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However, the Premier had concerns for the future. On the other side of the border, in Romania, the Crown Prince Carol was a decadent playboy, renowned for his illicit dealings and affairs and hardly the candidate to ensure long-term stability. His socialisation with prostitutes and mistresses, his contravention of royal law, his anti-Semitism and manipulation of politics were all foreboding of trouble. As for the Emperor Franz Ferdinand, his recent bout with influenza had left him weakened. Doctors were doubtful that he would see the age of sixty (he was currently 56) and his "most likely to succeed", the Archduke Karl, had himself been struck by the Great Plague. Without their long-term survival, the Hapsburg Dynasty was short on potential candidates. Without their survival, there was every chance that a new dynasty would be founded and the continued equality of the Transylvanians would be left to chance. De Basesti was not prepared to take that chance.

On 11 January, 1919, the Premier sought an audience with the Emperor on matters of succession. He stated clearly his concerns and suggested that the Emperor groom another potential candidate, in case both he and Karl should die before Karl's son, Otto, reached majority. He insisted that his people would support Otto in the election should he be of age, but doubted his electability if he was still a minor. (At this time, Otto was only six years old.) He shared his preferred candidate with the Emperor, one he believed would guarantee the future for his people, and went his way. He would pass away only a month later, unaware of the outcome of the seed he had planted in the Emperor's mind.

The seed bloomed, however, and on 23 January, the Emperor of Austria-Hungary sought an audience with King Ferdinand of Romania, technically to discuss a border dispute in Bessarabia (Romanian officials had held up a Russian diplomat on his travels). In reality, Franz Ferdinand was there to scout out a potential successor. He considered that perhaps the king's Eton-attending liberal-leaning teenage son, Prince Nicholas, might be groomed as his successor. Another alternative candidate was the King of Aragon, combining the Catholic powers and once again becoming a Holy Roman Empire. Franz Ferdinand was most keen to see his teenage son, Maxmilian (above left), succeed. There was, however, no guarantees. Either way, the Emperor offered King Ferdinand the chance to send his second son to Vienna after he had finished his schooling, ostensibly to receive his officer training in the Imperial Navy.

The first clear indicator out of the polling results was that the German Peoples Party (DVP) was on its last legs. They had gone into the election with 14% of the seats in the Reichstag. When the last vote had been counted, the once great party of Prussian liberalism managed just above 3%. Party leader Gustav Stresemann indicated that it was perhaps inevitable that the DVP merge with the German Democratic Party (DDP), its competitor for the liberal vote. The DDP had scored its best result to date and appeared to be a party on the rise. While the increase in its vote had been marginal at best, a mere 2%, it had achieved this in the midst of a landslide against all other parties other than the incumbent. It had been the only party other than the SDP to increase its total. The shrinking liberal base in Germany made it impossible for the two parties to continue competition. They would unite in 1920. The staunchly conservative German National Party had also suffered in the election, falling from nearly 17% of the vote to just below 8%.

The Catholics in the south had tried a new approach in this election, focusing on the creation of the Bavarian Peoples Party. The illness of Ludwig III meant that, at any time, the King of Aragon could become King of Bavaria. The BVP was preparing for that event, splitting the Catholic vote into two distinct groups (Catholic Germany and Catholic Bavaria). It meant that, whatever the result of the coming succession crisis, the Catholic Church would continue to function as a political force in both areas. It was generally agreed that, if no crisis emerged, the Catholic Peoples Party and the Bavarian Peoples Party would reunite in the coming year. Voters did not, however, appreciate the cynicism and the combined vote of the parties fell from nearly 27% to about 17%.

Chancellor Friedrich Ebert was the undoubted victor. He had gone into the election as leader of the largest bloc in the Reichstag (about one third of the seats). He walked out of the election with nearly three-fifths. Despite rumblings about his leadership in a miniscule section of his backbench, he now had the numbers to initiate large changes to the German state.

Ebert recognised the potential dangers of the Bavarian situation and was concerned that the Bavarians remained more staunchly conservative than any other part of the Empire. He shared plainly with the Kaiser that the long term survival of the Reich might require the distribution of greater powers to the regions so that Bavarians were not continually subject to the increasingly left wing philosophy of the Reichstag. However, he also warned that the same regional powers may be just what some Bavarian nationalists wanted to allow them to pursue a separatist course. The Social Democrats might have won a German election; their main concern now was making sure that the Empire survived until the next one.

The King of Poland was supposed to be celebrating his 65th birthday this year. He did not feel much like celebrating. The push by Austria for a heightened level of economic collaboration, slanted wholly in favour of Austrian business, was threatening the future of the Polish Authority. The USSR had already stopped the transport of products into the Austrian sector and the Germans had placed a veto on the design of the new currency. The only things that were continuing to operate was the transportation and law and order. Everything else had come to a grinding halt as the Authority could only work with the agreement of all its members, and the level of distrust had become paralysing.

Russia refused to return to the table without a new agreement. The German government, despite its best efforts, could not get Vienna and St Petersburg to reach a mutually suitable arrangement. The deadlock would drag on for months. Finally, on 26 August, following a violent protest in Kattowitz, the USSR's Chancellor, Viscount Trotsky, announced his country was formally annexing its zone of control. He did so with the complete support of Germany, where Chancellor Ebert copied his actions the following day. In the history of the Polish people, the day was remembered as the Fourth Partition. The Austrian zone folded back into the United States of Austria-Hungary.

Viscount Trotsky stated that the Russian government would not seek to assimilate or restrict expression, and would invite the Polish nobility to join the administrative and bureaucratic arms to ensure a high degree of Polish autonomy. Nonetheless, he argued that the only way in which the poverty and wretchedness of Poland could be rectified was direct control. Tsar Michael distributed a letter to the Polish people, stating that he would work to "repair the past and build the future". He further stated that he wished the Polish people to provide a decade for Russian-German cooperation to rebuild their country before again considering their potential for independence.

King Michi, the son of Emperor Taisho, was due to be married and, as he would one day succeed his father, the candidate must be suitable to the whole Empire. Myun-hui had been most insistent that the bride must come from Joseon, continuing the interbreeding that had begun with King Yunghuei's wedding to the sister of Taisho. Unfortunately, that marriage had produced only one child, Princess Myeongseong, honoured with the same name as Korea's ancestral martyr queen. As such, she was ineligible, under Japanese succession laws, to assume the throne. Myhun-hui suggested to Takashi that the succession laws could be changed.

The idea of a woman ascending the throne, especially one with a name such as Myeongseong, was an idea that was alien to the people of Joseon, but one that was possible, considering the adoration they feted upon the princess. She could become Queen upon the death of her father, just as Michi would become Emperor upon the death of his. If they were married, despite the age difference, and produced offspring, then the two thrones would be like the English in the 1600's - there would be one heir for both throne. Takashi agreed to return to Kyoto and speak to the Emperor on the behalf of both their realms.

On 1 March, a notice appeared on the Suzakumon and Kenreimon, gates of the Kyoto Gosho, home to the illustrious Tenno Taisho. The Emperor announced the betrothal of "Crown Princess Myeongseong of Joseon, our beloved daughter" to "Michi, King of Naichi, Crown Prince of Japan, son of great righteousness". The two would eventually wed in 1926.

The largest supplier of migratory labour was the German Empire. Driven by a campaign called Ergriefen Sie de Reich (To Claim the Empire) and sponsored by the German government, over twelve million Germans made their homes abroad. Two-thirds of them made their way to Kamerun, where they quickly outnumbered the Bantu, Fulani and Baka. In the main, they were agriculturalists, who began to cultivate cocoa, coffee and bananas, as well as producing large cotton fields with native labour. The rivers provided enormous opportunity for hydroelectric development. Discoveries of bauxite and manganese allowed for the production of large volumes of aluminium and steel, while large limestone quarries provided building materials for the construction of enduring and elegant buildings, particularly banks and railway stations.

About two million Germans headed to South West Africa, where they outnumbered the natives by a ratio of four to one (this figure, of course, was assisted by the Herero Genocide of 1904-5). Primarily, the colony became a pastoral and mining centre, with large cattle ranches broken by townships centred on deposits of tin, lead, zinc, silver and tungsten. However, the most profitable resource was undoubtedly the diamonds and it was the lure of high wages for mining that drew many Germans to make southern Africa their home.

A similar migration was observed among the Poles, whose continued political instability, war and annexation brought great hardship. In all, five million Poles left their homeland, with substantial numbers settling in Canada, Japan, Argentina and the Ottoman Empire. However, unlike the Germans, they did not concentrate themselves and there are few countries on Earth today that do not have a Polish sector in their major cities. Some only made it as far as Denmark and Flanders, but most were scattered. This pattern was repeated by the subjects of the Hapsburg Empire, who, despite political reforms, found they could obtain greater benefits abroad.

France's migrants were not nearly as adventurous. The vast majority simply crossed the Mediterranean to occupy the increasingly French enclaves of Algeria and Morocco, as well as smaller numbers making their way to Tunisia and Tripolitania. These North African enclaves absorbed 1.7 million migrants in the decade and increased political pressure at home to demand more land from the Berbers. About four hundred thousand made their way to Malagasy, where they established large resorts for wealthy Americans to view its bizarre ecological treasures. However, in the long run, they would prove unable to compete with the safaris of the African mainland, where tourists could also hunt the animals.

The largest population increase outside Africa occurred in Canada. In 1910, the provinces had a population of just under 7.2 million; by 1920, they have reached 9.7 million. This substantial increase was driven by a clear Canadian policy to "fill up" the western provinces. Approximately 40% of the intake was from Great Britain and Ireland. In Australia, during the same period, the growing activism of the native indigenous peoples (in response to American progress) and the growing demands of Japan for raw materials pushed modifications to the White Australia Policy. Australia made allowances for northern Europeans, such as the Germans and Finns, to migrate. Its population grew from 4.4 million in 1910 to 6.1 million in 1920.

Outside Europe, the only country to experience a decline in population was Brazil. Its low wages and lack of infrastructure compared to its neighbours led to growing numbers in Uruguay (1.08 million to 1.54 million), Costa Rica (0.36 million to 0.52 million), and particularly Argentina (6.84 million to 9.43 million).

Despite his contributions to the making of a recession, the reputation of the aging former US President James Clark had become somewhat rehabilitated in Europe. During the three years of Republican Administration, the European powers began to develop a longing for the "good ol' days" when the Americans had not seemed so irrational and scary. During his trip to Europe, in the March of 1919, he was somewhat feted as a man of foresight. He was praised for his "vision" in providing the trade rules that began to distribute some of America's enormous wealth into the development of other countries.

The reason for his visit was an invitation to address the Strasbourg Commission. The European press were expecting him to provide a "vision" for them as well. In hindsight, his speech does not appear to be visionary at all; rather, it reads as a rehash of his speeches as President combined with points from the tome on trade by Maynard Keynes (left). However, the presence of the former President was enough to motivate action that would establish a permanent framework for global trade.

Clark proposed the creation of the International Trade Commission, where all trade would be governed by the principles that he first set out in 1913: freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, no child labour, no forced or compulsory labour, no discrimination, equal pay for equal work, fair pay and hours and guaranteed paid holidays. He further set an agenda that, within five years, all countries should negotiate a 20% multilateral reduction in tariffs, with states free to choose for themselves the areas in which they would cut protection.

He further proposed that, once the International Trade Commission had completed its first round of negotiations, they should bring into effect the International Monetary Commission. All international trade would be conducted in the one global commodity-based currency, just as the Indo-British Empire was already constructing. In fact, Britain's work should be a pilot program that would eventually be expanded to take in every other country. Of course, as the global economic centre, it made sense for both organisations to be based in the City of London.

A draft treaty was drawn up by 7 May for consideration and a final treaty agreed on 28 June, 1919. Virtually every country agreed to sign up for the opportunity to gain greater access to international markets. The three outstanding absentees were the United States, who stated that they regarded the treaty as an infringement on their sovereignty and pressured Mexico and its puppet states in Liberia and Paraguay to follow suit, and the Ottoman Empire, where ongoing debate about the nature of the Caliphate seemed to paralyse consideration of all other matters. The first ITC Conference opened in Geneva on 10 January, 1920.

It was now clear, however, that Zapata saw himself as the successor to Carranza. The President was required by the Constitution to step down in 1925. While that was five and a half years away, there was no way that Zapata could be his successor. He would undoubtedly attempt to implement the reforms for which he continued to push in Cabinet and that level of provocation would lead to renewed conflict with the United States. Undoubtedly, that was the reason that Zapata was continuing to push for a massive increase in military spending.

To contain the General's ambition, Carranza arranged for an interview with one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers and for a question specifically relating to the future of the nation after his departure. He stated, "There are many talented people who would be able to fill my shoes, but none are better qualified than Portes." His reference was to the Governor of Tamaulipas, Emilio Portes Gil. Portes and Zapata had bad blood, with the former having been an advisor to the latter during the Madero presidency - Zapata had, in fact, sacked Portes before the Governor had used his connections to get himself a judgeship and then his current position.

Needless to say, the tension around the Cabinet table increased exponentially until in early April, President Carranza announced, "with great regret", the dismissal of his military chief and offered a substantial reward for his capture, dead or alive. Zapata, who had received information of the plans against him, fled to the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, where on 10 April, he declared the formation of the United Mayan Republic. Appealing to the Mayan cause won him wide support in Chiapas and on the Yucatan Peninsula and, in a series of coups, Mexican officials were overthrown and removed. The President ordered the mobilisation of the armed forces, but a good number refused to follow orders, fleeing south to seek out sanctuary with their old chief.

On 12 April, a message was passed from Carranza to Acting US President Harding via Cuba. He was concerned that the United Mexican States were about to plunge into a civil war. Harding was, however, hamstrung by the Bolivarian Pact, which clearly provided that any use of American troops on Mexican soil would be regarded as an act of war. In addition, Harding had no Congressional or cabinet support for such a move and he reluctantly declined. However, he did invoke the Monroe Doctrine, stating that any involvement or interference by another country would lead to war. He also suggested that Mexico might like to leave the Bolivarian Pact to provide the United States with the ability to assist.

Carranza had no capacity to fight a direct war against his southern enemy. He instead asked for and received permission to send loyalist soldiers to the US for training in counterinsurgency and subversion tactics. He refused to recognise the new republic and instead began to funnel guns and money to rebels with the assistance of the United States. On the other side, the Europeans surreptitiously began to do the same, feeding resources from British Honduras and recognising Maya as a defacto independent nation. The Bolivarian Pact, which had no authority to interfere in the matter and did not wish to antagonise either side, sat on its hands and watched its moral authority and its support in Mexico bleed away.

The orders of the Imperial Secretary contained a command that the new nation must be secular. It must contribute to the Imperial forces, but could not raise its own army. It must continue to use the currency of India. It could not deny access to British or Indian subjects. The Indian Parliament could overrule its legislation in the case of any inconsistency. Beyond that, the new Jirga (Senate) would be entitled to make whatever law it chose, under the leadership of its new Chief Minister, Amanollah Barakzai. The Senate would have representatives from four states: Sarban, Batan, Ghurghusht and Karlan.

The Dominion of Pashtunistan, in its earliest years, was dominated by the most liberal branch of Hanafite Islam. It was in light of that liberalism that its first law was for free and compulsory elementary education for all people, including women. In the three major cities, Kabul, Qandahar and Peshawar, new secondary schools would be constructed for those who showed promise. All students would be required to learn Pashtun and English.

Another leap forward was the Family Law Act of 1920, which made it illegal to marry children and immediate family members. It forbade the sale of women and limited dowries. It prohibited widows from being used as slave labour by her husband's family. In 1924, an amendment allowed Pashtun women to lift the veil for the first time. The clerics did not, however, go quietly. The powerful Qazi and their clerical courts rebelled, but were crushed by Indian troops. In subsequent reforms, Barakzai would establish that all clerics had to obtain dual degrees in Islamic studies and in law before they could sit in judgment on any citizen. Britain, proud of these reforms, gave much assistance to the Chief Minister during his decade of rule and Pashtunistan became a jewel like the Koh-i-noor, the great diamond that became part of the Crown Jewels of India when it returned to New Delhi in 1926. The flag of the new nation can be seen below. It is notable in that it became the first flag of a British dominion not to carry the Union Jack.

On 1 May, King Roberto of Aragon arrived in the south and commenced a series of public speeches. He called upon the Bavarian people to consider the option of secession from the German Empire and to hold a referendum on the subject. He argued that Bavaria was Catholic; the rest of the Empire was Protestant. He argued that Bavaria was conservative; the rest of the Empire was socialist. He argued that Bavaria had traditionally belonged with Austria and that she should return to her people. He proclaimed his Hapsburg heritage and his intent to reunify all the realms of the Hapsburg family by seeking the Austrian throne upon the demise of Emperor Franz Ferdinand.

Kaiser Wilhelm could not allow this threat to national unity to go unchallenged. France would undoubtedly assist if required. However, his government was clearly pacifist and would not be inclined to fight a civil war. The rift with Austria and its potential to support Roberto's agenda also made it a factor to consider. He thought about potential allies and came up with a potential solution.

It was not widely known that King Roberto was, through his mother, the heir to the title of the Great Pretender. When the House of Stuart had been deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, all Catholics had been prohibited from succession to the British throne. It was the search for Protestants that had driven the English to look to Hanover for their king; without such an agreement, Roberto would have been King of Great Britain. The Kaiser considered: how would the British feel about the idea of a super empire in the heartland of Europe headed by a person who still believed himself entitled to the throne of Great Britain?

It was thus, in August 1919, that the first British battlecruiser in many years crossed the Kiel Canal into the Baltic Sea. The British, German and Russian navies conducted a series of exercises - together. And, on 18 August, London, Paris, St Petersburg and Berlin announced they would sign a joint security pact for a period of ten years.

Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden of Canada watched as his party members, led by Thomas Crerar, crossed the floor to form the Progressive Labour Party. Crerar had risen to prominence as head of the Manitoba Grain Growers Association and was elected to Parliament as a Conservative Party member in 1917, immediately being appointed Minister of Agriculture. However, he had been impressed by the work of the US Socialist Labor Party in attacking tariffs and adapted a similar stand on behalf of western farmers within the government. When it became clear that the Canadian Government was dragging its feet on signing up to the International Trade Federation, the Minister and his supporters "jumped ship", leaving the Prime Minister with a majority, but only just. Many felt that it spelt the demise of the Government, but Borden would manage to hold on longer than anyone had expected.

Many miles away, in the lands of the Ottoman Empire, the discussion between secularist Turks and the clerical Arabs, sparked by the late Caliph's papers, had turned into an angry debate. Armenia, as a Christian state, had questioned whether it should seek Russian protection, the Jews began to wonder if Isra'il could survive conflict between the Turks and the Arabs. There had been rumblings within the Army. For Sultan Mehmed VI, there was a realisation that the debate could not continue much longer without posing a long term threat to the unity of his Empire. His attempts to delay the debate had been wholly unsuccessful.

On 19 May, with the recent excavation of the city of Ur providing a temporary distraction, he confronted his legislature and announced his intention to surrender the title of Caliph. He provided the argumentative politicians with twelve months to find a replacement and argued that the new Caliph should also take on the titles of Sharif of Mecca and Guardian of the Two Shrines, equally reducing the power of the Hashemite clan, but making clear that there was no question of them choosing not to endorse his plan. After all, it was the will of the Prophet that his people be united and the King of Hejaz would surely not stand against it. His chief criteria was that the Caliph must be supported by both Sunni and Shi'a as the leader of all the faithful. His second criteria was that the person must not be a member of a house that held temporal responsibilities. Rather than reforming the Caliphate, he was separating it entirely from the political apparatus of the state.

His initial support was directed toward the 59-year-old Sheikh As'ad Shuqeiri, the Mufti of Syria and Isra'il. However, the Shi'a felt that the Sheikh was too close to the imperial royal family, being both a judge appointed by the Sultan and the custodian of the Imperial Library. And so the search was on to find a suitable candidate to become the head of the world's second largest religion. Concurrently, to symbolise the potential unity of the faith, the Caliph ordered the construction of an enormous palace complex opposite the Al-Misfalah Gardens, just a short walk from the Al-Masjed Al-Haram, the holiest site in all of Islam. It would be the new home of the Caliph. 

No political faction had a majority in the decision-making process. Yet they all agreed on a number of points. Firstly, the power of the Presidency was too great and it needed to be divided. Some argued that there needed to be a division of powers between the President and a Prime Minister. However, others felt that transferring executive power to members of the Congress was generally a bad move. Others stated that the office of the Attorney General should not be a presidential appointment, to ensure the law enforcement of the nation could not be abused by the President. However, that began a debate regarding how one would empower an Attorney General to stand up against a President.

The Electoral College, it was commonly agreed, was a failed institution and should be abolished. To ensure some balance, there were suggestions of adopting a preferential voting system. Others (usually current or former members of Congress) complained about the terms of Congress, stating that two years was insufficient to achieve anything and that the terms should be extended to four years for Representatives.

Members of the Socialist delegation were determined to achieve some kind of resolution that eradicated the growing influence of money over elected officials, as well as wishing to dramatically increase the powers of the Congress (the only body of government in which they had any say). More conservative members wanted a "clearer definition" of the rights available to citizens, arguing that, as they currently stood, they opened up the way for anarchist and irresponsible behaviour.

Three days after they first convened, the situation was complicated by the announcement from the White House that President Beveridge had resumed duties. While the dead from the Great Plague had been substantial, he would not be one of them. (The list of fatalities globally now included many of the high and mighty, including former Prime Minister of Canada Wilfred Laurier, business magnate Henry John Heinz, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, former Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and Prime Minister of South Africa Louis Botha.) The President stated that he would oppose the campaign to install a new constitution and that he would stand as a candidate in the elections of 1920. However, in his own party, he was confronted by opposition from Senator Hiram Johnson, Governor Frank Lowden of Illinois and General Leonard Wood, all of whom were delegates to the Convention.

The Constitutional Convention would remain in session until 3 September, when President Beveridge announced that the National Security Council had uncovered a plot by "socialists" to attack Independence Hall. Among those who would be rounded up for interrogation would be the Mayor of Cleveland, Charles Ruthenberg. While no charges would be laid, it would be enough to delay the resumption of the convention until early in 1920 and ensure that any constitution would not be able to take effect until after the 1920 Presidential election.

He announced that Lawrence Graham, the late NSC agent, was, in fact, alive and in custody. Not only was he alive, but he had provided a great deal of information to police about the internal operations of the President's National Security Council, that he had turned over bank statements that demonstrated the NSC had funded the attempted assassination and that he was prepared, under oath, to state that the Attorney General had personally authorised the mission. Attorney General Harry Daughtery immediately issued a strenuous denial, claiming that any evidence against him had been fraudulently produced by the Socialist administration in Texas. "The Texans have lied from the start," he said, "and they will go on lying."

The following day, the Governor of Washington, another SLP member, announced that he was commencing an investigation into the death of an IWW official, who had allegedly committed suicide while in the custody of the National Security Council. Anger swept through the union movement and the IWW declared a general strike. Large numbers of workers took to the streets. Miners, storemen, dock workers, transport drivers, iron and steel workers, teachers, postal workers, printers, nurses and a whole host of other trades joined in the strike. By the end of December, over half of the United States workforce was on strike, the economy was in freefall and the demands for accountability by the Federal Government were growing louder by the day.

The situation reached crisis point when on 9 January, 1920, the Attorney General authorised warrantless raids across the country, arresting thousands of people in thirty-three states. He claimed evidence of a planned revolution against the state. Just ten days later, President Beveridge gave an address to the nation, stating that the National Investigations Bureau would conduct a "high level, thorough and vigorous investigation". He was followed by Senator Hiram Johnson, who stated that the Senate would likewise investigate the dealings of the Administration with a view to clearing out corruption and "ending the seemingly terminal decline of the nation" and asked citizens to return to work.

In late 1919, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Henderson (left), and his French counterpart, Leon Blum, had a meeting of note with an Amazigh judge in Paris. Since Berber self-rule had been granted in 1913, a new governmental structure had been built under French guidance. However, there had been concerns about the fact that this newly created state had been ripped apart by tribal infighting, time and again. The visitor was asking for French and British support to end the violence and create a stable political entity.

Chief Justice Muhammed Ibn Abd El-Karim El-Khattabi had been the son of a judge of the Ait Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel tribe. He had studied law from 1900 to 1905 at the distinguished University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco, and had chosen to then spend three years in Paris studying a post-graduate degree in engineering and economics. Upon his return, in 1908, he had climbed through the Moroccan administration and had purchased El Telegrama, a notable Moroccan daily. When self-rule was granted in 1913, he had become Chief Justice of the newly formed Berber state at the age of only thirty-one.

Now, El-Khattabi was not so sure of his people's future. Local brigands and inter-tribal rivalries needed to be brought to an end. Intervention by foreign troops would not help the cause and would be resisted. What it required was a coup d'etat, the abolition of the Great Council of Chiefs and the establishment of a secular, pro-development populist regime. However, he was not certain that it could be done. Furthermore, if it could be done, he projected that it would take at least five to seven years to bring the Tauregi and other rebel tribes under control.

One of the reasons that the French were still uncertain about their colonies in Africa was their indefinite strategic status should they be allowed to go free. El-Khattabi was offering the prospect of a strong Berber state and governance under an educated and intelligent pro-French leadership. It would require the sacrifice of the southern portion of the Algerian enclave; however, most of the French population was solidified into the northern portion anyway. It would just mean that future migration to Algeria would need to be discouraged in favour of Morocco, Tripolitania and Tunis. Blum and el-Khattabi also discussed the prospect of a new identification, one that would provide an image of unity to the tribes, while still undercutting their tribal leadership and providing a positive image a European audience.

On 28 January, 1920, a coup d'etat was staged with French support. The chieftains were offered a choice between death or exile, with most choosing the later and el-Khattabi's army, with modern European weapons, spread out across the countryside to suppress any resistance. The tribes were formally abolished. That same day, Britain and France both extended de facto recognition in record speed to President el-Khattabi and to his new Republic of Numidia.

Under new laws passed by the Ottoman parliament, the Sultan could no longer hold both spiritual and temporal powers. To remain ruler of the Empire, he must grant authority to a new spiritual leader. The Sultan had invited representatives from Islamic communities across the globe and had paid for their transportation. They were here from every sect and every school in an attempt to elect a Caliph to represent them all. The key element of Shi'a involvement was that the new Caliph had to be a descendant of Ali ibn Abu-Talib and Fatima Zahra, the cousin and daughter of the Prophet (PBUH). There was also an insistence that the new Caliph could not have a birthplace from any point east of Mecca, to prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy regarding the end of the world.

Many felt that further concentration of power in the hands of the Hashemite, the most likely candidates, would break apart the Sultanate. Though the representatives from the Ottoman Empire had numerical advantage, the Sultan had clearly instructed that the Emir and his family were not to have the title of Caliph and thus that bloc of votes would be divided. This allowed for a greater influence by the Maliki, Shafi'i and Shi'a representatives, who would otherwise have been neutralised in any vote. However, it was agreed that the Emir should manage proceedings.

Eventually, the consensus fell upon Yusuf ibn Hassan (left), a 38-year-old from Meknes, who was related to the deposed royal family of Morocco, and for the first time in 1259 years, all of Islam had a single Caliph. While it remained to be seen how long that unity would last, Caliph Yusuf I would rule until his death on 17 November, 1927.

On 14 February, 1920, President Albert Beveridge announced that the Constitutional Convention would resume its activities, under the protection of the American Legion, who would occupy the Independence Hall and its precincts for the duration. The delegates gathered uncomfortably, well aware that everything said during the proceedings would be immediately reported to the White House and that all statements would be closely analysed for their content and tone. They had already been warned that any criticism of the current Administration could result in their arrest on criminal charges.

Two weeks earlier, one of the hierarchy of the Administration had decided that it was time to make a contingency plan. Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, had made contact with officials in the British Embassy and had asked their assistance. He had been placed in contact with a Canadian counter-intelligence team, specifically instituted by the Borden Government with the intent of infiltrating the United States and preventing any threat to the political and economic stability of Canada. His purpose: to prepare for a military coup d'etat in case one should become necessary.

He took into his confidence Major General Hugh Scott, who had quietly complained about the growing American Legion. While not as well-armed, it had grown larger than the Army itself and had established chapters all across America. The Canadians had recently expelled a number of Americans, allegedly for attempting to establish a secret base in Saskatchewan, and General Scott could not be certain that the Administration had not authorised the action. Tensions on the northern border were worse than they had been in over a century. Scott was also rather peeved about military desegregation, but it was his concern about the paramilitaries that moved him to join the conspiracy.

On the side of the workers, the union movement had declared that they would hold a "National Day of Action" on 15 March, and stated that such rolling stoppages would continue until the Meitzen Affair had been fully investigated. Behind them was the IWW's ragtag "People's Action Alliance", a group about fifty thousand strong who were taking great advantage of their Second Amendment rights and buying large amounts of weaponry. In the South, the White Citizens Movement had begun to re-organise and was doing the same, with the tacit support of the Ku Klux Klan.

Vice President Warren Harding, Attorney General Harry Daughtery and National Investigations Bureau Director, Mitchell Palmer all advised the President that the day may be coming, in short order, where martial law would be required. Beveridge agreed that the threats to the Administration were growing by the day, but he was reluctant to take such drastic action with an election looming on the horizon in November. He had pledged to bring war to the Socialist threat; it was appearing increasingly inevitable that civil war might be the outcome.

The response on 2 April would be somewhat different. On 23 March, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Admiral Benson (right) by the National Investigations Bureau. He was charged with treason. Fortunately for Benson, he was spirited across the northern border into Newfoundland incognito and placed aboard a ship to Britain before the Government could respond. Nonetheless, it was sufficient for the President to become convinced of a British plot to overthrow the American government and for the union movement and the SLP to be classified as tools of conspiracy by foreign socialists. He resolved to meet them with force.

On 2 April, the Second Day of Action became the largest show of force by the union movement to date. Modern estimates put the number of protestors at over fifty thousand. On orders from the President, the Army moved in. During a series of gun battles across America's industrial heartland, 1556 people were killed. The Socialist Labor Party headquarters in Terre Haute, Indiana, was raided by the NIB and a number of members of Congress detained for questioning. Party leader Debs was placed under arrest for sedition and treason, accused of plotting to overthrow the Administration. Defence Secretary John W. Weeks, Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, Labor Secretary James Davis and Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace all resigned in protest.

President Beveridge called for calm, stating that, while the socialist threat remained, America would be safer in the days to come. However, it was his Administration that had come under threat. The arrest of Congressional members antagonised the moderates within his own party. On 26 April, the day following the convictions in the Meitzen case, Senator Hiram Johnson of California split the Republican Party for the second time in fifteen years, taking large numbers out of the Republican caucus with him and joining the Democratic Party en masse, stating the need to form a unified Congress. On the same day, the Senate issued subpoenas for Vice President Harding, Attorney General Daughtery and NIB Director Palmer.

Her Victorian gown was enhanced by ten thousand pearls, puffed sleeves and silk slippers. Her bouquet was yellow roses, gardenias, orchids, lily of the valley and freesia, with accents of mrytle from Queen Victoria's garden at Osborne House. The "old" lace on the "new" dress came from the collection of Dowager Empress Alexandra, the consort of the late Edward VII, now approaching eighty. The tiara on her head had once belonged to Maria Feodorovna, wife of Tsar Paul I, and held nearly 130 carats of diamonds, having been "borrowed" from the Russian Tsar for the occasion. The "blue" was a dainty bow on the bodice of her gown.

During the ceremony, Edward, the 25-year-old Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, presented his new wife with a wedding band fashioned from Welsh gold. Afterwards, the new couple's wedding breakfast at the Buckingham Palace consisted of brill in lobster sauce, chicken breasts garnished with lamb mousse and strawberries in cornish cream, washed down with claret and port. The cake was five tiers, with a garden of confectionary roses accenting an ornamental "E" for Edward and "O" for his third cousin, Princess Olga of Hesse, daughter of the former Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

In a brief interview with the times, the new Princess of Wales spoke about her trips to Russia since the Revolution and her gratitude for the welcome of the Russian people. She also spoke about her late mother, Princess Alix, who had died just last year. She also confirmed that Prince Alexei (left), the former Tsarevich, would remain at Eton College. However, the most important question would be answered just eleven months later, when, on 17 January, 1921, Princess Olga gave birth to George Nicholas Albert Michael. Two and a half years later, she would give birth to Alexandra Victoria Olga Mary and then in 1926, to Edward Frederick Arthur George.

In June, 1913, he served as the Imperial Envoy to St Petersburg, negotiating the normalisation of relations between the two empires after decades of tensions and winning the favour of the Kurds for his expansion of their kingdom at the expense of the Persians. Three years later, he served as the Commander of the Ottoman forces in overthrowing the Wahhabi Kingdom of Nejd and deposed the Saud family. He also led the negotiations with established the line of demarcation, permanently separating the Arabian peninsula into Ottoman and British spheres of influence.

The most transformational event in the life of King Hussein was the debate over the role of the Caliphate, which became a central theme of Ottoman life following the demise of the Sultan during the Great Plague of 1918-19. In the argument over the separation of church and state, it became clear that Mehmed VI would not compromise due to his fear of the power of the Hashemite family. While retaining the title of King of Arabia, King Hussein compromised by agreeing to surrender the title of Sherif, thus preventing the Ottoman Empire from plunging into civil conflict. However, the Hashemite family came to strongly resent the sacrifices they had been forced to make.

On 4 April, 1920, King Hussein, endorsed by the overwhelming majority of Arabs, announced his intention to seek Arabian independence. He stated that this would take place as a negotiated process, specifically stating that he wished to retain good relations with the Ottoman and British Empires. (Poor relations with the Persians meant that he could not do otherwise.) The Sultan, having been advised of Arab intentions, asked for a meeting in the capital, Beirut and invited the British to mediate in the dispute between the houses of Osman and Hashem.

After three weeks of intense negotiations, King Hussein agreed to postpone political secession. In return, he received substantial revisions to the Seven-Year Plan which benefited the Asiri, the Yemeni and the Nejd, as well as making substantial improvements to the Al Hasa coastline. The United Kingdom again came to the party as the international financier, but demanded in return for its investment a concession of land south of Al Kuwait, increasing the holdings of the Sabah family by approximately one third. It was agreed that the three parties would meet again to discuss the matter in 1923.

In early 1920, the Prime Minister sent notes to his fellow heads of government asking for an Imperial Conference. Those invited were:

Canada: Sir Robert Borden;

New Zealand: Patrick Webb (Prime Minister Hindmarsh had died in the Great Plague);
Ireland: John Dillon; and

They gathered in Cairo in April to discuss a way forward, with the Earl of Koubah chairing the conference.

MacDonald found himself facing some strong opinions, particularly from Charlton and Borden. Borden (right) was concerned that London was refusing to take seriously the potential threat of civil unrest in the United States spilling across the border; he was supported strongly by Cashin in this regard. Charlton had heard reports from his countrymen about the bloodshed in India during the mutiny of 1911-14 and was not prepared to continue to support the aims of the Empire unless Australia could have some say to as how and where her troops were used. Furthermore, Charlton summed up the beliefs of many other delegates when he stated there was no reason why the Indians and the British should be entitled to "lord it over us all". They wanted both India and Great Britain classified as Dominions and an agreement that all Dominions would be equal in status, not subordinate to each other in any way, but united through a common allegiance to the Crown, a common defence and a common foreign policy.

Borden's recommendation was that they should establish an Imperial Council, to administer the defence and foreign affairs of the Empire, rather than having rule emanating out of London, with each Dominion having just one vote. MacDonald was prepared to reach agreement on this, but wished to reserve the right for England, Scotland and Wales to be considered as three separate Dominions for the purposes of voting, giving Britain three votes to one vote for everyone else. General Smuts summed up the attitude of others when he told MacDonald that if Scotland and Wales wanted to vote separately, then they should not be ruled from Westminster. In fact, none of them should be ruled from Westminster and the legislative authority of the British Parliament over the Dominions should be revoked. Borden added that their Governors-General should only serve as representatives of the Crown, not the British government. In short, the Dominions wanted equality.

MacDonald was shocked by the demands, but had received commitments that together, the Dominions would cover two-fifths of the cost of Imperial defence. This would allow for a substantial increase in the British, strike that, the Imperial Defence Forces while actually lowering the cost of defence to the British government itself, as well as providing extra resources or perhaps tax cuts for the average British worker. He agreed to take the matter under advisement. He was not surprised that the Conservative Party hated the idea; however, the Liberals, who were prepared to negotiate, signalled their consent to most of the terms but managed to get Britain the three votes it wanted (to represent all the other parts of the Empire). The Koubah Declaration, as the agreement would later become known, was passed by the British Parliament in 1923 and gave birth to "The Condominium".

The response was riots in the streets of most American cities. The climax came on 15 August, when a massive group of citizens occupied the Capitol, demanding the restoration of the Congress. As the American Legion began to move into position around the building, one of the protestors emerged holding a white flag of truce. He was shot down on the Capitol steps. Not long after, the Capitol was ablaze (right). While much of the building's exterior survived intact, the Library and the interior was utterly destroyed. The heat of the flames brought down the cast-iron dome, and the 6800 kg Statue of Freedom plunged nearly three hundred feet from her pinnacle into the burning wreck.