AHC: Tibet wank in the 20th century

[GameBawesome]

Challenge: Make Tibet expansionist, around the time of the Warlord Era, and taking vast amounts of land from a fractured China, and recreating a Tibetan Empire in the Tarim Basin.

 

[CountDVB]

Everything but the Tarim Basin thing could work, given Tibet does not have much with the area.

Have some ambitious upstart take control of Tibet and focus on claiming Qinghai and possibly Xinjiang Try and play off the Red and White Armies, getting British support and arms. They do a token effort against the RUssians, but focus on consolidating their hold, including some attempts at restoring the original Buddhist beliefs within the area. Make peace with the USSR and try and keep their new land. Either cause conflicts with Chiense Communists or get them to agree.

Focus more on cultural restoration, mainly in Qinghai. Also maintain postive relations with the British. Probably get involved with China, depending on who will give them the better deal or benefit in the long run. Granted, they might keep the Communists from entering and ensuring the Nationalists may be victorious. All about who gives them the better deal, though they'd have the West try and convince China to let Tibet keep their ancestral lands.

Xinjiang/Uyghurstan would not be as big a priority as Qinghai

Also, Tibet would try and get the British to give them Ladakh.

Basically help out the Allies in China and a Tibetian Empire ensuring they get a China who's leadership aligns to their interest (namely leaving them alone and possible alliances.) Beyond that, probably remain a cordial ally for the West. Focus on developing technology to their own ends, but otherwise remain fairly isolationist with a controlled tourism industry. Try and be on good terms with India

 

[Thon Taddeo]

This is pretty hard to do.

First it's necessary for the Dalai Lama to continue to modernize Tibet. OTL he supported some modernization early on, but eventually the efforts petered out. The biggest issue is the powerful lama class, who were opposed to all but the smallest changes to Tibetan society.

Then it's necessary to get foreign help and foreign recognition. No country in OTL every recognized Tibet as independent. The UK seems most likely, but British recognition would depend on what happens in China.

If Tibet is to make and more importantly keep its conquests, it's necessary to screw China far worse than OTL. A start would be killing off Chiang Kai Shek in the early 1920s before the Northern Expedition.

If China somehow remains weak and divided until the late twentieth century, after Tibet has held firmly onto its conquests for many decades, and Tibet has received international support, then it might be possible for this wanked Tibet to survive.

 

[kholieken]

Tibet didn't have populations or economy to pull this. Qinghai probably have enough people to fight Tibet alone. Not to mention ethnic Chinese population in Eastern Tibet and traditional loyalty to China by people on Amdo - Cham.

 

[Pelranius]

And then there's the Hui.