Timeline-The Peshawar Lancers
I enjoyed SM. Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers quite a bit. However, there were elements that I didn't like and I felt that there was much worldbuilding that was missed or just not done. Such things like a surviving United States of America, German refugees and less of a British-wank. So lets begin and see what happens. If any wish to help with pictures or especially maps, please let me know.
The Fall and the Exodus
Europe Part. 1
Recordings of the Lessons of Professor Charles Sharpe Esq.Europe Part. 1
Prince Albert Library
Imperial University of Delhi
"Take your seats. Take your seats."
Shuffle of students taking their seats. Notebooks are heard opening
"Remember, questions will be answered at the end of my daily lecture. That means you, Mr Patni."
Students laugh quietly.
"2025 has been an important year for the Raj. A new Padishah sits on the Lion Throne and the sun has not set on our empire. An Angrezi princess has wed the crown prince of France. However, how did we get here? On October 3, 1878, a meteor shower devastated the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in the world changing forever. The empires of Europe had spread to every corner of the world. The dying Ottoman Empire was at risk of losing its Balkan provinces to the advancing Russian armies and Bulgarian partisans. The rising United States of America had finished the most devastating war in that republic's short history. The Confederates either taking pardons or escaping to Latin America. Dai-Nippon had also begun its cultural and societal reformation under Emperor Meiji. The Second French Empire had been extinguished by the Bismarck's German empire of iron and blood."
Professor Sharpe breathes deep.
"Now we know what came after. If you have forgotten, I suggest you go to the Cathedral and stare at the painting of St. Disraeli staring out at the last ships leaving the British Isles. Ireland shielded much of Albion from the worst of the waves created by the meteors striking the Atlantic. France, Spain, Morocco, Portugal and the United States were not as lucky however. Some of the oldest and greatest cities along the Atlantic were quite literally wiped off the face of the map. If you turn to page 134 of your textbook, you will see Adam Sanford's portrait of the sun rising on a devastated Washington D.C. The image of the Congress building gutted by the waters have become almost a pseudo-religious symbol to the New America. D.C. to this day is still a swampland. A reminder of what had happened and what the Americans had overcome. However, I'll come back to the Americas in a later date. Right now, we are discussing Europe."
"Britannia rules the waves! Indeed that statement was true in 1878-1880 when the Exodus began. The royal family, of course had already left along with much of the "Ten Thousand" families. With much of the aristocracy, royalty and gentry being the first evacuees, it also became clear that the families of soldiers and those with particular skills were needed. Luckily our merchant marine was largely intact. But after two years, the rationing system finally broke. Much of the government had left. Disraeli himself, stayed behind of course.
On continental Europe, it was almost sheer chaos. Much of Germany was wiped out with surviving enclaves either on the coast or in the Alpine regions. Constantinople was directly hit by a meteor, devastating the heart of the Ottoman Empire. Even after the Fall, the winters became long. Agriculture was almost impossible. Those surviving governments that could flee, did.
France was in turmoil before the Fall even happened. Emperor Napoleon III had abdicated after his capture by the Germans at Sedan. In the wake of that abdication, a new provisional republic had been established. Paris had been spared the destruction of the Fall, but much of the country suffered. The government itself was unsure of what its path should be. President MacMahon knew that his cabinet was split between factions that felt that they should stay on the mainland while others thought that retreating to French Algeria was more acceptable. MacMahon tried to moderate the radicals in his cabinet by suggesting a new seat of power at Marseilles. When the prime minister was killed by mobs in Paris, MacMahon appointed one Louis Phillipe Albert; the Orleanist claimant to the French throne, as prime minister. MacMahon had felt if one man could unite the French exiles, it would be a future King Phillipe VII. It turned out he was right. MacMahon would later die of exhaustion and his cabinet would unanimously elect Prince Phillipe as President of France and Prime Minister. He however, didn't claim the throne right then. Instead he organized the surviving French fleets to rendezvous with the Mediterranean Fleet and begin evacuating survivors to French Algeria, Tunisia and French West Africa.
The royal family of the Netherlands were killed when a meteor struck Amsterdam. With chaos around them, the Dutch military took action and evacuated as many as they could. This was not as organized as the British exodus or even the French. Many Dutch would die on the ships before they finally arrived in the Dutch East Indies.
On the Iberian peninsula, Portugal was destroyed; gone in a single day. Coastal Spain had been destroyed by the tsunamis, but much of the population still survived in Catalonia, Andalusia and the Castilian heartland. The Fall had become the great crisis that King Alfonso XII had to overcome. He had only recently been enthroned when the nascent Spanish Republic failed. His Christmas Day speech is still studied today and I suggest you all find a copy and read it. He swore by All Mighty God, he would not abandon Spain. While he believed in the Spanish liberal monarchy, he took power in the form of a royal dictatorship and surrounded himself with military and intellectuals who were able to regain control of much of the country. Even when Madrid burned, and he had to relocate to Valencia, Alfonso was able to keep Spain afloat."
The professor sips his water.
"It is almost ironic that while the greatest powers of Europe were falling or relocating to their southern colonies, the least of the great powers thrived. The Kingdom of Italy was still young. Born out of the various Wars of Independence, the people of Italy had more loyalty to their cities or communities then to the royal government in Rome. Only one meteor struck south of the Alps and it hardly did any damage to Italy itself. Geography saved Italy. The Italian Army marched to the Alpine passes and essentially locked them from outsiders. While other European powers fled to their colonies, Italy looked to expand at their expense. Many from the Po River valley would have to leave for warmer climates further south. So to solve this, King Umberto I was a militarist at heart. He dreamed of an Italian empire across the Mediterranean. He used his time well. Malta was seized immediately. But Rome ignored the formal complaints from London. The British weren't going to go to war in the Mediterranean for islands while they were evacuating the Home Islands. Umberto conscripted many of the northern Italians into his growing military and begun construction of a fleet of warships. Those who couldn't serve were sent to work on farms in Sicily and Southern Italy. In 1881, Umberto ordered the Italian military to make its move. He intended to take advantage of the chaos in the former Ottoman Empire. The Regia Marina landed soldiers in Libya. Tripoli and Benghazi fell within hours of the Italians landing. Controlling the coastal regions wasn't difficult for Italy, but the desert interior became difficult. The Tuareg tribesmen raided Italian garrisons. The war lasted two years but soon, Libya became part of the Italian empire. After the decade of fierce winters, those that came from the north could return to northern Italy, but many chose to relocate to the Fourth Shore as Libya had been called. Even after the Fall, southern Italy and Libya are more densely populated then the Po River Valley."
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