Timeline of major events

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This is a timeline of major events in the world of CoreLink.

Interwar Era (1919-1938)

Date Event
1924 Vladimir Lenin dies. After a struggle between his closest allies, he is succeeded at the head of the Soviet Union by Leon Trotsky.
1925 Sun Yat-sen dies. A rivalry erupts between Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei for control over the Kuomintang party, which the latter eventually wins.
1926 Emperor Taishō of Japan dies. During his reign, the democratic parties of Japan and the Imperial Diet had gained power, which they manage to hold on to throughout the reign of his successor, Emperor Shōwa. As Japan liberalises throughout the following decades, it vows to release Korea and to free Asia of European imperialism.
1931 Adolf Hitler is appointed chancellor of Germany.
1930s Germany intensifies collaboration with the Kuomintang of China to regain control of the country, while the Soviet Union supports Mao Zedong's revolutionaries with more and more involvement. Throughout the decades, China becomes the theatre of a proxy war between Hitler's Germany and Trotsky's USSR, while the rival local governments become increasingly reliant on their European supporters.
1935 Italy invades and eventually annexes Ethiopia.
January 1937 Germany incorporates Austria.
July 1937 The Treaty of Munich is signed: Czechoslovakia surrenders the Sudetenland to Germany.
January 1938 Germany annexes Czechia and subjugates a new Slovak Republic.
February 1938 Adolf Hitler accuses Soviet forces of being directly responsible in an attack in Chengdu in which German officials were killed. He sends an ultimatum to the USSR, demanding they end their support for the Chinese revolutionaries.
March 1938 Trotsky refuses the ultimatum. Hitler denounces an act of aggression and declares war on the Soviet Union on the 2nd of March, 1938. Apart from battles and raids in the Baltic Sea, Europe remains quiet for lack of a direct border between Germany and the USSR.
May 1938 Germany sends an ultimatum to Lithuania for the annexation of the Klaipėda Region. Lithuania bends. The USSR perceives a threat in Germany's eastwards expansion and announces it would come to the defence of the Baltic nations. On the 26th of May, the Red Army crosses the borders of Estonia and Latvia. The West denounces this act.
June 1938 Estonia and Latvia are occupied in a matter of weeks. The Red Army turns south to cross into Lithuania, where it meets German troops.
July 1938 Germany sends an ultimatum to Poland, demanding the surrender of the territories ceded twenty years prior, and unilaterally reintegrates the Free City of Danzig on the morrow. When Poland fails to respond four days later, German troops cross into Polish Pomerania and, two days later, pierces through the whole of the border, marking the beginning of the second World War. France and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany. In the East, the Soviet Union invades Poland to meet German troops in its center.

World War II (1938-1943)

Date Event
July 1938 France attempts an intervention into the Saarland to relieve pressure on Poland, but is unable to push more than a few miles into German territory before being pushed back to their initial position. The Western front remains silent for the following weeks.
September 1938 Germany invades Denmark and Norway. The former surrenders in a week; the latter in a month. As German dominance over the Baltic sea grows, the Soviet Union cites alleged sympathies between Finland and the Nazi government to launch an preemptive invasion of the country while it can still keep the German navy at bay. While the takeover is far from smooth, the Finnish army is pushed deep into its own territory and signs an armistice with the USSR four months later. It is a pyrrhic victory for the Red Army, which secures territories in southeastern Finland and a guarantee of neutrality at the cost of many lives and ammunitions.
October 1938 The German army launches a surprise invasion of the Low Countries in an attempt to circumvent the Maginot Line. Unexpected bad weather turns the Ardennes into a muddy bog; much heavy machinery is damaged, slowing the offensive. This allows the allies, including Belgium and the Netherlands, to mount a defence: the German advance is stopped at the Meuse in Wallonia, with southeastern Belgium and the whole of Luxembourg coming under occupation, as well as the region surrounding Metz. In the north, the flatter terrain allows for the Germans to push into both Limburgs and seize Dutch territory past Utrecht and Tilburg, but not Amsterdam and Breda. The arrival of British and French troops keeps Holland and Zeeland unoccupied. Italy, a German ally, does not yet get involved in the face of the indecisive offensive.
Winter 1938-1939 The Western front remains static, reminiscent of the war twenty years before. In Poland, the frontline shifts wildly in the northern half of the country, with the Red Army making slow progress. The Polish army maintains control only of the southeastern regions in Galicia, on the borders of neutral Hungary and Romania.

In Asia, emboldened by the Soviet Army's support, the Chinese Communists gain ground. Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang are occupied by Soviet forces. The advances slow down and grind to a halt by late February.

April 1939 The Spanish Civil War concludes. Out of the ashes emerges a leftist government under José Diaz, strongly aligned with Trotsky's USSR. None apart from the Soviet Union recognise the new government. Spain vocally condemns, among others, Britain, demanding Gibraltar's restitution, and Portugal, which took the chance to seize Olivenza and the Canaries, but has no means to act upon these claims yet.
May 1939 Germany attempts to break the tie once more, with a swift surprise attack through the Swiss Plateau. Switzerland is unable to resist the attack and Germany reaches the French border at Geneva by May 12th. This attack comes as a surprise to the French forces, which have to shift part of their army southwards. Germany uses the confusion to push westwards. Poor leadership and organisation due to a sense of complacency lead to disaster in France for the Allies. Defensive lines crumble under repeated German assaults and the frontline moves far to the West over the next two months.

Under German pressure, the Republic of China declares war on the Allies. Wang's government seizes Hong Kong, Macau (to protests of the neutral Portuguese government), and Guangzhouwan. As the nationalists begin a successful counter-offensive to the north, they divert forces towards French Indochina, threatening French possessions in Asia. Yunnan, in a state of rebellion, serves as a buffer state between China and British Burma.

The USSR submits an ultimatum to Romania for the cession of Bessarabia and the Budjak.

June 1939 Italy declares war on France on the third of June and crosses the Alps into mainland France and other borders into Algeria and Egypt. France is unable to mount a resistance in Europe because of Germany's ongoing onslaught. The Italian advance in Africa is contained by Tataouine and El Alamein.

In a repetition of their success the month prior, Germany repeats a surprise offensive, this time on the Eastern Front. Secrets talks were held between Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, and an agreement was reached: Hungary is awarded the Szekler Region and northern Transylvania and Bulgaria is granted southern Dobrogea in exchange for a guarantee of defence against the Soviet Union (the meeting also included talks of an eventual partition of Yugoslavia with Italy). Romanian, Hungarian, and German troops attack across their respective borders on June 10th, overrunning the rump Poland and crossing into sparsely defended Ukraine and Galicia. Germany pushes back Soviet troops in Poland as they scramble for defence of the south.

July 1939 The Western front stabilises miles from Paris, Antwerp, and Brussels. The eastern half of France is overrun, leaving it open for conquest; Holland has been captured, along with the eastern half of Belgium, and a large part of the French army was caught in a pincer and encircled in Lorraine. The front once again devolves into a war of attrition with trenches, attacks and rebuttals, with France in a terrible position.

In the east, German troops cross through Poland and step on Soviet ground. The divisions that started the push from Moldavia reach the Dnieper. Riga, Minsk, and Kiev are far behind the frontline by July 31st.

Soviet troops are recalled from China to fight in Europe. Wang's China makes progress against Mao's and initiates an invasion of Vietnam. The French army is unable to mount a lasting resistance and is slowly beaten back.

Talks of mutual defence begin between Japanese and American officials in case of an attack, though choose neutrality if unprovoked.

Post-War Era (1943-1966)

Date Event

Cold War (1966-2027)

Date Event

World War III (2027-2028)

Date Event

Decolonisation (2028-2050)

Date Event