Timeline of modern history (1950-1959)

(continues from years 1940-1949)
==1950s: Nuclear Dawn — Shadows of Armageddon==
===1950===
*The "Vernalization" miracle. Despite a harsh winter, research tracts of land east of the Urals using the vernalization process record bumper harvests of up to 150%. The Workers' Republic of Vidalia is now in the midst of an economic boom, thanks to the new process.
*Canberra Treaty ends War of the Confederacy. Signed between the Empire of the Rising Sun and the Atlantic Federation, the treaty stipulated that continental Asia was to be ceded to the Empire, but European settlers in Australia will be guaranteed the protection of the Emperor of Japan. The Empire in return recognises claims by the Atlantic Federation to Hawaii, Aotearoa and Tasmania.
*Vidalist riots rock Egypt. Massive riots strike cities throughout the Iskandariyyah cantonment, with calls of "Down with feudalist superstition!" and "Long live Sheikh Vidal!" being the slogans of protestors. As a result thereof, spontaneous protests break out again throughout Damascus as Sunni and Shiite unite once more to call on the Caliph to restore order.
*Rise of the Nuclear Age. In the middle of the Sahara desert, a team of Salviatian scientists - Dr Klaus Saubermann, Julius O Oppenheimer and Niels Bohr - finally manage to split the atom. Despite insistence from Oppenheimer that the power be used for peaceful uses, Bohr and Saubermann commence work on nuclear weapons research, otherwise known as Malluma Suna. The world is now concerned that Salviatia now has a powerful weapon of mass destruction.
*SI militarised. Ibn Aman, head of TILSA, declares that Shabab lil-Ijtihad will also include weapons training and drills for male adolescent members (being wholly compulsory for all children in Jihadia), making the Jihadian youth movement into a paramilitary force "as part of imparting the glorious history and traditions of Ijtihad into Muslim youth".
===1951===
*End of the Angolan War of Succession: A ceasefire is finally called in Luanda, and elections, overseen by Tapiocapolis, are carried out. A referendum selects João Mercurial, a Christian Democrat, as leader of the all-new Bolivarian State of Angola, much to protests from Vidalopol, Johannesburg and Damascus.
*James Bananius joins the KGV. Now working as a private oil contractor in Libya, James Bananius is recruited by the KGV and sent along with 2 other agents by Vidalopol to Central Africa: Alexey Moskvin; a colonel in the KGV; and Mahmoud Dariyan; an Iranian KGV operative.
*Outbreak of the Second Levantine War:
**Riots in Middle East protesting Vidalian persecution. News that Vidalians have closed down five clandestine suraus throughout cities in Vidalia and executed 50 Muslim converts as "Jihadian secessionists" sparks riots that rock Baghdad, Mecca, Mosul and Ankara in February. Many of these riots are directed at the preceived incompetence of Jihadia in defending Muslims.
**Moroccan plane shot down over Aswan. A military airplane is downed in Egypt by Jihadian murafiqeen forces fearing a Vidalian incursion, but investigation of the wreckage shows that the plane was of Salviatian make with Moroccan markings. The Salviatian ambassador to Jihadia, in Jaffa, Palestine, is given 72 hours to leave the country.
**Vidalian buildup of forces throughout the Caucasus. TILSA operatives working with the Horde Secret Service report back to Damascus that Vidalian military forces are being built up in the Caucasus around the Black Sea region. Worried about another Vidalian invasion, Jihadia calls on the Federation for help.
**Julius Oppenheimer escapes to Turkey. In a press conference on 28 September, Julius Oppenheimer, a dissident scientist from Salviatia escaped to Jihadia, reveals that Salviatia is trying to create weapons of mass destruction to conquer the world, and declares that he has revealed secrets of the manufacture of such missiles and given details of Salviatia's nuclear programme to TILSA.
**Salviatian troops occupy Bosporus. Franz-Heinrichsstadt orders that the rogue scientist be extradited back, but when no response is heard from the Jihadians, Salviatian troops and armies based in the Balkans immediately enter Greece and cross the Bosporus into Turkey, and capture Istanbul by nightfall on 9 October.
**Vidalia invades Turkey. Simultaneously, the Black Fleet based in the Crimea immediately mobilises, and an invasion force of 70,000 lands on the northern shores of Turkey, taking Konya by 14 October. It is clear that the intent of Vidalia and Salviatia is to capture Oppenheimer, but the Caliphal Army smuggles him out on an old fishing vessel to Egypt, where he arrives by 21 October. At the same time, Vidalian fleets are sent into the Atlantic in secret to deter resupply of African or Salviatist forces from the Americas.
===1952===
*Second Levantine War:
**Vidalian forces capture Tehran. Vidalian tanks roll unopposed into Tehran on 2 February.
**Battle of Inçirlik. Moving further into the mountains, Salviatian troops are surprised by an ambush by Jihadian guerillas. Although they cause massive casualties, Jihadian forces are compelled by the overwhelming numbers of the Salviatian defenders to escape further into the Taurus mountains, after 1 week of fighting.
**Political crises. The prospect of an enlarged Vidalist state destablising world politics is one that does not sit well with OGRE, or the Oceania General Retailers' Executive, which replaced the GRO in previous years. Ottawa decides to call upon India and her masters in Tentai-Zu to lend a hand. Permission is given by Tentai-Zu to Ottawa to do so on 26 February. The same situation of worry dominates Vidalopol as Red Army advisors attempt to find a way to capture Oppenheimer and avoid an all-out war with Salviatia, which now possesses the V-II missile technology.In the midst of the fracas, riots in Libreville force out Moroccan and Salviatist forces from Gabon, creating the Free Republic of Gabon, with Étienne Bunoh as its "president". It is suspected that the Vidalian KGV is behind the revolution.
**Jihadian leadership moves to Sana'a and Kabul. Knowing that to fight both Salviatia and Vidalia head-on would be a grievious mistake, Emir Abu Nuhass, field-marshall of the Murafiqeen-l' Ummah, suggests splitting the nation into two command areas: the Arabian theatre with command in Sana'a, and another command centre in Kabul, where TILSA and the Deir will be moved to. The Caliph agrees to the plan, knowing that Vidalian and Salviatian forces may fight one another for custody of Oppenheimer.
===1953===
*Second Levantine War:
**Formation of the Frisian League. Quisling, de Kop and Delrouel form the Frisian League, a semi-autonomous confederation of European regencies within the Greater Salviatian Staat.
**Caliphal government arrives at Kabul. Thanks to Abu Nuhass' Fabian strategy, the Jihadian government safely arrives in a heavily fortified Kabul at the beginning of the year, but the Caliph immediately falls ill. Wahhab ibn Aman az-Zarqa, head of TILSA's security forces, immediately declares himself the Caliph's Na'ib or representative despite opposition from the 10-man Deir.
**Escalation of the war. At talks with TILSA operatives, representatives from FRAT, ethnic Armenian Horde fighters and Imperial dignitaries hosted by the Dalai Lama in Lhasa, it is agreed that India and Jihadia will cooperate again on resisting Vidalian aggression in the Middle East, with funds provided by the Atlantic Federation and military access through the now-thawing North Pole covered by colonel Monika Haykovan, a female Horde military leader bribed by the Federation.
**James Bananius arrives in Central Africa on 5 May. It is at this time that Vidalia announces its own nuclear programme and a new weapon: radioactive missiles. While Vidalia now has Dr Oppenheimer under custody, the Workers' Arsenals Commission has yet to create a working nuclear bomb, but begin production of the new missiles for use against Salviatian forces in Turkey.
**Vidalian Red Army captures Sweden. Fighting from Vidalian Karelia, the Ural Workers' Liberation Forces and the Red Navy invade Scandinavia in Operation Perkkele. Crossing the border on 8 May, eastern Scandinavia falls to Vidalian forces on 19 June. The royal family of Sweden, House Bernadotte, is captured and taken back to Vidalopol; the disgraced president of Sverigefolksdemokraterna (the Swedish chapter of Vorwärts!), Argus Bokuslare, commits suicide and his remaining forces are withdrawn across the Baltic to reinforce Denmark.
**Battle of Sinope. Salviatian and Vidalian tanks clash near the harbour of Sinope. Despite suffering heavy casualties, Vidalian forces finally take Sinope, rolling back the Salviatian defence lines and reducing the Salviatian presence to Cyprus, Lesbos and Istanbul. Turkey is now practically in Vidalian hands.
**Vidalian forces now control eastern Anatolia and Iran, and begin the Battle of Damascus. Street fighting amongst Jihadian forces led by the Caliphal Guard and Vidalian Black Navy Marines devastate the city, but the Caliphal Guard is exterminated to a man in over 5 months. Almost no Jihadians survive the battle, and Mesopotamia is now Vidalian territory effective 28 June.
**1st Battle of Vidalopol. On 1 July, Federal warplanes bombard Vidalopol, destroying munitions factories producing the new radioactive missiles the Vidalian government previously boasted about, causing massive casualties. Sources from the European Brotherhood soon indicate that among the dead was Julius Robert Oppenheimer.
**The Marazov Brigade attacks. Armed by Federal agents through SAO sponsors, the Indian-trained and Jihadian-recruited Marazov Brigade attacks eastern Iran, pushing back Vidalian forces to Tehran by winter.
**Conflict in the Atlantic Ocean. Although war is not declared, tensions between Vidalia and Bolivaria escalate, culminating in the destruction of a Bolivarian convoy possibly en route to Gabon.
===1954===
*Second Levantine War:
**Moroccan forces land in Haifa. Despite protests from Kabul, the new capital of Jihadia, a joint Salviatian-Moroccan force beaches at Haifa, and proceeds to retake Syria, reaching the Taurus mountains by 1 October. Unfortunately, the road to Syria is rife with Jihadian bandits and rebels who do not want the Moroccans, and the invasion force from Palestine kills more Jihadians than Vidalians, given that most Vidalian forces had vacated Syria.
**2nd Battle of Vidalopol: Despite a massive bombing raid by Federal aircraft, a naval bombardment of Vidalopol instead becomes a nightmare as the Vidalians' Arctic fleet destroy the Federal armada, capturing a submarine and two aircraft carriers on 9 October.
**Ibn Aman's religious reforms. In the main Jihadian fortress of Kabul, Ibn Aman, the Na'ib to the Caliph, declares that the Caliphate's religion is now known as "Islam Jihadia"; or "Jihadist Islam". This policy states that it is every Muslim's duty to slay the infidel and give no quarter to any who resist Jihadian forces or harm Muslims, regardless. The youth SI movement is now elevated to the status of an auxiliary corps within the Murafiqeen, Jihadia's law enforcement and military force.
**Battle of Tannenberg. Heartened by results in Scandinavia and Turkey, Vidalian forces invade en masse in Poland. They manage to reunite Poland together, but are repulsed by Salviatian forces in a fighting retreat at Tannenberg.
**Rise of James Bananius. At this point, riots occur throughout Central African territories garrisoned by South African forces, and a coup forces Mercurial in Angola to flee to South America. A provisional administration committee is headed by the Bananius-Moskvin-Dariyan troika to administer Vidalist communes in Central Africa, and a Vidalist government under Jonas Savimbi is installed in Luanda.
===1955===
*Insurrection in south-west Africa. South African troops clash with Angolan Vidalist forces near the Namib in several occasions throughout the year.
*Second Levantine War:
**Vidalist regime set up in Iran and Turkey. Called the Workers' Republic of Transcaucasia, the new client state is hailed by Vidalopol as "A new great step towards world revolution and freedom."
**Secret talks between Vidalian and Bolivarian diplomats in Sebastopol, regarding Angola and the relations of the two powers to the Atlantic Federation.
**Goldstein Brigade receives Vidalian help. Eager to gain a foothold on North America, Vidalian agents are dispatched to the Pacific coast of North America to liaise with the Goldstein Brigade.
===1956===
*Ethnic cleansing in southern Africa. As local dissatisfaction reaches its peak, African freedom fighters now wage a war of extermination, where the goal is to kill as many of the white South African troops occupying their land and any settlers that may have arrived with them. This also includes oil rig workers from the Federation.
*Creation of apartheid state. On 8 January, Ter Jonge, South Africa's president, declares a state of emergency and so-called "apartheid" laws, which restrict the rights and movement of South Africa's ethnic blacks, citing that further unrest in Africa was being created by cross-border collaborations between ethnic black Africans required the curtailing of blacks' rights as a matter of national security. The apartheid doctrine also means that any intervention in South African affairs to aid ethnic blacks — meaning, Vidalia in other words — will immediately result in an automatic declaration of war with that power.
*Second Levantine War:
**Battle of Irkutsk. Anti-Vidalist factions of the Horde, aided by 2 Federal tank battalions, smash the People's Republic of Irkutsk in a single battle. The LV-28s fielded by Republic forces are no match for Federal armour.
**Assault on Mosul. Vidalians are rolled back as Salviatian forces, aided by Moroccan infantry and dissident remnants of the Jihadian Murafiqeen, take Mosul.
===1957===
*Vidalist agents 'liberate' Kampala. A Vidalist revolution breaks out and the Vidalist Republic of bUganda is formed, but is put down with the help of South African troops and mercenaries from the Islamic imamates to the east and Salviatian agents.
*End of the Second Levantine War:
**Cairo Conference. By the end of February, all sides are willing to make peace. At the Cairo Conference, the following terms are agreed to unanimously:
***Arctic Circle divided. The Arctic Circle is divided up into spheres of influence for Vidalia, the Horde, Salviatia and the Federation. Greenland is divided into 3 different sectors.
***Jihadia restored. All lands taken by Salviatia and Vidalia in the Middle East are to be returned back to Jihadia; North Africa is to be demilitarised and set up as a buffer zone between Jihadia and the Moroccan sultanate.
***Vidalia accepts part of eastern Sweden. Lappland is appended to Vidalia, but the rest of the devastated country is to be placed under Salviatian military administration, joining former France, Iberia and Padania as areas making up the Staat (Norway and the Low Countries remain nominally autonomous in the Frisian League within Salviatia). Salviatia is now a land mass that now covers the whole of Europe from the Atlantic to the Carpathians.
***Asia and the Middle East divided into spheres. Horde territory is acknoweldged by all other powers to be the natural sphere of Vidalian influence; the Middle East as the Jihadian one and west Africa as the Salviatian sphere, which may not be violated by any other faction.
**Celebrations throughout the world. Despite the inconclusiveness of the war, all capitals immediately declare victory, but it is now clear that Vidalia, Salviatia and the Atlantic Federation are now the dominant powers, while the People's Republic of Irkutsk is still left fighting with the Indian Confederacy. This war is now known as the First South Asian War.
*New Dalai Lama in Tibet. After a nearly 25-year interregnum, a new Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is crowned with the Black Hat, making him the 2nd leader of the Sacred Empire of Tibet.
===1958===
*End of the First South Asian War. The People's Republic of Irkutsk and the Indian Confederacy accept offers for a five-year armistice. It is that moment that Vidalia steps in to provide "humanitarian aid" to the beleagured people of Irkutsk.
*The "Iceland Incident". A rogue Vidalist expeditionary force to Iceland is wiped out, allegedly when attempting to seize control of the island from Salviatist garrison forces, who received aid from the Federation. The incident is officially recorded as an incident started by mistake, but popular belief has it that the official explanation is but a conspiracy attempted to cover up something bigger.
===1959===
*Vidalian agents in Lhasa. Eager to protect Vidalian interests in East Asia, Vidalian agents secure a secret pact between Lhasa and Vidalopol, where Vidalopol promises economic aid and help in exchange for support for Vidalia by the Tibetan Empire against India.
*Operation Comrade Amigo. A Vidalian-funded coup occurs in South America, overthrowing Nino Morales, but the coup also goes awry as it kills off the Vidalist-backed General Andres de Somoza. In the end, the only person who benefits is generalissimo Alfonso Lope Ramirez y Tapioca.
(continues at 1960-1977)
Category:Histories