Part III:  Over Here

1914: 7 Mar - Great Britain and Columbia open the Panama Canal.
28 Jun - A Serbian nationalist assassinates Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo.
28 Jul - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Russia begins mobilization to defend Serbia.
1 Aug - Germany declares war on Russia.
3 Aug - Germany declares war on France.
4 Aug - Germany invades Belgium.
5 Aug - Britain declares war on Germany. The North American nations declare their neutrality, although sentiment varies: The CSA is pro-Allies, Texas is neutral, the WSA is anti-Germany, Deseret is neutral, and the USA is anti-Britain.
6 Aug - Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
17 Aug - Russia invades East Prussia. In the battles of Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes German troops rout the Russians. Over 150,000 of the 200,000 invaders are casualties.
23 Aug - Japan declares war on Germany and begins occupying Germany's Asian colonies.
5 Sep - Weeklong Battle of the Marne begins. Over 1 million men are killed or wounded, and the German hopes for a quick conquest of France are dashed as the battle ends in a stalemate.
Oct - Germany begins U-boat campaign against British and French shipping.
3 Oct - The Ottoman Empire enters the war on the side of the Central Powers. Britain begins sending aid to Arab rebels in the Middle East.
Oct - Nov - First Battle of Ypres. Britain prevents Germany from gaining access to Channel ports, thus keeping the lines between Europe and the British Isles open.
16 Nov - Battle of the Falklands. The British Royal Navy defeats a German flotilla in the South Atlantic.

1915: 4 Feb - Germany declares that all shipping approaching Britain is a target. The USA and CSA protest "this restriction of free trade and virtual act of piracy."
Apr - Jun - Second Battle of Ypres. The first use of poison gas by German troops is successful, but Germany is unable to capitalize on the victory because of fear of the gas.
7 Apr - A German U-boat sinks a Confederate merchant ship in the mouth of the Thames. The CSA declares war on Germany and begins mobilizing. The USA begins mobilizing in response to the potential threat along its southern border.
15 May - Italy declares war on the Central Powers and invades Austria-Hungary.
31 May - Battle of Jutland. A draw between the Royal Navy and the German High Seas Fleet, but the High Seas Fleet retires to port and does not venture out again.
May - Jun - Russia achieves several victories against Austria-Hungary as many Slavic Austrian soldiers desert to join the Russian army.
8 Jun - Bulgaria declares war on Serbia and invades.
17 Jun - CSA troops arrive in France and move on Ypres. They arrive in time to take part in a disastrous charge. The British commander notes that the Confederate troops are ill-trained and poorly-equipped compared to their European counterparts. He states in his report to the War Ministry that "the Southerners do not mix with our Troops, insisting to bivouac, march, and fight independently…They take unnecessary risks, officers and enlisted men alike, and show remarkable contempt for combined operations."
3 Aug - A British ship stops and boards a US merchant vessel in the North Sea. The USA declares that it will arm and escort its merchant fleet to resist all such further acts.
3 Sep - A combined task force of British Commonwealth (mainly Australians and New Zealanders) and Confederate troops land on the Gallipoli peninsula, near Istanbul. Originally planned for April, the operation was pushed back to allow the Confederates to participate. Due to heavy use of anti-ship mines by the Turks a planned running of the Dardanelles fails and the combined offensive bogs down.
10 Oct - US naval units escorting a merchant convoy fire upon CSA ships on blockade duty in the Baltic Sea as they move to intercept. The CSA declares war on the USA.
20 Oct - US troops invade the CSA. Britain and France declare war on the USA. The USA begins a submarine and surface blockade of the CSA.
25 Nov - US troops capture Memphis.
1 Dec - CS airplanes drop bombs on Washington, DC. Little or no damage is caused, but panic is severe.

1916: 1 Jan - CS troops counterattack into Kentucky.
15 Jan - Through the NIS, the USA begins supporting rebels in Ireland.
8 Feb - Cuba declares war on the CSA and invades East Cuba. Despite the support of the USA, however, Cuba's army is unable to accomplish much.
Feb - Jun - Battle of Verdun. German troops attack the French stronghold. The battle lasts five months and costs 1 million casualties.
6 Mar - US troops arrive in Liberia. They will subsequently move east, west, and north, capturing French and British African territory.
13 Mar - Confederate and ANZAC troops achieve a breakthrough at Gallipoli but are lured into a trap and cut apart by the Turkish counterattack.
9 Apr - The Irish Republican Army begins a guerilla uprising against the British in Ireland.
7 May - Rumania declares war on the Central Powers, but is defeated by Germany in December.
9 May - The USA invades the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. This is the first use of tanks by the USA, which scatters CS troops. Britain begins mobilizing home guard Canadian troops.
13 May - US troops land on Bermuda.
May - Jul - The CS Army Air Service continues its practices of tactical and strategic bombing. In response, the US Air Force is established. Both sides develop and refine tactics for bombing, interception, ground attack, and air combat.
1 Jun - Britain sends Colonel T. E. Lawrence to lead the Arabs against the Ottoman Empire.
4 Jun - The USA sets up a partial submarine blockade of Britain and France.
6 Jun - Battle of Jamaica. US Navy defeats a CS fleet off the coast of that island.
Jun - Oct - Russia begins the "Brusilov Offensive," invading Austria-Hungary and advancing quickly towards Vienna. The Austrian army is taken by surprise and must be heavily supported by German troops. After failing to take the Austrian capital and suffering over 1 million casualties, the Russian army is broken and demoralized.
8 Jul - Battle of Lake Erie. US Navy ships intercept a Canadian fleet bound for Cleveland.
13-15 Jul - Battle of the Hebrides. A brutal battle between the US Navy and a combined CS/Royal Navy fleet. Lasting over forty hours, six battleships and four heavy cruisers are sunk. In one particular incident, when the USS Minnesota is crippled her captain rams the CSS Virginia , flagship of the Confederate fleet. The sailors of the Minnesota board the Confederate vessel and engage in hand-to-hand combat. The battle is inconclusive, although the damage to all the navies is so severe that no major naval action can take place during the remainder of the war.
Jul - Oct - Somme Offensive. British and German forces cut into each other in a vicious and ultimately inconclusive series of battles.
Aug - Oct - Battle of Walden Ridge in eastern Tennessee. The CSA is victorious, but cannot follow up due to casualties of over 300,000 on each side.

Confederate casualties after the Battle of Walden Ridge

Nov - The first Labor Party candidates are elected to the US House of Representatives from Ohio and Massachusetts.
2 Nov - US troops cross the Detroit River and capture Windsor. Britain begins shifting resources to the Canadian front.
14 Dec - IRA troops capture Dublin and establish a provisional government. The USA recognizes this government immediately and begins sending overt, rather than covert, aid to the Irish rebels.

1917: 13 Jan - In a secret meeting with tribal leaders, US officials promise statehood to the Dakota PIT if the Indians will attack Canada.
6 Feb - Lakota Sioux war parties cross the border into Canada and attack local Royal Canadian Army posts.
5 Mar - US Marines land outside Halifax.
12 Mar - Russian Revolution begins. Czar Nicholas is deposed and replaced by Alexander Kerensky. Russia will soon settle a separate peace with the Central Powers.
11 Apr - Royal Canadian troops make an amphibious attack across Lake Ontario and land near Buffalo.
Apr - Jun - CS forces in eastern Kentucky invade West Virginia and capture Charleston.
1 May - Canadian forces take Buffalo.
11 May - French troops in Belgium mutiny over abysmal conditions and horrific casualties. The mutiny is surpressed, but at a terrible price. Many junior officers are arrested in connection with the revolt (falsely, it is later learned), and many units are left with inexperienced officers or none at all.
1-12 Jun - US troops take the Panama Canal.
25 Jun - Third Battle of Ypres. Attacking demoralized French troops, Germany achieves a breakthrough along the Western Front and seizes the Channel ports. Britain is cut off from Europe.
1 Jul - Advance units of the CS army reach the Ohio River.
4 Jul - US Army lands in Louisiana and advances on New Orleans.
11 Jul - Germans capture Paris, France surrenders.
Jul - Sep - Indian war parties raid deep into Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
1 Aug - US forces capture Montreal, Britain sues for peace.
12 Aug - US forces take New Orleans.
1-8 Sep - Battle of Frankfort. US forces break the CS advance outside the Kentucky capital with a combination of tanks, horse cavalry, and air support. Although they remain in control of southern West Virginia, Confederate forces withdraw from Kentucky in disarray.

U.S. tanks at the Battle of Frankfort

15 Sep - A general cease-fire is agreed to by all the warring nations.
Oct - Nov - Campaign by Arabs against the Ottoman Empire reaches its pinnacle with the capture of Jerusalem (23 Oct) and Damascus (11 Nov).
7 Nov - Bolshevik Revolution. Communists overthrow the Russian government. Later, the Czar and his family are executed.
1 Dec - Sensing a transfer of territory in the upcoming peace negotiations, Britain grants independence to Canada, South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

1918: 3 Feb - The Treaty of Berlin is signed. By necessity, unstable Austria-Hungary is partitioned. Germany annexes Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia while the remainder is reorganized as the Kingdom of Panslavia, with a Hapsburg on the throne. Panslavia also annexes Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro.
Germany annexes the conquered nations of Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg in the west, as well as the remainder of Poland in the east. The border with France is pushed farther west and drawn along the Somme and Marne rivers. Finland, Ireland, and the Baltic nations are granted their independence. Great Britain keeps the northern Irish province of Ulster, due to its large Protestant population.
France and Britain are forced to reduce their militaries and pay reparations to Germany, Panslavia, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire, but the United States refuses its share. In Africa and Asia, Germany assumes all French, Belgian, and Dutch colonies while the USA receives a mandate over the British colonies, including Egypt and the Sudan, and a portion of French West Africa between Nigeria and Gambia. Excluding the Portuguese colony of Guinea, all US-occupied territory along the west coast of Africa excluding Nigeria is ceded directly to Liberia.
In the Americas, the USA receives a mandate over the colonies of British Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname, and receives a return to pre-1915 borders and duty-free use of the Port of New Orleans and the Mississippi River in perpetuity. The CSA must also significantly reduce its military strength. There are no territorial concessions or claims by any nation.
Germany protests the independence of Canada, South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand but the USA backs these new nations. Unwilling to engage in a colonial war so soon, Germany backs down. Germany purchases the release of its Asian colonies and sphere of influence in China from Japan.

1918 - 1920: Russian Civil War. "White" monarchist/republicans versus "Red" Communists. The Reds eventually win and establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Europe after the Great War, 1920

Africa and Asia after the Great War, 1920

Part IV:  Raise the Red Flags

1920 - 1923: French Foreign Legion troops in Indochina fight a guerilla war against German occupation. In 1923 Germany combines the French and Dutch colonies in Asia and cedes them back to France. This will quickly prove to be a drain on the weak French government and economy.

1921: The American Bolshevik Party (later the Communist Party of America) is formed and begins advocating proletarian revolution on the Soviet model. The Labor Party of America quickly disassociates itself from the new party, pointing out that the Labor Party does not advocate the overthrow of the Constitutionally elected government of the United States.
V. I. Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and General Secretary of the Soviet Union, institutes the New Economic Policy to stabilize the Soviet economy after the Civil War. Private industry and agriculture are legalized, and the free market is re-established. Output rises dramatically but Lenin makes it clear that these are temporary measures.

1921 - 1922: Civil war in India between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. Diplomatic intervention by the USA and Britain helps to produce a confederation within the Indian Republic consisting of Rajasthan, Malabar, Pakistan, Kashmir, and Bangladesh.  Burma gains its independence. Mohandas Gandhi is elected the first President of the Confederation, although executive power is held by the Council of Five.

1922: Benito Mussolini is elected Prime Minister of Italy.
In keeping with the promises made in 1917, the Dakota Permanent Indian Territory is subdivided into three entities. Dakota and Wyoming are admitted as states, while the remainder of the PIT is reorganized as the Bitterroot Permanent Indian Territory. A Constitutional amendment is also pushed through: The 17th confirms citizenship for Indians.
Members of the Communist Party of America begin speaking throughout the CSA.

1923: Britain launches the first dedicated aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal . Other nations are quick to follow.
A military coup in overthrows the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and establishes the Republic of Anatolia. The new junta recognizes the independence of the Arab nations of Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Mesopotamia, and Arabia, ending nine years of Arab rebellion.
Civil Disobedience demonstrations occur throughout the Confederate Caribbean when black and Hispanic field hands stage sit-down strikes on sugar plantations. Blaming the Communists, the CS government begins curtailing the activities of CPA organizers.

1923 - 1928: Despite democracy building by the USA, civil war breaks out in China. Nationalist Kuomintang forces defeat the Communists and local warlords as the European powers disengage, but the Communists retreat to the interior and continue guerilla attacks.

1924: A Labor Party majority is elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
V. I. Lenin, leader of the Soviet Union, suffers a minor stroke, and a power struggle within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union arises while he is incapacitated. Josef Stalin, a Party organizer, gains control but cannot consolidate his power before Lenin recovers.

1925: Lenin expels Stalin from the CPSU and exiles him from the Soviet Union. He flees to France.
Tenant farmers, both black and white, stage an uprising in the country around Shreveport, Louisiana. Taking control of the city government, rail yards, and militia armory the farmers establish the Shreveport Commune. A Central Committee administers services to the Shreveport area, redistributes land amongst the member farmers, and defends the Commune against the Louisiana militia forces that attempt to defeat it.

1925 - 1931: Territories acquired after the Great War are spun off by the victors. Germany releases Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (1925); Poland (1929); and Picardy and Alsace-Lorraine (1930). Panslavia experiences a brief civil war (1930-1931) after which the monarchy is reformed, a constitution is written, and Rumania and Montenegro are granted independence. Despite heavy fighting, Serbia is not released and is garrisoned heavily.
In 1926 the USA sells Egypt and Sudan to Britain for a nominal fee, then purchases them back for substantially more. This income allows Britain to pay off a large portion of her war reparations to Germany and Panslavia. Egypt and Sudan are granted their independence in 1927. Nigeria is granted its independence in 1928. The Guyanas are granted independence as Suriname, Guyana, and Guiana in 1929. Other US possessions including Uganda, Kenya, Rhodesia, and Bechuanaland in Africa; Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Aden in the Middle East; and Afghanistan, Ceylon, and New Guinea in Asia are organized as self-governing protectorates.

Europe, 1930

1926: The Pennsylvania General Assembly elects a Labor Party Senator to the US Senate.
Unable to defeat the Shreveport Commune with state units, the governor of Louisiana appeals to Richmond to send Regular Army units. These regular units succeed in crushing the Commune and arresting its surviving leaders.

1927: First Trans-Atlantic flight. CS Army Air Service Colonel Robert E. Lee IV flies from Hampton, Virginia to Lisbon, Portugal.
The USA and CSA re-establish diplomatic relations.

1928: After a lengthy and contentious trial, the leaders of the Shreveport Commune are hanged for rebellion.

1929: After several years of wild speculation and inflated prices, the New York Stock Market collapses. The Richmond, Sacramento, and London markets follow. Depression begins.
Marshal Henri Petain, the hero of Verdun, is elected President of France. His party, the Parti Nationale Francais, espouses extreme nationalism, rearmament in violation of the Berlin Treaty, reclamation of former colonies, and reunification with the "stolen" provinces of Picardy and Alsace-Lorraine.

Marshal Henri Petain, President of France

1930: Lenin dies, and Leon Trotsky becomes leader of the Soviet Union.

1930 - 1935: Strikes and demonstrations by tenant farmers or landless field hands ("Dixie's Peasants" as one St. Louis newspaper calls them) become more common. Several more Communes are attempted and all are met with severe measures to defeat them. Since most of this activity can be traced directly to the CPA and "Bolshevik agitators" the USA, while concerned about the unrest in its southern neighbor, does not protest the Confederate response. State militia and Regular Army units are on anti-rebellion duty constantly throughout this period in wide areas of the nation. The Conservative Party regains both houses of Congress and the Presidency in this period and maintains a supermajority for years to come.

1931: The only occupying power not to exit China, Japan extends its sphere of influence to include Formosa.

1932: Jun - US Great War veterans march on Washington, DC to demand their enlistment bonuses in this time of economic hardship. Setting up a tent city on the Mall, this "Bonus Army" becomes a very visible reminder of the effects of the depression. By order of President Herbert Hoover, the Army breaks up the settlement using bayonets, tanks, and tear gas. An estimated two hundred veterans and their family members are killed.
Sep - A House of Representatives dominated by the Labor Party impeaches President Hoover for his actions against the Bonus Army. He is convicted by the Senate and removed from office. Vice-President Charles Curtis is sworn in as President.

1933 - 1935: Italy invades the independent nation of Abyssinia from its colonies in Eritrea and Somaliland. Although the Royal Abyssinian Army is poorly equipped and minimally trained, it inflicts several serious defeats upon the Italians. By 1935, however, the Abyssinians are defeated and the Italians have honed their fighting techniques and weapons. Italy annexes Abyssinia, Eritrea, and Somaliland. Germany and the USA both bolster colonial troop strengths in their adjacent territories.

1934: Henri Petain is re-elected President of France. He immediately calls for the reunification "of all the French-speaking peoples of Europe," especially the territory lost to Germany. He begins modernizing the French military, creating new units of small, fast tanks supported by infantry and developing better fighters and bombers.

1935: Japan establishes the puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria. Chinese Republic and Communist forces both begin attacks across the Manchurian border.
The French Parliament suspends itself after a report from Petain states that economic recovery could best be accomplished by an executive "unencumbered by an argumentative and divisive legislature." Petain begins styling himself a "new Napoleon." The US ambassador to France manages to obtain a map of Europe, allegedly sketched by Petain himself, with the borders of France stretched to include the Low Countries, Dalmatia, and Hanover. Germany is reduced to several minor states. He forwards this map to Washington, but it is not released.

1936: 13 Jun - Japanese troops cross from Manchukuo, beginning the invasion of China.
19 Aug - Rejecting what they see as dangerously liberal forces within the monarchy, a cadre of Spanish generals stage a coup, arresting the King and his family and instituting martial law. The Spanish Civil War begins as most army units and other fascists fight a coalition of Loyalists, Republicans, and Communists. In response to the importation of French weapons and Italian advisors, Britain begins supplying the Loyalists.
6 Sep - France and Italy sign a treaty of alliance, the Milan Accord.
Nov - Norman Thomas is elected President of the USA on the Labor Party ticket. Coupled with a Labor-dominated Congress, he initiates a series of economic reforms to pull the country out of the depression. Public works, anti-trust, and farm cooperative legislation are all passed quickly. Over the next four years Constitutional amendments are also submitted and ratified: The 18th establishes an income tax and social welfare system, including retirement, worker's compensation, and unemployment assistance; the 19th allows the direct election of Senators; the 20th establishes the succession of the Presidency; and the 21st guarantees the right of labor to organize.
WSA increases its military presence in the Philippines, sending several divisions of troops and the heavy cruiser Portland to Manila.

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