4-17-1863:President Winfield Scott and former President Fillmore meet with Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck in New York City. Von Bismarck asks for the president's blessing to wage war on the Russian Empire, increasingly assertive of its control of Southeast Asia, the Far East, and the Middle East. The Iron Man plans to take over Japan, Indochina, and eventually, China, as well as the Arabian peninsula in order to form a "great snake" around the Russian Empire, and "starve the bear" by cutting off all their supplies. Von Bismarck has full support from France, who recently lost Indochina in the French-Russian Conflicts, and the British Empire, who has been fighting with the Russians for centuries. After much encouragement by both men, the Iron Man receives President Scott's blessing as the German Eagle screams across Asia and the Pacific.
5-2-1863:Von Bismarck rams through a formal Declaration of War against the Russian Empire. The Germans begin to reap the benefits of a long arms and naval buildup, as well as the firm support of Otto Lilienthal's experiments on flight. Lilienthal's plans will bare fruit in several years, but in the meantime are a great way to bolster patriotism, and thus, support for the war, at home.
7-14-1863:Germany takes control of the Japanese Islands, three days after securing Korea. The focus of the war now turns to the jungles of Indochina, and Von Bismarck is seen as a conquering hero by Europe, particularly Germany and Denmark. Von Bismarck will need this political capital for his next move...
8-29-1863:Otto Von Bismark lands in Indochina, after the seat of thousands of soldiers on both sides, and the German flag is planted firmly in the ground. It has taken several weeks of fighting, but Southeast Asia welcomes their German conquerors as liberators after the poor conditions provided by the Tsar, and before that abuse by France. The French Empire has reached its colonial Zenith, but Germany is just getting started. Von Bismark has plans to hit China hard and swiftly, providing for a firm stranglehold on Russian trade. Historians consider this the beginning of a period in the history of the German Empire called "Pax Germana", a great turning point in global history and foreign policy.
10-14-1863:Germany and Russia sign a peace treaty formally ending the Russian-German War. The Tsar begins to direct his attention to home, with starvation, unemployment, and poor living conditions running rampant from Siberia to the Bering Straight. He will need a quick way to bring in money, and so sells America Alaska for $5,000,000. It is the greatest increase in land mass America has seen since the Lousiana Purchase, and is sold as kicking off one the European colonial invaders once and for all. American nationalism surges, and many diplomats see America as a rising power in the world.
2-7-1864:Germany invades Persia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and what's left of Romania. They bring 200,000 troops and know how to use them, and many of them return home as heroes and valiant conquerors. Among them is Paul Von Hindenburg, a young solider who is well respected by his peers, who praise him as a great soldier, who does what needs to be done in order to ensure victory. He begins a quick rise through the ranks, earning his sergeant's stripes within weeks. Von Bismarck has been planting politicians and spies throughout all these nations, who have worked pro-German rhetoric and anti-Russian sentiment into a frenzy. The bad economy plaguing the middle east doesn't help, and so the citizens welcome the invaders as liberators, fighting alongside the German armies, helping bolster German ranks. Von Bismarck has been careful not to grow to ambitious, and has treated their conquered peoples with respect and kindness. He will have to wait for greater numbers and decides that he will invade China and India when Lilienthal completes his state-funded research, and constructs the first-ever airplane. He will have to wait a little while, but is a patient man...
5-17-1864:Pope Pius IX declairs that all priests have the right to marry, as "we in the Catholic Faith profess the importance of the Sacrament of marriage; why do we deny our holiest members the right to participate in this Holy Tradition?" The Pope's progressivism is far ahead of his time, and though privately he wishes to allow women into the church, he doesn't believe it possible or socially acceptable to do so in his lifetime.