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Bold items are official events from Deadlands sourcebooks, some of which were drawn from the Timeline o' Doom developed by David Heth. Some items are based on events hinted at in Hell on Earth supplements, but for which a specific date is never given. Italic items are events made up by myself (or ripped off from other works of fiction) in order to try to fit things into the Deadlands universe. Other items are based upon actual historic events, though accuracy is not guaranteed, and references to the United States are replaced with the "USA" or "CSA", depending upon whether the event seems to be more relevant to the North or South, respectively. |
| Year | Noteworthy Events |
| 1822 | Tomb of Aye discovered in Egypt |
| 1859 | Construction of Suez Canal begun |
| 1860 | South Carolina is first state to secede from Union. |
| 1861 | Fort Sumter attacked; start of American Civil War |
| 1863 | (July 3) The Reckoning (Deadlands, p. 7) |
| 1865 | (April 9) CSA President President Davis ends slavery in the South (Back East: the South, p. 11) |
| 1868 | Great Quake shatters the California coast, creating the Great Maze |
| 1869 | Suez Canal completed in Egypt |
| 1870 | Dr. Hellstromme invents (and starts manufacturing) the steam wagon (City of Gloom, p. 14, 36) |
| 1872 | Founding of the Sioux Nations (Ghost Dancers, p. 11; Deadlands, p. 11) |
| 1874 | Founding of Coyote Confederation (Ghost Dancers, p. 11; Tales of Terror, p. 29) |
| 1875 | Egypt sells largest share of Suez Canal to United Kingdom to cover national debts |
| 1880 | The Great Summoning renders technology useless in Sioux Nations (Spirit Warriors, p. 11 -- official exact year unknown) |
| 1882 | British troops occupy Egypt, though it remains nominally under Turkish rule |
| 1889 | End of American Civil War; the South wins (The Junkman Cometh, p. 11) |
| 1895 | Great Wasting leads Coyote Confederation to join CSA as a territory (Spirit Warriors, p. 15 -- official exact year unknown) |
| 1910 | (November) Francisco Madero starts Mexican Revolution; mass emigrations to CSA
(exact official date unknown) Rev. Grimme dies. Church of Lost Angels reforms. City of Lost Angels becomes Los Angeles |
| 1911 | Chinese revolution begins |
| 1912 | (April) Titanic sinks
Arizona and New Mexico become states in the CSA |
| 1913 | Sixteenth Amendment - Federal Income Tax |
| 1914 | (June) Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated
World War I begins Egypt becomes protectorate of Britain |
| 1916 | (August) Battle of the Somme (The British first use tanks in battle)
Wilson reelected president |
| 1917 | Czar Nicholas of Russia abdicates; revolution begins
USA and CSA declare war on Austria-Hungary |
| 1918 | (November 11) Armistice signed; end of World War I |
| 1919 | Eighteenth Amendment - Prohibition Begins in USA |
| 1920 | Nineteenth Amendment (Women's Suffrage) is passed
Warren Harding elected president Pancho Villa makes peace with Mexican President Adolfo de la Huerta Mexican Revolution ends |
| 1921 | Adolf Hitler's Stormtroopers terrorize political opponents in Germany
Eliot Ness investigates crime -- and occult -- activities of the Mob (The Last Crusade, p. 49) |
| 1922 | USSR formed
(February 28) Britain recognizes Egypt's independence Benito Mussolini forms fascist state in Italy (November) King Tutankhamen's tomb discovered |
| 1923 | President Harding dies; replaced by Calvin Coolidge |
| 1924 | Calvin Coolidge elected president
Alphonse Capone uses violence to influence elections in Cicero, Illinois Frank Capone killed by police Sgt. York becomes teacher at the Confederate Syker Academy (The Last Crusade, p. 49) |
| 1925 | Hitler publishes Mein Kampf |
| 1926 | Fascist youth organizations formed in Italy and Germany |
| 1927 | Stalin becomes Soviet dictator |
| 1928 | Herbert Hoover elected president |
| 1929 | Great Depression begins (Black Thursday)
Valentine's Day Massacre Eliot Ness assigned to catch Capone |
| 1932 | FDR becomes president of USA |
| 1933 | Hitler and Nazis come to power in Germany
First concentration camps erected in Germany Twenty-First Amendment repeals Prohibition |
| 1934 | "Dust Bowl" - severe dust storms hit plains states |
| 1936 | FDR reelected president of USA
Spanish Civil War begins Hitler and Mussolini form Rome-Berlin Axis Britain withdraws troops from Egypt except in Suez Canal region |
| 1937 | (May 6th) The Hindenburg Disaster over Lakehurst, NJ |
| 1938 | (October - Halloween) Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast |
| 1939 | Germany takes over Czechoslavakia and invades Poland
World War II begins |
| 1940 | FDR reelected president |
| 1941 | (December 7) Both USA and CSA enter into World War II after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7th) |
| 1942 | USA interns more than 100,000 Nisei (Japanese Americans) in concentration camps |
| 1944 | FDR reelected president |
| 1945 | (April) FDR dies
Mussolini killed Hitler commits suicide USA drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima; Japan surrenders End of World War II |
| 1948 | Mad science falls into disfavor (The Junkman Cometh, p. 13)
Supernatural activity decreases, and continues to do so for next 40 years (Cyborgs, p. 8) |
| 1953 | Egyptian monarchy ends; becomes republic |
| 1960 | Annabelle Lee Devlin publishes "How to Serve Your Man" (Wasted West, p. 103) |
| 1962 | Smith and Robards bought out by Hellstromme Industries (The Junkman Cometh, p. 13) |
| 1988 | Resurgence in supernatural activity (various) |
This is an attempt at a timeline to fill in the gaps of the 20th century -- the era between the "Weird West" and the "Wasted West" -- with a particular focus on the early 20th century period around World Wars I and II. Precedents set by official Deadlands source material are included, but whenever possible, references to actual history have been made ... or, at the very least, "actual" legends.
Please note that in the Deadlands universe, the once "United" States has been divided into the North and South (the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, respectively) ever since the American Civil War. Despite this, the North and South somehow manage to put aside their differences long enough to fight as allies in World Wars I and II, and generally fill the role of the USA from our own true history in such a way that the major events of this period still miraculously play out as they would in ours.
However, that complicates any historical events that directly apply to the United States. For instance, I'm deciding that in the Depression era, FDR is president of the North, while LBJ (in our own world put on the ticket to get Southern votes, among other things) in this universe is president of the South. Since I am no historian -- and hopefully I can skirt over such messy issues by having my adventures take place elsewhere -- I'm not addressing the obvious and not-so-obvious ramifications of such major changes to the course of American history. I'm just trying to come up with basic information a Marshal should know (such as, "Who is the President?") in any plot with international implications. (Hopefully, it won't be quite as important to know who the Vice President is.)
Also, please note that my "historical research" here is very sloppy at this point, and these years may be quite off. Don't consider this an educational reference by any means!
For some references on what life was like back in the early 20th Century, this offers a nice look into the 1920s:
The 1920s: Society
And here's a page on slang in the Jazz Age. Please note that "slang" includes some foul language, as demonstrated on this site.
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