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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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Amerika - Latin America 1860 The Kingdom of Araucania is proclaimed by a council of Araucanian chiefs
under King Orelie Antoine I, a
French adventurer, in what has hitherto been independent, but Chilean-claimed,
lands populated and fiercely defended by Araucanian tribes. Later, Patagonia is
added to the title and lands claimed by the kingdom. 1861
Santo Domingan
strongman General Pedro Stanta Familias, seeing the need his country has for
both economic and military protection (the last 10 years have seen 3 Haitian
attempts to reconquer Santo Domingo), looks around for a strong protector. What
he finds is former colonial power Spain. By March, Santo Domingo again joins
Puerto Rico and Cuba in the the Spanish caraibian empire. The first rebellion
breaks out only 2 months later, and though it is quickly crushed, another erupts
in June. 1862 Even with Santo
Domingo still in turmoil, Spanish queen Isabel II sees momentum building for a
greater Spanish role in Latin America. She thus sends a naval squadron of the
Peninsular (Spain proper) fleet to Latin American waters. Spanish troops are
also prominent in the Spanish/French/British army that lands at and occupies the
Mexican port of Vera Cruz in Mexico as security for the foreign loans that the
Mexican government has suspended payments on, fielding 6.000 of the 9.000 troops
used there. When it transpires that the French are out not so much after
economic benefits, but direct occupation, both Spanish and British evacuate,
while the French pour in more troops. The situation is not wholly unlike that in
Vietnam only a year earlier. The now wholly French
intervention in Mexico suffers a setback when 6.500 French troops are repulsed
at Puebla, on the road to Mexico City, in May. The remainder of the year is
spent preparing for another attempt. King Orelie Antoine I
of Araucania and Patagonia is captured by Chilenian troops, tried, deemed
insane, and expelled. He flees to France. 1863 Spanish-Peruvian
tension erupts as Spain tries to use a murder of a Spanish citizen in Peru as
reasons to increase its influence. In response to
repeated rebellions against the Spanish authorities, a state of siege is
declared in Santo Domingo. In Mexico, a
reinforced French army takes first Puebla, then Mexico City, then all of central
Mexico. As to the north of the country, it comes to somewhat of a race with the
CSA for control. Initially acting by proxy, the Confederates try to create a
belt of pro-Confederate states in the north of Mexico. This process stretches
into 1864, when the Confederates send in regular troops. Otherwise, the French
begin turning the rest of Mexico into a French protectorate. Archduke Maximilian
of the house of Habsburg is brought in and installed as the new Mexican emperor.
1864
To highten the stakes
in the Spanish-Peruvian/Chilean war, Spanish forces occupy the Chinca islands,
providing 60% of Peruvian government revenue thanks to the taxes levied on guano
exports. Anti-Spanish sentiment begins building in Latin America as an initial
agreement is seen humiliating Peru. The agreement becomes rather worthless when
a nationalist backlash produces a revolution that overthrows the Peruvian
government. In Mexico, the
confederates, already in possession of the province of Sonora, use the actions
of Texan desperado Juan Cortina – who declares himself governor of the
province of Tamaulipas – to intervene and occupy not only that state, but
Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nueva Leon, too. The French, aided by native
conservatives, drive the Republicans out of the last major cities they hold.
From now on, the war in Mexico mostly consists of small flying columns pursuing
what rebel bands are still around. Paraguayan president
Lopez enters into the final stages of the military build-up he has been
conducting since he took power upon the death of his father in 1862. Thanks to
the end of the War of Secession between the CSA and USA, there is a windfall of
military equipment not needed in those two countries any more. This is what
Lopez dips into to finally flesh out his navy and finish the modernization of
the army. As it turns out, he needs the armaments, too. By november, Brazilian
emperor Dom Pedro II sends troops into Uruguay to unseat the conservative
(”Blanco”) administration, thereby threatening Paraguayan access to the
oceans. The Uruguayan government asks for Paraguayan aid, and an expeditionary
army of 20.000 is sent down the Parana River to aid the Uruguayan Blancos. 1865 A Spanish attempt to
pressure Chile through a blockade of its harbors (rather silly givent hat the
Spaniards have 4 vessels to blockade dozens of ports along an 1800-mile
coastline) produces a revolution and, following that, a Chilean declaration of
war against Spain. A follow-on revolution in Peru against another government
trying to reach an accomodation with Spain (who still sits on 60% of Peruvian
government revenue) leads to a Peruvian-Chilean alliance and a Peruvian
declaration of a state of war with Spain. By the end of the year, the two
countries navies had been gathered and placed under Chilean command. In Mexico, the
counter-insurgency goes on. The French are somewhat unable to really finish it
off, though, to which comes their inability to actually make their investment in
money and lives pay off – emperor Maximilian has turned out to be something as
rare as a Habsburg liberal, who doesnt want to bleed the country white to pay
the French. Add to that that his liberalism – he actually chooses to maintain
most of the liberal reforms put through by the republicans before the French
invasion – pushes a lot of the erstwhile Mexican conservatives away, but
without drawing comparable numbers of liberal loyalists to him. In sum,
Maximilians support is shrinking, and the French are looking for a way out. Paraguayan/Uruguayan
troops initially manage to throw the Brazilians out of Uruguay with heavy losses
after the battle of Paysandu, inflicting further losses on the Brazilians when
they invade the southern Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul and beat the
Brazilians again in the battle of Uruguayana. When Paraguayan power brings the
northern province of Missiones (which anyway is disputed between the two
countries) more into the Paraguayan orbit, Argentinean president Mitre decides
he better declare war on Paraguay. By late 1865, the unified
Argentinean/Brazilian Alliance naval forces have forced the Paraguayan navy up
the Parana River, and are blockading the expeditionary forces in Uruguay. 1866
Peru declares war on
Spain. Initial offensive Spanish actions lead to the succesfule bombardment of
Chiles most important port, Valparaiso. While most of the important buildings in
the city are destroyed along with the Chilean maritime fleet, a follow-up
bombardment of the most important port of Peru, Callao, is decidedly less
succesful. Though the Spanish inflict a good deal of damage, they receive a lot
themselves, and eventually evacuate their forces from the Pacific. While the
damaged vessels go to the Philippines for repair, the undamaged ones head back
to a staging area in the southern Atlantic. This gives the Allied forces the
opportunity to make their own daring operations: the bombardment of Manila in
the Philippines. The CSA, now rather
concerned with Spanish actions in Latin America, begins intervening somewhat.
When direct diplomatic threats dont do the trick (the Spaniards are aware that
the confederate navy litterally has been sold down the river to the highest
bidder under continuing assault of states´ righters), the confederates begin
aiding both the Santo Domingan rebels as well as the Peruvian-Chilenian
alliance, the former with supplies (few volunteers are willing to come forward
to fight with the negroes and mulattoes of the island), and the latter by
providing them with a new supreme commander for the Allied fleet, John Randolph
Tucker, of War of Independence fame. Mexican affairs are
dominated by the French moves to get out. In January, Emperor Napoleon declares
victory in front of the French parliament, and announces a stepped French
withdrawal from Mexico – adding to the urgency are also German moves in
Europe. By spring, a deal has been made with the confederacy, that confederate
troops will be withdrawn from northern Mexico in return for so-called ”Black
peonage” (in reality slavery) being allowed in Mexico, and an open door for
confederate immigrants – the CSA hoping that these latter will eventually
”do a Texas” on the Mexicans in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, those states most
suited for the slave economy. Other than bringing in state revenue from the
northern territories again (chiefly among all the gold mines in Sonora), the end
of the confrontation in the north also brings in a number of confederate
veterans that are happy to serve the emperor in the newly created ”American
Legion” (Created alongside the ”Austrian” and ”Belgian” legions), thus
off-setting the loss of French troops somewhat. What really does the trick,
though, is a deal that Mexican exile Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna strikes with
general John C. O´Neill of the Fenian movement in the US. Frustrated by their
failed invasion of Canada, and pressed by the racism of the Americans (the
party, not the people), many veterans of the War of Secession and invasion of
Canada choose to enlist in emperor Maximilians Irish Legion created for the
occasion. Many bring their families, and over time an actual immigration of
Irish begins, as the pro-Anglo policies of the US and Great Britain close a
number of doors to them. The inferior
Paraguayan riverine forces manage, thanks to a surprise attack at dawn, to crush
the Alliance naval forces gathered at Riachuelo near the city of Corrientes. At
the same time, a new Paraguayan army moves south between the Parana and Uruguay
rivers, occupying the provinces of
Corrientes and Entre Rios and thus re-establishing connection with the forces in
Uruguay both by sea and by land. By that time, the Brazilian army has re-entered
Uruguay, forcing the Alliance forces back from the border, to the
vicinity of Montevideo. 1867 The Peruvian/Chilean
attack on the Spanish is finally launched, with the heavy naval units going west
to the Philippines to attack the Spanish base of Manila, while the lighter units
go into the Atlantic to hunt for Spanish commerce. What the Allies either dont
know or have failed to take into account is that Manila is rather heavily
fortified, and that the Spaniards themselves are massing a massive naval force
in the southern Atlantic. The result is the veritable destruction of the
Peruvian and Chilenian fleets, and the splitting of the alliance, as the
Chilenians lose faith in the cause. A peace treaty is signed with Chile in late
summer. The final straw breaking the resolve of the Peruvians to continue the
war comes with the fall-campaign of the Spanish navy, as they subject the
Peruvian coastal cities to a withering storm of fire as the Spanish units now
concentrated are able to steam up and down the Peruvian coast at will. A peace
treaty is signed in December. Spain, other than reparations, gains a number of
islands (the Chincha islands from Peru and the Islas Desventuradas and the Juan Fernandez
Archipelago from Chile), but most importantly of all also the Chilenian claims
to Patagonia. In return, the independence of Peru and Chile is recognized by
Spain (about time, since it is 40 years since they gained it). The end of the
war actually has repercussions on the War of the Alliance being fought on the
other side of the continent, but more on that further below. In
Argentina, Paraguayan scheming manages to bring enough of the conservative
Blancos on to the side of Paraguayan president Lopez to start a sort of
semi-civil war. The Argentinean interior has anyway only been reunited with
president Mitres liberal stronghold in Buenos Aires for eight years,
and now the bonds are loosening again. This proves to lighten the load
upon the Alliance, that is able to transfer troops to the Brazilian front, where
they have been driven back into the southern third of the country by Brazilian
troops. A brief Paraguayan attempt at cutting the Brazilian troops off by a push
into the Santa Catarina province fails miserably, as the Paraguayans exhaust
themselves on the well dug-in Brazilian forces. Instead the year is mostly about
sieges of various strongpoints and fortresses built in southern Uruguay, and
Brazilian attempts at re-establishing the naval blockade on the Uruguay and
Parana rivers that are, however, foiled by Paraguayan introduction of the
torpedo (naval mine) into Latin American warfare. By the end of the year a new
element enters the equation, when the Spanish naval forces returning from the
war with Chile and Peru are used to put pressure upon Argentina to relinquish
the Argentinian claim to Patagonia. Faced with revolt in the interior, and
promised a certain financial compensation that will go towards strengthening his
position, Argentinean president Mitre does relinquish the Argentinean claims to
the lands south of the Rio Colorado. Patagonia is now a Spanish colony. 1868 As Argentina descends
into civil war, the last of her forces pitched against the Alliance are
withdrawn, moving any Brazilian victory a good distance into the future. At the
same time, the losses in the war against considerably bigger Brazil are
beginning to tear on the will of the Paraguayans and Uruguayans to conduct the
war. By late 1868, a peace deal is worked out between Brazil, Uruguay and
Paraguay: Paraguay and Brazil are to withdraw from Uruguay, which is
fundamentally demilitarized, only retaining a national guard of a few thousand
men militia. The Paraguayan-Brazilian border disputes are resolved by submitting
them to arbitration by the USA, Paraguay agrees to pay a certain amount in
reparations for Brazilian property ceased immediately before the war, and the
Paraguayan incursion into Argentina is glossed over and left to the involved
parties (Paraguay and Argentina) to be resolved. In Brazil itself, the
end of the war brings about a sigh of relief, as the senseless slaughter ends.
At the same time, the liberal opposition is unified both by its shared animosity
against the emperor and his conduct of the was, and because Emperor Pedro II
takes the advice of his Council of State as he selects a conservative rather
than liberal replacement for the seat of a dead liberal senator. That the
emperor himself is a liberal at heart does nothing to ameliorate the liberal
attacks. Cuba erupts in
rebellion. While taking ten years to subdue (and involving a Spanish civil war
and a war with the CSA), the rebellion is from the beginning comparably easily
confined to the eastern end of the island. 1869
In the civil war that
breaks out this year in Haiti, CS-US ambitions soon collide, as both sides seek
to gain control over the republic to use it as dumping ground for their
”surplus” negro population – the Confederacy wants
to get rid of its free negros, so as to not give the slaves any ideas, and the
Union wants a place to settle all the former confederate slaves who have fled
north. The net result is a more-or-less endless civil war between a CS-supported
mulatto faction in the north and a US-supported negro faction in the south, that
will go on for the next 37 years. In Mexico the number
of Irish immigrants is already crossing the 100.000-mark as Irish are streaming
in from the US, Canada and Ireland. As a result, Emperor Maximilian is able to
cling on to power. 1870 The number of Irish
in Mexico reaches a quarter of a million, as a virtual torrent of Irish
immigrants streams out of the US and into Mexico to get away from the American
presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. Other than expanding the Irish Legion, the
increasing numbers also soon lead to the founding of virtual Irish quarters in
the larger Mexican cities. In some places, Irish agricultural colonies are even
established. 1871 In Brazil, under
pressure of the liberal opposition, a conservative government somewhat nudged on
by the rather liberal Emperor, puts through the “Law of free birth”. By it,
all children of slaves born thereafter are free, but are apprenticed to the
owner of their mother until age 21, with the option of being released at the age
of eight for an indemnity paid by the government. It proves to be a compromise
that satisfies the slave-owners as it pushes the release of their slaves quite
far into the future – the slave-owners know the institution of slavery is on
its way out. The liberals are somewhat less satisfied. 1872 The last republican
opposition is crushed in Mexico 1873 Peru and Bolivia sign
a secret treaty guaranteeing each others´ borders. The move into the Atacama
Desert region, shared by the two, by Chilean settlers, miners and entrepreneurs
has the two powers fearing that Chile might make a grab for the territory. A conflict develops
in Brazil over the ultra-conservative policies of some Brazilian clergy, that
conflict with Brazilian law. Essentially, it’s a question of the clergy,
educated in France and there indoctrinated with anti-masonic beliefs, not
realizing that the Brazilian masons are not the anti-Clerical masons of France,
but are rather an important element in the forces that even gave Brazil its
independence. Thus, their attempts to pit the church against the masons –
anyhow based on a rather narrow interpretation of papal messages – quickly
create an uproar in lay circles. In the end, deft negotiations with the Vatican
by a Brazilian diplomat, and the Imperial police refraining from throwing
the clergy into prison for their breaking of the law leads to the ironing-out of
the crisis, and the re-establishment of internal order. The CSA, seeing an
opportunity to make a land-grab in Cuba as Spain is not only tied up in fighting
the 3rd Carlist War, but also has the main base of its navy –
Cartagena – declared an independent commune. Spain is thus without any means
to bring pressure to bear in Cuba, and the confederacy takes advantage of the
first opportunity that presents itself: the Virginius affair. The Virginius is a
ship that, as it is sailing supplies and volunteers/mercenaries/adventurers to
the Cuban rebels (the Cuban rebellion is now in its fifth year). Problem no 1
is, that it is doing so under the confederate flag. Problem no 2 is, that the
Spanish in Cuba intercept the ship, and proceed to execute a good deal of the
crew and passengers, including a number of confederate citizens. Public outcry
in the CSA is immediate and, despite all attempts by president Benjamin to keep
the peace, declaration of war on Spain is soon part of the campaign platform of
both candidates. 1874 Chile and Bolivia
sign a treaty resolving their differences over the Atacama region. Chile gives
up on its old rights to part of the taxes derived from the guano sales from the
region in exchange for a Bolivian promise not to raise taxes on Chilean
corporations there for the next 25 years. With Spain in the
midst of a civil war and not really concerned about sparsely populated Latin
American colonies, there is very little in the way of King Orelie Antoine I of
Araucania and Patagonia when he returns to his erstwhile kingdom with a group of
fortune hunters and mercenaries. The CSA declares war
on Spain and, many states already having offered up their militia for an
eventual campaign in Cuba, an army is soon dispatched to Cuba. Landing at
Guantanamo Bay, the confederate troops have three nasty surprises: not only are
the Spanish troops in the island counter-attacking rather than folding as
expected, but disease is soon tearing large holes in the confederate ranks. It
is the final nasty surprise that does the confederate plans for a quick conquest
in, though: following a 4-month siege, the Cartagena Commune is finally defeated
in January 1874, meaning the unified Spanish navy suddenly appears off
Guantanamo Bay. There the superb Spanish fleet, the product of a determined
effort to create a world-class navy all through the 1860s pretty much rips the
Confederate fleet to shreds. It is helped in its task much by a 10-year effort
by the Confederate congress to downsize the federal military. While President
Lee has managed to save much of the army, the navy has had to suffer the more.
The Confederate expeditionary army thus suddenly sees itself isolated in an
alien island where even the rebels (being anti-slavery an all) are hostile to
them. It is blockaded in its bridgehead at Guantanamo Bay by the Spanish army
and navy for the next 8 months, with Confederate blockade breakers making
frequent, but insufficient trips with supplies from the CSA, and with disease
taking a heavier and heavier toll on the Confederate troops.
The same period of time sees a prolonged Spanish campaign of devastating
attacks upon Confederate coastal cities, culminating in the bombardment of
Charleston in September. This, plus the surrender of the Confederate
expeditionary army in October proves to be the death knell of the CS adventure.
By the time the peace treaty is signed, bringing things back to the status quo,
the Confederate president is already impeached, reducing CS intervention in
non-Mexican foreign affairs considerably for the next 12 years. In Mexico there is
considerable turmoil as Emperor Maximilian I conducts a purge of his armed
forces, now that the insurrection is over. It hits mainly his Irish generals,
who have shown an annoying tendency to have their own opinions as to how the
country should be run, and who frankly don’t like the way Maximilian is trying
to take away from them the perks they have amassed over the last couple years
when their troops have held power over large stretches of the country. At the
same time, the conservatives are also annoyed by Maximilian as be begins pushing
through the program of liberal reform he has been aiming for for the last
decade, but which the civil war and his need of the conservatives has kept him
from. 1875 There is a military
coup in Mexico as a coalition of Irish generals under John C. O´Neill and
Mexican conservatives overthrow Emperor Maximilian and expel him from the
country. Maximilian does have certain backers, but not the most probable ones.
Prime among those who take up arms against the coup is thus Porfirio Diaz, once
the prime general of the liberal rebels. Support for the liberals has been
severely dented by the losses in the previous civil war, to which few want to
return, though, and the rebellion is comparatively easily contained. Adding to
it is also that the junta puts a Mexican – sort of – on the Imperial throne,
namely Agustín de Iturbide
y Green, the adoptive son of
Maximilian and the grandson of Agustin I, the first emperor of Mexico. 1876 The
conservative-Irish alliance in Mexico finally crushes the liberal rebellion. Its
leader Porfirio Diaz is shot. The crushing of the liberals lead to an internal
power-struggle in the junta, as conservatives and Irish nationalists fall out.
The Irish come out on top. 1877 A Spanish expedition
re-establishes Spanish authority in Patagonia. Or, rather, they do so in the
Welsh settlement at Chubut. An attempt to advance on the Araucanian kingdom is
soon abandoned in the face of fierce resistance. With the Mexican
conservatives and liberals briefly at bay, fighting begins between the Mexican
Irish factions. It is frequent, brutal, and quite bloody. 1878 The first liberal
government comes into power in Brazil. Bolivia breaks the
earlier agreement with Chile, as it increases taxes upon the Chilean Antofagasta
Nitrate Company. Chile is not amused. 1879 War breaks out
between Chile and Bolivia. After the Bolivians threaten to confiscate Chilean
property if they do not pay the increased taxes, Chilean troops occupy the
Bolivian port of Antofagasta. Bolivian declaration of war on Chile and calls for
help from Peru is quickly followed by Chilean declaration of war upon both, and
total Chilean occupation of the entire province of Antofagasta. At the same
time, the Chilean navy defeats Bolovian and Peruvian fleets in naval engagements
at Iquique and Angamos, leaving the
way open for a push up the Peruvian coast. 1880 Given that neither
Bolivia nor Peru seem to tire of the war, the Chilean army invades Peru,
defeating the Peruvian forces and making quick headway up the coast. CSA
attempts at brokering a cease-fire lead to nothing. A French consortium
begins digging a trans-American canal across the Isthmus of Panama in
north-western Colombia. After 4 years of
infighting, the Mexican Irish finally see the danger of their weakening
themselves – Latino Mexican conspiracies surface again and again, and they
(the Irish) end up sitting down together to hammer out some sort of deal that
might offset their internal squabbling. In the end the Fenians obsessed with the
Irish past come up with the ideal solution: the revival of the high-kingship
once in place in Ireland. Though it hasn’t been practiced for about 7
centuries, they decide the Mexican situation is ideal for it. Thus, Mexico is
divided into four kingdoms named after the four regions of Ireland, that are
allotted to the warring factions. On top of these are put a high king who
governs external affairs, and who is elected by the entire Irish element in
Mexico. Mexican emperor Agustin Iturbide y Green is quetly done away with. The
Mexican natives are conveniently left out of the deal, and of course immediately
rebel. The united Irish have little trouble suppressing them, though. 1881 Chilean forces occupy
the Peruvian capital of Lima. Without neither Peru nor Chile or Bolivia wishing
to end the war, but none of the three parties able to put any additional forces
into it, the war degenerates to a stalemate. A second Spanish
attempt to subdue the Araucanians is made. It fails, too. Attempts to import
Spanish settlers do, too, since other destinations in the same region
(Argentina, Buenos Aires) provide only better conditions. As a result, the
colony is left pretty much to its own devices. 1883 As the Bolivian army
is a way in the highlands, guarding against Chilean invasion, the Bolivian
Cambas (people of mixed European-Indian stock from the Amazonian lowland
province of Santa Cruz) revolt, urged on by Paraguayan supplies and money. The
Bolivian government, more concerned with the regaining of the guano-rich region
on the Pacific, but dependent upon the foodstuffs that comparably poor Santa
Cruz province produces, finds itself in somewhat of a quandary. In the end,
it’s a question of the government staying in power, though, so a peace treaty
is quickly concluded with Chile, freeing up Bolivian troops that are quickly
transferred to Santa Cruz. By it, Chile gains the Bolivian province of
Antofagasta, while Bolivia retains free access to all harbours in the region 1884 Asked in by the Camba
provisional government, Paraguayan troops quickly throw out the Bolivan army. A
plebiscite is quickly organised, that “asks” for Paraguay to annex Santa
Cruz. The wish is granted. Peru signs a peace
treaty with Chile, ceding the provinces of Tacna and Arica. The government that
signs the treaty is quickly overthrown, throwing the country into an 8-month
civil war, after which something approaching a stable government finally
emerges. 1885 In Brazil, the tide
towards emancipation strengthens with the passage of a new law that lowers the
age at which slaves are freed. An additional 120.000 slaves are freed under the
law. The Bolivian
government is overthrown, and the incoming junta signs a peace treaty with
Paraguay, ceding the province of Santa Cruz. It is promptly overthrown itself.
Nobody renews the war, though. Instead, Peruvian troops invade to make good the
territorial losses suffered in the war with Chile, and annex the entire
remainder of Bolivia. Paraguay threatens war over such a move, but eventually
Confederate mediation irons out an agreement between the two powers: Peru keeps
rump Bolivia, but cedes the Acre region in the Amazon to Paraguay as
“compensation”. The Brazilians aren’t particularly thrilled, as they
themselves have claims to the region. On the initiative of
Guatemalan president Justo Rufino Barrios, Guatemala and Honduras reunite to
form the United States of Central America. Soon after, the new president of the
UCA – Barrios himself – invades El Salvador to unite that country with it,
too. While the Salvadoran army is defeated in the battle of Chalchuapa, the
country occupied and reunited with the UCA, president Barrios himself is shot
and wounded in the battle, dying some 2 months later of complications associated
with his wounds. Salvadoran conservatives rebel and try to restore El Salvadors
independence, but are crushed. The Union remains in existence. The project to dig a
canal across the Panamanian Isthmus is shelved temporarily because of the
outbreak of the 2nd Great War. 1886 State sovereignty is
abolished by the incoming Colombian government. The states are not amused, and
their resentment will grow steadily over the following years. 1888 Slavery is finally
abolished in Brazil. Attempts by the liberal government to burn the records of
slave-ownership, by which compensations are to be calculated, are prevented by
Imperial Princess Isabella, reigning during the sickness of her father. 1889 Steadily worsening
relations between the military and the government, more and more radical
republican propaganda and the worsening condition of Emperor Pedro II finally
leads to a military coup in Brazil. An alliance of republicans and the military
declares a republic and expels the royal family from Brazil. Compensation for
slave-owners is ended. Spain launches
another campaign against King Orelie Antoine I of Arucania and Patagonia. It is
rather more successful than the previous ones, and the king cries to France for
help. With France involved in the 2nd Great War, there is very little
scope for any help arriving from that corner, though. Still, the Araucanians
manage to hold on for the next few years, if barely. 1891 Irresponsible
economic policies and the overall authoritarian bent of the governing junta in
Brazil finally lead to a series of revolts that quickly coalesce into a
republican/democratic rebellion based in the south and a royalist rebellion
backed by former slave-owners, the church and the navy in the north. Being the
biggest country in Latin America, foreign powers are soon meddling in the civil
war: France supports the royalists because of family connections between the
Brazilian and French royal houses, and WA supports the republicans because of
the democratic ideas. All major powers have large amounts of surplus military
hardware following the 2nd Great War, so the three parties to the
civil war have an easy time arming themselves. Building of the
Panama Canal resumes. By 1897, the consortium behind it will fail due to lack of
funding. 1892 Much of 1892 s spent
in incessant back-and forth fighting between the three factions in Brazil as the
junta crushes rebellion after rebellion in the central regions under its
control, and the two other factions try to broaden the area under their control.
As this goes on, the southern republicans manage to stay out of the biggest
battles as royalists and junta build up their strength through purchases abroad.
Republican attempts to make a deal with either of the two other factions are
fruitless, and they quickly have to face the fact that they are ndot going to
emerge of the civil war as the winners. Bent on replacing
some of the territory lost in the 2nd Great War, France finally sends
the troops requested by the Kingdom of Araucania a couple years ago. Before King
Orelie knows what is happening, his kingdom has been turned into a French
protectorate and included in the reviving French colonial empire. Paraguay uses the
Brazilian pre-occupation with its civil war to finally move in, occupy and annex
the Acre region. 1893 In Brazil, the
Republicans declare the independence of the so-called Republic of Geralia under
Gaspar Silveira Martins. The republic is quickly recognised by WA, Transvaal and
the Oranje Free State, while recognition by other states only comes years later.
The Brazilian junta begins to shift troops south, but following WA landings of
marine troops, the matter of the re-conquest of Geralia is pushed into the
future. In response, the CSA throws its support behind the ruling junta. In the
north, the Brazilian empire is resurrected, with the deceased (since 1891) Pedro
II´s grandson Pedro declared Emperor Pedro III of Brazil (he is 18). Behind the
scenes, his mother Isabella is still deciding a good deal of the daily running
of the state. France buys the
Spanish claim to Patagonia and Araucania. Spain needs the money, and the colony
anyhow isn’t paying any dividend. Jose Santos Zelaya is
elected president of Nicaragua. Almost immediately, he takes up secret
negotiations with the UCA about adding Nicaragua to it. 1894 In Brazil, the civil
war now in its third year, the local kingpins (political, military, landowners)
begin to tire markedly of it. They don’t really see the need for a victory in
the civil war, as long as it is costing them their wealth and positions,
ravaging their estates and powerbases and not giving them any gain. They thus
begin to withdraw their support for their respective governments. Nicaragua invades the
Mosquito Coast, the British-held eastern coast of Nicaragua, thus presenting
Great Britain with a fait accompli. Great Britain anyway has no real interest in
retaining control over the essentially worthless piece of land, but cannot let
some backwater president simply stand up to it, and chooses to occupy the
Nicaraguan port of Corinto on the Pacific coast, demanding an indemnity of
15.000 pounds for the region. Not really having the armed forces to stand up to
the British (who can also cut off all trade), Nicaraguan president Zelaya
decides to pay up. The Mosquito Coast remains Nicaraguan. 1895 With support for the
war dwindling, there is a realization among the warring parties in Brazil, that
none of them is likely to win as long as their domestic support is draining
away, and their enemies keep receiving support from abroad. By the end of the
year, a virtual cease-fire is in effect. Negotiations for a peace treaty and
reunification of Brazil drag on until 1903 without any results, by which time
everybody agree to give the parties´ tempers another 10 years to cool down
before negotiations resume. With the British
occupation of Corinto the year before whipping up unionists feelings over most
of Central America, Nicaraguan president Zelaya is able to bring his country
into the UCA. Costa Rica, further south, turns down all offers to do likewise,
though. 1897 Jose Santos Zelaya,
formerly president of Nicaragua, is elected president of the UCA. Negotiations
are quickly started with Germany, WA and Japan with a view to begin the digging
of a canal between the Pacific and Caribbean oceans through the UCA, more
specifically in what was formerly the southern part of Nicaragua. German elements in
the Geralian army stage a coup, ousting the ruling junta. Lauro Severiano Müller
becomes president and starts an impressive military build-up with the help of
Germany. German settlers flood in. 1899 Colombia erupts in
civil war, as the provinces finally tire of the increasing centralism of the
national government. The aim is to reinstate earlier provisional
self-government. A consortium of
British and CSA companies buys up the remains of the earlier French consortium
that tried to dig a canal across the Panamanian Isthmus. With efforts of the
two other blocks to strengthen their influence in Latin America through the
building of trans-continental canals, the French and Russians see a need to try
for the same. The net result is a 10-year mutual defence alliance between the
two and Royal Brazil, even though certain elements in Brazil would rather that
they followed the example of Portugal and allied themselves with Great Britain.
. 1900 CSA attempt to buy a
strip of land on both sides of the projected Panamanian canal is rebuffed by the
Colombian government. That is far from received favourably in the Confederate
department of foreign affairs. 1901 Work begins on the
digging of a trans-isthmian canal across the southern UCA, the work being done
by a consortium of German, Japanese and WA companies, and with much of the
labour supplied by Irish-Mexican agents, who rent out Latino workers by the
thousands. 1902 Funded by the CSA,
Panamanian rebels declare the independence of the new state of Panama.
Apparently not getting the hint when the CSA navy posts a battleship at the
isthmus, the Colombian government tries to send troops to quell the rebellious
province, enlisting limited WA aid to that end (WA president Altgeld isn’t too
keen on confronting the Confederacy, especially on the background of his
predecessor, Theodor Roosevelts activist/imperialist foreign policy). As a
result, Confederate aid is broadened to encompass other rebellious groups, too,
leading to the declaration of independence of the state of Antioquia, too. When
a confederate fleet institutes a blockade of the Colombian harbours, the
Colombian government finally gives in, and acknowledges the independence of the
two rebellious provinces. 1903 Panama signs over to
the CSA a strip of land on both sides of the planned Panama Canal in return for
some 10 million dollars. Heavily funded by British capital, engineers and
geologists stream into Panama and begin determining the future course of the
cana. Geralia intervenes in
the Uruguayan Civil War. In a lightning campaign the Geralians take over the
country. As Paraguay and Republican Brazil are locked in a series of mutual
skirmishes at the time, they are unable to intervene until it is a done deal. The negotiations to
finally bring a formal end to the Brazilian Civil War end in failure. It is
determined to give the parties ten more years to cool down before negotiations
are to be begun again. 1904 Geralia annexes
Uruguay. Argentinean, Paraguayan and Republican Brazilian mobilisations on the
Geralian border are offset by like mobilizations in their rear by Chile, Peru
and Royal Brazil. Still, clashes break out along the Geralian-Argentinean
border. 1905 Work is finally begun
on the Panama Canal, under competent management by Confederate and British
engineers. Most of the actual work is done by Confederate “contract” workers
– in reality nothing more than slaves Using the explosion
of the Confederate cruiser “Caine” in Havanna Harbour as a pretext (though
probably also egged on by personal offense at the defeat his father was dealt 32
years before), President Forrest declares war on Spain and invades Cuba. With
Spain still suffering from her loss of the Philippines a few years before, her
economy in shambles and her navy and army in a pitiful state, it takes the
Confederate forces all but 6 months to roll over the Spanish defenders. When
Forrest further threatens invasion of Puerto Rico, the Spaniards give in. Cuba
is ceded to the Confederacy. 1906 Chile, Peru and
Geralia sign a mutual defence treaty to guard against any attempts of expansion
by Argentina, Paraguay and Republican Brazil. Overtures are made in the general
direction of Royal Brazil, too, but she is firmly committed to her French
alliance and turns the offer down. 1907 Emboldened by his
success in dealing with Spain in Cuba, Confederate president Forrest entices the
southern planter elite in the Mexican provinces of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon to
declare their independence as “New Texas” and almost immediately ask for
Confederate protection when the Mexican central government sends troops north.
When this is granted, the Mexicans have somewhat of a problem: They
don’t want to actually go to war with the Confederacy, but they don’t want
to just give up their territory, either. In the end, Russian mediation does the
trick: based on the reports of a Russian delegation that goes to New Texas
(where it is wined and dined by the local planters), it is determined that the
will of the people is to be with its kin to the north (Russian attempts at
playing the Pan-Slavism card in Eastern Europe at the time isn’t totally
unimportant). While Mexico is awarded a huge indemnity to be paid by the
Confederacy, there is a little thing missing. It is called pride, and some
Mexicans (both Latino and Irish) frankly don’t like it that way. 1908 Thanks to the
apparent weakness of the current High King in Mexico exposed by the New Texas
affair, 1908 sees the first of a series of coups among disaffected elements in
the army. Peasant risings by the Mexican proletariat also become more and more
frequent. 1909 Franco-Russo-Brazilian
defence treaty is renewed for another 10 years. 1910 A rebellion against
Confederate rule breaks out in Cuba. Mexico also erupts in
turmoil as the King of Ulster (northern Mexico) Alvaro O´Brien stages an armed
uprising against the High King over the refusal of him to pay compensation for
not coming to his aid when the Confederates tore a large section out of his
kingdom. 1911 The Nicaragua canal
through the southern part of the UCA is finally finished. The first ships to
pass through it are a WA squadron of warships on their way to Japan to make a
visit. The Cuban rebellion
intensifies, as the Confederacy sends in more and more troops. Learning the hard way
that his forces are not enough against the three southern Mexican kingdoms since
New Texas was torn from his own, Alvaro O´Brien decides to begin appealing to
the nationalist feelings of the Latino Mexicans. Though seen as just another
foreigner (though his family has been settled in Mexico for 2 generations and
both his mother and paternal grandmother were Latinos), his appeals lead to
Latino rebellions throughout southern Mexico, evening out the odds in the
Mexican Civil War somewhat. 1912
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