Temeraire Series Timeline

A brief outline of relevant events

## 1792

**Lord Macartney's embassy to China**: His ship, the Lion, becomes the first Western vessel to chart the Bay of Zhitao.  Macartney refuses to perform the ritual obeisance, the kow tow, to the Emperor of China and the British expedition is forced to leave. wikipedia:George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney

**William Laurence**: is promoted to lieutenant in the Royal Navy.  He serves under Capt. Barstowe on the HMS Shorewise.

## 1798

**August 1-2**: British victory under Nelson at the Battle of the Nile ends French ambitions of conquering Egypt. William Laurence and Jane Roland are present at the battle, but in different branches of the British military and do not meet.

## 1805

**Early January**: The HMS Reliant, under the command of Captain William Laurence, battles and captures the French frigate the Amitié. Aboard the frigate a dragon egg is found and the crew draws lots to see who will attempt to harness the dragonet.

**Mid-January**: A week after the capture of the Amitié, the dragon egg hatches and the dragonet chooses Laurence as his captain. Reluctantly, Laurence harnesses the young dragon and names him Temeraire. Laurence appoints Lt. Tom Riley as Reliant's captain.

**Early February**: The Reliant, with its prize the Aimitié, ports at Funchal, Maderia. During their short stay, Captain Portland of the British Aerial Corps attempts to transfer Laurence's captain-ship over Temeraire to a trained aviator, but this ultimately fails. Laurence and Temeraire board a dragon transport bound for England.

**Late February**: Laurence and Temeraire report to Aerial Command near Chatham, outside London, and are redirected to Loch Laggan for training. Here they beginning training with Captain Matthew Berkley and his Dragon Maximus under the supervision of Celeritas.

**Early April**: Temeraire assists Victoriatus, who was wounded in a skirmish with French dragons over the North Sea.

**Mid-April**: Temeraire begins formation training.

**Mid/Late June** : Jean-Paul Choiseul, on the dragon Praecursoris, arrives at Loch Laggan.

**Early August**: Temeraire and his crew begin to test his devised aerial formations.

**August 21**: Villeneuve ports at Cádiz.

**Early September**: Before they are able to demonstrate Temeraire and Laurence's newly devised aerial formations, Captain Langford James and his dragon Volatilus interrupt to deliver the news that Villeneuve has been “penned” up at Cádiz. Lily’s formation is transferred to Dover.

**September 30**: Captain Jane Roland and Excidium leave Dover for Cádiz. He arrives two weeks later, and the British begin their attack on the Spanish.

**October 12**: James and Volly brings news of Roland and Excidium's safe arrival at Cádiz. Choiseul attempts to kidnap Catherine Harcourt and Lily.

**October 21**: The British defeat the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar. Excidium, Mortiferus, Laetificat, and Volly all present. Admiral Nelson is wounded during the Battle.

**October 24**: James and Volly arrive early morning to announce British victory at Trafalgar. Choiseul is executed.

**October 25**: Praecuroris is sent to a transport heading for Nova Scotia. Public celebration is held for the victory at Trafalgar and fireworks are shot off over the mouth of the Thames.

**October 26**: Jeremy Rankin spies Bonaparte's plans for Dover. Levitas dies.

**October 27**: An attempted French invasion of Britain is prevented by British victory at the Battle of Dover. Temeraire discovers the Divine Wind.

**November 20**: A Dakota is transferred from Greenland to Britain, introducing the Dragon Plague to the British Aerial Corps.

**December 2**: Napoleon defeats Russia and Austria at the Battle of Austerlitz.

**December 25**: Christmas. Sun Kai recites poetry by Lung Li Po, initiating Temeraire's Chinese education.

## 1806

**January 31**:  The Allegiance crosses the equator en-route to China.

**February 18**: Chinese New Year. Feng Li attempts to murder William Laurence.

**March**: The Allegiance arrives/leaves Capetown, Africa

**June 17**: The Allegiance arrives in Macao.

**October 14**: Prussia defeated at the Battle of Jena-Auerstadt . These battles are notable for the innovative uses that the French put their arieal corps to. Many of these innovation can be attributed to Lung Tien Lien's influence over the French at this time.

**November 4**: In a series of surprise attacks on the road, Napoleon defeats the Russian army before it reaches Warsaw.  Laurence leaves the Prussian army and heads for home.

**November 6 - 20**: The Siege of Danzig. In comparison to the other towns sieged during the winter of 1806 by the French, Danzig is exceptional in that a large proportion of the garrison were able to escape the city and were not forced to give their parole to the French. Temeraire, and a group of around 20 feral dragons ferried approximately 15,000 men to a British Fleet stationed in the Baltic Sea.

**December 18**: Temeraire, Iskierka and a group of twenty feral dragons are attacked by a French patrol off the coast of Scotland as they arrive in Britain.

**December 1806 / January 1807**: By this time every British dragon has contracted the Dragon Plague. The British air defence against Napoleon's attacks is now little more than a show screen. The defenses are bolstered by the return of Temeraire and the fit dragons accompanying him.  Admiral Jane Roland and Laurence attempt to get the Admiralty to cough up the funds necessary to provide for the sick dragons.  Plans for the construction of the first British Dragon Pavilion are made; it is to be erected on the quarantine grounds to ease the sick.  Temeraire and William Wilberforce hold a dinner party to raise funds for the sick dragons while advancing the Abolitionist cause.

## 1807

**January**: The French begin to suspect the British weakness. The courier dragon Sauvignon is brought down by Temeraire while attempting to spy on the British coverts. The two dragons land accidentally in the quarantine grounds, exposing them to the plague. Both are expected to die. Temeraire is bred with Felicita in an attempt to retain some Celestial genes within the British dragon population. However, after Temeraire does not fall ill within five days, the dragon surgeon Keynes grudgingly admits that Temeraire ''may'' have contracted the plague during his voyage to China and ''may'' have recovered due to something he ate while in Cape Town.

**Late January / early February**: Lily's formation leaves for Cape Town aboard the Allegiance to search for the cure. Due to Captain Tom Riley's discomfort with female officers, Laurence initially agrees to serve as go-between between him and formation-leader Captain Catherine Harcourt.  However, a quarrel between Laurence and Riley makes this arrangement unworkable. Laurence and Temeraire leave the ship early to fly ahead to Cape Town and begin research on the cure.

**Mid-April**: The Allegiance arrives in Cape Town. After some experimentation, the British discover the mushroom which cures the Dragon Plague and begin sending out parties to harvest as much of it as possible, not realizing that they are in fact raiding Tswana mushroom cultivations.

**Early May**: Harcourt, Laurence, Chenery and their crews are captured by the Tswana dragon Kefentse and a band of warriors while harvesting (raiding) mushrooms.  They are taken to Mosi-oa-Tunya, the capital of the Tswana Kingdom ruled by Mokhachane I (d).

**Early June:** Mokhachane I (d) begins his crusade to expel slave traders from Africa. His forces including large numbers of dragons that attack European settlements across Africa. These strikes are successful and every target is destroyed with massive loss of life and territory.  Coinciding with these attacks, Lily and Dulcia free Temeraire and the human captives from Mosi-oa-Tunya.  They return to Cape Town in time to cover the departure of the Allegiance for Britain, crowded with refugees. Captains Riley and Harcourt are married during the voyage.

**Late August**: The Allegiance reaches Britain, where Iskierka and Arkady's ferals have been doing well at capturing French prize ships and where Iskierka has had her own pavilion built.

**Early September**: The British Admiralty releases Sauvignon in an effort to spread the Dragon Plague to the continent.  Temeraire and Laurence steal samples of the mushroom from the Loch Laggan covert and take them to France.  Laurence insists on returning to Britain, where he is subsequently convicted of treason and condemned to be executed.  This sentence is immediately stayed on the condition of Temeraire's good behaviour.  Temeraire is sent to the Pen Y Fan Breeding Grounds.

**Early November**: Harcourt's and Riley's child born.  The birth is difficult, and to Harcourt's and Lily's disappointment, the child is a boy.

**Early December**: Napoleon's troops successfully invade Britain.  Laurence reaches Dover after the sinking of the HMS Goliath, on which he was being transported as a prisoner.  Temeraire receives word through Moncey that the Goliath has been lost with all hands.  Believing Laurence to be dead, he organizes a regiment of unharnessed dragons and leads them from the breeding grounds to fight the French.

**Late December**: Harcourt returns to active duty, leaving the child with Riley and a wet nurse.  By this time Napoleon's troops have occupied London. The British government and the King have fled to Scotland, as have the land and air forces, including Laurence, Temeraire and the unharnessed regiment.

## 1808

**January-February**: On General Wellesley's orders, Laurence leads a party of harnessed and unharnessed dragons in guerrilla raids against the French.  Knowing that there are likely to be official inquiries later on as to the legitimacy of this style of warfare, Laurence agrees to cooperate with Wellesley on the condition that the other British Aerial Corps officers under his command will be given ''written'' orders absolving them of any responsibility, while he himself is under verbal orders only.

**March (sometime between 3rd and 13th)**: Napoleon and his troops are expelled from Britain at the Battle of Shoeburyness.  Admiral Nelson is killed and almost all of his fleet destroyed in a tidal wave raised by Lien to cover the French retreat.

**April**: Nelson's funeral.  The HMS Allegiance sails for Australia as a prison ship, carrying Temeraire and Laurence along with other prisoners.  Laurence's death sentence has been commuted to transportation and labour in return for his cooperation in getting Temeraire - and Temeraire's political organizing - out of Britain.

**December:** The ''Allegiance'' reaches Australia, where it finds the ousted Governor William Bligh exiled to Van Dieman's Land. They take him to Sydney, now controlled by the New South Wales Corps, but do not attempt to reinstate him.

## 1809

**January**: The HMS Beatrice reaches Sydney, bringing a group of aviator candidates headed by Jeremy Rankin. Caesar hatches and chooses Rankin as his captain.