Anthology Project Timeline.

Mid-Eleventh Century:
Byzantine sorcerors make certain crucial breakthroughs, advancing 
Hermetic magic to a more reliable level after the discovery of certain 
ancient scrolls.  

1072:  Byzantine Empire wins the Battle of Manzikert, marking the first 
major use of Hermetic magic in a battlefield setting. Seljuk Turk threat 
to empire destroyed. Emperor Manuel attracts fresh blood to the empire by 
offering fiefs to large body of younger sons of western european lords 
who have arms, need land.  

Thirteenth century:  Mongol invaders devastate Middle east, destroy the 
Caliphate, settle down and rule Middle East for one hundred years.  
Mongol shamans prove powerful enough to defeat Byzantine sorcerors or at 
least neutralize them.  Byzantines saved from Mongol hordes by Death of the 
great Khan, which triggers internal Mongol civil war.  By now, sorcerors 
have largely taken control of Byzantine society.  

Fourteenth century:  Byzantines move in on weakened Ilkhanid Dynasty 
(Mongols), kill the Khan and take control of central Middle East.  
Process of rechristianization of Middle east is never complete, but 
various would be moslem conquests of the area never succeed.

Sixteenth century:  By this point, Byzantine sorcerous techniques 
have become codified as 'Hermetic' magic and have become common 
across Europe.  The Catholic church is still struggling with whether 
to accept or reject it when the Reformation begins and the Church has 
bigger fish to fry.  Plagues sweep across North and South America due to 
contact with Europeans.  As a result, many of the native shamans die as 
does much of the population.  The Mound Builder civilizations collapse in 
Eastern North America.  The Aztecs and Inca are left unable to defeat 
Spanish Agression.  Cortes defeats Montezuma in a Sorceror's duel and 
conquers Mexico.  The Incan civilization is conquered by Pizarro.  
However, Hermetic magic proves to decline in strength and reliability 
outside the more civilized areas, and thus the tide of Spanish conquest 
stops at roughly the same boundaries as in the 'real' world.

Early 1600s:  Tokugawa consolidates control of Japan, continues process 
of importing European technology and know how.  Hermetic magic is 
introduced into Japan.  Local magi combine it with certain traditional 
magics, especially Taoist and Tantric magics to create new, but somewhat 
dangerous to practice styles.

1660s-1680s, Brits not entirely successful in Anglo-Dutch wars due to 
superior quality of sorcerors produced by Dutch universities.  New York 
remains New Amsterdam.  English invest greater resources in training 
sorcerors.  

1682:  Revocation of the Edict of Nantes drives out the Huguenots from 
France.  Arrival of Huguenot sorcerors strengthens the English schools of 
sorcery.

1689.  James II defeats William of Orange at the Battle of Westminster.  
William of Orange's ship fleeing England is sunk to the bottom of the 
Channel by James' sorcerors.  James II executes the Whig leaders who came 
out to support William.   James II allies with France against Holland 
and its allies in the Nine Years War.

1698.  English recieve New Amsterdam as part of the spoils of war.

Eighteenth century:  England remains a tributary of France as payoffs 
from the French Kings enable the Stuarts to rule in Absolutist style.  
France and Russia become the main rivals for control of Europe.  
Byzantine Empire conquers Egypt and wars with Shi'ite Muslim Shahs of 
Persia.  British East India Company goes renegade and takes control of 
India, declares itself independent, defeats joint French-British forces.
Japan begins to explore Asian islands, colonizes east coast of 
Australia.  Fights the Honor Wars and forces Chinese to allow Japanese 
goods into China.  Industrialization begins in Japan and Europe.

1775:  Stuarts execute Sam Adams and other trouble makers in 
Massachusetts colony.  A revolt breaks out in response.  Stuarts lack 
the might to crush the revolt.  A negotiated peace sets up the 
"Dominion of North America"...The colonies gain own parliament, wiht the 
King as head of state, usually operating through a Viceroy.  Thomas Jefferson 
is chosen as the First Viceroy, and the King has  a new city to built to 
act as the Colonial Capital, The city of Jefferson.  (Built where DC is 
in our world).  British East India Company colonizes Western coast of 
Australia.

1789:  French Revolution begins.

1792:  French set up Quebec and Lousiana and Carribean colonies as 
"departments" of Revolutionary France.  "American Dominionists" 
allowed to settle in the Ohio Valley.  French king executed.  English 
break with the French.  

1799:  Napoleon becomes First Consul of France.
 
1804:  Napoleon becomes Emperor.

1808:  Portuguese Monarchs flee to Brazil.  Dominion of North America buys 
Florida from the overthrown Spanish Monarchs dirt cheap.
 
1814:  Napoleon is defeated by the nations of Europe, flees to the 
Colonies.  France reverts to the Bourbon dynasty.  Austria and Russia 
dominate Europe.  England becomes their major rival, in alliance again 
with France.  England recieves South Africa in the aftermath of the 
wars.  

Nineteenth century (1815-1860):  Russia and Austria fight a series of 
inconclusive wars with Byzantines, who are being propped up by the 
Anglo-French. Napoleon builds a new Empire in NA.  Mexico revolts successfully, 
but loses Texas to revolutionaries supported by the Dominion and 
"New France".  It is then defeated by Napoleon II in the Mexican War and loses 
control of it's northern marches to New France.   Japanese colonize Korea 
and Vietnam.  New French possessions in Western North America 
revolt under the leadership of various Indian Shamans and throw out the 
white man, forming the Native Confederation, capturing California, and 
using the gold to arm themselves when the gold rush begins.


1860-1865 (War of 1860):  Napoleon III attacks The Dominion of North Amer..  
With British help, and with the leadership of General-in-chief Robert E. Lee, 
the Confederation routs the New French, resulting in a coup and the over 
throw of the Napoleonic dynasty.  New France becomes a confederation. 
Lee is appointed Viceroy of the Dominion of North America.  The Lee 
Monument is built in Jefferson in his honor.

1886:  Dr. Victor Frankenstein found adrift in Arctic waters alone on a 
boat, refuses to explain the circumstances.

Late nineteenth century:  British, French, and Brit. East India Company 
colonize various parts of Africa, along with Byzantines.  Italy and 
Germany become nations.   Britain is defeated by Zulu magical might in 
the Zulu wars and loses control of South Africa, which remains free of 
European control, as does Ethiopia.  Japanese force Chinese emperors into 
virtual puppet status, begin to heavily exploit eastern China.  Warlords 
seize control of Chinese interior and duel among themselves.  Southern 
states of the American Confederation abolish slavery under heavy 
international pressure, set up an apartheid system.  Russian effort to 
push into West Coast Gold fields defeated by the Native Confederation.  
Various Revolts force Byzantium to give up parts of the Balkans to the 
states of Romania and Serbia.  Byzantium retains control of Bulgaria, 
Macedonia, Greece.  

1909:  Polar explorers discover the Antarctic enterance to the hollow 
world inside the earth.  

1911:  Reports of explorers in the Arctic claim to have discovered the 
a huge castle inhabited by elves and flying reindeer.  Contact is 
mysteriously lost, and no further expedition makes this report. Last 
Radio report:  "There's a glowing red light closing in from the fog.  We 
can hear bells and laughter.  My god, it's a flying...bzt crackle bzt."
 
1914-17:  Ireland revolts against British rule.  Russia goes to war with 
Byzantium again.  World War I breaks out when Gavarillo Princip assassinates 
Archduke Ferdinand. But Britain and Russia remain nuetral.  The war drags 
on until Hermetic sorcerors working for the two sides complete the 
"Munich" and "Rouen" projects respectively, creating spells of immense 
destructive power.  Large chunks of the landscape are blasted to powder, 
and further use of the dweomers are banned.  Mob action against the 
participating sorcerors prompts some of them to flee to Byzantium, who 
puts the magic to work stopping the Russian onslaught.

1917:  Russian loans help Germany start to rebuild.  Germans imprison 
various Russian would-be revolutionaries in exile in Germany in thanks.  
Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin rot out the rest of their lives in German 
Prisons.  The war ends with a negotiated peace as the nations of 
continental Europe try to rebuild.  The Locarno pact bans further use 
of the mega-destructive dweomers developed during the war.  Byzantium 
is forced to sign the pact as well.  Ireland gains its independance.

1923:  The Beer Hall Putsch.  Hitler is thrown in jail, with Lenin as his 
cellmate.  He is inspired by Lenin, combining his old ideas and Lenin's 
into a powerful mix...

1929:  The great Depression begins.

1932:  Riots in Germany as industrial unrest and depression build to a 
climax.  The National Communist Party under Adolf Hitler seizes control 
of Germany on a wave of riots.  The Nationalist Communistic Republic of 
Germany is born.  The still surviving Trotsky and Stalin are freed, and 
go to Russia where the Tsar's men catch Stalin and execute him.  However, 
Trotsky is still on the loose...

1933 :  Now.