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The Great Revolution - 1750-1755 AD
There were several underlying factors that contributed to the Great Revolution. While the Mercantile Clans had brought wealth to Sagaria and spurred on the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, their greed had thoroughly corrupted almost all levels of government. Furthermore, the property reforms that they had pushed through in 1689 AD enabled them to buy up property from other clans, which effectively stripped the populations of those clans of their traditional rights and forced many of them to move to the cities where they lived in squalor in the slums. The dramatic increase in agricultural productivity had also resulted in a rapid population growth, with the population in Sagaria proper having gone from 22.5 million in 1650 AD to 45.1 million in 1750 AD. Despite the increase in food production, a rapidly growing population inevitably resulted in rising food prices, which in turn caused unrest. The growing resentment within the general population was also reflected within the military as well, making it increasingly difficult for the Mercantile Clans to maintain their control over it as they had in the past. Because of all of these factors, Sagaria was ripe for a revolution by the mid-18th century.
On October 1, 1750 AD, several factories were shut down in Riga by workers protesting against the rising food prices and demanding better working conditions. Several students and professors of Saint Sesev’s University joined them in solidarity, which in turn inspired vast swaths of people to join the protest, which effectively shut down the capital. In response, Queen Sigil Gacou Edutirou called in several armies to disperse them, but the troops refused and instead joined the protesters. The students and professors roused the crowd with speeches about Lecar Silan Rusie’s proposed new social order guided by reason and equality. The protest culminated in a riot on October 3, with the crowd storming the Red Palace and several other key government buildings. Queen Sigil was captured in the process and was shortly thereafter beheaded. In her place, the crowd appointed the Committee of Public Safety to guide the newly declared Republic through the Revolution.
The members of the Committee of Public Safety quickly coalesced into four factions—the Agrarians, which was led by Lidia Neces Ludan and believed that Sagaria had strayed from God by industrializing and sought to return society to a pre-industrial existence; the Technologists on the other hand, led by Cenir Saruf Atani, believed that Sagaria should fully embrace science and industry as a means to improve the lives of the citizenry and society as a whole; the Populists, led by Mikel Laran Rusie, believed that all political and economic power should be entirely in the hands of the people; and the Centralists, led by Serafina Cusilar Igan, wanted to bring back order in the country by create a strong, centralized government that was not subject to the whims of the masses.
The Agrarians were initially the most popular and so Lidia took charge the first few weeks following the declaration of the Republic. She led the effort to eradicate the remnants of the old regime, dispatching some of the armies to deal with the few loyalist commanders there were, and sent the rest to deal with the Mercantile Clans. The Great Purge followed, wherein every single adult member of the Mercantile Clans was killed and had their property seized. Lidia herself personally led both armies and frenzied mobs of her supporters to Mecklenburg to exterminate its people. However, while she was away, Cenir of the Technologists took the opportunity to form an alliance with Mikel and Serafina, the leaders of the Populists and the Centralists respectively. Cenir also contacted the commanders, informing them that if Lidia’s vision was ever realized, the other European powers would inevitably surpass Sagaria’s military technology, which would render its military useless and therefore significantly diminish the political power of its commanders. Cenir thus managed to convince them to turn against Lidia and apprehend both her and her closest supporters. In February 19, 1751 AD, they were brought to stand trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal, where in a passionate speech Cenir condemned their actions against the Mercantile Clans, calling them barbaric and claiming that they ran counter to the values of the Revolution. Lidia and her closest supporters were thus declared to be traitors of the Revolution and were summarily executed.
With Lidia gone, Cenir worked together with Serafina and Mikel in order to build a government and create a constitution that all three could agree with. On June 5, 1753 AD, the Constitution of the Republic of Sagaria was finally ratified and the Committee of Public Safety was replaced with the Consul, the Sagarian Senate, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, and the Central Planning Committee.
The Flag of the Republic of Sagaria
According to the newly created constitution, the government of Sagaria would be divided into four branches—the executive, the legislative, the judicial, and the developmental.
The Senate and National Assembly would serve as Sagaria’s legislature. The Senate would serve as the upper house of Sagaria’s legislature, and each of its members would be appointed by the head of each clan and the satrateg of each temar. The National Assembly, on the other hand, would serve as the lower house of the legislature, with its members being elected by the citizenry.
The Consul would hold the executive power in Sagaria and would serve for life unless impeached by a two-thirds majority of both the Senate and the National Assembly. The election of the Consul would go as follows: the Senate, the National Assembly, and the Central Planning Committee would each propose three citizens of high merit who did not already serve in the government, and these candidates would then become eligible to run for election by popular vote. In order to prevent the reestablishment of a plutocracy, the Sagarian state would directly fund and manage the political campaigns of the electoral candidates.
The Supreme Court would serve as the judicial branch of government and would consist of 12 judges. The Consul, the Senate, the National Assembly, and the Central Planning Committee would each appoint 3 judges to serve in the Supreme Court. These judges would serve for life, but could be impeached by a majority vote of both the Senate and the National Assembly
The Central Planning Committee would serve as the developmental branch of government, and would be responsible for planning and directing the scientific, industrial, and economic undertakings of the Sagarian Republic. As such, it would also manage the state-owned enterprises of Sagaria, most of which had been appropriated from the Mercantile Clans, and the capital accumulated from these would serve as the main source of funding for the Committee. The Central Planning Committee would also be able to raise funds through the sale of bonds, even to foreign investors. The Committee would comprise the most eminent thinkers from all over Sagaria, nominated by their local universities and approved by vote of the board of directors of the Committee, and they would serve for life. The board of directors would be composed of 15 members selected from the Committee, with 5 being appointed by the Consul, 5 by the Senate, and 5 by the National Assembly. The board of directors were free to organize themselves however they wished, but each member could be removed by a majority vote of either the Senate or the National Assembly.
The March of Progress
The clans of Sagaria would be largely self-governing and their leaders elected through popular votes. Each clan was responsible for providing food, housing, childrearing, and education for its citizens, managing its own local industry and economy, as well as upholding the law and maintaining its own court. However, the Central Planning Committee exercised a lot of influence over the clans as it was responsible for providing them with directives and funding.
The lives of Sagaria’s citizens largely improved thanks to the new constitution. Living conditions in the cities began to improve, as did the working conditions in the factories. Although all major industries and businesses were nationalized, citizens and clans were allowed to own small and medium sized enterprises. However, most drastic were the changes in Sagaria’s eastern colonies, where the Mercantile Clans had previously been working the indigenous people to death to maximize the production of cash crops. The indigenous people were given full citizenship, and while the state still incentivized the production of cash crops, they weren’t exploited anywhere near as much as they had been prior to the Revolution.
Revolution in Sweden
With the new constitution in place, the leaders of Sagaria began to look outward. They knew that the Swedish people faced much of the same hardships that their own had prior to the Revolution, and they knew that the intellectuals and revolutionary thinkers of Sweden were watching Sagaria with great interest. They began to covertly encourage them to launch their own revolution and provide them with material support. Their efforts were successful and July 5, 1754 AD marked the beginning of the Swedish Revolution. By November 14, 1754 AD, all meaningful opposition to the Swedish revolutionaries had been destroyed, and shortly thereafter the two new republics reaffirmed the alliance of their predecessors.
However, as much as the governments of Sagaria and Sweden had in common, they also differed in some respects. Both had different views of how to further the Revolution—Sagaria wished to spread the Revolution throughout Europe, whereas Sweden still craved territorial expansion. On May 1, 1755 AD, they would begin to launch a series of wars that would redefine Europe and Sicalia.
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Now that's one heck of a shift! Will be interesting to see how political thought develops in this timeline. I presume that Sagaria is more running on state capitalism than any sort of proto-socialism?
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Honestly, it could probably be described as a kind of pseudo-socialist state capitalism, since the accumulation of capital is not the end-goal, but simply a means to an end. And that end is to improve the nation, its society, and the lives of its citizens.
I just made a small edit in my last AAR post. To clarify: the Sagarian Senate has one representative for each clan, and one representative for each temar (basically, a field army).
Honestly, the Revolution in this timeline is a whole different beast than it was in OTL.
The French Revolution was a response to feudalism, aristocracy, and monarchy. The Sagarian Revolution, on the other hand, was a response to plutocracy and monarchy, whereas the Swedish Revolution (being strongly influenced by the Sagarian one) was a response to plutocracy, aristocracy, and monarchy.
Add to that that both have the largest and wealthiest empires in the world, and that both of their people are longtime allies
Annabel Bergman - 1734-1771 AD
Annabel Bergman was born on May 9, 1734 AD in the Swedish port city of Stockholm. Her mother, Annabel Sutherland, died in childbirth, leaving her father to raise her on his own. Her father, Ulf Bergman, was a wealthy banker and although he had wanted a son, the loss of his beloved wife made him incredibly attached to his daughter. Ulf discovered early on that Annabel was a gifted child, and as a highly educated man, he decided to personally educate her. Although she showed an amazing aptitude for science and mathematics, her true passion was literature and games. She learned to read and write by the age of two, and by the time she was three years old Annabel read an average of ten books a day. She was particularly interested in history, and loved reading about the great military geniuses of the past. By the age of eight, she was virtually unbeatable in chess and most card games.
At the age of nine, Annabel convinced her father to enroll her in Saint Sesev’s University to study science, mathematics, and literature. It was there that she first encountered wargaming, and she fell completely and utterly in love with it. Not only was it the most complex strategy game she had ever played, but it also allowed her to live out the fantasy of being a great military leader. By the age of eleven, she had become one of the top players of the recreational versions of wargaming. This caught the attention of the Grand Crusader Society, who invited her to play the professional version of the game. By the age of thirteen, she was largely considered to be the best player in the club. She also discovered her attraction to girls around this time, and much to the frustration of her fellow players, she would frequently and effortlessly write love letters and poems while simultaneously beating them in a game. Of course, because of her young age, no one reciprocated her advances. She also began to dress in flamboyant military garbs at this age, earning her the nickname “little Satrateg.”
At the age of fourteen, Annabel could allegedly run complex wargaming scenarios in her head. It was around this time when Satrateg Lushia Lesar Tacan offered to take her along to serve as a mercenary advisor in the War of the Burgundian Succession in order to test out her strategic genius. Annabel leaped at the opportunity, and with her help the Sagarian mercenaries completely dominated the battlefield and brought victory to Burgundy. During that time, Lushia taught Annabel about the more practical aspects of leading an army. At the conclusion of the war on April 14, 1750 AD, Lushia offered her a permanent position in the Sagarian military—the only human to have ever received such an honor—but Annabel declined, preferring to serve in the Swedish military instead. As such, Lushia sent a letter of recommendation to the Swedish court where she outlined Annabel’s unparalleled military genius and how much the Kingdom of Sweden would benefit from having a woman such as her commanding its armies. Because of this, Annabel was made a “special advisor” of the Swedish Royal Army.
In practice, however, Annabel was given no real authority, and between her age and gender, no one in the Swedish military took her seriously. To make matters worse, the general of the army she had been assigned to, Alfred Bure, was too arrogant and stubborn to ever listen to her advice. The only ones who did take her seriously were the Sergaljägare, many of whom had heard of her exploits at Saint Sesev’s University and in the Sagarian military. Knowing how vile human men could be to women, these Swedish sergals took her under their wing and affectionately referred to her as “Satrateg.”
Things began to change for Annabel in 1752 AD, during the Second Ruso-Swedish War. After advancing deep into Ruslandic territory, the Swedish military experienced a number of devastating losses. Alfred Bure himself was seriously wounded and unable to command his army, which was being encircled by enemy forces, which in turn caused his second in command, Ludvig Bratt, to suffer a nervous breakdown. Annabel took charge of the army and used the Sergaljägare to quickly restore order, and spotting a weakness in the enemy lines, she led a charge to break through the enemy encirclement and then proceed to launch an offensive against the Ruslandians, who had been taken completely off guard by this maneuver. The Swedish army dealt them a decisive blow, turning what would’ve been a certain defeat into a victory. The Swedish troops were absolutely amazed by this, and when the Sergaljägare began to chant “Satrateg, Satrateg!” they joined in.
When Bratt finally came back to his senses, he threatened to accuse Annabel of mutiny. Since Bratt was a nobleman and she was just a commoner, they both knew that his word would carry far more weight than hers ever could. To appease him, Annabel allowed Bratt to claim the victory for himself, and after Bure passed away from his wounds, he was promoted to General and she was forced to serve under him. However, the troops would never forget what Annabel had done for them, and from then on they treated her like royalty.
When the Revolution erupted in Sweden in early July of 1754 AD, Annabel saw an opportunity to turn things around. She used her popularity among the troops to stage a mutiny and had Bratt executed. Having taken control of the army, she pledged it and herself to the Revolutionary cause. As she did not hold any official rank within the military, she became referred to as “Satrateg Annabel” (the Sagarian custom of using one’s personal name rather than family name resonated with her). However, even combined the Swedish Revolutionary forces were outnumbered by the armies still loyal to the crown. Nevertheless, they proved to be no match for Annabel’s strategic genius, and by November 14 that year she had crushed the Royalists.
Later that month, Annabel, along with the other military leaders who had sided with the Revolution, was invited to Dagskrona by Consul Markus Svensson, who was the head of Sweden’s provisional government—the Folkting. There at the capital, they took part in the festivities that celebrated the victory of the Revolution. The Consul was quite surprised to learn that Annabel, who had practically led the Revolutionary war effort, did not even have a military rank. He quickly rectified this and made her a Field Marshal.
Portrait of Annabel Bergman
Aside from her new rank, her status as a war hero, and her popularity among the Swedish people, Annabel gained a reputation for being flamboyant and openly lesbian. However, these aspects were not seen as negative as they otherwise would have at the time, but rather as something that was part of her larger-than-life personality.
Annabel was not content with the peace that the Revolution seemed to have ushered in, and so she pushed for war with Norway by convincing the Consul and the Folkting that it could easily be conquered. She managed to get their approval, and on May 1, 1755 AD, she launched an invasion into the Kingdom of Norway. By July 27, the Norwegian lands were firmly under Swedish control and victory was declared.
The monarchs of Europe were keeping up with the events in both Sagaria and Sweden, and they were horrified by the Revolution and the possibility of it spreading further. When Sweden next invaded the Kingdom of Denmark with the aim of uniting the Scandinavian countries, it called on its ally—the Holy Roman Empire—for aid, and Emperor Friedrich VII responded by declaring war on Sweden. In turn, Sagaria declared war on the Holy Roman Empire, which prompted all other European monarchies, save for Mercia and Scotland which were embroiled in a war against each other at the time, to declare war on both Sweden and Sagaria. Thus on October 14, 1756 AD, the War of the Coalition began.
While the Sagarian and Swedish militaries were by far the most powerful in the world and backed by industrial economies, they were now going up against almost all of continental Europe, which had at this point also begun to industrialize and modernize their militaries. But even surrounded, Sagaria managed to hold its own. It took out its smaller neighbors, Turov and Galicia-Volhynia, within the first few months of the war, deposing their monarchs and turning them into Sagarian sister republics. This of course emboldened their remaining enemies, as they feared that this would be done to them as well if they surrendered. In desperation, they mass conscripted their people to fight in the war. However, Annabel would take advantage of this by sending spies to sow discontent among their ranks.
Next, Sweden and Sagaria launched a joint attack against Rusland, while part of the Sagarian army held onto the western and southern fronts, and their navies blocked off the Baltic and Black Seas. By September 28, 1757 AD, they had knocked Rusland out of the war, forcing it to cede all of its Scandinavian territories to Sweden and turn into a Sagarian sister republic. With winter approaching, the Swedish and part of the Sagarian forces marched south towards the Kingdom of Theodoro, while a Sagarian detachment was sent to the east to take the Kingdom of Votyaki. Votyaki capitulated on February 13, 1758 AD and was turned into a sister republic. The same fate befell Theodoro on March 5 and the Kingdom of Ryazan on May 17 that same year.
From there, the Swedes and Sagarians launched an incursion into Romania, which maintained the third most powerful military in the world. Splitting their forces, they sent one east of the Carpathians and another over the Caucasus Mountains. True to their legacy, the Romans put up an incredible fight, and it wasn’t until June 20, 1759 AD that Romania capitulated. Emperor Alexios VI was forced to abdicate as the monarchy was abolished, thus ending an eighteen centuries long line of Roman succession. However, as the Sagarians were great admirers of Roman culture, they allowed the Roman Senate to remain and made it the ruling body of the government, but it was forced to implement a number of reforms to modernize the institution. Romania was thus turned into another sister republic.
Of course, the war wasn’t limited to Europe, as the colonial subjects of Sweden fought those of its enemies. However, the Swedes saw less success in Sicalia than they did in Europe. This state of affairs changed in 1758 AD when the German colony of Kanada came to an agreement with Sweden to sign a peace treaty with them and declare their independence from their colonial overlord. Both Charlesiane and Alésqac would choose to do the same in 1759 AD, allowing the Swedish colonial forces to focus their efforts on the Mesosicalian and South Sicalian colonies instead.
With Romania defeated, the Swedish and Sagarian forces marched west to the Holy Roman Empire. The Sagarians who had held the western front now pushed deep into German territory. By November 8, 1759 AD, the Holy Roman Empire had been dismantled, its Emperor deposed, and in its place the Confederated States of Germany was established. Naturally, all of these states were Sagarian sister republics.
The Swedish and Sagarian forces then continued to push west, invading Burgundy and Frisia. The latter capitulated after only a month and was forced to cede all of its overseas colonies to Sweden and turn into a Sagarian sister republic, its new government rechristening the nation as the Netherlands. During the fighting in Burgundy, its island of Corsica had a revolution of its own and declared itself independent. Naturally, since it was in need of protection, Sagaria was quick to swoop in and add it to its constellation of sister republics. Burgundy itself would capitulate and turn into a sister republic on February 19, 1760 AD.
Finally, France capitulated on October 7 that same year, thus ending the War of the Coalition. In addition to abolishing its monarchy and becoming a Sagarian sister republic, France was forced to cede all of its colonial territories to Sweden. With the war over, Sagaria would spend the next 50 years rebuilding continental Europe and strengthening its influence over its nominally independent sister republics.
When Annabel returned to Dagskrona, she received a hero’s welcome and a magnificent parade was held in her honor. At this point, Sweden had copied much of the Sagarian governmental system, replacing the Folkting with the Swedish Senate, the Landsting, the Supreme Court, and the National Planning Committee. Annabel would use her popularity to become Consul in 1762 AD, and from there she worked to improve Sweden’s economy, industry, infrastructure, and military. She established the Rud Military Academy just south of Dagskrona, and following her death it would be renamed as the Annabelian Military Academy. More crucially, she had Sweden adopt wargaming as a tool for training officers and researching tactics and strategies.
Annabel could also be credited as the one who finally tamed Mesosicalia. Before ceding the region to Sweden, France and Frisia had only barely managed to keep their control over it, as its large indigenous population frequently revolted against them. Sweden had one distinct advantage over the previous colonial overlords—they had freedom of religion. Every single European power that had previously tried to colonize Mesosicalia had endeavored to Christianize and “civilize” the natives, but the Swedish Republic ended this practice and allowed them to live as they wished for the most part. Annabel would take this a step further and, emulating Cyrus the Great, King of Kings of the ancient Achaemenid Empire, rebuilt the pagan shrines and temples that their previous colonial overlords had destroyed. She also allowed them to elect their own leaders and representatives for their local governments.
More notably, in 1768 AD, she abolished slavery. Of course, since a large portion of the Sicalian colonies were economically reliant on slave labor, especially since the invention of the cotton gin in the early 18th century, this led to a mass revolt. As such, Annabel stepped down from her Consulship so that she could travel to Sicalia and personally lead the war effort there against this insurrection. Many historians speculate that Annabel, having grown tired of peace, had actually abolished slavery with the intention of sparking an uprising.
In true Annabelian fashion, she led from the ground to inspire her troops and used her brilliant mind to dominate the battlefield. Between 1768 and 1771 AD, Annabel fought all over the southern parts of New Sweden and Westland, then in the Mesosicalian colony of Mayamark, and then finally in South Sicalia. She met her end there on June 9, during the battle of Valdeburg, when a stray bullet pierced her chest. To prevent her troops from being demoralized, Annabel kept her wound hidden until the battle was over, at which point she collapsed from her injury. Her officers and medics rushed to her side, but they quickly ascertained that her wound was fatal. Allegedly, as she lied there on the ground, one of her officers reported that they had won, to which Annabel smiled and replied, “I know.”
Annabel’s body was transported back to Dagskrona, where it was entombed in a mausoleum built in her honor. And only a couple of years later, a statue of her was erected in front of the Swedish Capitol building. In addition to leaving behind an incredible legend, Annabel’s strategies and tactics revolutionized warfare forever. She would also go on to inspire the Queer Movement of the following century.
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So I have a couple of confessions to make regarding this part. Firstly, the War of the Coalition was actually several separate wars which were fought over a period of 20 or so years. But because I really wanted to have a Napoleon-esque figure in this alternate history as well as something similar to the Napoleonic wars, I decided to combine all of those in-game wars into one big one. And to showcase Annabel's military genius, I shortened the conflict to 4 years.
As for the Sicalian revolt, that simply did not happen in-game. Sweden just abolished slavery immediately upon becoming a Revolutionary Republic with no issues whatsoever, which honestly didn't seem very believable to me.
As for the Sicalian revolt, that simply did not happen in-game. Sweden just abolished slavery immediately upon becoming a Revolutionary Republic with no issues whatsoever, which honestly didn't seem very believable to me.
Yep, Annabel's definitely a (slightly less ambitious) and female Napoleon.
I'm interested to see how LGBTQA+ rights in this timeline go with this having happened, though.
I'm interested to see how LGBTQA+ rights in this timeline go with this having happened, though.
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Such a titanic figure Annabel became in the end, and surely an inspiration to the LGBT movement in this timeline now doubt, we already saw a drastic change to the Enlightenment with a Church supporting such an endeavor, I wonder what this will mean for the Queer movement? Bold move to try and abolish slavery as well, shame she did not live long enough to see where it would have gone.
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A New Europe - 1760-1815 AD
While the Revolutionary Wars had allowed Sweden to unite all of Scandinavia under its flag and vastly expand its colonial empire, Sagaria had effectively gained control of almost the entirety of continental Europe. The creation of sister republics had been driven by both idealists, pragmatists, as well as imperialists, and the system proved quite successful. Revolutionary ideas had already been spreading throughout Europe for decades, with its monarchs typically suppressing any reformist movement. When Sagaria deposed the royals and nobles, and established representative democratic governments along with constitutions guaranteeing a number of rights, a large segment of the population in these countries welcomed it. Thus the end of the Revolutionary Wars marked the beginning of Pax Sagariana.
With peace established, the Central Planning Committee ramped up industrialization and set out to improve Sagaria’s infrastructure, working conditions, living conditions, industrial output, and to rebuild Europe. It connected and expanded the existing railways in Sagaria, creating an extensive transportation network throughout Sagaria proper, which partially extended into its neighboring sister republics. This rail network was a major boon to the Sagarian economy, as it facilitated the quick and easy transport of goods, materials, and people. In addition, the Central Planning Committee provided generous amounts of funding for research, which led to better steam engines, more effective steel making processes, enhanced industrial management, as well as improvements in agriculture and metallurgy. As a result, Sagaria’s GDP per capita more than doubled between 1760 and 1815 AD.
The Central Planning Committee also undertook an ambitious project to renovate Sagaria’s existing cities. Neighborhoods that were deemed to be overcrowded and unhealthy were demolished. In their place, rows of tall residential buildings were constructed, separated by boulevards, and interspersed with parks and squares. To improve sanitation, new sewers, fountains, and aqueducts were also built. This greatly improved the standard of living for even the poorest Sagarian citizen, who could now live in comfort in a well-maintained apartment building.
Of course, in addition to renovating and expanding existing cities, new cities also had to be built in order to house the growing population in Sagaria and its colonies. In Sagaria proper alone, the population grew from 48.1 million in 1760 AD to 70.6 million in 1815 AD, while the population in all of its territories grew from 207.2 million to 306.4 million during that time.
Although Sagaria proper was the main focus of the Central Planning Committee’s efforts, it also worked to improve the infrastructure and living conditions in the colonies, but did little in terms of industrializing those territories. The big exception to this was Gujarat, which had served as the textile-making hub of the Mercantile Clans. The Central Planning Committee turned it into a well-oiled textile-making machine, with a railway connecting its industrial cities with the ports on the coast.
The Central Planning Committee would also take over the educational system in Sagaria. While the universities had long since become secularized, the general school system had remained a Christian institution up until now. The Central Planning Committee replaced the schola communis and schola major with secular primary and secondary schools that were intended to turn out better educated and more patriotic citizens. It would also require gifted Sagarian citizens to attend university before their mandatory military service so that they could be provided with officer training.
Of course, between the Pax Sagariana and the increasing cost of military equipment, the Sagarian armies were no longer hired to fight in foreign wars. As such, they were simply garrisoned throughout Sagaria, its colonies, and its sister republics. Though, they would frequently conduct military exercises to ensure their combat readiness should war ever break out. Even so, the occasional reactionary uprising allowed the troops to put their skills to use every now and then.
Women’s fashion in Romania in the late 18th century and early 19th century.
Europe experienced a new wave of Neoclassical culture as the new republics sought to reinvent themselves, and it would manifest through painting, sculpture, architecture, fashion, literature, and music. While this cultural movement was most strongly felt in Sagaria, due to its urban renovation program, it was also very prominent in Romania, where its senate endeavored to reconnect Roman society to its ancient past in order to strengthen its legitimacy.
Sagaria would also spend the post-war years pressuring the Papal States into adopting a more democratic form of government. As Sagaria had by now become the unquestionable master of continental Europe, the Papal States had little choice but to accede to its demands. Thus, in 1764 AD, it became a theocratic democracy. In this new system, the Pope would be the head of state, while the legislature would be bicameral with the College of Cardinals serving as the upper house and the new National Assembly serving as the lower house. The Curia would serve as the government, with its members being appointed by the Pope from the College of Cardinals with the confidence of the National Assembly. Although cardinals were appointed by the pope and served for life, the National Assembly was made up entirely of elected representatives. With these reforms, every adult citizen of the Papal States could vote and stand for election, regardless of gender or religion.
Between Sagaria and Sweden, great advances were made in the field of medicine. Physicians began to use a much more systematic analysis of patients’ symptoms when diagnosing them. Anesthetics began to be used to much greater effect, including general anesthesia for surgeries. While surgery had previously been considered to be highly dangerous due to the risk of infection, the development of antiseptic and aseptic operating theaters allowed physicians to perform surgeries much more safely, and to devise a range of operations to cure diseases. The germ theory of disease replaced Galen’s miasma theory, which up until this time had dominated medicine. In addition, effective cures and vaccines were developed for certain endemic infectious diseases. Thanks to these advances as well as improvements in public health and nutrition, there was a sharp decline in diseases. The late 18th century also saw the development of the science of genetics, which was a major step towards understanding life itself.
The Difference Engine
Arguably, the most impactful invention of the late 18th century was the difference engine—a special-purpose machine designed to tabulate logarithms and trigonometric functions by evaluating finite differences to create approximating polynomials. Sofia Nafush Atani, a brilliant scientist working for the Central Planning Committee, first proposed the device to the board of directors in 1792 AD, which took a great interest in it and funded its development. The difference engine was completed in 1795 AD, but during its development Sofia realized that it was possible to design a similar machine for general computation. Upon the completion of the difference engine, Sofia presented her ideas and designs to the board of the Central Planning Committee, which was highly impressed and agreed to fund the creation of this new device. And so, in 1810 AD, Sofia finished the creation of the analytical engine—the world’s first programmable, general-purpose computer—and just as the Scientific Revolution had blossomed into the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution had now blossomed into the Machine Age.
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This is the final part of the EU4 segment of this mega-campaign AAR. We'll follow this up in Victoria 2.
Europe looks quite ordered. Waiting for Nationalism to introduce a bit of chaos ^^
P.S.: Can you show culture and religious map?
P.S.: Can you show culture and religious map?
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That's what your friendly neighborhood Sagarian garrison is for.
Sure!
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F for my Polish brothers. Sure I knew it, but still I was hoping you know maybe they survibed somewhere ehThat's what your friendly neighborhood Sagarian garrison is for.
Sure!
P.S.: What is this red religion in the east? sorry I don't remember
That's Vajrayana Buddhism. It was widely adopted by the steppe nomads during the Mongol conquests.
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The revolutionaries have won, but we'll see if that lasts.
The Roman nostalgia could prove problematic...
The Roman nostalgia could prove problematic...
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Shame there's probably no way to emulate it, but I love the idea of a Steampunk universe taking place in this Sagarian timeline, especially since it seems that the Difference Engine might make significant changes here compared to Charles Babbage's distant dream in our timeline.
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