TIMELINE : 1760 TO 1789
|
TIMELINE : 1760 TO 1789 |
|
The World in 2000 | Africa | Central America And The Caribbean | North America | South America | Antarctica
Central Asia | Eastern And South-Eastern Asia | South Asia | Europe | The Middle East | Oceania
Timeline | Differences | Politics | Science and Technology | Society | Notes | Summary | Home
1640 to 1669 | 1670 to 1699 | 1700 to 1729 | 1730 to 1759 | 1760 to 1789 | 1790 to 1819
1820 to 1849 | 1850 to 1879 | 1880 to 1909 | 1910 to 1939 | 1940 to 1969 | 1970 to 2000
The Ottoman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Austria and Sweden take advantage of the Russian Revolution to invade Russia with the intention of taking territory.
The Ukraine breaks free of Russian control.
Because of the unrest and turmoil arising from the Russian Revolution, forces from the Khanates of Central Asia raid freely into Russia.
Wishing to encourage trade within the Empire as much as possible, Mughal Emperor Iziad Bakhsh abolishes all tolls and duties inside the Empire itself.
Mughal inventor Faiz Ahmed Khan invents a system of signalling for use with the electrical telegraph that becomes widely adopted around the world under the name of the Khan Code. [This is the equivalent of Morse Code in this world.]
The navies of the various states of the Dakshina Nad unify into a single force. This greatly increases their strength, coordination and effectiveness.
The First Anglo-Scottish War ends with little advantage gained on either side.
The English administrators of the Guinea colony in Africa, adjacent to the Ashantee and Jangalarazi, offers military and financial aid to the Ashantee against the Mughals.
Fakhrunissa Begum, one of the daughters of Mughal Emperor Iziad Bakhsh, uses her influence to set up a number of girls schools across the Mughal Empire. Intended to provide the female of children of the poor with an education to help them in life, they teach a modified version of the Dars-i-Faridiya curriculum of 1702, which Fakhrunissa Begum names the Dars-i-Jahanara, after Princess Jahanara Begum, the sister of Mughal Emperor Shah Buland Iqbal [Dara Shikoh].
Another Great Comet appears.
[Because of the ongoing Bama Civil War, Bama does not unsuccessfully attack Ayutthaya in this year.]
A rumour that gypsies are spies and secret agents for the Mughals (based on their swarthy looks, outsider status and so on) begins to circulate in Europe during this time. Although totally lacking in evidence, and playing to the prejudices of bigots across Europe, this leads to a great deal of pogroms and violence against them, now and at different points down the years.
Despite the best attempts of the northern Alaungpaya Dynasty, it is unable to regain control over the southern Pegu region. The Bama Civil War ends with the region split into two nations, Ava and Pegu.
Measurements taken around the world during the transit of Venus by European and Indian scientists allow the distance of the Earth to the Sun, and thus also other distances in the Solar System, to be measured more accurately than ever before.
With English help the Ashantee force back the Mughals from most of the territory they had taken.
Comet Tautou [Kinkenberg] is seen.
[With Scotland an independent nation, there are no Highland or Lowland Clearances there.]
With the Dehbokri strong enough to do so, in Persia the puppet Safavid Emperor Ismail III is forced to abdicate, to be replaced by the chief of the Dehbokri tribe of Kurds, who declares the creation of the new Dehbokri Dynasty [which replaces the Zand Dynasty who ruled there in the real world].
English merchants begin expanding their trading posts and colonies in Central America, in particular working to secure a significant percentage of trade across the Isthmus of Panama. As part of their drive to expand their colonial holdings, English forces also advance inland from the English colonies of Belize and the Mosquito Coast.
Inventor Anton Swammerdam in the Netherlands develops a new and more efficient type of steam engine [equivalent to the 1765 design of James Watt. This finds wide application across the world.
Hindu priest and scholar Deepak Radhakrishnan travels to Marege Australia] to study and learn from the beliefs of the natives there.
The Raskolniki armies defeat the last major Loyalist army at the Battle of Shcherbinka, close to Moscow. Although small Loyalist forces remain, the Raskolnioki are free to take control of Moscow and the other major cities of Russia. This they do. In the process, the Tsarina, Elizabeth I, is captured.
The young Ivan, son of Anna, the older sister of Elizabeth I, is placed on the throne by the Raskolniki government as the new Tsar Ivan VI, while the former Tsarina Elizabeth I is exiled to a remote nunnery. [Ivan VI is the person who in the real world became the Emperor Ivan VI at the age of one, and who here has a very different life.] Aristarkh Fedorovich Venetsianov becomes the new religious leader of all Russians.
Russians fleeing the Revolution there sail east around North America and land south of the New Commonwealth of North America, taking control of the few Russian trading posts there and establishing permanent Russian settlements in the area. Initially known as 'Noviiy Russiya' (New Russia), the country soon takes on the name for the country claimed by Englishman Francis Drake during his circumnavigation of the globe in the late sixteenth century - Novo Albion.
[With the Bama region remaining split between Ava and Pegu, the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Ayutthaya Thailand] is not invaded by two Burmese armies, and destroyed by them in 1767. Thus the Ayutthaya Kingdom continues to exist and the city of Ayutthaya is not destroyed and remains the capital of the country. As a result the country is not reduced to chaos and the art treasures of Ayutthaya, the libraries containing its literature, and the archives housing its historic records are not destroyed as they were in the real world.
[With the Russian Revolution and the Raskolniki government taking power the Russian throne is occupied by very different people from this point. Among other changes there is no Catherine the Great in this world.]
The former Russian Tsarina, Elizabeth I, dies in the remote nunnery to which she was recently exiled.
The Suez Canal is completed between the Red Sea and the River Nile, allowing shipping to travel from India to and from Europe without having to go around all of Africa. [This has been done more quickly than the Suez Canal of the real world, as it uses a shorter route.]
The first successful underwater telegraph cable is laid between the mainland of the Dakshina Nad and the island of Sinhale [Sri Lanka].
Nepal is unified into a single state. [This is slightly earlier than in the real world.]
The Kingdom of Ayutthaya, wishing to improve its trade through south east Asia, makes a number of demands of the Sultanate of Johor, in particular relating to trading and port facilities in Melaka. These are rejected.
With the opening of the Suez Canal and the easing of travel to India that it brings, European émigrés to India begin returning to Europe in greater and greater numbers, some simply to retire to their homelands, others to restart their lives in Europe with their new wealth. As their numbers increase, these returnees become known as Nabobs.
Grand Duke Pavel Konstantinovich Romanov, the highest-ranking Russian noble to escape the Russian Revolution to Novo Albion, grandly declares himself Tsar of Novo Albion (at this point little more than a few small towns hacked from the wilderness), and of all of Russia.
The Sultanate of Johor begins to expand north from Melaka, taking over the small city-states there despite protests from Ayutthaya.
English forces clash with those of Spain in Central America.
The forces of the Sultanate of Johor clash with those of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya over territory in the Malay Peninsula. With neither side willing to back down, what becomes known as the Malay War begins.
Mughal inventor Narayanrao Amitraghata develops the first powered loom, greatly speeding the production of fabrics of all kinds. [This was invented in 1784 in the real world.] However, it is some time before the power loom achieves its full potential.
In Mysore, Bettada Dayananda mounts a Swammerdam-type steam engine onto a wheeled framework, producing the first steam-powered vehicle in the world. [This is similar to the steam wagon of Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot of the real world.]
Further results obtained during the transit of Venus in this year refine the measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Sun still further.
The bright comet Helidon [Messier] is seen for several months.
The development of various machines allowing mechanised textile production in India allow the Indian textile industry to remain competitive and Indian textiles to continue to dominate world markets [unlike the real world, where the East India Company imposed de-industrialisation on India and this combined with British steam power in the 1770s demolished the market for Indian textiles].
It also drives people into the cities, not without unrest, and into factories and so on there. This occurs on a larger scale than in Europe.
Steam wagons based on the design of Bettada Dayananda begin to find use around the world. However, in many places, they are not cheap, versatile or reliable enough to replace working animals, particularly elephants.
The Russian military defeats the last foreign army on Russian soil, forcing them back to the old pre-Revolutionary borders. However, with the assistance, covert and otherwise, of the other European powers, the Ukrainians manage to maintain their independence from Russia. Several punitive expeditions into the Central Asian Khanates are mounted, causing significant damage to some of them.
The new Svyatyishiye Rossiyaskaya Empyeriya (Holy Russian Empire; SRE, or CPE in Cyrillic) is declared. [This is an Old Believer state.] The Capital of the Holy Russian Empire is moved from St. Petersburg back to Moscow.
As the Raskolniki government begins to impose its rule on Russia, the Russian feudal system is eliminated, and the institution of serfdom abolished. The 'reforms' of the Patriarch Nikon are officially reversed.
The Loyalist Russian nobility is heavily purged. Many flee abroad.
Mughal Emperor Iziad Bakhsh dies of old age. He is succeeded by his son, who becomes Emperor Shah Babur II.
Naeim ben Nahman becomes the first Jew to be selected as a member of the Mughal Durbar.
The term 'Second Islamic Golden Age' is used for the first time to refer to the period of continuing Mughal ascendancy. [The First Islamic Golden Age being from 750 to 1200 AD.]
After a long period of weakening royal authority, the Solomonic Dynasty of Abyssinia is overthrown and the country descends into civil war, with various factions seeking to put a figurehead emperor on the throne. [This is much the same as in the real world.]
The Trinh rulers of northern Dai Ngu [Vietnam] declare war on the Nguyen Lords of the south, seeing them as a great threat to their own power. In response the Nguyen Lords invade Trinh territory.
Conservative elements among the Ashantee, concerned at the increasing English influence in the country, open secret negotiations with the Mughals for help against the English.
Clashes between fishing fleets in the North Sea lead to diplomatic exchanges, in which the Scottish are supported by the French. With no resolution, this leads to the declaration of what becomes known as the Second Anglo-Scottish War.
Comet Hallström [Lexell] is seen for several weeks.
With the victory of the Revolutionary forces in Russia, many refugees and self-imposed exiles flee the country, into Europe, the Muslim states or, when they can, to Novo Albion.
Following the Russian Revolution and the imposition of the new theocratic Raskolniki Russian government, the Russian Orthodox Church begins sending large numbers of missionaries out of Russia to all of the nations of the world. This includes increased numbers of missionaries to China, reinforcing the small numbers of Russian Orthodox Christians living in the northern regions of China.
The new Raskolniki government also begins using the old Tsarist Katorga system of penal servitude to deal with its own political and religious dissidents, while releasing many of those imprisoned by the old regime. As part of this a new agency, the Office of Contemplation, is set up to monitor the people of the Holy Russian Empire and weed out disloyalty and unbelief.
Novo Albion has to impose and enforce strict rationing as the influx of population strains its resources to the limit.
The government of Novo Albion rejects a suggestion that their nation is renamed to be Noviiy Russiya (New Russia) or Rossiya Poistine (True Russia).
Over time the increased number of Russian Orthodox missionaries in China leads to increased numbers of Chinese converts to Russian Orthodox Christianity [far more than in the real world, where by 1860 there were not more than two hundred Russian Orthodox Christians in Beijing, including the descendants of naturalized Russians].
With help from both the English and Mughals, and funded by their native resources, the Ashantee manage to establish a balance between the European and Indian powers, and in the process guarantee their independence.
Over time several other Africa nations follow the Ashantee example and are able to balance the various powers against one another and maintain their independence.
New Mughal Emperor Shah Babur II has long wished to reverse the defeat his father suffered against the Kanyakumari Pact, and invades the Pact territories with the intention of taking control of all of the land lost in the Treaty of Kandy, and more. What becomes known as the Second Indian War begins.
Seeking help to defend themselves against the Russians, several of the Central Asian Khanates send envoys to the Mughal Empire, seeking assistance. Being aware that Russia might, in time, become a threat to them, but also involved in the new invasions of the Kanyakumari Pact, the Mughals offer some limited help, though not enough to spark open war between themselves and Russia.
Jagdish Susruta, a gadget-loving Mughal Mansabdar, begins using a steam-powered carriage as his personal transportation. Others soon copy his idea.
The alliance of the Nguyen Lords with the Mughal Empire proves to have been the better decision than that of the Trinh to ally with China, as their weapons, tactics and training proves superior to those of the army of the Trinh, who suffer defeat after defeat.
In the Malay War, Ayutthaya inflicts a crushing defeat on the Sultanate of Johor at the Battle of Arau. Ayutthayan forces push southwards down the Malay Peninsula.
Another Great Comet appears.
As the numbers of Nabobs returning from India to Europe and the wealth they bring increases, they begin to be perceived as a danger by some elements of European society, with their strange Oriental ideas and ways, and their fortunes allowing them to buy what they will and to influence the government. This is not helped by the fact that, because of the expulsion of the European trading companies from India during the Factory War, they are seen as having made their money in ways that may have actively worked against their home nations.
Some Nabobs, who had converted to Islam in India, are 'fair weather' converts and convert back to Christianity upon returning to Europe. Others were more serious in their conversions, leading to the spread of Islam and other Indian religions in Europe, as well as of Indian-inspired architecture.
Some of the Nabobs who return from India to Europe bring with them ideas from Indian mysticism, which are adopted by some Europeans, sometimes in concert with the ideas of Christianity, and sometimes independently.
As part of the Second Indian War the Dakshina Nad takes control of the Mascarene Islands from the Mughal Empire.
After some Mughal successes, the Second Indian War becomes bogged down in a stalemate. The first trench warfare develops on some fronts as repeating guns of various kinds prove their effectiveness.
Despite the help of the Bugis and Minangkabaus peoples (the latter from western Samudra [Sumatra]), the Sultanate of Johor is expelled from the Malay Peninsula, leaving only its territories on the island of Samudra, centred on the city of Riau, and the islands between Samudra and the Malay Peninsula.
After years of reasonably amicable relations between the Xhosa and the Mughals in Giâhrarazi both sides agree to a formal alliance.
Ash flows from the eruption of Mount Papandayan in Jawa [Java] kill three thousand people.
As the French colonies of France Antarctique and France Équinoxiale expand, they inevitably come into conflict with the Portuguese colonists in Braseal [Brazil], the Dutch in Suriname and the English in Guinea.
Comet Avadhani [Biela] is seen.
As the long-running skirmishes between European and Indian shipping in West African waters continue and intensify, calls for war begin to be made in both the European and Indian nations.
In the Treaty of Visakhapatnam the Second Indian War ends with the Mughal Empire having gained some territory, but nowhere near what it lost before.
Russian colonists begin moving into Uzbekistan from the north.
With the army of the Nguyen Lords besieging their capital city of Dong Kinh [Hanoi], the Trinh rulers of northern Dai Ngu appeal to the Manchu Emperor for help. The Emperor sends a large army to aid the Trinh.
The first race between the steam carriages of two rival Mansabdars occurs just outside Delhi.
In Kozhikode, a person appears claiming to be Tinayancheri Raja, a distant if legitimate heir to the throne from the old royal family, long thought dead during the factory war. Many supporters rally to him, but the new government resists his attempts to reclaim the throne. Civil War breaks out.
Continuing clashes between English and Spanish forces in Central America lead to what becomes known as the Mosquito War being declared.
Another Great Comet appears.
As the Mughal and Dakshina Nad navies mature, and gain status and distinctions as positions in which fame and fortune can be earned quite as well as they can be in (for example) the army, higher caste Hindus begin pushing for the chance of maritime service, but in way that, in particular, avoids their falling foul of the Kala Pani [the Hindu taboo of the sea] and allows them to continue their reincarnation cycle.
Mughal forces discover the Russian colonists in what they consider to be their lands. The colonists are given the choice of joining the Empire or leaving. Some join the Empire, but most pack up and go.
The first European race between steam carriages occurs just outside Paris, funded by the gambling wants of rich dandies.
At the Battle of Dong Kinh [Hanoi] the army of the Nguyen Lords inflicts a crushing defeat on the Chinese army, who are greatly inferior in both equipment and tactics. Dong Kinh falls to the Nguyen Lords. The Chinese retreat, many of the Trinh and their supporters going with them. The Nguyen Lords now control all of Dai Ngu. [Unlike the case in the real world, the Nguyen Lords do not fall in the 1780s remain in power to the present day.]
Shortly before the signing of the Xhosa-Mughal alliance, the Mughal Ambassador, Shekhar Ahlawat, falls ill with Malaria, and is forced to remain in his sickbed. In his place his second, a young and naïve Hindu noble, Ganapathi Tarkalankara, attends the signing ceremony. However, part of the ceremony consists of the sacrifice of a cow to honour the Xhosa ancestral spirits. Ganapathi Tarkalankara, who is not expecting this, is sick and ill, and leaves the ceremony before the signing occurs, gravely offending the Xhosa.
Portuguese troops attempt to expel the French from France Antarctique and France Équinoxiale, but are repulsed by the French defenders.
After both sides lose significant numbers of fishing boats, both sides agree to define and abide by their respective fishing grounds. With this, the Second Anglo-Scottish War ends.
The first steam engine works in Ashantee opens with assistance from French engineers.
Despite the defeat their army suffered at the hands of the Nguyen Lords, the Chinese do not learn any lessons from the Battle of Dong Kinh.
The demands of both Indians and Europeans for faster steam carriages to provide more exciting and dangerous races drives a number of advances in steam vehicle technology, even though the cost of the vehicles themselves places them outside the reach of anyone other than the rich.
Over time the Ashantee are able to gain assistance from various powers to industrialise and advance.
When news of the expulsion of their colonists reaches Moscow, the Raskolniki government sends in more colonists, this time with soldiers to protect them.
Despite the best efforts of Ambassador Shekhar Ahlawat, the Xhosa opinion of the Mughals, and Indians generally, has been shifted to a much more negative one by the incident at the abortive signing, and they withdraw from the whole idea of a Mughal-Xhosa alliance.
As the Abyssinian civil war drags on, Abyssinian envoys travel to Europe and India to seek help for their respective candidates for the Abyssinian throne, without surrendering the country to an outside power.
The first economically viable electric motor is built by Subramanya Krishnakumar in Thanjavur. [This is sooner than in the real world. However, due to the extra effort going into electrical technology, steam engines are developed at about the same pace as in the real world, when it does eventually becomes clear that independent engines such as steam engines are necessary for some things.]
Portugal complains to Pope Urban VIII regarding the French incursions into the territory granted to them in the Treaty of Tordesillas, which they claim is undermining the authority of the Pope.
After long years of study, Hindu priest and scholar Deepak Radhakrishnan links the beliefs of the natives of Marege and those of Hinduism in his book 'On the Holy Race of Marege', concluding that each is a version of the other. This, in combination with the long-standing belief amongst many Indians that the Maregian natives are a race of Sadhus [holy men] leads to even greater respect and understanding for the natives on the part of the Indian settlers there. [There are certainly enough Hindu and native deities for similarities to be drawn if one works at it...]
The Holy Russian Empire constructs the first Katorga prison camp in Alyeska [Alaska], to which prisoners from the Empire are condemned.
At the urging of the Mughal government, a number of senior Hindu priests convene in the holy city of Varanasi to consider the problem of the Kala Pani [the Hindu taboo of the sea]. After some considerable time spent deliberating, the priests collectively determine the correct practises and rituals to allow Hindus (and in particular higher-caste Hindus) to sail the open sea without breaking their reincarnation cycle. These are largely based on those that have been unofficially used by lower-caste Hindu sailors for some time, and in particular include the maintenance of the link to the River Ganges by the carrying of vials of water from the Ganges. With the ending of the priestly deliberations, and despite the objections of conservative Hindus, Hindus of all castes begin to take a full part in the maritime activities of the Mughal Empire and Dakshina Nad.
Electric motors begin to be used to run textile-making machinery, particularly in India.
As trade between India (both the Mughal Empire and the south Indian states) and the south-east Asian states grows, despite official Chinese disdain for anything from the outside world, modern technology begins creeping into China from the south. Even if not officially sanctioned, this transfer of technology leads to closer ties between elements of Chinese society and the outside world.
This technological creep persuades some southern Chinese, and more importantly some of the nobility there, that things and ideas from outside China can be of value, even though the Emperor and the northern Chinese establishment do not think so. This change of opinion stimulates two-way trade across the Chinese border, so money flows in both directions, helping to equalise trade between China and the outside world to some extent.
As time passes other Katorgas are soon constructed in Alyeska [Alaska], in the process helping to develop Alyeska [more than in the real world].
Although the solution to the problem of the Kala Pani initially meets with resistance from more conservative Hindus, by the present day it is accepted by all but the most extremely conservative members of the faith.
With its supply problems finally solved, Novo Albion finally relaxes its rationing system.
Hoping to be able to compete with the Indian textile industry, Huguenot Raymonde Widor living in French Louisiana in North America invents a type of weaving loom controlled by punched cards, allowing even amateur weavers to weave complex designs [this is equivalent to the Jacquard Loom].
Again, Mughal forces discover the Russian colonists in Uzbekistan, but this time the soldiers with them prevent their easy expulsion.
The Dutch approach the Xhosa with an offer of an alliance to replace that with the Mughals. They offer training, concessions and land to the Xhosa in return for their services as soldiers.
Seeking to form links to the middle east, the Dakshina Nad offers assistance to the Abyssinian faction supporting the restoration of a strong Solomonic Dynasty under Sahle Krestos.
The first commercially viable electrical generator goes on the market in the Mughal Empire. From there it quickly spreads around the world.
Spanish forces advance from South America and Mexico in an attempt to expel the English from Central America.
Pressurised by France, Pope Urban VIII refuses to consider the Portuguese claims regarding French incursions into South America.
Sikh member of the Mughal Durbar Bhagat Gurdit Singh pushes for the abolition of slavery and debt bondage in the Mughal Empire, on both moral and religious grounds. At the same time a Sikh-led campaign for the abolishment of slavery is initiated across the Mughal Empire.
Mughal Emperor Shah Babur II launches a new war against the Kanyakumari Pact, seeking to take more South Indian territory. This becomes known as the Third Indian War.
A Mughal army moves to expel the Russian colonists from Uzbekistan.
Clashes occur in Central Asia between Russian and Mughal troops. In several decisive battles, the Mughals defeat and drive off the Russian troops and the colonists they are there to protect. This is largely because the Mughals are operating closer to home, and the Russian military is very out of date. However, the defeat is blamed on the incompetence of the Russian officers in command, and nothing is done to correct the glaring deficiencies in the Russian military itself.
Portuguese forces move to expel the French colonists from France Équinoxiale and France Antarctique even without Papal support. However, the French have anticipated this, and are able to repel the attacks.
The first use of a windmill to generate electricity occurs in Thanjavur. From there the use of wind turbines spreads across the world.
With the assistance of troops paid for by loans from the Dakshina Nad, the Abyssinian faction under Sahle Krestos attempts to take control of the entirety of Abyssinia.
English forces defeat those of Spain in the Battle of Belize.
The first combination of wind generator with battery is used to smooth the electrical power supply in Golconda.
The first use of a watermill to generate electricity occurs in the Maratha Kingdom. From this small start the use of hydroelectricity spreads across the world.
In France, several of the more profligate and flamboyant Nabobs, ones who have converted to Islam, are denounced as Apostates by the Catholic Church.
A number of Islamic Nabobs in various European countries attempt to have elements of Islamic law introduced into the legal systems of their home nations. All of these attempts are defeated, as are other later attempts to do the same.
Other such Nabobs elsewhere in Europe are also denounced by the churches of their respective countries.
There is a proliferation of small wind turbines and hydroelectric power generators all across India and spreading from there to the rest of the world. These power small-scale electrical machinery, with larger ones powering larger facilities, such as the karkhanas, the state- and privately-run industrial concerns of the Mughal Empire.
Initially there are no power grids, but instead small local generators and consumers of electricity. Small local power grids quickly develop as people link their generators to smooth out variations across the grid as a whole. These are initially direct current grids, with all the problems that this entails for long-range transmission of power.
Further groups of Russian soldiers and colonists are unceremoniously ejected from Central Asia by the Mughals.
Several Russian military expeditions into Central Asia are ejected by the Mughals. The true reasons for this do not reach the high levels of the Russian military or government.
As the Mughal and Russian Empires begin to compete for territory and influence in Central Asia, a complex web of alliances, diplomacy, espionage, exploration and money begins to form among the various nations of that region. This soon becomes known as the 'Great Game' [very much analogous to the Great Game of the real world, though between the Mughal and Russian Empires rather than the Russian and British Empires]. As the Great Game progresses, the political situation in the Central Asian region becomes more and more convoluted and confusing.
Portuguese diplomats issue an ultimatum to the French government demanding their withdrawal from France Équinoxiale and France Antarctique. The French government rejects this demand.
Based on this rejection, Portugal declares war on France. What becomes known as the Brasealean War begins.
English forces expel the Spanish from southern Central America.
Englishman Reginald James St John is the first person to fly, in the first hot-air balloon. [Slightly earlier than the real world, where this occurred in 1783 and in France.]
The first electrically-driven vehicle is constructed by Kalanath Bajpai in the Mughal Empire. However, limitations of electricity supply and the mass of batteries it requires to run mean that it is not a viable design. [This is considerably earlier than in the real world.]
Merchants with the ear of the government of the Dakshina Nad manage to convince them that laws protecting property and money from arbitrary seizure by the government are a good thing, and such laws are passed.
The new protection of property allows the economy of the Dakshina Nad to begin to outstrip that of the Mughal Empire as money flows to where it is safest.
In the Third Indian War the forces of the Kanyakumari Pact defeat the Mughal forces and push them back, taking territory from the Mughals.
The Dakshina Nad sends aid to the Arakanese pirates and the government of the Bama to assist them in their fight against the Mughal Empire, and help the Dakshina Nad by opening a second front.
England joins Portugal against France in the Brasealian War.
Hostility to the Nabobs increases in Europe as their numbers continue to grow and the inflow of their wealth causes economic problems, particularly inflation, which impacts the common people of Europe.
Comet Koshiyari [Bode] is seen.
The first powered railways begin operating in a number of mining regions in Europe and India, carrying freight and ore to and from the mines.
As their advantages become clear, railways carrying goods to and from other industrial areas also soon begin to be built. In some places where the transport infrastructure is poor, railways allow the expansion of production to meet the rail capacity, cause new industries to be founded to maximise the use of the new railways, or allow local goods to be marketed further afield, increasing prosperity.
As the forces of the Kanyakumari Pact push onwards, the Mughal Empire attempts to negotiate a settlement with them to end the Third Indian War. However, the Pact are having too much success to accept a cease-fire at present.
The Abyssinian Civil War ends with the victory of Sahle Krestos, who takes the Abyssinian throne as the new Neguse Negest, restoring Abyssinia to the control of the Solomonic Dynasty. [This ends the Abyssinian Civil Wars much earlier than in the real world, where they dragged on until 1855.]
Taking advantage of the confusion of the Third Indian War, Arakanese pirates move west again, retaking lands that were formerly theirs, and acquiring much booty and bases in the process.
The first public mosque in western Europe opens in Dunedin [Edinburgh].
The Treaty of Port-au-Prince ends the Mosquito War, leaving England in control of southern Central America and the northern tip of South America.
The Xhosa-Netherlands Alliance is signed, allying the two nations.
The first gun using a percussion cap is marketed in England after being invented by James Wirtannen in New England [as opposed to around 1830 in the real world].
Over time the Xhosa industrialise and develop, with help from the Dutch.
A group of Polish Catholic merchants are killed in Moscow, when they resist their forcible conversion to Russian Orthodoxy by a mob. Other European merchants are also harassed, beaten, and robbed. A hastily-assembled Polish-Swedish-Austrian Triple Alliance declares war on the Holy Russian Empire.
The Mughal Empire begins reforming its armies in an attempt to make them more effective.
The Holy Russian Empire attempts to send Russian Orthodox missionaries to the islands of Yapon [Japan]. Yapon refuses them admission.
In an attempt to prevent the Mughal Empire taking advantage of them in the War with the Triple Alliance, the Raskolniki government begins funding some of the Central Asian Khanates to harass the Mughal Empire.
The first electric arc lamp begins to be used in the Mughal Empire [this happened in 1810 in the real world].
As part of their payment for their assistance during the Abyssinian Civil War, the Dakshina Nad is granted various trading concessions with Abyssinia, particularly in the lucrative coffee trade.
The second Pudhiya Kozhikode Civil War ends with the resounding defeat of the forces of the claimant, Tinayancheri Raja, who is captured by the government forces. Investigation after the war by the Pudhiya Kozhikode government finds that Tinayancheri Raja is in fact an impostor and a pretender. After a brief trial, Tinayancheri Raja is executed. The plutocratic system of government is restored.
With exposure to outside ideas, some natives of Marege hit on the idea of farming to supply the colonists with meat. After some practise they manage to learn how to farm and herd wild kangaroos and emus.
The first anti-Nabob riots occur in London. Several Nabobs are lynched by angry mobs.
Having seen the strength and power of the Indian and European states during their search for help abroad, the supporters of Abyssinian Emperor Sahle Krestos are able to persuade him of the necessity of modernising his country in order for it to be able to survive. Abyssinian students are sent abroad to learn, while foreign experts are brought to Abyssinia to teach and build. With this, Abyssinia begins to develop into a modern nation.
The past-wards-looking attitude of the Holy Russian Empire proves to have badly damaged their military as its weapons and tactics are quickly shown to be very out of date and no match for the forces of the Triple Alliance. The Holy Russian Empire is pushed back on all sides. Given the extent of Russian losses the war begins to be referred to as the War of the Russian Humiliation.
Striking from the north and south, the Triple Alliance takes control of the Baltic coast, cutting Russia entirely off from the Baltic Sea. The best efforts of the Russian military, including suicide attacks by those accepting the official line that the acceptance of martyrdom in the name of the 'old faith' is the only way towards salvation, cannot turn the tide.
The Triple Alliance takes St Petersburg, badly damaging the city in the process.
The Mughals halt the armies of the Kanyakumari Pact at the Battle of Ellichpur.
During the Third Indian War, the regions of Berar and Bidar, each once an independent state, break free from the Marathas and become independent once again. With covert assistance from the other Indian states they manage to retain their independence.
As fighting spills onto its territory, Spain joins France against England and Portugal in the Brasealian War.
Anti-Nabob unrest spreads across England and the rest of Europe. Nabobs are lynched in riots in a number of European cities. Some Nabobs return to India while other moderate their spending and behaviour to fit in more with the societies of their homelands. With this, although hostility still exists, widespread hostility to the Nabobs dies down.
European traders begin visiting the islands of Nieuw Zeeland [New Zealand] to trade with the natives and hunt whales. [This is slightly earlier than in the real world.]
Despite the continuing Brasealean War, with the Treaty of Bordeaux, England and France divide up eastern Marege [Australia] between them, with the English northern area forming Nova Hibernia, and the French southern region forming France Australis.
Although they are not terribly effective at this point, the use of suicide/martyrdom troops by the Holy Russian Empire continues to be used, and becomes a significant, if minor, part of Russian military doctrine. It leads to the development, in time, of specialised Oryzhiya Mychenichestva [Martyrdom Weapons].
A number of Nabobs who proved to be 'fair weather' converts to Islam and who converted back to Christianity in Europe, are killed as apostates when they have to return to the East.
Taking advantage of Russia's losses in the west, the Ottoman Empire and the Central Asian Khanates also invade and take control of significant swathes of Russian territory in Asia.
The forces of the Triple Alliance reach the gates of Moscow, and besiege the city, trapping the Russian Royal Family inside.
With both sides beginning to feel the strain of the war in India, negotiations to end the Third Indian War begin.
Seeing that they have little choice in the matter, the government of the Mughal Empire also introduces laws safeguarding personal property and money, not unlike those introduced in the Dakshina Nad in 1778.
Ash and mud flows from the eruption of the Asama volcano in Yapon [Japan] kill fourteen hundred people.
The largest historic fissure flow from the Laki volcano in Iceland, which continues into 1784, kills between a quarter and a third of the population of Iceland by disease and starvation, along with tens of thousands more in Europe. It also triggers widespread famine across the Indian sub-continent and harsh weather in North America and elsewhere.
Icelandic refugees from the eruption of the Laki volcano travel to New England and Europe.
As part of the Brasealian War, Spanish forces attempt to invade Portugal, but are repulsed.
English Royal Navy ships sink a number of Spanish warships and bombard Spanish ports.
Helped by promises of financial and military assistance, France purchases the largely uninhabited (at least by Europeans) territory of the Mapuche people in the south of South America from Spain.
Despite their best efforts, the Portuguese forces in South America and elsewhere are outmatched by those of France. Although the Portuguese have the local advantage, the French have more money and resources, higher technology, and help from the other nations in South America against Braseal. Portugal is pushed back on many fronts.
Although the long-running skirmishes between European and Indian shipping and colonies in West African waters continue to occur, they do not lead to war. However, they also do not stop, and low-level hostilities on land and sea persist. In time skirmishes and conflicts between different European powers also occur.
With no-one wishing to back down and lose their strategic and economic advantages, the Indian and European powers work to develop and expand their various west African colonies. [This is rather like the Scramble for Africa of the real world, but perhaps a hundred years earlier than it.]
The earlier colonisation of Africa means that the colonisers have less of a technological advantage over the colonised. Indian colonisers are also rather more tolerant of other races and religions. Because of these factors many native cultures survive rather better than they did in the real world, and various groups, including the Ashantee and Xhosa, are able to maintain their independence.
In the War of the Russian Humiliation a raid by the Russian army allows Tsar Ivan VI and his court to escape the siege of Moscow by the Triple Alliance, but in the process the city of Moscow falls. It is sacked by the Triple Alliance and burns to the ground, though it is never clear whether this was accidentally or deliberately. It is at this point that the war becomes officially known as the War of the Russian Humiliation.
The Third Indian War ends with the Treaty of Surat. Again, the Mughals have lost territory to the Dakshina Nad, but there is little they can do about it. This ends the last major war on the Indian subcontinent.
The annual Nile flood fails, perhaps due to the continuing volcanic activity in Iceland, leading to a massive famine across Egypt.
After calls from the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Russian Empire becomes the first nation in the world to institute a volunteer army to defend the Russian Orthodox Church and the Holy Russian Empire against those, like the reviled Patriarch Nikon, who would corrupt or destroy it. This is the first volunteer citizen army of any nation in the world. Volunteering for the Holy Russian Army is soon becomes considered to be an honourable profession.
In the Brasealean War, French forces take control of the mouth of the River Amazon.
With Russia weakened by its revolution, the Kalmyk people rise up and throw out their Russian 'advisors', using the Russians own weapons and training against them and declaring the new Khanate of Atyrau, centred on the settlement of the same name in Central Asia.
Tsar Ivan VI attempts to continue resistance to the invasion of the Triple Alliance, but their forces outmatch those of the Russians too badly, and are assisted by the other invasions from the south.
King Christian VII of Demark [not the same person as the king of the same name from the real world] dies without issue, leaving British King Charles IV as the next in line to the Danish throne. A Personal Union of the thrones of England and Denmark is formed as King Charles IV becomes head of state of both nations.
Mughal Emperor Shah Babur II, looking for ways to salvage the prestige of the Mughal Empire following the unsatisfactory end of the Second Indian War, instead turns his attention to the less well defended states to the north of the Mughal Empire, hoping to add them to his Empire instead. He also sends his army and navy against the Arakanese pirates, despite protests from the government of Bama [Burma].
Mughal expeditionary forces are also sent on punitive expeditions to the Central Asian Khanates. Several of the Khanates, including the Khanate of Kokand, lose territory to the Mughals.
Nepal invades Tibet and takes control of significant areas of the country.
August von Puttkamer, an inventor from Prussia, is the first to successfully mount a steam engine in a boat and use it to drive it through the water. [This is at about the same time as this happened in the real world.]
French troops push back the Portuguese in Braseal. English troops push back the Spanish.
Reflecting the change in its fortunes and areas of operation, the British East India Company renames itself the Royal Universal Company. It remains simply a trading company, though a powerful one, rather than a colonial power in its own right [unlike the case in the real world].
Encouraged by the success of the people of the Khanate of Atyrau, and aided and encouraged by their neighbours and, less overtly, the Mughal Empire (seeking retaliation for the Holy Russian Empire funding the Central Asian Khanates against them), the Kalmyk and other peoples living in the regions of Russia close to its southern border also rise up and secede from Russia, establishing two new nations, the Khanate of Irtysh and the Khanate of Tobyl, both named after major rivers in the region.
As time goes by the English Royal Universal Company extends its interests outside those of trade with foreign colonies and into areas such as the commercial and retail markets of England and Denmark themselves. As it does so it becomes a more and more significant factor in the everyday lives of the average citizens of its home nation.
Attempts by elements of the governments of England and Denmark to break the near monopoly of the Royal Universal Company on many areas of trade fail, due to the power and influence of the company in the countries as a whole.
Russian representatives approach the Triple Alliance, asking for terms to end the War of the Russian Humiliation.
As part of the new Personal Union of the thrones of England and Denmark, despite protests Denmark reverts from the Gregorian calendar that it adopted in 1700 to the older and less accurate Julian calendar used in England.
A number of anti-Spanish rebellions break out across their South American holdings.
Prince Alphonse, the tolerant and cosmopolitan youngest nephew of King Louis XVII of France, returns from a visit to India and announces that he is to marry Princess Roshanara Begum, daughter of the Mughal Emperor Shah Babur II. He has the approval of his father in this. Although Prince Alphonse is not directly in line for the throne, he is not far from it, leading to the remote possibility that France could, with sufficient bad luck, have a Muslim monarch. More conservative members of the French government and nobility are appalled at this, but their objections are ignored by the King.
As the areas controlled by the French expand further and further into Mapuche lands, clashes with the native Mapuche people occur more and more frequently.
The administration of English Cuba is merged with that of the Dominion of New England.
In Poland-Lithuania, Wojciech Celinski invents the first methods for preserving food by canning. [Considerably earlier than in the real world.] Canning quickly begins to be used around the world.
In retaliation for the Holy Russian Empire funding the Central Asian Khanates against them, the Mughal Empire continues to covertly assist the Khanates of Atyrau, Irtysh and Tobyl to cause trouble for the Holy Russian Empire. However, certain of the nobility of the Khanates do not wish to offend the Russians either, even in their current weakened state, and inform the Russians of the actions of the Mughals. After taking their money.
Comet Yourcenar [Encke] is discovered by Johann Yourcenar in Canada. It reappears in 1795, 1805, 1813, and 1822.
Comet Pannella [Herschel] is discovered.
The Russians and Mughals quickly find themselves in a funding battle with the Khanates of Atyrau, Irtysh and Tobyl, each one working to out-bid the other to keep the Khanates off their backs while the Khanates play each side against the other to maximise the money they can obtain. In all three cases the money and effort expended to bribe them it still much less than fighting a war against them would entail.
As time passes the training, equipment and money gained from the Holy Russian and Mughal Empires allow the Khanates of Atyrau, Irtysh and Tobyl to become local powers in their own right, and all begin to industrialise and modernise, at least in terms of technology. However, socially they barely change, all remaining largely tribal slave-owning societies.
In a humiliating defeat, Tsar Ivan VI signs the Treaty of Warsaw, ending the War of the Russian Humiliation. Russia has lost its access to the Baltic Sea, as well as St Petersburg, and large areas of territory between the coast and Moscow. Moscow remains in Russian hands but is now close to the new border.
The Russians are also forced to accept similarly humiliating and disadvantageous peace terms with the Ottoman Empire and the Khanates, losing more territory in Central Asia.
There is major unrest in Russia at this great defeat. A coup d'état in Moscow imprisons most of the leaders responsible for the conduct of the war, and replaces them with individuals who have what they claim are the true interests of the Holy Russian Empire at heart. A new regime is installed.
A Chinese army expels the Nepali invaders from Tibet and forces Nepal to pay reparations.
Prince Alphonse and Princess Roshanara Begum are married in Versailles. Despite the conversion of Princess Roshanara Begum to Catholicism, the union is still frowned upon by the French establishment.
Triple Alliance colonists begin to settle on the lands taken from Russia, often displacing the Russian inhabitants who lived there before them.
Many of the Central Asian Khanates take advantage of the weakness of the Holy Russian Empire to expel or exterminate the Russian Orthodox missionaries that the Holy Russian Empire has been sending into their lands since the Russian Revolution. However, this does not discourage the missionaries from returning, or new missionaries taking the place of their martyred brothers.
Skirmishes with Nepali Ghurkhas occur along the border of the Mughal Empire. This rather plays into the hands of Mughal Emperor Shah Babur II who wishes to expand the Mughal Empire after being defeated in South India in 1784.
Mughal forces decisively defeat the Arakanese pirates, and take control of what was Arakan. Attempts by the military of Bama to prevent this are summarily repulsed, and Bama looses significant areas of land to the Mughal Empire. Ayutthaya also takes this opportunity to grab sections of Bama along its border.
The first (overland) telegraph cable links India and Europe.
With the Brasealian War reaching a stalemate, negotiations to end it take place in Madrid, in Spain. Eventually all sides agree on terms, and the Treaty of Madrid is signed, ending the war. France gains the territories it desires in South America, while Portugal cedes significant parts of its South American holdings in Braseal to France, and formally establishes the right of France Équinoxiale and France Antarctique to exist. However, Braseal does gain some Spanish territory in return. Spain loses some South American territory, particularly to England. The Dutch establish formal borders for their colony of Suriname.
The expansion of the Mughal and Dakshina Nad settlements in Marege [Australia] force the Dutch to relinquish their claims to large areas of northern and western Marege which they had previously included as part of Nova Holland.
A lower-caste candidate of the Mughal Imperial Examinations discovers that, despite their supposedly being open to all, the Mughal establishment is actually rejecting those of lower class and lower caste regardless of ability. Unrest and rioting begins to spread across the Mughal Empire.
After long years of development, the English colony of Nigritia in West Africa is made a Dominion. As part of the structure of the new Dominion the Royal Universal Company, successor to the Royal African Company, is given a monopoly over most trade and industry within Nigritia.
The Portuguese sign the Treaty of Muscat with the Mughal Empire and the Dakshina Nad that officially defines the borders of Mozambique.
Unrest spreads across the Spanish Empire at what is seen as the very poor treatment of Spain in the Treaty of Madrid.
As time goes by France extends its control further and further up the River Amazon.
With its losses of territory in Braseal to France, the Portuguese government is determined to never let such a thing happen again. They decide that the way forward is to build up not only Braseal but all their colonies into an unassailable position.
Over time a flourishing grey and black market develops in the Dominion of Nigritia, providing goods and services outside the monopoly of the Royal Universal Company.
The Nigritian black and grey markets come increasingly under the control of organised criminals who in time become known as Freetraders. These have grown out of the many secret societies of West Africa, and retain many of the beliefs and rituals of those societies.
Using Ghurkha raids along the border as an excuse, Mughal forces under Emperor Shah Babur II invade Nepal, and quickly defeat the Nepali troops who try to oppose them. They take over the country. Nepali refugees flee into Tibet, Bhutan and other parts of central and south-eastern Asia.
The Dakshina Nad protests at the Mughals taking over large areas of Bama. Ayutthaya supports these protests.
The first private passenger-carrying railway, built by a Mansabdar in the Mughal Empire for his own pleasure, begins operation.
Other private railways begin to be built by the rich around the world for their own use. Many of these are highly luxurious.
1640 to 1669 | 1670 to 1699 | 1700 to 1729 | 1730 to 1759 | 1760 to 1789 | 1790 to 1819
1820 to 1849 | 1850 to 1879 | 1880 to 1909 | 1910 to 1939 | 1940 to 1969 | 1970 to 2000
The World in 2000 | Africa | Central America And The Caribbean | North America | South America | Antarctica
Central Asia | Eastern And South-Eastern Asia | South Asia | Europe | The Middle East | Oceania
Go to the Gurkani Âlam Timeline, Differences, Politics, Science and Technology, Society, Notes or Summary Pages.
Back to the Gurkani Âlam Home Page.
 |
Copyright © Tony Jones, 2007.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. |