Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46
Work In Progress
Summary
Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46 is an alternate dimension where the United States and Great Britain diverged into hated enemies and eventually destroyed their world in a nuclear apocalypse.
This world presents a backdrop for deep background histories for several characters including Samantha Grey.
Author's Note
American and British in this timeline are different than those in the Primal (or Real) dimension in their ethics, morals, attitudes, and prejudices. In some ways they may seem backward, primitive and or brutal, and in other ways they may seem more civilized, intelligent, or advanced. This world history is centered on Western nations who rapidly outstrip other world-wide competitors industrially and technologically. Imperialism and Colonialism go into overdrive, and with only a few exceptions, other cultures and peoples are assimilated, enslaved, or destroyed. The morals and prejudices of the characters in and from this dimension run counter to our real-life norms in many ways; please do keep in mind this is a fictional dystopian scenario and does not represent the views of the author.
Early Times
There were few divergences between the Primal Dimension and Delta Zeta 17-46 before the American Revolutionary War.
One notable difference was the attitude of colonists in the Croatoa and Salem communities during the Witch Trials. In both, severe pogroms erupted against the magical and fae creatures preexisting on the North American continent.
Main Divergence
The main divergence of the Delta Zeta 17-46 Timeline is a stronger personage of King George III. In October of 1760, George III took the throne of England. In Primal Dimension, his reign was somewhat spotty heavily checked by Parliament. In Delta Zeta 17-46, we was a vastly more competent and strong ruler, but also unable to prevent the American Colonies from revolting. However, the revolutionary war was fought longer and more severely under his direction, leaving great mutual hatred in its wake.
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Timeline 1776 to 1830
1776: Beginning of the Revolutionary War in British North America.
1780's: In Britain, Georgian Reforms to the Aristocracy instituted, partly as a response to the situation in the colonies, which tie British social classes together and strengthen national will to power.
1783: The Revolutionary War continues in North America, with the Continental Army facing a Loyalist insurgency and the British adopting a more aggressive strategy. The war becomes a stalemate, with both sides suffering heavy losses.
1790-1800: American settlers and frontiersmen, acting outside official American boundaries, start to take control over former French territories in North America (Louisiana). This is done through a combination of migration, land purchases from indigenous peoples, and sometimes by force against competing European claimants.
1799: French Revolution occurs. Napoleon Bonaparte leads a military coup to depose and execute the French Monarch and establishes dictatorial control over France in the name of the masses.
1802-1803: Napoleonic Wars begin with the formation of the Second Coalition against France. The Thirteen Colonies in North America continue to fight with British forces for their independence in an increasingly brutal war.
1803-1806: British forces are hard-pressed to fight in North America and continental Europe simultaneously. Napoleon makes initial gains on the continent, taking advantage of British weakness.
1806: British forces reluctantly abandon colonies in North America. The United States is established, and it declares formal ownership of former French Louisiana.
1806: A wave of large numbers of immigrants flee war-torn Europe for North America.
1810: Napoleon's empire reaches its zenith, with his armies controlling much of Europe. The British, still reeling from their American ordeal, are slow to respond to his expansion.
1812: The British finally begin to counter-attack against Napoleon's empire, but their efforts are initially hindered by their weakened military and lack of resources.
1815: The British, having recovered somewhat, launch a more concerted effort against Napoleon. The war becomes a brutal, grinding struggle, with both sides suffering heavy losses.
1818: Immigration wave from war-torn Europe to North America subsides.
1819: Napoleon is killed on the battlefield, and the Napoleonic Wars begin to wind down. The British, exhausted and depleted, are unable to capitalize immediately on their victory.
1820: The British begin to consolidate their gains, using a combination of diplomacy, trade agreements, and strategic alliances to maintain their position.
1821: The Napoleonic Wars officially end, with France devastated, Russia in the throes of revolution, and Great Britain in control of most of Western Europe. King George III declares the establishment of the Empire of Europe, with himself as Emperor.
1825: The British Empire begins to take shape, with the establishment of a formal administrative structure and the appointment of governors and viceroys to oversee its territories.
1825, Mexico become independent nation under a dictatorship.
1830: The Empire of Europe is formally declared, with the British English at its helm. The empire's borders are still somewhat fluid, but its influence is undeniable.
1830 World Overview
In 1830, North America is a complex and dynamic region, shaped by the prolonged Revolutionary War and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars. The United States, established in 1806, has expanded its territory through the Louisiana Purchase and the influx of settlers, but its growth is marked by tensions with Native American tribes, British loyalists, and Spanish Florida. The British, though defeated in the Revolutionary War, still maintain a presence in North America, with British North America (now comprising modern-day Canada) serving as a buffer zone between the US and British territories. The region is also home to a diverse array of indigenous peoples, many of whom have formed alliances with Britain in a bid for survival and self-determination. As the British Empire consolidates its power in Europe, its influence in North America is tempered by the growing assertiveness of the US, setting the stage for future conflicts and power struggles in the region.
Britain has consolidated its hold on Europe, transforming its subject states into colonies, deposing or removing their aristocratic elites, and exerting direct imperial control over the territories that used to be Spain, Portugal, France, the low countries, Germany, Austria, and Northern Italy. Only the Scandinavian countries and lower Balkan states remain independent.
Many refugees from former French and Spanish upper classes have escaped to Mexico and Central America; worsening the divide between the peasantry and the ruling Creoles. However, the increased military and police strength of the ruling classes keep the peasantry in serfdom.
Russia and Britain share a contested border through eastern Europe, from the Baltic Sea stretching down to the Balkans. Britain claims control of all former overseas colonies of Spain, France, and Italy, including South America, large swaths of Africa, most of the Middle East outside the Ottoman Empire, and large portions of South East Asia.
Europe is a continent transformed by the Napoleonic Wars and the subsequent rise of the British Empire. The French Empire, once the dominant power, lies defeated and conquered. The British Empire, having emerged victorious but at great cost, has established itself as the preeminent power in Europe, with King George III declaring himself Emperor of Europe. The continent is now a complex web of British-dominated territories, vassal states, and buffer zones, with the British Navy maintaining a tight grip on trade and commerce. The German states have been devastated and now are ruled by Britain; while the Russian Empire, having survived the Napoleonic Wars, looks on warily at British dominance. The continent is marked by a sense of unease, as the British Empire's influence is tempered by the simmering resentments of defeated powers and the nationalism of various European peoples, overseen by the increasingly domineering British Empire.
First and Second North American Wars
Timeline 1830 to 1880
1830-1850: Emperor Daoguang of China leverages its political stability and enables the country to focus on internal development and expansion. This stability allowed the government to implement reforms and modernize the country's infrastructure, which in turn facilitates economic growth and military modernization.
1834: The Great North American War begins. Emperor George IV attempts to seize former French and Spanish territories from the United States.
1834-1835: Former Spanish and Portuguese possessions in South America are quickly taken by British Imperial expeditionary forces.
1835-1836: Major battles are fought in Detroit, Baltimore, and New Orleans, as well as American assaults on the British colonies in southern Canada. The British attempt to overthrow Mexico, but American forces intervene. Naval fighting intensifies as Americans devise new ironclad warships to defend their coastlines and harbors from the Imperial British Navy.
1837: The Great (First) North American War ends. The British assault on Mexico is beaten back, and the war in North America ends in a draw. The United States takes over some Canadian areas of Ontario and southern Quebec. South America is taken over by the British European Empire and subjugated. Mexico retains its nominal independence, and Central America remains in a chaotic state, controlled by local warlords.
1838: The British Empire begins to develop and deploy ironclad warships, giving them a significant naval advantage.
1840: The introduction of the telegraph allows for faster communication across the British Empire, facilitating the coordination of military efforts and the transmission of intelligence.
1842: The British Empire begins to develop and deploy breech-loading rifles, which become the standard issue for British soldiers.
1845: The first steam-powered warships are introduced, further increasing the British Navy's dominance over the seas.
1848: The Americans and British begin to develop and deploy early machine guns, which are used to devastating effect in colonial conflicts.
1850: The construction of massive ironclad battleships, such as the HMS Imperator, begins. These ships will become the backbone of the British Navy. America follow suit, focusing on industrialization and naval power.
1851: The Russian Empire begins to expand into South and East Asia, engaging in a series of proxy and border wars with the British Empire in regions such as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ferghanas, Mongolia, and Manchuria.
1852: Tensions between the United States and the British Empire escalate as the British attempt to restrict American trade and commerce in the Caribbean and Central America. The British Navy's dominance of the seas and its ability to blockade American ports creates a sense of vulnerability among American policymakers.
1854: The British Empire begins to develop and deploy early forms of tanks, which are used to break through enemy lines in colonial conflicts.
1855: The United States begins to mobilize its military and economy in preparation for a potential war with the British Empire. The government invests heavily in infrastructure development, including the construction of new railroads, canals, and roads.
1858: The widespread use of trench warfare becomes common in ongoing skirmishes between the British and Russian Empires. Conflict between Britain and Russia takes on a long term low-intensity nature.
1860: The British Empire begins to develop and deploy more sophisticated artillery, including rifled cannons and howitzers.
1861: The British Empire, seeking to expand its territories and influence in the Americas, begins to make secret overtures to the Empire of Mexico, offering military and economic aid in exchange for territorial concessions.
1862: The British and Russian Empires are engaged in a high-stakes game of imperial rivalry, with both powers vying for dominance in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the Middle East, and South Asia. Secret British overtures to Mexico become known publicly, and there is outrage among nationalist citizens in the United States. Public calls for war with Britain and Mexico. The British Empire, feeling threatened by American expansionism, begins to mobilize its military and naval forces in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
1862-1873, Second North American War. American patriots provoke industrializing United States into colonial war with Empire of Mexico by staging a massacre in San Antonio which is blamed on Mexican agents. British Imperial forces intervene, and American government nationalizes all slave populations in the south, forcibly inducting all healthy males between 16 and 50 into military service.
1865-1872: The war rages on, with major battles fought in the southern United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The British Navy blockades American ports, and the American military responds by developing new ironclad warships and submarines.
1872: The war begins to turn in favor of the United States, as the British Navy is unable to sustain its blockade and the American military gains the upper hand on land with massive military manpower advantage gain from conscription of slaves and Mexican peasant refugee volunteers, and shorter strategic supply lines. Widespread peasant revolts in Mexico overthrow the ruling Creoles who were seem as responsible for allowing the British to goad them into the devastating war with the US.
1873: The Second North American War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Washington, in which the British Empire begrudgingly recognizes American sovereignty over the entirety of Canada and Mexico north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
1874: China enters a period of rapid economic growth, driven by increased trade and industrialization. The country's vast population and abundant natural resources provide a strong foundation for economic expansion, and the government is able to implement policies that encouraged the growth of key industries such as textiles, ceramics, and tea. British colonialism within Chinese territories is expelled as British are preoccupied with fighting the Americans. Emperor Tongzhi begins a new policy to find and educate the best and brightest Chinese children of any social class, and sends agents abroad to bring back western knowledge and technologies. Japan, in rivalry to China, follows suit.
1874. President Lincoln manumits all slaves in aftermath of war, uses seized wealth of Canada to compensate former owners. Amendments to constitution forbid slavery and civilian forced labor except by national government in times of declared war. Military conscription of whites and blacks alike continues for decades. French language speakers and culture forcibly repressed after attempted succession of Quebec. British European Empire loses control of India to mass uprisings sponsored and supported by Manchu and Russian Empires – nearly a million former colonists killed. Gratitude of Americans for role of Mexican peasantry in concluding the war creates mass citizenship grants and literacy and regional development programs in Mexico.
1875. First heavier than air flight.
1875-1903. Continued Imperial militarization of Europe, reports of brutal repressions of unrest and local rebellions in Central Europe by Internal Imperial Security come out. Nations of world progress technologically and economically; large-scale national identities coalesce in protracted cold war between American, British, Russian, and Manchurian Empires. Further refinement and intensification of industrial serfdom in British Empire. British society coalesces into a wider aristocracy to rule directly over the entire Empire. British Imperials begin to practice large scale Janissary recruitment from subject populations of Europe, and later, all reaches of the Empire.
1880 World Overview
The aftermath of the Second North American War war sees a significant shift in American society, as former slaves are integrated into mainstream culture and society. Many former slaves take advantage of the government's offer of land grants and education, and begin to establish themselves as farmers, businessmen, and professionals. Mexican peasants see ways forward from under the heel of rump Spanish and begin to adopt a distinct hybrid of Mexican social culture and American economic drive. Multi-lingual education is becoming a norm.
American social culture is becoming rapidly anti-British and and Manifest Destiny has become an imperative, to the detriment of the native tribes of North America. In the wake of the war in which most indigenous peoples had been used by the British as proxies, the Americans began to abrogate existing treaties, remove reservations, and forcibly assimilate all native peoples. Those which refuse are exterminated. The divide between English-ancestry Americans and hated English imperials is so great that white Americans begin to see more commonality with African-American former slaves and Mexican Peasants. The winds of change blow hot.
In Europe, Britain has continued to oppress the conquered peoples of Spain, France, Germany, and Italy; dividing the regions into new British colonies and expanding their aristocracy to rule them. Industrial development races ahead, and the older systems of agricultural feudalism are replaced with a modernized, brutal, industrial serfdom. Heavily hierarchical society results, with English Britons at the top, with their own relatively mobile systems of commoners and nobility, and with subject populations of technical workers, janissary military conscripts, land/factory attached serfs at the bottom. Chattel slavery does not formally exist, but serfdom is severe enough in cases to be indistinguishable.
The Russian Empire, in stark contrast to the British, have begun to liberalize, and under several enlightened Czars, brings mass social change to their imperial subjects. Czarist rule in Eastern Europe becomes substantially positive, with Polish people experiencing something of a two-generation long Golden Age under his rule. The Czar's grip on India and Pakistan is less enlightened, and those regions remain backward. In a friendly overture to the US, the Czar has sold all the territory of Alaska to the Americans, and substantial trade between the two has begun.
Manchu China continues to catch up to the western powers at their best speed, but border clashes with both the Russians Empire and the disorganized nations of Southeast Asia occupy the Manchus. Reports of 'dragons' being employed by the Manchus against the Russians are discounted.
Science and technology around the world proceed rapidly, as all major nations participate in a race to develop industrially and technologically to ensure their dominance, or at least, survival.