In 1771, Succeeding Lord Hawke today, 242 years ago, as First Lord of Admiralty, Welbore Ellis, Lord Dover, not only kept on the good work of his predecessor in reforming the Royal Navy but surpassed him - mostly by being one of the few upright persons in the otherwise chaotic and corrupt government of Lord North.
This post was written by Dirk Puehl the highly recommended author of #onthisday #history Google+ posts.

Lord Dover, Saviour of the Royal Navy"I have neither intrigued nor caballed; I have in a great degree secluded myself from company to avoid all suspicion and misrepresentation, and have rested with a most resigned confidence in your Majesty's goodness to me, and having assured your Majesty that I was only your's, I have carefully avoided every other connexion and support". (Welbore Ellis, Lord Dover)

Dirk writes - With the growing problems in Britain's American Colonies, Dover's reform of the naval yards and especially naval suppliers saw the Royal Navy well prepared, when troubles became all-out war and the European powers joined in.

Dover's reforms did not only cut costs for fleet maintenance by more than 25%, allowing for a sufficient number of ships-of-the-line in European waters as well as on the North American station but had a lasting effect on the virulent nepotism up to then prevailing in the promotional system of the Navy.

Cashiering an able admiral like Rodney for his favouritisms in 1781 after his relieving of the Great Siege of Gibraltar did not exactly make Dover a popular figure, neither with the public nor the fleet. Lord Howe though, the victor of the Battle of Chesapeake Bay who ensured the British dominance off the coast of North America and the Caribbean, celebrated Dover as the Saviour of the Navy.

Dover's fall came a short time after the end of the war in 1782 when he was accused of sodomy and forced to retire. Lord North finally had the leeway to make the infamous John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, First Lord for a third spell until his government fell in 1784.

In 1861, after a half-shouted speech by Governor Sam Houston (pictured) on January 21, the Texas state legislature begrudgingly determined that they would not be able to rally enough support to pass an act of secession over his veto.

Texas Delivers Ordinance of GrievancesIn his speech, Houston called the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln "unfortunate" but not grounds enough for the "rash action" of seceding from the Union that Texas had come into only fifteen years before. Responding to increasing tension, Houston prophesied,

"Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives, you may win Southern independence if God be not against you, but I doubt it. I tell you that, while I believe with you in the doctrine of states rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they will overwhelm the South".

A new story by Jeff ProvineThe special convention which had been expected by organizers to vote overwhelmingly for secession was hamstrung by the governor's continued Unionist pressure, but the legislature vowed to review the decision of the delegates. Houston practically hounded the convention, drumming up support for the Union and noting that the United States of America had attempted to make peace with King George before its Declaration of Independence. Many Texans supported secession for a number of reasons, but others, especially the newly settled German population, respected the Union and wished to hold to it. Finally, with only a slight majority firmly wishing to secede, the convention voted to give Washington a chance to address the grievances of Texas, mainly the failures of protection from Indian attacks, raids across the borders for the theft of property including slaves, and an assurance of white superiority. Most of all, the ordinance called for support of states' rights, which was outlined in the Tenth Amendment and final point in the Bill of Rights, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people". Texas would remain neutral in the matter of secession for a time. New-to-office President Lincoln offered to send 50,000 Union troops to aid Governor Houston in quelling any rebel insurrection, but the elder politician declined and counseled Lincoln to be slow to call for punishment against his fiery Southern brothers.

A Texas state referendum on February 23 confirmed the list of grievances, which gave great credence to the Peace Conference of 1861 being held in Washington. Derisively dubbed the "Old Gentlemen's Convention" because so many of its participants were former statesmen, including former president John Tyler, the conference met to discuss the necessities to avoid a War Between the States. Many of the points to come out of the conference were similar to the Crittenden Compromise, which had failed in Congress the month before, but the sentiment for peaceful compromise was enough to spur the later convention in Virginia to call for neutrality rather than secession after Lincoln's meeting with Virginian delegates assured them that the firing upon Fort Sumter in South Carolina would be a black mark for the Confederacy, not Union. Virginia led many border states and joined with Texas in a sense of neutrality as the Federal government worked to resolve a compromise. Meanwhile, the Cotton South descended into the long and grinding Civil War from Tennessee to Florida and Louisiana. Paramilitary forces conducted bloody guerilla combat in neutral states such as Missouri, North Carolina, Arkansas, and, especially, Texas, where Houston worked feverishly until his death in 1863 to calm the massacres of German immigrants and slave rebellions. On a positive end, the "galvanized Yanks" (Confederate POWs who volunteered to serve in forts in the West) solved the issues of Indian raids with a seeming surplus of willing soldiers.

Lincoln narrowly lost the election of 1864 to Democrat George McClellan, who began the process of Reconstruction for the Cotton South after the surrender of P.G.T. Beauregard. While the slaves of rebellious states had been freed by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (believed to have been what cost him the election in the border states), slavery would continue in the United States until advances by the Industrial Revolution, growing labor movements, and international pressure caused it to disappear by the late 1880s, with Texas to be the last state in the Union to declare it illegal in 1891.

In 1968, on this day the 33rd Governor of California Ronald Wilson Reagan announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. continues from Part 1

A Thousand Days, Part 2The reaction of his opponent, Vice President Hubert Humphrey was to issue an apocalyptic warning that "the very future of liberalism in America is in question!". But in reality Reagan had only emerged as the anti-liberal candidate after his predecessors (Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon) had both decided against a second run for the White House.

Instead, he choose George Romney as his running mate and between them they would easily win by a landslide, receiving 347 votes in the electoral college (including five states that third party candidate George Wallace was hoping to win).

The Democrat Party Convention would be torn apart by division between patriots and anti-war protestors. This conflict in the party might have been resolved days before the election if full details of the "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam had been fully disclosed. Because Lyndon Johnson called a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam, hoping to swing the anti-war vote behind Humphrey, and also impose a de facto decision upon his presidential decision. But it was Reagan's intention to resume the bombing of North Vietnam, and hand the military full control of the management of the conflict. He was absolutely convinced that the war in Vietnam could still be won.

In 2011, Heinkill posted the questions ~ What if RAF Fighter Command was not divided in 1940, but united? Could it have led to greater losses for the Luftwaffe, and even altered the outcome of the invasion of the Soviet Union?

Rubensdorffer DoctrineHistorians have frequently discussed the merits of various decisions by the leader of RAF Fighter Command, Sir Hugh Dowding. Key among these, was the division of RAF fighter command resources into 4 discrete groups, each with its own commanding officer;

• 10 Group defended Wales and the West Country and was commanded by Air Vice-Marshal Sir Quintin Brand.
• 11 Group covered the southeast of England and the critical approaches to London and was commanded by New Zealander Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park.
• 12 Group defended the Midlands and East Anglia and was led by Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory.
• 13 Group covered the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and was commanded by Air Vice-Marshal Richard Saul.

The two Groups which bore the brunt of the fighting were 11 Group, which faced the Luftwaffe onslaught head on, and 12 Group, which airfields were those most able to provide support to 11 Group.

Hitler invites Rubensdorffer to explain the tactics behind his success. Rubensdorffer outlines the hit and run, low level bombing methods he has been experimenting with since the Spanish Civil War, and the efficacy of the Bf110C in the role of strike fighter, rather than as fighter escort. But in the period after the war, it emerged that in-fighting between the commanders of these two key organisations, Park and Leigh Mallory, severely hampered the ability of the RAF to bring its full operational capacity to bear on the Luftwaffe raids.

The disagreements ranged from arguments over strategy, to petty arguments over Group boundaries and span of control. Leo McKinstry's book Spitfire, Portrait of a Legend, details the scale, and the pettiness of the conflicts between these two leaders. In Park's own words in a letter to the Air Ministry in 1940:

"Throughout August and September 1940, on occasion when all my squadrons had been dispatched to engage the many German bomber forces, I called on No 10 Group to cover some vital targets on my right with one or two squadrons. Brand always responded at once and on many occasions effectively intercepted the enemy, preventing them from bombing their target unmolested. In similar circumstances I called on No 12 Group to cover my fighter aerodromes north east and east of London but Leigh-Mallory failed to respond. This resulted in North Weald, Hornchurch, and Debden being accurately bombed whilst 12 Group wing was being dispatched, assembled and climbed in mass formation to the rear of my area".

According to McInstry in another letter Park wrote at the time he said, "Frankly I was more worried at the lack of cooperation (with Leigh-Mallory) than I was about out-witting the massed German raids".

Further evidence of the pettiness of their conflict can also be seen in a memo, again cited by McKinstry, which Leigh-Mallory sent to Park during the height Battle, "Full explanation required why 11 Group fighters have shot down enemy fighters over 12 Group area".

Historians agree that this infighting resulted in the RAF not making best use of the total fighting capacity of the combined 11 and 12 Group squadrons, and created an uneven balance of attrition in which the vital 11 Group covering the potential invasion sites of South East England was very close to collapse in September 1940, while 10 and 12 Groups were still largely operational, but not engaged in the fighting to the extent they could be.

But what if Dowding had chosen another structure for Fighter Command, in which 11 and 12 Groups were united under a single Commander? Would this have allowed better management of precious Fighter Command resources? Would more fighters have been brought to bear on incoming Luftwaffe raids, and fewer fighters lain underutilised on airfields north of London? Would the RAF have been able to achieve an earlier victory in the Battle of Britain, or would it simply have squandered 12 Group resources as well, leading both Groups to the point of collapse by September 1940.
A game simulation is provided at Game Hub web site.

In 1949, following the refusal of His Majesty's goverment to recognize Israel's national independence, the Knesset issued a war crimes indictment against Prime Minister Clement Atlee, Foreign Secretary Ernst Bevin, and Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery, chief of the Imperial General Staff.

Double CrossThe British leaders were specifically charged with conceiving and implementing the recent Siege of Jerusalem and the demolition of Jewish Quarter of the old city. The siege cost an estimated six thousand Jewish lives. The intention of besieging forces was to isolate the 100,000 Jewish residents of the city from the rest of the Jewish inhabitants of Palestine and, in the case of the Jordanian forces, to conquer East Jerusalem (including the Old City).

A new story by Stan BrinAside from the large Jewish population, Jerusalem held special importance to the Yishuv for "religious and nationalist" reasons. In particular, the Arab forces tried to cut off the road to Jerusalem from the coastal plain, where the majority of the Jewish population resided. The Arabs blocked access to Jerusalem "at Latrun and Bab al-Wad", a narrow valley surrounded by Arab villages on hills on both sides. The Arabs also fired off shells indiscriminately into West Jerusalem. The breaking of the siege on Jerusalem and the annexation of the captured areas to the Jewish state became primary goals for the Israelis in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The fighting led to the evacuation of the Jewish villages of Neve Yaakov, Atarot, Kalya and Beit HaArava, and the expulsion of the Jewish inhabitants of the Old City of Jerusalem. Before the war, the Jews of the Old City had friendly relations with their Arab neighbors and were sorry to have to leave.

In 1981, on this day the fortieth US President Ronald Reagan welcomed the dawn of a new era of responsible Federal Government by receiving Senator Charlton Heston and other leading members of the Conservative Democrat caucus for round table discussions at the White House.

Triumph of the Reagan DemocratsThe Democrat Party had drifted leftwards and embraced liberalism after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. And naturally, both of the former Union leaders were increasingly disillusioned with the party during the sixties and seventies.

Due to their lower middle class origins, neither family had directly benefitted from the welfare dollars of the New Deal during the thirties. And from their shared position of initial skepticism, they had nurtured a common conviction that the "Great Society" of Lyndon Johnson had mistakenly created a ballooning bureacracy which had delivered disappointing results for the "Average American".

Of course due to their own celebrity status neither would consider themselves a part of that group of people. Nor were they intellectuals who could bond easily with their fellow writers and academics amongst the neoconservatives who were led by the Editor of Public Interest, Irving Kristol.

Instead, Reagan was understandably keen to exploit Heston's public image which had lent authority to his political activitism. In fact Heston had struggled with the deeply personal decision to quit acting and run for the Senate in 1969. Reagan on the other hand, had experienced less of a dilemma. In his final role for the 1964 movie "The Killers", he been miscast as the villain. A lacklustre performance had finally brought the curtain down on his acting career.

In 2000, speaking after his stunning success in the New Hampshire Primary, Republican Presidential Candidate John S. McCain launched a missile of truth every bit as expertly guided as the one that had downed his navy plane over Hanoi. Fear and panic crept into the fragile eighteen-month old administration of President Al Gore as McCain uttered the famous words "You will always hear the truth from me .. no matter what".

Beating around the BushThe reaction was also shared by the Republican establishment, and his Primary opponent, George W. Bush who he had decisively beaten by the margin of 49% to 30%. "The Republican establishment cannot save a faltering [Bush] campaign no matter how well funded" predicted the Weekly Standard.

The two Republican candidates had argued over their respective proposals for tax cuts, and McCain pushed his signature issue of campaign finance reform. But McCain was the only candidate to talk much about foreign policy and defense issues.

With McCain heading into the South Caroline primary as the lead candidate, Bush, Al Gore and the Republican establishment were unexpectedly in broad agreement that "We gotta hit him hard". But Democrat Party plans to neutralise his straight-talk insurgency were destroyed by an unexpected event later that year, something massive that would hit all of them hard, the "what" that McCain had predicted. Because whilst hardly obvious at the time of his victory speech in New Hampshire, McCain's grasp of foreign policy and defense issues would matter a great deal after September 11th 2000.

In 2010, on this day the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak (pictured) issued orders to proceed with Operation Final Victory at all costs. Old Testament Times

Just a decade before and during his first term of office as Prime Minister, Barak pursued a final settlement on the basis of the Oslo Agreement Click to watch the documentary Why Barak's Offer was Completely Unacceptable.

Prior to his political career Barak served as an officer in the IDF and following a highly decorated career he was appointed the 14th Ramatkal (Head of General Staff) in 1995. Barak is also an expert in krav maga, the official IDF martial art.

Ehud Brog as he was known joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1959. At that time he decided to change his name to 'Barak', which means 'lightning' or 'shine' in Hebrew. He served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf, the highest in the Israeli military. During the Yom Kippur War, Barak commanded an improvised regiment of tanks which among other things, helped rescue paratrooper battalion 890 commanded by Yitzhak Mordechai who were suffering heavy losses in the Battle of the Chinese Farm.

During his service as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal, Barak led several highly acclaimed operations, such as: 'Operation Isotope', the rescue mission to free the hostages onboard Sabena Flight 572 at Lod Airport in 1972; the 1973 covert mission Operation Spring of Youth in Beirut, in which he was disguised as a woman in order to assassinate members of the Palestine Liberation Organization; Barak was also a key architect of the June 1976 Operation Entebbe, another rescue mission to free the hostages of the Air France aircraft hijacked by terrorists and forced to land at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. These highly acclaimed operations, along with Operation Bayonet led to the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist cell Black September and a decline in international terrorism for over 20 years[citation needed]. It has been alluded that Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid on April 16, 1988, in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was assassinated.

Later he served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate (1983-1985), head of Central Command (1986 - 1987) and Deputy Chief of the General Staff (1987-1991). He served Chief of the General Staff between April 1, 1991 and January 1, 1995. During this period he implemented the first Oslo Accords and participated in the negotiations towards the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

Elected Prime Minister of Israel on 17 May 1999, Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's 22-year long occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. On May 24th, 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon. On October the 7th, 2000, three Israeli soldiers were captured by Hezbollah and then subsequently killed. The bodies of these soldiers, along with the living Elhanan Tenenbaum, were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004. Barak inaugurated peace negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which ultimately proved fruitless. Barak also took part in the Camp David 2000 Summit which was meant to finally resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and US president Bill Clinton placed the blame on Yasser Arafat. Barak claimed he exposed 'Arafat's true intentions'. Following the failure at Camp David, the Palestinian al-Aqsa Intifada erupted. Barak also allowed Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to attend the Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, after his government had fallen.

Immediately after Yasser Arafat rejected the settlement, hardliners seized control of the Israeli Government and continued to escalate events inside a vicious, inescapable circle of violence that gripped the region. A former IDF Chief of Staff, Barak had been drawn into this cold logic against his better judgment, serving as Defense Minister from 2006-2009. By remaining inside the Cabinet, he had perhaps hoped to reign in the extreme elements who were now driving events mercilessly along towards the destruction of the Palestinian National Authority.

In a press conference later that day, the Prime Minister justified the destruction by quoting quoting scripture from both the Talmud and the Koran. Barak stated that a hostile Palestinian population was no longer viable in the State of Israel because just like Jonah

the whale did swallow him, and he had done acts worthy of blame (Sura 37:142) .

	In 1968, former Vice-President Richard M. Nixon announces he will run for president on the Republican ticket. He tells reporters he has a 'plan for peace with honor' in both Cuba and Southeast Asia, but provides no details then or later; the media will take to referring to Nixon's 'secret plan' to end the wars, although the candidate never uses that phrase.

In 1980, President Rockefeller is admitted into Walter Reed Hospital for what is described as a 'routine follow-up examination.' He will be discharged four days later. Reporters inquiring as to the outcome of his examination are put off with the statement that the President prefers to wait until 'all the test results are in' before commenting. This is widely seen as an evasion, fueling rumors that Rockefeller's doctors have found something seriously wrong with him.

	On this day in 1916, the submarine U-20, responsible for sinking the RMS Titanic, was itself sunk by Royal Navy destroyers.

In 1925, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien mapped out the Fall of Gondolin in the 'Sketch of the Mythology'. Whether he knew it or not, the epic struggle of the little people was an expression of his own disempowerment from World War I. Gondolin represented the citadel of his own shattered integrity.	Fall of Gondolin
	Citadel of Integrity

And the refuge to which the Eldar fled was the military hospital where Tolkien recovered from combat stress. Thus led by [Tolkien] the remant of the Gondolin passed over the mountains, and came into the Vale; and fleeing southward by weary and dangerous marches they came at length to the great river. There [military hospital] they rested a while, and were healed of their hurts and weariness; but their sorrow could not be healed. . ~ Fall of Gondolin

In 2002, the People's Republic of America explodes a nuclear dumping ground in Nevada. Wind currents sweep the radioactive waste across the Soviet States of America, causing hundreds of deaths immediately, and possibly tens of thousands in the coming years. This criminal action is condemned by every government in the world, and the P.R.A. loses a large chunk of its international support.

In 1904, Ambassador Li'Kanto'Mk of earth makes contact with a secret organization of aliens on the Mlosh homeworld; they have kept records of the past in which his ancestors were forced to flee. After seeing them, the Mlosh Ambassador orders a quiet, but quick, withdrawal from the Mlosh home star system.

In 1959, the Japanese begin evacuations in order to save some of their people from the New Reich's Asian conquest. After seeing China fall to power of the Germans, they knew that it was only a matter of time before the bloodthirsty Reich leadership called for more lebensraum, and looked for it in their island nation.

In 1952, Mikhail von Heflin finds the grave site of Willard Thompson in San Diego, California. Using the cemetery's records, he discovers that Willard had a son who moved back to Texas. He prepares for another journey across the United States to find this man, Carl Thompson.

In 47,371 BCE, Swikolay reaches Africa again. Her clan has grown to a dozen strong, now, each dedicated to her great-grandmother's dream of touching the sky. While they are traveling through eastern Africa, they see Kilimanjaro, and Swikolay decides that this mountain will be her final attempt to fulfill The Speaker's wishes.

In 2003, the President asphyxiated after choking on a pretzel whilst watching the game alone. The VP had never sought the Presidency, and truth be told was incumbent out of duty to an old man.

Margaret Thatcher	In 1972, Prime Minister Edward Heath dismissed his Minister of Education, Margaret Thatcher over the milk-snatching row. Until recently, Mrs. Thatcher had denounced her critics easily: 'People who resort to personal attacks usually do so because their arguments are so weak. I will not be hounded. I will never be driven anywhere against my will. Though her critics may be numerous, Prime Minister Edward Heath is not one of them. He recently rejected a demand for her resignation and said that her regime had been a period of remarkable achievement.
Milk Snatcher

It was a wise decision that would scarely trouble his old age when he later became a fierce critic of Thatcher. The London Sunday Express called her the lady nobody loves, and the Sun declared: 'She is the most unpopular woman in Britain.' Edward Britten, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, has said that her policies had produced chaos. To former Laborite Education Minister Edward Short, she is a national disaster. In playgrounds, children taunt her for cutting off their free milk by chanting: Mrs. Thatcher, milk snatcher!. The target of these angry accusations was Margaret Thatcher, 46, a blue-eyed blonde who for nearly two years had served as Britain's Minister of Education. Some criticism of the Conservative Cabinet's only female member centers on her genteel mannerisms - her Establishment tweeds and her cool, monotonous voice. I've had everything thrown at me, she protested. I'm too soft; I'm too hard. I think people really do resent it when you know the answers.

In 1931, Sir Oswald Mosley, disappointed by the two main parties in British politics, founds the New Party. Arguing for elections based on class lines rather than geographical location, the New Party is unpopular until the full effects of the Great Depression hit England. Mosley's ranks swell with the unemployed, and he is elected Prime Minister in 1932. He makes common cause with continental fascists Mussolini of Italy, Franco of Spain and Hitler of Germany during his premiership, but where they are all gone by the end of the decade, Mosley's rule of Britain has only begun.

In 1959, suffering from exhaustion, Charles Hardin 'Buddy' Holly, Jiles P Richardson - known as the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens cancelled the remainder bookings on their Winter Dance Party Tour. Holly had set up the gruelling schedule of concerts - covering 24 cities in three weeks - to make money after the break-up of his band, The Crickets, the previous year.	Buddy Holly
	Band

Preferring to 'keep it loose like a long-necked goose', Bopper had decided to return to radio, where he had been a record-breaking DJ - with a 122-hour marathon stint - reaching number six in the American charts with his record Chantilly Lace.

Columbus	In 2003, BBC News reported that Columbia shuttle disintegrates killing seven - the US space shuttle Columbia has broken up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere killing all seven astronauts on board. The Domination of the Draka has issued a formal statement, in which the Archon re-affirms the Strategos' policy that intrusion into Drakan air space would not be tolerated.
Shot down

In 1952, with the announcement of a Test drive for TV detector vans, a new method for tracking down users of unlicensed television sets was unveiled in the UK. The first TV detector van was demonstrated in front of Postmaster-General, Lord De La Warr and Assistant Postmaster-General Mr Gammans. The quality of terrestrial television was consider appalling by both Gammans and the British public. It was important to identify those rare individuals of sloth and indolence who would sit on a sofa all night watching non-entertaining broadcast.

In 1984, in a humour reference to Monty Python, the BBC reported that the Half pound coin had met its maker - 'Britain's least-loved currency is to leave the nation's purses after 13 years of almost universal unpopularity'. Rampant inflation in the 1970s meant that even basic items cost hundreds of new pounds, and there was absolutely no need to think in terms of pennies.

In 1908, King Carlos of Portugal is assassinated by rebels in the streets of Lisbon. His son, Luis Filipe, is wounded, but survives and succeeds him on the throne. Luis Filipe decides to follow the course of England, and transitions Portugal into a constitutional monarchy rather than face the possibility of revolt and abdication or execution. With his assistance, Italy's Social Democrats gain power against the Fascisti, and Spain's Republican forces win the civil war in 1936 against the Nationalists. The three nations usher in a new democratic era for southern Europe.

In 1924, the United Kingdom recognized the Union of Soviet Vampire Republics (USVR) founded by the undead nosferatu Vladimir Lenin and his blood-sucking spawn.

In 1861, Texas secedes from the United States, but doesn't join the Confederacy or send troops to aid its cause. Instead, the reconstituted Republic of Texas fortifies its borders and waits out the civil war between the Confederate States and the Union. When the Union wins in 1863, Texas sues for peace and recognition as an independent nation; President Lincoln, unwilling to spill more American blood capturing another rebel state, formally recognizes them and grants their request for independence.

In 1979, the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeinii is assassinated on his arrival in Tehran by CIA Agents. CIA Director George Bush's justification for this clandestine activity was that some troubles you just need to nip in the bud, after all, the US could not afford another Castro in the Middle East.

In 4591, Emperor Chengzu grants women full and equal protection under the law. This decree is even more controversial than the visionary Emperor's space program, but it lays the groundwork for democratization in the next century.