So It Begins...
So It Begins…
The Nineteenth Century: The Saga of Equestria
At long last…January 1, 1836
Canterlot, Equestria
“Happy New Year, everypony!” exclaimed Twilight, as she entered the chambers of the Royal Council.
“Indeed,” said Celestia. “A new year is upon us.”
“And we are done westernizing!” exclaimed Cadance.
“Yes, we are. But we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves,” cautioned Celestia. “We still cannot afford to mess up. Now, at least we will be able to prick the United States in a war before it crushes us.”
That lovely line stalled conversation for a moment.
“Anyways, the ERV Equestria has been completed, as I am sure you all have seen,” Celestia went on, bridging the awkward silence. “We should build more ships like it. My calculations state that we can afford and support an additional four ships like it in our fleet.”
“Then let’s build them!” said Luna.
The other two Princesses nodded.
“Very well, we shall build them. I will authorize the purchase of the need supplies immediately.”
“What about the budget? Can we afford to?” interjected Cadance.
“Yes. As everypony knows, we have completed the westernization process. That really helps balance our budget, we have gone from bleeding money to a small surplus. ”
“If we have a surplus, we should raise spending across the board,” said Luna. “More in education, more in the military, more in administration.”
“That amount of spending would probably put us back into a deficit.”
“We could install a tariff,” said Twilight. “Think about it: we have practically never imported items for consumers. The ponies wouldn’t even realize that the goods are being taxed, as they would have no frame of reference to compare against.”
“I think such a policy would also be popular in the Assembly,” said Luna. “Controlled as it is by the Moderates, they would not raise a fit.”
“On the topic of the Assembly,” said Celestia, “they keep refusing to allow the government to build factories without raising Tartarus. I believe that we should...ah, realign the Assembly to a position that is more suited to us, taking advantage of the special delegate seats to appoint anypony we want.”
“Wait, why are they attempting to nullify a decree of the Council?”
“Not nullify, per se. Rather, the Chamber of Deputies, who, as you know, are responsible to oversee this kind of thing, conveniently ‘forgets’ to do such things. And if they do it, they almost always get ‘tied down’ in procedures that aren’t actually necessary. The Moderates are just obstructive towards building factories; they get in the way while technically not getting in the way.”
“Who should we empower, then?”
“Definitely not the pro-business faction, as they want us to get out of business altogether.”
“Then we reshuffle the Assembly to favor the coalition of the Reactionaries,” decided Celestia.
“Can somepony explain to me how we outlawed political parties, but still ended up with three de facto political parties?” asked Twilight.
Celestia sighed. “I probably should have known that we won’t be able to just eliminate them. In their place, these informal political ‘coalitions’ have formed. I don’t think we should clamp down on them. Let us look the other way, for now.”
“I agree, but I have another concern,” said Luna. “I am surprised by you, Celestia. You banned political parties without seeking the permission of the Council. Such an action should have required a vote amongst the Princesses.”
Celestia blinked. “I did what I thought was best for Equestria.”
“I believe you. However, we are a team. Everypony on this Council is equal to each other. No one of us is more important than the others, and we work together to serve Equestria. No hard feelings, I just hope in the future, you will seek the consent of the rest of the Council before making such a bold motion.”
Celestia dipped her head slightly.
“Excellent,” said Luna. “Now, we have something else to discuss: foreign nations.
“Let us start with the most obvious: Griffonia. I trust you all heard of the rebellion?”
Celestia and Cadance both nodded, muttering words of sympathy. Twilight, however, said “I have been very busy with the Royal Ministry. Rebellion in Griffonia?”
“Yes. Apparently, the more reactionary nobles of Griffonia banded together and forced King Odrynn to the negotiating table over their westernization process. Unlike Equestria, nobles in Griffonia are allowed to possess private retinues of troops. It’s a much more feudal system. With the threat of these troops, the reactionary faction was able to force Odrynn to reverse most of the reforms. He will have to start all over, this time trying to keep the nobles’ favor.”
“That’s terrible. Glad the nobles here can’t do more than whine loudly.”
“Indeed. Now, the question is: Should Odrynn and Griffonia ask for our aid, would we help them, bearing in mind it is unlikely to be a cheap process.”
“Absolutely,” said Twilight. “To borrow a phrase from the ‘Founding Fathers’ that those Americans are so damn proud of: ‘We non-humans must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.’”
“There is some truth to that,” acknowledged Luna. “But if we were to approach Odrynn, we would probably do not but further alienate the reactionaries. Instead, we should wait for him to approach us. That way, it looks less like a foreign insurrection on our part.”
Several nods around the table.
“Good. Now, the so-called Republic of Texas.”
“That breakaway state from the Republic of Mexico? What a piece of-”
“Thank you, Twilight,” interrupted Celestia. Damn, she feels passionate right now.
“Sorry.”
“Anyways, the question is what we do. Texas has, de facto, established its independence, despite the efforts of - who was it? Santa Anna, I think? - to stop them. I hear he’s launching an offensive; we will have to see where it goes.”
“Mexico has another president?” asked Cadance. “What happened to Victoria?”
“Finished his term. The first and last Mexican president, so far, to serve a complete term in their country. Since then, the presidency has been bouncing back and forth between whatever general has enough troops to hold onto it.
“Anyways, the separatist Texas movement appears to be gaining steam. What we should note is that these ‘Texans’ is that they are Americans. They moved into Texas from the United States, and they probably have at least tacit support from the United States. Thus, we cannot afford to get involved, to insure that the United States does not get a reason to mess with us.”
“Would have been a great way to develop closer relations with Mexico,” mused Twilight. “But, keeping the Americans not angry at us is more important.”
“Indeed,” said Luna.
“Now, we should think larger-scale,” said Celestia. “Firstly, we have made contact with all of the eight so-called ‘Great Powers’ in the past few years. We have send diplomatic delegations to their nations, and they have with us. We will need to also keep their favor, to stay independent.”
“Britain and America aside, the next most important Great Power is probably the Russian Empire,” said Luna. “After all, it’s the closest Great Power, with most of the others in Europe.”
“They will require watching…” said Cadance.
“While we are talking about the human nations, we should also discuss the military,” said Celestia. “The massive recruitment drive we started after the Manetown Incident has greatly expanded the size of the military, but it has started to slack off after the Battle of Appleloosa. As it stands, the Royal Guard has two herds of infantry, one herd of artillery, and one herd of pegasi cavalry. The First Corps is less selective; it has four herds of infantry, two herds of pegasi dragoons, and two herds of artillery. In addition, in reaction to the Battle of Appleloosa, a militia, styling itself the ‘Royal Border Patrol,’ has surfaced. They number about six thousand strong, but lack all but the most basic of training.”
“That’s good for them, but we should funnel them into the actual military, if they so wish,” said Cadance. “Last thing we need is untrained militias on a battlefield with the Americans.”
“I am inclined to agree,” said Celestia. “That aside, I say that the military is doing just fine; we do not need to redeploy any troops or anything. Now, Luna, what do you have from the census?”
“Thank you, Celestia. The population of Equestria is five point two-five million. Of that, forty two percent are earth ponies, twenty eight percent are pegasi, and twenty eight percent are unicorns. We have a tiny minority of a bit under two percent buffalo. All ponies subscribe to Celestialism, all of the buffalo to the various different Animist religions. By far, most of the population are farmers; over seventy seven percent. Artisans make up a distant second, claiming seventeen percent of the population, mostly in urban areas. Soldiers are an even more distant third; with only two percent of the population. Following them are Royal Administrators, with one percent. Teachers, both Celestial and secular, makeup point eight percent. Everypony else is so much in the minority, they are hardly worth mentioning. Forty seven percent of our population identify as conservative, thirty eight percent are reactionary, and fifteen percent are liberal. Finally, the single most important issue to our population is maintaining the lessons of harmony in both the government and their lives. Next, is expanding the military to strengthen our standing against other nations.
“Almost one-third of our population lives in the Manehattan-Fillydelphia Region. The next highest region is Southern Equestria, where Cloudsdale and other provinces are dominated by pegasi. That region has a bit over twenty percent. Next is the Greater Canterlot Region, with a little over fifteen percent. Northern Equestria follows, with almost the same number as the Greater Canterlot. Population density quickly starts to fall off as one moves east, though: Clover Valley is home to just eight percent of the population, and the two unincorporated regions, Valmansas and Springdale, are home to two and one-fifth of one percent of the population, respectively. The percent of ponies that are considered literate is forty-five percent.”
“That low?”
“Yes. Bear in mind, this considers ‘literate’ as more than just able to read signs. We are talking about more intellectual levels, such as the ability to read some higher literature,” repled Luna.
“Thank you, sister. Now, Twilight has a report from the Royal Ministry of the Sciences and Arts.”
“Thank you, Princess Celestia.
“Our development of the mobile artillery has moved from the theoretical stage to action. I propose that we replace one of the artillery herds within the First Corps with a mobile artillery herd.”
“Sounds like a decent idea,” said Cadance. “If it is successful, then we should still retain some standard, heavier artillery, for the firepower.”
“Fair enough. Beyond the artillery, the Ministry is able to do whatever the Council commands.”
“For now, see if you can develop better hoof-held weapons. We need to keep an edge on the human nations, if we want to defend ourselves from them.”
January 2, 1836
Canterlot, Equestria
“...the Equestrian Royal Council has seen fit to reshuffle the Chamber of Deputies,” said Celestia, while speaking to the Advisory Assembly. “The following ponies are dismissed from their seats…”
As she listed the names, the named ponies, most of them Moderates, some of them Liberals, frowned, but held their peace. They could not complain that Celestia was delivering control of the Chamber of Deputies to the Reactionaries, as that would involve admitting that they had formed illegal political parties.
When she finished naming the new members of the Chamber of Deputies, the strong Moderate majority had been wiped out. Before the reshuffling of the lower house, the Moderates had a majority, possessing sixty three seats, compared to twenty six Reactionaries, and eleven Liberals. Celestia awarded all of the special delegate seats to the Reactionaries, and over half of the provincial seats, giving the Reactionaries a whopping eighty one seats, against thirteen Moderates and six Liberals.
“Now, the Royal Council wishes to build a cement factory in the Greater Canterlot Region…”
This maneuver also meant that the Chamber was going to end up electing a new Chief Deputy, as the Reactionaries would undoubtedly want a presiding officer sympathetic to them. The best part, for them, is the fact that only ponies in special delegate seats could be elected to the Chiefship. And all of the ponies in special delegate seats were Reactionaries.
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She did what she thought was best for Equestria. Is this a sign? IT'S A CONSPIRACY!
"Dear sweet Celestia, Mexican politics are...complicated."
Yep. Tell me about it.
Well, it was obvious the Texas rebellion would get attention. But now I imagine what the ponies will think of the many other rebellions. After all, before Texas, there was the Zacatecas rebellion in 1835, which failed of course, resulting in the creation of the state of Aguascalientes from Zacatecan land.
And then there's the eventual Rio Grande Republic rebellion of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas. Amusingly enough, at the time Coahuila claimed land that belonged to the state of Chihuaha when the RGR thing happened. Well, the RGR claimed all of Chihuahua and also the state of Durango, as well as parts of the New Mexico territory, but once that insurrection was over, Coahuila actually got to keep the lands it claimed from Chihuahua. Beats me how that managed to pass, when you consider Zacatecas lost land.
And the Yucatan rebellion as well. Which led to the Caste Wars that lasted pretty much all the latter half of the 19th Century. And all this happening in the span of 10~ years. "Instability" would certainly be an undersatement.
And do I even want to bring up the Pastry War? Okay, not an internal matter... but still...
Also, I found amusing Cadence asking about Guadalupe Victoria, considering that at that point his presidency had ended years ago. Though in our defense we didn't actually had that many presidential changes through force. Many were simply stepping up as replacements when the president left to fight a rebellion or something like that.
Okay, enough about my country. I expect Celestia's actions to come bite her later.
She really needs to step up her game. Many know that you do relatively fine if you favor the Conservatives in the early game.Certainly looking forward how the situation with Griffonia develops further. Admitedly, I don't remember much regarding Griffonia-related stuff of the mod, and then of course whatever is added or removed for this story.6937199
Well, I always go reactionary in the beginning, to jump-start industrialization and have access to more military spending...
6937215
Oh yes, State Capitalism and Jingoism combined sounds like a sweet deal. But maybe it's just from my experiences, but just letting Capitalists build stuff has been fine for me. Not to mention that a Conservative majority can be used to appease the populace once militancy rises enough for them to give in to passing a reform, more so since they will support either category at the same time.
Hold on, the population's political stand: 47% conservatives + 38% reactionaries + 14% Liberal = 99%... I'll assume that the last 1% decided to not answer or didn't cared.
hum Russia... This will get interesting, the Czars aren't people to screw around, it will be interesting when Alexander II comes in 1855.
I'll also suppose that 4 from the 8 "Great Powers" are The British, The French, The Russian and The Austrians, who are the other 4? The Ottomans counts even though they were looked as "the sick man of Europe"?
Not supporting México is sad, I hope that at least they will (at least) give indirect support to them (like giving food or other goods), or acting as political judges between any conflict between the US and México.
I see it coming, the Griffons will fall to the US, if the characterization of the King tell us anything he will not ask help on time and the nobles (which reminds me a lot of the caudillos of Venezuela (generals with personal armies), if Equestria ever got the chance to help, the first thing they need to do is to create a military academy so the nobles stop having their personal armies any longer.
Population inclined towards moderates, but assembly dominated by reactionaries... this will get very messy unless they change those seats in time.
Now, 1836, let's see who's in charge in Venezuela... Screw it, I will not even try to catch on until 1843 (when Páez becomes a President again).
6937473
Lol. No, the percentages not adding up to 100 simply comes from the fact I, like an idiot, dropped the decimals. That's all there is to that.
Great Powers, in order of rank:
1. Great Britain
2. France
3. The Russian Empire
4. Austria
5. Prussia
6. The United States
7. Spain
8. The Ottoman Empire (still holding on...barely)
EDIT: Rounded up the liberals to 15% to fix this.
6937199 While I find it sad that México won't get help from it, is it me, or Twilight is showing more leniency towards México (as in, she sees them as potential allies)?
6937487 Thanks, now Let's see:
Considering their position in the map, The Russian Empire is a big necessity for trade, since most of Equestria have farmers, food trade would be useful here (Applejack would be very useful since she is a good friend of Twilight, Apples will be very easy to trade in case that Russia is interested in it) and good relations with them might help them when the time comes for Alexander II decides to sell Alaska.
I think it would be useful for the long term to side with the Prussian (for certain Empire that will come in 1870) and I don't think it would hurt to side with Austria (but to be fair, I know little to nothing about the Austrians and their foreign policies, so maybe I would be wrong).
Siding with Spain might be bad is Equestria want to side with México or any other nation in South America.
6937491
Let's just say that anything is possible...
6937473
6937487
Well, there are actually a few more ideologies present in the game, though ones that don't have a political party and the like, though still end up with representation in the Upper House. There is stuff like Separatists, Subordinates, Insubordinates, etc. But it seems the remaining 1% was not these misc. categories then.
I would think Russian relations to not amount for much for quite a while, considering that Russia has most of its population and stuff west of the Urals. But since nevertheless Russia has lands close to Equestria, I'm not surprised for this development.
Adding to the GP thing, the game uses a score system to determine country rank, and the top 8 are the Great Power. Now, most of the time, the 8th GP position, and the 7th to a lesser extent, will change as the game progresses. Sometimes the Ottoman Empire, sometimes Sweden, sometimes Bavaria, sometimes Two Scicilies, sometimes Sardinia-Piedmont, etc. As such, you could say they are wild card GP slots during most of the game.
Hehe, I agree on Mexico there. But when stuff like El Alamo happens and with how Santa Anna executed the captured Texans despite the protest of his generals, I believe the princesses would not be keen of helping/supporting him out, as much as they don't look favorably much at the Texans either. But well, they most likely will be making up for it during Manifest Destiny anyway.
In general though, I'm not surprising for seeing Mexico as a potential ally. With the situation they have with the US, it's best to not end up doing the same with their only other human neighbor. Not to mention, the fact that the Texans are Americans, it adds fuel to that.
hmm mint how long before canada goes independent i think that the canadians would be a good ally but im not sure if your following actual world history
6938535
OTL, Canada was independent in 1867.
I too, think it would be greatly beneficial for Equestria to develop an alliance with the Russian Empire. At least, until the Czars are kicked out of power. Things will become a lot different once Russia converts over to communism. However, I feel that becoming allies with Canada would be spectacular! That would provide Equestria a northern ally to help protect them from the United States, should they ever decide to attack Equestria for who knows what reason.
I like where this is going so far, and I look forward to the next chapter(s).
~ Super-Brony12
6939907 For Canada to ally with Equestria it should also include the Griffon Kingdom (since It's between Canada and Equestria) or that Equestria find a way to connect with them (either annexing the Griffon Kingdom one way or another, or through Sea, although the US could block them if they surround Equestria).
Well, the 1867 event did granted them a level of autonomy, but Canada itself remained a Federal Dominion of the UK until the Canada Act of 1982. It was basically a one big and long process of independence. So as I see it, at least until the mid 20th century, any dealings with Canada are still gonna involve the UK. Unless, of course, history takes a different course in this story regarding Canadian autonomy.
6940395
Very true. For all we know, Canada could somehow either gain independence from the UK a lot earlier or gain a higher level of autonomy than what they got in actual world history. To be honest, anything can happen at this point. Not only is this story based off a mod for a game, but this is also a fan fiction. For all we know, the Czars of Russia could stay in power through both World Wars, or Scotland could split away from Great Britain and become a world power on par with the other 'Big World Superpowers'. It really all depends on what direction mint20 wants to take this story in.
6940327
I agree. What would be really cool, is if you had this pact or alliance between the Russian Empire, Canada, Griffonia, Equestria, and maybe a few South American countries? That would make for a very interesting and compelling alliance.
6940465 Agreed, the problem is which nations would do the alliance? My main concern is that Argentina and Venezuela has problems with Great Britain (Argentina for the Maldives and Venezuela for the Essequibo), so those two could be ruled out unless the other nations decides to help with that, but I really doubt it would end well for both of them (even today it's still going on).
Since I'm from Venezuela, here it is our point of view: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_crisis_of_1895
But the problem didn't started out in 1895, it started around 1835 - 1840 when a Prussian named Robert Schomburgk did a sketch of the British Guyana and accidentally gave more land to the British (the territory line was separated by the Essequibo River, but the Schomburgk Line was beyond that) and over the course of the 19th Century the line was taking each time more and more territory from Venezuela (The President Antonio Guzmán Blanco would close relations with the British during his rule from 1870 - 1888 because of that) to the point that it was even taking the mouth of the Orinoco River (way past the Essequibo, it was almost in parallel with the Island of Trinidad), in the end, Venezuela asked for help to the US in 1895 by activating the Monroe Doctrine.
The US originally wasn't interested, but one of the new ambassadors was more lenient with Venezuela and convinced the US to interfere, and over the course of the years, the US managed to press the British to accept arbitration (which means a lot considering that the Prime Minister at the time hated arbitrations).
The Arbitration was with 5 judges: 2 from Britain, 2 from the US (Representing Venezuela) and 1 from Russia (acting as a neutral Judge) but after months of court procedures, the Russian judge sided with Britain allowing almost 90% of the land Britain was stealing (they didn't got the Orinoco River though, but they did got the Essequibo which contains 80% of the Gold of Venezuela and many other resources) and it was signed as the Tribunal of Arbitration of Paris in 1899.
A note released years later would reveal that the Russian judge sided with the British because Great Britain decided to give the Russian Empire land in exchange of support on this (in other words, bribery).
The article in English is well documented but in Spanish has a lot more details:
The US (while it got a bigger position in power since managed to stop Britain for a while and forced them to concede to arbitration) got demoralised, feeling as if they had failed (they even wrote a book about it).
France saw it as an abuse form Britain, same opinion from Brazil and the British themselves who never liked how the Prime Minister stole the land.
Again, as of now, it would be really hard to make an agreement with Venezuela since the territorial dispute is going to begin, so it has to be another nation, like Colombia, Panamá or Perú.
Another reason for Equestria to side with The Russian Empire, they must hear this:
6940684
Oh, so that's the story behind the Essequibo? Man, that sucks. Though at least, loosing the land through bribery in negotiations sounds a bit better than loosing it plus more through actual war (*looks at Texas's claims of bordering the Rio Bravo leading to the Mexican-American War*).
Also, yeah, the Overture is epic.
6940799 Well, that's the story for 19th Century, in the 20th Century, once word got out of the bribery, ALL of Venezuela decided to reclaim the Essequibo, in fact, the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1952 - 1958) was going to regain it (through diplomacy, but if it failed, he wouldn't have backed down to war ) but he got a civic-military strike and decided to leave in January 23rd 1958.
In 1966 The President Raul Leoni (1964 - 1969) managed to make Great Britain and the British Guyana sign the Geneva agreement of 1966 which gave the British Guiana the Independence and became Guyana.
After that it was a back and forth of territorial dispute (we even got help from the US since The Presidents of Venezuela were good friends of the US Presidents and the Presidents of Guyana were communist), here is a bit more of info on the matter: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guayana_Esequiba#Reanudaci.C3.B3n_del_conflicto
But in 1999 came Chávez, a communist (disguised as a Socialist) and said that the Essequibo dispute was a plan from the Empire of the US designed to attack the poor and weak Guyana and basically gave them the territory (the good thing is that no paper was signed).
Skip to December 2012 were Chávez died (officially it was stated that it was around April of 2013, but that was kind of a big debate here) and Maduro comes to power... I'll make it clear of how bad he is: He makes Peña Nieto looks like Einstein. THE worst President in all of Venezuela's history.
so bad, that when the 2015 Legislative elections came he decided to reclaim the Essequibo just to get more votes (he did restarted the dispute, but he do almost nothing), which failed because everybody saw the trap.
As of now, the opposition has control of the Parliament and thank god, they're more into the reclaim of the Essequibo than Maduro or his followers, tomorrow they will do the first talk about it since this week (tomorrow or the next day after tomorrow) is the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Agreement.
The big problem is that politically speaking, nobody support us because that would be the equivalent of political suicide, and yes, the Opposition is trying really hard to get rid of him, nobody likes him.
Now onto Texas, if México ever tries to regain it, they'll have my support, it may not have been through war, but losing 1/7 of your territory sucks no matter what.
6940684
Man, Venezuela really got the shaft in history.
Then again, this statement can be said for all Latin America...
6941252 Yeah, it really feels like that, but you can feel free of doing whatever you want with this.
6941122
Oh, interesting. Haha, that's really saying a lot if Peña Nieto is the better of the two.
In this day and age, I don't see the land being recovered. At least, not politically. Hispanics are the second highest group in the US and on the rise, specially in the southwest (heck, New Mexico has Spanish as a co-official language alongside English). So who knows what the future holds. One thing I'm certain though, is that if anything happens, not gonna be happening in our lifetime.
6941252
Yeah, we all got screwed one way or another. Reasons vary, both internal and external. And for us, loosing almost half our land is certainly a good example.
6940690
Yeeeeeeeee!!!
Sorry, I just adore this piece of music! So much better than the [censored] being "composed" today.
(In this context, "composed" means "farted into existence.")
On the subject of, hopefully there's also the sound of martial music to hear in here as well.
6940684
Hmm...that's a very good observation. My best guess would probably be Columbia, Peru, Panama, and maybe Guatemala or Brazil? Provided those two aren't having any major problems around this time in world history.
6949585
Regarding Guatemala, if countries like Venezuela and Argentina were dubious choices due to territorial disputes with Great Britain, then Guatemala would be in the same boat due to the claims over Belize/BritishHonduras. Through the 19th Century British Honduras would be involved in disputes between Guatemala, UK, and Mexico to a lesser extent. I can't speak for Guatemala, but the main problem with Mexico was that the British used Belize to sell weapons and stuff to the Mayans during the Caste Wars. It wasn't until 1893 when a deal was struck. In exchange for the British to stop supplying the Mayans, Mexico would give up their claims on northern Belize. This is how the Río Hondo was established as the Mexico-Belize border (Mexico's claims covered the land between the river and the parallel that today covers the northern Mexico-Guatemala border).
Without involving the UK though, I could see Colombia and Panama as exclusive, considering there was friction between them (which IRL the US took advantage when dealing with the Panama Canal, they helped the independence movement in exchange of being able to work and own it). Then again, IRL Panama as an independent entity didn't came to be until the 20th Century, so politically speaking Colombia would be the only option of the two in decades. (Interestingly enough though, in the mod it is actually possible to begin building the canal as early as the 1860's, and not just the US, any country can so long they fulfill the requirements first. And yes, with the option of freeing Panama should Colombia refuse)
Peru... well, it could alienate Chile somewhat, considering the War of the Pacific and the whole land dispute of the coast of the Araucanía (which also involved Bolivia). And also Ecuador since they also had territorial disputes between them (heck, the one with Ecuador lasted to the 1990's). But in itself it could be possible.
Brazil... I don't think so, it would be unlikely. When you consider how Equestria views slavery, and the fact Brazil took even longer than the US to abolish it (around two decades or so after in fact), and was even the last country in the Americas to do so.
6949585
6949891
Indeed, sadly, I don't know the history of Colombia to tell how things are right now in this point in history, but I'm very sure that (Panama aside) Colombia would be very beneficial to start relations with if we're talking about trade.
I remember that war between Peru, Bolivia and Chile, at the end, Chile won and Bolivia lost their connection to the sea.
Now while I started this, I will also point out that this types of dispute could cause problems, but I'm sure that Equestria would be capable of opening up relations with most of Latin America (including Argentina and Venezuela) if they either move appropriately (in example: the manage to either stop or influence the british from taking their land which would help them A LOT when building an alliance) or show neutrality they could be allies or have diplomatic relations.
As an example I will use the President Antonio Guzmán Blanco (1870 - 1887) who managed to open up good relationships with both France and The German Empire at the same time. That says a lot considering that the German Empire came to be through the defeat of France. He also opened up good relationships with Peru, México and Argentina to fortify his international position and create a strong support group to press the British against their attempt to take the Essequibo.
But Guzmán wasn't dumb, when he saw that the US was trying to steal from him (when we get close to the 1870 I'll talk more about it) he basically told them: "Bring your cannons and start shooting them, because Venezuela doesn't want to keep on being diplomatically stolen". Suffice to say, in 1872 the US decided to accept his policies and the relations between both nations got very well.
And speaking of Colombia, he also got had territorial disputes with them and the relations were very harsh until 1872, when Colombia decided to accept his rule, but nonetheless, since both administrations were very radicals about the dispute, the relations still were though.
Also, he almost get Venezuela to war against the Dutch.
What I'm trying to say is that, if Equestria wants to open up diplomatic relationships with South America, it will have to be very careful, but it is possible, especially (IMO) is they decide to act as an intermediary between Europe and South America.
P.S: Who was the President in México by the time of Guzman Blanco? to know with whom he became an ally to press the British.
P.S.S: As you can see, I'm kinda excited for the 1870, IMO, it will be very interesting to see what happens when South America decides to show who's boss.
Again, when we get close to the 1870, I'll talk more about Blanco, to see how Equestria would react to him (since he was pro-Studies and managed to press the US to respect him, I'm pretty sure that at least Twilight and Celestia might get to respect... I hope so). In the meantime, I will be telling what happens around the world (and my country) because I like to have an idea of what was happening around the globe. Which reminds me, what will Equestria do about The Crimean War when it comes?
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Well, from 1870 to 1887 we had several presidents. Benito Juárez had been president since 1857 and remained so (despite the Conservatives electing their own presidents during the Reform Wars and then the Second Empire with Emperor Maximilian, officially Juárez was still president of the (Liberal) Republic government) until he died in 1872.
Then Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada became interim president then officially elected in the same year. Porfirio Díaz staged a rebellion, however, when Lerdo's term was almost over, and Lerdo was overthrown in 1876 (Díaz had previously tried to rebel against Juárez, but was not succesful that time).
José María Iglesias (along with Juárez and Lerdo, the three were the main people behind the main Liberal Reforms that paved the way to the 1857 Constitution... and also caused the Reform War due to Conservative opposition) became interim president, but he too went to exile still in 1876. (Should be noted at this point Díaz was pretty much Santa Anna mk II in the sense of trying to get his hands on the presidential spot)
Díaz was finally appointed provisional president in Iglesias's abscence. However, still in 1876, he left to fight the few that still remained loyal to Lerdo. Juan Nepomuceno Méndez was left as substitue president. In early 1877, however, Díaz came back triumphant and resumed presidency until the term was over in 1880.
Manuel González Flores was elected president and served his term until it was over in 1884.
Finally, Díaz got reelected, and thus, until his resignation in 1911, the Porfiriato officially starts. Should be noted it's no coincidence the Liberal Party "ended" in 1884 when Díaz returned to power. He pretty much changed it to the Partido Nacional Porfirista (Porfirist National Party) in his plan to remain in power for a long time.
6950556 Well, I'm pretty sure that at least one of them must have done the alliance with Blanco, for now, I'll try to see exactly when it happened, but I'm pretty sure that by the time I figure it out, this story will be over. But in case of México, it could be speculated whom by seeing which president was the one who tried to pressure the British the most.
Dang, 1911, so many things have been happening by that time.
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If I had to guess, it would be either Lerdo or Flores. I would've said Díaz, but then again one big point in foreign affairs during the Porfiriato was Díaz trying to not have the US be the main economic investor in the country, and the UK was the country he tried to approach the most for that. Then again, he could've just changed his mind. The UK didn't recognized his 1876-1880 term, for example, and stuff.
Which now brings to mind a very intersting point. If by the late 19th Century in this story, Díaz still becomes president (whether or not the Porfiriato still happens) and Mexico is still not open to foreign investement, what would be the chances Díaz could try to also approach Equestria for the prospect? That would be quite an interesting scenario...
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I will also open up the possibility that Díaz used Venezuela as a trade partner, Blanco was known for being a good estadist and was well versed in economy, he could have been trading with México as a way to become allies against the UK.
6950695 Another possibility is that Lerdo, Flores and Díaz made the deal when their time to rule came.