to annex Cuba to Carolina and institute slavery and anti-Catholic laws. They win the parliamentary vote, but the Lord Deputy refuses to grant Royal Assent. Lord President James Monroe resigns and calls a general election.
In Guinea, the French geographer and explorer Pierre Jacotin is commissioned to perform an extensive survey of the lands the Royal Africa Company rules and trades with, mapping West Africa to a level of detail far greater than previously seen.
June – Nelson, having successfully argued that the French steamship base at Mahon in Minorca is too much of a danger, takes the Neapolitan fleet and attacks it on the night of the 15th. The attack is spearheaded by the Cacafuego's rockets and the new technology helps to confuse and panic the French, who are mostly celebrating ashore. Nelson sails his own Siracusa straight into the harbour, giving his famous orders “Damn the tactics, give me the wind, go right at ’em!” and sinks or burns a large portion of the French steam fleet almost single-handedly. He loses the use of his left arm after a vicious fight with one of the steamships whose crew was aboard and alert. The Neapolitans retreat in victory on the morning of the 16th. Admiral Lepelley is furious…once he gets back from his rendezvous with his mistress on the other side of the island.
The Saxons buy the neutrality of the Lützow regime by guaranteeing it all former Prussian territory outside the boundary of the HRE, removing a key front (and annoying the Danes and Poles).
Around this time low-level informal contact begins between the court of Corea and the Russo-Lithuanian Pacific Company.
Death of Timur Shah Durrani of the West Durrani (Afghan) Empire. His ambitious son Ayub succeeds to the throne, putting down the usual minor rebellions, but seeks a way to unite his feuding subjects…
July – Ivan Potemkin, exiled in Yakutia but working his way up to effective governor status, visits Matsumae in Edzo to observe Benyovsky's operations there. He agrees to support some of Benyovsky's less crazy plans.
The Portuguese General Julio Vieira attempts to take Badajoz from its maverick Spanish commander, Mateo María Núñez y Blanco, but fails.
News of Nelson's attack on Minorca splits the British ruling Reform Coalition, with the Liberals tending to praise Nelson
and the Radicals attacking him. This rift slowly heals, but is instrumental in the fact that the Fort Rockingham project is very much a brainchild of only the Liberal half of the government.
The American general election returns a surprise increased majority for the Constitutionalists, even though their abolitionist wing breaks away under Benjamin Rush to form the American Radical Party. In view of this, royal assent is reluctantly granted to a second, slightly watered-down Cuba Annexation bill.
August – Newfoundland petitions to join the Confederation of New England as a province, worried about the establishment of the Cloudsborough penal colony in the north of the island. This request is eventually approved, meaning Newfoundland is no longer used as a penal colony.
Lisieux, in response to Nelson's attack, begins a new 'Rational' shipbuilding programme under Jean Jacques Coloumb. This involves the construction of the new, improved “Surcouf” class steam-galleys in Marseilles and Toulon, mainly using the slave labour of Jacobin-sympathising political prisoners.
September – Jean de Lisieux publishes his “Nouvelle Carte”.
The Dutch Navy begins assembling a fleet under Admiral Willem van Heemskerk at the Cape Colony in order to take action against Surcouf's privateers.
October – The Infante Charles of Spain, claimant King Charles IV, lands in the port of Veracruz in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. He, his four brothers and their soldiers begin a leisurely march to the City of Mexico.
Admiral Villeneuve's fleet briefly visits La Pérouse's Land to resupply Surcouf's privateer colony at Saint-Malo (on the site of OTL Albany, Western Australia).
November – Mutterings throughout southern Russia on the emancipation of the serfs finally erupts into violence, as Count Kirill Klimentov openly rebels in Voronezh. The Russian response is swift, to avoid looking weak to the Ottomans, but carefully organised by Heinz Kautzman to fit with Tsar Paul's propaganda of Slavic superiority to appease the former Potemkinite supporters.
Hoche, faced by his position disintegrating due to the fallout from the Rape of Rome and his poor political skills meaning that he cannot react as Lisieux can, moves his headquarters to Viterbo. Meanwhile, Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart, the Jacobite claimant to the throne of England, is elected Pope Urban IX while in exile in Naples. He immediately issues a Papal bull urging Italians to turn against Hoche.
Lascelles' bullyboy general Cavaignac is killed by a Kleinkrieger woman he tried to rape, signalling a great victory for Michael Hiedler's forces in Bavaria.
December – Infante Charles arrives in the City of Mexico. After negotiations with the Viceroy, Martín de Gálvez, new constitutional reforms are announced on December 26th to better facilitate the raising of a colonial army, the Nuevo Ejército, to take back Spain. This, the brainchild of the Duke of Aranda, is known as the Arandite Plan: the Spanish colonies in the New World are grouped together as an Empire of the Indies, ruled by the King of Spain as Emperor. The old Viceroyalties are abolished and new Kingdoms are created – Mexico, Guatemala and New Granada – each ruled by one of the junior Infantes. Gálvez is made Imperial Secretary.
Urban IX's plan for an Italian uprising is facilitated by Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, who organises an 'Army of the Faith', and Michele “Fra Diavolo” Pezza, who leads the Neapolitan Kleinkriegers.
1804:
January – Philip Hamilton is appointed to one of the junior-lieutenancies in the Royal Africa Company's Gold Coast possessions, where he meets lifelong friend James Wayne (son of Isaac Wayne II).
A rice plantation near Congaryton, Carolina is acquired by Douglas Eveleigh, the father of future American Lord President Andrew Eveleigh. One of his overseers is Alf Stotts Sr, father of the Great American War General of the same name.
February – The Russian army and its allies under Heinz Kautzman defeats Kirill Klimentov's rebels at Somovo.
Infante John of Spain's entourage arrives in Maracaibo as he takes up his new role as King of New Granada.
March – Klimentov executed in Red Square. Tsar Paul's minister Count Rostopshchin decides to reunite the Russian peoples by unifying them against an enemy – their Jewish neighbours.
Hawaii is unified as a kingdom under King Kamehameha, assisted by European adventurers including John Goodman.
The French forces in Spain, led by Drouet, launch 'Le Nouveau Poséidon', an operation aimed at striking the Portuguese and Carlistas simultaneously in Badajoz, Ciudad Rodrigo and Galicia.
King Louis XVII, on the urging of his ministers, marries Hélène, daughter of the Duke of Rohan. Their marriage will be loveless but will produce heirs.
April – Archduke Ferdinand finally gets a sizeable army from Vienna and proceeds to roll up the Italian Latin Republic in the north, occupying Venice.
General Ballesteros, fighting for the French, rescues Cuesta from a Portuguese army near Ponferrado and Valdés. However, Cuesta refuses to take orders from Ballesteros.
British Parliament passes the Reform Act (1804), increasing the franchise in England to all who own property worth 20 shillings (rather than 40).
Berlin falls to the Saxons and their allies and Stüpenagel surrenders.
John Spencer-Churchill has his friend Colonel Douglas Moore help in training the Oxfordshire yeomanry he is responsible for up to higher standards.
In Africa, the Hausa revolt against Bornu fails when the rebels are defeated at the gates of Gazargamo. A dynamic general, Idris al-Kanem, seizes control of Bornu and ensures the old empire will last for one more generation.
May – Treaty of Berlin divides the former Electorate of Brandenburg between Saxony and the Mecklenburgs, while the coastal Mecklenburger lands are given to Denmark-Sweden.
Death of Admiral Campbell, Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Navy. He is replaced by Sir Humphry Pellew, hero of the Second Platinean War, who ends the standoff with the government about steam innovations and commissions an experimental steamship project based in Lowestoft.
The Bohemian Estates illegally convene and appoint Jozef Graf Radetzky von Radetz to lead a militia to drive the Cougnonistes from Budweis, Austria having refused to spare any troops.
Leo Bone begins his programme of building border forts to seal Royal France's defences in the event of a renewal of war with the Republic, using guns taken from scrapped ships. His political opponents dub him “Le petit Vauban” for this.
Richard Trevithick, having emigrated to Russia, settles in Tula (known for its armaments industry and nearby mines) and takes the Russified form of his name “Vladimir Tarefikhov”.
June – The summer sees violence against Jews in all major Russian cities and many smaller towns. In Krementchuk, Yitzhak Volynov survives an attack that killed the rest of his family and has a vision. Despite his youth, his charisma leads to him becoming a leader of many of the survivors of the pogrom. He leads them out of Russia and into the Khanate of the Crimea. Khan Devlet V is happy to gain so many skilled workers.
Neapolitans take Rome and Pope Urban IX is blessed in the ruins of St Peter's.
Ballesteros is forced to fight and kill Cuesta in battle at Allande before he can amalgamate their armies – while the Portuguese gain time.
General Devilliers storms Ciudad Rodrigo and takes it from the Portuguese.
Admiral Heemskerk's Dutch fleet falls upon Surcouf's privateer colony at Saint-Malo in La Pérouse's Land and burns it, but only a few French ships are caught there and the colony is rapidly rebuilt.
July – On the 24th, after months of preparation and recognising the fragile state of the newly reorganised Spanish colonies to their north, the UPSA declares war on the Empire of the Indies.
Ballesteros defeats Vieira at Lugo. Meanwhile, General Drouet sends assassins to try and kill King Peter IV of Portugal in Lisbon. The king is saved when an artilleryman, Jorge de Lencastre, raises the alarm and helps fight off the assassins. Lencastre is heir to the Aveiro peerage, attainted by Carvalho after the attempted coup of 1758, and in thanks Peter controversially restores the
dukedom to him. The new 9th Duke of Aveiro becomes a friend and confidante to Peter's son and heir John, the two being of an age.
Italian Latin Republic disintegrates. Although Hoche and his core of loyal troops continue to win battles, they cannot be everywhere, and the Republic is being attacked simultaneously by Austria from the north and Naples from the south.
The British Parliament first convenes the Borough Committee, aimed at reassigning rotten boroughs' representation to the new industrial cities.
August – Hoche withdraws his remaining loyalists to Genoa.
Bourcier beseiges Badajoz, but General Blanco continues to defend the fortress city against the French.
Death of Olaudah Equiano, first Governor of Freedonia. He is succeeded by his Lieutenant-Governor, Julius Soubise, though Soubise's privileged background provokes some resentment from the more radical and American-descended political factions. In order to appease them, Soubise appoints the radical leader Habakkuk Turner as the new Lieutenant-Governor.
September – First Meridian troops, under the command of General Pichegru, cross the border into the newly declared Kingdom of New Granada, a constituent part of the Empire of the Indies. General O'Higgins, commanding the New Granadine force in the region, decides to withdraw in the face of numerical superiority.
Hoche takes what is left of his army and evacuates from Genoa to Mataró in Spain using the Genoese fleet. Nelson pursues with the Neapolitan fleet.
Trying to take the Portuguese fortress city of Almeida before winter sets in, Devilliers is bloodily repulsed and forced to retreat to Ciudad Rodrigo.
Radetzky's Bohemians retreat from a battlefield rather than face the Cougnonistes. Radetzky spends the winter training them as St-Julien, leader of the Cougnonistes, grows complacent.
The Enterprize returns home after their important voyage, and George North achieves backing to send an overland mission to relieve the new Fort Washington he has established.
October – Hoche marches inland. Nelson attacks and burns the Genoese ships in Mataró, then strikes at the French in Catalonia, escalating the conflict further.
