Dae Han Jeguk: An Alternate History of Korea [Complete Timeline]

[general_tiu]

Here's my timeline, complete as far as I am concerned. Criticism and additions, however, are welcome.

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Timeline:Part One (Dae Han Jeguk: an Alternate History of Korea)

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Contents
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1 1860s
2 1870s
3 1880s
4 1890s

1860sEdit 1860s sectionEdit

Point of Divergence from our timeline: August 1866 In Korea the US trade ship USS General Sherman ignored demands to turn back on the Taedong River, took hostages and fired on civilians. A 4-day battle followed in which some of the crew were killed. W.B. Preston and Robert Jermain Thomas escape by boat to Tianjin, China by August 23.

September 21, 1866: United States and France officially announced a joint expedition against Korea.

October 1866: Notified of the situation, the Korean regent, the Daewongun, ordered the strengthening of Korea's military defenses. US expeditionary forces, already formed at August, sailed to Korea. On the 7th, a British ship was sunk by Korean artillery near Jeju Island. On the 11th, Admiral Pierre Gustave-Roze of the French Pacific Squadron prepared his ships for the expedition. On the 12th, the US Pacific Squadron had orders to go to Seoul with a two regiments of Marines.

November 13, 1866: Roze arrives at the Korean coast, near Incheon.

November 18, 1866: Roze and the US Pacific Squadron, sailing at the Han River, bombards Seoul.

November 24, 1866: The Daewongun dies in his palace in Seoul. French and US marines occupy Seoul despite dogged resistance.

November 28, 1866: A group of Korean scholars, secretly progressives, plot a coup and force the King, Gojong, to surrender and make an honorable peace.

November 29, 1866: The King orders his army and people to stand down and accept defeat. He begged the US and French commanders to let him rule in exchange of opening up Korea to Western trade, which to him was a necessary evil for his regime, and as well as his country, to survive.

December 1, 1866: Treaty of Seoul signed on the first of November, by the US commander, Roze, and Gojong. Korea opened up to the West. Disturbances due to reaction of Korean public are on the rise.

December 8, 1866: a boy was put to death by a conservative Korean mob for having a Western book. Heavy reaction by reformist ensued, culminating on the 18th of famed scholar Park Gyu-su condemning the Korean government for the murder of the boy. He also summed up a prediction that a modernized Japan will annex an unmodernized Korea by 1910. Alarmed, the King allowed Baek to share the burden of government. Some corrupt officials living at the vicinity of the capital fired from their positions.

January 1867: By January 5, Baek went to Beijing and approached the American Minister to China asking help to modernize the King's troops. Burlingame, the Minister, informed Seward about this and by the 17th, US military advisers arrived in Korea. They help organize the King's troops into the Special Skills Force or Pyeolgigun.

February 1867: Old-line Korean troops revolt on the 18th in jealousy of the Special Skills Force. Crushed, the commander of the mutineers surrendered on the 24th. The King promised the rebels they will be incorporated to the Special Skills Forces, which eventually the rebels were incorporated.

March 1867: King Gojong of Korea proclaimed the Jeongmyo Oath, proclaiming Korea's intention to open up to the rest of the world and be included in the family of nations.

May 1867: Angry conservative officials lynched reformers in Pyongyang. The King ordered the arrest of the said conservative officials. However, the conservatives managed to rally an army that was defeated by Korean and American troops, and very bloodily.

June 1867: The conservative opposition has been largely eliminated by arrest or assassination.

August 1867: Yu Hong Gi and his retinue of scholars arrive in Japan to announce the Jeongmyo Reforms.

April 1868: Emperor Meiji of Japan pronounced his own version of the Jeongmyo Oath: the Charter Oath.

September 1868: Gojong issues orders re-organizing the Special Skills Force, renaming them simply as the Royal Army of Joseon.

October 1868: Yu Hong Gi returns to Korea. Yu said everything Japan is planning to do with the King, including plans to attack Korea if necessary. Although alarmed, King Gojong orders the improvement of the Joseon armies.

January 1869: legal distinctions of class in Korea abolished.

April 1869: a group of reactionary Korean scholars were arrested trying to overthrow of the government.

October 1869: Ministry of Finance established.

December 1869: Yu Hong Gi becomes the chief minister of the King.
1870sEdit 1870s sectionEdit

January 1870: Korean system of provinces re-organized. While the number of provinces remain the same, their method of administration were based instead loosely on the French system.

May 1870: Gwageo system was replaced by a bureaucratic system similar to those that will be implemented in Meiji Japan.

June 1870: Yu Hong Gi publishes his book, "Korea Must be Reborn." He said that there are more needed reforms as the gap between Korean, Chinese, and Western culture is too high.

September 1870: King Gojong formally lifts the ban of foreign travel to its citizens permanently; only those who had a criminal record will not be allowed to go out of Korea.

December 1870: Korea signs an agreement with Japan allowing the citizens of both their countries to emigrate freely to their country. Japanese settle to Korea, mainly in the east especially Busan. Koreans emigrate to Japan, mainly in Edo and Kyushu.

January 1871: Gojong reorganized the aging Joseon fleet as the Royal Joseon Navy. Radicals try to assassinate the King, but fails; perpetrators arrested and executed. One of the perpetrators was a French soldier in Korea with symphaties with the Paris Commune.

April 1871: Tributary mission by China orders the King to stop the reforms; they were politely refused.

May 1871: Attempt by Qing Dynasty to invade Korea to keep it in line with the tributary system aborted by Western pressure. Special councilor for instruction appointed for the first time and consulted with American missionaries to help set up a new school system.

June 1871: Korean Ministry of Industry established; starts to build a new factory, one for textiles. Although eventually a failure, this encouraged private businessmen to start their own business.

September 1871: A Korean company, called the Yonghae Iron Works, was established in Busan, after its founder, a former blacksmith, visited a Mitsubishi iron works.

October 1871: Yang offically replaced the mun as the currency in Korea, though it was in 1876 that this would be complete.

December 1871: The Royal Joseon Navy acquires its tenth modern ship. This ship, the Sangmyo, was based on a French Navy design.

January 1872: Baseball introduced to Korea by American sailors. However, it was during the founding of empire that baseball takes hold in Korea.

June 1872: first Korean ship reached North America in San Francisco to unload its export of cotton.

November 1872: that same Korean ship, the Mansudae, returns to America with a train and carriage. As a result, the Korean government established the Royal Joseon Railway Company, chartered by a Korean merchant.

December 1872: Yonghae Paper Company founded in Busan, which was until World War II, the largest paper company in Korea.

February 1873: Korean Land Reform Law takes effect by Royal Decree. Start of the building of the Seoul-Inchon railway, the first ever in Korea.

April 1873: Ministry of Education set up; a new basic school system, based those in America, was implemented. By 1890, 85% of Korea's population are deemed literate.

May 1873: Home Ministry established, using the Japanese Home Ministry system as a model. Effective police forces started to be built at this time, using the French police as a model for Korean police forces.

June 1873: Seoul University established as a Western-style university. A former traditional seowon/Confucian-classics school, this was the first Western university in Korea.

October 1873: US and Korea sign the Jemulpo treaty, where it pledged perpetual friendship by King Gojong and the US President as well as their respective peoples. It was still in effect today.

December 1873: Gregorian calendar officially introduced in Korea; does not replace traditional calendar system until 1895.

January 1874: Short Hair Law enacted. Wearing long-hair by Korean declared optional for men other than government officials and soldiers, and not all men as a riot in Pyongyang in which opponents of the law tried to clash with police.

May 1874: Seoul-Inchon Railway completed.

June 1874: A revised version of the Land Reform Law was approved by the King, noticing that the first law had serious defects, like failing to take account of the antiquated irrigation systems. A new tax law putting a fixed tax rate to 10%, and based on the value of the land rather than the goods the land produced, was implemented and proved to be unpopular.

February 1875: Cadastral survey implemented by Korean government to implement land reform.

May 1875: First modern Asian balloon flown in Seoul. The designer was inspired by both the Montgolfier brothers in France and a suggestion by the former Daewongun to build such a airship. Although a failure [its maiden flight crashed after in the air for fourteen minutes], this would later stimulate interest in flight by both Asians and Westerners.

September 1875: The Special Skills Force became the first fully Westernized and modernized unit of the Joseon Army. They are the core of the future Imperial Korean Army.

January 1876: riots in Northwestern provinces caused 679 deaths. The protests criticized the new tax policy.

March 1876: Korean King Gojong officially severs his country's traditional relationship with China. China, despite protests, was dissuaded by Western ministers from taking action, noting that Korea is not an "autonomous state", as China claimed, but an "independent state." Last combat Western troops leave Korea. Advisers remain to supervise modernization of the military.

May 1876: Some of the surviving leaders of the Northwestern uprising flee to Japan. There, they meet Saigo Takamori, who was dissatisfied with his country's government.

June 1876: Treaty of Ganghwa between Korea and Japan. It stated the brotherhood of the Korean and Japanese nations as well as their equality. It merely confirmed the opening up of Korea's trade.

October 1876: Edward S. Morse gives his lecture in Evolution at a government school in Seoul. The reception to him was rather cold compared to his lecture in Japan a year later.

December 1876: Fifty-three Korean villagers killed by Chinese bandits near the Neutral Strip at the Sino-Korean border. Outrage by Korean public convinced Gojong to form a special border police.

January 1877: Bank Of Korea established to be the bank of issue in Korea.

1877: Satsuma Rebellion in Japan. Korean conservatives who participated in the Northwest Uprising had joined with Saigo Takamori. Upon the rebellion's defeat, some of them return to their homeland to plan their own rebellion.

May 7, 1879: Oh Gyeong-Sok, Chief Minister, was assassinated by a socialist on the 7th.

June 23, 1879: Chongjin Revolt by disgruntled peasants, the leaders of the 1876 revolt, and a rebel former Joseon Army commander ends, with 293 lives lost.

December 30, 1879: A Korean diplomat returns to Seoul badly bruised, he claims, by the Chinese officialdom in Beijing.
1880sEdit 1880s sectionEdit

January 2, 1880: Declaration of the Korean Empire. Gojong later takes the regnal title of Gwangmu, although he will be known in history as Emperor Gojong.

1881: The Korean Civil Code was passed, loosely based on French law.

1882: constitutional convention held in Korea. Korean Sea Mail Company established. Chemulpo Treaty between Korea and America. It will be known as the basis of Korean-American Alliance.

1883: Japan turns down an offer by France for a military alliance for the Franco-Chinese war in Vietnam. Korea, however, accepts the deal, making it a participant in the Franco Chinese War. Now it becomes the Sino-French-Korean War.

February 14, 1884: Korean ship Yangmu fired upon by a Chinese warship. Few survived the incident including the captain.

March 5, 1884: Korean and Manchu troops clashed in the Korean-Chinese border. 23 Qing troops and 3 Koreans were killed.

March 18, 1884: Chinese warships of the Beiyang Navy bombarded the Korean ports of Nampo and Haeju.

March 20-22, 1884: Chinese troops attacked Sinuiju. Heavy losses by the Koreans forced them to retreat to Chongju. In contrast, the Manchu attack on Hyesan and Tumen fared poorly and was eventually defeated. Korean fleet expels Chinese naval vessels from its waters by the 21st.

March 28, 1884: Koreans launch a counter-offensive in Seoncheon. The Koreans despite heavy losses, win the day.

April 1, 1884: Korean naval attempt to bombard Zhili proved to be inconclusive.

April 9, 1884: Tumen Offensive by Koreans successful.

April 14, 1884: Zhili evacuated by Koreans, with eight ships lost and 4,233 lives lost.

May 7, 1884: The Korean government receives a request by the French to occupy Formosa. However, the Koreans turn it down, fearing it might anger Japan which had interests in the island and that Japan could police it better than Korea. Korea proposed instead that Hainan Island be occupied by Korea. '

May 9, 1884: The French accept the Korean proposal.

August 3, 1884: Korean Socialist Party founded.

August 4, 1884: Korean troops land in Hainan.

August 20, 1884: Korea declares Hainan "secured."

August 23, 1884: Battle of Fuzhou near the Taiwan Straits between Chinese, French and Korean warships.

October 1, 1884: Korean and French ships bombard Keelung, Taiwan.

February 1885: The Qing pressured the British not to accept French and Korean warships on the Yangtze. France and Korea responded with rice blockades.

February 11-14, 1885: Attempt by the Chinese Nanyang Fleet to crush the Korean and French blockade of Formosa fails, and most of the Chinese ships were chased away to Ningbo Bay by the 14th.

March 1, 1885: Korean ship Taeryong sunk in the successful attempt to destroy remaining Chinese warships on Zhenhai Bay.

March 21, 1885: Korean troops land in Zhili, while Korean ships disable three Chinese warships in the Gulf of Bohai.

March 30, 1885: French Premier Jules Ferry's government falls because of the French parliament's refusal to send more troops.

April 4, 1885: Charles de Freycinet, the new French premier, concludes peace with China.

April 7, 1885: The Korean Prime Minister, Kim Ok-gyun, concludes a truce with China with Li Hongzhang.

April 18, 1885: Treaty of Tianjin: Korea annexes Hainan as part of the indemnity and forced the Chinese to accept Korean independence and equality.

June, 1885: peace treaty with China and France. Formosa and the Pescadores were not annexed by France.

November 10-18, 1885: Eulmi Night of Knives of 1885. Donghak leader Choe Si-hyeong survives barely the attack, in which he laid the blame on the government of Kim Ok-gyun. 189 people were killed.

January 1, 1886: Burma was formally annexed by Britain, as a "birthday present" to Queen Victoria. Korean Prime Minister Kim Ok-gyun, incensed by the British blockade of Korean warships from the Yangtze, issues a formal protest, claiming that Burma should have been given a new king from its royal house instead of being annexed.

January 8, 1886: Emperor Gojong harangues the Constitutional Convention on their failure to create a workable constitution.

May 31, 1886: Ewha University opens as a small school with three female students. It was also the first university for females.

June 5, 1886: A revolt by Hainanese rebels breaks out in Haikou against the Korean occupiers.

September 3, 1886: France officially ended its extraterritorial rights in Korea.

September 9, 1886: Clash between Chinese and Japanese ships off the coast of Taiwan. This dispute involved territorial rights.

January 4, 1887: Britain ended its extraterritorial rights in Korea.

June 2, 1887: America ended its extraterritorial rights in Korea.

September 12, 1887: Germany ended its extraterritorial rights in Korea.

November 2, 1887: A group of woman suffragetes were arrested on the Kyongbok palace grounds, the women demanding a parliament and public offices being made available for women. However, they were released by the request of Empress Myeongseong, who were sympathetic to the suffragettes' demands. Her active campaigning of womens' rights led to the extension of the vote to women decades later.

June 3, 1888: a brawl erupted between the members of the constitutional convention, with one faction claiming it resembles too much of Japan's proposed constitution, while others said that the Emperor's powers are too limited. The Gwangmu Emperor later had to intervene.

July 12, 1888: Russia is the last country to end its extaterritorial rights in Korea.

May 6, 1889: Army mutiny in Pyongan successfully settled by the Emperor Gwangmu.
1890sEdit 1890s sectionEdit

May 13, 1890: Goguryeo Railway Company was chartered in Seoul to build railroads in Manchuria, with $13,000,000 in capital. Russia protested this until the Korean foreign minister pointed out that the Russians are also building a railway in Manchuria so it is only fair to do so.

August 17, 1890: Korean constitution proclaimed. Unlike in Japan's, where it was a gift of the emperor to his people, the Korean Constitution was interpreted as the workmanship and inspiration of the Korean people and they earned it. Heavy government censorship and police presence in Seoul to prevent dissident violence.

November 12, 1890: Hainan formally declared as the first Korean colony. Kim Ok-gyun became the first Governor-General of the island colony. It will be known as Korea's lifeline to the world.

January 2, 1891: a new Donghak movement had announced itself publicly. It demanded an end to social ills caused by Korean industrialization. Although it was social reformist in nature, it was also anti-Marxist and denounced them because the socialists mainly reject the theory of nationhood. Some of the Donghak philosophy later evolved into Korean-style socialism and even fascism.

June 4, 1891: the Donghak had fielded their political wing, the Chongu Party.

June 7, 1891: The Ministry of Interior had declared the Chongu Party illegal.

June 12,1891: The Opposition bloc of the Korean Lower House had announced that the Chongu Party would be allowed in Parliament. The ruling bloc, of course, opposed this.

August 2, 1891: Most Opposition members of the Parliament had been arrested by the Ministry of Interior.

August 3, 1891: The Gwangmu Emperor fires the ministry of the interior.

August 7, 1891: The Gwangmu Emperor was nearly assassinated by the former Minister of Interior in his palace. The latter was shot to death before he could pull the trigger.

August 21, 1891: The Emperor had met with the Donghak leaders for a truce. A compromise agreement has been reached where the Donghak will support the expansion of Korea in exchange, end official Korean discrimination in Hainan and enact some social changes.

September 2, 1892: Chon Pong-chun takes his seat as an MP, along with 23 Chongu Party candidates.

October 1892: The first Multiple Rocket Launch System in the world was tested at a demonstration in Seoul. It was a bundle of Hale rockets bundled together like the old hwacha rocket launcher.


May 2, 1893: naval clashes between Chinese and Japanese warships off the coast of Taiwan. No ships were sunk, but 34 Chinese sailors were killed.

June 2, 1893: another naval clash between Chinese and Japanese troops, this time, off the Ryukyus. 12 Chinese were killed.

January 2, 1894: four Korean officials had been arrested for trying to assassinate Empress Myeongseong.

May 12, 1894: after a lengthy trial, the alleged conspirators were sentenced to life imprisonment. They claim that they were bribed by the Chinese and did so because their colleague, the former MInister of Interior, was shot dead by the Emperor's Imperial Guards.

June 11, 1894: A later investigation by a police officer suggested that the Japanese ambassador, Miura Goto, had also a hand in the assassination attempt. However, it was also suggested that he was bribed by the Chinese to do so. Many people question whether it was really China or it was Japan who did the assassination attempt.

June 22, 1894: Korean and Chinese troops clash again near the Sino-Korean border. 16 Chinese troops were killed.

July 2, 1894: A Chinese naval squadron had intercepted a Japanese merchant ship bound for Korea. China claimed it contained Japanese troops; however, it turns out that this was a purely civilian ship.

July 25, 1894: a fourth naval clash between Chinese and Japanese troops takes place off the coast of the Ryukyus. The Chinese ship Kwang-yi was sunk, as well as a British registered merchant vessel, the Kowshing. The Japanese claimed that the Chinese intend to land off the coast of the Ryukyus to try to reclaim it.

July 27, 1894: Start of the Far Eastern War. China declares war against Japan. Korea proclaimed its neutrality but its side was clearly Japan's, given the many Chinese atrocities in the Sino-Korean border. However, this neutrality was short-lived.

July 30, 1894: Chinese troops pour in to the Yalu, mostly in the west. Korean forces were surprised at the surprisingly huge numbers of Chinese troops. The failure of the Chinese to launch their troops from the eastern Yalu proved to be fatal to the Chinese. Exactly why is this is unknown, but it might be that the Korean side had less troops garrisoned on their own side.

August 1, 1894: Korea accepted Japanese aid of 4,000 IJA troops under Oshima Yoshimasa.

August 5, 1894: Imperial Korean Army troops had to retreat south from the Yalu after a massive Beiyang Army assault on Dandong, by 12,000 Qing Beiyang Army troops caused 3,000 Korean casualties. The competent Qing leadership by Yuan Shikai enable the Beiyang Army to chase the Koreans to Pyongyang.

August 15, 1894: The Koreans and the Japanese garrison Pyongyang. All the remaining able-bodied citizens were armed into civilian militias. 20 Hale rocket launchers were stored, loaded with kerosene.

August 21-24, 1894: The Battle of Pyongyang. Despite the initial Chinese assault, it was hampered by the Hale rocket launcher attacks. Heavy Korean as well as Chinese and Japanese casualties were reported, mainly due to the heavy fighting on the streets, but also on the mistakes done by the rocket launcher operators. However, the weapons proved to be effective, and the Chinese, heavily battered, withdrew from Pyongyang.

September 9, 1894: The Imperial Korean and Japanese Navies destroyed the entire Chinese Beiyang fleet at Korea Bay, in the mouth of the Yalu. Attempted escape by the remaining Chinese ships deterred by Japanese admiral Sukeyuki Ito and Tsuboi Kozo. Dung Ruchang, the Qing commander, was killed in his ship by the Korean cruiser Cheonan.

September 11, 1894: The Chinese abandoned Korea for good. The Korean troops thank the Japanese for helping them, and decides that they had to focus on defense again. The rest of the war will be mainly done by Japan by now.

October 2, 1894: Japanese troops under Yamagata Aritomo [the 1st Army Corps] cross the Yalu.

October 3, 1894: Aritomo's troops encounter a Chinese garrison opposite the Korean town of Wiju. Jiuliancheng, the Chinese town, was fortified by about 15,000 Qing troops. However, Aritomo struck at night using pontoon bridges, and with minimal casualties from the Japanese, evicted the Chinese garrison out of Jiuliancheng.

October 8, 1894: The Japanese 1st Army Corps split into two groups: Nozu Michitsura's 5th Provincial Division was assigned to take Mukden, while Katsura Taro's 3rd Provincial Division had to contend with retreating Chinese troops down way to the Liaodong Peninsula.

November 20, 1894: Port Arthur [Lushunkou] was reached by the IJA, defeating the remaining Chinese forces there. Alleged massacres by the Japanese troops against the local population occured.

December 5, 1894: Gaixian fell to the Japanese.

January 12-February 12, 1895: Siege of Weihaiwei. The Chinese forces had retreated to this port at the Shandong Peninsula. However, the Japanese eventually overpowered the Chinese forces by February 12.

March 1895: the Japanese by now, had occupied much of Southern Manchuria. However, numerous skirmishes follow, for example in Yingkou in Manchuria. However, the turn of the tide was in Japan's favor.

March 23-26, 1895: the Japanese under Japanese Colonel Hishijima take over the Pescadores islands off the coast of Taiwan with heavy casualties due to tropical diseases. However, they did manage to destroy the Chinese garrison.

April 17, 1895: Treaty of Shimonoseki between Japan, Korea, and China. China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula (in the south of the present day Liaoning Province), Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan "in perpetuity", as well as having to pay Japan and Korea 200 million kuping taels each as reparation. In addition, Korea gained the right to build railroads in Chinese territory [mostly in Manchuria], and opens all of Manchuria to Korea as well as annexing the Gando region. Shashih, Chungking, Soochow and Hangchow were opened to Japan and given the most-favored-nation treatment, and this treatment was also extended to the Koreans in Manchuria. However, the Western powers intervened, fearing Japanese and Korean interference in the area. Japan had to give up the Liaodong peninsula in exchange for 30 million taels, and Korea had to cede back the Gando region in exchange for 50 million taels.

May-October 1895: Taiwan invaded by Japan to enforce the treaties. Rebel Qing officials declared a Republic of Formosa. By October, the resistance was crushed by the Japanese with great loss of life.

September 24, 1895: Miura Goto was acquitted of charges of attempting to murder the Korean Empress, much to the people's chagrin. However, this was rather muted by the Japanese help for Korea during the war.

October 2, 1895: a brawl in the Imperial Assembly between the Chongu, Conservative, Refomist, Progressive, and Enlightenment parties over the salaries of government officials. Seo Jae-Pil, a Progressive MP, made a speech in which he denounced government corruption and held it responsible for having to accept Japanese aid during the war against China, and therefore have their salaries cut so it will make way for soldiers' bonuses, in which he said, are more deserving of the budget due to their sacrifice in the war. It stopped the brawl, but it didn't solve the main problem.

October 7, 1895: Seo Jae-pil was heckled at the streets of Seoul by a Conservative MP. He survived nearly unscathed. He then writes in his diary that he wanted to become prime minister if necessary.

December 2, 1895: Seo Jae-pil addressed the parliament again, calling for a vote of no confidence against the current prime minister.

December 3, 1895: the vote of no confidence, proposed by the Chongu and the Progressives, was defeated by a very narrow margin by one vote.

December 8, 1895: Progressive and Chongu MPs walk out of Parliament.

December 12, 1895: Chongu and Progressive party supporters storm the Parliament; police were able to only to repel them by opening fire on the protesters, killing 12.

December 13, 1895: the current prime minister, Baek Jesun, resigned and calls for fresh elections.

January 7, 1896: elections had made the moderate Reformist Party win the election by a narrow majority. This comes as many of the public were fed up by extremism by both sides.

January 21, 1896: Kim Hongjip of the Reformists becomes Prime Minister.

May 1896: The salaries crisis was solved. A more meritocratic system of government payments was established.

1897: Another cadastral reform program was launched after defects were found on the first system. While successful, it still did not go far enough.

1898: Hanseong Electric Company chartered to light the streets of Seoul, and took over from the government the electric lighting of Seoul, and eventually, all of Korea. The Hundred Days Reform by Kang Youwei in China, a belated attempt to reform China along Japanese and Korean lines, fails and flees to Korea.

1899: Boxer Rebellion in China. Prime Minister Kim promises to send troops to China and Manchuria after border incidents there, and to relieve Japanese and Western troops beseiged there.

[general_tiu]

Here's Part 2.

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Timeline: Part Two (Dae Han Jeguk: an Alternate History of Korea)

1900s

1900: Boxer Rebellion flares up in China.

April 2, 1900: Murder of 23 Korean citizens in Shanhaikwan, most of them teachers at a local school, had sparked again tensions between Seoul and Beijing.

June 5, 1900: The Empress Dowager of China demands the Gwangmu Emperor to hand over reformist Kang You-wei for execution in China, and to stop sending troops at the behest of the 'foreign devils.' The Korean reply is that Kang is "advised" by the Korean government to go to Hong Kong instead. Kang was never caught or handed over to the Chinese authorities.

June 7, 1900: Boxers cut off the railroad between Beijing and Tianjin, cutting the besieged foreigners off.

June 13, 1900: Boxer Rebellion was now in full swing and spread across North China.

June 17, 1900: Dagu Forts in Tianjin seized by the Allies.

June 18, 1900: The Empress Dowager orders all Boxers to kill all foreigners. The Korean government regarded this as war. Meanwhile, Seymour's allied expedition, in which Korea has no part yet, failed due to fierce Chinese resistance.

June 19, 1900: Korea again declares war against China. All troops were to be mobilized on the Yalu River.

June 20, 1900: siege of Beijing by the Boxers begins. Foreign legations were trapped.

June 25, 1900: The Empress Dowager offered a truce. It was rejected by the Allies.

July, 1900: Tianjin Massacre: 600 Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries were massacred by the Boxers.

July 2, 1900: 40,000 Korean troops cross the Yalu to "secure" Manchuria.

July 3-11, 1900: Korean troops and militiamen fend off 23,000 Boxers who were threatening the Gando area.

July 5, 1900: The Imperial Korean Marines' 1st Regiment, trained and modeled after the US Marines, land in Tianjin.

July 8, 1900: Korean, Japanese, and Russian troops declared Manchuria "secure". A Korean force, 20,000 strong, however, struck southwest to Beijing. Reports of looting by foreign troops widespread, in which the Korean government and army denied despite some contrary evidence.

July 14, 1900: Colonel Kuriya of the Imperial Japanese Army leads the Nine-Nation Alliance in capturing Tianjin. Among his staff was a Korean captain who will be later known as Syngman Rhee, who will later retire as a major in 1903 and go to the United States. He personally led the attack on the final Boxer holdout in Tianjin.

July 19, 1900: Korean troops are now halfway and start beseiging area with their famed multiple rocket launchers. They also introduce for the first time modern flamethrowers, albeit they are mounted on carriages.Chengteh captured and destroyed by Korean troops.

August 1, 1900: Korean troops reach Beijing. They in disproportionate numbers, kill about 100,000 Imperial and Boxer troops.

August 2, 1900: Korean troops reach the Foreign Legation. Meanwhile, the Koreans secure the Guangxu Emperor, the Empress Dowager fleeing from Xian before.

August 4, 1900: Other Allied troops reached the Legation.

September, 1900: Beijing was completely secured. Occupation the Nine-Nation Alliance commenced, with barbaric atrocities committed by the occupying powers. Gruesome in detail was the Korean method of practicing rifle with condemned Boxers.

1901: With 2,234 reported Korean dead, the Parliament had decided that the troops be sent home except in Manchuria.

September 7, 1901: Boxer Protocol signed. Russia got the lion's share of reparations, much to Korea and Japan's chagrin, as both contributed to the majority of the troops and the dead.

November 1, 1901: Prime Minister Shin resigns over the failure to recover Korean war dead.

1902: Anglo-Japanese Alliance signed between the two countries. Korea meanwhile had sent observers to the Philippines in the American attempt to crush the rebels.

1903: Korea concluded a secret treaty with France in response, or rather, in envy of the Anglo-Japanese alliance.

July 28, 1903: Russian, Korean, and Japanese representatives signed a secret protocol in St. Petersburg dividing Manchuria into three spheres. Russia will occupy the north, Japan the coast, and Korea the remaining territories. All three parties are not satisfied in the partition in the end.

January 28, 1904: Russia formally renounced the secret treaties, and had its army mobilize in Manchuria.

January 30, 1904: The Korean government orders a general mobilization.

February 1, 1904: The Japanese government orders a general mobilization.

February 8, 1904: Japan attacks Port Arthur. However, Admiral Heihachiro Togo was unable to dislodge the Russian fleet there despite inflicting on the enemy considerable casualties. Korean troops near the dividing line between the supposed spheres clash with Russian troops there.

1905: Russo-Japanese War ends.

1905: Korean Boy Scouts founded.

1906: Korea sends some "observer" troops to the American Philippines.

1907: Korea imports its first automobiles from the United States. Seoul was the first Korean city to have automobiles.

1907: The Hague Conference. Korea attends the conference with its three delegates. President Roosevelt vetoes Exclusion Act against Koreans, citing the Korean-American treaty. Congress passes it nonetheless, sparking public anger in Seoul.

1908: Railway accident near Pyongyang's train station claim at least 112 fatalities. Overheating of the steam train was to blame.

1909: Emperor Gwangmu abdicates in favor of his son, Sunjong, citing ill health.
1910sEdit 1910s sectionEdit

1910: Eulsa Treaty with Japan: start of the Korean-Japanese Amity Treaty.

1910: Emperor Sunjong, upon hearing of the discovery of the South Pole, assigns the Science Ministry to study ways in how to colonize at least the coasts of Antarctica. Many thought he was insane, but some fear that failing to do so might do harm to Korean prestige.

1911: The population of Korea, according to the Census, stands about 15,000,000, excluding Hainan.

1911: New uniforms for the Imperial Korean Army are issued, probably as a response to the Japanese changing their own uniforms. It was based on the new uniform of the United States Army which is brown. The headgear is like the same field cap the OTL North Koreans used.

September 3, 1911: a Korean expedition reached Mary Byrd Land. However, they were outwitted by a Japanese expedition.

October 10, 1911: Wuchang Uprising in China leads to the demise of the Manchu dynasty and its replacement by a Republic. There is some evidence that the Koreans funded the uprising, but none can be proven.

1912: The first Korean dreadnaught, called the Baekje, was acquired from Britain.

May 3, 1912: the Gwangmu Emperor suddenly declared all of Antarctica Korean. This ran afoul on other nations' claims.

1913: Imperial Korean Army's Aerial Unit was established, in response to the Japanese doing so a bit earlier. At that time, they are using balloons. Aircraft were not used until 1914.

June 8, 1914: a Russian ship named the Admiral Bellingshausen lands in what is now OTL Wilkes Land, Antarctica. It will establish a scientific station called the Mirnyy Station.

1914: World War I. Korea joins the Allied side, participates in the Kiaochow landings along with Japan and Britain. Korean rocket ships proved to be decisive factor in capturing the German-held fort.

1915: Koreans sent a division to German East Africa, as well as their First Fleet to the Pacific for hunts against German submarines.

1915: Twenty-one demands by Japan given to China. Korea was shocked by the demand but did little more than protest alongside the United States.

1915: Meanwhile, Russians move in Outer Mongolia and Kashgaria to "secure" them from rebellion.

1916: Paul Lettow-Vorbeck was captured by Korean troops in German East Africa. He will become a prisoner of war until the conflict ends. His German troops are still conducting guerrilla warfare until the end of the war.

1916: Yuan Shikai, the last Emperor of China, abdicates and later dies.

1917: Russian Revolution topples monarchy. United States enters the war.

May 1917: The Korean government protested the claims of the British in Antarctica. The British called this as a bluff.

1918: Central Powers surrender.

1918: Japan lands troops to the Russian Far East, to be later joined by Korea.

January 21, 1919: The Gwangmu Emperor dies, mourned by millions. He was the Victoria or the Meiji Emperor of his era, his admirers say.

1919: The Soviet Union officially gave up claims to Finland, the Baltic States, and Poland. However, it made a protectorate over Tannu-Tuva, Inner Mongolia, and Kashgaria. March 1 rallies in Seoul and other Korean cities claim 623 lives. The protesters demand more voting rights and the extension of franchise to women. Meanwhile, thousands of Loyalist White soldiers emigrate to the West and to the then little-known land in Antarctica. Kolchak and his supporters were offered by the Imperial Korean government to set up a state in the former Russian Far East, but then, the Kolchak loyalists had ran afoul of the White leaders in the Russian Far East such as Colonel Semyonov, later succeeded by Baron Ungern von Sternberg.

1919: Treaty of Versailles signed. Japan annexes Sakhalin.
1920sEdit 1920s sectionEdit

January 2, 1920: Kolchak later leaves Russia via a Korean ship. He describes his exile an unnecessary roughness by Sternberg's forces, and then the Japanese, then the Koreans.

May 6, 1920: Kolchak and his forces lands in Gwangmu Station, in what was known as Mary Byrd Land.

June 7, 1920: Korea later gives to the Japanese some special post office rights, but not in Manchuria.

July 3, 1921: Founding of the Korean Communist Party.

August 23, 1921: Hundreds of other White Russian exiles land in Gwangmu station. Many agreed to build a new Russia in Antarctica, free from both the Bolsheviks and Ungern von Sternberg, even if it is really part of Korea. They were helped by the Imperial Korean Navy, who wanted to establish a new naval research station in Antarctica.

September 1, 1921: The Korean Imperial Assembly passes a new law that liberalized patents. Foreign and Korean inventors found it easier to patent their inventions in Korea.

September 3, 1921: Japanese announced that they could not leave the Russian Far Eastern Republic, now purged of Communists and and led by Baron Ungern-Sternberg], behind. Industrialization begins at the Russian Far East.

1922: Washington Conference ends. Korea given the same naval ratio as Italy and France in the ships it was allowed to possess. The Korean delegates, as well as the Japanese, naturally protested. The Koreans are concerned that the Japanese had still more ships than the IKN, so the Imperial Korean Navy Staff decided to concentrate on huge coastal defense ships instead of aircraft carriers, in which Korea had one being constructed in response to the Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho.

1923: North Goguryeo Railway Company was privatized by the government, citing financial problems and competition from the Japanese South Manchurian Railway.

1923: The government report on education states that only 63% of Korean school children finish elementary school. A new law was signed December 2, revamping the educational system and patterns it on Japan's.

March 5, 1924: The Korean Prime Minister at that time stabbed by a communist assassin. As a result, mass arrests occured against Communists.

1925: The Aerial Corps of the Imperial Korean Army became the Imperial Korean Air Force.

February 4, 1925: Korean Fascist Party founded in Chongjin.

April 24, 1926: Sunjong/Yeunhui of Korea dies, replaced by his cousin Euimin. Millions in Korea mourn at his death.

May 5, 1926: Euimin gets the reigning title of Yeongjong.

1926: The Science Ministry had found out that Antarctica at best would be a Siberia for prisoners and Mary Byrd Land was chosen as the site for future labor camps. Meanwhile, the White Russian colony in Antarctica had now a population of about 4,000.

July 8, 1927: The Korean Parliament, led by the Liberal Party, liberalized the voting franchise. Voting still for males, though.

1928: Zhang Xuolin was assassinated by Korean agents in Manchuria. The Korean Intelligence service led by An Jung-geun was dissatisfied by Zhang's plans to consolidate his power at the expense of Korea.

1928: It was reported that the rice crop of Korea fell short 20% of expected harvest. Kaoliang instead was planted, but it was for the record, unpopular with the public.

1929: The Korean Premier at that time forced to resign after a scandal in which he allegedly received kickbacks from a Chinese corporation that turned out to be controlled by Zhang Xuolin's civilian associates.

1929: Stock market in New York collapses, eventually triggers the Great Depression.

June, 1929: Riots between coal miners and management in Kumgang left 43 miners dead.

May 23, 1929: A Korean expedition found traces of oil in Manchuria, but later keeps it as state secret until after World War II.

1930: A Sun-Yatsenist Party, the Korean National Democratic Socialist Party, takes over the majority of seats within the National Assembly. Alliance with the Fascists who had 12 seats and the Chongu Party with 34 seats required.
1930sEdit 1930s sectionEdit

1930: The Korean claim to Antarctica was officiated. Mary Byrd Land is officially called Daebaenam [Great White South].

July 1931: The conflict between Korean and Chinese farmers in the Jiandao district sparked riots in Manchuria.

September 18, 1931: The Manchurian Incident. Japanese troops, using a pretext that the Chinese sabotaged the Japanese-owned South Manchurian Railway, occupied Manchuria. Korea, fearing that the Japanese might annex Manchuria, decides on a surprising suggestion: why not revive the Manchu dynasty at least in Manchuria.

February 1, 1932: Japanese gunboats bombard Nanjing.

1932: Manchukuo was born, and became a Japanese-Korean puppet. This comes since both Japan and Korea had conflicting interests there [Japan wanted resources, and Korea wanted resources as well as land, with annexation in mind.]

1932: Kim Song-Ryong founds the first Korean settlement on Mary Byrd Land, called Baeseong, with 200 prisoners, some are prisoners from the Kumgang strike.

1933: Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany.

September, 1933: The Japanese foreign ministry had proposed to share the claim of Mary Byrd Land between Korea and Japan. The Korean foreign ministry refused.

May 23, 1934: Baron Sternberg, President of the Far Eastern Republic, was assassinated [by the Imperial Korean Intelligence and Cipher Service], to the relief of many who groaned under his tyrannical regime.

June, 1934: Another Antarctic city founded, called Sunjongdo, with 200 more prisoners.

1934: Seven Central Asian SSRs created: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Karakalpakstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and [West] Uyghuristan.

1935: Official Korean census reveals population of 26 million in Korea and 2 million in Hainan.

May, 1935: A group of Esperantists moved to Korean Antarctica, partially to escape the Soviet Union [who then banned Esperanto], and to establish a colony of Esperantists where Esperanto is the official language. The Koreans allow them to do so, as long as they don't declare independence.

August, 1935: Japan opens up three prison camps a part of OTL Marie Byrd Land, called Kainankoku by Japan.

1935: [October] Six more prison camps were founded in Daebaenam.

October 3, 1936: Far Eastern Republic's plan to liberate the Soviet Union was stopped by Japan, the latter believing it was too embarassing.

1936: The League of Nations investigates harsh conditions in Daebaenam. The prison population, now 1,200, were suffering from starvation. The Koreans responded by giving them more food and better facilities, but this does not satisfy the League. Attempted sanctions proved to be abortive and later makes point of the League's weakness.

February, 1937: The Koreans roll in their first locally made tank, the Model IK1 tank. It had the famous Christie chassis and had a 105mm gun.

March, 1937: The Norwegians and the British commonwealth open some small research stations in their share of Antarctica.

April, 1937: The Argentines, Chileans, and the Brazilians do the same, almost simultaneously.

May, 1937: The Mexican President later order the Mexican "colonization" of Antarctica with prisoners. Definitely, Mexico is jealous of the other Latin American states.

1937: Start of the Sino-Japanese War. Korea did not intervene, though it permitted veterans to serve under the Japanese banner as volunteers.

1937: Korean nationalist leader Kim Gu becomes prime minister. He plans to expand Baeguk for the glory of the Korean Empire, and the liberation of "our Vietnamese brethren."

1938: Tannu-Tuva requested annexation to the USSR as an SSR. It was granted immediately and the country becomes the Tannu-Tuva SSR.

1938: Imperial Japanese Army suddenly withdrew from the FER, on the orders of the new FER president, believing that he could defeat the Soviets alone. The IJA reluctantly agreed.

1938: Lake Baikal incident between Soviet, Mongol, and Far Eastern units. Far Eastern gunboats open fire on Soviet positions. Soviets interpret this as an act of war and Stalin declared war on the 4th of September.

1939: Daebaenam now had 17,200 inhabitants [Russian exiles and Korean prisoners alike], Kainankoku had 18,000 inhabitants [suspiciously huge due to Chinese prisoners], Maudland by Norway 800, France's Adelie had 450, the British colonies in Antarctica had a combined territory population of 4,000. The Latin American nations had a combined population in their colonies about 3,000, while the Esperantist nation had about a thousand inhabitants. The Nazis, not to be sidelined, had the New Swabia colony founded with 900 inhabitants, and they try to conduct weapons research there in the Antarctic cold. Antarctica's population had been growing at an increasingly alarming rate.

Spring of 1939: The poorly-led FER army was destroyed without Japanese help by the Soviets. The remnants flee to Daebaenam. The USSR annex the Far Eastern Republic as an SSR. Alexander Hegay becomes the leader of this SSR. Moscow and Tokyo entered a non-aggression pact.

September 1, 1939: Germans invade Poland. Start of World War II.

October 2, 1939: Japan and Korea signed a non-aggression pact, but no alliance resulted.
World War II [Early 1940s]Edit World War II [Early 1940s] sectionEdit

1940: Japanese control of Manchukuo intensifies, as the Kwantung Army officers tell the Manchus that the FER's fate will befell them if they kick out the Japanese.

January 1940: The Korean government at that time is under control of the Revival Party led by historian Park Eun Sik, in alliance with the Korean Fascist Party. However, Syngman Rhee, the leading opposition leader, is pro-United States and therefore perceived as a lackey by the Revival. The ideology ot the Revival Party, despite being ultranationalist, is being held by former anarchist Shin Chaeho, who was now advocating a neo-libertarian but also ultra-nationalist Korean state. The mutual incompatibility of the doctrines of it and the Fascists [or United Nationalists for a correct Korean translation], and as well as a moderate leftist named Yuh Woon Hyung, led to the collapse of the coalition. To save the government, the Revival government arrested the Communists and supporters of Yuh [called the People's Party], but decided not to fix the troubles with the Fascists due to Italian pressure.

March, 1940: Japan establishes a puppet Chinese state in Nanjing.

March 12, 1940: Bessarabia becomes into Moldovan SSR. The Jewish Autonomous Oblast was also formed in the FESSR.

April, 1940: Korea allows Japan to use Hainan as a transit point for their troops, but not as a base.

July, 1940: Emperor Yi Kang {Euyeong] of Korea declares the Revival Party illegal due to use of "excessive force against innocents and political rivals."

August 2, 1940: Euyeong was arrested by the police and paramilitary group of the Revival Party. He was held in a small palace in Pyeongyang. Prince Imperial Ui was enthroned as Saejong. Although a puppet, Saejong also secretly opposed the Revival Party.

September 22, 1940: the Japanese occupy Vietnam and the rest of Indochina.

September 27, 1940: the Axis Powers have been formalized. The Koreans however, decided to be neutral for a while, wanting to make sure the Axis will win the war.

November, 1940: Korean Liberal Party leader Syngman Rhee and Kim Gu nearly escape with their lives to Antarctica. Although they wanted to establish a government in exile in Hainan, this was lated viewed as dangerous. Together with Army officers loyal to Euyeong, they convince the officials in Antarctica to release the prisoners and form an army of exiles against the Revival Party.

November 23, 1940: Park Eun-Sik mysteriously dies.

November 29, 1940: The Korean Fascists later merge themselves and the Revival Party into the Imperial Destiny Assistance Association, similar to efforts in Japan.

March 27, 1941: Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives in Hawaii and spies on the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

April 5, 1941: Brigadier General Hong Sa-ik leads a military coup against the Revivalist Party, but fails. He escaped arrest, however. This was the only the first attempts of a coup against the Revivalists. Many of them fail until June.

June, 1941: Hong Sa-ik finally succeeds in overthrowing the Revivalist government, with himself declared provisional Prime Minister until Rhee returns. Shocked, Saejong abdicates and restores Euyeong to the throne, in absentia.

July, 1941: Most of the Korean military and people now support Hong and begs to keep it out of World War II. Hong promised that. Unfortunately, history is against him.

July 13, 1941: Japan and the Soviet Union sign a Neutrality Pact. The Soviet Union was invaded by Germany at that point and did not want a second front, not when they finally disposed of the Whites.

September, 1941: Korea signs the Anti-Comintern Pact, to allay fears of being pro-Allied. However, Korea will resign in protest later.

October, 1941: Korea declares however, perpetual neutrality in the war. The other anti-Comintern pact members questioned him, not since he locked up the fascist Revivalists. It was later proven after World War II that some of the IDAA are Cominten paid, after all.

October, 18, 1941: Hideki Tojo becomes Japanese Prime Minister. He is suspicious of Hong, who once studied in a Japanese military academy as an exchange student.

November, 1941: Joseph Grew warns the US State Department that Japan is planning to attack Pearl Harbor. This was later dismissed.

December 8, 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, and starts to attack the Philippines and US-held islands. As a result, the Americans, British, New Zealanders, and the Dutch declare war on Japan, the Canadians doing so a bit earlier. Thailand was also attacked.

December 9, 1941: China and Australia declare war on Japan. Korea remained neutral.

December 12, 1941: Japan lands troops on the Southern Philippines.

December 13, 1941: General Tomoyuki Yamashita pushed into Malaya, having forced Thailand into submission into an Axis country.

December 18, 1941: Japanese surround Hong Kong.

Rest of December, 1941: Japanese land troops on Sumatra, Borneo, and Sarawak.

December 25, 1941: Hong Kong surrenders to the Japanese.

January 2, 1942: Manila was secured by the IJA.

January 8, 1942: Japanese have penetrated the defense lines of Kuala Lumpur.

January 10, 1942: Hong Sa-ik orders a full mobilization. In the end, about 2 million Korean troops were mobilized, ready to defend the peninsula from the Japanese or the Soviets.

January 25, 1942: Thailand declares war on the US and UK as Japanese occupy the Solomons.

February 3, 1942: Japanese bomb Surabaya, Dutch East Indies.

February 16, 1942: Manchurian troops accidentally open fire on Korean forces in the Yalu, near Siniuju. However, the Koreans think it was intentional.

February 27, 1942: Battle of Java Sea culminates in a Japanese victory.

March 11, 1942: US General McArthur was forced to leave the Philippines, leaving behind ill-equipped American and Philippine troops at Corregidor and Bataan.

April 5, 1942: Japanese attack the British naval bases at Sri Lanka.

April 9, 1942: Bataan falls to the Japanese: the Americans and the Filipinos are put on a Death March.

April 15, 1942: Hong Sa-ik recalls all Koreans in the IJA in China. A fourth refuse to do so and accept Japanese citizenship. This again put suspicions by Japan that the Korean government is really pro-Allied.

April 18, 1942: The US conduct the Doolittle air raid against Japan. Some of the bombers land on "neutral" Korea. Again, the Japanese are running out of patience with the Hong government.

April 29, 1942: Burma Road in Lashio was cut off by the IJA.

May 3, 1942: Japanese land on Tulagi on the Solomons.

May 4-8, 1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea leads to an American naval victory, albeit a costly one. USS Yorktown limped back to Pearl Harbor.

May 5, 1942: The IJA launched an artillery strike on Corregidor, Philippines. The Americans there surrender a day later.

May 15, 1942: Full mobilization of Imperial Korean armed forces is completed. Korea is well-fortified, the General Staff knowing Japanese tactics very well. The main weakness is that Hainan was largely neglected.

May 20, 1942: Burma was fully "secured" by Japan.

May 30, 1942: Syngman Rhee was sent a message by secret agents of Hong that if Japan attacks, he must go to Washington to lead the government in exile.

June, 1942: Syngman Rhee left Baeguk for Chile.

June 7, 1942: Japanese invade the Aleutians.

June 18, 1942: Manhattan Project started by America.

July 8, 1942: A Kwantung Army platoon "accidentally" strays into the Yalu. However, it was defeated by the IKA and wiped out.

July 12, 1942: The Japanese declare war on the Korean Empire, accusing them of massacring the IJA soldiers. Hong knew this was the time.

July 14, 1942: Kwantung Army launched an attack on Korea via the Yalu. However, it was met with fierce Korean resistance. Interestingly, Tojo ordered not to involve the Imperial Japanese Navy on the operation. This was later a fatal strategic flaw, only doing a blockade and a token occupation of Jeju island when it was too late.

July 18, 1942: Koreans retreat to the mountain redoubts of Hainan, preparing for a last ditch resistance.

July 21, 1942: Koreans unleash chemical weapons against the Japanese at Mupyeoni, and it eventually costed the Japanese 2,234 lives directly attributed to the independent Korean discovery of Sarin gas.

July 30, 1942: the IJA later captured Cheongjin. Japan had held the northernmost parts of Korea at that point, due to strategic retreat by the Koreans to the mountains.

August 2, 1942: German commanders initiate a practice raid on Iceland. However, they were captured by the British and with the help of the Icelandic police, some who will become the basis of the Iceland Republic Defense Forces. Meanwhile, most of the 1st Imperial Korean Fleet escape to Russia. The 3rd Fleet fought its way to Australia. The 2nd and 4th fleets were decimated by the Japanese in the Yellow and Eastern Korean Seas.

August 8, 1942: Savo Island became a naval battleground between American and Japanese ships; the Japanese won.

August 12, 1942: The 2nd Korean fleet barely escapes to Alaska. Meanwhile the 1st Fleet was decimated by the IJN in the Korean seas at the Battle of Jeju.

August 18, 1942: Japanese airfield in Wewak, New Guinea destroyed by US planes.

August 20, 1942: Sarin again has been used by the Koreans to break the deadlock in Rason. 2,234 Japanese and Manchurian troops die, but 452 Korean troops alongside 1,204 civilians also die.

August 21, 1942: The Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria, now fed up with the Korean chemical attacks, launched bacteriogical weapons against the Koreans, straight from Unit 731, against the northern Korean city of Huichon. 13,324 civilians die.

August 23-29, 1942: Japanese marines, 13,000 strong, overwhelm the Korean defenders in Jeju island, using chemical weapons. 2,233 Korean soldiers and twice that amount for the civilians die.

September 8-12, 1942: The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force bombards Seoul with massive civilian casualties. However, it failed to destroy the morale of the civilians as the Koreans have installed heavy anti-aircraft facilities in their cities.

September 10, 1942: Japanese launched an amphibious operation against Busan, when it was learned and confirmed that the Korean police lynched ethnic Japanese residents in that city.

September 13, 1942: Busan falls to the Japanese; IKA troops retreat.

September 15-29, 1942: The Imperial Japanese Army had created a perimeter in Jeolla province called the Busan Perimeter. Fortified, the Japanese could launch numerous raids against the retreating Korean forces. Meanwhile, Hong Sa-ik decides to activate "Fortress Korea": the Diamond Mountains and other Korean mountain ranges to be exact. This was one of the few cases of "National Redoubts" in World War II to have worked, due primarily to the defenders almost exactly knowing the enemy's tactics, as they have observed them closely in the Sino-Japanese War.

October 8, 1942: The Imperial Japanese Naval Infantry launch an offensive against Hainan. Hainan, although the least defended part of the Korean Empire, it will be months before the island fall due to Korean and local resistance, as well as heavy usage of traps and guerrilla tactics.

October 21, 1942: The Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Manchukuo Army had already occupied Northern parts of Korea; basically the Hamgyeong Sanmaek mountain ranges. It was only a matter of miles before the IJA reached Pyeongyang.

November, 1942: Allies conduct Operation Torch against the Vichy French forces in Morocco and Algeria and were successful. Meanwhile, the Revivalist remnants hiding in Japan were restored in Pyeongyang and set up a rival "Empire of Chosen."

November 22, 1942: The battle for Stalingrad begins.

November 29, 1942: Korean suicide bombers blow themselves up at an Imperial Japanese Army detachment. As the war dragged on, the Japanese-occupied territories of Korea will be strung with suicide bomb attacks that at the war's end the Japanese created civilian volunteer kamikaze units.

December 6, 1942: A Korean agent in the Imperial Manchukuo Army named Park Chung Hee had received his orders from Hong to spread chaos in Manchuria. In the next few days, bands of Korean guerrillas have infiltrated the Manchurian countryside.

December 15, 1942: US troops have defeated the Japanese in Buna, New Guinea.

December 17-28, 1942: The Imperial Japanese Army had launched an amphibious landing on Incheon, but it was repulsed by the Imperial Korean Army

January 15, 1943: Casablanca Conference between Roosevelt and Churchill. They lay out conditions for postwar Europe.

January 30, 1943: Hainan had been declared secure by Japan. However, guerrilla war is still endemic until liberation of that island.

February 2, 1943: Germans surrender at Stalingrad after failing to capture the city and also due to hunger and cold.

February 18-29, 1943: The Imperial Korean Army launched a new offensive against the Japanese in the Busan Perimeter. It succeeds, but Busan and surroundings are still under Japanese control. Heavy casualties on both sides.

March 3, 1943: Hong is instructed by a cable by Syngman Rhee, now in Washington, to smuggle out Euyeong out of the country.

March 18, 1943: Euyeong was successfully smuggled out to friendly Russian territory.

March 21-28, 1943: "The Week of Rage"; Korean civilians rioted in Japanese occupied territories and even so against the puppet Chosen authorities, but brutally suppressed by the Kempeitai. The already high civilian casualties, estimated as 25,000, could be much higher if not sleeper agents of the Korean intelligence services tipped them off.

April 12, 1943: Germans and Italians were driven out of Africa. Rommel was captured by the Allies and will be used as the head of the provisional German government, at Rhee's insistence. Rommel said he is a German first, but never a Nazi.

June 1943: The American strategy of driving up the Southwest Pacific by "Island Hopping" continues.

July, 1943: Polish resistance leader Wladyslav Sikorski learns that the plane he will fly to Africa is rigged by Axis agents and cancels his trip. However, the plane had an inherent technical problem so the trip was cancelled.

August 8, 1943: The Japanese launch a new drive against Pyeongyang.

August, 1943: The Russians win the Battle of Kursk.

September 3, 1943: Italy surrenders to the Allies; Mussolini was captured but later released by German paratroopers to head a rump state in North Italy.

September 9, 1943: Japanese capture Pyeongyang.

September 18, 1943: the Manchurian uprising begins: groups of Manchurian guerrillas, aided by the Koreans, revolt in Manchuria. This hampers the Japanese war effort against Korea.

October 8, 1943: Another Japanese air raid in Seoul costed 9,000 lives.

October 28, 1943: Hideki Tojo was assassinated in Japan by a Korean intelligence officer disguised as an IJA officer. That unknown officer blew up the Army building along with himself rather than be captured.

November 1943: Cairo Conference with Roosevelt, Churchill, Chiang Kai Shek, and Syngman Rhee. China and Korea were accepted as Big Powers and Korea promised to return to China Hainan at war's end. However, for some reason, Manchuria will be under UN trusteeship until it was proven that it wished to join China. Rhee assured Chiang, however, that Manchuria will be returned to them at the end of the war. This was not to be.

December 9, 1943: Japanese special forces fail to capture the Korean leadership in the Diamond Mountains after the Korean sleeper agents inside the Imperial Japanese Army tipped the leadership off.

December 12-31, 1943: The IKA launched a new offensive against Japan in Pyeongyang and Busan. Busan was finally liberated by the 25th, but Pyeongyang was still under Japanese control by the year's end.

January, 1944: The fight for Monte Cassino begins. US troops attempt to breach the German defense at Monte Cassino, but fail. Sikorski was informed that the Russians are setting a pro-Russian Polish government, different from the one set up in London. Hong Sa Ik, desperate for a victory, decides on a dangerous gambit.

January 23-February 23, 1944: The "Hong Sa-ik's Offensive:" This was the offensive that drove the Japanese and their Chosenese puppets nearly back to the Yalu River. The Imperial Korean Army launched a savage chemical weapons attack at the Pyeongyang front, coupled with aircraft stashed from secret airfields at the Diamond Mountains. The Japanese and the Chosenese retaliate using chemical weapons of their own, but the Koreans had the advantage and February 23, the Japanese and their Chosenese puppets were holding only the northernmost Korean provinces, and dug in. The repeated chemical attacks had taken toll on both Korean and Japanese/Chosenese casualties, numbering 400,000 in military casualties alone, and almost 600,000 for the civilians. This will be a controversial point in the history of the Japanese-Korean front in World War II.

March 3, 1944: The Japanese Imperial General Staff's plans for a "Sealion" style invasion of Korea were refused by the IJN since they said that the blockade is what they need. Meanwhile, the Chosenese government moves to Manchukuo.

March 9-14, 1944: a civilian-military coup overthrows the government of Manchukuo, and with the blessing of the Manchurian Emperor. Xi Qia became the new Premier, and immediately, they fought the Kwantung Army. Pu Yi sends a message to Hong Sa-ik to recognize him as an ally. Hong said yes.

March 21, 1944: The "Rubicon" Offensive: the Koreans cross the Yalu river to meet with the crack of the Kwantung Army. The Kwantung Army General Staff had called from other re-inforcements, but the Japanese armies in China said they are busy.

April 17, 1944: Japanese had launched a new offensive against southeast China to destroy the US-built airbases there. They had some successes there.

April 28, 1944: The Koreans open a new offensive against Harbin.

May 18, 1944: the Battle for Monte Cassino ends with an Allied victory.

May 31, 1944: the Japanese retreat from India after losses in Imphal.

June 3, 1944: Korean commandos capture the Unit 731 facility in an assault on Harbin rather quickly, including its staff and commander Shiro Ishii. The remaining prisoners were freed, albeit starved and would be utilized by the Koreans as propaganda material.

June 5, 1944: The 4th Imperial Korean Army meets up with fledgling units of the Manchukuo Army in Changchun. With 2,000 Korean, 7,000 Chosenese, 8,000 Manchurian, and 12,000 Japanese casualties, Manchuria was under Korean-Manchurian control.

June 6, 1944: Yoshijiro Umezu, commander of the Japanese Army in Manchuria, surrenders to the Koreans. Meanwhile, Operation Overlord in Normandy commences. Meanwhile, the Chosenese puppet government surrenders to the Koreans.

June 12, 1944: All remaining Japanese forces in the Korean peninsula were "exterminated." The remaining Japanese civilians were interned until the end of the war.

June 19, 1944: The Marianas Turkey Shoot results in heavy Japanese losses in airpower in the Western Pacific.

June 22, 1944: The Japanese High Command told forces that Manchuria and Korea are "lost causes"; the IJA and IJA generals and admirals, believing that sooner or later, Hong will be overthrown by the Korean people, anyway.

July 20, 1944: Attempt to overthrow Hitler by disgruntled Wehrmacht officers backfires.

August 1, 1944: The Polish Uprising started. However, it was doomed to failure.

August 3, 1944: The President of Mexico sends the First Mexican Corps to be sent on the Pacific.

October 23, 1944: The Battle of Leyte Gulf resulted in Allied victory. The liberation of the Philippines by the Filipinos, Americans, Mexicans, and Koreans is in full swing. The Mexicans were well respected as good soldiers and despite the official secularism of the Mexican government, the Japanese occupation forces burned many churches and killed priests simply because the Mexicans are associated with Catholicism.

November 30, 1944: Kunming, China was bombed by the Japanese.

December, 1944: The Battle of the Bulge begins. Although the Germans had the initiative, the Allies still win because the Allied commanders decided to attack on the flanks instead of pushing the Germans out head to head.

January 9, 1945: US, Mexican, exiled Filipino, and Korean troops land on Luzon.

January 12, 1945: Hainan was invaded by the exiled Korean forces.

January 14, 1945: The Korean generals in exile meanwhile joined the US forces for a joint invasion of Okinawa.

January 27, 1945: Auschwitz was liberated by the Russians.

February 12, 1945: After a month of heavy fighting and 12,000 Korean and 19,000 Japanese casualties, Hainan is retaken by the Koreans.

February 19, 1945: The Western Allies began the drive to Western Germany. The Soviets meanwhile do the same. The Americans and the Koreans meanwhile invade Iwo Jima.

March 3, 1945: The commander of the Japanese garrison in Manila was killed by the Mexicans, prompting the rest of the Japanese garrison to surrender despite their 'no-surrender' reputation.

March 17, 1945: The Americans and the Commonwealth forces finally crossed the Rhine. Among them are the exiled Polish forces, hoping to return home to Poland.

March 19, 1945: Iwo Jima had been taken.

March 21, 1945: The Soviets finally crossed the Oder.

March 25, 1945: The shock to Hitler: Portugal, Argentina, and Spain break with the Axis, though only Argentina declared war on all Axis nations. Spain and Portugal declared war only on Japan, citing "anti-Catholic" actions of the Japanese in the Philippines and East Timor.

April 9, 1945: The Soviets enter Berlin. Meanwhile, they declare war of Japan and invade Sakhalin.

April 13, 1945: A Soviet platoon accidentally enter Hitler's bunker. They don't hesitate to kill anyone inside, including Hitler himself.

April 14, 1945: Desperate, Nazi leader Karl Doenitz prepares to surrender to the Allies. Meanwhile, the Koreans and the Americans start to invade Okinawa. Premier Rhee suggested to Truman to use the alleged "uranium bomb", but Truman said to Rhee that it is not yet tested, but will consult experts, anyway.

April 19, 1945: The Germans finally surrender officially in Strasbourg; meanwhile, Mussolini was killed by the Partisans in Italy while trying to escape to Switzerland. Meanwhile, the Koreans are allowed to invade Vietnam and make a deal with Ho Chi Minh where he could govern all of Vietnam if he renounced claims to Laos and Cambodia.

April 25, 1945: A US bomber takes off from Hawaii, containing a uranium bomb.

April 29, 1945: while the US and Korean forces are still fighting the Japanese in Okinawa, a US bomber dropped the uranium bomb at the IJN Yamato and the rest of its fleet. While the yield is disappointing but still substantial enough, the surviving Japanese sailors were terrified by the "radiation sickness" they had experienced.

May 1, 1945: Shigenori Togo receives a news that if the Japanese do not make peace, Tokyo will be obliterated by a more powerful uranium bomb than the one dropped on the Yamato. The Japanese will retain their honor if they surrender. The Emperor will be kept and pardoned for his "crimes".

May 2, 1945: Ho Chi Minh agrees to the Korean proposal. The French and the British did not know it yet.

May 3, 1945: Shigenori Togo, alarmed by the possibility of nuclear destruction, convinces the Emperor to surrender Japan.

May 4, 1945: Emperor Hirohito ordered all Japanese forces by radio to surrender to the Allies.

May 9, 1945: The Korean Emperor and Syngman Rhee triumphantly returns to Korea. They congratulate Hong Sa-ik for saving Korea and using both guerrilla and conventional tactics to drive out the Japanese.

May 19, 1945: The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed by the Japanese military and government in the IKN Gangwon. World War II finally ends.

May 24, 1945: Potsdam: Truman learns that the Soviets mistreat the Polish forces in their area of occupation, demands Stalin for explanation. The Division of Germany is similar to OTL. The Soviets withdrew communist-controlled Polish forces from the front, because they rightfully feared that they are disloyal.

May 29, 1945: With proof that uranium bombs do work, Churchill and Truman ordered the Royal Navy to enter the Baltic sea, with the blessing of the Swedish.

June 25, 1945: The Allies and the Soviets after heavy negotiations agree that Finland, Poland, Austria, and Czechia will become neutralized. Germany will be divided into four zones, as per OTL. Russia forces the Czechs to accept the division of Slovakia from Czechia, claiming that the Slovaks had genuine grievances. Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania were put under Soviet control. Stalin then slowly withdraw his forces from Poland and Czechia, believing that the communists there will take over anyway. Fortunately for the world, he was wrong.

July 1, 1945: The Chinese authorities demand the Koreans to hand over the Manchukuo government. The Koreans said that that the issue should be decided by the Manchus alone. Meanwhile, the French have told the Koreans to back off from Vietnam after learning of the proposal with Ho Chi Minh.

July 5, 1945: The FESSR have been re-integrated to the RSFSR.

[general_tiu]

Here's the finale. Underwhelming, perhaps.

==========================


Timeline:Part Three (Dae Han Jeguk: an Alternate History of Korea)

The Cold War (the Early Years)

August 30, 1945: The Soviet Union had these republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Karelia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uyghuristan [from the former Kashgar region of Xinjiang], Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tannu-Tuva, and by then, the new Transnistria and Sakhalin-Karafuto Republics. The last named republic was for the Koryo-Saram and the captive former Japanese FER populations; Transnistria was the former Romanian region that includes Odessa and is intended for the persecuted Gypsy population, though the Ukrainians, Russians, and the Moldovans do predominate.

September 1, 1945: President Bierut of the Communist government of Poland suffers a heart attack [actually was assassinated by Gomulka] and dies. Gomulka then succeeds him.

September 5, 1945: Syngman Rhee resigns from his post of Premier, giving it to Kim Gu for another time. Hong Sa-ik declined to become Prime Minister.

September 8, 1945: All former Korean volunteers of the Imperial Japanese Army are pardoned for their treason, but had to leave Korea for Daebaenam for 10 years.

October 2, 1945: The Allied Polish divisions, two corps with five divisions and independent brigades, plus Polish POWs from Germany and Eastern Europe, were "repatriated" to Poland. The pro-Communist Polish army was frightened to fight them, fearing that with the destruction of World War II, they don't want a repeat of the destruction.

November 1945: The Korean commander of the Allied Occupation forces vetoes the proposed Article 9 of the new Japanese constitution, seeing that it "makes the Japanese look like helpless. Give them the right of self-defense." McArthur natually objected, but a compromise is reached where Japan will be allowed to rebuild its military. In the end, a self-defense force clause was added to the constitution.

January 1946: The Chinese Civil War resumes, with the Mongols and the Soviets resupplying the Chinese Communists with former Japanese weapons from the FER, and some confiscated from Japan itself.

January 7, 1946: the Republic of Austria was reconstituted.

February 2, 1946: Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky flees to Poland, fearing he was the next in Stalin's purge list, and because he was accused of "pro-Polish" sympathy, due to his descent. Officially in the Soviet press, he was killed escaping to Poland, but in reality, he escaped and gained a new identity. He would spend the rest of his life helping rebuild the Polish military.

March 3, 1946: The Greek Civil War erupts; reports of Soviet refugees fleeing to Manchukuo [now officially renamed in the Western press as Manchuria] disturb Truman and Kim Gu.

May 3, 1946: The Emperor announced a new draft for a constitution. This is unique because it was a fusion of the monarchy and the republic. He also announced that he also wanted a ceremonial role only, seeing that he did little in Korean politics anyway, but will continue as a symbol of the Korean people.

July 4, 1946: At America's anniversary of independence, the Philippines regains its own independence.

September 2, 1946: Bulgaria becomes officially a Communist state. The Soviets put more troops from Poland to Eastern Germany, hoping to isolate the increasingly "neutral" Polish government.

November, 1946: The Polish government organizes free elections. To the communists' surprise, the centrist Polish People's Party wins the election, with the Communists in second. Stalin was surprised but could do little. The battered Polish nation will accept Marshall Plan aid though remain neutral to avoid offending the Soviets. The Austrians and the Finns will remain neutral. Unfortunately, this was not the case with the Czechs, Slovaks [already having a Communist government in power], East Germans, and Yugoslavs, the latter for a while, though. Gomulka accepts the post of Defense Minister.

January 1947: The US and British zone were merged as Bizonia. Meanwhile, Chiang Kai-Shek officially renounces sovereignty on Outer Mongolia, Manchuria, and Tibet "for an indeterminable" period.

March 12, 1947: Truman declares his Truman Doctrine.

June 5, 1947: US Secretary of State George Marshall launches his Marshall Plan.

August 14, 1947: India and Pakistan gain independence.

December 30, 1947: Romania becomes a Communist state.

February 26, 1948: Edvard Beneš resigns as the last non-Communist president of Czechia. The Communists later take over.

Mid-1948: Some 2,000 people were killed in Korea during a government crackdown on a leftist and allegedly pro-Communist uprising. Fighting between leftist guerrillas and government forces took place on the southern island of Jeju and estimates of those killed ranged from several to 50 thousand. Kim Song-ju, the leader of the Korean Communists, was arrested.

July 1948: The second Constitution of Korea was promulgated. This was unique. Korea remained a nominal empire, but in reality, it becomes a de-facto semi-presidential republic. The President of the Council of State [later simply known as the President] becomes the de-facto head of state [along with the Emperor, who remained the symbolic head of state] of the country, but the office of the Prime Minister remained separate and ineffectual. The Emperor will become empowered in the state of emergency or war.

September 3, 1949: Due to the situation in China, India suddenly enters troops to Western and Central Tibet.

April 4,1949: NATO was founded to contain communist aggression.

August 29, 1949: The Soviets detonate their atomic bomb.

October 1, 1949: The People's Republic of China was founded by Mao Zedong. Only Taiwan and Hainan were in Nationalist hands. Mao respects the independence of Tibet, Manchuria, and Mongolia, but warned that foreign troops must go out. This was directed to the Koreans and Indians, however.

October 7, 1949: East Germany was founded as a communist state.

1950: Second Manchurian Incident: The Soviets' communist proxies in Mongolia and China try to overthrow the Manchurian government but fail. US and Swedish supplied Manchurian and Korean armed forces, as well as US advisers to the Koreans and Manchus themselves, repel the assault. The Chinese annex parts of the Jehol prefecture of Manchuria after a negotiated ceasefire.

May 2, 1951: Emperor Kangde of Manchuria announces a new constitution for his country. He also stipulated that the now-dying Manchu language will the "official and national language" of Manchuria, and though Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, Japanese, and Russian will remain official language, Manchu will be paramount. To revive the language, the Manchu Language Institute was created. The eventual outcome is like that of Ireland's where in that case, Gaelic is only spoken on official basis, the rest done in English. In a way, Manchu becomes the language of government while Mandarin will become the lingua franca of the common people and the language for business.

June, 1951: The Korean government orders a secret operation to build an atom bomb. Despite both Nationalist and Communist Chinese spying, the program will eventually succeed in the 60s. They also contact foreign govenments and succeeded in persuading Mexico to jointly make atomic weapons.

July 3, 1951: The Koreans and the Indians agree to withdraw their troops from Manchuria and Tibet respectively. They did secretly left behind advisers; ex-IKA soldiers to be exact. What is not explained is why there are Swedish and Swiss 'advisers' running around in Manchuria.

1952: Detonation of the hydrogen bomb by America and the first scheduled flight by commercial jet. Queen Elizabeth II becomes Monarch of the Commonwealth realms.

1953: Death of Joseph Stalin. A Mongolian Mig-15 lands to Korea, the pilot wanting to defect. As a result, Soviet shipments of Soviet aircraft to Communist Asian nations was suspended for a year. Meanwhile, the Koreans execute Shiro Ishii, having no more use to them, while the Koreans get hold of Japanese atomic bomb plans. Little they knew that in the next decades, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces will field nuclear bombs.

1954: The Southeast Asian Treaty Organization was formed under the aegis of Korea and the United States.

1955: Signing of the Sofia Pact. First Sudanese Civil War beginshed to Jeju province, with a population of 48,000, due to swelling of the "Chinilpa" former Korean IJA personnel. Chechens and other persecuted ethnic groups rehabilitated and Checheno-Inguishetia becomes the Vainakh SSR. Crimea becomes a separate SSR.

1956: The defeat of Egypt in the Suez War forced Nasser to promptly declare the independence of the Gaza Strip as the Arab Republic of Palestine, the last remnant of the proposed Arab state in Palestine. The All-Palestinian government in Gaza had little choice to accept, otherwise it might not get a Palestinian state at all, however rump it is. Israel accepts Palestinian independence, thinking that it will shut the Palestine Arabs up, and it was welcomed to the UN a year later. Many of the Palestinian refugees did migrate to Gaza. A few, however, decided to remain and wanted a "Greater Palestine".Meanwhile, the Avro Arrow as launched in Canada. The Imperial Korean Air Force immediately offered Avro Canada to buy 50 Arrows, so was the Japanese Air Force. However, Minoru Genda's bargaining tactics won over the Koreans. This caused the Koreans to try to build their own jet fighter.

1957: Launch of Sputnik 1 and the beginning of the Space Age; independence of Ghana; Treaty of Rome, which would eventually lead to the European Union; first prescription of the combined oral contraceptive pill.

1958: The Lucky Goldstar firm in Korea was founded, the beginning of the end for the 5 old pre-war chaebols. Great Leap Forward begins in China, many Chinese refugees flood Hong Kong and Manchuria.

May 15, 1958: In Korea the Yoido Full Gospel Church was founded by Cho Yonggi and his mother-in-law, Choi Ja-shil, both Assemblies of God pastors.

1959: Cuban Revolution succeeds with Castro taking over. Che Guevara, his trusted lieutenant, was killed in the last stages while taking a bullet meant for him by Batista forces.

January 3, 1960: The plans for the Japan-Korea tunnel were underway.

1961: The Cuban-American War: US and Cuban exile forces land in Cuba to depose Castro.

May 16, 1961: the Unification Church started to wed couples. To counter this, the revived Cheondoist church launched a massive campaign to invite more converts.

May 17, 1961: Park Chung-hee, now a Major General of the Imperial Korean Army, nailed his "50 theses" on the walls of the office of the Prime Minister and the Regency Palace [the residence of the President] denouncing Syngman Rhee and John M. Chang of allowing corruption and delaying recovery of the Korean economy so that "they could feed themselves, and their bloodsucking Japanese and Manchurian lackeys."

June 18, 1961: claiming that their reply is unsatisfactory, Park announced his candidacy for the Presidency. He formed his own Democratic-Republican Party. Analysts warned that the situation resemble too much like those of Japan in the 1930s.

July 25, 1961: the snap elections ordered by the President showed Park won, though the latter's party had to use intimidation tactics to win.

August 1, 1961: Park Chung Hee was tipped off by friends in the Police after he learned that Rhee plans to arrest him. He hides to the house of Kim Gu, but then, the Police got on him. Kim Gu was killed trying to defend Park Chung Hee.

August 2, 1961: The death of Kim Gu at the hands of the Police sparked public anger against Syngman Rhee and John M. Chang.

August 3, 1961: An underground nuclear explosion was detected near the Khingan Mountains of Manchuria. Manchu, Swedish, and Swiss 'geologists' are present. The Mongols and the Soviets are alarmed but dismissed it as an earthquake.

August 5, 1961: Rhee resigns, John M. Chang takes over. Chang appoints Park Chung Hee instead as Prime Minister, to lessen the anger of the Korean populace.

August 9, 1961: Erwin Rommel becomes the President of West Germany. He attempts to re-start a nuclear program within NATO, but then, later had to accept a secret agreement with the Western Allies along with Canada and Italy where West Germany could field nuclear weapons of its own as long as it reaches the 100 warhead limit and had only purely tactical nuclear bombs. It was also promised that these tactical nuclear bombs will never be used on East Germany or Poland.

May 1962: The Koreans explode their atom bomb near the Antarctic Ocean.

June 3, 1962: The Burmese Communists takes over, and having a pro-China line. The official name of the country is changed to the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. The 'Burmese Way to Socialism' was initiated, similar to OTL but with a more communist bent.

June 3, 1963: John M. Chang resigns, leaving the post to Park Chung Hee.

1964: Communist China explodes its atomic bomb.

July 19, 1965: Syngman Rhee dies. Park decides against breaking up a demonstration against him by pro Rhee supporters.

May 1966: Taiwan explodes its first atomic bomb, with the permission of the Koreans, in the Antarctic Ocean.

1966: General Choi Hong Hi invents Taekwondo as it is known today.

June 1967-August 1968: Imperial Korean forces were sent to Vietnam to aid the United States there and help Cochinchina, now dubbing itself as the Republic of Vietnam. Although the South Vietnamese forces succeed in taking over what was originally the protectorate of Annam from North Vietnam, the North Vietnamese together with their Vietcong surrogates try to hold them down.

December 2, 1967: Enver Hoxha and most of the Albanian leadership was assassinated by Yugoslav agents on Tito's orders. However, the end result is not what he expected; a pro-Soviet Union government took over instead.

May, 1968: The Imperial Korean Forces launches from Hainan, ROC, their final assault on North Vietnam: it was a month of bombardment, liberal use of barely legal weapons, and aggressive special forces operations that brought nearly brought down the North Vietnamese had the Soviets not tried to censure them from the UN security council.

July 5, 1969: Korean Special Forces assassinate several Cambodian communist leaders, including leader Saloth Sar, on the request of the US government.

July 7, 1970: 777 Unification Church couples were wed, and this was noted in the Korean press.

September 1, 1970: A grateful South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu congratulates the Koreans for making South Vietnam "free". The problem is, the Vietcong is still operating.
The Cold War (Later Years)Edit The Cold War (Later Years) sectionEdit

1971: Sweden and Switzerland now declare themselves nuclear powers, to the shock of the world.


February 4, 1971: Euimin of Korea dies, succeeded by Prince Hoeun.

June 2, 1971: The Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology was founded in Daejeon.

June 2, 1971: A Communist victory in Polish elections spread fears that might become a Soviet satellite again. However, it was later proved that Gierek's government remained neutral and aligned itself with Yugoslavia. The name Republic of Poland is retained.

September 3, 1971: The HA-300 jet fighter enters service in the Spanish, Egyptian, Indian, and West German Air Forces, the last named it the Me-300 in honor of its designer.

December 1971: Manchurian, Tibetan, and Indian forces help overthrow Pakistani rule in what is now Bangladesh.

January 8, 1972: Mexico now fields atomic weapons, sparking concern in nuclear-armed USA and Canada.

June 1972: Spain and Portugal declare themselves nuclear powers.

July 2, 1972: A coup in Saigon deposed Nguyen Van Thieu. This was leftist in nature; the National Liberation Front have been rehabilitated and given again powers, as well as the re-organized Vietminh. The former National Liberation Front flag have been used as the flag of South Vietnam.

August 8, 1973: Korean intelligence agents kidnap activist Kim Dae Jung from his Tokyo hotel and accused him of being anti Park Chung Hee.

1973: An attempt by Imperial Korean authorities to substitute bullfrogs for meat fail utterly due to popular resistance. Meanwhile, Hyundai Heavy Industries was founded.

October 1973: The Israelis successfully fend off an attack by the Arab states. However, it was horrified when Egypt detonated an atomic bomb in the Libyan desert to prove that if Israel strikes with an atomic bomb, the Egyptians could alone wipe off Israel from the map. The Israelis propose a ceasefire.

December 1973: The Arab nations declare an oil embargo against western nations after the October War in Israel.

October, 1974: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed once more; the flag of North Vietnam was reinstated.

May 1975: Francisco Franco dies, having made Spain a nuclear power by testing an atomic bomb in the now indpendent Sahara Arab Democratic Republic. His successor Juan Carlos however, democratize the nation.

1976: Mao Zedong dies, the same year as Puyi of Manchuria. Argentina received plans for atom bombs from Spain and Mexico. Brazil does the same but with Portuguese blueprints.

May 1977: Camp David accords; Israel was to withdraw from the Arab Republic of Palestine completely as well as the Sinai. Both Israel and Egypt were forced to stop producing more atomic weapons and try to reduce them as possible.

July, 1978: Manchuria announced that it had atomic arms.

September 22, 1979: Japan detonates its atomic bomb in the South Atlantic: the so-called Vela Test.

October 22, 1979: The head of the Imperial Korean Intelligence and Cipher Agency assassinates Park Chung Hee, disgusted at his regime.

May 18, 1980: Gwangju demonstations; The Emperor prevented the Army from quelling the revolt, claiming that they had legitimate complaints. The Emperor, his post being merely ceremonial, was overruled by the government. The demonstators later disperse rather than face the wrath of the police, but the police kill 200 of them before the demonstators stopped.

January 3, 1981: On the pressure of the Emperor, the Government commutes Kim Dae Jung's sentence to life imprisionment.

May 4, 1982: The Black Eagle fighter of the Empire of Korea enters service.

June 1982: A clash between Manchurian and Soviet aircraft after the latter aircraft accidentally entered Manchurian airspace cost 230 lives. The UN condemned the incident, the Soviets vetoing it.

March, 1983: Five mercenary groups [Sealand Guard, Executive Outcomes, Byonghae Security, Outer Heaven Corps, and the Black Company] help liberate Zanzibar from Tanzanian rule.

February 2, 1984: A train from the Korean-Manchurian border collapses from a bridge in Siniuju; 340 were killed.

May 2, 1985: The Koreans launched their first aircraft carrier, the Yi Sun Sin. The Koreans had plans to build carriers before World War II, but have been delayed. They are inspired by Australian and Canadian aircraft carriers.

February 25, 1986: a civilian-military coup, aided by protesters, and led separately by Corazon Aquino and Juan Ponce Enrile, overthrows the Marcos government. Marcos was put on house arrest until his death from lupus in 1989.

June 2, 1987: The Israelis attempt to crush a rebellion of Cisjordanians, occupied by Israel, and claiming allegiance to the Palestinian government in Gaza. This was the start of the Infitada.

November 21, 1987: Korean riot police stand guard as the supporters of presidential candidates accused each other of corruption.

November 30, 1987: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed, after delays for more than a year. The six nations that sit on the UN Security Council [America, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Korea] are allowed no limitations in amounts of nuclear warheads they possess, but they must at least voluntarily reduce their warheads. The other nations like West Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Poland, Yugoslavia, Japan, Manchuria, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina are permitted no more than 100 warheads each. India, Pakistan, Egypt, and Israel, also nuclear-armed powers, specifically refused to resign, as Iraq and Iran and most of the Middle East states. The rest have agreed not to develop nuclear weapons, though they are permitted peaceful use of nuclear energy. The Republic of China had stated that it will not sign but will limit its warheads to 100.

December 8, 1988: Daebaenam became the newest Korean province, the only one in Antarctica. This prompted the Argentines and the Chileans to declare their own claims as provinces.

June-August 1988: The Olympic Games were held in Seoul and was a success and confidence-restorer among the Korean people.

August 8, 1988: a military coup overthrows the Communist government in Burma. It will have a coalition government with Aung San Suu Kyi, but then she was deposed by the military in 1992.

1989: The year of revolutions; Poland's crisis ends when the Polish Communist Party was voted out of power by a coalition of Solidarity by Lech Walesa, The Peasant's Party by Jaruzelski, and the Catholic Party, led by no other than John Paul II de-facto but have someone else as leader due to technicalities. The Christmas Revolution in Romania kills Ceaucescu. The Velvet Revolution in Czechia. The Slovak People Power, the second Hungarian Revolution and the Bulgarian Revolution appear to be secure with the death of their country's communist leaders. Albania and Yugolslavia remain communist but even in these two countries, they are moving towards democracy, though both get the hard way.
New EraEdit New Era sectionEdit

August 9, 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait, attempts to invade Saudi Arabia.

October 1, 1990: Germany becomes one nation again.

November 8, 1990: Iraq and Saudi Arabia have border clashes and Saddam Hussein's forces enter the Saudi border.

November 22, 1990: Roh Tae-Woo resigns as President of the Council of State and turns his post to Kim Young-sam. Korea was finally a fully civilianized state.

December 17, 1990: Iraq conquers half of Saudi Arabia. This causes a panic among the UN nations.

January 3, 1991: US, British Commonwealth, French, German, and Korean troops arrive in Saudi Arabia to defeat the Iraqi forces.

January 19, 1991: Coalition forces expel Iraqis from Saudi Arabia.

January 24, 1991: Korean troops drop paratroops in Northern Iraq. This was to enlist help from the Kurds. Despite the objections of Saudi Arabia, Kim Young-sam stated, "are we going to make a million Kurds die because of so-called realpolitik?"

January 29, 1991: Korean troops and the Kurdish peshmerga forces secure most of what constituted the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq, never implemented by the Iraqi regime.

January 27, 1991: Kuwait was finally liberated.

January 29, 1991: Saddam Hussein offers a cease-fire. The result was that the Kurdish Autonomous Region wil become Kurdistan. Although many Kurdish diehards wanted more territory, at least there will be an independent Kurdistan rather than none.

April 15, 1991: Soviet president Gorbachev meets with Kim Young-sam.

May 3, 1991: Kim Hak Soon revealed herself as a "comfort woman" during the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Chosen period.

December 1991: The Soviet Union finally splits and morphs into Russia.

1992: Chung Ju Yung, the CEO of Hyundai Industries, challenged Kim Young Sam for the presidency. Kim won election despite being elected [according to constitution, a President that was appointed by the previous President due to the latter's cause of inability to govern may be elected for one term]. Moldovan-Transnistrian War by Romanian-dominated Moldova and Gypsy, Russian, and Ukrainian-dominated Transnistria over a boundary dispute. Moldova refuses to join the CIS but promised that it will not join Romania as a plebiscite has shown.

April 2, 1993: Kim Song-ju, the long-time leader of the Korean Communist Party, dies. His son, acclaimed actor and director Kim Jong-il, makes a controversial biographical film dedicated for him.

1994: the Rwanda crisis: Canadian general Dalliare personally led troops to stop the Rwandan genocide; 100,000 civilians are said to have died, Canadian troops, despite their status as UN peacekeepers, helped the RPF overthrow the genocidal Rwandan government. He was censured by the UN but public opinion clamored for his case.

June 2, 1994: Yongbyon Nuclear Reactor suffers a partial meltdown, killing 23.

Septemer 23, 1994: Oslo Accords: the governments of Israel, Jordan, the US, and Palestine agree to turn over Cisjordan to the last-named state and will be a minimally militarized zone within 5 years.

1995: Cheondoism is now the leading religion of Korea, surpassing Christianity and Buddhism.

December 3, 1995: Chun Doo-hwan was arrested for his role in the crackdown since Park's assassination in 1979.

June 3, 1996: The Philippines and Korea reached an agreement where the Koreans will equip the Philippine military, in badly need of modernization. By a decade, the Philippines will be trained on the Korean model.

1997: The Korea Federation of Trade Unions was no longer the official and solely the official Korean trade union.

1998: The Korean government formally lifted the ban on Japanese cultural imports due to World War II. Actually, manga had been around in Korea but its origin had to be disguised, and the Koreans had a sizable fandom on manga and anime that is still large today. Mainly it is due to fear that the Korean native manhwa will be on the defensive. Ironically, Chinese, Tainan, and Manchurian manhwa are not banned at all.

December 16, 1998: Korean scientists claim to have created a human embryo, but later destroyed it.

July 15, 1999: Lim Chang Yuel, the governor of Gyeonggi Province, was charged with bribery and corruption.

August 20, 1999: The Daewoo scandal: it was revealed that the head of the Daewoo group was coerced by government-controlled banks to sell most of his conglomerate's companies.

September 11, 2001: World Trade Center attacks kill 2000. US forces invaded Afghanistan and try to hunt down the mastermind, Osama Bin Laden.

2002: Korea and Japan host the World Football Cup. The Korean team finished in third, defeating Turkey at the semi-finals.

August 4, 2003: Chung Mong-hun, head of the Hyundai group, commits suicide.

August 23, 2003: The Manchurian Navy had unveiled its first UAV carrier ship, the "Dorgon".

2004: The Japan-Korea tunnel is completed.

2005: Emperor Hoeun of Korea dies, succeeded by Yi Won.

2006: Asian nations including Korea implement what was called the "Iron Silk Road", creating a pan-Asian railway network.

2007: Ban Ki-Moon was the second person from a UN country that had a permanent seat on the Security Council to become Secretary-General [after Gladwyn Jebb of Britain], an event that was controversial since to prevent bias, no nation with a permanent seat from the UNSC is usually allowed to nominate a secretary-general. However, there is no such legal mechanism in the UN charter that prevents such nomination. He declined to have a second nomination, and Manuel Lopez of the Philippines, former Ambassador to Japan and industrial magnate, succeeded him.

January 15, 2008: Korean Special Forces kill 34 Somali pirates that have hijacked a Hyundai ship in the Arabian sea.

October 15, 2009: European and Korean trade officials signed a free trade deal.

2011: Egyptian revolution: a military junta and a popular uprising sweeps the country. There is the concern that the Muslim Brotherhood might use the nuclear arsenal against Israel, but so far, they had not yet taken power and the government remained firmly at the hands of the military. The junta also states that it was intended to phase out its already aging nuclear weapons by 2020, destroying them so that "terrorists cannot use it." The fact that Egypt had nuclear weapons concerned Israel and the West all the time.

May 2, 2011: Osama Bin Laden is killed.

[NomadicSky]

What the hell kinda response is that? This is pretty good and VERY well thought out.