Europe and the Great Game Mk II

I've decided to go back to the time line that I created and make a few changes. Basically a number of things are the same: Sweden and Austria enter the Crimean War on behalf of the allies while Prussia waits to the last moment and picks the wrong move to make allying with Russia. The war ends with a crushing defeat for both Russia and Prussia.
It also sees the emergence of Bavaria as the new leader of the German Confederation.
Austria will over the remaining decades of the 19th century proceed to ally itself with Great Britain. Kaiser Franz Joseph is convinced that it is Austria's destiny to dominate the Holy lands. Thus Austria creats the Kingdom of Jerusalem ( the Kingdom will consist of what would be Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and parts of Syria.
 
Austria in the post Crimean War moved toward accomplishing a variety of goals 10 the Creation of the Kingdom of Poland created a reliable ally for Austria against a resurgent Russia 20 the expansion of Austria to the east into what would have been the lands that made up Romania in OTL and 3) the co-opting of Italian Nationalism in the creation of a friendly state.
Austria's fourth goal was to maintain a strong alliance with Great Britain.
This was a return to what had once been.
With the return of peace to Europe there was a surplus of trained troops in Europe. Austria decided to emulate the French and Creat an Austrian Foreign Legion. It this tapped into the surplus soldier market and it was these soldiers who would help to expand Austria's emerging empire. The Legion was first dispatched to India to help the British during the Indian Mutiny. Britain provided the arms and equipment and also helped to cover the cost.
 
Austria and Germany both became involved in the establishing of colonies in Africa.

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Napoleon III had been out maneuvered by the Austrian Emperor. The Austrians had succeed in establishing a friendly Italian Kingdom next to them. True Austria had given up some lands to the new Italian state but its gains to the east were far more valuable.
Austria also decided to insure that it would have a friend in the new Kingdom of Serbia by both supporting a candidate for that post and to help the Serbs regain lands lost to the Ottomans.

There was support for the Christian Greek state in its struggle to regain more of lands claimed by it and held by the Ottomans. The Austrian Emperor was finding that the Greeks had support from the New German Emperor, the former King of Bavaria as well as in Great Britain.

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Both Greece and the Russian Empire were determined to sieze more of of the Ottoman Empire. Austria had become involved in the Arabian Peninsula backing one of the families in their rise to power.
Austria had had talks with the Ottomans concerning the borders with its colony.
 
The Austria support for an expanded Serbian state had manage to result in support growing for a relationship with Austria. Kaiser Franz Joseph was well liked in Serbia. It was believed that the Austrian Emperor was responsible for the growth of the Serbian Kingdom. Austria had also pushed the Russians out of the Balkans. It was Austrian Military might that had resulted in the control all of the European part. Constantinople once again was under the Greek flag. Greece granted base rights to the Austrians on Crete. The Greeks were intent on acquiring Greater Greece, ie those cities that had once been part of Ancient Greece.
 
The death of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria left the question as to who would replace the aging Kaiser Franz Joseph. It was clear that the choice would have to be drawn from one of the Archdukes.

Austria had since the ending of the Crimean War been attempting to reach an agreement with the Russians which would avoid another major European conflict. The Austrians well well aware that the British did not want want the Greeks and the Russians to swallow up the Ottoman Empire. The Kingdom of Greece was attempting to continue to push to establish a Greater Greece. The Austrians did not believe that the Greeks had the capacity to do that. It seemed that the Greeks were attempting to convince the Austrians to shed their blood to gain territory for Greece..
 
Austria and Imperial Russia attempted to reach an agreement that might prevent another war between the two of them. The Russians had little desire to trigger another major conflict with Great Britain and Austria.
Emperor Napoleon III began to move tward warmer relations with Russia after the Unification of both Germany and Italy. The French Emperor felt that Austria and his former ally Britain were attempting to restrict Frances growth.
The French Emperor attempted to create an Empire of Mexico by putting a Carlist on the throne. He was able to help the Carlist stay on the throne but it was a disaster foreign Policy wise.
 
Austria and Great Britain maintained a strong and close relationship. In part it was to insure that Austria was secure from a threat to the east.
Austria supported Serbia and as a result the preconception of Austria changed. Emperor Franz Joseph was seen by the Serbian people as the liberator from Ottoman oppression.
However as the Ottomans were finally driven out of the Balkans there were problems. Among those problems were Albania, which had a very large Muslim population. The Serbs and even the Greeks pushed into Albanian territory and as a result Austria was forced to dispatch both its Foreign legion troops and regular Austrian troops into the area to prevent what would be termed in another time ethnic cleansing.
Austria attempted to recruit some of the Muslim population to move into its East African Colony.
 
Austria had also intervened in the conflict in the Arabian Peninsula making sure that a friendly family came to power. Thus the House of Saudi was shoved aside and one more friendly to the Austrians came to power. The Austrians also asured that the Ottomans did not intervene.

The race to control Africa was creating tensions between France and Italy. The Main flashpoint was Tunsia, where the Italians had gained a chief port and a strip of coastal land connecting it to it colony in Libya.
 
I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what's going on in this timeline, but nevertheless;

1 - The Congo was given to King Leopold because none of the great powers wanted the others to have it. This would include Austria.
2 - By the time the Scramble for Africa had occurred, Cecil Rhodes had already mapped out and claimed Rhodesia - i.e. Zambia - for the British South Africa Company and therefore Britain. There was a lot of political manoeuvring concerning Katanga in this period as well, because the South Africa Company and the Belgians both wanted it, and it could have gone either way (if Austria controls the Congo, this will be a matter of contention between the supposed allies of Austria and Britain, a la the Fashoda Crisis of 1898 OTL between France and Britain).
3 - A unified Italy goes against Austrian interests in the region, which is why in order to unify OTL, Italy had to go to war with Austria in the 1860's with French backing. You can't just magic the opposite into occurring.
4 - How does Austria achieve its Holy Land colony? Taking this territory from the Ottomans would start a war in the region, a war that Italy (for the sake of Libya) would definitely jump in on, as well as Russia (a wildcard, considering the Crimean War). In addition, Germany had some serious economic interest in the surviving Ottoman Empire, including the Berlin-Baghdad Railway, so they value a surviving Ottoman state, and thus would be opposed to Austrian interfering in the region.
5 - As in OTL, Italy be unable to achieve a colony in Tunisia so long as the French have a lingering presence there. The pretext of the French protectorate was a large loan of money to the bey of Tunisia, and to curb growing Italian and British influence in the region. In the end, the British settled for Cyprus while the French took Tunisia, with the Italians protesting in vain (as they could do nothing).
6 - From a purely logical perspective, your Austrian colonies make no sense. Austria is a second-rate power, and despite an alliance with Britain, the British have already established something of a network of colonies from Cape to Cairo, with the exception of German East Africa. If the Austrians are going against Turkey for the Holy Land, Libya makes a more realistic and appealing target, as it is closer (being on the Mediterranean coast). The Italians won't do anything about it, since, according to your timeline, they are essentially relying on Austria for survival.

Edit: Also, what chief port did the Italians gain in Tunisia, and what year was this in? The French protectorate was established in 1881. The only chief port on the east coast I can think of is Sfax, which the French took with their navy after a brief insurrection. Any actions by the Italians in this region would be met with open hostility from the French.

Edit 2: How on earth did the British gain the Ivory Coast, and the French the Gold Coast? The Gold Coast Colony was covered in British, Dutch, and Danish ports for most of modern history, but all the Dutch and Danish posts were sold to the British over time, allowing them to found their colony. The pretext here was the disruption of trade in the region due to the Ashante Wars. The Ivory Coast was a major area of French interest up until the Franco-Prussian War, but during that time European interests in Africa were minimal anyway. Same with Guinea. These colonies weren't just randomly added to the map; there was historical context behind penetration of the interior of Africa from the various points in which it happened. There's no way Spain can get its hands on Togoland; the Germans had it in 1884 via two separate protectorates with local chiefs.

Also, Sierra Leone is another British colony you've randomly given to the French.
 
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Austria did not follow the same foreign policy as in OTL. A decision was made that it would be in Austria's interest to support the establishment of an Italian state. Thus this would mean moving quickly so as to prevent the House of Piedmont from achieving anything.. In having a friendly state on its western border the Austrians checked the French.
Much of this was in an earlier thread called The Great Game in Europe.
 
Another word of explanation in this time line Austria remained a major power. It was able to avoid the splitting of power with Hungary Thus this is the Austrian Empire. The Empire absorbed the lands that would have been Romania in our time line.
Austria went after the Holy Lands because Kaiser Franz Joseph considered himself the protector of the Faith. Thus he was competing with both France and Russia.

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I am going to do some revisions to the map of Africa.Okay he is what the new map looks like.

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Relations between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Greece began to cool. Great Britain and Austria worried that allowing Greece to grab more of the Ottoman Empire would encourage the Russians to further expand into the Middle East. The Result was an improvement of relations between Austria and the Ottomans. It appeared that the Empire (Ottoman) was looking at a revolt from within as the Young Turk movement was beginning to take hold. The Young Turk Movement was tired of the corruption of the Empire and wanted to overthrow it.
The Austrians had a naval base on the island of Crete and had been helping to fund improvements to the islands infrastructure. As Greece moved toward Imperial Russia it appeared that the Austrian and British Intelligence services were considering promoting independence for the island,
 
Secretly the British and Austrian Intelligence services began to gather information and support for the breaking away of Crete from the Kingdom of Greece. It was clear that unless that happen the Greek government might give the Austrian Naval base to the Russians. This would mean that the Russian would have broken out of the Black Sea and be a threat once more to Great Britain and Austria.
The Greek government had already begun to apply pressure to the Austrians by making it clear that they would not renew the lease for the base. Austria on the other hand moved very slowly to remove its materials from the base.
When the two intelligence services provided evidence that there was disenchantment on the island with the Greek governments treatment of the people of Crete and the failure to spend enough funds on the islands. It had been the Austrians who had improved the schools and created hospitals. Roads and Harbor facilities were now upgraded as was the sanitation.
 
Thus Austria decided to support an independence movement on the island of Crete. There had always been support on the island of Crete for independence from Greece and that feeling had been growing. There was a belief that the Cretan people were getting the short end of the stick. The Mainland government had not been funding projects that would improve living conditions on Crete, Indeed it was the Austrians who had helped to improve the schools and medical facilities on the island. They had also helped to improve the roads.
The British government was also supporting this move so as to block British penetration of the Mediterranean .
 
The Austrian Government secretly provided weapons to the group of Cretan Rebels who had decided to break away from the Kingdom of Greece.The Austrians and the British Navies would block the ability of the Greek government to move forces to Crete to put down the uprising.
The Cretan National Army quickly seized control of the island. The disarmed what Greek troops there were on the island. They also appealed to Austria, Italy, Great Britain and other European nations for recognition .
Italy acknowledged the new Cretan Government as the legitimate government of the island. France on the other hand supported Greece and denounced the Italian and Austrian role in the action. Austria and Great Britain recognized the independence of the island after the Greek government allowed a public attack on the Austrian and British Embassies.
 
Below the Map of the Eastern Med after the Break away of Crete. Tensions continue to rise between the Ottoman Empire and Russia over Greater Armenia. Also the Greeks continue to push for Greater Greece. This has increased tensions with great Britain and Austria. Both have no wish to see the destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the massive expansion of Imperial Russia.

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