An Austrian Socotra?

Yanez de Gomera

In 1857 Archduke Ferdinand Max of Austria, then commander of the Austrian Navy, sent Tegetthoff on an expedition in the Red Sea to do some surveying of the place together with explorer Theodor von Heuglin. A secret task given to Tegetthof was to negotiate the buying of the strategic island of Sokotra from the Sultan of Kishin. The expedition suffered a number of accidents and delays and in the end the acquisition of Socotra failed, also because of a lack of financial support from Wien. The island was bought by the United Kingdom in 1876. (Of course the Monsoon made the island almost inaccessible for several months each year, so maybe it is not really great as a naval base/coaling station).

Could the expedition instead meet with success? Would it require the colonial minded Ferdinand Max to be Kaiser instead of Franz Josef? Would the British act militarily to occupy it and avoid Austria getting the island?

I know that colonies won't ever be a priority for Austria, but maybe... An Austria which is able to retain Veneto could be more navally minded and if the disasters of 1859 and 1866 are avoided and Austria already has Socotra, then other colonies could become possible after Suez opens: Somalia for instance and/or the Nicobares or North Borneo even... it is a stretch I know, but could be interesting.
 
Last edited:

Falecius

A small Austrian colonial empire?
Interesting. I agree that it would include, AT MOST, North Borneo, the Nicobars, Soqotra and Somalia (roughly OTL's Italian Somaliland plus perhaps Ogaden, but possibly only Puntland and whereabout) and maybe the odd island group in the Pacific (say, Tuvalu and/or Nauru). And concessions in China of course, but they matter little.
The security of this small empire would depend highly on British goodwill and it would be gone instantly if Austria clashes with London. It might lessen the Austrian Balkan focus, but conversely the will to access the colonies might change the relationship with the Ottomans.
Getting Salonika would be a far more important goal, maybe leading to an agreement with Russia about partitioning the Ottoman Balkans - or increased rivalry with Russia over them.
Also, it would be even more vital for Austria to prevent Italy gaining a foothold in Albania - no, on second thought, the Balkans would be in some ways even more critical to Austria here, even if for different reasons. The colonies would be a joint Austro-Hungarian undertaking, changing the internal dynamic of the country and greatly expanding the common finances and foreign relationship mandate (IF the Ausgleich happens).
I don't see a viable way for Austria to keep Venice indefinitely, but its loss may sting more, leading to an even more antagonistic relationship with Italy. Hmmm... So probably no Triple Alliance. The Dual Alliance would have more incentive to seek British support... WWI between Austria-Germany-Britain and France-Russia-Italy over the Ottoman Empire (or even Egypt/Nile, à la Fashoda)?
 

Yanez de Gomera

You paint quite an interesting scenario @Falecius, although I am not sure that Italian unification is inevitable and, without it, you would have quite weak states (and dependant on Austrian support) controlling the Italian addiatic coast, thus no risk of a blockade of the Straits of Otranto and a much reduced need for a port like Thessaloniki.

Instead of North Borneo could New Guinea be an option?
 

Yanez de Gomera

Sorry for the bump...

There is no interest?

It would also be interesting to have Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza end up in Austrian, not French, service... Maybe in this TL we have a Brazzaburg in Borneo or Somalia. He was a luminous exception to other colonisers/adventurers it could be interesting to put him in a different environment than Congo.
 

Falecius

Yanez de Gomera said:
You paint quite an interesting scenario @Falecius, although I am not sure that Italian unification is inevitable and, without it, you would have quite weak states (and dependant on Austrian support) controlling the Italian addiatic coast, thus no risk of a blockade of the Straits of Otranto and a much reduced need for a port like Thessaloniki.

Instead of North Borneo could New Guinea be an option?
Click to expand...
Yanez de Gomera said:
You paint quite an interesting scenario @Falecius, although I am not sure that Italian unification is inevitable and, without it, you would have quite weak states (and dependant on Austrian support) controlling the Italian addiatic coast, thus no risk of a blockade of the Straits of Otranto and a much reduced need for a port like Thessaloniki.

Instead of North Borneo could New Guinea be an option?
Click to expand...

Not the whole of New Guinea, as the Dutch were already there, but parts of it are possible (but why?).
With a POD of 1857, I think that Italian unification is the most likely path, although indeed not inevitable (but I don't se how it is affected by the POD), and if it happens it would be hard for Austria to keep Veneto in the long run. A colonial Austria would also be A LOT more invested in Schleswig-Holstein (maybe they swap part of it for, say, Austrian Silesia? But Prussia would still want war, and is likely to win it, so...)
 

Yanez de Gomera

Falecius said:
Not the whole of New Guinea, as the Dutch were already there, but parts of it are possible (but why?).
With a POD of 1857, I think that Italian unification is the most likely path, although indeed not inevitable (but I don't se how it is affected by the POD), and if it happens it would be hard for Austria to keep Veneto in the long run. A colonial Austria would also be A LOT more invested in Schleswig-Holstein (maybe they swap part of it for, say, Austrian Silesia? But Prussia would still want war, and is likely to win it, so...)
Click to expand...
You are right, North Borneo probably has more resources and at worst is a good station on the China route, whereas New Guinea is probably too much out of the way.
Obviously keeping Lombardy-Venetia is highly unlikely, and I know it sounds rather cliché, but the POD could be a bit earlier, with FJ assassinated in 1853 and maximilian becoming Kaiser: he would certainly sponsor colonial ventures at this time with a fuller degree of authority than as a mere Archduke. Trieste would love him...
Falecius said:
Brazza in Somalia... just wow.
Click to expand...
I mean, look at his pictures, he is the quintessential romantic explorer...
Probably the conditions in the Horn-call of Africa are too different from those in the Congo, but he really was a great diplomat when treating with indigenous people: for maximum.walking we could have him brokering some protectorate agreement with Abissinia or at least some influential Ras. Austria, as a lesser coloniser, could be seen as a guarantee against French or British encroaching, while at the same time not posing an overt menace to Abyssinian independence.

Edit: sorry if I came out as a supporter or "whitewasher" of European colonialism, but Brazzaville waso personally honest and I have no reason to think that his tombstone caption "a memory clean of human blood" is in any way false. At the same time even good intentioned paternalism is still despicable and, in the end, colonies where first and foremost, cash cows for the investors in the motherland and, as such, bound to the exploitation and expropriation of local people, as Brazza himself learned when he was removed from Congo by the French authority and, years later, his damping report on the inhuman practices by the new administration was covered-up/ignored.
The purpose of this thread is just to analyse a possibly different pattern of imperialism, not to endorse it.
 
Last edited:

Falecius

Yanez de Gomera said:
You are right, North Borneo probably has more resources and at worst is a good station on the China route, whereas New Guinea is probably too much out of the way.
Obviously keeping Lombardy-Venetia is highly unlikely, and I know it sounds rather cliché, but the POD could be a bit earlier, with FJ assassinated in 1853 and maximilian becoming Kaiser: he would certainly sponsor colonial ventures at this time with a fuller degree of authority than as a mere Archduke. Trieste would love him...

I mean, look at his pictures, he is the quintessential romantic explorer...
Probably the conditions in the Horn-call of Africa are too different from those in the Congo, but he really was a great diplomat when treating with indigenous people: for maximum.walking we could have him brokering some protectorate agreement with Abissinia or at least some influential Ras. Austria, as a lesser coloniser, could be seen as a guarantee against French or British encroaching, while at the same time not posing an overt menace to Abyssinian independence.
Click to expand...

Another problem is that if there is a war with France like the 1859, France would likely take over whatever Austrian colonial holding is there pretty easily, and Austria would probably opt for letting it go in exchange for some gain in Italy.
Of course, this is avoidable with a 1853 POD, as Max would probably chose a more proactive diplomatic path in the Crimean War that may block the Franco-Sardinian alliance. Although the price is going to be a larger Continental focus, so even less resources for colonial ventures...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top