Don't know how you feel about alternate history stories
but you may want to look at "The Gamekeeepers Night Dog"
..starts with the saving of the Traditional English Bulldog which represents the manliness/vigor of England
--England starting the Boer war early
--which moves up the start of WWI
--both at accelerated tech levels(but with old school war dogs thrown in)
--later books have US rejoining the Pax Brittanica
---a worldwide communist insurrection against the british empire
---Gorillas being genetically engineered to Sentience
---intergalactic war vs everyone else
yeah...i dont really do it justice
the first book is a little rough since it was his first work of fiction, but the premise was interesting enough to get through any rough writing
--and it wasnt that bad since he has done many non-fic books on the subject of bulldogs