1707- The Afghan tribes put up a fierce resistance to the Persians, killing them at night, poisoning water holes, and generally having a grand old time against the Persians.

Shah Ismael asks Emperor Josef for support.

1708- Cholera breaks out in Europe. An Andalusi phsyciain, working with medical texts from the 900’s, comes up with a solution. He develops a system of wells with limestone throughout The Confederation.

Holden Caulfield, Presbyterian minister, leads a slave revolt in Cromwell (OTL Carolina, and the name for the entire British south).

His insurrection is crushed by the colonial militia.

Caulfield’s revolt leads to the end of the idea of abolition in Cromwell, but he becomes a martyr in the north, and in London.

Emperor Amadeus looks at the news from Cromwell with disdain. Drawing allusions to the Egyptians, he says that the world must end slavery. Representatives from Britain and Italy cautiously agree.

1709- The First Opium War breaks out. An Italian ship in Shanghai carrying opium was burned by order of the Emperor, leading to a combined Italian and British response.

Opium has become a real problem for the Chinese. When the new empeor assumed the throne, he declared that to "restore the harmony of the spheres", he would ban the trade. Chinese officials are arrested or begin arresting the opium smugglers, which leads to the destruction of the "Fortuna", who, fickle as always, is burned.

Oil is first used to power an engine, by a steamship engineer in Palermo.

Josef issues a decree ordering his subjects to fast and pray once a week. He establishes "Orthodoxy and autocracy" as the basis for his empire.

The day the order is issued, Russian forces succeed in wiping out a band of "brigands" in Afghanistan ten thousand strong.

1710- Italian ships bombard, and occupy, Shanghai. The Chinese army is mowed down by the pneumatic rifles of the Italians.

The British follow up with the occupation of Gangzhou.

Italian journalists begin playing up the atrocities committed by the "Nipponese" against Italian sailors from the opium trade.

1711- More Italian and British troops arrive. The Opium War leads to the "Scramble for China". The Italians occupy Jinman, Andalusi soldiers make an appearance, and occupy Fuzhou. Ningbo and the surrounding region is occupied by the Germans.

Josef makes a few noises but can’t really do anything, as he cannot ship an army to Siberia (yet).

1712- The Chinese Emperor surrenders. Effectively, the coast belongs to the foreign devils, with the League’s members in the north, and the British in the south.

Another Italian ship is shipwrecked off of Japan. The flotilla visits Japan, demanding retribution. The Japanese refuse; the Italians open fire.

The beginning of the conquest of Japan by Italy commences.

Italian troops, fresh from the opium war, land near OTL Tokyo, and proceed to conquer the plain of Honshu; the chief rice growing area of Japan.

The Italians take Edo in August and appoint a new Shogun. For some odd reason, the Japanese daimyos refuse to obey him.

1713- Russians officially have conquered Afghanistan, but proceed to pacify it for the next twenty year.

The European powers, flush from the conquest of China, convene in the splendid city of Milan to discuss slavery. The four points plan is hammered out.

1. Slavery is immoral, based upon biblical evidence.
2. While slavery is immoral, as property owners, the slave owners have the right to compensation. Slavery shall be abolished over a 20 year period; all slaves born after 1715 are free, after working for their master until the age of 20.
3. Slaves may use their day of rest, Sunday, to hire themselves out to others for payment. The slaves may then buy their freedom, if they save enough, proportionally; a slave can buy 2 days of freedom, work those 2 dys to buy 3 days of freedom, etc.
4. Slave owners shall be compensated at a fair and reasonable price.

Many herald this as the dawning of the age of "enlightenment."

Italian fire is used in Japan, over the city of Osaka. The British, demanding compensation in return for allowing the Italian conquest of Japan, receive the Phillipines and Madagascar.

1714- Steam engines begin leading to the rapid industrialization of Armenia, which produces metals in abundance. Italian forces complete their blockade of the Japanese islands, and have taken most of the cities.

Emperor Amadeus passes regulation regarding child labor, which is followed by Italy.

Some daimyos, mostly the ones on the "outside", such as Kagoshima, ally with the Portuguese.

1715- The Four points regarding slavery is passed by the Italian Senate.

The Daimyos begin sending their children to Italy for schooling. They don’t know what the Italian troops with their "Kamikazes", the name given to the pneumatic rifle by the Japanese, have, but they want it.

Effective resistance in Japan ends. The ronin, merchants, and peasants tend to support the Italians, who rule through local rulers.

Telegraphs are invented in Amsterdam.

1716- The passing of the emancipation act in the Italian Senate leads to a variety of protests from the North in Nuova Italia. Slave owners there feel that they are being denied of their property, not trusting the government to give them a fair price. They also feel that the slaves are not equal; one owner sends a letter to the Doge, asking him if he would marry a freed slave.

The Doge does not respond, but does rule in favor of the bill when the act is challenged in court. Many goods are boycotted from Italy and the south, hurting industry.

Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth, things aren’t much better. The bill has become one of the key issues in the elections for the new Prime Minister. George Franklin, in a speech before the House of Commons, says:

Gold is discovered in Australia. The Gold Rush begins, and Japanese also participate in it. Japan is finally subdued, more or less, by Italy. To the surprise of the Italians, the Japanese will not remain passive serfs like the Indians; almost immediately they begin developing western ways.

Cromwell’s leading ministers begin to threaten to secede, coming up with a "list of grievances against the Commonwealth" twenty pages long. The Nuova Italians follow suit, as do the Caribbean islands.

President Charles of the UPM meets with the governor-general of Cromwell, regarding the possibility of a union between areas where slavery is accepted. Charles realizes that the UPM is caged in, and to expand, must take advantage of this opportunity.

The Peripheral Pact. France, Castille, the Holy Empire, and Persia ally against the League, and "other realms who threaten our sovereignty’.

1717- Josef, uncharacteristically, says the rights of the nobles regarding their serfs are unalianeable. The Holy Emperor then proceeds to order the construction of new ships for his fleets.

The Empire of Germany receives a proposal for the Maxim gun. The Maxim gun, consisting of many barrels that fire repeatedly. It enters testing in Ausburg.

Prime Minister Franklin is elected. The new transatlantic cable relays the message to Cromwell.

The delegates from Cromwell meet in Louisville (OTL New Orleans). Italian delegates do the same in Beretta.

In a meeting regarding abolition in Genoa, female abolitionists are prevented from speaking.

Christmas cards are first produced in Barcelona.

1718- The Last Revolt of the Samurai. Samurai from across Japan mass on the Honshu plain, where they are promptly slaughtered in a battle against the Italians. End of Japanese resistance.

The colony of Newton, on the Mississippi river, leaves the commonwealth. It is followed shortly by most of Cromwell, which joins the UPM. Northern Nuova Italia follows suit.

This leads to pandemonium in Europe. After a brief crash of the Venetian stock exchange, the Doge promises to crush the insurrection, with the help of fellow league members.

Emperor Josef declares war upon Armenia, citing border violations. At the meeting of the League of Milano, the nations declare war on the Holy Empire, and Mexico.

The Commonwealth and Scandinavia sign the Treaty of the North Atlantic. They reaffirm their pledges of mutual alliance.

Maxim guns enter mass production in Bavaria.

1719- There is a stand off near Fort Churchill, in the bay of Charleston. A Cromwellian night attack takes the fort after several days bombardment. The British soldiers insides refuse to surrender the fort, and most die. This leads to the song "Remember Churchill" in the singing halls of London and Amsterdam. It goes something like this:

1720- The Maxim gun is attached to horses in the German army, and travels along with infantry units into Poland. Combined with the pneumatic rifles (which are still rare in the Holy Empire, because they simply lack the craftsmanship to build them), the invasion into Imperial Poland is blunted near Krakow.

The Russian and League navies clash in the Baltic. As the League is joined by the Scandinavians and the English, the war ends in a decisive Allied victory.

The Republic and the Commonwealth agree to jointly prosecute the war against the United Provinces of Mexico. They agree to a joint naval blockade of the rebels and Mexico.

The League navy smashes the attempt by the Russian fleet to invade the Adriatic, but the guns of Constantinople render the city impossible to take. Funds for the development of ironclads is increased.

Thousands of men are raised in the League and in the Commonwealth. The Scandinavians fight in the north, and Finnish cavalry make "the Charge of the Light Brigade", destroying Holy Imperial troops outside of Estonia.

Raleigh (OTL Virginia) is a staging point for the first invasion of Cromwell by British troops. With great numbers of abolitionists from the north, the British troops crush the rebels outside of Cromwell (The city. Cromwell is a city, a colony, and a group of colonies. OTL Raleigh).

The Italians take Beretta, on the mouth of the Amazon. .

1721- The Armenians hold firm in Georgia, and using trenches (the first time in the history of warfare) kill the Russian army with an impressive 3:1 ratio.

To end the threat from the Russian troops in the Eastern end of the Adriatic, the Italian high command focuses on invading Albania. The city of Tirana falls after a three day naval bombardment, and the flag of the Most Serene Republic floats above both sides of the Adriatic.

Rafi makes a bid against Josef (who is now in his late 40’s). In a move encouraged by the Italians, Rafi challenges Josef’s right to the throne of the Byzantine Empire. Rafi raises the banner of revolt, and Central Anatolia rises in revolt.

The German troops advance to Danzig, but forty thousand are cut off by a Russia counter thrust. Some are evacuated by sea, but the majority, thirty two thousand, surrender. Emperor Amadeus institutes the draft.

The League navy retakes Panama from the Mexicans, dividing their links of communication in two. The British take Louisberg, and begin cutting off the UPM from the rebel provinces of the Commonwealth.

1722- The LSS (League Steam Ship) San Marco is first used. The San Marco is revolutionary, as it is the first ironclad warship in the history of the world. (aside form those turtle ships in Korea, which don’t really count). The San Marco is used against Constantinople, where, combined with Italian fire launched from pneumatic catapaults, it devastates the city’s defenses. When the fleet sorties out to face the San Marco,

The Philiki Etairia (Society of Friends), a Greek Resistance movement to Imperial rule, spread up in revolt throughout Hellas (which covers western Anatolia, much of the southern coast, as well as OTL Greece). The Italian army lands by sea to help support the war, and with the occupation of Constantinople, the Empire’s capital is moved back to Russia for the duration of the war. While many of the members favored a reborn Byzantine Empire, the majority wanted a state for only Greeks, extending across Anatolia and into the Balkans. Thus, The Philiki Etairia was largely a Greek resistance movement.

(Note to readers: Nationalism, due to the largely federalized governments of most of the world, won’t be as large a role here was they were in OTL. The centralized governments will have something to worry about the most).

Smyrna is taken by the San Marco and a Greek revolt. The banner of the Republic flies alongside the new banner of the Republic of Hellas.

The Armenians destroy another Russian army, and advance on Tuapse.

The naval blockade of the UPM and the rebel colonies is completed.

Rebel armies are crushed in Nuova Italia, and Beretta is taken. The League Members agree that the ban on slavery now applies to all nations, not just the signers of the Treaty on Slavery of the 1710’s.

1723- The Italians and British establish coastal enclaves along the Mexican coast. While against it, they can’t really do anything about it. Slaves flock to the enclaves from the surrounding regions, and are summarily drilled and trained.

Tampico is taken by the British.

With the support of the Turks, and the lack of Imperial troops in the region, the Armenian armies have reached as far as Corum. The Russians prepare, in Odessa, a fleet to attack the city, but the Italians bombard it and destroy most of the warships in dock.

The Cromwellian general Richard Drake is shot during battle. The key general of the Cromwellian movement, his death, during the Mississippi campaign, triggers the beginning of the end.

Danzig is retaken by the German army, which has now increased in size to five hundred thousand men. Scandinavian troops begin liberating the Baltic region.

Podgorica, along the Adriatic, is taken by the Italians. This marks the end of the Imperial navy having any docks outside of Crimea. To celebrate the advances, Spinella, a composer in Turin, writes the following poem. Some selected quotes:

The Russians manage to halt the Germans near Danzig, but they cannot retake the city. The Germans take Warsaw, with a southern army.

Villevictorie is put under martial law, as the federal district goes through a slave revolt. The Dominion of Draka launches an invasion by sea on the Pacific side, and marches towards the capital. They are repulsed, but The Italian general, Alfonso, and the leader of the Commonwealth agree to meet; next year, in Villeivictorie.

1724- "Strong near Warsaw, formidable near Kiev; invincible near Tobolst." Amadeus II’s opinion of the Russian army.

The Russians can raise hundreds of thousands to defend their lands in the East, but Josef’s rule in the west has been crushed, for the most part. Over the next year, secessionist groups will break out in the Balkans, and the Germans will march in to restore order.

The Greeks advance along the Southern coastline, and their proposal to join the League is considered, and, despite temporary cold feet from the Italian delegate, is accepted.

Slave revolts wrack the UPM, as Italian and British troops march in to restore order. The fanatical Mexican plantation owners fight on, to the disgust of the British and Italian rebels, who surrender en masse.

Cromwell is placed under military occupation.

1725- Villevictorie is taken by forces of the Dominion of Draka, which, with British support, proclaims all slaves freed. The UPM is to be established as a free state, where (and nowhere else, mind) racial equality is to be enforced. Ministers and teachers from Europe and the north flock to Mexico, to help teach the freed slaves and natives about the wonders of civilization. (end sarcasm).

The Armenian army conquers Odessa, and sweeps around the Black Sea.

Josef dies. His son, Nikolai, becomes the new Tsar. His empire is broke, leaving him with little choice but to make peace. The terms of the treaty of Paris (the only neutral power):

1. Most of Poland goes to the Empire of Germany.
2. He acknowledges the independence of the Republic of Hellas.
3. The Armenians gain Eastern Anatolia, Odessa, and the Caucasus.
4. The Baltic is divided between the Scandinavians and the Empire of Germany.
5. Albania goes to Italy, along with the Adriatic coast.
6. The island of Alaska is renounced by the Holy Empire.
7. The Holy Empire acknowledges the right of other countries and religions to exist.
8. The Serbians are to receive independence. To ease tensions with the Armenians, they are not accepted into the League of Milano.
9. Central and Eastern Romanian are to go to the Armenians.

The Shah of Iran does not have much choice, now. He makes a treaty ceding Mesopotamia to the Armenians, and Western India to the Italians.