First of its kind (January-March, 1899).

Dynasty]

It was on January 8 when the second son of Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov and Princess Elena of Montenegro, another son, who receives the name of Mikhail Nikolaevich Romanov, were born.

Tsar Alexander III sat down to have a photo taken with all of his grandchildren during the event, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (son of Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich and Princess Maria of Romania), Grand Duechess Irina Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and Grand Duke Feodor Alexandrovich (three children of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich), Nicholas Nikolaevich and the newborn Mikhail Nikolaevich (children of Tsesarevich Nicholas and Princess Elena).

*******

After the baptism the children were playing and running, crawling or sleeping, while the adults were doing other things such as eating, dancing, reading or talking about various matters with the guests.

"I want to buy Pepsi-Cola." Tsar Alexander III exclaims.

"You mean, to get a drink or buy the company?" The tsesarevich Nicholas exclaims to his father.

"Yes. I can do both." Alexander III answers simply. The Tsesarevich almost spit out his drink, it was true but it was not the answer he expected.

After this the Tsar and the Tsesarevich each went with their respective wife. The Tsesarevich taught his wife a Slovak dance that he was learning.

Whereas the tsar just thought that he was getting old. The tsar was barely 54 years old at the end of March 1899, but after decades of reign and the passage of time, the tsar simply could not continue to hold on as before in his autocratic role.

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[Reforms]

Among many other events, Tsar Alexander III began to discuss with government, military and ecclesiastical authorities the future change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, for the end of 1899-beginning of 1900.

This would be quite a remarkable change, clocks and calendars would have to be adjusted, and it would also mean that Russia would abandon the calendar that it has had for "quite a while".

The church would be allowed to use both calendars (for important reminders and for common use), and with that they were relatively happy.

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[Finland]

The Finnish perspective was a powerful perspective regarding the Fashoda war and the international situation. But where do these perspectives originate?

During the Alexandrian government we can observe many changes in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which was a very particular area of the Russian Empire.

Finland had a democratic diet that did not exist in the rest of Russia, and therefore its political scene was certainly somewhat different. The Fennomans had won the Svecoman years ago, and now the Fennomans could waste their time fighting each other, as long as they did not question the authority of Tsar Alexander III (who still had the last word).

But the Finns simply were not going to talk about independence as long as their rights and their own constitution were respected, in fact now many inhabitants of the region saw the Alexandrian government as a guarantor of security and prosperity.

Either the ethnic minorities respected by the Alexandrian government, or the working mass and consumers protected against the capitalist monopolies, or the capitalists protected from possible revolutions, etc.

Also under the Alexandrian government the Russian Empire and its colonies were a great market and field for Finnish products and companies.

It was this peace and prosperity, plus participation in marine affairs, that made the Finns of various ethno-cultural groups (the Finns, Swedes and other ethno-cultural minorities of the territory) lower-middle class (and parts of the class high), realizing that they did not like the Fashoda war.

The Fashoda war had meant the displacement of many Scandinavian refugees to the Russian Empire, more specifically Finland, since well, it was the largest border between Russia and Sweden-Norway.

Refugees with whom Swedish-speaking and other Finnish Nordic immigrants greatly empathized, which is why various aid groups were formed within Finland to relieve the Scandinavian countries during and after Fashoda.

After all, the war had also destroyed various parts of the local infrastructure in Sweden and Norway. Sweden also had now lost its elite at once and had many limitations to sell to Germany, which had been its main buyer of minerals such as iron.

Other members of the capitalist and middle class realized that they did not like war so close to their shores in the Baltic, some out of fear and others out of economic interest.

Although it is true that some Finns benefited from the war, those who produced weapons and ammunition, medical equipment, food or building materials, among some other industries.

In short, most saw the war in the Baltic as bad for business (and life in general) but there were still some profiteers.

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Interestingly, Finland also had a highly developed "non-radical" feminist movement by modern standards, since they were not revolutionary socialists, but they were still less conservative than other women and men in other parts of Russia, and that for the time and time was radical.

Which is why the Finns in Russia were some of the leading spokesmen for women's suffrage in the Russian Empire, and some of the first in Europe to actually apply it, but that's another matter.

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[More refugees in Russia]

It goes without saying that with the Fashoda war and the ongoing Latin revolutions, the Russian population and economy continued to grow in various ways (on the one hand in economics, the continuous growth of the economy of previous years, benefits from the war, etc.).

Partly because Russia was a close country and with the armed neutrality that gave confidence to the various Europeans fleeing the war, most of them lower-middle-class workers or farmers, that they could obtain a plot of land to work or leave. to the city to obtain Russian citizenship relatively easily.

But with the Scandinavian front we have the first great movement of nobility and economic elites to Russia, mainly from Sweden and Denmark (the latter country with many ties to Russia), and to a much lesser extent from Italy, Portugal and Spain.

An elite that already had certain ties to Russia to some extent, but had never been in Russia seriously or for so long.

Virtually all of them would simply stay in Russia, but a few similar to Boulanger and Wilhelm II (or Victor I who learned from Boulanger and the social aristocrats) would radicalize into right-wing ideas that did not go well with the "Russian spirit."

Obviously these ideas did not translate well in Russia (or in most of Russia), but if they could travel to other parts such as Scandinavia.

Regardless of this, we cannot underestimate the contributions of these refugees in Russia, and the close relationship between Swedish and Russian elements, such as Alfrad Nobel and various Russian businessmen and noblemen.

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* Perspective of ???.

The British Empire needed to exploit the resources of its occupied territories soon, so they took advantage of the fact that they had eliminated several Swedish landowners to offer the land to many of the refugees who had arrived in imperial territories after the fall of British allies (Austria-Hungary mainly, which had the largest Germanic population).

"Alois Hitler." One of the Austrians exclaims to the office in Stockholm to receive the plot of land offered by the civil-military authorities in Sweden.

Alois Hitler was accompanied by his children, Alois Jr, Angela, Adolf, Edmund and Paula.

The family initially engaged in beekeeping (beekeeping), with mixed results ... In any case, they received Swedish citizenship promptly.

"Fashoda did not produce anything good, it only brought destruction and socialism."

-One of the Hitler brothers.

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[SEiPK]

The engineer Nikola Tesla continued to investigate the remote control, especially with some military authorities interested in its potential use for war ... even if it was something very calculated and designed to instill fear, rather than for great strategy-battles or similar.

Meanwhile, the businessman was also still in the radio business, most of the SEiPK radios had been produced for the army and for government people, that is, it was not something common, but designed for specific purposes and sold to specific people.

But seeing the development of radio research in other countries or even other companies within Russia, which were going to inevitably advance, it made the same advances as the SEiPK (which was simply aided in its dealings with the government and the little export of Russian radio ), Tesla decided it was time to move on to the natural advance of radio.

Produce for the common man, more specifically for the family.

It would take a couple of years, but SEiPK wasn't going to (or rather, Tesla didn't want to) lose its leadership in this industry.

SEiPK already had the assembly line, they just needed to continue to lower the price of the process and sell it to the middle class in Russia.

On a radio you could listen to news, music and other things, it was a lot of potential for the time.

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[International]

* [Latin revolutions: Hispania]

And the world was amazed or horrified, a socialist revolution had had a success never seen before. The Paris Commune had failed due to its internal troubles and external pressure, the Macedonian revolution had failed because it was co-opted by bourgeois-liberals, and there were many other examples of the failures of the predecessors.

But the Spanish Revolution and the Portuguese Revolution had triumphed, indeed they had been united in a single state, the Socialist Union of Hispania.

And now they were holding elections, by simple numbers the Spanish mass was decisive, although the strength of the Portuguese, Basque, Catalan and other Iberian ethno-cultures should not be underestimated.

Everything was decided between two fathers of the socialist homeland, Pablo Iglesias, founder of the PSOE, and Francisco Largo Caballero, one of the most important fathers of the Hispanic revolution.

Finally Caballero won, promising the creation of a free and just union, in his own words, a Union of Iberian Socialist Republics (UISR, Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Ibericas or URSI in spanish).

The socialist elections were a period of little more than 3 weeks, and after its completion, Caballero was invested as president while the country's constitution was being formed, on January 29, 1899.

With this, the PSOE was dissolved to form the Iberian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Iberico, PCI for its acronym in Spanish), with Caballero as general secretary and Pablo Iglesias simply as deputy and mayor of Madrid.

In the opinion of the Iberian socialists, it was obvious that they had to get rid of the bourgeois republicans and other anti-socialist liberals, a series of autonomous socialist republics established (up to a point ...) should be made, and nationalist separatisms and more civil wars should be avoided for the moment.

Because if there is something clear, it is that at the time the Spaniards liked to fight among themselves, and now they dragged many other entities with them.

"Spaniards only know how to do three things: love, war, and the fool." (Los Españoles solo saben hacer tres cosas, el amor, la guerra, y el tonto).

-Spanish popular saying.

(OOC: It is not to offend the Spanish, I once heard a phrase like this).

*******

On January 1, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico receives a visit from King Carlos VII of Spain (ruling in exile from Puerto Rico).

Mainly because the Spanish Empire in essence has ended (the peninsula occupied by socialists, the Balearics and Guam as British outposts, the Philippines in Japanese hands, the independent Canary Islands and Spanish Guinea, etc.) and it is better to get along with the neighbors (especially with those with whom things like language are shared).

On January 6, Lord George Nathaniel Curzon becomes Viceroy of India (British Raj) under King-Emperor Victor I and Prime Minister Mountbatten.

A member of the anti-Russian wing of the Social Aristocrats, particularly wary of Russia's continued economic-military and political expansion around the Raj.

Curzon also proposed certain reforms in the Indian army and to eliminate the socialist and independence radicals from the political scene, but without much success after the elimination of various moderate leaders.

On January 17, the 1893 Financial Crisis in the United States of America finally ends, under the second term of President Adlai E. Stevenson I.

Obviously, however, American politics is still quite complicated, the populists and agrarian movements have managed to survive, the Republicans and Democrats continue to clash and evolve, there is a lot of influence on the part of high economic circles and progressive policies do not have much influence within the two main parties, etc.

January 22, the leaders of the Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss the creation and other issues of an Australian confederation.

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* [Firipin]

January 23, Filipino rebels in the Philippines (translated into Japanese as Firipin, フ ィ リ ピ ン) establish a monument to the assassinated "first president" of the Philippines, Emilio Aguinaldo.

The Japanese soon after destroy the monument trying to keep the population under control while exploiting its resources and sending some settlers to specific points.

Of course there is not much success, the Philippines is a very large place with a difficult geography, the rebels hide in any possible place, and their ideals live through their culture, religion and other communities.

... The colonial administration may require extreme measures.

February 4, the Japanese establish the city of Manila (Manira, マ ニ ラ) as the capital of their colony in the Philippines, following the positions already established by the Spanish.

The city is put under a joint administration of the imperial army and the navy, the north of the Philippine islands in general is the zone of the navy, while the islands further south are a more particular zone of the army.

However obviously this arrangement does not convince everyone, there are still many problems, and the navy still needs more budget than the army for the colonial administration.

Throughout the subsequent months, Filipino natives carry out various protests and riots in Manila (Manira) with the arrival of Japanese administrators and settlers, the new Japanese police are forced to crush this opposition through violence.

Tsar Alexander III took advantage and began to buy various species native to the Philippines and Japan, which were endangered by war or Japanese industrial growth.

We are talking about species such as the Hokkaido wolf and various endemic species from the Philippines.

********

February 6, the United States proposes to the British Empire the purchase of the occupied territory of Guam, taken by the Royal Navy with the fall of the Kingdom of Spain.

Prime Minister Mountbatten and Victor I accept, despite some opposition from the Spanish in Puerto Rico. Partly because the United States is a more important neutral partner than the puppet that is the remnants of Spain.

February 12-14, first case reports of Hippopotamuses arriving in northern Louisiana and western Florida.

And all the associated problems of course, a hippo is simply a pretty shocking entity in the ecosystem.

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* [Fashoda]

February 16, in the Fashoda war, Germany and France declared the occupation of Iceland (Denmark) illegal, but obviously this does not mean much.

However, various Icelandic volunteers form the so-called Icelandic Battalion (Íslenska herfylkið), which joins the German-Danish forces in the Fashoda war.

The waters off northern Denmark and Germany continue to become a strong site of combat and conflict, with the British strongly threatening Danish ships and western Germany (and a part of the Kiel Canal).

March 1, with the recruiting policies in India continuing under Lord Curzon and some Pashtun tribes raising problems in the northwestern British Raj, but making no improvements to the army's problems during Fashoda, British Captain George Roos-Keppe goes on strike with more than 1000 soldiers on the border with Afghanistan.

The Raj authorities crush the strike and lock up Roos-Keppe, but it does not help much, it is just another example of the British authorities against their own people (which in a sense is an inspiration to rebels opposed to the British, and in part , to Fashoda War).

400 soldiers in Queensland, Australia, repeat the Roos-Keppe strike shortly after (March 14).

March 8, various assaults against New Guinea and the German East Indies by the Royal Navy stationed from Australia, Singapore and New Zealand.

Both navies (the British offensive and the German defense) have logistical problems, because we are talking about a massive region, be it Indonesia and New Guinea, or Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and other islands), not counting the difficulties of the climate, natives and fauna. , diseases, etc.

In general it does not end well for any of the forces, although the British may capture some ports, are forced to retreat, or are forced into a siege position, or cannot advance inland.

March 20, various prisoners in the south of France mount a violent riot that nearly broke through the prison's defenses in the Second French Empire.

This through attacks and riots within the facilities, full of political enemies to the Boulanger regime and Emperor Napoleon IV.

March 27, the Battle of Gibtraltar begins, between French-African troops and Iberian socialists against the British forces in Gibraltar with the support of the Royal Navy.

*******

March 27, Guglielmo Marconi successfully carries out a radio transmission from one coast to another across the Adriatic (Italy and Croatia).

Of course Marconi is years behind, for example, Nikola Tesla or Alexander Popov, but radio technology was still taking its relative, first steps (it was still not very cheap at a civil level, yet).