Lights for the future (July-September, 1869)

Electricity]

Technical Galvanic School in Kronstadt, located very close to Saint Petersburg, Tsar Alexander III could visit it at any time (he visited it a few times in the first year of the electrification project, but afterwards he settled for usual reports), and chose in particular on July 5.

Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov and the rest of the engineers from the Kiev fortress were present to receive the emperor.

The emperor was there in a corridor of the school, adorned with arc lamps, his difference, they were coal arc lamps. "All ready?" The emperor asked the officers.

"Right away" Yablochkov affirms and together with his companions the activation of the system is carried out. Then the lamps all over the hall light up.

The emperor watched, and clapped.

Funding for the project increased exponentially, Yablochkov was the mind behind the "Yablochkov candles", and he received the patent not long after. The original electrification project was Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Helsingfors (Helsinki), however it expanded to the cities of Oranienbaum, Nizhny Novgorod, Odessa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Bryansk, Arkhangelsk, Poltava, Saratov and others Russian cities.

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"I am interested in you joining a new project, it will not divert funds or attention from the electrification project" Emperor Alexander III started a meeting with the engineers of the Kiev fortress. "You all will be allowed to leave the army with the highest honors to move to the civil administration."

There were mixed reactions, some were simply neutral, others like Yablochkov were excited.

"Does that mean we are bureaucrats now?" One of the engineers asked.

"... Not exactly, if you accept, you will be part of a state company, Electric Lighting Company. I know, it is not a very original name but it will suffice."

Yablochkov and most of the engineers agreed. The Electric Lighting Company or Kompaniya elektricheskogo osveshcheniya (Компания электрического освещения) under the Ministry of Interior became the first Russian state enterprise for the country's electrification (also focused in scientific development).

In mid-1871 the ELC of Russia produced the first alternating current transformer.

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[Diplomacy and investments]

Emperor Alexander III and Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov requested a meeting with the Mexican consulate in Saint Petersburg. The Russian interest at that time was to get their own economic grants in Mexican territory, in exchange for an investment of the emperor's capital of course.

Maximilian I of Habsburg agreed, so trade between Russian Alyáska and Mexican California (geographically known as Baja California) expanded. The Russians were interested in the mineral resources of the region, but trade was also good.

The Mexicans in return received a capital investment in the northwest of their country, which produced a railroad, a train station and various commercial ports in the area, which would help for future Mexican projects.

There was also a diplomatic objective, to bring Russia closer to another American state that will remain "close". Tsar Alexander III understood that the English would not be his friends without him (and Russia) losing an eye on their faces.

On the other hand, the United States, although powerful, would not give Russia the fullness of its freedoms and interests.

And the closest independent country was Mexico.

Although Alexander III and Maximilian I had different personalities, both were reformers interested in the life of their populations (Alexander III for Russia and Maximilian for Mexico).

*******

Emperor Alexander III managed his investments in America to avoid Black Friday. Although the emperor knew something was going to happen, it was not expected to be as serious as it eventually did.

In September the Gold Ring, formed by Jay Gould, James Fisk and Abel Corbin try to manipulate the price of gold in the United States. Corbin is the brother-in-law of President Ulysses S. Grant and they attempted to destabilize Grant's monetary policy (sell gold from the State Treasury at weekly intervals to pay off the national debt, stabilize the dollar, and boost the economy).

With Corbin's ties, the group was expected to influence Grant, manipulating presidential decisions to raise the price of gold.

Unfortunately the group was successful at first, but then President Grant found the lies of Gould, Fisk and Corbin, causing the president to sell a total of $ 6.5 million in gold.

The price of gold quickly plummeted in the United States, causing financial devastation in the United States, the Gold Exchange Bank no longer had enough reserves to cover the debts while the police investigated the Gold Ring.

Shares fell 35% and trading was down enormously until March of 1871.

*******

"The Turkmen do not accept our requests for payments for the damage caused to the south of Turkestan" The military governor of Turkestan, Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann notifies Emperor Alexander III.

"It is too early for a new campaign. Right?" Emperor Alexander III asks.

"Yes, the expedition to Khiva was already logistically complicated for our forces. We used up half the reserved water too quickly" General von Kaufmann points out.

"Then we are going to have to fortify and wait. We are going to have a punitive expedition to the Turkmen regions in the future" Emperor Alexander III points out, to which von Kaufmann agrees.

Russia would invade Turkmen territory in 1873, although the punitive expedition was first seriously planned in 1872.

At the moment, Emperor Alexander III focused on investing in the regions of Russian Turkestan, from the Kazakh steppe to new possessions, various searches for minerals were conducted around Russian forts and interesting economic positions.

The goal was not only to find deposits for the Russian government, but also to attract capital from potentially interested Russian merchants and settlers.

Also in the state lands directly annexed, the sale or lease of land for agricultural work began, an offer that was given not only to Russians but also to natives willing to settle in these regions (some natives of Central Asia were already semi-sedentary or even sedentary, not all were nomads).

With more training and materials from the state, around the northern and eastern parts of Central Asia (where the government invested more) the primary economic sector began to grow, mining (coal, metals, etc.) and agriculture (cereals, cotton, etc).

Not all natives would welcome the Russians at first, but fortunately von Kaufmann and Mikhail Grigorievich Chernyayev knew how to control the natives.

On the one hand, von Kaufmann was in charge of promoting different alternatives to slavery, and Chernyayev a minimum of native integration in imperial Russia.

Militarily, part of the money and the budget was also invested in the Southwest, but mainly for the fortification of the border with the Turkmen, ensuring the protection of commercial interests, borders and vassals of the Russian state (de-facto also Russia).

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[International]

The Swedish city of Gävle burns down, leaving some 8,000 people homeless.

The German Empire launched its constitution in August, under which the suffrage for a Reichstag is protected for men over 25 years of age.

A Federal Council or Bundesrat formed by the member states is also formed, where the sovereigns of the states have a significant veto power.

The presidency is under the King of Prussia, a member of the Hohenzollern house, who has the ability to appoint a Chancellor. At the insistence of the Bundesrat, a formal cabinet of ministers was institutionalized (who are elected by the Chancellor, but if there is a majority in the Reichstag and the Bundesrat they can be removed from office).

Prussia was given 15 votes, 7 to Bavaria, 6 to Saxony, 4 to Württemberg, 3 to Baden, Alsace-Lorraine and Hesse, 2 to Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Brunswick, 18 for the small states (one for each, and Luxembourg is in this location).

The costly Franco-Prussian war brought demand from the southern states and the middle states of Germany, even though Prussia was the most populous, territorially extensive, and undoubtedly the most powerful state. His political power now also lies in his alliances with other smaller states for votes.

In the German Empire, August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht (the father of the unborn Karl Liebknecht) founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP).

The pair of socialists are trying to put theory into practice.

Irish scientist Mary Ward is killed when she falls under the wheels of an experimental steam car made by her cousins, becoming the first known person to be killed by a motor vehicle.

With the first money raised from the economic concessions given to foreign (European) capital, Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg sets out to renew the Mexican navy to new heights. With a passion for the sea and certain experiences in such work, Maximiliano strives to strengthen the maritime position of his empire.

The land army, however, also needs funds, partly for personal interests and partly for security, the improvement of infrastructure is vital but the Mexican army has had difficult times too often (weakening discipline, weapons, etc).

During this time the army was dominated by Generals Miguel Miramón, Leonardo Márquez and Tomás Mejía, however the liberals pardoned (and who had shown some capacity, be it military or political) were beginning to get involved.

Porfirio Diaz was beginning to gain a prominent position within the imperial government during this time, although he would not reach the peak of his influence until 1873.

The French situation was not exactly good, the government of the Prime Minister and Regent Eugène Rouher over Napoleon IV had many business to attend to.

The situation in the French house was incredibly deteriorated, the population was angry at the defeat at the hands of the Germans, which had taken independence from Luxembourg, one of the colonies of the Second French Empire and the regions of Alsace-Lorraine.

Added to this, now it was necessary to restore Paris, solve the economic problems caused by the war, stabilize the diplomatic situation, etc.

The Paris Commune still resonated with various French socialists and abroad, the republicans and liberals against the Empire had already betrayed it, etc.

The Second French Empire was essentially a time bomb.

In Japan on the other hand the Meiji Empire and the Republic of Ezo are in considerable trouble, on the one hand the Meiji Court can no longer trade with the United States and has lost serious modernization capabilities and money with the defeat.

Ezo on the other hand has lost France.

Both countries are left with the United Kingdom (Meiji) and Germany (Ezo) but they lack money and technical capacities.

For example: Ernst Jakob Oppert, a Jew-German thanks to his old dealings with the Russians in Quelpart, present-day Chedzhu, had managed to save his family business and obtain considerable wealth. Although without commercial deals with Korea.

However his family business did spread to Deutsche Südostasiens, and seeing the problems in Japan, he began to sell military equipment to the Ezo Republic in exchange for concessions in Hokkaido, in essence giving a loan to the Ezo Republic.