1836: At Washington-on-the-Brazos, the new republic declares its independence from Mexico. March 6 - the Alamo fortress falls after a two-week siege by Mexican focs. April 21 - Surprise attack on Mexican forces at San Jacinto captures Mexican general Santa Anna, securing Texas victory.
1845: After ten difficult years the poorly-financed Republic of Texas is peacefully annexed by the US. Texas Rangers continue to uphold order, as they did in the Republic.
1860: Texas fights in the First Civil War as part of the Confederacy, only to meet defeat by 1864. Readmitted to the US in 1869 under a new constitution.
1901: Spindletop oil gusher marks a reshaping of the state economy. By the 1980s Texas is the nation's leading producer of petroleum.
2000: Federal government moves to nationalize dwindling supplies of oil and natural gas production. Legislatures in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana react by seceding. Beginning of Second Civil War, known in Texas as "The War for Freedom." Several oil-field sites destroyed.
2003: US forces stopped in the hills of central Texas, ending bloody "Gulf or Bust" campaign. Rebel forces begin to retake lost territory.
2004: Texarkana Accords end Second Civil War. Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana become sovereign nations, known as the Free Oil States. Daniel Reid elected president of Texas in a landslide.
2005: Republic of Texas recognized by the United Nations, in one of the UN's last acts before disbanding.
2010: Raids into southwest Texas by Mexican "defense armies" in grain-alcohol powered cars, halted two years later when the Grain Blight eliminates the fuel supply.
2011: Former president Daniel Reid vanishes under mysterious circumstances; the mystery is unsolved to the present day. College Station, home of Texas A&M University, is renamed Reid in commemoration.
2015: Mexican warlords reestablish fuel crops using other vegetation, renew raids into Texas. Battle of Del Rio turns back a major Mexican offensive, and the new Texas Rangers virtually eliminate raiding over the next five years.
2016: The Food Riots. Most Texas cities plunged into chaos. Dallas and Houston collapse. Relief for other cities comes by 2018, when ConTexCo of Arlington pioneers commercial algae farming.
2025: War threatens, due to expansionism by Louisiana President-For-Life Gary Stevenson (called "The Bayou Fox" by supporters, "The Weasel" by others). Baton Rouge militia - the "Crusade on Wheels" - seize Beaumont in a surprise Christmas Eve attack and claim the Big Thicket region.
2026: Texas Rangers retake Beaumont in a gruesome battle, continue into Louisiana on punitive raids. Skirmishes continue through the year. Three assassination attempts on Stevenson, two of which are successful.
2027: Texas Navy blockades New Orleans; Mardi Gras cancelled. Stevenson's supply of clones temporarily exhausted by three assassinations in twelve days. His incompetent henchman, Wallace Groutly, takes power but surrenders within a week. Stevenson and Groutly imprisoned in Bastrop, Texas after Lafayette war trials. Peace settlement between the nations leaves tensions unresolved.
2031: Car Wars released to the general public.
2033: Groutly ordained as a Catholic priest while in prison, is released on probation, and immediately disappears. Assault by a fleet of vans and buses frees Stevenson from his medium-security prison two weeks later. He and his supporters go into hiding, staging guerrilla raids and marshalling support throughout Louisiana and the southern U.S.
2036: Texas population, per capita income, and exports at their highest levels since the last century. Civil and military authority continues to grow in western regions of the country, once lawless. Though international tensions continue, Texas celebrates its Bicentennial with typical pride and gusto.