Piracy in the Alternate 18th Century

Piracy in the 18th Century

Piracy did not manage to get mostly wiped out by 1730 like it did in the modern day. This was due to the fact that many wars sparked in the early 1700s and mainly in Europe/North Africa. Since most people weren't focusing on trade, most pirates were left untouched.

By the 1750s as this started changing, where there was now another power TUPA which could help patrol the Atlantic, which was in relatively fewer wars then the European powers.

This sparked a sort of idea, a sort of state-funded piracy, or a government based on piracy, one which could protect pirates but let them do whatever they want.

In the year 1758, a Republic was formed, called the Piratical Republic of Imani, or Republique Piraterie de Imani.

This newly formed nation was based on that idea. The government, which was run by the people of the country, guaranteed protection and some funding of the pirates under two requirements. Those were, that the pirates agreed to take an oath of the military, in which they were required to obey commands by the piratical council if summoned, and they would pay a percentage of their earnings to the government.

This turned out to be very effective, the state didn't establish a specified capital to prevent the nation from being broken easily.

By the year 1783, they took over the northeastern edge of South America, including much of the Guyanas region. They signed a treaty with multiple nations (TUPA, Morocco, Ottomans, Louisiana, and some much smaller coastal nations) promising not to attack them or their ships in exchange for a tribute.

The Fall of the Edo {Short Event/Bio}

The Fall of the Edo Empire

By 1740 the Tokugawa Shogunate had managed to conquer much of Japan, and on 1746 they have proclaimed the Edo Empire. This powerful nation had managed to take over all the smaller bickering Japanese states and united the island(s) under one banner.

But by 1780, after the death of their previous emperor, infighting started over the throne of the emperor, and it caused a devastating civil war. On 1783, the Shogunate of Hokkaido, the last remaining clan not united under the Edo banner attacked the weakening Edo Empire. Although they did not make it far, they devasted much of the enemy forces and caused the Edo Empire to collapse.

Many states formed in replacement, in fact, many more than were previously incorporated, with Hokkaido splitting in two itself not long after. These events reduced Japan back to nothing more than a bunch of bickering states.

The Islamic Union of The Balkans

The Islamic Union of The Balkans was an attempt at uniting the Balkans after a rebellion which occurred in the Ottoman occupied region of the Balkans.

In 1779, Mustafa Gurund of the region of Albania started a rebellion, which was followed by many others, including the Greek rebellion under Konstantinos Bildine in 1783, the Serb rebellions under many different people from 1780-1785, and the Moldavian rebellion in 1786.

After Mustafa's rebellion was successful, he established the Republic of Albania, but then he saw the rebellion around his newly formed nation failing, so he provided military support. This gave mass support to incorporate these new nations/movements into a union. Although Mustafa gave it the name the Islamic Union, it was a majority orthodox and had very good religious tolerance.

The French Revolt: The Early Days

France was a key player in the politics of Europe and had been since the middle ages. With an overseas empire that had, at one time, consisted of large parts of Canada, America, the Caribbean as well as territory in Africa and Asia, France had substantial sway over what occurred in most continents. France had joined the TUPA Independence War on the side of the TUPA to take the sword to their old enemies, the British. France, a monarchy with a large landed aristocracy, found itself supporting a strongly Republican and radical (some would say anti-monarchist) nation. Years later, with the advent of the Great Spanish Civil War, France intervened to support their allies in the failing Spanish monarchy but took heavy losses by doing so. The Spanish monarchy was perhaps the most traditional monarchy in the whole of Europe with church and state having a strong relationship and the king wielding absolute power. France’s alliances with two completely different ideologies, combined with a series of military defeats and mounting maintenance costs from overseas colonies, left the French population heavily divided with many strongly supporting the monarchy with an almost fanatical love for their king and others in favor of overthrowing the royal family and creating a new French republic.

Such differences in views spelled disaster for France as royalists openly clashed with Republicans in the streets. The French military was sent in on multiple occasions to break up huge mob battles between groups of royalists and revolutionaries. Some counties of France had populations which almost completely supported the monarchy. Counties like Brittany and Normandy. However, the king had fallen out of favor in more urban regions with the majority of Parisians against the hereditary rule. Finding himself surrounded by enemies, King Louis XV chose to relocate his palace from Paris to Rennes in Brittany for his own safety, ordering new fortifications to be constructed.

The military too was divided with many veterans from the campaigns in Spain supporting the idea of a French republic. Newer and fresher regiments, however, remained strongly supportive of King Louis XV’s rule over France. In some cases, regiments found that their officers had views that differed to those of their men which led to several accounts of officers being shot ‘accidentally’ by their own troops.

As widespread rebellion began to take place, Republican sympathizers in the French armed forces split off, forming their own regiments flying the new French tricolor. King Louis XV found himself left with the fanatical though untested newer regiments of the French military as Republican troops and rebels marched to besiege the fortress city of Rennes…

The Independence of Southern Algiers {Event/Short Bio}

  I would like to inform you before I start that this is going to be an event and a short bio, the whole Algerian region will be covered in a later date, when there is an actual Algerian (As in covers most, or part of modern Algeria, or unifies most of Algeria) nation.

  Now let us start with geography, YAY!! Well Southern Algeria is mainly Sahara, the Sahara which you might find pictured in movies. With that new information, I should introduce the conflict, some of the nobles and high ranking families of the old government were forced to migrate following the toppling of the old government in 1529 by "Red Beard" or Hayreddin Barbarossa.

  A quick event to keep in mind in the alternate history timeline, is that in 1728 a bustling city arose from a few large villages, and they named it Southern Algiers. By this time, Southern Algiers was the only piece of independent land in the Area, the northern half being controlled by the Regency of Algeria, the Western portion of Southern Algeria being controlled by Morocco, and the southeastern half being two Kingdoms.

  In 1734 the Eyalet of Algeria held a festival commemorating the 206th anniversary of the toppling of the old kingdom. This, as expected, got the descendants, and also revolutionaries, stirred. A big massacre occurred halfway through the festival, after a group of revolutionaries and descendants to previous nobles/high ranking officials gathered in protest against the festival (protest in the terms of 18th century fits into the terms of riot nowadays), in which 700 people died.

   This enraged Southern Algiers and the newly formed city-state decided to declare war on the Eyalet of Algeria, therefore also declaring war on the Ottomans.

  Southern Algiers managed to gain quite a  bit of land, although lost ultimately. Then in 1738 the Ottomans, along with the two Kingdoms to the southeast tried to attack Southern Algiers, Southern Algiers managed to defeat them, since they had better knowledge of the land, before launching an offensive and toppling the two kingdoms within a month of the beginning of the war.

  Shortly after, Southern Algiers wrote a constitution, and proclaimed itself a Emirate, henceforth The Emirate of Southern Algiers was born.

The Anglo-American War of 1748 {British Perspective}

Following the declaration of war in 1748, the United Kingdom found itself fighting The United Provinces of America once more. Eager to show the world that TUPA was only an upstart revolutionary state, George II diverted as many as funds as possible to the war effort, postponing the planned expansion of many overseas colonies. The UK was still nursing its wounds following the American War of Independence in the 1730s and popular opinion was against continued conflict in the Americas. Many British citizens felt that they should abandon their colonies in the Americas anyway as Britain was facing its own domestic issues. However, the lack of a parliament and organized form of democracy in the United Kingdom meant that these voices were unheard by the monarchy who went ahead with the war.

George I had died in 1746 of natural causes. Heir to the throne was George II who was seen as unfit to rule by the majority of the population of the United Kingdom. One of the main reasons for this was his lavish lifestyle and his fondness for women and parties. Another reason was his almost complete disregard for the wellbeing of his citizens residing anywhere other than England. The Scottish, Welsh and Irish, already seen as second class citizens, felt even more neglected and ignored by the state than they had ever done before. This would cause problems for the nation in future.

The British side of the war began with the North-Eastern Counteroffensive. Having already lost large tracts of land in their Canadian territories, George II saw that it was necessary to strike at the American heart before they launched a second offensive in Canada. British troops landed on the East Coast of North America to the north of Boston. The plan was to move south, taking Boston and occupying the whole region of Massachusetts. Following that, they would move south towards New York, taking Connecticut in the process. From there, British troops would move even further south to seize Washington in the province of Maryland.

George II did not see how the plan could fail. He saw it as an ideal way to put TUPA out of action as quickly as possible to avoid another long and drawn out war which Britain could not afford. Sadly, lack of foresight and bad intelligence led to the campaign ending in disaster for the United Kingdom. Data provided by British intelligence officers on the defences of the city of Boston was incorrect causing British losses to skyrocket. After a lengthy siege and heavy casualties, British troops were able to take Boston but faced a hostile population. British regiments in the area continued to report casualties and fatalities even after TUPA troops had left the area as the population had formed militias and resistance groups.

George II, growing impatient with the lack of progress, ordered his generals to stage another offensive, this time moving to take New York. British generals and officers came up with a new plan, seeing that an advance through Connecticut would result in catastrophic losses. Instead, the British forces would move further west before moving south to get to New York by way of Albany. They would then follow the Hudson River down to New York. However, British troops were surprised to find that Albany too was heavily defended. After multiple assaults, British troops routed and retreated. TUPA troops then crushed the remaining British forces at the Battle of Rotterdam. Britain would not launch another offensive for the rest of the war.

Facing rising tensions at home and defeat in the Americas, George II requested a peace treaty with TUPA in 1751 which they accepted. The terms of the treaty resulted in Britain accepting defeat in the war and losing territory (but not all their territories) in Canada. The war would show to the world that the United Kingdom was unable to defend its overseas holdings, making it an ideal target for foreign expansion. The war would give birth to multiple independence movements across Canada and Britain’s overseas territories. One such independence movement would start in the British Isles, taking George II by surprise. Some years after the war, the United Kingdom would cease to exist and would lose many of its colonies to rebellions.

The Anglo-American War of 1748 {American Perspective}

{Today's post will be the "American" perspective of 'The British-American War of 1748', the British perspective will be the second post.}

In 1748, under the presidency of Quincy Meine Hooper, TUPA declared war on Britain in what came to be known as 'The British-American War of 1748'. The cause that was given by TUPA was that they were supporting the revolutionaries in Quebec.

In reality, the Americans were spreading their expansionist wings, wanting, and even needed as the population grew rapidly, more land, especially the Canadian land to the north, which was owned by Britain. TUPA started with the successful expansion of Maine, expanding into Quebec, as well as taking over a few of the Islands on the side of Quebec.

The British tried to retaliate by attacking New York, although the American army halted their advances in 'The Battle Of Rotterdam', in which Edward Braddock was killed. In 1749, the Americans had their advances halted at 'The Battle of Niagara Falls'. By 1751, Britain requested a peace treaty, to which TUPA had accepted. TUPA had officially won the war by the Treaty of Rochester.

The significance of the war on TUPA was the fact that it established TUPA as a power to be reckoned with, defeating Britain twice. TUPA had gained a bit of land, but not that much.