Alternate Europe 1860

Another piece of my 1860 alternate history map, still a WIP.

The major events that shaped Europe by 1860 were the Iberian War, Scando-Crimean War, The War of the French Succession, The Italian War of Unification, The German War of Unification, collectively forming much of what was known as The Great War.

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Iberian War: Began as a fight over territorial boundaries in South America, but developed into an attempt by Spain to subjugate Portugal.

- Alliances -
Aggressors: Spain, Sicily (satellite), Papal State
Defenders: Portugal, United Kingdom, Prussia, Ottoman Empire, African Mujhadeen

Spain saw initial victories abroad, but after the Spanish king decided to attempt to subjugate Portugal, the UK, Prussia, and Ottoman Empire joined forces to defend Portugal.

Spain and Portugal made a treaty, after the majority of the Spanish army left South America, to end the colonial wars. The fight became focused exclusively in Europe and north Africa.

After a couple years of bloody war, Spain lost all control of north Africa. This was when Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis became independent, as allies of the Ottoman Empire and UK.

As Spanish forces were pushed back into their home country, rebel forces, mostly Aragonese and Basque, declared independence.

As part of the treaty to end the war, Spain agreed to relinquish all claim to Africa and the Americas, recognize the independence of Catalonia and Navarre, cede the Mouth of Gibraltar, pay reparations to Portugal, declare Sicily independent, and relinquish any claims to Italian thrones. The Spanish Empire was no more.
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Scando-Crimean War: Began as response to increasing Russian imperialism in northern Europe and the Black Sea. Russia had recently conquered Finland, Poland, and a lot of Eastern Europe. It was a threat to the other Great Powers, and had to be addressed.

- Alliances -
Imperialists: Russian Empire
The Alliance: Ottoman Empire, Swedish Empire, UK, Prussia

After the Russian annexation of Finland and Poland, the UK declared an embargo of Russia, supported by much of Europe. Russia responded by capturing British merchant ships in the Mediterreanean. This caused open war.

Russia was not in a good position this time, as its forces has only just completed several small wars. The Ottoman Empire opened the Marmara to allied ships, as its land forces gathered in Georgia and Bulgaria.

After an intense battle in the Black Sea, the Russian fleet was defeated, and British forces landed in Crimea. Swedish forces entered Finland, and began a long conflict that was mostly a stalemate. Ottoman forces marched north from Georgia and Bulgaria.

Russia became comitted to two large wars on two fronts. It would have continued as a stalemate for some time, until Prussian imperialist interests swayed their Emperor to enter the war. The final nail on the Russian coffin was the march of the Prussian Legions into Poland and Lithuania.

Casualties on both sides were extremely high, but the Alliance came out victorious. They did not gain a total victory over Russia, but forced them to make major concessions that would seriously hamper Russian dreams of conquering Europe.

The Ottoman Empire gain territory north of the Danube and along the Black Sea Coast, Sweden reclaimed Finland and expanded farther east, Prussia expanded eastward slightly, and gained Poland and Lithuania as satellites. Estonia and Latvia became independent as allies of Sweden. The UK gained guaranteed trade through the Marmara with access to eastern Europe through Ukraine, which also became independent.
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War of the French Succession: began as a fight over who would become King of France following the death of Louis, but expanded into a war over the future of France in general.

- Alliances -
House of Rose (UK): United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sicily, Modena, Portugal, Hanover, Rosian French
House of Lyon (Relatives of late Louis): Loyalist Fench, Spain, Sardinia-Piedmont, Austrian Empire, Belgium, Papal State

The war was fought mostly in France, with the forces taking active involvement being mostly French, British, Spanish, Belgian, and Dutch. It was not nearly as bloody as the Scando-Crimean War.

After two years, the war ended with a long treaty. The House of Lyon would maintain control of France, but in return would cede its African colonies to the UK, Morocco, Tunis, and Algeria. Corsica would be ceded to Piedmont, Sardinia to Sicily. Brittany would become independent, ruled by the House of Rose. For Spain, Netherlands, and Belgium, it would be status quo. The Papal State would declare permanent neutrality. Austria would release control of all south German states and cede the Ionian Islands to the UK.

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Italian War of Unification: Austrian influence ruled the Papal State, it owned a large area of land populated mostly by Italians, and was constantly trying to gain more control over the peninsula. To be free of foreign control, the peninsular states declared war on Austria and joined as a united front.

- Alliances -
Italian Union: Piedmont, Modena, Parma, Romagna (part of Papal State), Tuscany, United Kingdom, Switzerland
Imperialists: Austrian Empire, Rome (part of Papal State)

A brief war, which the war-weary Austrian Empire was glad to end, before it fell too much against their favour and they risked losing Venice.

Piedmont, Modena, Parma, Romagna, Rome, Tuscany unite into the Republic of Italy. Austria cedes several mostly Swiss towns to Switzerland, Lombardy to Italy, relinquishes all claim to peninsula beyond current holdings, guarantees independence of Italy for fifteen years.
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German War of Unification: Austria continues to expand influence in Germany after the end of a truce with Prussia. Prussia seeks to unite Germany, and is eager to bring the conflict to a war.

- Alliances -
North German Federation: Prussia, Hanover, Saxony, Mecklenburg, Hesse, Anhalt, Nassau, Oldenburg, Bremen, Weimar, nationalist rebels throughout Austria
South German Alliance: Austrian Empire, Bavaria, Wurttemburg, Baden, Danmark, Holstein, nationalist Polish rebels

The war lasted two years, and while both sides suffered great losses, the North German Federation suffered much less and came out stronger, economically.

- Republic of Germany forms
- Bavaria becomes ally of Germany
- Collapse of Austrian Empire

The war led to the independence of Bohemia-Moravia, which was created as the Republic of Czechia. Austrian lands and several border cities in Prussia were ceded to Poland, which ended the rebellions. The Kingdom of Croatia was created. Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia united as the Kingdom of Rumania. Austria reorganized into a dual-monarchy as a last-ditch effort to stay together and maintain some regional power, and avoid losing control over Venetia in the future. However, with the greater power of Hungary in the new union, Austrian imperial dreams were forever shattered.