Generations born and die, born and die (October-December, 1909)
Color photography]
Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky was an inventor, editor, chemist, and photographer who had previously worked with the Russian government and affiliated companies such as Nikola Tesla's SEiPK.
Producing both black and white and color photo albums of various landscapes and / or people throughout the Russian Empire.
The best known albums are those from 1904 to 1922, which showed the last years of the Alexandrian period in Russia and the first years of the government of Tsar Nicholas II, who like his father would support Prokudin-Gorsky in exchange for certain works in the empire.
Although Prokudin-Gorsky's travels and his work were already known in 1909, it is in this year that his technology expands enormously throughout the Russian Empire and other parts of the world.
From October 19 to December 11, revolutionary advances in the field of color photography begin under Prokudin-Gorsky and associates, which are a sensation in Russia, the Imperial Federation, Germany, USA, Denmark and Switzerland.
The ability to create color photographs was becoming more accessible and cheaper, especially for public, state and other events (private cinemas, sports games, etc).
Color photo albums would become much more accessible to all audiences, being part of a government initiative to teach about the various cultures and landscapes of the Russian Empire together with its scientific societies (in which Prokudin-Gorsky worked).
Of course not everyone could or wanted to have a camera yet, but black and white cameras were becoming more and more common and color photography was becoming a popular trend in the more developed parts of the artistic, industrial and capitalist worlds.
The photographic industry in Russia advanced by leaps and bounds during these times, along with the development of the film industry, the development of Russian capitalism, state influence and personalities such as Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (student of the famous chemist Dmitri Mendeleev).
How much the Russian Empire has changed throughout the Alexandrian period, from early 1866 to the late 1909 ...
800px-Prokudin-Gorskii-05.jpg
"Three Generations", taken in Zlatoust, Ural Mountains.
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[RSDLP]
On October 19, the Bolshevik member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, Simon Arshaki Ter-Petrosian (Russian of Armenian origin) also known as 'Kamo' joined Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, an acquaintance and friend since youth.
Kamo had been extradited to Russia from Germany due to alleged mental problems and connections to German socialists (to whom Kamo had given money and weapons, narrowly escaping the authorities, as always).
"The secret is quite simple, when the doctors and guards are there, you talk like a person with no sense of God knows what, and when they are not, you become a sane person again." Kamo explains, slowly riding his bike accompanied by Iosif and Felix.
"I once served as a guard in a mental institution of the Polish Congress, when I was a freshman in the Okhrana. We were spying on a Polish separatist who was doing that." Felix Dzerzhinsky adds.
"Yes, the mental institutions in Russia are different from those in Germany, without a doubt." Kamo indicates.
"This is all a lot of fun, but we'd better go talk business old friend." Iosif exclaims after the joy of being reunited with Kamo.
Kamo was characterized as a man of absolutely exceptional devotion, courage and energy by the highest echelons of the Russian socialist movement (those in favor of Kamo of course).
In alliance with Iosif, Kamo was an important part of the regional organizations (Caucasus) of the RSDLP, achieving above all the financial and propaganda movements of the group throughout various parts of southern Russia.
Once again Dzhugashvili knew how to find personnel and move them intelligently throughout Russia, since he became one of the directors of the KGB and began the Iosif movements as future elections approached.
Dzhugashvili was the leader of one of the RSDLP collective movements alongside Zinoviev and Kamenev.
Like being the captain of a ship in a fleet, he could not control everything, however through his popularity, his position and the right allies and strategies, controlling said fleet became much easier.
Dzhugashvili's period of ascent as the primary troika force in the RSDLP would begin between 1910 and 1915, Iosif Dzhugashvili's policies would become much more popular, his position as party secretary would become more vital, and the right allies-allies would carry him pretty far.
It was funny how a leader of the left could be related (by alliance-work) even to the monarchy through the KGB, but in Russia it was less strange than it might appear ... that or simply Russia has always been strange.
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[Alexander in Ethiopia]
At the end of October and beginning of December, the last trip of Tsar Alexander III abroad takes place, after the spill of Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia / Ethiopia, the Emperor of Russia visited Sagallo (the first time that a Tsar stepped on the Russian colonial empire) and traveled by rail to Addis Ababa, capital of Abyssinia, which the Russian Empire had helped to realize.
Both Menelik II and Alexander III had extensively transformed their countries, Alexander through an economic and political transformation had turned Russia into an industrial and capitalist country.
While Menelik II did the same with Abyssinia, transforming Ethiopia into a more centralized country, creating a common civil identity and bringing all kinds of reforms-improvements (abolition of slavery, new technologies, military improvements, etc).
But no emperor escapes death, figurative or literal.
"I've never liked heat. It's like it melts me." Alexander III mentions, Ethiopia was not the hottest region in Africa but certainly the Tsar was not used to it.
Near him were a diversity of Russian and Ethiopian officers, who were guiding him through Addis Ababa. The capital had been developed to the smallest detail by the Ethiopian authorities, there were telegraphs, public transport, modern roads and a sewage system similar to European cities, etc.
"Here." Ethiopian officials guide the tsar to the main residence of Emperor Menelik II and the Ethiopian court, and other seats of government.
The tsar was greeted by more army officers and the Ethiopian royal family, or what was left of it.
"I don't know if this is the polite thing to do, but. Can I see the emperor today?" Tsar Alexander III asked Empress Taytu Betul while he was accompanied by the generals and marshals of the Ethiopian army.
By that time, Menelik II was a shell of what he once was, and would not cease to be until the day of his death. During these dates of the visit, the regency of Empress Taytu Betul was greatly weakened.
Tsar Alexander III had under his care the heir of Menelik II, Lij Iyasu (baptismal name Kifle Yaqob), and under the rule of Emperor Menelik II, the Russian Tsar had already formed many ties with the Ethiopian army-government apparatus. .
With these tools, when Empress Taytu Betul attempted to change certain government positions, she would be sidelined by army officers allied with the Russian Empire.
In essence, the Abyssinian Empire became a regency run by the military, bureaucrats, and politicians allied with Russia.
Without the figure of the emperor, the reforms of Menelik II would be put to the test.
Education had advanced enormously in the formation of an Ethiopian citizenship without ethno-cultural barriers, but of course not even citizenship can avoid problems of a regional-ideological nature.
The Ethiopian government did not have much democratic participation (but there was a lot of different ethno-cultural groups in it, that's true) and it was clear that the army could intervene in certain matters, the Ethiopian bourgeoisie had developed alongside a modern bureaucracy that was displacing the old nobility.
And Russia had vital interests in this country after investing capital in it.
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[Savinkov]
December 8, Revolutionary Socialist Boris Viktorovich Savinkov is currently leaving the SRs (similar to Alexander Kerensky).
Why the change? Very simply, during the SRs, Savinkov served among the most militant members, but he did so under an SR who at the same time was an agent member of the Okhrana, Yevno Fishelevich (Evgeny Filippovich) Azef.
Azef, accompanied by Colonel Sergey Karpov (no relation to Sergey Pavlovich Karpov) of the Okhrana, had exposed and handed over many troublesome SRs.
In 1909, Azef and Karpov were removed from their positions as spies within the SR, with the honors of years of successful service in preventing attacks and exposing the most dangerous elements of the SRs.
After boycotting the elections, failures in the militant parts of the party, the idea of various members of the moderate-centrists and the successes in the Russian democracy-society, the SR were doomed.
Azef had given Savinkov very clear options, he leaves the SRs or is imprisoned, it was at that time that the pragmatic Savinkov murdered the militant Savinkov.
With this Savinkov in a beginning was without a party, he got patrons to write books about his experiences as a militant.
However Boris Savinkov would soon return to politics for the 1910 elections, initially as an independent, but by this time he was developing his political views.
He was close to the most right-wing socialists and right-wing populists (Greens), close to Russian nationalism and orthodox Christianity, ultra-individualistic (wanting to be a Übermensch of Nietzsche, although also influenced by other philosophers, according to many close ones, Savinkov ignored or hated everything he could not comprehend. He used a lot of morphine and was a womanizer), almost apocalyptic in his rhetoric, among many other characteristics that are explored later in his life.
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[Government: The Tsar Augustus]
By the end of December (between 25 and 31), the health of Tsar Alexander III began to deteriorate more dramatically than before, despite the fact that the Tsar lived an extremely healthy life, time and decades of rule always take their toll.
The Tsar was sent to rest in one of his personal rooms now in his state of health, because of this Tsar Alexander III conferred some of his duties on Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovcih Romanov and Premier Pyotr Stolypin. Especially when it comes to work in the First Duma and the Senate.
Although even in bed the tsar received paperwork and had to sign or approve certain documents.
The Russian Empire had undergone fascinating transformations from the death of Alexander II until this period, but all reigns come to an end and it was clear that the Alexandrian period would not last forever.
*Perspective.
The Tsesarevich Nicholas agreed first between the sons of Tsar Alexander III, closing the door behind him, on top of the Tsar he had a special table where he put pepeles or food.
"What are you doing?". Nicholas asks curiously, not quite sure if that was the right question. The doctors had insisted on less pressure, not giving newspapers to the Tsar or the like, but the Tsar was still the monarch of all Russia and did what he wanted.
"Just something personal. Do you want to help me a little?" Alexander offers.
"Sure." The Tsesarevich accepts, the relationship between father and son changed little, but a cub does not depend on his father for his whole life.
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[International]
October 1, Sir Bhupinder Singh after turning 18, finally rises as Maharaja of the Sikh princely state of Patiala, located in southeastern Punjab.
Bhupinder Singh had been under a regency council until now, but is not interested in helping the people of Punjab or the British in the current situation in Punjab (socialist, Islamic-Hindu guerrillas against the colonial government), he is dedicated to cricket and extravagance.
One of the largest medal collections in the world, the purchase of a British aircraft that made him the first private owner of one in India, construction of buildings with 'bold' designs, etc. Filling his personal properties with luxuries.
October 2, Kaiser Wilhelm III approves Chancellor Paul von Hindenburg's plans for the creation of a professional German air force.
* [Social aristocracy pseudo-science]
On October 3, 1909, in the town of Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom (part of the Imperial Federation) a man named James Reid Moore discovers what he believed were tools of flint dating to the Pliocene era (a geological timescale that begins 5.33 million years ago and ends 2.59 million years ago) and evidence of the first human habitation in Britain.
The discovery, similar to others, became quite popular in the Imperial Federation, however the archaeological discovery of a scientific nature soon takes on certain more political overtones, related to the thoughts of the time.
The reigning Social Aristocracy of the Imperial Federation appropriated and was the result of lines of thought of their time, with this in mind, they took the discovery of the 'flint tools' as further proof for the pseudo-science of the time.
Pseudo-science that justified a natural order, between "superior" humans and "inferior" humans (scientific racism, based on cranial differences or others to justify certain thoughts). And other historical narratives.
About the first 'Aryan' inhabitants of the British Isles, their achievements and superiority over other peoples, the process of 're-Aryanization' of the inhabitants (various Germanic invasions of the islands, like the Anglo-Saxons and Nordic invaders, in opposition to the miscegenation that occurred due to the presence of Mediterranean Romans or French people in the area).
Many things to justify the superiority of the whites of Germanic origin over others and other strange theories, such pseudo-scientific theories would cause support for the fraud of the Piltdown Man (whose discovery had supposedly begun in 1908). That affected certain investigations about human evolution despite the fact that there was criticism from the beginning.
Many British scientists called these tools and supposed anthropological discoveries the result of "the earliest English men."
* The flint object found by James Reid Moore turned out to be an eolith, originally the eolith were considered to be artifacts (the earliest stone tools) but later information qualifies them as "geofacts" (stone fragments produced by natural geological processes).
Of course, such information did not become more popular until three decades later (1935-1953 onwards).
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October 5, Henry Ford performs demonstrations in the industrial states of the northeastern United States, whose number of attendants amounts to 2 million people.
Some problems occur among the followers of the right-wing faction of the National Republicans and Jews. Due to the anti-Semitism of the group.
Ford's platform promises reforms for more work and better wages for the worker (as long as they are white or African-American), but it is aimed against the unions and socialist movements (support for the business authorities over the cooperative labor movements).
In the opinion of some members of the Socialist Party of America, the National Republicans saw the problems of the United States but brought the worst solutions.
October 8, in Zagreb (Croatia, protectorate-colony of the German Empire) the seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić obtains data about the earthquake that recently struck the city.
Based on the behavior of seismic waves in these data, Mohorovičić established the existence of a layer between the Earth's crust and the Earth's geological mantle.
What we today call Mohorovičić discontinuity or "Moho".
October 9, 11-year-old William James Sidis (son of Jewish citizens of the Russian Empire) becomes the youngest student ever admitted to Harvard University.
Boris Sidis, psychiatric, was the father of William James Sidis, with whom he decided to carry out an experimental upbringing (destined to turn his son into someone 'gifted', with a 'love' and seek/desire for knowledge).
The reason for the move of the family from Russia to USA was the mother, who studied in Boston, United States, and legal problems regarding the experimental upbringing of children in violation of certain rules of the Russian Empire.
* [American imperialism]
October 10, the US meddling in Central America begins, both the government through the navy and several US companies with interests in the region interfere in the affairs of Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador.
General Juan José Estrada Morales, supported by the Americans, launches a revolution (coup) against President José Santos Zelaya, an ultimatum is given to El Salvador (after regional conflicts) and a military intervention in Honduras (after the intervention Nicaraguan in the country).
On October 30, the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua is taken by General Estrada and the United States Navy, whose ships and personnel later disembark in central regions of Nicaragua and Honduras.
On the same day, El Salvador finally accepts the ultimatum of the United States, supporting them in their intervention and undoubtedly causing a strong American influence in the government of the small country.
The Americans filled central parts of the countries with mines, while winning battles against the Central Americans and destabilizing local governments.
By December, President Zelaya of Nicaragua resigns and Honduras surrenders to the US occupation, by 1910 General Estrada is recognized as President of Nicaragua, while new governments aligned with the USA are formed in El Salvador and Honduras.
This act of interventionism and imperialism marks periods, it is considered the first great American intervention in Central America, in the context of the Mexican-American war and the great Latin American wars, Central American authoritarianism, the increase in the drug business, etc.
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October 12, Emperor Dom Pedro III of Brazil has a considerable victory over his mother (Elizabeth I) and Prince Louis, Emperor Pedro III was driving his family back to increasingly eastern territories of the old empire.
Yet at the same time, Pedro III has to watch out for the Republicans to the south, who are conducting some successful border skirmishes against the imperial-monarchists.
In this context, both Dom Pedro III and President Nilo Procópio Peçanha seek to align themselves with someone in the great Latin American wars.
However, problems also occur between the Brazilian oligarchies, between Paulistas (from Sao Paulo) and Mineiristas (from Minas Gerais), who support Hermes da Fonseca and Rui Barbosa as their respective candidates as the next president.
Barbosa has an advantage over Fonseca due to Bahia's support, but in turn Fonseca is popular because of his relationship with Deodoro da Fonseca.
October 14, the first Provincial Assemblies of the Qing Dynasty (China) are opened.
October 15, in the Imperial Federation the port of Dover is officially opened by King Albert Victor I, now considered fit for the imperial navy. After 11 years and over £ 20 million in improvements.
The port of Dover becomes the site where the largest ships of the Imperial Federation would be housed, with their new joint budget (United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand).
It will also become an experimentation site for the massive projects of the Imperial Federation navy (Royal Navy, or sometimes also called the Imperial Navy).
October 16, President William J. Bryan travels to occupied Mexico to meet with "President" Victoriano Huerta and General Felix Diaz.
This in a delicate moment of the war in Mexico and the American intervention in it, the coalition of Diaz, Madero and Carranza is advancing towards the north, but at the same time they are at a breaking point with the Second Mexican Empire and Germany.
The United States had to defend the last occupied territories in northern Mexico, expel Germany from the Tehuantepec Canal, and possibly fulfill other geo-political objectives.
October 18, the state of New South Wales cedes 2,300 kilometers (900 miles) to the Imperial Parliament for the construction of Australia's federal capital, Canberra.
Said city is one of the mega-urban planning projects of the Imperial Federation during its formative period, with administrative and to some extent economic purposes.
October 21, opens the Madras Aquarium, the first aquarium in India.
October 22, the Imperial Parliament rejects the Anand Karaj, the Sikh marriage method.
It means that under the law of the Imperial Federation and its colonies, the Anand Karaj is not recognized as a legitimate way to formalize marriage between two people.
October 24, the Racconigi Summit is held between the Federative Socialist Republic of Italy (host), Iberia, Andorra and the People's Republic of France, marking the signing of a trade agreement between the socialist countries of Europe.
A beginning made the construction of socialism (according to them) and workers' internationalism, facilitating trade, getting rid of certain barriers, etc.
October 25, the Catalan Socialist Republic (Iberia) is discovered in the ancient city of Empúries (also called Ampurias, formerly the Greek colony of Emporion) a bust of Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine.
October 26, terror in the Empire of Japan, the Duke and former Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi is assassinated by a Filipino nationalist, who believes in the independence of his country under President-General Antonio Luna.
This explodes problems in the Japanese colonial government and within the home islands of the Japanese Archipelago, political instability especially in the old conservative order of Japan.
Already in a fairly weakened state after the Russo-Japanese War and the Great Depression, colonial policy failures, etc.
October 28, Emperor Menelik II suffers a massive stroke, after this although the emperor's body is still alive, it is understood that his 'warrior spirit' and 'soul' have died.
Therefore a regency is created in Abyssinia, Tsar Alexander III visits the country in one of his last departures as head of state, visiting Empress Taytu Betul and officials of the Ethiopian state.
The Ethiopian army supported by Russia would dominate over the empress, who in her regency tried to change the positions of certain officers as she saw fit.
November 2, in the United States several struggles for freedom of expression begin when thousands of members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) gather on Stevens Street in Spokane, Washington.
There was a city ordinance prohibiting speaking on city streets, which IWW members opposed. 103 members were arrested and another 397 more throughout the month, however the Socialist Party and unions finally managed to defeat the ordinance.
This event received national attention, marking similar struggles and movements in other cities of the United States. Many felt a growing threat from the left.
November 5, the entire Honduran navy sinks in Puerto Cortés after an incident, it is unknown for sure if the Americans were involved or it was a pure coincidence incident.
The official cause is an accident due to the coalition of several of the Honduran ships (more specifically the Tatumbia) against others and facilities of Puerto Cortés.
Federal Judge Frank Hutton of Los Angeles, California, USA, ruled that the Arabs and other inhabitants of the Middle East were of the Asian 'Mongoloid' race. Therefore applying various segregationist and offensive laws towards them.
This is part of reactions after the immigration authorities denied several Arabs and natives of the Middle East naturalization (US citizenship), under the pretext of the laws against the "Mongols" and simple racism of the time.
The Muslim-Ottoman community in the region protests strongly.
Of course Arabs and Middle Eastern people fall into the huge category of 'Asians', but they are not Mongols.
(OOC: OTL Frank Hutton ruled that Arabs and Middle Eastern people were part of the "white race", of course this is just weird things of the time and more racism in a sense).
November 7, Mexicans living in the United States carry out a terrorist attack in the territory of New Mexico, leading to the death of candidate for governor Wilfreid Robinson, editor of the Roswell Register-Tribune.
Governor George Curry was succeeded on March 1, 1910 by William Joseph Mills.
November 10, in Vienna (German Empire), at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, Dr. Isidor Sadger describes narcissism as a personality disorder for the first time as part of "A case of multiform perversion."
Later the so-called father of psychoanalysis, Freud, would expand on narcissistic personalities in later works.
November 14, Argentina continues to push Chile in the Latin American wars, it is true that the countries are not so disparate militarily, but the Argentine economy pushes its war machine much further than Chile.
In the midst of this, several problems occur in Buenos Aires, of a political-social and not military-economic nature, the Argentine-Ukrainian of Jewish origin, Simón Radowitzky, after his meetings with several anarchist intellectuals of Russian origin, launches an attack that he murders the Buenos Aires police chief, Ramón Lorenzo Falcón.
This is due to Falcón's participation in repressions against labor movements, but the murder initiates pogroms in Argentina against Jews, immigrants, and workers' associations.
Radowitzky was not executed but was sent to prison, some Chilean and Argentine anarchists praised Radowitzky.
November 17, 500 revolutionaries and several international volunteers (of multiple origins) are assassinated by the German Empire (administering Tehuantepec) and the local imperial administration (which actually contradicted the orders of Emperor Maximilian).
This causes a total break between the guerrillas, of a revolutionary-reformist tendency, and the German-Mexican imperialists, exploding numerous conflicts throughout south-central Mexico.
The Mexican government in Cuba tried to solve the situation, but interference from the United States, hard-line conservative politicians and Germans spoiled the possibility of a reconciliation.
As a result of this, the US invasion of Mexico turned completely into a civil war between different Mexican factions, represented mainly by the guerrilla coalition (of various ideology), anarchists and imperialists.
With this, the United States returned to mobilize its navy towards vital points of the Mexican coast, while the Germans of Wilhelm III staggered.
But it was not the fall of Mexico, the guerrilla coalition was not yet dead and without a doubt they had notable successes on several fronts.
November 20, after some under-the-table deals, the charges against the Standard Oil of New Jersey megacorporation either disappear or are forgiven / forgotten by the United States government.
The megacorporation runs a large part of the oil industry at the regional level (United States) and limits free competition within the market, but Democrats, Republicans, and National Republicans are not a very strong opponent for capital.
November 21, the theologian and church historian Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack of Russian origin (Baltic ethnic German) sends a secret memorandum to Kaiser Wilhelm III, stating that German scientific research must keep pace with the rest of the world.
Leading up to the founding of the Kaiser Wilhelm III Society for the Advancement of Science ... it actually didn't help Germany much over the next several years compared to other scientific powers.
Although German was undoubtedly one of the main languages of science.
November 29, the Imperial Federation begins the construction of its "super-drednout" (dreadnought) with the aim of surpassing the armies of rival powers in firepower and size.
Spending a lot of money on the ship "Orion", accompanied by three other 'super-drednouts', to magnify all this spending, research and of course arrogance.
November 30, new budgets pass in the Imperial Parliament of the Imperial Federation, these budgets are mostly decided or approved by the Lords aligned with the regime and not by the more 'independent' Commons (influencing them is possible).
Of course, nothing is about cutting costs in the middle of this situation, there was a small boom in the British economy recently but the wars in Tehuantepec have brought it down again due to the halting of the trans-oceanic Atlantic-Pacific trade, and the wars between Argentina and Chile affecting Cape Horn.
December 2, new laws of racial segregation in South Africa (Imperial Federation) and the Boer United States, in the middle of this there is also a distention between both nations.
Landlocked and with no capabilities for other means of transportation, the Boers have relied on British territory and logistics for their economy (trade, both exports and imports).
But now that the Imperial Federation and the German Empire are re-approaching, there are also better relations between the Boer state and the Imperial Federation.
Pan-Germanicism, some pragmatism and common 'hobbies' ...
December 10, by decision of the Imperial Parliament and the Australian Parliament, the University of Queensland is created, part of the economic development projects in the Imperial Federation at that time.
More than 8,300 students began their classes in 1911.
December 13, Leopold II, nearing death by this date, marries (by church) Caroline Lacroix, his mistress of him and the mother of his two sons, Lucien and Philippe.
Lucien Durieux is not a possible successor to Leopold II, partly because of the nature of the marriage, which was not in a civil ceremony and is therefore not recognized by the law of non-existent Belgium.
At least more fights were avoided within the Belgian monarchy-in-exile, that's something.
December 15 Japan sends 2,000 cherry blossom trees to the United States, in the steamship Kaga Maru.
The trees would reach their destination on January 6, 1910.
December 16, José Santos Zelaya retires from his post as Nicaraguan president to avoid further damage from the civil war and US intervention in the country (something he could not win).
The funny thing is that Zelaya manages to go to another place, and the ex-president decides to go to Mexico where he joins the guerrilla-revolutionary forces.
He would never become a prominent leader like in Nicaragua, but Zelaya had some revenge against the Americans through his participation in this war.
December 17, King Leopold II (in exile) finally dies, being succeeded according to her designation, by Princess Henriette and her husband Prince Emmanuel, Duke of Vendôme.
Recognized as Henriette I and Emmanuel I, of the House of Orleans.
This of course causes divisions among the sons of Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders. Henriette I was appointed heir to Leopold, but her brother Albert also claims the throne as Albert I.
All this division between the Belgian monarchy in exile is a product of Leopold II finding ways to upset everyone.
December 20, 700 US Marines are stationed in Nicaragua, in essence an expansion of US influence to defend their interests now that President Zelaya has been ousted.
Similar actions subsequently take place in Honduras and El Salvador.
December 25, the Republic of the United States of Brazil succeeds in the formation of a modern line of telegraphs for military purposes under the action of the military man Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon.
At this time, said telegraphic line would be very useful for the logistics of the Brazilian armies and militias, between the wars of the republicans and the Brazilian monarchists.
Finally the Republic would decide to align itself more to go against Isabel I of Brazil and then hit Dom Pedro III, although the foreign policy to the other wars in Latin America was still not entirely clear.
Gleb Lozino-Lozinskiy is born.
December 31, Pope Pius X launches the Quinquennial Visit Ad Limina decree, which means that every 5 years bishops have to send reports to the Vatican to notify the status of their dioceses.
(OOC: Papal Five Year Plans! Ok no