True, but there’s the other parts of the East Indies to consider ITTL. Who says Sarawak and Malaya can’t join in the fight, let alone Australia and the Dutch East Indies?
On the other hand, if Siam leans towards the French in the years before the War, then the final outcome is really up in the air. As for Germany, hmm… I really need to think about this. A German Empire will eventually begin flexing itself on world affairs, but I wonder if there could be a momentum for the reactionaries to turn to conservatives. But doing that would mean having to delve deep into German history and minutiae to find the POD’s, and I don’t think I can do that, at least not to countries outside SE-Asia.
But then again, I’m taking more attention to Austria-Hungary as of late, and so far I’ve uncovered some interesting people who might influence the Empire to a greater extent than OTL. Who knows? I’ll definitely keep this in mind.
As for Japan and China, I really need to brush up my history on them; things should’ve gone differently than OTL over there by now, and events up over there would most certainly have an effect on this TL’s world. I have some ideas on how both countries will develop, but for now I’m focusing on Sarawak and Johor, since that’s where the bulk of the 1870’s will take place.
And thanks for wishing me luck!
Namayan’s right. Spain and Brunei have been enemies for centuries, and the memory of all that enmity has embedded itself deep in the Bruneian court. Given the chance, the Bruneian Sultan would rather pick the wimpiest colonial Power for protection if the only other choice was to pick Spain; it's near-suicide if he did.
However, the resource drive in Borneo and Sulu might go a bit differently than how it was OTL. Right now, there are already more colonial powers criss-crossing the East Indies than there were ten years ago, and not all of them are there for trading with China alone. However, this also means the rivalry between the colonial powers is greater ITTL, and as such the East Indies might end up being on the chopping-block again in the near future; 1871-style. Well, either that or conflict.
Hey, so long as it works there's no need to complain, right?
The development of Sarawak’s infrastructure is perhaps the most amazing thing to have happened, both IOTL and ITTL. This was a land wherein all it’s mineral wealth is monopolized, where more than half of its peoples are pre-state, and where Corvée labour was literally “sentenced to true criminals and true criminals alone”. And yet, whatever things that worked, did so surprisingly well. It might not seem much, but the changes brought by Charles would turn Sarawak into a whole different state by the 1890’s.As for Charles Brooke, yeah he wouldn't rank high on the "democratic" scale for national leaders if one existed in the 1870's. He wouldn't see it that way if you asked him, though. In his eyes, Sarawak was a wild state that needed protection from both itself and from others if it is to grow, and what better protection than the man who rules it all at the top? The BIG saving grace for him is that he was sensible enough to realize local affairs as being better run by the locals, and his acceptance of Malays into the Sarawak Service in large numbers shows that he didn't give a damn about ethnicity (to a point) so long as you do your job, and you do it well.
Also, points to Herr Frage for seeing the kingdom getting very much 'un-British' now. or the moment, London is just happy to see no more pirates in the South China Sea, though they will notice their Bornean friend is getting more 'native' soon enough. There will be voices asking what's going on down there, and Charles Brooke might need to butt heads with the outside world when that happens. However, by that time Sarawak would have grown enough to notice the other resources it has, and they just might be valuable enough for London to see somewhat eye-to-eye with Kuching.
The government system of the 1870’s might seem to be set in stone, but there’s still some twenty years until the 1900’s roll around, and a lot can happen in just thirty years.
Oh, this is will be a huge thing for Sarawak’s reputation abroad. The coast and the lowlands might be cleared of head-hunters, but there are still scores of them up in the headwaters and the mountainous interior. For as long as they can travel downriver and do what they do, so there will be punitive raids headed by the Rajah. The allied Malays and Dayaks, the War Council, just why is the Rajah there instead of being in Kuching, there’s a whole lot of cultural context for the war expeditions alone, but that’s for later updates.
Awesome update
Oooh, Sarawak’s black gold will definitely be a major factor ITTL. Fun fact: The oil found in Saudi Arabia is waaay different than the oil found in Sarawak, both in terms of raw matter and in fuel usage. With luck, whatever government the kingdom has will also know just how valuable their oil will be.
Brunei will be in its terminal stage by the end of the 1870’s, but it’s downfall will be more of ‘landing on a bed’ than a brutal ‘crashing into a wall’. The Brookes would want the sultanate’s territories for various reasons (some justified, some absurd) and the sultan will… well, just say the more time passes the more will he look to someone – anyone – to protect what’s left. I actually feel kinda sorry for the it now. Sorry, Brunei.
Abu Bakar and co. will have a tough time ahead of them, but they also have two things that might just carry Johor through the smoke; lots of money, and deep connections to British Singapore. His family cooperated with Stamford Raffles to establish the port, and there’s a lot of connections the royal family has to cut through colonial matters.
For the newspaper, the Temenggung (well, now the Maharaja of Johor; he changed his title in 1867) was thinking something like a Johorean Gazette, published in the thousands and reaching as far as Muar to Mersing (If there was one thing about Abu Bakar, it was that he thought big). Thankfully, his friend was there to carry him back down to earth. There were some educated Malays in Johor Bahru, and that’s where the real newspaper would find its core subscribers. For now though, its education reform for the Johor Sultanate!
Thank you so much!
