This episode does in fact focus a bit more on Bali, and even includes a war. However, much concentration is still put onto the rest of the world.
Chapter 3 – Europe's New Powers
1860 began in a fairly unique way. On April 18 of 1860, the revived kingdom of England—having seceded from the United Kingdom, signed off on their very first alliance... with the United Kingdom. Considering England seceded and practically destroyed the United Kingdom, many would find it very ironic that the English kingdom would come to Queen Victoria seeking an alliance. Regardless, Queen Victoria, now living in Linlithgow Palace—15 miles away from Edinburgh, Scotland. England's secession was painful for the British crown, especially since this left the United Kingdom only with Ireland and Scotland in Europe—easily conquerable land, given a big enough enemy. For now, Queen Victoria found England's alliance most tactful, even hoping to one day persuade the English crown to rejoin the United Kingdom.
In Bali, there was a very clear sense of change. Since the 1830s, the literacy of the Balinese as a whole increased by more than ten percent. A little less than ninety percent of the Balinese failed to understand their own language, and with this sense, learning foreign language was nearly impossible. Regardless, 1/10th of Bali could now read, which helped in all sorts of ways. There were more negotiations with the Dutch, Spanish, Chinese, and even the Americans. One could argue that this was all the result of the Royal Faction transforming into the Liberal Faction. Along with an improved education system, Bali was now enjoying an advanced military, a better system of currency, more jobs, new transportation systems, and even recognition by civilized nations. Bali was almost out of the gutter, but had some leaps to go before they would be officially recognized by the international community as an existing country. As it stood, almost every country in the world recognized Bali as uncolonized land.
On the month of September, the world was shocked—especially Asia. Without warning, the land of Indochina had been invaded by the Ottoman Empire of all nations. The Asian country of Siam, still without even muskets, stood their ground to the best of their ability, but ultimately found destruction by the Ottoman Empire. Within days of the invasion, Siam surrendered and ceded Vietnamese land to the Ottomans. With this, Ottoman Indochina was created, and an immediate influx of orthodox Christians and Muslims immigrated from Turkey into the newly established Asian land. For Dai Nam, the nearly unified Vietnam, this was horrid news. For Bali, this was beyond strange and threatening—but not too concerning.
In April 1861, nearly a year since the Ottoman invasion, Dai Nam made their move. The country of Luang Probang, bordering both Dai Nam and Ottoman Indochina, was conquered with ease by the Vietnamese. This established what one would consider a fully unified Vietnam, however, Ottoman Indochina stood in the path of unification. The Liberal Faction of Bali had censored these events taking place in Vietnam in order to keep the citizens of Balinese controlled Borneo calm. Fortunately, the government of Dai Nam offered their assurance to the Liberal Faction that no future plans were in place to invade Bali.
The Vietnamese were much larger than Bali both militarily and in country size, however, Bali possessed far superior weaponry and strategies. The decision to ensure peace between the two countries very well could have been made either out of fear or simple respectful behavior toward a true Asian neighbor. Nevertheless, Dai Nam and Bali held the same position on the Ottoman presence in Indochina—they had to go.
Meanwhile, in Europe, a massive war was about to unfold. On November 1861, two former allies who fought beside one another against the Russian Empire found themselves locked in a surprise war. It was on January 2, 1861, that King William IV of the North German Confederation had died. His successor, William Frederick Louis, acquired the German crown and immediately pushed his master plan through.
King William I's first order of business as the new German king was to push a friend's royal claim for Norway. William I sent a declaration of war against King Charles IV of Sweden, demanding that Norway be freed from Sweden (Sweden owned Norway back then). Statistically, the Swedish were outmatched, and things only worsened as Denmark, led by King Frederick VII, offered to join William I—given that Denmark acquires Gotland—the island east of Sweden. German and Danish soldiers united, and set forth toward Sweden—ready for a good fight.
July 6, 1862, the Liberal Faction of Bali enacted a new policy—one that no Balinese citizen could believe. Indeed, this would be a policy that gives the nation great recognition. On this date, it was added to Bali's constitution that all citizens of Bali (including Balinese Borneo) could now purchase private property. This meant that as long as they could afford what acres of land they could, any citizen was free to build their own home and do whatever they want to the land they own. This action led to recognition by one of the greatest powers—the United States, still controlled by the pro-slavery Southern Democrats. The United States applauded Bali's obvious steps toward democracy and even established an embassy in Borneo. This recognition led to small bits of immigration to the islands of Bali, specifically, southerns of the United States—otherwise known as "Dixies". Naturally, Bali offered their gratitude to the Untied States by providing them with a cultural exchange of gifts.
Within mere months, both islands of Bali would be turned into a farm nation—with fields taking up nearly every acre. This was unfortunate for those simply wishing to live out in the country, however, Borneo was much larger than the island of Bali and would provide much more opportunity for housing. Naturally, though, with more freedom; comes more desires. The Liberal Faction gave the people what they wanted, but as a result, the people became more thirsty—they wanted more...
After a year of fighting, the German and Danish soldiers managed to secure the entire southern section of Sweden, but were put to a stop here. Though at first glance it would appear to be certain victory for the North German Confederation, a complete halt had been made in progression. German and Swedish soldiers fought constant battles in the south, but no progress was made on either end. By July of 1862, nearly 30,000 German soldiers had been killed, along with 12,000 Danish, and 22,000 Swedish. If this pattern of little to no progression continued, there would certainly be an armistice.
Election Day of 1862 for the United States. For long, the United States went nearly unopposed in the races, as the population heavily supported the Southern Democrats. Come this election, though, a major change of pace came. The Republican Party made a strong comeback and offered a tough fight for the Southern Democrats. It was Abraham Lincoln running for the Republican Party, against Southern Democrat candidate John C. Breckinridge. This was a tightly contested election, and if successful for the Republican Party, the United States would finally see change under President Lincoln—a strong advocate for the abolishing of slavery. Breckinridge, opposed slavery. Naturally, every African slave in the United States was crossing their fingers for a Lincoln victory—but this was for the white male Americans to decide for them.
Nearly every southern state was won by Breckinridge, but in the end, every state to the north-east and west alike voted for the change that came with Abraham Lincoln's promises. That night, on election day, whites and blacks cheered as Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election, thus putting an end to the Southern Democrats control over the United States. With Lincoln as president, the slavery could be abolished within years. Now it was a matter of Lincoln vs. Congress—who would inevitably give Lincoln a hard time, given that it was mostly controlled by Southern Democrats. No matter what, Lincoln was prepared to ensure that no Southern Democrat ever takes power again.
Back in Asia, to the east of Bali, the people of Spanish controlled Philippines arose in massive numbers. The citizens took up arms and immediately began to destroy Spanish government buildings, burn Spanish flags, and severely wound or kill Spanish government officials. The Spanish soldiers stationed in the Philippines stood their ground, but were ultimately smashed by a tsunami of rebels. Spain quickly, in response, prepared their ships and European soldiers for an emergency reconquest of the Philippines. They only had so much time to react, however. Otherwise, the rebels would take full control of the islands and set up an impenetrable defense. For Bali, this was a great event, as a potential location for invasion was opening up. Balinese Philippines, in theory, a crazy concept; but all too possible down the road.
As the Italian Republic had recently defeated the Austrian Empire in war, there was no doubting the military authority that the pretender Italian nation held. On August 3, 1863, all remaining Italian states mutually agreed to offer themselves to the Italian Republic, fearing an inevitable invasion. The Italian Republic accepted, and thus, Italy had been unified. Regardless of whether or not this Italian Republic was the true Italy before, there was no doubting that it was now. Upon annexing the remaining Italian states, King Emanuele II of the Italian Republic stated that: "A unified Italian nation has been formed, and thus, we have gained through many hardships the right to proclaim ourselves not the 'Italian Republic', but 'Italy'." Italy now existed as a fully unified kingdom, officially adding one new major power to Europe—and shortly after, there would be two more nations.
That same month, though it would appear as though the North German Confederation had been winning, a peace treaty was signed with Sweden, thus ending the war for Norway immediately. Norway was not formed and Denmark did not gain Gotland. All in all, this war merely brought about distrust between the Swedish and German governments. One thing was obvious, the North German Confederation couldn't count on Sweden's support in any upcoming issues.
In May of 1864, the Spanish had used up what resources remained in their control to fight off the Philippine rebels, but alas, the rebels had secured over eighty percent of the Philippines. The Spanish soldiers stationed in this falling colony were surrounded, and even loyalists had now turned into rebels. The Philippine Revolutionary War was likely decided, and it was in the patriots' favor.
July 4th, 1864—Americans celebrated their national holiday, but this wasn't nearly the big event of the year. The true event on this day was taking place in Europe, where the unimaginable, yet inevitable had finally occurred. The Austrian Empire had finally taken a fall. They couldn't sustain the casualties that the Italian Republic did to their military, they were losing populace support, and even European powers saw little of a threat from the nation. Seeing through this period of weakness, King William I snickered and turned to Austria's former three German allies—Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg —one kingdom and two duchies that had all fallen out of favor of Austria. Taking advantage of the situation, the North German Confederation officially held a conference with these three lands. And the end result was worthy of every newspaper's headline worldwide—even in Bali—if they had a paper.
July 4th, 1864, the kingdom of Bavaria, and the duchies of Baden and Württemberg, all agreed to join the North German Confederation. However, by doing so, there was no reason to continue on as the 'North German' Confederation. All of the German states had now been unified, and thus, the time had come. Throwing aside the black, white, and red flag; the new flag of a fully unified Germany had been raised over the Reichstag in Berlin. A tricolor black, red, and gold flag, representing the second German Empire, had replaced the old flag of the North German Confederation everywhere. Indeed, Germany had been created for the first time in history. Germany's first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, took power in the Reichstag, while the Germany's first Kaiser, respectively, went to William I. Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Kaiser William I—two leaders who would, inevitably, bring change to Europe with their new extreme power. But the question now, was whether or not this new power would be misused.
In that same month, the formation of Germany meant one thing to the Austrian Empire—that they had failed to keep the Second Reich from forming. Thus, the Austrian Empire decided to go through a major reform in order to keep up with modern times and possibly retain a strong empire. They started a dual monarchy with Hungary—thus transforming the Austrian Empire into 'Austria-Hungary'. Within such a small time frame, three major powers had formed: Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. This was the beginning of a new era in Europe.
Following these major developments in Europe, in November of 1864, the Dutch government decided to continue their training of Bali—now seeing Bali's true potential. Noticing the terribly acute navy that Bali had, Dutch captains and admirals were sent to the Balinese islands to help train their naval academy. Teaching the Balinese, only ten percent literate, how to properly maneuver and combat with warships... was beyond difficult. Understanding that so little of these naval students could understand their own language, the Dutch were forced to demonstrate exactly how to do these things using diagrams. After extreme stress and work, the bumbling idiots, as the Dutch could only refer to them as, adopted an understanding of basic naval strategy. This would greatly assist Bali come the following months... when an invasion would occur in a far away land...
For months, the alliance between England and the United Kingdom had ceased to exist. A disgruntled Queen Victoria had to face facts... there was no United Kingdom, not anymore. Scotland and Ireland were two very different places, but to call these two places a 'United Kingdom' was embarrassing to the British crown. Though it wasn't the greatest change, it was one worth noting; Queen Victoria enacted a title change, switching the 'United Kingdom' into the 'British Empire'. This only supported the idea that the British Crown would soon lose all control and eventually cease to exist. Victoria still owned land in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and India. But without England, she was at a loss for words.
The biggest event in Asia, by far, came in December of 1866. Through aspirations, hard work, and military investment, the moment of truth had arrived. There was no longer a doubt in mind that Bali hadn't become a civilized nation. Citizens could communicate with one another, they were well clothed, horses were used as transportation, a railroad system had been built, a fabric factory (that's closed) in the capital, a well armed military, housing and farms being built nationwide by citizens, and a working government system. Through the thickest of struggle, Bali had jumped out of their tribal ways and into the 19th century—late—but they would have a chance to catch up now that countries worldwide began to acknowledge the Balinese nation as a legitimate country. Naturally, both the United States—led by reelected Abraham Lincoln—and Netherlands were the first to jump onto Bali with various diplomatic proposals. Uncivilized nations such as Korea, Dai Nam, and even China, now saw Bali as a potential threat.
However, immediately with the prestige of becoming great, the power went to the Liberal Faction's head. One of the very first orders of business was to push the envelope and finally start a colony. Their target was completely unexpected. Zanzibar—a small native tribe off of Africa's east coast. By successfully conquering a part of Africa, Bali could officially create a connection between Africa and Asia, and of course, this would put them closer to Europe. On November 7, 1867, Bali's government had begun to prepare for an oversea invasion that no one would suspect to be real.
Things only got better for Bali as they prepared for the invasion. In the winter of 1867, the United States made their first official trade offer to the Balinese. All American revolvers—a type of weapon the Balinese were unfamiliar with, but completely intrigued. The United States offered a maximum of 20,000 revolvers with even more ammunition. Though these were supposed to be used as sidearms, the concept of a repeating weapon was unimaginable to the Balinese, and thus, these revolvers were being used at first as primary weapons. Poor in range, but very effective upon impact; the revolver was set to be the primary weapon of the Balinese as they charge toward the enemy. At long range, they would continue using their muskets.
Coincidentally, just months after this shipment, a new type of weapon had been discovered by the Balinese. The 'petirtongkat' was a Balinese made muzzle loaded rifle. These rifles were far superior to the flintlocks they had been using, and thus, preparations for war with Zanzibar were prolonged to ensure that each soldier was given a petirtongkat.
After final war preparations, the Liberal Faction greenlit the declaration of war on Zanzibar—only there was no forewarning given to the Zanzibaris. Without further ado, the Balinese were put onto galleys and sent onward to a new part of the world—Africa.
The trip to Africa was a magnificent, yet frightening, experience for the soldiers, captains, and admirals alike. They would be going across the globe to an unknown land, and of course, they had to fear whether or not they'd survive the trip. As for the Liberal Faction, this would be a tricky war, as communication between Bali and Zanzibar would be very distanced. It was a one shot operation on part of the Balinese.
On January 9, the Zanzibaris were shocked to find unique looking ships from Asia come to their land. 6,000 Balinese soldiers stormed the beach of Lindi, and immediately, they set up an encampment in the area. The Zanzibaris had 6,000 soldiers as well, however, they were far inferior to that of the typical Balinese soldier. It was an even match in terms of numbers, but a fight that would inevitably leave many dead on both sides.
Many months later, the entire province of Lindi had been secured by the Balinese. There was no fight, only Zanzibari submission. As for the capital village to the north, a fight awaited the 6,000 Asian troops. Before the soldiers could make their move, a tragedy had occurred. Of the two ships that the soldiers took to Africa, one ship had hit shallow water and was capsized, thus leaving Bali with one single ship. Regardless, the one ship left back for Bali to pick up one more wave of troops—which even the Liberal Faction suspected that the invasion force may need. With only one ship, only 3,000 more soldiers could arrive in Africa.
December 12 of 1869 marked the official date that Balinese general Shahabuddin led his 6,000 Balinese troops into battle with the tribal forces of Zanzibar. There the African tribe waited, across a river, with bows and rifles alike. Many of these Balinese soldiers were in disbelief at the appearance of these soldiers. Tattered clothing, no military formation, and inferior weaponry—they were basically looking at the army of Bali as they were 30 years ago.
6 days later, the Balinese ran into their first obstacle—a river without a bridge. This was a major situation that hadn't been accounted for, as the Balinese were forced to raise their equipment up into the air as they traveled across the river by foot. Surprisingly, though, the tribal soldiers of Zanzibar took up this opportunity and fired at the oncoming Balinese soldiers while they were defenseless. The river was quickly bleached with the blood of Asian warriors. Before the Balinese could even get through the river, they had already sustained 300+ deaths. Finally, the battle began, but the Balinese were at a huge disadvantage. Their uniforms were thickened with water, and their petirtongkats were jammed. The Zanzibaris continued to fight off the Balinese with combined strength, until finally, on January 10 of 1870, the Balinese were forced to retreat with only about 2,000 soldiers remaining. The Zanzibaris did take a strong hit, however, and were left with around 3,000 soldiers. Rather than finishing the Balinese off, the defenders let the Asian soldiers run off, back to Lindi.
It was later to the Balinese great fortune, however, that they were met with a reinforcement of 4,000 soldiers, but not just any group of Balinese soldiers—these were freshly trained troops with new tactics they had learned back in their home country. Very fortunately, river crossing was a specialty that these soldiers came with.
Meanwhile, in Asia, Spain had finally accepted defeat to the Philippine patriots—and the independent island of the Philippines had formed. This was to the Liberal Faction's frustration, however, as this would have been a much better target for invasion. A Balinese Philippines would have given the edge they so desperately needed in terms of power, but alas, they had to finish up in Zanzibar first—which the government had no information on in terms of progress.
On May 20, a fresh attack had been placed onto the Zanzibaris in their capital village. This time, however, the attack was made during the night. They crossed the river at night, then waited until morning. As the sun rose, general Shahabuddin ordered a new attack onto the village directly. The Zanzibaris had no idea that the Balinese were near, and thus, they were only half prepared for battle. Just on the outskirt of the village, a battle ensued between the two forces. The Balinese had a clear advantage, and that morning, the blood of their enemies could be found all across the village.
The battle went on for half a month, and in the end, the Balinese lost 3,000+ soldiers in the assault, the 1,500+ surviving Zanzibaris retreated into uncolonized Africa (modern day Somalia) where they would likely die from disease, hunger, and wildlife.
The Balinese soldiers worked quickly in creating control within the capital village. These citizens were of a much darker skin than the Balinese were accustomed to seeing, given their geographical location. The hardest part of this occupation was trying to communicate with the Zanzibari citizens—as it would appear, they were completely illiterate and even lacking in an understanding of speaking. But there was one thing the Zanzibaris understood well, and that was resisting...
Unknowingly to the Balinese and surviving Zanzibari chiefs, a new tribe of Zanzibaris had taken up spears and shields in the province of Lindi—seeking to both remove Bali from their tribal land, and restructure their government. Technically, it was both a rebellion and liberation. The Balinese guards in Lindi were slaughtered like animals, then the 15,000+ plus strong legion of citizens ran into the capital village. The 3,000+ surviving Balinese soldiers were absolutely disgruntled at what they were seeing. Half naked men with nothing but tribal weapons, but in massive numbers. This was certain doom, regardless of what the Balinese had to fight with.
The Balinese fired every shot with no morale, but the 15,000+ citizens ultimately ransacked the village and killed every last Balinese soldier they could find. Within a mere hour, the last head had been brutally sawed off the last Balinese soldier—a shameful defeat, for a rising nation. The war officially came to a close as the Balinese galley was set on fire by the new tribe. This left Bali with not a single piece of military ready to fight. As Bali did not officially recognize Zanzibar as a country, but more so, a native tribe... they simply left them alone from here on out and chose to forget that this war had ever happened. As far as the Liberal Faction was concerned, their win/loss ratio was still 1:0.
Regardless, with the conclusion of this war, one final major step was taken toward becoming a respectable nation. On January 5, 1872... taking after their American friends... the terribly structured government of Bali had laid out a new foundation. A foundation, for democracy. From here on out, on every four years on January 5, Bali would hold an official election. Bali could officially be proud of many things over the course of these years, but above all, Bali would be known forever in the history books as the first ever Asian democracy.
To be continued...