I have an ongoing project in an alternate-history timeline. It's an America with no United States; the American Revolution never happened. In fact, there is no hint of a revolution: the Atlantic colonies never consider the possibility of separation, because their relationship with the mother country is on a fundamentally different footing.
One of the reasons that this project has not been published is that it imposes an enormous research burden on me in order to "get the history right" – a subject on which the exigencies of publishing and historicity sometimes diverge. Yet to be a writer one must be a reader, and to satisfy one's audience one must first satisfy oneself. After nearly four years of research and reading, the timeline is becoming cohesive and consistent. This page will have some of the background details. The fulcrum point is not the Stamp Act, Lexington and Concord, or even the Proclamation of 1763 (which in my opinion did more to hasten the Revolution than either of the preceding events). It is a terrible storm in the English Channel in December 1736. More information will be added to this page as time goes on.
| 1736 |
King George II of Great Britain dies during a terrible storm in the English Channel. On Christmas Day Frederick, his eldest son, is designated to succeed him. |
| 1737 |
January: King Frederick I is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
April: James Francis Stuart ("the Young Pretender") raises his standard at Inverness. The Jacobites invade England in an attempt to place him on the throne. William, Duke of Cumberland is installed as Elector of Hanover. The Separation Act detaches the two crowns, but a treaty of amity is signed.
June: Battle of Rotherham. James Francis Stuart is killed. Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") escapes with Lord George Murray and is given an allowance and sent to French Louisiana. End of the "'37"; some English reprisals in the Highlands.
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| 1738-39 |
War of Jenkins' Ear. |
| 1738 |
War declared by Great Britain against Spain. James Oglethorpe's army takes Saint Augustine and claims East Florida for the British Crown. Admiral Vernon wins at Portobello.
William, Elector of Hanover, marries the daughter of King Frederick William of Prussia. |
| 1739 |
British defeat at Cartagena. Death of Col. James Wolfe during the assault.
Establishment of the Colonial Parliament according to the so-called Bladen Plan. Henry Pelham named the first Governor-General of His Majesty's Plantations in America. |
| 1740 |
Death of Emperor Charles VI. Beginning of the War of Austrian Succession. Hanover is an ally of Prussia; Great Britain remains neutral during the early part of the conflict. |
| 1744 |
France declares war on Great Britain. William Pitt forms a coalition government composed primarily of Whigs. Earl of Loudon named Governor-General. |
| 1745 |
British colonists from New England under the command of Sir William Pepperell capture the French fortress of Louisbourg. |
| 1748 |
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Great Britain cedes Madras to France; France cedes Nova Scotia to Britain. |
| 1751 |
Earl of Albemarle named Governor-General. |
| 1754 |
Prince George visits America with Franklin as his guide; great fire in Boston; attempts made on his life in New York and Philadelphia; Battle near Greensboro in North Carolina colony ends in the defeat of Charles Stuart, his Jacobite army and its French and Indian levies are defeated and dispersed. Col. George Washington encounters Jumonville in western Pennsylvania; battle of Fort Necessity; renewed conflict between Britain and France (but only in North America). Upon the Earl of Albemarle's death, the Earl of Rochford is named Governor-General. |
| 1755 |
Benjamin Franklin knighted. Gen. James Abercromby is defeated at the Monongehela with significant loss of life, particularly among regular troops. Colonial troops do not experience as severe casualties, leading to a Parliamentary investigation, which reaches the wrong conclusion and fails to blame line tactics for the disaster. Rochford is recalled and replaced by Sir William Pepperell (the first Governor-General born in North America). |
| 1756-65 | Nine Years’ War. |
| 1756 | Beginning of the Nine Years’ War. Hanover is Prussia’s client and opposes Austria and France. Russia is Britain’s ally and remains nominally neutral in the conflict. Spain is neutral at the start of the war. |
| 1758 | Sir Jeffrey Amherst begins systematically clearing the maritime provinces of Francophones; most emigrate westward to Canada or southward to Louisiana. Abercromby is badly beaten at Fort Carillon, and is recalled from North America. |
| 1759 |
Amherst takes Carillon (and renames it Ticonderoga). Prussia wins the Battle of Minden. Boscawen wins a decisive naval battle at Lagos. Hawke wins at Quiberon Bay. Amherst’s attempted invasion of Canada is stopped after Montcalm wins a battle near Plattsburgh. Pepperell dies and is replaced by Amherst as Governor-General. |
| 1762 | Pocock captures Havana. Cuban resistance gradually reduced, and Cuba becomes a British coony (though it is ruled directly from Whitehall). |
| 1765 |
Peace of Paris officially ends the war. (Commerce raiding and border conflicts continue sporadically.) Amherst is created Earl of Amherst. Sir William Shirley replaces him as Governor-General, and serves until his death in 1771. |
| 1767 | Sir Benjamin Franklin created 1st Earl of Schuylkill. |
| 1770 | Cuba made a crown colony. |
| 1771 |
Lord Henry Grenville named Governor-General. He is replaced at the outbreak of war by his son-in-law Earl Stanhope. |
| 1776-84 | King George’s War. |
| 1776 | Admiral de Grasse defeats a British naval force off the coast of the Colony of New Jersey, leaving New York vulnerable to attack. Despite strong coastal defenses New York and Brooklyn are both bombarded by French naval forces, causing extensive damage and a major fire. |
| 1777 |
Montcalm invades New York from Montréal, but has logistical problems as he moves south. General John Burgoyne, commanding both regular and Colonial troops, achieves a huge victory at Saratoga; Major Benedict Arnold is actually responsible for carrying the day, but does not get any of the credit. |
| 1779 | Rodney defeats deGrasse at sea near Martinique. |
| 1782 |
Vandalia Colony organized with Daniel Boone as governor. Boone has significant success against hostile Indians – particularly the Catawba and the Natchez, both being armed by the French.
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| 1784 | Treaty of Amsterdam ends the conflict between Britain and France/Spain. All sides are left financially drained, particularly Spain: England has a huge national debt, while France has a ruined economy and its overseas empire is proving more of a drain than an asset.
Gen. John Burgoyne replaces Earl Stanhope as Governor-General. |
| 1785 | French Estates-General are called. French taxation system is extensively reformed, but there is violence and unrest throughout France. Britain’s economic problems forces cutbacks in both naval and land forces, keeping them from taking advantage of France’s internal problems. The American colonial economy exceeds that of the mother country for the first time. |
| 1786 |
Gen. Anthony Wayne enters into treaty negotiations with Chief Joseph Brant, representing the Five Nations. By confirmation by the Colonial Parliament and an Act of Parliament to confirm the treaty, the Crown recognizes the Iroquois and the Cherokee Nations as tributaries. Campaigns in the Ohio territory (won by Generals Wayne and Washington) establish Great Britain's dominion over the territory; Iroquois serve in the British army for the first time. |
| 1790 | Death of Lord Schuylkill. A day of mourning is proclaimed throughout the Empire. |
| 1791 | King George III descends into his final madness. Prince George declared Regent. |
| 1793 |
The Marquis de Lafayette is named First Minister of France, a post he will hold until 1821. He undertakes a massive reform of the French tax and legal system. |
| 1796 |
Slave trade banned in the British Empire. By Act of Parliament the Colonial Parliament is permitted to grant an exception for the colonies of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Cuba, and Barbados to continue to import slaves, but the triangle trade is essentially gutted and the transport of chattel from West Africa is curtailed. Slavery as an institution was in low repute already, but the wealth of these colonies made the Crown wary of upsetting their economies by eliminating the institution. |
| 1798 | Haiti revolts against French authority. Britain supports this uprising as part of its general revulsion toward slavery. |
| 1804-15 | War of Succession. |
| 1804 | Spanish defaults lead to British and French demands for Spanish colonial territories. Austria attempts mediation but talks break down; a French fleet scores a major naval victory in the Leeward Islands, and a typhoon destroys a British fleet near Jamaica leaving the British colonial possessions in the Caribeean vulnerable to French attack. |
| 1805 | War on the Continent. France and Holland go to war when a French army moves into the Low Countries. The French defeat a Spanish army near Barcelona. British naval forces thwart an attempt at invasion of the British Isles. |
| 1808 |
Anglo-Russian Treaty. Russia is granted the right to settle the Pacific coast of North America as far south as 34°30' without British interference. The former settlement of Yerba Buena is renamed Saint Helena. |
| 1809 | Colonial troops defeat French invaders from Illinois near Fort Duquesne. |
| 1811 | Naval battles on the Great Lakes. |
| 1812 |
Kristoph de Lieven is appointed Russian ambassador to the Court of St. James. His wife Dorothea enters into London society; she eventually becomes a Lady Patroness of Almack's. |
| 1813 | British and Colonial forces cross Lake Ontario and burn Sainte-Eustache (Toronto). |
| 1814 | Battle of Lundy’s Lane. |
| 1814 |
December. The French attack on Havana is repelled with great loss of life; Francis Scott Key writes "Home of the Brave" while on board ship in Havana Harbor and it becomes an instant classic, particularly among Colonial soldiers. |
| 1815 |
January. Battle of New Orleans. Pakenham dies during the attack and General Andrew Jackson leads the final assault to take the city. Jackson is hailed throughout the Empire as a great hero, and is knighted at the end of the year. In the late summer and early fall armies led by Jackson and Boone, along with troops from the Cherokee tributary state, move quickly up the Mississippi River, clearing out French and French-allied troops. |
| 1816 | Treaty of Ghent. Louisiana Territory south of the Missouri River is ceded to Britain. Mexico remains in Spanish hands but much of Central America is also ceded to the British crown. France retains Canada and Illinois, but is forced to give up its sugar colonies in the Caribbean, which henceforth will be a British lake. French overseas ambitions focus strongly on sub-Saharan Africa, where it continues to foster a surreptitious slave trade with the plantations in North America that are permitted to continue the practice. |
| 1819 |
Death of Hannah van Buren. |
| 1822 |
Sir Andrew Jackson created 1st Earl of Nashville. |
| 1825 |
Tsar Alexander is assassinated; Tsar Nicholas replaces him. The Chancellery is reorganised and Third Section is established under the authority of the Count von Benckendorff. |
| 1831 |
Nat Turner's slave revolt. The violent response to this uprising leads to the abolition of slavery in the Atlantic colonies. Lord Nashville is required to enforce Parliament's orders despite his sympathies with the slaveowners. |
| 1834 |
Prince de Lieven recalled to St. Petersburg. |
| 1838 |
Death of de Lieven. Princess Dorothea de Lieven relocates to Paris and eventually to Saint Helena. |
