Activist History

PLANET EARTH
Where are we?
In the course of gaming real-world situations, it becomes important to know a little about your surroundings. Many times the surroundings will be based on the world you are familiar with.

Using Maps, Factbooks & References

There is an abundance of reference material available online to help you find quality maps with which to situate your games.

Universe Map

Where is earth in the universe? It is possible to navigate spatially. You can pilot a craft right off the planet into orbit. The stars you see from the ground are actually positioned distantly in space and you could pilot towards them until you reached them. The moon can be flown to and landed on. It is all a persistant, consistent reality. Basic astrological orbitals and facts can be viewed. The game should begin with a sweeping camera flying from the galaxy to the solar system to the planet through the clouds to the continent to the land to the city to the street to the person to the eye.

World Map

Political Map shows the nations of the earth.
Geographic shows the landscape of the earth as it really appears without human political boundaries. Light shows where people inhabit with lights at night. It is a visible sign of high-tech inhabitation.

North America
United States of America
The USA is the most powerful nation in the world. This is the primary focus of Emancy. For detailed information on the US government consult the Government chapter.
California: Liberal %? Largest Cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose
Washington: Seattle
Oregon: Rajneesh

Georgia: Anti-Sodomy Laws
Voter Turnout: Italy 93%, Australia 84% Spain 77%, USA 54%

Canada
British Columbia
Quebec
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European Union
The European Union combines many European states with a common economic currency called the Euro (€) and open borders.
Netherlands: liberal drug laws, euthanasia

Asia
China: Lawlesness, piracy, Confucianism, moral relatavism, self-interest, child limits, communism, bureaucracy, censorship
blah blah
HISTORY
EVENTS PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

A BRIEF TIMELINE OF OUR WORLD

History asks what happened when and why. It explains how events unfolded in a continuous progression towards creating the present moment in which we live. It is impossible to understand the present or plan for the future without a sound grasp of history. A sound grasp of history could take lifetimes, but this is an introduction.

Submissions Welcome

This is a very abbreviated and incomplete history of the universe but it provides a basic frame of reference from which to explore in more detail the links provided. This history is very US-centric, as the US is the primary focus for the predominantly US players of this game.
You are welcome to help fill the gaps by submitting additions.

History is Power

History is political in the parts of it we present and focus on.
Death & Destruction
You get the impression from history that people have been killing each other in great numbers for a long time. Overcoming this is one of the challenges of our time. The numbers killed are hilighted in red for emphasis. All numbers should be considered approximate numbers since historical accounts differ and this is an amateur history.
Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them
Think of history as a report card on how humanity has behaved. People can argue about which human deeds were good or bad but most people who get killed would agree that massacres are bad if they were still around to comment. Coming to terms with how many people have been killed in the past and are still being killed today is like an opportunity to pull our grades up before we expel ourselves a species in a really major catastrophe.

Participating In History

History is a part of our world and is happening right now. History is simply events that have happened. Our lives seem separate from history, as though the things happening are out there, not part of our daily existence. This also makes us feel like we cannot change them, like we are too small and history is too immense for us to participate in. What if our calendar could show the whole scope of history with us as a part? TODAY: Global protests. Buy groceries. Email friends about protests to spread the news. Demo at embassy 7pm. On this day in history: In 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor with Roosevelt’s prior knowledge.

Historical Simulations

Most players will set their simulations in the present day, but it can also be interesting to simulate the past. You might choose a particular era of history or specific events as a backdrop for your story. You might also involve your characters directly with historic events. You might even try to change history by intervening somehow. Think of how different the world would be if one key event changed? For example, what assasination attempts on Hitler had been successful? Millions of lives might have been saved. Or what if the United States had opposed imperialism worldwide after defeating the British empire?

“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”

—Douglas Adams

communistic history perspective http://struggle.net/history/

Year m d    Events
-15 Billion    Evolutionary creation of the universe. Big Bang explosion, Galaxies form, including our own, the Milky Way. Stars form including our sun, Sol, and around them solar systems like ours.
-4.5 Billion    Planet earth forms in an ideal environment for life: plentiful water, moderate temperatures, a gas giant meteor shield
-4.1 Billion    First life begins, blue-green algae release oxygen into atmosphere, first eukaryotic cells, first sponges & jellyfish
-550 Million    Cambrian explosion of complex life begins, first fish
-450 Million    Plants invade land, -370 million animals invade land
-251 000,000    Meteor causes Permian planetary extinction wipes out 90% of all life including dominant glossopteris fern
-170 000,000    Dinosaurs rule the earth in their many varieties
-65 000,000    Meteor causes KT planetary exctinction, dinosaurs vanish, theories include a giant meteor impact near Yucatan and climate change
-65 000,000    Mammals develop from shrews into dominant species
-20 000,000    Recent epoch of geology begins
-7 000,000    Homids walk on two legs
-2 000,000    Humans use stone tools and fire, increase brain mass
-100,000    Homo Sapiens evolves in Africa
-40,000    Humans migrate out of Africa to the rest of the world
-28,000    Neanderthals become extinct as homo sapies flourish.
-15,000    Most recent Ice Age begins
-10,000    Agricultural Revolution, dawn of civilization, first class society
-10,000    Christian Creationist creation of the world
-3500    First written language, cuniform, developed by Sumerians, Recorded history begins with first written records
-1300    Iron age begins with Hittites smelting ore with charcoal
-58    First newspaper published in Rome
0    Death of Christ
500    Fall of Roman Empire
500    Chinese first use Gunpowder
500-1500    Feudalism puts workers under local rulers
570-32    Life of Muhammed, founder of Islam
700    Islamic Sufiism begins
1000    Leif Eriksson explores America
1330s    Black death ravages China,
1360    Black Death reaches Europe from China
?    European Renaissance
1470    Spanish Inquisition begins in Europe, 50,000 witches burned
1492    Columbus Begins Colonization of America
1517    Reformation: Luther leads protestant movement against Roman Catholic authority, starting the spread of new Christian faiths
1520-1820    Slave trade depopulates Africa of 10-50 mllion people to sell workers to British, French, Spanish, Danish and Dutch colonies in the Americas
1532     Incan Empire conquered by Pizarro
1542     Roman Inquisition founded
1575     Foundation of British Intelligence services
1645-1715    Little Ice Age freezes Europe
1604     Bank of England founded
1701     English Masonry: First professional Masonic lodge in Almwick
1771-1900    India famines kill 100 million under British rule
1773     Boston Tea Party: British Tea tax on colonies leads to protest. Meyer Rothschild allegedly meets to plan world revolution, Jesuits suppressed by Catholic Church
1774     First US continental congress, Washington trains troops
1776-83    American War of Independence, US defeats Britain with French naval support
1787-1800    Industrial Revolution begins with first steam engine, first factories, first cotton gin, rising slavery to produce cotton
1789    French Revolution, King Charles killed
    Marquis de Condorcet supports women’s voting,
Reign of Terror under Robespierre
1792    Feminist author Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Women
1794    Robespierre executed by counter-revolution of Bourgeoise
1799    Napoleon rules France
1810-21    Mexican War of Independence from Spain
1819    Bolivar leads national movements against Spanish rule, liberates Venezuela, Columbia and Boliva named after him
Nationalist struggles also liberate Chile and Argentina
1830    Dutch crush Indonesian revolts against colonial rule
1838-48    Chartist movement in Britain advocates secret ballot voting
1839-42    Opium War, Britain defeats China to protect opium trade and rule Hong Kong
US invasion of Mexico, seizes nearly half its territory (California, Texas, Colorado, etc)
1845-49    Irish Potato Blight, British army forces export food, 1 million Irish starve, 1.5 million emigrate mostly to U.S.
1848    Rebellions throughout Europe for better governments,
1848    Communism: Marx and Engels publish Communist Manifesto
1850-1950    Industrial Revolution, migration to the cities for factory labor
1850-66    Tai-ping rebellion to “share property in common” supressed by Manchu with western aid, 20 million die
1853    Japan given trade ultimatum by 4 US warships, resists and is punished, embarks on massive modernization and militirization campaign to compete with Western powers
1859    Darwin (after years of hesitation) publishes Origin of the Species explaining evolution as the central organizing principle in biology
1859    First oil well in Pennsylvania, US
1860’s    Railroads used for troop transport in warfare, changing the scale of battles, Women’s suffrage movement in Britain
1863    German Social Democratic Party with Marx and Engels
1885    Bismarck calls conference, imperialists agree to divide land near their colonial coastal bases
1861-65    American Civil War, North and South fight, North victorious
1863-75    German Socialist Democratic Party founded
?    Slaves freed in US
1871    Prussia occupies France, resisting Paris Commune crushed after 3 months, thousands massacred
1878    Women’s Suffrage 19th Amendment introduced in U.S., defeated every year until 1920
1878-90    Bismarck introduces anti-socialist laws banning Socialist party, unions & newspapers, but socialists publish underground circulations of 100,000 and grow popular
1886-Now    Corporatization: US court grants corporations rights of natural citizens in Santa Clara County vs Southern Pacific Railroad, US Corps employ 80% of workforce by 1919
18xx-1909    Belgium brutally oppresses Belgian Congo to harvest rubber
1889    US & Algeria, Navy ???
US military intervention more or less continuous in Latin America and Carribean (Argentina, Chile, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador) and Asia/Pacific (Philippines, China, Korea, Hawaii, Samoa, Guam) and elsewhere (Russia, Yugoslavia, Turkey)
1890-1920    Suffragists merge 2 groups into National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).  Suffragists win support for cause by holding conventions, waging state-by-state campaigns, distributing literature  & adopting new methods from British suffragists like parades & outdoor speeches. Diversity of women’s groups unite to achieve voting equality.
1893    New Zealand first to grant women’s suffrage, Australia in 1902
1898    Spanish American War: Havana, Cuba: US ship Maine explodes killing 260, Hearst-led US press blames Spanish with headlines of “Spanish Cannibalism”, McKinley declares war on Spain, invasion of Cuba, 5200 US die of disease 460 killed,
1976: US Navy Adm. Rickover finds Maine’s demise was self-inflicted by coal fire.
1898-1910    US invasion of Phillipines, 1 million die, Duvalier
1900    Chinese Boxer Rebellion against foreign powers crushed
1903    Protocols of Elders of Zion forged by Tzar in Russian newspaper as anti-Jewish propaganda
1905    Russian worker’s uprisings crushed
1911    Manchu dynasty collapses, warlords & imperialists rule China
1915-34    Haiti’s unrest ends as US Pres. Wilson sends Marines intervention  force to build infrastructure, elimenate Yellow Fever and facilitate foreign investment, 1934 Marines withdraw, 1946-1990 successions of dictatorial governments and riots, 1990 Aristide
1917    Russian Czar overthrown, Workers rebellions crushed, Provisional governent overthrown as 300,000 Bolsheviks seize power under Lenin using slogans like “Bread, Peace, Land”,
?:     Russian Revolution, Lenin leads Bolshevik Party to take over Russia, civil war ensues. Russia violently crushes Kronstadt Rebellion
1918-19    Influenza epidemic kills 20,000
1918-21    Russian elites and 14 foreign states wage civil war Bolsheviks win but economy is ruined, 9 million die in famine and disease
19xx    Russian Kronstadt Rebellion for autonomy crushed ? killed
1919 5 4    Chinese students protest Beijing government and Japan
1919-48    Lenin starts Comintern to promote international communism
1918-21    World War I begins. Germany and Austria-Hungary invade France, trench warfare, nationalism, Treaty of Versailles, 8.5 million soldiers and 7.8 million civilians dead.
1921    Chinese Communist Party founded with Mao as leader
1921    Russia cracks down on unrest and suspends democratic rights temporarily, emergency measure becomes permanent
1920    Women’s Suffrage: US grants women voting in 19th Amendment
1922    Mussolini’s March on Rome, rise of Fascism in Europe
1920s    Electricity, phones and radio become widespread
Lenin dies, Communist power struggle ensues, Stalin seizes power
1929-53    Stalin rules Russia until his death, exiles Trotsky, 20 million die under his rule
1927    Chiang-Kai Shek’s Guomondang massacres 1000s of communists
1929-33    Great Depression, US Stock market crashes, economic collapse spreads worldwide
1930-99    Tobacco kills 90 million smokers worldwide from cancers
1933    Hitler appointed by Hindenburg, West arms and finances him for invasion of Communist Russia
?    Reichstag Fire, German parliament burned by Nazis blamed on Communists to justify massive crackdown on Nazism’s enemies
1933-45    Nazis buy from IBM customized Hollerith census machines and cards for Nazis to manage empire and process Jews for persecution, first legally and later secretly through multinational subsidiaries
1935-38    Stalin orders Great Purge killing and imprisoning millions as enemies
1936-39    Spanish Civil War, Franco’s military Nationalists rebel against republic, Soviets support Republicans with International Brigades joining from around the world, Soviets undermine anarcho-syndicalist republicans, Franco’s fascists crush Republicans Texaco, Italy and Nazi support, 200,000 soldiers, prisoners and civilians killed, Spain devastated, Franco rules fascist dictatorship.
1937    Japan invades China, kills 250,000 in “Rape of Nanking”
1938 9/1    Hitler invades Chekoslovakia, Chamberlain appeases
1939-45    World War II begins as Hitler invades Poland
1940    Japan invades Asia, 16 million killed
1941 6    Hitler violates treaty, invades Russia, millions of Russians and Germans killed
1941 11/7    Pearl Harbor: Sneak Attack by Japan kills 2,388, US declares war, later evidence reveals Roosevelt intercepted plan 12 days before
1942-43    German army defeated by Russia sieging Battle of Stalingrad
1944-45    Holocaust: Nazi Germany persecutes its citizens in concentration camps, finally massacres 6 million Jews in Holocaust, 3 million Soviet POWs, 500,000 Gypsies, 220,000 homosexuals, 275,000 handicapped, 26,000 political prisoners,
1945/4    Russia reaches Berlin, 30 million Russians dead, having murdered 1 million German POWs, 2 million Russian soldiers, 4 million civilians
1945    US drops nuclear bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, killing 200,000 civilians, Japan surrenders
1945    D Day landing, Germany defeated, World War 2 ends with total death toll of 61 million people on all sides.
1945    Boycott of Franco’s Spain led by Soviets severs relations with world
1946    School of Americas founded to teach Latin troops US tactics
1947    India & Pakistan independent from Britain, Muslim-Hindu violence kills 1 million, 10 million refugees
1948    Israel created for jewish settlement by US & Britain, 800,000 Palestinians evicted in “nakba”
1945-89    Cold War: US and Russia establish opposing spheres of influence, divide Germany, Korea, Europe, pursue nuclear and conventional arms race
1947    Invention of first transistor
1949    Mao wins 2nd Chinese civil war, Chiang Kai-shek’s Guomondang flees to Taiwan with US Navy protection
1949    1984, a book critical of the many forms of propaganda and totalitarianism, published by George Orwell
1948-54    Phillipines Huk Rebellion suppressed with US CIA support
1950    Tibet invaded by China, Buddhists persecuted, 120,000 killed, 40,000 Chinese soldiers die
1950-53    Korean War
1953    Iran leader Mossadeq nationalizes oil refineries, overthrown by CIA-backed coup, replaced by Shah Pahlavi
1953-92    US trades Spain 1 billion in aid for military bases against Soviets
1954    Guatemalan president Arbenz nationalizes uncultivated lands including Chiquita company, Eisenhower orders CIA-backed coup, massacres kill over 100,000 people starting with 45 unionists
1957    First satellite Sputnik launched by Russia
1958-60    Mao leads Chinese Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, 30 million starve, 15 million die in labor camps, 15 million political enemies killed
?    Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro overthrows Batista dictatorship
1961    Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by CIA under Kennedy, Chiquita Corp provides 2 ships, attack fails
1963?    Cuban Missile Crisis
?    Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King protests segregation for civil rights
?    M.L.K. leads Selma Alabama March on Washington
1963    US President Kennedy assassinated, Oswald jailed and murdered, questions remain unanswered
1965    US invades Vietnam
1966    Mao launches Culural Revolution in China, 400,000 killed
1966    Spain relaxes censorship, 1968 student demonstrations, Basque separatists begin insurgency
1968    Panamanian coup led by general Torrijos against elites, shares power with poor
1967    M.L.King condemns US invasion of Vietnam
1968    M.L.King assassinated
1967    Six Day War: Israel defeats Arab states to preempt planned invasion, Israel occupies West Bank, Gaza, Sinai & Golan Heights, settlement building begins
?    US Embargoes Cuba
1971    US soldiers revolting in Vietnam, 20% of lost officers “fragged” by their men
1972    Noriega, CIA asset in Panama, begins drug trafficking, Nixon considers assasinating him, CIA keeps him on payroll
?    Nicaraguan elections manipulated by CIA with Noriega’s help
1973 9 11    Chilean military junta kills president Allende with 400 CIA advisors, resources denationalized with direction by Chicago economists, 3,172 killed 1989 Pinochet loses election, 1998-99 Pinochet put on trial
1978    Shah overthrown in Iran, power struggle between Islamists and Left
1979    Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to supress CIA-funded Mujahdeen militants including Osama Bin Laden, 1.5 million killed in civil war, Soviets defeated by guerilla warfare
1980-    El Salvador Military junta massacres 13,000 civilians, Archbishop Romero begs Carter not to arm the military junta against people’s groups, Romero assasinated by neo-Nazi & ARENA party leader d’Aubuisson
1981    US trains sends special forces to El Salvador, trains Atlacatl Battalion which tortures, rapes & massacres thousands
1980-88    Iraq invades Iran with US support, 1 million killed
1981-90    Nicaraguan Sandinista Revolution, invasion by Contras(exiles), CIA helps and plants harbor mines, x killed
1982    Panama president Torrijos dies in crash, Noriega takes over
1983    Panama declared drug-trafficking center by US Senate
?    Vietnam War: France fights independence of its former French Indochina colony with US financial and weapons support but was finally defeated. US invades South Vietnam. Vietnam seeks help from China. US Props up dictators. US ousts dictator. Heavy casualties. USA withdraws from Vietnam. Millions killed.
?    Anti-War Movement
197x    Indonesian Invasion of East Timor with US support, 100,000 killed, Congress halts arms deals but qeued arms shipped
?    South African Apartheid imprisoning native Africans in Bantustans, Nelson Mandella imprisoned, boycott of South African trade by other nations, Mandella released and becomes leader
?    Iran Hostage Crisis: Iranians seize US embassy & hostages, CIA Director Bush Sr. delays resolution of crisis until after Carter loses election
1986    US Attacks Lybia
?    Iran Contra Scandal implicates senior Reagan people including Pointdexter
1968    Soviet Invasion of Chekoslovakia
?    Nicaraguan dictator Somoza
1983    First cell phones developed, computers become widespread
1984    Panamanian election violently stolen by Noriega from nationalist Arias, US sends approving Sec. State Schultz to legitimize result
1986    Panama: US DEA praises Noriega, AG blocks inquiry into his drug-trafficking criminality
1986 4 5    Bombing in Berlin of La Belle disco used by US soldiers in Germany, 3 killed 200 hurt, blamed on Lybia, CIA also implicated as provocateurs
1986 4 15    US bombs Lybia, kills 30 civilians, Gaddafi unhurt
1988    Noriega indicted for crimes comitted while on CIA payroll
1989    Berlin Wall falls, Cold War ends
Feb
199xx    Soviet Union grants independence to breakaway republics
2000 12 27    The Russian population is roughly six million lower than if birth and death rates had stayed constant since the fall of communism.” —The Times (London)
1989 6 4     Tienanmen Square Massacres of students protesting Chinese inflation and government corruption, 1000+ killed
1989 5    Noriega steals election from businessman Endara, US press outraged about human rights abuses, US sanctions against Panama, military coup fails, US invades Panama and installs friendly leader, thousands killed, Bank power restored, drug trade resumes, Rightist European press notes deadline met
1989    US approves $300 million sales to China, Bush lifts ban on loans to Iraq, blocks congressional condemnation
1990    Panama Canal deadline for transfer to Panamanian control
1990    Nicaragua election won by US-backed candidate
1991    Iraq invades Kuwait, x Kuwaitis killed, US defeats Iraq, destroys Iraqi infrastructure, imposes sanctions, 1 million Iraqis killed
1991     Soviet Union Collapse: Russian Mafia rises in power, economy, living conditions & life expectancy plummet, 3 million die
1992 4 29    LA riots when jury acquits police for beating Rodney King Worst rioting in U.S. history. Over 50 people are killed    
1993 2 26    World Trade Center Bombing kills 6 injures 1000, terrorists implicated, FBI criticized
1993 2 28    Waco standoff, Branch Davidians shoot 4 police, surrounded by police & military, tank video shooting fire at compound, 77 killed in fire
1994    Internet revolution begins, explosion of Web sites & usage
?    Haiti War, Blackhawk Down, many soldiers, militants & civilians killed
1994    World Trade Center Bombing by terrorists,
1995 4 19    Oklahoma City Bombing kills 168, McVeigh convicted, Nichols acquitted, questions remain about missing third suspect and trial irregularities
x    Violent struggle between Palestinian militants and Israeli occupation forces, many killed
1999 4 20    Columbine school shootings kill 15 hurt 14, reports of this & 5 other school shootings from 1997-99 spur support for gun control
1999    Bosnian War, Christian Serbs fighting KLA insurgents persecute Bosnian Islamic civilians, US/NATO begins air bombardment of Serbian army, persecution escalates, Serbia surrenders, Sloboda Milosovic on trial
2001     .Com Crash, economic depression begins
2001 9 11    Terrorists hijack planes and destroy World Trade Center in New York, 2795-3275 civilians killed, 28th anniversary of 1973
2001-?     War On Terror. US accuses Osama Bin Laden, Al Quaeda and Taliban of 9/11 terrorism
2001    US Invasion of Afghanistan
2003    US Invasion of Iraq
2006    Empowerment developed, funded
2007    Empowerment playtested
2008    Empowerment released, players participate in activism of all kinds
Future    Human race solves all its problems and lives in peace and harmony OR Human race goes extinct. You decide!
20xx    Global warming theory predicts, sea level rises x meters, submerging cities of x
2050    Peak Oil theory predicts that oil supplies become exhausted at current usage patterns
x million    Meteors impact the earth, potentially causing mass extinction
x billion    Sun exhausts itself and begins to cool, ending life on Earth, human exodus to the stars (if not extinct first)
x trillion    Universe continues to expand into infinitum or collapses back on itself depending on which astrophysicist you ask