~Oct-Dec 1910: Wings over the water
October 1910: The Ottoman purchase of two old German battleships has accelerated their naval arms race with the Greeks, with the Greeks purchasing the old British battleship Hood in response. As with the Ottomans, this is only intended as an interim response pending arranging the construction of more modern vessels.
October 1910: After serving six years in the post, Lord Grey retires as Viceroy of India. His tenure has seen a massive increase in Indian participation in the administration of the subcontinent, with the number of Indians within the Indian Amy's officer corps increased from 10% to 20% and a similar increase in the Civil Service. He is replaced as Viceroy by Charles Hardinge, who is raised to the peerage as Baron Hardinge.
October 1910: For the past year the Danish and Norwegian government have been attempting to bring Sweden into their informal mutual security framework without success. This failure highlights a growing gulf among the Nordic states, with Sweden, fearful of Russian expansion, favouring Germany and regarding themselves as the natural leader of the Nordic counties. While Denmark and Norway, lean towards the Empire due to economic ties, and Denmark's defeat in the Second Slesvig War. Regardless of their failure to court Sweden, Denmark and Norway are determined to strengthen their common defence structure and sign the Treaty of Oslo, formalising their relationship as a mutual defence treaty. Recognising the vital importance of forewarning of any invasion, the treaty establishes the Fælles Etterretningstjeneste/Felles Etterretningstjeneste (FET) or Joint Intelligence Service. Drawn from all branches both nations military, police and civil service, the FET will quickly gain a reputation for professionalism and efficiency, with its operations in Germany particularly effective due to its large disaffected Danish minority.
October 1910: Since its formation in 1902, no additional ships have been ordered for the Royal Australian Navy. With the order of the battlecruiser HMAS Australia in September, it is widely felt the RAN's strength of just two cruisers and four destroyers is insufficient. In an effort to rectify this two Bristol class cruisers and six Archeron class destroyers are ordered, all to be built locally.
October 1910: In a further effort to deal with the political violence plaguing Brazil, Prime Minister Alves modifies the Lei Imperial de Segurança Pública to allow for the banning of terrorist organisations and making membership of them a criminal offence. The changes also create the Ministério de Segurança Pública (MSP) or Ministry of Pubic Safety, with the Imperial Public Safety Police and the provincial Military Police forces under its control.
October 1910: Chulalongkorn who has been ruling Siam as King Rama V since 1868 dies unexpectedly at the age of 57. Concerned the French may use his death to press additional territorial claims against Siam, the Imperial government of Charles Dilke reaffirms the commitment to Siamese territorial integrity they gave in the 1909 Treaty of Bangkok in their statement of condolences. Chulalongkorn is succeeded by his son Vajiravudh as King Rama VI. He will adopt a policy of continuing his father's reforms, but also stresses Siamese nationalism and attempts to ally with Japan and the US to counter the Empire and France.
October 1910: The Presidents of Ecuador and Peru meeting in Washington for talks, mediated by US Secretary of State Philander Knox in an attempt to resolve their border dispute. It quickly becomes apparent Knox favours the Peruvians, pressuring the Ecuadorians to accept the Peruvian claims. This clear bias will result in the talks failure and lead to the Ecuadorians seeking closer ties with the Empire to counter US support for Peru.
November 1910: US Navy aviator Eugene Ely becomes the first to successfully fly an aircraft off a ship, taking off from a temporary platform over the bows of the armoured cruiser Essex. With the US Navy growing increasingly concerned by its lack of cruisers for fleet scouting, these experiments will continue, with the navy hoping to use aircraft to supplement its reconnaissance force,
November 1910: While the purchase of the two old German battleships in January has allowed the Ottomans to match the Greek's armoured cruiser, it was always regarded as temporary measure pending the construction of more modern warships. After arranging a 48 million mark {£2,209,000} loan, the Ottomans order a modern dreadnought, light cruiser and four destroyers from Germany. The 19,000 ton dreadnought is armed with eight 11” guns with a twin turret fore and aft and two staggered wing turrets to give cross deck fire, while the light cruiser is based on the German Magdeburg class.
November 1910: After passing the Commons easily the Representation of the People Bill faces intense opposition in the Lords. However after Prime Minister Charles Dilke makes clear the government is willing to postpone the elections due next year in order to pass the bill, a compromise is worked out retaining the existing property and income restrictions on the franchise in return for giving women the vote on the same basis as men, allowing the bill to pass.
November 1910: After entering refit last year the former French Navy torpedo depot ship Foudre is returned to commission as the world's first seaplane carrier. Operating four Blériot XI floatplanes, she will begin trials to determine the utility of aircraft in naval operations.
November 1910: Since becoming President for the second time in 1884, Mexico has been governed under dictatorial rule by Profirio Díaz His long rule has brought stability, leading to significant economic growth. However over the last few years, opposition to his regime has been growing, with calls for free elections becoming ever more vocal. This opposition has coalesced around democratic reformer Francisco Madero, who has chosen to challenge Díaz for the Mexican Presidency. With Madero having widespread support, Díaz blatantly rigs the election, winning almost unanimously. The rigged election result in Madero fleeing to the US and calling for revolution to remove Díaz, beginning the Mexican Revolution.
November 1910: Once more, the French elections show a marked swing toward extremism with both the far left socialists and far right boulangists gaining ground. However Gabriel Hantaux's conservatives again narrowly wins the most seats, over Émile Combes moderates. With the boulangists support, Hantaux is again able to form a government, though the coalition's combined majority has been reduced.
December 1910: Since the end of the Chinese Civil War a split has been growing within the governing Xianfa Jinbudang Party, with the more conservative elements unhappy at the de facto acceptance of the partition of China. The recent signing of the Honolulu and Shanghai agreements with the Zheng have only further increased this discord, resulting in 52 of the Jinbudang's 217 members of the lower house to form the new Minzhudang or MZD (民主黨 Democratic Party) under Cen Chunxuan. These will be joined by 14 members from the conservative Baoshoudang Party under Lin Sen as well as two independents and one member of the Guomindang, to give the new party 73 representatives.
December 1910: Since 1907 the Royal Navy has been attempting to develop a weapon against submarines whilst under water. After extensive testing, including the trials against the decommissioned Holland class submarine No 3, the Type D depth charge is adopted as the first such weapon. Despite this, work continues on the development of a method to detect submerged submarines.
December 1910: After a lengthy courtship King Luís of Portugal announces his engagement to Queen Victoria's grand daughter, Princess Patricia of Connaught, with the marriage to take place in September next year. While a romantic match, the couples engagement has been the subject of intense behind the scenes negotiations between the Portuguese and British courts, with it felt it will strengthen the over five century old Anglo-Portuguese Alliance of 1386. The announcement of the engagement is followed by an official visit of Princess Patricia to Portugal where she will prove an immediate favourite of the people and lead to a significant increase in support for the Portuguese monarchy.
December 1910: While the Zeppelin Company's rigid airships are seemingly achieving success, there have also been a large number of accidents, highlighting defects with the type. In an effort to develop a safer rigid airship German engineers Professor Johann Shütte and Dr Karl Lanz have formed the Shütte-Lanz Airship Company to in competition with Zeppelin. Unlike Zeppelin who use an aluminium frame, Shütte-Lanz use a reinforced wooden frame. To test the effectiveness of their design, the German Army purchases an example as the L2 for trials.
December 1910: After ten years of work, the northern portion of the Cape to Cairo railway has reached Lake Tanganyika, though work on the southern portion has been greatly hindered by the Boer War and not yet reached Northern Rhodesia. However it is hoped it can be finally completed by 1915. As an import step, five large cargo liners are ordered to transport freight and passengers across Lake Tanganyika as part of the railway.
