Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
This would be good for Arab stability, for better or worse. The tribes, oligarchs, and other extreme factionalisms are a major factor in Middle East instability. Would do wonders to reduce Wahhabism as well, because the tribes were its most major followers and supporters.
Al Saeed's nascent Pan-Arabism though is another thing entirely. Reducing the tribes and oligarchs' power is just the first step on uniting Arabia as a nation. The next step is connecting the outlying the villages to the center of his nation for better integration. Might be best to start making some of those railroad infrastructure.
The Ottomans will indeed be trying to root out arab oligarchism.
Yes, Al-Saeed will show a lot of interesting in greater transportation for better integration.
If on the positive note, it'll be a bastion of republican democracy in the Middle-East. And perhaps an influential great power in the modern-day.
If on the cynical note, it'll be turned out to be a banana republican dictatorship of the third world-kind or Wahhabi-style Islamic fundamentalist state like Taliban Afghanistan.
Well to be fair Al-Saeed is trying to wash his hands off wahabbism so that's a pretty good I would say.
Wahhabism seems pretty securely and safely dead at this point.
Of course it is not the only brand of religious nuttery possible.
It not like the Arab republic has any air or sea ports or borders Russian or pro Russian states, if the British and ottomans wanted they could block any Russians support (outside of advisors sent thru diplomatic channels)
Now America has either suck up her pride (good luck with that) or try to overthrow a historically preastigus, centrally located, religiously important, economically prosperous, military growing, democratic empire that has massive oil fields and is sort of allied to the British empire . Either that or America will need to ignore the ottoman oil (or use intermediates) but even them the ottomans control almost every path in an out of Arabia, is friendly with Egypt and Persia (who also have massive oil) and will likely become a major leader of Islamic and oil producing nations.
It is interesting that you stated these Turkinos stuck to their ottoman identity. OTL there were Muslims from Ottoman territories that immigrated to the US, however over time their descendants would shed their previous cultural and religious identities and become no different from the rest of americans. There is an interesting ottoman history podcast episode about it. You made it seem that most of the emmigration back to the Ottomans were from the Jewish Turkinos. Are the Muslims there to stay, or did you imply they were heading back to?
What parts of the Arabian peninsula are still under British control? Whats now the UAE, Oman, and parts of Yemen? What are the chances this Arab republic are able to incorporate portions of these territories into their own polity?
Despite the rampant anti semitism of the era unfortunately Muslims were treated even worse than Jews in America at the time which granted incentive for them to try and shed their ottoman identity and quietly mix with the crowd. The turkinos historically did not really give up their identity until the 1940s as well when the last turkino article came out writing against the Holocaust. The Muslims are also returning though at smaller rates than the turkinos.
Only regarding to Russian-Arab trade: An indirect benefit for the ottomans - i assume the bulk of trade goes through ottoman lands (Caucasus, Levante).
But of course, both Russia and Spain will want some share on oil production, so it depends on them to build up relations until a deal can be secured.
the unclaimed lands can be incorporated, but unless the republic wants a war with the british, they won't touch the pink lands
How's the Imamate of Oman doing? Still hanging on in the interior?
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Chapter 48: Political Changes
Osman Reborn
Chapter 48: Political Changes
***
“On the 2nd of January, 1922, the Ottoman Empire’s electoral commission gave the government the date of March 12, 1922 as the date of the new Senatorial and General Elections, which were going to be held together in tandem for the first time in Ottoman Electoral History. As a result, all of the major parties began to gear up for the new electoral campaign that was going to arrive within the next three months. It was obvious for anyone to see that the Ottoman Empire was at the crossroads. For the past eight years, the Committee of Union and Progress had ruled the Ottoman Empire alongside the Socialist Party, and their rule was once again being challenged by the Liberal Union, which under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, was making a comeback in the electoral scene having won several governorship and mayoral elections since 1918 to increase their power over the local government. The Ottoman Empire’s economy was also growing and the now developing country needed to make new political decisions.
Ottoman Elections were extremely competitive
Soon after the elections dates were announced, party manifestos were released to the public by the respective political parties. The CUP Manifesto ‘It’s the Economy People’ was focused on the economy, and its growth which had been extremely healthy under the rule of Riza and the Committee of Union and Progress. The Manifesto promised that the new government under the CUP would continue to look into matters of increased funding for transportation, infrastructure and the industrial heart of the Ottoman Empire. In contrast, the Liberal Union’s manifesto, which was named ‘The Happy Ottoman’ took a radical turn from previous party lines, as the Kemalist faction within the party turned towards liberal-progressivism as well as statism as their main ideology. In the manifesto, the Liberal Union promised that a balanced budgeting system would be introduced, and that the creation of a welfare state, based on the British and Scandinavian Countries would take place in the country, with new incentives for education, health and commerce in the country. It also unveiled a mild scholarship scheme to make sure that the Ottomans could appeal to foreign students as well. The Socialist Party under the other hand, had seen a change in leadership, with Huseyin Hilmi leaving his political career to enjoy a career in Turkish and Arabic literature. In his stead, came the dynamic peasant-agrarian leader, Safik Husni. Husni’s Manifesto, which was named ‘The Social Manifesto’ promised nationalization, future economic planning and full employment as well as a system of social security in the future. The Big Three, as the CUP, Liberal Union and the Ottoman Socialists were called during this era, had made sure that with their manifestos, the elections would remain contentious and highly competitive.
With the correction of major issues in Ottoman franchise and population data collecting in 1920, the Ottoman Empire’s franchise had expanded once again, and 23 million people within the empire was eligible to vote. This shifted political populism and its dynamics within the empire by a great deal, and vowed to make the elections an unknown quality for all parties involved. Mustafa Kemal Pasha led the Liberal Union during the 1922 Elections. He defined his goals for the country as ‘Liberal Populism, Reformism, Ottomanism, and Statism’. The Liberal Union thoroughly rejected class conflict, as defined by socialists, syndicalists and communists in the country and instead believed, in line with their idea of Ottomanism, that national unity was needed above all else. This was emphasized by Mustafa Kemal and the party members during their campaign for the elections throughout the country. While Ottomanism was de-facto already applied policy, none of the former governments had actually explicitly stated that they were in favor of Ottomanism trying to co-opt the ethnic minorities of the country. Mustafa Kemal changed this policy line. In a speech in Constantinople he stated, ‘I do not intend to take away your language, your culture, your religion, your customs and traditions. You can be a Bulgarian, Greek, Turk, Arab, Albanian, Armenian, however at the same time, you can also be an Ottoman’. Ottomanism became the ideological approach to transcend differences of community and nationality in the Ottoman Empire, and certainly to the liberal thinking population of the Empire, it was an enticing opinion and ideological belief. More importantly, Ottomanism was explicitly called by Abdulmejid I of the Empire as an approach based on reason, logic and common sense, and so in a roundabout way, the Liberal Union was promoting reason and logic as their main populist message as well. Economically the party was heavily influenced by the Liberal Party of the UK, and promised that something akin to the UK Liberal Reforms of 1906-1915, which had created the British welfare state would also take place within the Ottoman Empire. They also derided the fact that the Ottoman Empire did not have minimum wage policies, and did not have family allowance securities, and promised that increased spending in the welfare of the population would take place. A very ambitious scholarship scheme, based on a new school curriculum was also devised and spread throughout the public by the Liberal Union.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha
The CUP was facing problems however, based on the fact that the country was going through political fatigue. Despite the fact that the CUP led government had done wonders for the country in the past eight years, having the same governments for nearly a decade led to severe political tiredness and fatigue in the country aimed at the CUP. This was a problem for the party that was nearly insurmountable. Ahmet Riza himself was not well, and interned in hospital for several days which severely stunted the campaigning policy of the party as well. The problem in the country was that Riza himself was extremely well respected, and had high approval ratings, however the same could not be said for the party, as political tiredness took hold of the country. As a result, the party hurriedly based their campaign on the promise of continuing the vast economic reforms of the country. This was partially successful and the party also appealed to the conservative side of the female voting populace, and allowed themselves to be ingratiated within their electoral clique as well. Similarly, led by Husni the Ottoman Socialist Party was scouring the country looking for votes. The increasing industrialization of the Ottoman Empire meant that there was a growing class of workers and socialists in the country, and the party sought to advantage of this fact. Husni promised several economic reforms, such as nationalization of several industrial estates and the creation of a central state supervised planning center for the national economy as well. He also promised for social reforms, and appealing to the Christian minorities of the country, he also promised to reduce the power of the still powerful Ulema in the country. He was attacked by islamists throughout the election due to this campaign policy in particular.
The Ottoman Democratic Party led by their new Greek leader, Kozmidi Effendi, had slowly turned from liberalism to centrism. Kozmidi had correctly assumed that the relation of liberalism of the Democratic Party and the Liberal Union leeched votes from the Democratic Party to the Liberal Union, which was highly effective in lowering the parliamentary representation of the country. Kozmidi as a result, decided that he would opt for a more centrist outlook for the party. Kozmidi argued in the public that the party was basing itself as a fiscally conservative and socially liberal party. Kozmidi based his policy outlook on trying to make sure that deficit funding in the Ottoman Empire was unnecessary and unlikely to take hold. He also promised to cut income taxes and to increase commercial funding as well, and made a compelling case, and the Ottoman Democratic Party managed to regain Albania as a powerbase after their loss in 1918. Similarly, the Social Democratic Party under the new leadership of Hamdi Bey also found themselves rising in popularity Ottoman Arabia with their more pro-religion outlook. Ottoman Arabia had been undergoing slow but gradual industrialization and had increased their working class as well. However, unlike the socialists who adopted an ambiguous religious policy, the Social Democrats engaged in pre-religion policies as well. Their policy of state regulation, was also in line with traditional Arabic economic policies, and as a result Iraq, in particular, the Baghdad Region, became a Social Democratic stronghold. Hamdi Bey, being Arabic himself, also focused largely on trying to bring the Arabs under his political sphere during the entire elections.
With the collapse of the Armenian Regionalist Party in 1921 after Armen Garo died, and the factions of the party splintered off, a new contender rose to take the charge as well. Led by powerful and influential Husrev Bey, the Ottoman Progressive Party had arrived on the scene. The Progressive Party’s motto was ‘Corporatism, Technocracy, Progress’ and their policies directly reflected this. In their manifesto and campaign which was named ‘For a Progressive Empire’, the party was fiercely pro-corporate, pro-technocracy, and pro-progressivism. The party based their economic policy on the growing service and corporate sector and tried to appeal the service workers of the empire, which worked extremely well, as several corporatists defected from several other parties to their party. They also espoused traditional progressivism which leeched votes from the Socialists into the Progressives as well. However more intriguingly, the new ideology which was coined as Technocracy by Calfornian Engineer William Henry Smyth, was an ideology that the party supported. Within this context, their supported the means to gain industrial democracy and to gain government that was ruled by technical decision making, which the party believed would be the best rule to follow governmental decisions by. Several high ranking engineers, economists, and bureaucrats joining the party ensured that unlike other new parties, it would start strong even in the first general election they contested. The Ottoman Nationalist Party led by Enver Pasha and the Poale Zion Party started to flounder during the elections however, and with the CUP taking the conservative vote, and ethno-centrist politics collapsing in the Ottoman Empire, as the empire’s political sphere matured, both party’s found their support cratering throughout the empire. Enver Pasha’s radical Turkish nationalist and pan-Turanist ideologies certainly did not help matters either, and members of minorities such as the Kurds, Arabs, Lebanites, Greeks, Armenians etc outright refused to listen to his turanist ideas in what they reminded him, was a multi-ethnic empire of equals.
When the ballots were counted on the 15th of March, 1922, the Liberal Union had won the largest share of seats in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, (though their share of seats in the Senate decreased), and as a result, the Liberal Union formed a new minority government. The Ottoman Democratic Party promised to provide confidence and supply to the new government as well, and after a contingent election, the Liberal leader, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected to be the new Grand Vizier. After the elections were over, Sultan Abdulmejid II would invite Mustafa Kemal to his palace, where he would formally be granted the title of Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Immediately after this, the new Grand Vizier would look to make a functioning new cabinet for the empire. He appointed Mustafa Fehvzi Pasha as the new Minister of the Army and Airforce, whilst Mehmet Ihsan Bey was appointed as the Minister of the Navy. The Ottoman Greek politician, Emmanuil Emmanuilidis was chosen by Mustafa Kemal as the Minister of Interior by the new Grand Vizier. Emmanuilidis was extremely talented as an administrator, and his skills was required by the new ministry as far as Mustafa Kemal was concerned. A far more controversial cabinet placement was the appointment of Faisal Al-Hashemi, the son of Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Sharif of Mecca as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, as Faisal was elected as a deputy for Jeddah he was theoretically allowed to hold a cabinet position and his candidacy passed. Faris Al-Huri was chosen as the Minister of Justice, being a jurist and lawyer previously, and Dikran Barsamian was chosen as the Minister of Agriculture. An Armenian botanist and agrarian scientist, Mustafa Kemal was sitting in line with his populist and statist ideology and had chosen Barsamian on the basis of his reformist and proto-technocratic ideology. Historian Pavlos Karolidis was chosen as the Minister of Education and Selim Ali Selam Bey, the former mayor of Beirut, was chosen as the Minister of the Economy. Finally Mustafa Fefvzi Sarhan Bey was chosen as the Minister of Pious Affairs, and Minas Cheraz was chosen as the Minister of Health whilst Lufti Fikri Bey was chosen as the Minister of Social Security and Labour.
As the new cabinet and government came to power, Mustafa Kemal Pasha would begin compiling bills to fulfill his promise of a liberal welfare state in the Ottoman Empire. It would be the first real start of the Ottoman Welfare State.” Ottoman Electoral History 1920 – 1930 © 1997
***
“From 1861 to 1890, the Qing Dynasty had tried to modernize themselves, and certainly they had put up a good fight in the Sino-French War of 1884, and had scared Europe in its entirety with their modernization efforts in that war. However despite performing admirably during the First Sino-Japanese War [1], the Chinese had been destroyed in the war, and the Boxer Rebellion and the subsequent Great Power intervention had ended all hopes of trying to modernize the Qing Dynasty. That had directly led to the Xinhai Revolution and the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Nevertheless with the rise of the Chinese Empire under the Chinese Dynasty (中國王朝), Yuan Keding’s Dynastic House, the country was trying to move forward and modernize once again.
Yuan Keding, the Hongxian Emperor
Yuan Keding, or the Hongxian Emperor was eager to modernize China, and the victory he had received over the republican and pro-Qing loyalists had given him courage to chug along with new reforms in the Chinese Empire. In this endeavor he was aided by Prime Minister Tang Shaoyi. Tang was a highly educated man, having attended elementary school in Springfield, Massachusetts, high school in Hartford, Connecticut, and then earning certificates by getting his undergraduate degree in the Queen’s College of Hong Kong and his graduate degree in the Columbia University in New York. He was highly educated, and widely respected in common Chinese society. However other elements in Chinese society were starting to act against the Imperial government.
Guo Songling
Governors in China were basically warlords, and acting at the behest of the central government if they so pleased. They controlled the regional armies, and the regional economies, and their interference was one of the reasons why the first imperial elections had such a low turnout. To bring them into line, the Hongxian Emperor bribed several prominent warlords, and using their support, he nationalized and centralized the Chinese Imperial Army. This however, proved to be the tipping point for arch-reactionaries and warlords who did not like the centralizing authority of the Hongxian Emperor. Led by the Governor-General of Manchuria, Guo Songling, several dissatisfied warlords of China met in Harbin to discuss strategy to make sure they could preserve their own local power within the Chinese realm. The Harbin Conference of January 8, 1922, consisted of:-
The seven members of the conference decided that the Imperial Government was overstepping the bounds of its authority and had broken the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between the Warlords and the central government which had held the Empire together for so long. They decided that they would band together, and before the deadline of March 31, 1922 to centralize control of the army, would wage war against the central government, depose the Emperor, and restore a republican rule which was ruled by oligarchs and warlords for the interests of oligarchs and warlords. Prince De received affirmation of the autonomy of Inner Mongolia in the case of restored republican rule. After this was agreed upon, the warlords returned to their respective provinces, and began to prepare for the war they knew was about to come. On the 25th of February, 1922, the Governor of Manchuria, Guo Songling declared the Imperial government illegitimate and then soon one by one, Anhui, Shanxi, Sichuan, Guandong, Yunnan and Inner Mongolia followed soon after and they all raised their armies against the Imperial government. This was the start of the Chinese Civil War.
Factions of the Chinese Civil War
Green is the Imperial Government of the Empire of China, Red is the Warlord Alliance and Purple is the Provisional Republic of China
Further problems arose for the Imperial government as they tried to formulate a proper response when Sun-Yat Sen’s successor in Shanghai, Zhang Renjie also rose up in support of a republican regime, forming a third side to the civil war, where he declared the Provisional Republic of China. Jiangsu and Zhejiang aligned themselves with the Provisional Republic as well further strengthening this third side. Ironically for the Imperial government, conquered territories in Xinjiang and Tibet remained loyal to the central government and sided with them whilst the rest of the country sided with the Imperial government as well. This situation meant that the country was now truly embroiled in civil war. Millions were being raised as the Empire and its opposition began to form against one another.
It was to this end that the Hongxian Emperor and Prime Minister Tang knew that diplomacy would play an important role in the conflict to come. For years the government had been needling the British, American, French and Japanese governments that a formal treaty that protected the territorial sovereignty of China was needed. The civil war provided the Chinese government with the opportunity to do as such. Finally recognizing the threat to Asian stability that a full Chinese civil war showed, the governments of the respective countries finally agreed to a treaty. The 5 Power Treaty as it was called was signed in Honolulu, Hawaii, the USA, between the government of the Chinese Empire, United Kingdom, United States, French Republic and Japanese Empire. The 5 Power Treaty stipulated that:-
Signing of the 5 Power Treaty
The treaty was signed on the 31st of March, 1922, and the country having resolved a diplomatic facet of war, turned their attention to actually bringing the petty warlords back to heel. Furthermore, the Imperial Chinese government wished to make sure that it had a steady supply of war materials to fund their side of the Chinese Civil War. For 3 years, Imperial China had been increasing their diplomatic maneuvers with the Ottoman Empire, having recognized first the potential of the healing Empire of Osman. As countries targeted by Western Imperialism, the two countries had friendly relations with one another. On the 27th of March, 1922, the Ottoman Ambassador to the Chinese Emperor, Ahmed Hulusi Fuad Pasha was summoned to the Hongxian Emperor. Fuad Pasha was asked to relay a message to the Ottoman government asking for a trading and armament agreement between Beijing and Constantinople. This was relayed to Constantinople by Fuad Pasha via the Chinese Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Peng Chun Chang, who presented the telegraphed message to the new Grand Vizier, Mustafa Kemal Pasha on the 4th of April, 1922. Negotiations between the two empires for a deal would soon start thereafter.” The Chinese Civil War © 2019
***
“The end of the Mexican Revolution heralded a new era for the Mexicans, and the country and the world knew it. It was time for the country to sit back and recuperate, as it were. Carranza was eager to make sure that a stable succession of power took place in the 1922 Federal General Elections. During the elections, Carranza endorsed the candidacy of Ignacio Bonillas for the ruling party, the Liberal Constitutional Party. The Liberal Constitutional Party was a Center-Left political party that was in favor of the labour and populist movement of Mexico. Ignacio in particular was a moderate candidate and a person, who was extremely capable and competent. Carranza was of the opinion that Ignacio ascending to the position of President would be extremely beneficial to the Mexican Republic. This candidacy was challenged by Pablo Gonzalez Garza and Alvaro Obregon, both of whom had military backgrounds. Carranza feared that in the case of Ignacio’s victory, both generals would try to conduct a coup to let themselves come to power. Thankfully this opinion and worry seems to have been for naught.
During the 1922 Mexican Federal and General Elections, the Liberal Constitutional Party won 53.2% of the votes, and Ignacio Bonillas managed to ascend to the presidency quite easily, with neither Garza nor Obregon trying to conduct a coup against Ignacio, despite their displeasure at losing the elections. Ignacio’s presidency came at a good time. The American-Mexican border was rife with cross-border attacks between mercenaries and the remnants of the northern Mexican warlords. Tensions between the American and Mexican government were high due to the cross border raids and battles. The last attack had been in El Paso, Texas in early 1922, and Ignacio thoroughly denounced the attack, and asked President Hughes for a summit and diplomatic conference to make sure that the porous Mexican-American border was once again safe and secure once again. President Hughes would agree to a meeting, and the two would meet with one another in El Paso, to discuss trading agreements and securing the border with one another.
However Ignacio, being a former Ambassador to the US from Mexico, knew more than anyone else how heavy handed American Economic Imperialism could be, having seen its effects in Haiti and Saint Domingo, and as a result, he retained his distance from the American government, though he remained outwardly friendly with them. Nearly half of all foreign trade conducted by the Mexican government was controlled by the American government, and as a result, the Depression of 1914 to 1916 had utterly wrecked the economic stability of Mexico and its effects were still being felt much to the horror of the government. Therefore the government of Mexico was trying to counteract against the American domination of the Mexican economy. The Mexicans sent out peace feelers for economic rights, trade and commerce to other great and regional powers such as Britain, France, Spain, Brazil and more importantly as well, the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire’s aid to the Mexican Constitutionalists had been extremely lucrative during the Mexican Revolution and the role of Djevat Pasha, who had trained the Mexican Army was not forgotten in Mexico City either. As such, the Mexican government was eager to create and foster new relations with the Ottoman Empire. Official diplomats were exchanged for the first time and consulates were opened as well. The Mexicans were interested in the hard cash that the Ottomans could invest into the Mexican economy and the Ottomans were interested in the oil industry of Mexico, which produced the second highest amount of oil at the time.
Mexican Oil Fields
As the Mexican government started to nationalize oil companies after the 1917 constitution was amended and ratified, this provided the Ottoman Empire with the perfect opportunity to start and create investment schemes in the Mexican oil industry. Only America and Britain really had any real stakes in the Mexican oil industry and the Ottoman government intended to change this matter. The Ottoman-Mexican Trading and Commercial Agreement of 1922 opened the floodgates in Mexico for Ottoman investment, whilst the Ottoman government received Mexican oil at favored and discounted prices as well. The Ottoman government also influenced politics heavily and backed the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, and granted several sovereign aid to the party through the means of private donors. This increased goodwill and cooperation between Mexico City and Constantinople led to increased interest in the small Muslim community in Mexico. Only ~1500 people strong, the muslims of Mexico were almost all merchants and diplomats from the Ottoman Empire, French North Africa, British Africa, British India and British Malaya. The first real mosque in Mexico City, Juan Escutia Mosque in Mexico City was built on the initiation of Ottoman money during this time, as Mexican-ottoman relations grew warmer everyday.
The Mexican government under Ignacio supported the Central American project
Furthermore, Ignacio also supported the Central American project which was chugging along every day as the presidents of various central American countries met each other every month or so to try and speed along the process of uniting the countries. This new system of correspondence and friendliness with all would go on to define Mexican policy for a long time.” Mexico in the Aftermath of the Revolution © 1992
***
[1] – Hint hint.
Chapter 48: Political Changes
***
“On the 2nd of January, 1922, the Ottoman Empire’s electoral commission gave the government the date of March 12, 1922 as the date of the new Senatorial and General Elections, which were going to be held together in tandem for the first time in Ottoman Electoral History. As a result, all of the major parties began to gear up for the new electoral campaign that was going to arrive within the next three months. It was obvious for anyone to see that the Ottoman Empire was at the crossroads. For the past eight years, the Committee of Union and Progress had ruled the Ottoman Empire alongside the Socialist Party, and their rule was once again being challenged by the Liberal Union, which under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, was making a comeback in the electoral scene having won several governorship and mayoral elections since 1918 to increase their power over the local government. The Ottoman Empire’s economy was also growing and the now developing country needed to make new political decisions.
Ottoman Elections were extremely competitive
Soon after the elections dates were announced, party manifestos were released to the public by the respective political parties. The CUP Manifesto ‘It’s the Economy People’ was focused on the economy, and its growth which had been extremely healthy under the rule of Riza and the Committee of Union and Progress. The Manifesto promised that the new government under the CUP would continue to look into matters of increased funding for transportation, infrastructure and the industrial heart of the Ottoman Empire. In contrast, the Liberal Union’s manifesto, which was named ‘The Happy Ottoman’ took a radical turn from previous party lines, as the Kemalist faction within the party turned towards liberal-progressivism as well as statism as their main ideology. In the manifesto, the Liberal Union promised that a balanced budgeting system would be introduced, and that the creation of a welfare state, based on the British and Scandinavian Countries would take place in the country, with new incentives for education, health and commerce in the country. It also unveiled a mild scholarship scheme to make sure that the Ottomans could appeal to foreign students as well. The Socialist Party under the other hand, had seen a change in leadership, with Huseyin Hilmi leaving his political career to enjoy a career in Turkish and Arabic literature. In his stead, came the dynamic peasant-agrarian leader, Safik Husni. Husni’s Manifesto, which was named ‘The Social Manifesto’ promised nationalization, future economic planning and full employment as well as a system of social security in the future. The Big Three, as the CUP, Liberal Union and the Ottoman Socialists were called during this era, had made sure that with their manifestos, the elections would remain contentious and highly competitive.
With the correction of major issues in Ottoman franchise and population data collecting in 1920, the Ottoman Empire’s franchise had expanded once again, and 23 million people within the empire was eligible to vote. This shifted political populism and its dynamics within the empire by a great deal, and vowed to make the elections an unknown quality for all parties involved. Mustafa Kemal Pasha led the Liberal Union during the 1922 Elections. He defined his goals for the country as ‘Liberal Populism, Reformism, Ottomanism, and Statism’. The Liberal Union thoroughly rejected class conflict, as defined by socialists, syndicalists and communists in the country and instead believed, in line with their idea of Ottomanism, that national unity was needed above all else. This was emphasized by Mustafa Kemal and the party members during their campaign for the elections throughout the country. While Ottomanism was de-facto already applied policy, none of the former governments had actually explicitly stated that they were in favor of Ottomanism trying to co-opt the ethnic minorities of the country. Mustafa Kemal changed this policy line. In a speech in Constantinople he stated, ‘I do not intend to take away your language, your culture, your religion, your customs and traditions. You can be a Bulgarian, Greek, Turk, Arab, Albanian, Armenian, however at the same time, you can also be an Ottoman’. Ottomanism became the ideological approach to transcend differences of community and nationality in the Ottoman Empire, and certainly to the liberal thinking population of the Empire, it was an enticing opinion and ideological belief. More importantly, Ottomanism was explicitly called by Abdulmejid I of the Empire as an approach based on reason, logic and common sense, and so in a roundabout way, the Liberal Union was promoting reason and logic as their main populist message as well. Economically the party was heavily influenced by the Liberal Party of the UK, and promised that something akin to the UK Liberal Reforms of 1906-1915, which had created the British welfare state would also take place within the Ottoman Empire. They also derided the fact that the Ottoman Empire did not have minimum wage policies, and did not have family allowance securities, and promised that increased spending in the welfare of the population would take place. A very ambitious scholarship scheme, based on a new school curriculum was also devised and spread throughout the public by the Liberal Union.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha
The CUP was facing problems however, based on the fact that the country was going through political fatigue. Despite the fact that the CUP led government had done wonders for the country in the past eight years, having the same governments for nearly a decade led to severe political tiredness and fatigue in the country aimed at the CUP. This was a problem for the party that was nearly insurmountable. Ahmet Riza himself was not well, and interned in hospital for several days which severely stunted the campaigning policy of the party as well. The problem in the country was that Riza himself was extremely well respected, and had high approval ratings, however the same could not be said for the party, as political tiredness took hold of the country. As a result, the party hurriedly based their campaign on the promise of continuing the vast economic reforms of the country. This was partially successful and the party also appealed to the conservative side of the female voting populace, and allowed themselves to be ingratiated within their electoral clique as well. Similarly, led by Husni the Ottoman Socialist Party was scouring the country looking for votes. The increasing industrialization of the Ottoman Empire meant that there was a growing class of workers and socialists in the country, and the party sought to advantage of this fact. Husni promised several economic reforms, such as nationalization of several industrial estates and the creation of a central state supervised planning center for the national economy as well. He also promised for social reforms, and appealing to the Christian minorities of the country, he also promised to reduce the power of the still powerful Ulema in the country. He was attacked by islamists throughout the election due to this campaign policy in particular.
The Ottoman Democratic Party led by their new Greek leader, Kozmidi Effendi, had slowly turned from liberalism to centrism. Kozmidi had correctly assumed that the relation of liberalism of the Democratic Party and the Liberal Union leeched votes from the Democratic Party to the Liberal Union, which was highly effective in lowering the parliamentary representation of the country. Kozmidi as a result, decided that he would opt for a more centrist outlook for the party. Kozmidi argued in the public that the party was basing itself as a fiscally conservative and socially liberal party. Kozmidi based his policy outlook on trying to make sure that deficit funding in the Ottoman Empire was unnecessary and unlikely to take hold. He also promised to cut income taxes and to increase commercial funding as well, and made a compelling case, and the Ottoman Democratic Party managed to regain Albania as a powerbase after their loss in 1918. Similarly, the Social Democratic Party under the new leadership of Hamdi Bey also found themselves rising in popularity Ottoman Arabia with their more pro-religion outlook. Ottoman Arabia had been undergoing slow but gradual industrialization and had increased their working class as well. However, unlike the socialists who adopted an ambiguous religious policy, the Social Democrats engaged in pre-religion policies as well. Their policy of state regulation, was also in line with traditional Arabic economic policies, and as a result Iraq, in particular, the Baghdad Region, became a Social Democratic stronghold. Hamdi Bey, being Arabic himself, also focused largely on trying to bring the Arabs under his political sphere during the entire elections.
With the collapse of the Armenian Regionalist Party in 1921 after Armen Garo died, and the factions of the party splintered off, a new contender rose to take the charge as well. Led by powerful and influential Husrev Bey, the Ottoman Progressive Party had arrived on the scene. The Progressive Party’s motto was ‘Corporatism, Technocracy, Progress’ and their policies directly reflected this. In their manifesto and campaign which was named ‘For a Progressive Empire’, the party was fiercely pro-corporate, pro-technocracy, and pro-progressivism. The party based their economic policy on the growing service and corporate sector and tried to appeal the service workers of the empire, which worked extremely well, as several corporatists defected from several other parties to their party. They also espoused traditional progressivism which leeched votes from the Socialists into the Progressives as well. However more intriguingly, the new ideology which was coined as Technocracy by Calfornian Engineer William Henry Smyth, was an ideology that the party supported. Within this context, their supported the means to gain industrial democracy and to gain government that was ruled by technical decision making, which the party believed would be the best rule to follow governmental decisions by. Several high ranking engineers, economists, and bureaucrats joining the party ensured that unlike other new parties, it would start strong even in the first general election they contested. The Ottoman Nationalist Party led by Enver Pasha and the Poale Zion Party started to flounder during the elections however, and with the CUP taking the conservative vote, and ethno-centrist politics collapsing in the Ottoman Empire, as the empire’s political sphere matured, both party’s found their support cratering throughout the empire. Enver Pasha’s radical Turkish nationalist and pan-Turanist ideologies certainly did not help matters either, and members of minorities such as the Kurds, Arabs, Lebanites, Greeks, Armenians etc outright refused to listen to his turanist ideas in what they reminded him, was a multi-ethnic empire of equals.
When the ballots were counted on the 15th of March, 1922, the Liberal Union had won the largest share of seats in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, (though their share of seats in the Senate decreased), and as a result, the Liberal Union formed a new minority government. The Ottoman Democratic Party promised to provide confidence and supply to the new government as well, and after a contingent election, the Liberal leader, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected to be the new Grand Vizier. After the elections were over, Sultan Abdulmejid II would invite Mustafa Kemal to his palace, where he would formally be granted the title of Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Immediately after this, the new Grand Vizier would look to make a functioning new cabinet for the empire. He appointed Mustafa Fehvzi Pasha as the new Minister of the Army and Airforce, whilst Mehmet Ihsan Bey was appointed as the Minister of the Navy. The Ottoman Greek politician, Emmanuil Emmanuilidis was chosen by Mustafa Kemal as the Minister of Interior by the new Grand Vizier. Emmanuilidis was extremely talented as an administrator, and his skills was required by the new ministry as far as Mustafa Kemal was concerned. A far more controversial cabinet placement was the appointment of Faisal Al-Hashemi, the son of Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Sharif of Mecca as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, as Faisal was elected as a deputy for Jeddah he was theoretically allowed to hold a cabinet position and his candidacy passed. Faris Al-Huri was chosen as the Minister of Justice, being a jurist and lawyer previously, and Dikran Barsamian was chosen as the Minister of Agriculture. An Armenian botanist and agrarian scientist, Mustafa Kemal was sitting in line with his populist and statist ideology and had chosen Barsamian on the basis of his reformist and proto-technocratic ideology. Historian Pavlos Karolidis was chosen as the Minister of Education and Selim Ali Selam Bey, the former mayor of Beirut, was chosen as the Minister of the Economy. Finally Mustafa Fefvzi Sarhan Bey was chosen as the Minister of Pious Affairs, and Minas Cheraz was chosen as the Minister of Health whilst Lufti Fikri Bey was chosen as the Minister of Social Security and Labour.
| Name | Cabinet Position | Party | Ethnicity |
| Mustafa Kemal Pasha | Prime Minister | Liberal Union (LU) | Turkish |
| Mustafa Fefvzi Pasha | Minister of the Army and Airforce | Independent | Turkish |
| Mehmet Ihsan Bey | Minister of the Navy | Independent | Turkish |
| Emmanuil Emmanuilidis | Minister of the Interior | LU | Greek |
| Faisal Al-Hashemi | Minister of Foreign Affairs | Independent | Arab |
| Faris Al-Huri | Minister of Justice | LU | Arab |
| Dikran Barsamian | Minister of Agriculture | LU | Armenian |
| Pavlas Karolidis | Minister of Education | LU | Greek |
| Selim Al Selam Bey | Minister of Economic, Financial, Trade, Commercial and Industrial Affairs | Pro-LU Independent | Arab |
| Mustafa Fefzvi Sarhan Bey | Minister of Pious Affairs | LU | Turko-Arab |
| Minas Cheraz | Minister of Health | LU | Armenian |
| Lufti Fikri Bey | Minister of Social Security and Labour | LU | Turko-Arab |
As the new cabinet and government came to power, Mustafa Kemal Pasha would begin compiling bills to fulfill his promise of a liberal welfare state in the Ottoman Empire. It would be the first real start of the Ottoman Welfare State.” Ottoman Electoral History 1920 – 1930 © 1997
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“From 1861 to 1890, the Qing Dynasty had tried to modernize themselves, and certainly they had put up a good fight in the Sino-French War of 1884, and had scared Europe in its entirety with their modernization efforts in that war. However despite performing admirably during the First Sino-Japanese War [1], the Chinese had been destroyed in the war, and the Boxer Rebellion and the subsequent Great Power intervention had ended all hopes of trying to modernize the Qing Dynasty. That had directly led to the Xinhai Revolution and the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Nevertheless with the rise of the Chinese Empire under the Chinese Dynasty (中國王朝), Yuan Keding’s Dynastic House, the country was trying to move forward and modernize once again.
Yuan Keding, the Hongxian Emperor
Yuan Keding, or the Hongxian Emperor was eager to modernize China, and the victory he had received over the republican and pro-Qing loyalists had given him courage to chug along with new reforms in the Chinese Empire. In this endeavor he was aided by Prime Minister Tang Shaoyi. Tang was a highly educated man, having attended elementary school in Springfield, Massachusetts, high school in Hartford, Connecticut, and then earning certificates by getting his undergraduate degree in the Queen’s College of Hong Kong and his graduate degree in the Columbia University in New York. He was highly educated, and widely respected in common Chinese society. However other elements in Chinese society were starting to act against the Imperial government.
Guo Songling
Governors in China were basically warlords, and acting at the behest of the central government if they so pleased. They controlled the regional armies, and the regional economies, and their interference was one of the reasons why the first imperial elections had such a low turnout. To bring them into line, the Hongxian Emperor bribed several prominent warlords, and using their support, he nationalized and centralized the Chinese Imperial Army. This however, proved to be the tipping point for arch-reactionaries and warlords who did not like the centralizing authority of the Hongxian Emperor. Led by the Governor-General of Manchuria, Guo Songling, several dissatisfied warlords of China met in Harbin to discuss strategy to make sure they could preserve their own local power within the Chinese realm. The Harbin Conference of January 8, 1922, consisted of:-
Guo Songling: Governor of Manchuria
Duan Qirui: Governor of Anhui
Yan Xishan: Governor of Shanxi
Tang Jiyao: Governor of Yunnan
Lu Rongting: Governor of Guandong
Liu Xiang: Governor of Sichuan
Demchugdongrub (Prince De): Governor of Inner Mongolia
The seven members of the conference decided that the Imperial Government was overstepping the bounds of its authority and had broken the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between the Warlords and the central government which had held the Empire together for so long. They decided that they would band together, and before the deadline of March 31, 1922 to centralize control of the army, would wage war against the central government, depose the Emperor, and restore a republican rule which was ruled by oligarchs and warlords for the interests of oligarchs and warlords. Prince De received affirmation of the autonomy of Inner Mongolia in the case of restored republican rule. After this was agreed upon, the warlords returned to their respective provinces, and began to prepare for the war they knew was about to come. On the 25th of February, 1922, the Governor of Manchuria, Guo Songling declared the Imperial government illegitimate and then soon one by one, Anhui, Shanxi, Sichuan, Guandong, Yunnan and Inner Mongolia followed soon after and they all raised their armies against the Imperial government. This was the start of the Chinese Civil War.
Factions of the Chinese Civil War
Green is the Imperial Government of the Empire of China, Red is the Warlord Alliance and Purple is the Provisional Republic of China
Further problems arose for the Imperial government as they tried to formulate a proper response when Sun-Yat Sen’s successor in Shanghai, Zhang Renjie also rose up in support of a republican regime, forming a third side to the civil war, where he declared the Provisional Republic of China. Jiangsu and Zhejiang aligned themselves with the Provisional Republic as well further strengthening this third side. Ironically for the Imperial government, conquered territories in Xinjiang and Tibet remained loyal to the central government and sided with them whilst the rest of the country sided with the Imperial government as well. This situation meant that the country was now truly embroiled in civil war. Millions were being raised as the Empire and its opposition began to form against one another.
It was to this end that the Hongxian Emperor and Prime Minister Tang knew that diplomacy would play an important role in the conflict to come. For years the government had been needling the British, American, French and Japanese governments that a formal treaty that protected the territorial sovereignty of China was needed. The civil war provided the Chinese government with the opportunity to do as such. Finally recognizing the threat to Asian stability that a full Chinese civil war showed, the governments of the respective countries finally agreed to a treaty. The 5 Power Treaty as it was called was signed in Honolulu, Hawaii, the USA, between the government of the Chinese Empire, United Kingdom, United States, French Republic and Japanese Empire. The 5 Power Treaty stipulated that:-
- Article [1] stipulated that the Empire of China was the legal government of China
- Article [2-4] stipulated that the sovereignty, independence and territorial and administrative integrity of China was to be respected by all signing and collaborating powers.
- Article [5] stipulated that all powers would remain neutral in the civil war raging in China.
- Article [6-8] stipulated that China would agree to the diplomatic, economic and societal of all foreign powers in China.
- Article [8-10] highlighted a few trading agreements between China and the signing powers.
Signing of the 5 Power Treaty
The treaty was signed on the 31st of March, 1922, and the country having resolved a diplomatic facet of war, turned their attention to actually bringing the petty warlords back to heel. Furthermore, the Imperial Chinese government wished to make sure that it had a steady supply of war materials to fund their side of the Chinese Civil War. For 3 years, Imperial China had been increasing their diplomatic maneuvers with the Ottoman Empire, having recognized first the potential of the healing Empire of Osman. As countries targeted by Western Imperialism, the two countries had friendly relations with one another. On the 27th of March, 1922, the Ottoman Ambassador to the Chinese Emperor, Ahmed Hulusi Fuad Pasha was summoned to the Hongxian Emperor. Fuad Pasha was asked to relay a message to the Ottoman government asking for a trading and armament agreement between Beijing and Constantinople. This was relayed to Constantinople by Fuad Pasha via the Chinese Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Peng Chun Chang, who presented the telegraphed message to the new Grand Vizier, Mustafa Kemal Pasha on the 4th of April, 1922. Negotiations between the two empires for a deal would soon start thereafter.” The Chinese Civil War © 2019
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“The end of the Mexican Revolution heralded a new era for the Mexicans, and the country and the world knew it. It was time for the country to sit back and recuperate, as it were. Carranza was eager to make sure that a stable succession of power took place in the 1922 Federal General Elections. During the elections, Carranza endorsed the candidacy of Ignacio Bonillas for the ruling party, the Liberal Constitutional Party. The Liberal Constitutional Party was a Center-Left political party that was in favor of the labour and populist movement of Mexico. Ignacio in particular was a moderate candidate and a person, who was extremely capable and competent. Carranza was of the opinion that Ignacio ascending to the position of President would be extremely beneficial to the Mexican Republic. This candidacy was challenged by Pablo Gonzalez Garza and Alvaro Obregon, both of whom had military backgrounds. Carranza feared that in the case of Ignacio’s victory, both generals would try to conduct a coup to let themselves come to power. Thankfully this opinion and worry seems to have been for naught.
During the 1922 Mexican Federal and General Elections, the Liberal Constitutional Party won 53.2% of the votes, and Ignacio Bonillas managed to ascend to the presidency quite easily, with neither Garza nor Obregon trying to conduct a coup against Ignacio, despite their displeasure at losing the elections. Ignacio’s presidency came at a good time. The American-Mexican border was rife with cross-border attacks between mercenaries and the remnants of the northern Mexican warlords. Tensions between the American and Mexican government were high due to the cross border raids and battles. The last attack had been in El Paso, Texas in early 1922, and Ignacio thoroughly denounced the attack, and asked President Hughes for a summit and diplomatic conference to make sure that the porous Mexican-American border was once again safe and secure once again. President Hughes would agree to a meeting, and the two would meet with one another in El Paso, to discuss trading agreements and securing the border with one another.
However Ignacio, being a former Ambassador to the US from Mexico, knew more than anyone else how heavy handed American Economic Imperialism could be, having seen its effects in Haiti and Saint Domingo, and as a result, he retained his distance from the American government, though he remained outwardly friendly with them. Nearly half of all foreign trade conducted by the Mexican government was controlled by the American government, and as a result, the Depression of 1914 to 1916 had utterly wrecked the economic stability of Mexico and its effects were still being felt much to the horror of the government. Therefore the government of Mexico was trying to counteract against the American domination of the Mexican economy. The Mexicans sent out peace feelers for economic rights, trade and commerce to other great and regional powers such as Britain, France, Spain, Brazil and more importantly as well, the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire’s aid to the Mexican Constitutionalists had been extremely lucrative during the Mexican Revolution and the role of Djevat Pasha, who had trained the Mexican Army was not forgotten in Mexico City either. As such, the Mexican government was eager to create and foster new relations with the Ottoman Empire. Official diplomats were exchanged for the first time and consulates were opened as well. The Mexicans were interested in the hard cash that the Ottomans could invest into the Mexican economy and the Ottomans were interested in the oil industry of Mexico, which produced the second highest amount of oil at the time.
Mexican Oil Fields
As the Mexican government started to nationalize oil companies after the 1917 constitution was amended and ratified, this provided the Ottoman Empire with the perfect opportunity to start and create investment schemes in the Mexican oil industry. Only America and Britain really had any real stakes in the Mexican oil industry and the Ottoman government intended to change this matter. The Ottoman-Mexican Trading and Commercial Agreement of 1922 opened the floodgates in Mexico for Ottoman investment, whilst the Ottoman government received Mexican oil at favored and discounted prices as well. The Ottoman government also influenced politics heavily and backed the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, and granted several sovereign aid to the party through the means of private donors. This increased goodwill and cooperation between Mexico City and Constantinople led to increased interest in the small Muslim community in Mexico. Only ~1500 people strong, the muslims of Mexico were almost all merchants and diplomats from the Ottoman Empire, French North Africa, British Africa, British India and British Malaya. The first real mosque in Mexico City, Juan Escutia Mosque in Mexico City was built on the initiation of Ottoman money during this time, as Mexican-ottoman relations grew warmer everyday.
The Mexican government under Ignacio supported the Central American project
Furthermore, Ignacio also supported the Central American project which was chugging along every day as the presidents of various central American countries met each other every month or so to try and speed along the process of uniting the countries. This new system of correspondence and friendliness with all would go on to define Mexican policy for a long time.” Mexico in the Aftermath of the Revolution © 1992
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[1] – Hint hint.
