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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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An Empire Reborn Part 11 By Vincent Longobardi
August 18th 1970 2:30 PM Local Time "In light of this communist threat we must respond so that we may protect the people of Greece from the Marxist plague. In order to keep Greece a free state and not sullied and tainted by the poisons of communism the Hellenic Council has petitioned Rome that we be unified with the New Roman Empire as an autonomous state." Excerpt from the Hellenic Council announcement to the Greek people. 5:00 PM Rome Time The Grand Council officially accepts the petition by Greece to join with the NRE as a autonomous state within the Empire with all the rights and privileges that are associated with such a union. August 19th 1970 Most nations of the world condemn the unification of Greece and the NRE has an overt coup orchestrated by Italian secret police. The United States while not condemning the unification offers a statement to the NRE requesting that the people of Greece be treated fairly and that the government should not participate in random retaliations against Greeks who may be opposed to the unification. The small Greek army still loyal to the original Hellenic Council battle their former comrades and the invading Italians in central Greece. Over the past years the Greek army has dramatically dwindled in numbers as the Hellenic Council became more and more indebted to the NRE and was forced to cut funding to the military in order to help pay these debts. August 21st 1970 Greece officially becomes a part of the New Roman Empire. Fighting continues in the mountains of Greece as Imperial troops continue to put an end to the "communist" uprising. September 1st 1970 The Palestinian Liberation Organization(PLO) attempts to and fails to assassinate King Hussein of Jordan.
September 5th 1970 The Greek government announces that any Greeks who are unhappy with the current state of affairs within Greece will be allowed to emigrate to the Lira Block country of their choosing. This is backed up by Italy requesting that both Rhodesia and South Africa open their doors to as many Greek nationals as possible to increase the percentage of whites within those countries. September 7th 1970 Olympinaut Lucchini conducts a dry test of the improvements made to the rocket capsule to see the improvements made based on his requests. Meeting with his approval a launch will be conducted in November. Lucchini will not go into space this time but will be in Galileo Command Center to offer assistance to the new Olympinaut. September 8th 1970 Rhodesia agrees to the measures proposed by Rome and is willing to allow a large number of migrant Greeks. South Africa however refuses believing that by allowing thousands of Greeks to permanently settle in the country would dilute the Afrikaners culture. September 15th 1970 Jordan declares martial law as the Jordanian army begins moving against Palestinian encampments throughout the country. September 20th 1970 Syrian forces move to support their allies the Palestinians fighting in Jordan. September 23rd 1970 Both Jordanian and Palestinian leaders request intervention from Cairo and Rome to help put an end to the conflict. September 26th 1970 With the mediation conducted by the Lira Block, most notably Egypt and the NRE, Jordan and the PLO agree to a ceasefire. As part of the agreement, both sides agree that they are equals but that the PLO must leave the cities and stay towards the borders. September 28th 1970 President Nasser of Egypt suddenly dies of a heart attack. Anwar Sedat, the vice president is selected at the interim president. October 1st 1970 While in Cairo for the funeral of Nasser, Medici advises King Hussein of Jordan to continue following the agreement reached with the PLO. Though he does hint that if necessary Jordan can take a slightly stronger position against the liberation organization. October 5th 1970 At a political dinner, an on leave Antonio Medici gets into an argument with Lucchini. The cause of the argument is not known but is suspected that it is over Lucchini’s relationship with Gemma Medici. Over the course of the night the argument escalates and culminates with the young Medici throwing a punch at the Olympinaut resulting in a very public fistfight on the steps of the hall. October 6th 1970 Though news of the fight is officially suppressed by the government it quickly spreads by word of mouth throughout Rome and Italy. According to the gossip-mongers the fight was caused by Medici believing that Lucchini was attempting to steal his place as "heir apparent" and that Medici was clearly winning the fight until other partygoers pulled him off the Olympinaut. October 12th 1970 "No favoritism" is the message. Lt. Medici’s Commanding Officer was willing to sweep the incident under the rug on behalf of the Lt’s family name but no longer after receiving this personal letter from the Consul himself. The lieutenant had struck a superior officer and should be disciplined as such. Upon returning to his post Lt. Medici will be fined 2 weeks pay and lose all privileges to leave for the next 6 months as well as having his previously imminent promotion to Captain delayed until those six months are up. Antonio Medici would not like it and would most likely fight it, but not even the politically connected young officer could overrule his own father’s orders. November 3rd 1970 All systems are go with the launch of the Empire’s second rocket. Though a shorter trip this time around making only 4 rotations, Olympinaut Agostino Iachino tests numerous new features and improvements made to the space capsule before splashing down safely off the coast of Italian East Africa. November 5th 1970 Italo Balbo, the last living organizer of the March on Rome dies in his Tripoli home. For many Libyans this is viewed as the deathblow to possible unification with Italy proper. For others it is viewed as a divine sign of fate for November 5th is the anniversary of when Italy first officially declared suzerainty over Libya. November 9th 1970 Charles De Gaulle dies suddenly of an aneurysm. He will be sorely missed by the people of France. November 10th 1970 According to his wishes Italo Balbo is buried in a local Catholic cemetery in Tripoli. Tens of thousands of Libyans and Italians come out to pay their last respects to their former governor and the greatest voice in favor of integration between Italy and Libya. November 14th 1970 Rebels in Mozambique seize control of a mine, destroying its water pumps which results in flooding of the lower levels. Soldiers are deployed to retake the mine and to put down the rebellion. This is the largest revolt against Italian rule in the colony to date in the colony. November 20th 1970 Most of the rocketry team from the ISA is sent to the United States on a state visit to work with their counterparts at NASA to get both programs ready for the proposed docking mission. December 1st 1970 Marshall Amedeo Guillet announces that he will officially retire from all his posts effective January 1 1971. Though retiring, the old soldier will not be idle. He is already planning to write at the very least 3 books on various military subjects to be used by the military academies of the Lira Block, he has also been approached by Argentina to serve as a military advisor. December 5th 1970 The NRE calls for a conference to place in January on the state of Sub-Saharan Africa with Rhodesia and South Africa. End of Part 11.
Please visit my forum for discussion and access to new parts as they become available. http://z11.invisionfree.com/LongVinsWritingDen/index.php?
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