Part 89: Victoria: Chapter 23 - Clashing Ideologies: 1890 - 1900

1890 - 1900: Clashing Ideologies

The social programs are radically expanded as a result of the 1890 Reichstag. Laws are also passed legalizing unions, though an exemption is made for socialist unions which remain banned.



To finance this endeavour, a huge loan is taken out, and a temporary tax is instituted to pay it off.


A growing worker's movement is emerging in the chaotic political scene that is Roman India. The Indian Worker's Party has offered the Union to supply men to put down the rebellions if the Union agreed to grant India autonomy under their rule. The Union party leaders refuse the offer, intent on keeping India as a colony.


Mazula annexes the newly independent Barasya in January of 1890.


The same month, the Commune of Italy comes to an agreement with the Union of Rome, joining with the Union in the what the communist party leaders call the rebirth of the Roman Republic.



The technology to develop submersibles reaches Germany in February. It is quickly adapted to create a design for an undersea attack vessel known as 'submarine'.


Research into combusion engines begins in March, followed by large investments into the cultural development of the German nation.






In a major effort to bring an end to the social unrest, the army is deployed to the most unruly areas and several riots are brutally put down with rifles and machine guns.


In December, Bismarck's diplomatic approachment to Lithuania results in an alliance, further cementing Germany's dominance over Central Europe.


In order to help strengthen our new ally, Germany makes an agreement to share military and industrial technology with Lithuania, gaining the contested province of Deutsche Krone and a large sum of money in return.


The CCA wins a devastating victory over Morocco in January of 1891, taking all their overseas provinces as well as a stretch of the Mauretanian Coast.


Germany's loans are finally paid off in the full in the same month, and the temporary taxes are lifted.


Construction of the new German Navy begins in May as the Schwerin shipyards start assembling modern dreadnoughts and cruisers to replace the old ironclads.



The final stretch of uncontested land in Middle Africa is claimed by Germany in August. In the same month, diplomatic reapproachment begins with Iberia in the hopes of settling land disputes along the German-Iberian border in Africa.



The chaos and unrest in Roman India continues, and in December, agents of the Byzantine exile government succeed in winning over both the colonial guard and local elites in Bombay. After several clashes with the Indian Worker's Party and Union-loyal troops, the exiles eventually succeed in taking control of the entire colony, declaring it the seat of the rightful Byzantine Imperial government. A few desperate attempts by the Union to take back control fail, and the communists are forced to accept the loss of India - for now.



Attempts by the French exile government to pull off a similar coup in French Africa fail, as France sends large number of troops from the mainland to keep order. By March of 1892, the French have even succeded in conquering the free African states of Songhai, Mali and Kanem Bornu.


Radicalism continues to spread across Europe as competing ideologies clash with the state and each other. In order to help combat the threat of terrorism and insurrectionism, Frederick II orders the creation of a German secret police, the Deutsche Geheimpolizei or DGP for short.






A fuel refinery stands finished in Saxony in October of 1894, beginning to create petroleum out of the oil produced by German East India.


In November, news reach Frankfurt of a radical modernization program begun by the Ming Emperor in hopes of strengthening the country enough to challenge the Yuan Mongols. With the help of British advisors, the country has progressed to the point that it is now regarded as a modern nation.


The next month, the British decide to step up their intervention in China by outright declaring war on Yuan China.


A Union-Persian war ends in the same month with victory for the Union, which takes several border territories in the peace.


In July of 1895 Jadakal, on yet another of its conquering sprees, annexes Nova Aquitania, ending the independence granted by the Stuttgart Congress some eighty years earlier.


A terrible new weapon is unveiled in Germany in November - mustard gas. Countermeasures in the form of gas masks are also invented and distributed among the military.



Over the next year, a large number of inventions enter the market with the advent of electricity - electrical lighting, telephones, automobiles and planes are among the most important.





A state initiative to expand the railroads is begun in April of 1896.


In Athens, the first modern olympics are held by the Union of Rome in celebration of its ancient heritage. Athletes from all over the world compete and foreign dignitaries are invited to watch the games - and marvel at the rapid modernization and expansion of the Union's railroads and factories being undertaken by its regime.


Imperial India, having achieved relative stability in its terrotories, begins a rapid outwards expansion in June, invading and annexing Bengal, Gondwana, Bihar and Madurai.


A German intiative is launched to maintain its control over Southeast Asia, with German troops entering and seizing control over Pegu, Arakan and Lan Na.





The Theory of Evolution spreads to German public consciousness in May of 1897. Though fiercely resisted by the Catholic Church, the pluralistic Reichstag passes a law to have it taught in public schools, and arranges for an Institute of Racial Biology to be founded in München.



War breaks out between Mazula and Vinland in November, and the Vinlanders, frustrated with Scandinavia's inability to protect them, declare independence. The ever-more insular and isolationist Scandinavia accepts the loss of its colony with no more than a strongly worded protest.


Assam is invaded by German troops in January of 1898, and peace is settled for the southern half of the country, ending the campaign of colonial expansion.




New commercial and industrial programs are funded throughout the year, including a project to fund the development of Mazulan-style assembly lines in Germany's factories.



Vinland accepts peace with Mazula in February, ceding most of their eastern territories. They achieve a minor diplomatic victory not long after by eking out an agreement to have Blåland join Vinland as a semi-autonomous state.



The construction of the new high sea fleet finishes in July. Consisting of five dreadnoughts and twenty-five cruisers, along with destroyer and torpedo boat screens, it is more than a match for any other European navy.


The last piece of Scandinavia's overseas empire, Gustavia in Jadakal, declares independence in August as a response to Scandinavia reducing the size of its garrison corps.


As the century nears its end, Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of Germany, falls ill and dies in his sleep at his estate in Pommerania. His death signals the end of an era, the century in which Swabia finally realized its dream and Germany carved out its dominant position in Europe, the era that saw the rise of Communism and Liberalism, and the era in which the medieval heritage of Europe was finally discarded once and for all, and a new and modern world emerged.


As fireworks light up the night sky above Frankfurt and the world steps into the 20th century, leaving the horrors and war of the 19th century behind, it steps into a new world bitterly divided along ideological lines, where the religious battles of old have been replaced with the struggles of liberalism versus conservatism, monarchism versus communism, and the realpolitik and colonial jockeying of nation-states.

Though the predictions and guesses for the future are numerous, few believe that the 20th century will be any less bloody than its predecessor.