Théophile Anderson: King of a Sand Dune
(Uluru 1940)
(Uluru 1940)
The early 1800s saw wave after wave of European immigration to our little continent on the edge of the world. They mostly settled in the east or the extreme western edge of the continent, but by the 1830s they had started to move towards the interior. While many Anangu[1] chose to merely accept this and try to avoid the Europeans a few groups attempted to fight back, especially in the face of the brutality seen along the Southern Coast. From these various resistance groups one man rose to prominence: Théophile Anderson, a descendant from a French naturalist who had shipwrecked on the continent (records as to whether he was the Grandson or Great Grandson of Michel Anderson are unclear), who’s clan had been extra-judgemental of the British settlers thanks to the stories they had heard from Michel Anderson. Théophile Anderson’s main claim to fame was the invention of the Anderson Cocktail, a weaponisation of the alcohol that European’s had been giving the Anangu peoples to try to break them as had been done in the New World. These primitive firebombs proved a good leveller for the technological disadvantage that the Anangu suffered from throughout the rebellion. Numbers proved less of an issue as the deserts of central Australia proved impossible to supply a large army in and the Europeans, who were still relatively few in numbers, were stretched out across numerous towns and villages. By the mid 1830s raids had provided the Anangu with enough rifles to be able to engage in actual assaults upon larger settlements, making the European settlers desperate and forced them to ask for aide from India, which saw the Regent Diana agree to send troops if they were allowed to be fully separate from the Australian command structure, sensing the rumblings on her subcontinent about European egotism. The desperate European settlers accepted, and where horrified when after only a few battles the Indian commanders (some from the first generation of Europeans to have grown knowing only India) began negotiating with the Anangu for a potential Princely State. Anderson nearly refused the diplomacy, but did soon realise that India could send far more troops, and grudgingly accepted.
The negotiations for the exact expanse of the Anangu Princely State, with Anderson placed as the Prince (though he was allowed to make the position an elected on with a limit of a 10 year term), carried on for some time. In the end the Anangu were given quite possibly the most barren part of this dry continent, a vast swath of the central desert, with only a short coast in the West, north of any European settlements. Many felt betrayed, but there was little Anderson, or any of the other Anangu leaders could do, as it was fairly clear that they were lucky to still have their heads. [2]
The Struggle for Equality: The Second Bonapartist Era
(Boston 1951)
(Boston 1951)
Upon reelection President Napoleon Bonaparte saw the man much changed from his first term. Rather than a young romantic he was much more open to suggestion and compromise, raising a family had obviously softened him, and the tropical climate of Haiti likely helped with that. One serious concern that many Yankees held was that the Native Peoples were being given special treatment, which was seen as an abandonment of Hilfère’s principles of total equality. As it had been Bonaparte himself who had installed the special rules for the Native Peoples he disliked abolishing the policy unless he could gain something at the same time. After avoiding the subject for much of his first term, concentrating on foreign policy, attempting to improve trade with Japan and the other Asian nations, largely to try to block them moving closer to the LRA. He also worked to improve the PRNA’s navy and established trading outposts in Africa and made sent the Mackenzie expedition to China to initiate trade, a move that turned out less than popular with the other Asia nations. China’s massive market for industrial goods did prove more than equal to loss in trade with Japan, Korea and Indochina. He also made serious efforts to improve the Murray Grid, despite that the Ångström Telegraph[3] having grown more popular in Europe, Bonaparte argued that the Murray Grid was more practical to the vast wilds of North America.
Still, even these victories could not eliminate Yankee demands for equal standing for all peoples, with not special treatment, calling it a form of discrimination just as bad as any. As such, President Bonaparte finally accepted a reform to the Native affairs, but he made it a statement to grant all citizens of 18 years of age or older suffrage and the duty to pay taxes. The other forces within the government, mainly the Populist part and a few Reformists, disliked the idea of giving women the right to vote, but had little they could use to argue against it, especially with the President being able to point to his own home of Corsica as having implemented universal suffrage with success. The opposition did prove able to stand on the position of only educated women being able to vote, but Bonaparte was able to tear this down, claiming it was a plan to make only those with higher education able to vote, which was sparked outrage. As such in 1833, with mere months to the election, Bonaparte managed to pass through true universal suffrage within the PRNA. Having effectively doubled the voter base his reelection was without question. Seeing his popularity, and agreeing with most of his policies, the Radicals did not run a presidential candidate, and the Populists, not wanting to allow the Radicals to ride on Bonaparte’s popularity in the Lower and Upper House elections[4], did not run a candidate either, meaning that Bonaparte was effectively unopposed[5]. While a few claimed this was a damaging blow to democracy it was widely pointed out that President Bonaparte was clearly too old to run once again.
A Very French Debt Payment: The Invasion of Algeria
(Berlin 1987)
(Berlin 1987)
Despite more than 10 years having passed after the Age of Revolutions, the French still owed significant sums of money to many non-European nations, and most most vocal group in demanding repayment was the Algerians. The French, unable to pay due to the generally poor condition of Europe after it was scorched in several areas, grew fed up with the constant demands and sent a diplomat to ask for an extension from the Algerians. Unfortunately for all involved, the translator chosen by the Algerian sultan was rather against France and did not want Algeria to appear weak, so his translations made both requests seem more extreme, and the Sultan, thing that the French were making wild demands, had the French Diplomat imprisoned. The enraged French, led by the now aging Levrault, quickly negotiated the purchase of Algeria from the Ottomans, who’s lack of control over the distant nation meant they accepted a price far lower than France’s debt. The French army was soon mobilised and a force was sent to Algiers to inform the Sultan that we was now under French control, and if he cooperated then he would remain the effective ruler of his lands, merely having to pay some taxes to France. The Sultan believed that France was in no condition for a war and that they would be forced to give up their claim to his land after a few short victories by his more courageous troops, and so chose to fight back.
The French landed 40 000 men to face off with the sultans 45 000, and after capturing some of the western end of the country the limited width of non-desert land meant that there was very little room for the two armies to maneuver and it became a violent shoving back and forth, though the French army did tend to take two steps forward for each step back the stories in France sounded far more grim. With demands in Paris for a major victory the French managed to muster 8 000 more men, and gained 4 300 Moroccan troops in exchange for some of the far west of Algeria, and descended upon Algiers, the city was nearly undefended due to the vast bulk of the army being on the front, but the dangerous nations of descents meant that there were still somewhat significant casualties. The Algerians felt betrayed by the Moroccans, and as civilians attacked the apparent traitors the Moroccan troops responded by burning several homes. This unfortunately spiralled out of control and in the chaos much of the city was burnt to the ground, although the influx of gold and other precious goods to the French economy following the looting was certainly good for the French economy. Still the destruction of a city caused significant unrest across Algeria, both the occupied and Sultan held regions as many civilians felt that neither side cared for them. The ensuing violence lead to thousands of civilian casualties, and a mass emigration as soon as the Sultan surrendered. While some fled to the Ottoman Empire, and largely wound up settling in Europe, many felt that the Ottomans had betrayed them as well and many moved to either the Republic of la Plata, the Dominion of Africa[6], the LRA (though that nation proved less open to other religions than it tried to claim), or East Britain (mainly India and the Malay peninsula). The French meanwhile sent a mix of French, German and Occitan settlers, though most of the Germans were sent were extremely poor, having been evicted from their lands and found themselves doing hard labour in north Africa, building walls for foritified French settlements, either in the burnt husk of Algiers or beside less damaged cities. The French also unleashed a cultural reeducation program that nearly put their efforts in the Rhineland to shame, though they were careful not to anger their Muslim allies and as such made no efforts to remove Islam from Algeria, but did attempt to remove Arabic from secular use and to make the children feel like proper French children, even going so far as to deport many orphans from the war to France where they were diluted among the French children. These efforts were brutal and unpopular, but the nation had suffered too much from its last uprising to try anything further, and this discovery likely served as an inspiration for what would happen in the Rhineland during the next decade.
[1] What is considered the politically-correct term for Indigenous people of Australia in Dimension 398, coming from the Western Desert Language word for person.
[2] This text does not mention that the settlers were about as furious as the Indigenous people.
[3] The normal telegraph line.
[4] These are all held at the same time as the Presidential one.
[5] A few local independents did run, though these were mostly radicals.
[6] Accepting Muslim Arabs might seem odd, but the Dominionists saw them as at least decreasing the portion of the population that was Black.
