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''Ein Hoch auf den lustigen Kaiser!''

October 17th, 1903 - The Imperial Palace in Berlin, the Kaiser Wilhelm II suffers a catastrophic stroke, three days later, on the 20th, after a prolonged illness, he falls asleep, and does not awake again. Within a week, his son and heir, the Crown Prince Wilhelm is named Wilhelm III, the Kaiser of the German Empire. At only 21 years of age, the young and inexperienced man leaves his career as a cadet officer, and assumes his role as the leader of the nation. He will soon establish himself as a moderate figure who is far more content to cooperate with Germany's neighbours, and her internal political bodies, strengthening a ruling camarilla of Conservative Politicians and Military Officers, who help guide the young Kaiser.

January 22nd 1905 - After weeks of agitation from the intelligentsia, and increasing unrest caused by a lack of democratic and constitutionalist reform, thousands march in protest towards the Winter Palace, lead by the controversial priest Georgy Gapon. Shots ring out, and the day is forever known as Bloody Sunday. Months of violence will follow in the events soon to be known popularly as the '1905 Revolution'. Though most of it is crushed within a few months, for another two years resistance will carry on, and the event will form the ideology of key figures in Russia's history to come.

March 31st 1905 (The Day of the First Morocco Crisis in our own time, provoked by the Kaiser Wilhelm II) - The day passes uneventfully, besides a small collision between the SMS Udonnen, a small German Navy skipper, as a Danish fishing vessel in the Skaggerak - the minor sensation is resolved quickly with a meeting of the Kaiser and the Danish King Christian IX, which results in an affirmation of mutual fishing zones in the Baltic and North Sea.

August 31st, 1907 - In the absence of German territorialism in the Middle East, and wary of a shaky and potentially volatile Russia, the Russo-Anglo Entente, and its inclusion into alliance with Britain and France, never takes place. This will prove the final nail in the coffin for the potential for a general war of the Empires, with Britain and France feeling comfortable with their position against Germany, and unsure of Russia's reliability as an ally. This is only galvanized by what they perceive to be aggressive Russian expansion of its influence in the Balkans, and Anglo-French strategists begin to re-prioritize their focus away from Germany, towards a more general containment strategy of both Germany and Russia.

August, 1914 - The Treaty of Athens in finalized by the Great Powers, with Germany acting as its guarantor. Two months earlier the assassination of Franz Ferdinand had almost brought into conflict the Empires of Europe, however bereft of support besides Russia, who stood alone as its benefactor, Serbia and Russia quickly opted to back down, accepting humiliating terms forcing it to recognize Austria as the lord of the Balkans, a title it would only hold for another decade, alongside other financial concessions. Russia, though materially unharmed, is humiliated and its pride wounded, satirists across Europe tear into the Tsar, and the joke 'The Bear has gone back to sleep after a stir!' sees the front-page of Punch.

January 22nd, 1915: On the tenth-anniversary of Bloody Sunday, protestors once again gather outside of the Winter Palace, to demand the expansion of the powers of the now-existent State Duma, and further limits to the Tsar's power in the face of the humiliation of Athens. Though shots do not ring out, the day is punctuated by violence between those among the crowd who refuse to disperse and the police, arrests number in the hundreds, and tensions only continue to rise throughout the year.

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May 1st, 1915: A General Strike is declared in Russia, with hundreds of thousands of workers taking part at first, and millions by the end of the year. The Police and Army attempt to break the strike, but the sheer number of those taking part brings the country to deadlock. For the second time in ten years, the crew of the Battleship Potemkin mutiny, and they are soon joined by many sections of the army. Desperate to regain control, the Tsar attempts to contain demonstrations with violence as had been done in 1905. His attempts are unsuccessful, and the next two years will see the Revolution of 1915-1917, which will only end with the Tsar's abdication, and exile to Great Britain. Though hardliners attempt to abolish the monarchy and establish a Republic, the military is appeased, and restores order. Tsar Alexei II, only twelve years old, and perpetually ill, is guided by a regency council established by leading figures of the newly empowered Duma's factions. Of these, the Moderate Socialist figure Viktor Chernov, the liberal Pavel Milyukov, and the Conservative figure Dmitri Romanov. Though this alliance seems tenuous at first, they soon establish a working relationship, and indeed become known as 'The Three Chuckling Brothers'.

October 17th 1915 - With the violence in Russia escalating, and no sign of its end in sight, a rare occassion indeed takes place; the leadership of France, Britain and Germany meet in secret negotiations held in Strasbourg. It is agreed that Germany will act as the guarantor of Russia's Western territorial integrity, with Britain acting in tangent in Russia's East and South. With the 'Declarations of 1916' in Poland, Finland and the Baltics, Germany repeatedly reneges on this promise, selling weapons to, and even voluntarily, arming many of the rebels to create a buffer for itself. In response, Britain begins to expand its own influence into Persia, and when Central Asia is lost to Russia, it follows through into Afghanistan and beyond. For the first time, France and Britain begin to realize their mistakes, though by now it is far too late, and Germany, under an increasingly confidant Wilhelm III, begins to assert its own rights to play a part in the world stage.

22nd January, 1919 - Germany concludes an agreement with Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire to construct a railway from Berlin to Baghdad. Opinion in Britain is one of dismay at the first signs of growing German influence in the Middle East.

28th of February, 1922 - The Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Egypt is declared, and it soon provokes Arab nationalists in the Ottoman Empire to follow suit. What follows is the surprisingly rapid degeneration, and within a year, the Ottomans, brow-beaten by the Great Powers, is reduced to a rump in Turkey and Northern Assyria, which is soon followed by a second blow as the Transcaucasian state formed in Russia several years earlier successfully wages a campaign throughout this affair, concessions are again brow-beaten on their behalf by Germany, in a cynical quid pro quo for further influence. The Sultan is soon ousted, and the 'Second Great Game' begins in the Middle East. On one side, tied to Germany economically and politically, the Turks, Transcaucasians and Rashid-lead Levantine Arabs, and on the other, the British-sponsored Sauds, Persians and Egpytians.

25th of May, 1924 - In a shocking victory, which many now view as a French rejection of what is increasingly becoming a one-sided relationship with Britain, which seems now all too happy to use France as a cudgel with which to help it wrestle with Germany's increasing economic and political eminence globally, the Socialist SFIO Party, under Léon Blum, wins an electoral victory. The Entente is declared dead soon after, and though tensions continue to rise, Germany rejects a proposition for alliance from both Austria-Hungary and Italy, content to avoid entanglements with either the increasingly ethnically volatile Austria-Hungary, or the revanchist Italy. Blum, though a Socialist, affirms France's right to maintain an empire, and though this placates most liberals and conservatives, it increasingly becomes a source of friction within the leading 'Lefts Cartel' alliance. It will soon lead to the increasing toxicity of France's Republic, and Blum will soon become a hate-figure among the more radical of the Left.

17th October, 1925 - In a rare display of cooperation between the three European Powers, the outbreak of violence in the Yunnan and Guangxi, it is agreed that unilateral action must be taken to restore order in China to secure European political and financial interests in the country. In what is commonly referred to as the 'Second Boxer War', roughly 120,000 troops from a joint international force intervene in the country on the behalf of Chiang Kai-Shek. Within two years, the 'Warlord Period' is brought to an end, and the Republic of China is affirmed. Despite this, many warlords remain in office in their regional strongholds, and though the civil war is over in name, many still maintain private armies, their own political agendas for the country, and many observers believe that the moment it becomes apparent the Europeans will be unable to conduct meaningful and coordinated peace-keeping, the fighting will resume.

2nd of March, 1926 - International controversy as the Canadian rum-running ship Malahat is stopped by the US Coast Guard. Refusing to dump he cache of 32,000 cases of Canadian whiskey, the Coast Guard open fire on her with 3-inch guns, killing twelve of its crew, including her captain Stuart Stone, before it is surrendered by her first-mate and scuttled with her cargo onboard. The sensation results in proposals for punishment of the US by the Canadian and British Parliaments, who consider imposing punitive tariffs on American steel. Ultimately this is avoided when the US Government concedes reparations to the operator of the ship, Vancouver General Navigations Co., and to the families of those crew killed.

7th. of June, 1926 - After nearly a decade of political indecision, Poland declares herself a Republic, and orders Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian troops who maintained small garrisons in her border regions for 'security' reasons to leave the country. The move is soon followed by the 'Baltic Republic of Lithuania and Latvia', and serves as inspiration for the later ousting of the Russian-dominated regency council of the 'Grand Duchy of Finland', which will be renamed as simply 'The Republic of Finland' in 1930. The moves are not without controversy, and all three powers begin to attempt to regain their influence on each nation, imposing economic pressure. In a rare display, all three form the 'Baltic Association of Economic Cooperation', which allows Poland to access the Baltic Sea, and allows Finland to import grain from Poland, rather than Russia. All three countries manage to maintain their political neutrality, though they remain isolated.

22nd. of January, 1928 - Leon Blum's Lefts Cartel will once again win the election, however within his own SFIO Party, his grasp on power begins to become more and more tenuous, as the radicals increasingly call for increased state control of economic apparatus in order to compete with British and German business. Additionally, anti-colonialist protests erupt in Paris as a government leak reveals that nearly a fifth of the government's budget for the next five years will be spent maintain France's empire overseas. The stain will mark Blum's doomed premiership, and his own SFIO Party will begin to hemorrhage members and support in several by-elections that serve as litmus tests to the popularity of his premiership. The Party that profits from this is the newly established PCF, the Communist Party of France.

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1st. of May, 1930 - In what is widely regarded as a day of chaos around the world, the largest mass-strike in human history takes place. Across the world, tens of millions down tools, and unions take to the street. Some call for higher wages and shorter hours, some call for decolonisation, others for more political freedom. In several countries shots ring out; dozens are killed in Russia, and thousands arrested. In China, foreign correspondants claim that striking rail workers are hacked to death with swords by the mercenary forces of the regional warlords. In Britain, for the first time in history, the British Army deploys her Landships in a non-trial, in this case to brow-beat striking textile workers in Glasgow and Edinburgh, while in London armoured cars line the streets. The event is however, decidedly bi-partisan, as many right-wing groups call for de-colonisation to end what they call the 'unfair advantage of cheap coolie labour over white workers'.

12th of May, 1930 - Leon Blum is ousted from the leadership of his own party, the SFIO, and from the premiership of France. An emergency government under Edouard Herriot is established, and it placates the public with promises of decreased colonial spending, and a nationalization program for France's railways. It is not enough however, and in the time between the 1928 and 1932 elections, the Lefts Cartel will slowly begin to disband, with the SFIO leaving it in 1931 to form a coalition with the PCF, followed soon by the PRS.

8th of May, 1932 - Maurice Thorez is declared Prime Minister of the French Republic, under the new coalition government of the Popular Front, a coalition of Socialist and Communist Parties. His government begins a rapid march towards new radical reforms, and Thorez's promise to 'be out of Africa in ten years' is received jubilantly by many. Conservatives are aghast, though an attempt to push the army to mutiny is foisted when many soldiers refuse to follow the orders of their officers, resulting in a soft purge that sees many figures like Charles de Gaul exiled to postings as far afield as the Comoros. In Germany, the SPD/Zentrum Coalition lead by Otto Wels condemns the 'Radical ascension' that has taken place in France, though the proscribed KPD, lead by Ernst Thalmann, who lives in exile in Switzerland, declares it a victory in the global march towards Socialism. For many Conservative and Right-Wing governments across the world, they begin to realize all too late the growing allure of Socialism to their people, who have begun to see themselves as cogs in a colonial system that exploits them, as much as it exploits the colonial world.