Narodna Odbrana
28-09-2005, 17:18
OOC: This is a quick and dirty timeline of events to date in Europe during the Age of Imperialism RP. Not every event is been covered, but I believe that the major ones are.
It is intended to help new or prospective players (or simply observers) to get a handle on events as they have unfolded. I will probably add an Asian and American timeline as some point in the not-to-distant future.
Players may notice that I have in some cases messed with the timing of the events listed, so that it may not strictly follow the thread. This has been done to create a better and more convincing narrative. If you object to my assessments, let me know in the OOC thread.
For those interested in playing (or seeing the RP in greater detail, along with the OOC comments), here are the locations of the key threads:
Age of Imperialism OOC/Sign-Up Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433496&page=1&pp=15)
Age of Imperialism RP Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433959&page=1&pp=15)
Age of Imperialism Factbook Thread (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433504) (not guaranteed up to date)
Age of Imperialism Recruitment Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=441531&page=1&pp=15) (look here to see which countries are open, as well as for my "History Cliff Notes", which contain brief histories of a number of countries [the list is growing every day])
The Balkan Wars OOC Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=434316&page=1&pp=15) (this conflict is winding down; pretty much all that is left is to set the final borders of Albania and work out any lasting effects of the recent fracas in Southeastern Europe)
The Balkan Wars RP Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=434313&page=1&pp=15) (for anyone who wants a detailed history of how the Balkan Wars transpired, blow-by-blow; again, all that remains are some of the final negotiations over exact borders)
The Second Sino-Japanese War OOC Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=446784) (chatter on how to get this war rolling, issues, historical rants, etc.)
The Second Sino-Japanese War RP Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=446782) (will start soon)
Watch this space for future war threads (for example, the “Lawrence of Moravia” thread [that's a working title], in which the Turks try to retake Mecca and then mount a punitive expedition against the Saudis, with Austrian and Hungarian help).
The Time Line
August, 1910 – After many months of effort and over the objections of many German officials, k.u.k. Foreign Ministry officials persuade Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm to make a bold offer: the return of Alsace and Lorrain to France in exchange for a permanent treaty of peace and France’s entry into the Triple Alliance, to be renamed the Grand Alliance.
September, 1910 – Germany’s offer is accepted by France, with the transfer and the new alliance to begin with the start of the coming year.
November, 1910 – Following the discovery of a homosexual liaison between Sweden’s King Gustav V and one of his manservants, the King is deposed by the Riksdag, which then offers the throne to his eldest son, Gustav VI. In an address to the assembly following his coronation, Gustav VI displays a copy of Karl Marx’s famous tract, The Communist Manifesto and proclaims that it “changed his life”; he asserts that in ruling Sweden, he will be “guided by its principles”. His younger brother Wilhelm publically breaks with him and begins conspiring with Swedish Army officers to have him overthrown.
December, 1910 – Curious about Gustav VI’s pronouncement, Tsar Nicholas III reads Marx’s book. In his diary, he dismisses it as “rubbish”, but also notes that it explains much about Russia’s own domestic Communist movement. Nicholas begins to form a plan…
January, 1911 – Alsace and Lorrain eare transferred to France, and France joins the Grand Alliance. Over the next year and a half the Alliance will grow to include Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg.
Tsar Nicholas begins a correspondence with V.I. Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Socialist Democratic Labour Party - abbreviated RSDLP(b) – and Leon Trotsky, one of the principal contributors to Lenin’s newspaper, Iskra ( “The Spark” ). Lenin dismisses the first few letters, but Nicholas persists, asserting that Gustav VI’s endorsement of Marx’s work and his own reading of them has made him a “Socialist”. Lenin finally challenges Nicholas, asserting that if he were really a socialist, he would make sweeping changes within Russia; when asked for examples, Lenin provides a full programme of the things he would do if he were in the Tsar’s shoes.
April, 1911 – Unable to intimidate his brother Wilhelm into ceasing his efforts to foment rebellion, Gustav VI orders him arrested. The order is never carried out by an increasing mutinous police and army.
May, 1911 – Nicholas III surprised both Russia and the world by promulgating his so-called “May Programme”, named this thanks to its publication on May Day, the unrecognised international Socialist holiday. Many (but not all) of Lenin’s ideas are incorporated in it; in a letter to Lenin, Nicholas apologises to Lenin, whom he describes as his “mentor”, for not putting the full programme in place, citing political issues. He asks for advice in overcoming these problems so that the rest of the programme can be enacted.
June, 1911 – A loosely organised alliance of Russian aristocrats, landowners, and industrialists, all threaten by the May Programme, begins to work to undermine the Tsar’s reform efforts. This coalition came to be dubbed as “Whites”, a reference to the uppermost colour in Russia’s flag, to distinguish them from the “Reds” (the bottommost colour, assigned to the Socialists), and the “Blues” (the colour in the middle, and also an oblique reference to “blue” blood [royalty], associated with the Tsar).
July, 1911 – Gustav VI is assassinated by his manservant, Karl, who in gunned down after the attempt. The Riksdag believes Prince Wilhelm responsible and refuses to grant him the crown. He declares himself King and raises an army, seeking foreign support. The United States, under President Theodore Roosevelt, agrees to send warships and a small contigent of U.S. Marines.
August, 1911 – The Swedish Civil War is won by Wilhelm in the Battle of Stockholm, where American warships play a decisive role (Sweden’s Navy, being politically undecided, chooses to remain in port). Wilhelm is crowned as King Wilhelm I of Sweden. He deposes the Riksdag and begins legislative reforms aimed at producing a Riksdag more likely to support his conservative programme.
In the Hejaz, a force of 500 ikhwan loyal to Ibn Sa'ūd surprise the Turkish garrison at Mecca and seize control of the Holy City. Caught up in political infighting at home and an Albanian rebellion in Western Rumelia, the Porte fails to act, but the Saudis do not push on to take Jiddah or Medina.
September, 1911 – Faced with a Duma that will likely attempt to use its (limited) power to block (or at least delay) his reforms, the Tsar (following Lenin’s advice) abrogates the 1905 Constitution and dissolves the Duma before it can return from summer recess, labelling it “bourgeous” and “reactionary”; he pledges to give the Russian people a “more democratic” Constitution within a year. Nicholas then invites Lenin and Trotsky to Russia with the avowed intention of installing them as key ministers in his new government.
In North Africa, the Sublime Porte avoids a war with Italy by ceding the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenacia to the Italians. Italy offers the Porte warships and military assistance in payment for these lands, but reneges on the deal when Bulgaria attacks the Porte (see below).
October, 1911 – Lenin and Trotsky travel to Russia over the objections of Lenin’s wife, Krupskaya, who has spent the summer warning her husband that the Tsar, whatever apparent conversion he has undergone, can not be trusted. She is proven correct: in what Russian Socialists dub the “October Betrayal”, Nicholas has Lenin and Trotsky executed, and follows these killings with mass arrests of Socialists all across the country. At the same time, he does not renounce his earlier reforms, but instead begins to build on them, co-opting the Socialist platform while using their programme to undermine his aristocratic opposition.
In Vienna, k.u.k. officials hear rumours of a possible plot against German Kaiser Wilhelm II from k.u.k. military liaisons within the German Army. The Foreign Minister orders some of these liaisons to attempt to penetrate the movement, but does not present evidence of it to the Imperial German government, unsure of the extent of the plot or in whom to place its trust.
November, 1911 – Lenin’s wife, Krupskaya, becomes head of the RSDLP(b), which has been badly damaged by the Tsarist crackdown. She vows personal vengeance for her husband’s murder.
December, 1911 – Japan’s Crown Prince Yoshihito is assassinated; already ill, his father , the Emperor Mushihito, lapses into a coma and dies shortly after hearing the news, Hirohito is anointed Emperor, with a clique led by General Fukuoka appointed as his Regents.
January, 1912 – Many foreign heads of state and dignitaries, including Tsar Nicholas III, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophie, and American Vice-President Alan Rosen gather in Kyoto for the double funeral.
Almost simultaneously, Kaiser Wilhelm II develops a case of food poisoning and dies shortly after a visit to Castle Richthofen in Silesia. Tsar Nicholas departs Japan for the funeral of his beloved “Cousin Willy”, while Franz Ferdinand and his wife remain behind for a meeting with Vice-President Rosen.
In the wake of Kaiser Wilhelm's death, the Baron von Richthofen produces a document, signed by the late Kaiser, disinheriting his children and proclaiming von Richthofen to be his heir. The new Kaiser immediately begins a crackdown, arresting and silencing any opposition to his rule.
Franz Josef I of the Dual Monarchy and his ministers, suspecting murder and usurpation, quietly press forward with a covert investigation of the Kaiser’s death.
In the Far East, during his meeting with the Habsburg heir and his wife in Kyoto, Vice-President Rosen unknowingly tips off Franz Ferdinand to the existence of a deal between the United States and Japan, in which the former will turn a blind eye to the invasion of China by the latter, in exchange for a Japanese promise to confine their expansion to the Asian continent.
Seeing Germany in apparent chaos, France begins to plot the annexation of Switzerland.
February, 1912 – Franz Ferdinand and his wife visit Emperor Gouzu Zhuge of China. The Archduke informs the Emperor of his suspicions regarding Japanese intentions,and the two pledge alliance.
In Berlin, a fire sweeps the Reichstag during an extraordinary evening session, as the body debates emergency powers sought by von Richthofen to deal with perceived Socialist “subversion”. A crackdown begins, causing many prominent Socialist to flee, mostly to Vienna, but many rank-and-file are caught and disposed of.
France’s plot to take over Switzerland through a bloodless coup is thwarted at the last minute by Swiss officials, with Habsburg support; the French Army is stopped at the border – which the coup plotters were supposed to arrange to be left unguarded – by loyal border guards; the French withdraw without firing a shot to avoid an international incident.
March, 1912 – Alerted to the creation of an anti-Turkish alliance, the Balkan League, comprised of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Roumania, the Dual Monarchy presses the Sublime Porte to avoid war – or at least break the Balkan League - by ceding lands to some members of the League (Greece in particular) while spinning off others into an independent Albania. When the Porte fails to act, the Dual Monarchy begins partial mobilisation under the guise of conducting exercises in the southern portion of its country. No troops are mobilised along the Russian border.
Franz Ferdinand and his wife, returning from the Far East, stop in Moscow to receive a diplomatic pouch before proceeding to Petrograd for an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis in the Balkans. At the Petrograd station, Nicholas and Franz Ferdinand meet alone in the Archduke’s railroad car. The Habsburg heir hands Nicholas III the contents of the pouch: the k.u.k. intelligence file of Kaiser Wilhelm’s death, which contains circumstantial evidence suggesting that von Richthofen murdered Wilhelm II - the Tsar's cousin - and unlawfully seized his throne. The Dual Monarchy begs an alliance, but the Tsar is non-committal.
A few minutes later, leaving the train, the Tsar, the Archduke, and the Countess are attacked by turncoat Russian soldiers, who fire rifles and hurl a grenade at the royal party. Heroics by their bodyguards prevent any of the three from being killed, but all are wounded – Sophie only slightly, Franz Ferdinand more seriously, Tsar Nicholas crtically. Investigation fails to reveal the hand behind the plot.
News of the attempt is suppressed; at the request of Russian officials, Sophie’s injury is concealed and Franz Ferdinand’s broken ankle and bullet wound in the leg explained as a slip-and-fall accident. The Tsar miraculously survives thoracic surgery to remove a grenade fragment and is rushed into secret convalescence. Rasputin – who just a month earlier had met with Nicholas’ disfavour – worms his way back into Tsarina Alexandra confidence by proclaiming that his fervent prayers saved the Tsar.
Meanwhile, in the Balkans, the Porte finally awakens to the danger when the Dual Monarchy shocks them into action with an ultimatum demanding that Albania be spun off into an independent nation under k.u.k. protection. The Porte accedes to this demand, and in addition cedes the vilayets (provinces) of Salonika and the Dodecanese to Greece, as well as abandoning any claim to Crete and thereby permitting the island’s union with the Hellenic Kingdom.
Bulgaria, already mobilised, attacks the Porte, engaging in attacks from Adrianople to the Tchatchalda Lines west of Constantinople. Hard pressed, the Turkish lines hold thanks to a decision by the commander of the Army of Adrianople to remain behind walls and field works prepared before the war and not engage the Bulgarians in the open field, where Bulgaria’s superiority in quick-firing artillery could carry the day.
In Germany, Kaiser von Richthofen abandons his Imperial and Royal titles to style himself Führer ( “Leader” ) of Germany, which he renames das Großartiges Deutches Reich ( “The Grand German Empire” ). He leaves Berlin, declaring that he will henceforth rule the country from his well-guarded family estate at Schweidnitz in Silesia.
April, 1912 – Russia remains inactive as the Tsar convalesces; Rasputin, however, dies in a tragic slip-and-fall accident after an ice storm in Petrograd; whispers of foul play are soon silenced. During the Tsar’s recovery, Grand Duke Nicholas takes a greater role in government; the reforms come to a halt, but are not reversed, while events in the Balkans are closely monitored.
As k.u.k. military forces flood into the Sanjak of Novipazar and then the vilayets of Kosava, Scutari, Ioanina, and Bitola, Serbia and Montenegro draw back from a confrontation that might lead to war, unable to obtain clear promises of support from Petrograd. Unfortunately for them, this means the loss of any opportunity to acquire new land as a consequence of the collapse of Turkish rule in Western Rumelia. Serbia elects instead to send an army to Adrianople to assist the Bulgarians, while Roumania reneges on its offer of support while negotiating a non-aggression pact with the Dual Monarchy. Greece remains neutral, having acquired more land through Habsburg diplomacy than it had hoped to acquire by force.
Meanwhile, France mobilises its army along its Belgian border in a second attempted land grab; a simultaneous attempt of the life of the German Führer, which was to have furthered the confusion in Germany and permitted France to act unmolested, never gets off the ground, and France backs down after Germany joins the rest of the Grand Alliance in threatening war. France quits the Grand Alliance in anger; in turn, Sweden and the Dual Monarchy impose an embargo on the Third Republic. An anti-French alliance begins to form.
May, 1912 – Roumania stabs Bulgaria in the back, invading two of its provinces (Ruse and Varna) in the northeast of the country. Serbia withdraws its support for Bulgaria and demands that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church submit itself in all matters to the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as the cession of Macedonia to the Serbs (which curiously is not actually in Bulgarian hands, having been occupied by the Dual Monarchy and Greece). Bulgaria withdraws from Adrianople; the Turks do not pursue, turning their eyes south toward the Saudis.
In Jiddah, Dr. Alois Musil, a noted Czech explorer of Arab lands (and honorary Bedouin chieftain) persuades the Sharif of Mecca (having evaded death at the hands of the Saudis) to accept Habsburg aid in retaking Mecca; troops from Bosnia are sent to Palestine and the Hejaz (only Moslem Bosnians are sent to the latter, in observance of Muslim sensibilities), where they begin training the Hashemite army in the use of modern weapons.
June, 1912 – A Communist revolt breaks out in Bulgaria; Tsar Ferdinand and his family are killed. Roumanian and Greek forces enter the country to put down the revolt. Having recovered from his injuries, Tsar Nicholas mobilises an army in Odessa and begins pressuring Vienna to reduce the size of the new Albanian state sharply in order to satisfy Serbian territorial demands; Vienna delays a response, simply stating that borders will be based on an ethnographic map of the area, and it would therefore be premature to make any kind of decision on them until after the survey has been completed. Meanwhile, at the Dual Monarchy’s request, Germany sends two of its new elite Schutzstaffel (SS) cavalry detachments (divizionen) into Bulgaria to search for any surviving royals.
In the absence of any clear heir to the Bulgarian throne, Vienna advances the claim of the Battenbergs of Great Britain and Spain, cousins of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family of Bulgaria. In response, Roumania, having done the most work in putting down the Communist revolt and now occupying Bulgaria, proclaims Prince Carol, nephew of King Carol I of Roumania, to be the rightful heir to the Bulgarian throne, beginning a crisis over control of Bulgarian territory.
July, 1912 – Roumania refuses to deviate from its course of action, proceeding with the effective annexation of Bulgaria. It invokes its non-aggression pact with Vienna to forestall Habsburg interference and additionally entertains the notion of letting Russian troops enter Bulgaria to attack Albania, thereby putting even greater pressure on the Dual Monarchy. The Habsburgs respond by sponsoring Greece into the Grand Alliance, and offering Serbia protection from a possible Romanian attack, aiming at the least to check any further Romanian expansion.
Against this backdrop, and oncerned that the conflict may escalate out of control, the Dual Monarchy begins general mobilisation and prepares to send its armies into Albania to prevent any Russian attack, as well as to strengthen its hand against Roumania; in the north it holds its armies back from the border to avoid provocation. Vienna openly warns Bucharest that it will consider itself freed of any obligation to refrain from attacking Roumania if the latter attacks Greece - as much to make clear to Russia its intentions in mobilising as to forestall a Romanian attack; at the same time it threatens to bypass Romanian forces and strike at Bulgarians loyal to Prince Carol, arguing that its pact with Roumania doesn’t protect Bulgaria from molestation. It hopes this will pressure Roumania into backing down, but Bucharest stands firm.
Meanwhile, France tries once more to expand, this time threatening Portugal with attack. Once more the Grand Alliance is roused to action; in addition, Socialist-led trade unions in France decided at last to take a stand against the government’s new policy of European expansionism by calling a General Strike after a series of bloody protest clashes outside arms factories near Paris. This leads in turn to a call by the Socialist bloc in the National Assembly for a vote of “no confidence” in the government of Raymond Poincaire, the occasion for this vote being the government’s request for war credits to pay for an invasion of Portugal. The vote for war credits fails, the government falls, and new elections are called for September.
August, 1912 - Germany, under cover of the Balkan crisis, begins the mobilisation of its army – but along the French border, not toward the Balkans. France counters with a mobilisation of its own, and - invoking the Dual Entente, its longs-standing (but recently neglected) defence pact with Russia - asks Petrograd to come to its assistance against Germany. Spain, already mobilised thanks to the Portuguese crisis, moves its army up to the border with France; Italy mobilises its army as well, and asks the Dual Monarchy to honour its treaty obligations and move its fleet up to join that of Italy.
The guise of exercises now cast aside, Germany demands the return of Alsace and Lorraine, on the basis of France’s refusal to keep its bargain with the Grand Alliance and remain either a faithful ally or a good neighbour. France holds out, hoping for a formal response from Russia in its favour; but the Dual Monarchy, even though already mobilised and thus holding an advantage over the Russians in the field, still wants to avert a war. Thus k.u.k. diplomats engage in round-the-clock negotiations with their Russian counterparts, and finally – after an exchange of telegrammes at the highest level - Russia and the Dual Monarchy agree to a proposed settlement which they present to Germany and France at the Foreign Ministry in Vienna. Both would-be combatants are unhappy with the deal, but accept it after some modification.
The agreement demands that France withdraw from Alsace and Lorraine and permit German occupation, but without surrendering its rights to the territory; after 20 years, Germany must hand both provinces back to France. In the meantime they remain under French law, but with the civil authorities subject to German military oversight. This is conditional on French behaviour, which must be without blemish; any failure to toe the line will result in both the immediate and total loss of all rights to the two provinces, as well as punishment in other forms. Finally, France is forced back into the Grand Alliance, both to control its behaviour and to protect it from its angry neighbours. While this less than Germany had hoped for, the deal is an utter humiliation for France.
In the midst of negotiations, in what must be the worst two weeks in recent French history, Raymond Poincaire is shot by a Portuguese student; the wound, gratefully, while serious, is not fatal, and doctors expect a full recovery. But the combined tragedies of the last fortnight, culminating in the failed assassination of its former Prime Minister, lead to a new development: a call by a centre-right newspaper (La Temps) for France to reinstate the monarchy, in order to place its venal, demagogic, and uncontrollable politicians under the steadying hand of a King.
As though expecting such a development, the grandson of France’s last King, Louis-Phillipe I, returns to French soil to advance his claim to the throne, as Phillip VIII. This sets off a wave of declarations by several other pretenders – a Carlist Bourbon (Jacques I), two Bonapartes (Napoleon IV and Louis-Napoleon I), and a Jacobite (Marie III or II) – that they are the rightful rulers of France. And this is only the beginning; each day, new claimants seem to drawl out of the woodwork, with a Prince of Italy (Humbert I) and another of of Greece (Prince George, on behalf of his infant son, Peter I) considering adding their claims to the list.
Meanwhile, Italy and Spain still confront France in the south. Although France’s treaty with Germany permits nations to claim territorial compensation from France for “injuries” inflicted by France’s misbehaviour, the Mediterranean states are not keen on submitting their claims to arbitration, and are pondering war instead.
In the Balkans, the Bulgarian crisis is suddenly resolved by the discovery of Bulgaria’s Crown Prince Boris, alone and wounded, in a wooded area near Communist-held Plovdiv, by German SS troopers; he not been in Sofia at the time of the revolt as rumoured, but rather with Genreral Kutinchev’s 1st Army. His cavalry squadron being ambushed by Communists en route to Sofia, he had spent several weeks evading capture as he tried to escape from Communist territory to reach loyalist positons in the Rhodope Mountains. Confronted with the rightful heir to throne, Roumania backs down, but keeps the provinces that it took, an in addition imposes reparations on the weakened Bulgarian kingdom. An uneasy peace settles on the region as Boris III takes over Bulgaria, but war in Western Europe could easily lead to renewed instability.OOC: And more gets added each day!
It is intended to help new or prospective players (or simply observers) to get a handle on events as they have unfolded. I will probably add an Asian and American timeline as some point in the not-to-distant future.
Players may notice that I have in some cases messed with the timing of the events listed, so that it may not strictly follow the thread. This has been done to create a better and more convincing narrative. If you object to my assessments, let me know in the OOC thread.
For those interested in playing (or seeing the RP in greater detail, along with the OOC comments), here are the locations of the key threads:
Age of Imperialism OOC/Sign-Up Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433496&page=1&pp=15)
Age of Imperialism RP Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433959&page=1&pp=15)
Age of Imperialism Factbook Thread (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433504) (not guaranteed up to date)
Age of Imperialism Recruitment Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=441531&page=1&pp=15) (look here to see which countries are open, as well as for my "History Cliff Notes", which contain brief histories of a number of countries [the list is growing every day])
The Balkan Wars OOC Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=434316&page=1&pp=15) (this conflict is winding down; pretty much all that is left is to set the final borders of Albania and work out any lasting effects of the recent fracas in Southeastern Europe)
The Balkan Wars RP Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=434313&page=1&pp=15) (for anyone who wants a detailed history of how the Balkan Wars transpired, blow-by-blow; again, all that remains are some of the final negotiations over exact borders)
The Second Sino-Japanese War OOC Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=446784) (chatter on how to get this war rolling, issues, historical rants, etc.)
The Second Sino-Japanese War RP Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=446782) (will start soon)
Watch this space for future war threads (for example, the “Lawrence of Moravia” thread [that's a working title], in which the Turks try to retake Mecca and then mount a punitive expedition against the Saudis, with Austrian and Hungarian help).
The Time Line
August, 1910 – After many months of effort and over the objections of many German officials, k.u.k. Foreign Ministry officials persuade Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm to make a bold offer: the return of Alsace and Lorrain to France in exchange for a permanent treaty of peace and France’s entry into the Triple Alliance, to be renamed the Grand Alliance.
September, 1910 – Germany’s offer is accepted by France, with the transfer and the new alliance to begin with the start of the coming year.
November, 1910 – Following the discovery of a homosexual liaison between Sweden’s King Gustav V and one of his manservants, the King is deposed by the Riksdag, which then offers the throne to his eldest son, Gustav VI. In an address to the assembly following his coronation, Gustav VI displays a copy of Karl Marx’s famous tract, The Communist Manifesto and proclaims that it “changed his life”; he asserts that in ruling Sweden, he will be “guided by its principles”. His younger brother Wilhelm publically breaks with him and begins conspiring with Swedish Army officers to have him overthrown.
December, 1910 – Curious about Gustav VI’s pronouncement, Tsar Nicholas III reads Marx’s book. In his diary, he dismisses it as “rubbish”, but also notes that it explains much about Russia’s own domestic Communist movement. Nicholas begins to form a plan…
January, 1911 – Alsace and Lorrain eare transferred to France, and France joins the Grand Alliance. Over the next year and a half the Alliance will grow to include Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg.
Tsar Nicholas begins a correspondence with V.I. Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Socialist Democratic Labour Party - abbreviated RSDLP(b) – and Leon Trotsky, one of the principal contributors to Lenin’s newspaper, Iskra ( “The Spark” ). Lenin dismisses the first few letters, but Nicholas persists, asserting that Gustav VI’s endorsement of Marx’s work and his own reading of them has made him a “Socialist”. Lenin finally challenges Nicholas, asserting that if he were really a socialist, he would make sweeping changes within Russia; when asked for examples, Lenin provides a full programme of the things he would do if he were in the Tsar’s shoes.
April, 1911 – Unable to intimidate his brother Wilhelm into ceasing his efforts to foment rebellion, Gustav VI orders him arrested. The order is never carried out by an increasing mutinous police and army.
May, 1911 – Nicholas III surprised both Russia and the world by promulgating his so-called “May Programme”, named this thanks to its publication on May Day, the unrecognised international Socialist holiday. Many (but not all) of Lenin’s ideas are incorporated in it; in a letter to Lenin, Nicholas apologises to Lenin, whom he describes as his “mentor”, for not putting the full programme in place, citing political issues. He asks for advice in overcoming these problems so that the rest of the programme can be enacted.
June, 1911 – A loosely organised alliance of Russian aristocrats, landowners, and industrialists, all threaten by the May Programme, begins to work to undermine the Tsar’s reform efforts. This coalition came to be dubbed as “Whites”, a reference to the uppermost colour in Russia’s flag, to distinguish them from the “Reds” (the bottommost colour, assigned to the Socialists), and the “Blues” (the colour in the middle, and also an oblique reference to “blue” blood [royalty], associated with the Tsar).
July, 1911 – Gustav VI is assassinated by his manservant, Karl, who in gunned down after the attempt. The Riksdag believes Prince Wilhelm responsible and refuses to grant him the crown. He declares himself King and raises an army, seeking foreign support. The United States, under President Theodore Roosevelt, agrees to send warships and a small contigent of U.S. Marines.
August, 1911 – The Swedish Civil War is won by Wilhelm in the Battle of Stockholm, where American warships play a decisive role (Sweden’s Navy, being politically undecided, chooses to remain in port). Wilhelm is crowned as King Wilhelm I of Sweden. He deposes the Riksdag and begins legislative reforms aimed at producing a Riksdag more likely to support his conservative programme.
In the Hejaz, a force of 500 ikhwan loyal to Ibn Sa'ūd surprise the Turkish garrison at Mecca and seize control of the Holy City. Caught up in political infighting at home and an Albanian rebellion in Western Rumelia, the Porte fails to act, but the Saudis do not push on to take Jiddah or Medina.
September, 1911 – Faced with a Duma that will likely attempt to use its (limited) power to block (or at least delay) his reforms, the Tsar (following Lenin’s advice) abrogates the 1905 Constitution and dissolves the Duma before it can return from summer recess, labelling it “bourgeous” and “reactionary”; he pledges to give the Russian people a “more democratic” Constitution within a year. Nicholas then invites Lenin and Trotsky to Russia with the avowed intention of installing them as key ministers in his new government.
In North Africa, the Sublime Porte avoids a war with Italy by ceding the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenacia to the Italians. Italy offers the Porte warships and military assistance in payment for these lands, but reneges on the deal when Bulgaria attacks the Porte (see below).
October, 1911 – Lenin and Trotsky travel to Russia over the objections of Lenin’s wife, Krupskaya, who has spent the summer warning her husband that the Tsar, whatever apparent conversion he has undergone, can not be trusted. She is proven correct: in what Russian Socialists dub the “October Betrayal”, Nicholas has Lenin and Trotsky executed, and follows these killings with mass arrests of Socialists all across the country. At the same time, he does not renounce his earlier reforms, but instead begins to build on them, co-opting the Socialist platform while using their programme to undermine his aristocratic opposition.
In Vienna, k.u.k. officials hear rumours of a possible plot against German Kaiser Wilhelm II from k.u.k. military liaisons within the German Army. The Foreign Minister orders some of these liaisons to attempt to penetrate the movement, but does not present evidence of it to the Imperial German government, unsure of the extent of the plot or in whom to place its trust.
November, 1911 – Lenin’s wife, Krupskaya, becomes head of the RSDLP(b), which has been badly damaged by the Tsarist crackdown. She vows personal vengeance for her husband’s murder.
December, 1911 – Japan’s Crown Prince Yoshihito is assassinated; already ill, his father , the Emperor Mushihito, lapses into a coma and dies shortly after hearing the news, Hirohito is anointed Emperor, with a clique led by General Fukuoka appointed as his Regents.
January, 1912 – Many foreign heads of state and dignitaries, including Tsar Nicholas III, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophie, and American Vice-President Alan Rosen gather in Kyoto for the double funeral.
Almost simultaneously, Kaiser Wilhelm II develops a case of food poisoning and dies shortly after a visit to Castle Richthofen in Silesia. Tsar Nicholas departs Japan for the funeral of his beloved “Cousin Willy”, while Franz Ferdinand and his wife remain behind for a meeting with Vice-President Rosen.
In the wake of Kaiser Wilhelm's death, the Baron von Richthofen produces a document, signed by the late Kaiser, disinheriting his children and proclaiming von Richthofen to be his heir. The new Kaiser immediately begins a crackdown, arresting and silencing any opposition to his rule.
Franz Josef I of the Dual Monarchy and his ministers, suspecting murder and usurpation, quietly press forward with a covert investigation of the Kaiser’s death.
In the Far East, during his meeting with the Habsburg heir and his wife in Kyoto, Vice-President Rosen unknowingly tips off Franz Ferdinand to the existence of a deal between the United States and Japan, in which the former will turn a blind eye to the invasion of China by the latter, in exchange for a Japanese promise to confine their expansion to the Asian continent.
Seeing Germany in apparent chaos, France begins to plot the annexation of Switzerland.
February, 1912 – Franz Ferdinand and his wife visit Emperor Gouzu Zhuge of China. The Archduke informs the Emperor of his suspicions regarding Japanese intentions,and the two pledge alliance.
In Berlin, a fire sweeps the Reichstag during an extraordinary evening session, as the body debates emergency powers sought by von Richthofen to deal with perceived Socialist “subversion”. A crackdown begins, causing many prominent Socialist to flee, mostly to Vienna, but many rank-and-file are caught and disposed of.
France’s plot to take over Switzerland through a bloodless coup is thwarted at the last minute by Swiss officials, with Habsburg support; the French Army is stopped at the border – which the coup plotters were supposed to arrange to be left unguarded – by loyal border guards; the French withdraw without firing a shot to avoid an international incident.
March, 1912 – Alerted to the creation of an anti-Turkish alliance, the Balkan League, comprised of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Roumania, the Dual Monarchy presses the Sublime Porte to avoid war – or at least break the Balkan League - by ceding lands to some members of the League (Greece in particular) while spinning off others into an independent Albania. When the Porte fails to act, the Dual Monarchy begins partial mobilisation under the guise of conducting exercises in the southern portion of its country. No troops are mobilised along the Russian border.
Franz Ferdinand and his wife, returning from the Far East, stop in Moscow to receive a diplomatic pouch before proceeding to Petrograd for an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis in the Balkans. At the Petrograd station, Nicholas and Franz Ferdinand meet alone in the Archduke’s railroad car. The Habsburg heir hands Nicholas III the contents of the pouch: the k.u.k. intelligence file of Kaiser Wilhelm’s death, which contains circumstantial evidence suggesting that von Richthofen murdered Wilhelm II - the Tsar's cousin - and unlawfully seized his throne. The Dual Monarchy begs an alliance, but the Tsar is non-committal.
A few minutes later, leaving the train, the Tsar, the Archduke, and the Countess are attacked by turncoat Russian soldiers, who fire rifles and hurl a grenade at the royal party. Heroics by their bodyguards prevent any of the three from being killed, but all are wounded – Sophie only slightly, Franz Ferdinand more seriously, Tsar Nicholas crtically. Investigation fails to reveal the hand behind the plot.
News of the attempt is suppressed; at the request of Russian officials, Sophie’s injury is concealed and Franz Ferdinand’s broken ankle and bullet wound in the leg explained as a slip-and-fall accident. The Tsar miraculously survives thoracic surgery to remove a grenade fragment and is rushed into secret convalescence. Rasputin – who just a month earlier had met with Nicholas’ disfavour – worms his way back into Tsarina Alexandra confidence by proclaiming that his fervent prayers saved the Tsar.
Meanwhile, in the Balkans, the Porte finally awakens to the danger when the Dual Monarchy shocks them into action with an ultimatum demanding that Albania be spun off into an independent nation under k.u.k. protection. The Porte accedes to this demand, and in addition cedes the vilayets (provinces) of Salonika and the Dodecanese to Greece, as well as abandoning any claim to Crete and thereby permitting the island’s union with the Hellenic Kingdom.
Bulgaria, already mobilised, attacks the Porte, engaging in attacks from Adrianople to the Tchatchalda Lines west of Constantinople. Hard pressed, the Turkish lines hold thanks to a decision by the commander of the Army of Adrianople to remain behind walls and field works prepared before the war and not engage the Bulgarians in the open field, where Bulgaria’s superiority in quick-firing artillery could carry the day.
In Germany, Kaiser von Richthofen abandons his Imperial and Royal titles to style himself Führer ( “Leader” ) of Germany, which he renames das Großartiges Deutches Reich ( “The Grand German Empire” ). He leaves Berlin, declaring that he will henceforth rule the country from his well-guarded family estate at Schweidnitz in Silesia.
April, 1912 – Russia remains inactive as the Tsar convalesces; Rasputin, however, dies in a tragic slip-and-fall accident after an ice storm in Petrograd; whispers of foul play are soon silenced. During the Tsar’s recovery, Grand Duke Nicholas takes a greater role in government; the reforms come to a halt, but are not reversed, while events in the Balkans are closely monitored.
As k.u.k. military forces flood into the Sanjak of Novipazar and then the vilayets of Kosava, Scutari, Ioanina, and Bitola, Serbia and Montenegro draw back from a confrontation that might lead to war, unable to obtain clear promises of support from Petrograd. Unfortunately for them, this means the loss of any opportunity to acquire new land as a consequence of the collapse of Turkish rule in Western Rumelia. Serbia elects instead to send an army to Adrianople to assist the Bulgarians, while Roumania reneges on its offer of support while negotiating a non-aggression pact with the Dual Monarchy. Greece remains neutral, having acquired more land through Habsburg diplomacy than it had hoped to acquire by force.
Meanwhile, France mobilises its army along its Belgian border in a second attempted land grab; a simultaneous attempt of the life of the German Führer, which was to have furthered the confusion in Germany and permitted France to act unmolested, never gets off the ground, and France backs down after Germany joins the rest of the Grand Alliance in threatening war. France quits the Grand Alliance in anger; in turn, Sweden and the Dual Monarchy impose an embargo on the Third Republic. An anti-French alliance begins to form.
May, 1912 – Roumania stabs Bulgaria in the back, invading two of its provinces (Ruse and Varna) in the northeast of the country. Serbia withdraws its support for Bulgaria and demands that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church submit itself in all matters to the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as the cession of Macedonia to the Serbs (which curiously is not actually in Bulgarian hands, having been occupied by the Dual Monarchy and Greece). Bulgaria withdraws from Adrianople; the Turks do not pursue, turning their eyes south toward the Saudis.
In Jiddah, Dr. Alois Musil, a noted Czech explorer of Arab lands (and honorary Bedouin chieftain) persuades the Sharif of Mecca (having evaded death at the hands of the Saudis) to accept Habsburg aid in retaking Mecca; troops from Bosnia are sent to Palestine and the Hejaz (only Moslem Bosnians are sent to the latter, in observance of Muslim sensibilities), where they begin training the Hashemite army in the use of modern weapons.
June, 1912 – A Communist revolt breaks out in Bulgaria; Tsar Ferdinand and his family are killed. Roumanian and Greek forces enter the country to put down the revolt. Having recovered from his injuries, Tsar Nicholas mobilises an army in Odessa and begins pressuring Vienna to reduce the size of the new Albanian state sharply in order to satisfy Serbian territorial demands; Vienna delays a response, simply stating that borders will be based on an ethnographic map of the area, and it would therefore be premature to make any kind of decision on them until after the survey has been completed. Meanwhile, at the Dual Monarchy’s request, Germany sends two of its new elite Schutzstaffel (SS) cavalry detachments (divizionen) into Bulgaria to search for any surviving royals.
In the absence of any clear heir to the Bulgarian throne, Vienna advances the claim of the Battenbergs of Great Britain and Spain, cousins of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family of Bulgaria. In response, Roumania, having done the most work in putting down the Communist revolt and now occupying Bulgaria, proclaims Prince Carol, nephew of King Carol I of Roumania, to be the rightful heir to the Bulgarian throne, beginning a crisis over control of Bulgarian territory.
July, 1912 – Roumania refuses to deviate from its course of action, proceeding with the effective annexation of Bulgaria. It invokes its non-aggression pact with Vienna to forestall Habsburg interference and additionally entertains the notion of letting Russian troops enter Bulgaria to attack Albania, thereby putting even greater pressure on the Dual Monarchy. The Habsburgs respond by sponsoring Greece into the Grand Alliance, and offering Serbia protection from a possible Romanian attack, aiming at the least to check any further Romanian expansion.
Against this backdrop, and oncerned that the conflict may escalate out of control, the Dual Monarchy begins general mobilisation and prepares to send its armies into Albania to prevent any Russian attack, as well as to strengthen its hand against Roumania; in the north it holds its armies back from the border to avoid provocation. Vienna openly warns Bucharest that it will consider itself freed of any obligation to refrain from attacking Roumania if the latter attacks Greece - as much to make clear to Russia its intentions in mobilising as to forestall a Romanian attack; at the same time it threatens to bypass Romanian forces and strike at Bulgarians loyal to Prince Carol, arguing that its pact with Roumania doesn’t protect Bulgaria from molestation. It hopes this will pressure Roumania into backing down, but Bucharest stands firm.
Meanwhile, France tries once more to expand, this time threatening Portugal with attack. Once more the Grand Alliance is roused to action; in addition, Socialist-led trade unions in France decided at last to take a stand against the government’s new policy of European expansionism by calling a General Strike after a series of bloody protest clashes outside arms factories near Paris. This leads in turn to a call by the Socialist bloc in the National Assembly for a vote of “no confidence” in the government of Raymond Poincaire, the occasion for this vote being the government’s request for war credits to pay for an invasion of Portugal. The vote for war credits fails, the government falls, and new elections are called for September.
August, 1912 - Germany, under cover of the Balkan crisis, begins the mobilisation of its army – but along the French border, not toward the Balkans. France counters with a mobilisation of its own, and - invoking the Dual Entente, its longs-standing (but recently neglected) defence pact with Russia - asks Petrograd to come to its assistance against Germany. Spain, already mobilised thanks to the Portuguese crisis, moves its army up to the border with France; Italy mobilises its army as well, and asks the Dual Monarchy to honour its treaty obligations and move its fleet up to join that of Italy.
The guise of exercises now cast aside, Germany demands the return of Alsace and Lorraine, on the basis of France’s refusal to keep its bargain with the Grand Alliance and remain either a faithful ally or a good neighbour. France holds out, hoping for a formal response from Russia in its favour; but the Dual Monarchy, even though already mobilised and thus holding an advantage over the Russians in the field, still wants to avert a war. Thus k.u.k. diplomats engage in round-the-clock negotiations with their Russian counterparts, and finally – after an exchange of telegrammes at the highest level - Russia and the Dual Monarchy agree to a proposed settlement which they present to Germany and France at the Foreign Ministry in Vienna. Both would-be combatants are unhappy with the deal, but accept it after some modification.
The agreement demands that France withdraw from Alsace and Lorraine and permit German occupation, but without surrendering its rights to the territory; after 20 years, Germany must hand both provinces back to France. In the meantime they remain under French law, but with the civil authorities subject to German military oversight. This is conditional on French behaviour, which must be without blemish; any failure to toe the line will result in both the immediate and total loss of all rights to the two provinces, as well as punishment in other forms. Finally, France is forced back into the Grand Alliance, both to control its behaviour and to protect it from its angry neighbours. While this less than Germany had hoped for, the deal is an utter humiliation for France.
In the midst of negotiations, in what must be the worst two weeks in recent French history, Raymond Poincaire is shot by a Portuguese student; the wound, gratefully, while serious, is not fatal, and doctors expect a full recovery. But the combined tragedies of the last fortnight, culminating in the failed assassination of its former Prime Minister, lead to a new development: a call by a centre-right newspaper (La Temps) for France to reinstate the monarchy, in order to place its venal, demagogic, and uncontrollable politicians under the steadying hand of a King.
As though expecting such a development, the grandson of France’s last King, Louis-Phillipe I, returns to French soil to advance his claim to the throne, as Phillip VIII. This sets off a wave of declarations by several other pretenders – a Carlist Bourbon (Jacques I), two Bonapartes (Napoleon IV and Louis-Napoleon I), and a Jacobite (Marie III or II) – that they are the rightful rulers of France. And this is only the beginning; each day, new claimants seem to drawl out of the woodwork, with a Prince of Italy (Humbert I) and another of of Greece (Prince George, on behalf of his infant son, Peter I) considering adding their claims to the list.
Meanwhile, Italy and Spain still confront France in the south. Although France’s treaty with Germany permits nations to claim territorial compensation from France for “injuries” inflicted by France’s misbehaviour, the Mediterranean states are not keen on submitting their claims to arbitration, and are pondering war instead.
In the Balkans, the Bulgarian crisis is suddenly resolved by the discovery of Bulgaria’s Crown Prince Boris, alone and wounded, in a wooded area near Communist-held Plovdiv, by German SS troopers; he not been in Sofia at the time of the revolt as rumoured, but rather with Genreral Kutinchev’s 1st Army. His cavalry squadron being ambushed by Communists en route to Sofia, he had spent several weeks evading capture as he tried to escape from Communist territory to reach loyalist positons in the Rhodope Mountains. Confronted with the rightful heir to throne, Roumania backs down, but keeps the provinces that it took, an in addition imposes reparations on the weakened Bulgarian kingdom. An uneasy peace settles on the region as Boris III takes over Bulgaria, but war in Western Europe could easily lead to renewed instability.OOC: And more gets added each day!