Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]

[Lord Khuzdul]

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A couple issues with naming - "Central Van district" is a bit too far north to be called "Van" - the city of Van is on the southeast corner of the Lake Van down there. It would more likely to be named after Sarıkamış.

As for the other one, "Gallipoli Lines" is completely nonsensical - Gallipoli is only the tip of the peninsula. Even the base is not called Gallipoli, and the lines are nowhere near anything called Gallipoli. They stretch between Keşan and Kırkkilise. More likely those lines would be named after Kırkkilise (modern Kırklareli) or Lüleburgaz.

Also in in anatolia are there any defensive lines facing persia? Surely russia would just flank?

The region facing Persia is probably the single most forbidding terrain in Anatolia. Land is more vertical than horizontal there. It is an old joke that if you iron out the province of Hakkari you'd get another Konya (largest province by land area) out of it. You do not need lines of fortification in that area - nor you can reasonably build them.

 

[Pio2013]

I assume that the Empire will come to regret not dealing with him the easy way when they had a chance in the coming years?

The ottomans will be ready, plenty of lessons learned after the Yemen issues.

 

[boredviewer1234]

Interesting chapter, I wonder how long that Ottoman/Anglo alliance will last as while their naturally worried about the Russians their still plenty of Arab nationalists supporters/lobbyists as well as Zionists in Britain. I suspect Britain in WW2 might have some tea for a bit before coming to the Ottoman aid, it would be a tragedy for one of their biggest rivals in the Middle East to need to borrow from them for help in rebuilding their devastated regions.

Well looks Egypt will be going up in flames soon, in hindsight maybe letting settle in Syria would of been better as it means some light artillery and mines could shut down one of the worlds biggest trade ways and likely to get many powers involved and or spike tensions across the world.

The Rakhine question will be a hard one to answer really

It depends on many things but I suspect life might be far worse for Muslim minorities and Chinese across the world in this timeline.

Muslims because of a perceived fifth column, cause for intervention by the Ottomans and and a good way to rally the people, TBH I'm not really sure it would much in Spain, the Philippines or Balkans but Asia has the potnetial of a blood bath like in Cambodia with the Chams, Vietnam, Thailand, India ect.

The Chinese face the same position except worse in places like Burma with a lot of border regions filled with Chinese minorities and once part of the Qing, Vietnam the same and concerns in Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia ect I suspect you see a lot of situations like Malaysia where discrimination causes Chinese to support their own insurgencies.

These prejudices and fears would be made even greater with a open and no quirks Chinese empire with no one child policy, with Formosa adding to their coastline and very close to Japan.

I would not be shocked if a fifth of the world population lives in China in this timeline as time goes with no one child policy and China, by the results of the global market ends up enveloping a lot of it's neighbors in it's economic sphere and made their local industries lowly developed the sure amount of both quality and quality.

I don't mean it as China is going to be the real winner of this timeline more I'm expecting a far darker period for Chinese people outside of well China and potentially a lot ethnic cleansing as a result of this fear.

 

[haider najib]

How does the ottoman navy compare to thw russian black sea fleet?

 

[Gman]

I've been rereading the TL, and have some ideas as to what the Second Great War might entail. The "betrayal" of Germany by Austria during World War One and the propagation of the stab-in-the-back myth in that form, Serbian revanchism due to their defeat in the Balkan War and general nationalism advocating for the expansion of their nation state, worsening relations between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (plus Russian imperialism and their ever-present interest in controlling the Bosporus), and the Second Sinai Crisis seem like they will contribute to the war breaking out sometime in 1941.

As to the sides of the conflict. The UK and Ottoman Empire by virtue of their alliance will likely be on the same side. Russia will likely be their enemy, and could ally with Germany and Italy (either for ideological reasons or out of convenience, depending on how their Civil War ends) as Italy would still have possible nationalist pretensions regarding South Tyrol, Trent, Istria etc. and Germany would want revenge against Danubia (who could enter on the side of UK and OE), although Danubia might enter ala Yugoslavia/Denmark/Netherlands/Belgium from OTL WW2, against their will.

France I am uncertain about. They may remain neutral, or could enter on the UK's side if the alliance between them holds and France remains a multiparty liberal democracy. Greece will also ally with the Ottoman Empire as was explained in a previous chapter, and Serbia would be on Russia's side. The involvement of Egypt and The Sinai Zionist Republic is tricky, as they would end up against each other, but I don't if it would be a regional conflict or something that becomes intertwined with the larger conflict.

Bavaria might end up as a victim/target of German nationalism, Switzerland will just be neutral as always, Spain may enter due to their TTL WW1 involvement (or otherwise be neutral as they likely would not have anything to gain), Belgium and the Netherlands seem likely to be neutral or drawn in if a Great Power decides to attack through them. Curiously Iran may become involved depending on how their government develops (democratic or authoritarian) and what Russia's stance towards them is (another Russian goal being a warm-water port on, and access to the Persian Gulf).

 

[Sarthak]

Osman Reborn

Chapter 50: The Arms of Nations

***

“The re-emergence of the Anglo-Ottoman Alliance after the Convention of Alexandria was an important watershed moment for the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom in the early 20th Century. The United Kingdom was rather getting worried about the increasing economic and military power of the Russian Empire, despite its internal problems, and the Ottomans, having sought a great power ally for over a decade by that point, were thankful that they did receive said ally. The Ottomans being welcomed back as a military great power, albeit one of the weaker ones, meant that a military overview on part of all the great powers surrounding the Empire took place. Russia had its entire Caucasian Military districts conduct military exercises to check their reliability and supply lines into the region were being closely reviewed in case of an infrastructural anomaly. Danubia checked their own defenses in Bosnia, having not forgotten the irredentist desires of some far-right members in the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies and Senate. The Italians, who were still recovering from their civil war and the Great War, put their Adriatic fleet into naval readiness to check their availability in a fast war. The Iranians viewed the alliance with suspicion and started to compile military resources as well. Arabia, cornered on all sides by the British and Ottomans, began their process of militarization as well, which would culminate in the Second Great War.

The Ottoman Empire for its credit did begin to initiate major military reforms once again under the leadership of Mustafa Fevzi Pasha, the Minister of the Army and Airforce. This was something that was long in the coming. In order to streamline monetary resources, a lot of the money allocated for the military budget had been diverted in 1920 and the Military was never happy with that idea, and they had protested a lot. They feared that without continuous reforms, the Ottoman army would fall behind the other European counterparts. On July 4, the first step towards a more modern Ottoman Army came to be when the Imperial Tank Regiment was formed under the authority of both Abdulmejid II and the Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The Ottomans had an indigenous tank platform, the Anadolu Mk. I tank, which was as good as any other tank in the international market, though it was produced in lower numbers than any French, Danubian, Russian or British tank. After the creation of the Imperial Tank Regiment, however, that was no longer the case. The Ottomans in 1922 had a total of 98 tanks, and they intended to increase that number up to around 250 by 1925, with the creation of two major brigades for the Tank Regiments. This would be the slow start of the Ottoman Empire’s armored forces.

The Anadolu Mk. I Tank. ​

But whilst more investment into the army was a good decision, having personally seen the effect that airpower had in warfare during the Balkan War, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was more interested in what was going on in the airforce. The Imperial Ottoman Airforce as it was being unofficially called back then, had around 156 fighters, and 93 bombers in service, alongside around 600 pilots and some more servicemen that were required for maintenance. The Ottomans were primarily using the Aslan Bir as their main fighter and the Volant I as their main bombers [1]. The Ottomans had a vested interested in airpower due to the fact that the Ottoman’s military tactics that were being developed in the 1920s heavily centered around the avenue of using airpower to increase the firepower of the army to defeat opponents. Without aerial superiority, many tacticians reasoned, complete victory in modern warfare was practically not possible. The Ottomans as such were eager to become the major proponents of airpower during the interwar era, and funded the most research into airpower per capita than any other great power during the same time. A major consolidation of the aerial services of the Empire took place when the Ottoman Air Force was officially established as a separate distinct entity away from the army and a separate ministry was formed for the Air force and aerial services. The new Minister of the Air Force was named to be Ahmet Ali Celikten, who was a veteran pilot of the Italo-Ottoman War and the Balkan War, and as such, was particularly experienced in aerial matters. Merely a month after his appointment as Minister of the Airforce, on the 8th of September, 1922, Celikten introduced the New Aerial Plan (NAP) that was to be the founding basis of the Ottoman Empire’s aerial strategy until 1930.

The culmination of the NAP was the consolidation of governmental owned aerial industrial estates into the Grifon Imperial Aerospace Industries (GIAI) by the Ottomans, using British shares to fund the consolidation of the estates. Several of these industrial estates that were consolidated all had differing blueprints and differing ideas about how future ottomans aerial designs would need to be constructed. The Ottomans fostered this division, hoping to make competition grow into innovation. This was certainly the case when after more than two weeks of fierce debates over which new models would need to be designed and manufactured, the Grifon Siren, Grifon Tsoviodz and Grifon Vronti won out.

The Grifon Siren was a single engine reconnaissance aircraft that was designed by Smyrna Aerial Studios, before it was consolidated. The airplane itself required a crew of 3 men, and had a length of 36 feet and a wingspan of 45 feet whilst also being 12 feet in height. With a single powerplant of Smyrna III Water cooled engines, it had a power of 450 horsepower. Its maximum speed was around 196 kilometers per hour, and it had a service ceiling of 3,950 meters. To defend itself, it serviced two .303 inch guns. [2] The sole purpose of the plane was to become the prime reconnaissance plane for the Air force, especially at sea to make up for the smaller number of ships in the Ottoman Navy. The Ottoman Government in late September had 40 of these planes ordered from Grifon. The Grifon Tsoviodz on the other hand, was directly made to complement the Ottoman Navy, as it was designed as a torpedo bomber. Jointly made by Ottoman and British engineers, it consisted best of the two empire’s engineering capabilities for the time. In the UK, the name of the plane was the Grifon Swift, but in the Ottoman Empire, it was called the Grifon Tsoviodz after the Armenian phrase for ‘sea serpent’. The Grifon Tsoviodz needed only 1 man as its crew, whilst it was 35 ft 4 ½ inches in length, 45 ft 5 ¾ inches in wingspan, and 12 ft 11 inches in height. Having the powerplant of the powerful Napier Lion V Engine, it had a much larger range of around 700 kilometers. It had a maximum speed of 172 kilometers per hour, and a service ceiling of 3,900 meters. It had installed within it, 1 fixed forward firing Vickers machine gun, and 1 lewis gun in the rear cockpit, whilst it could carry 2 x 236 kg bombs under each wing. [3] For the time, it was the very icon of a modern torpedo bomber. The Ottoman Naval Ministry, the moment it read through the details of the plane, demanded that a large procurement of the planes take place. The Ottoman government forced the ministry of naval affairs to back down on their rather extravagant order of 300 planes, and managed to scale it down to 75, which was both realistic and in line with the aerial budget.

The Suleiman Class Battlecruisers​

In the naval portion of the ottoman building schema, the Kaysar Class Battleships were utter failures. The Ottomans hadn’t lacked ambition, trying to build 37,000 tonnes warships, however the sheer price of the project, and the fact that only the dockyards in Constantinople or Smyrna would have the capacity to handle such large warships ended the program unfortunately for its enthusiastic followers. The Suleiman Class Battlecruisers entering service into the navy after retiring Barbaros Heyreddin and Turgut Reis as training ships, however, overshadowed the disappointment, and the first capital ships built in the Ottoman Empire after 1881 was proudly displayed to the public on Salonika and Constantinople. With the threat of British and Greek naval attacks on the Ottoman Empire decisively over, the Ottomans however needed a naval policy change. The other contenders against the Empire was Italy, who despite being financially wrecked, still held a massive navy for its economy, and the Russians, who had a powerful fleet in the Black Sea that outstripped the Ottoman Black Sea Fleet by massive proportions. The new naval directive that was issued in September, 1922 made the expansion of the Adriatic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet emphasized within the Ottoman naval establishment, and emphasis on capital ships, whilst not dropped, was slightly sidelined in favor of smaller ships such as destroyers and torpedo boats. Similarly, the pending transfer of the nearly completed 3 Danae Class Light Cruisers from Britain to the Ottoman Navy were slated to be distributed between the Black Sea Fleet and the Adriatic. This policy would lay down the foundations of Ottoman naval policy for the Second Great War.” Ottoman Military Development in the Interwar Era © 2010.

***

“Constantinople was and is the heart of the Ottoman Empire. However, despite it being a sprawling metropolitan city that was on par with any European capital in terms of population and concentration of wealth, the Ottomans never really had a proper metropolitan railway system in any of their urban areas. It was the initiation of Demetrios Aetos, the new head of the Ottoman Railway Company in early 1922, that the Ottomans started to look into metropolitan railway systems to increase their economic and transportation efficiency within the country. Aetos correctly assumed that the loading off and on of goods on the Asian side of the city and the European side of the city was creating economic inefficiencies that needed to be addressed with the creation of an underground railroad system. Construction of underwater tunnels wasn’t something that was entirely too dangerous during this time period either, despite common stereotypes, and tunnels under 4 to 5 kilometers in length underwater were perfectly sustainable and lacked major dangers. Aetos proposed the construction of a Constantinople Underground Railway with three underwater tunnels running from Asian Constantinople into European Constantinople at Asiyan (878 meters), Beylerbeyi Sarayi (1.11 km), and Harem to Kumkapi (2.6 kilometers). The last tunnel would be the hardest to complete, and was predicted correctly to be the longest as well. This project took direct inspiration from the Holland Tunnel that was being constructed in the United States of America, and Severn Tunnel in the United Kingdom.

Ottoman Railway Company Share certificate​

Aetos submitted his proposal to the government on the 11th of July, 1922, with an entire map planned out. The man’s proposal was given serious thought, as the Ottoman Minister for the Interior, Emmanuil Emmanuilidis could certainly see the benefits of a metropolitan railway system, both economically and societally. On the 18th of July, the proposal was passed by the Interior Ministry and passed to the cabinet. The cabinet had been initially against the plan, deeming the price they had to pay for such a project, entirely too large. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, whilst supportive of the plan, also advised that the construction of the railway only take place in the future, due to the fact that the budget would be squeezed entirely if the railway project received approval from the cabinet. Other members of the cabinet, did point out that the project would save millions of Lira that were being lost in cross-strait ferrying and time lost if the project went ahead. Unwilling to divide the cabinet over the issue, Kemal took the matter to the Chamber of Deputies. The Liberal Union as a whole supported the project in the Chamber of Deputies, whilst the Committee of Union and Progress, led by Matthaois Kofidis after Riza resigned after the general elections, opposed the plan, pointing towards the costs and dangers of the program. The Ottoman Democratic and Progressive Parties on the other hand supported the plan. So did the Socialists for that matter, as it was a modernizing move for the economy and for them, a step in the right direction.

The Chamber of Deputies discussing the railway issue​

In the end, the chamber of deputies passed the plan on the 28th of August, 1922 and allowed Aetos and his company to gain a monopoly over the construction of the Constantinople Underground Railway (CUR). The construction for the project began some days later, and Aetos and the government began surveying the construction keenly. The Ottomans made the Underground Rail Commission to direct the construction of the underground railway and to make sure that it would allow the government to directly supervise the construction efforts. It was decided at a conference of the Ottoman Railway Company and CUR that the railways would be electric underground railways based on deep level tubes, such as the ones found in the United Kingdom and the United States at the time. The time period for the construction was deemed until 1928 by which point, the underground would be fully constructed. Future expansion was an option that both the Ottoman Railway Company and the government kept on vague grounds, so as to not make the monetary question arise again.

Construction of the Constantinople Underground Railroad​

With the construction of an underground railway system, the government began to look into other metropolitan cities in the empire as well, which would be aided by the construction of a metro-rail system. The only other city that was likely to get one in the near future however was Smyrna/Izmir, which was just as populated as Constantinople during the time. Other prospective cities included places like Angora (Ankara), Sinope, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Salonika, Tirana, and Prishtina. However, these cities were not on the top priority for transportation efficiency and the government, as such only opened dialogue with the local authorities of Smyrna for conducting geographic surveys within the city.” A History of Rail Transport in the Ottoman Empire © 2018

***

“The Ottoman Imperial Family after the restoration of the Constitution is a fascinating subject to look at. Hailed as the founders and the spiritual representation of the empire, after Mehmed V, the Ottoman Sultans and Caliphs have embodied Islamic Constitutional Monarchies. The death of Mehmed V was a tragic affair, and the assassination of his successor, Mehmed VI was perhaps, an even greater tragedy. By contrast, Mehmed VI’s successor, Abdulmejid II was more interested in cultural affairs than supervising every aspect of the government, like his two predecessors had done. A religious pragmatist, and a culturally devout Islamic theologian, the man was well-liked by most in the Ottoman Empire.

A painting by Abdulmejid II​

His paintings which were exquisite in their own right, and praised sincerely by most painters throughout the Islamic world, had an unintended but beneficial side effect too. When in 1921, the Sultan gifted several paintings of his own to the Constantinople Museum of the Arts, and funded a painting competition for young arts students, he started a trend. Painting competitions erupted throughout the Ottoman Empire, trying to gain the attraction of the Imperial Family. Sultan Abdulmejid II, always an admirer of good paintings and hard work, encouraged this, and used his personal funds to back several competitions in art universities and colleges. This led to what is called the ‘Imperial Renaissance’ in the Ottoman Empire. For Abdulmejid II set off a chain reaction within the Empire. Paintings turned towards poetry. Epic length verses about the greatness of the Ottoman Empire, the victory in the Balkan War, and the development of the empire were all popular topics for new poems during this time. Poetry, like in almost any Islamic country, inevitably led towards calligraphy. Increased importance was given to the Tughra style calligraphy, and the development of the Thuluth style Islamic calligraphy grew in the empire as well. Unlike previous Ottoman cultural periods however, the Christian minorities of the empire were involved right at the heart of the Imperial Renaissance. Paintings from extremely pro-Ottoman Christian painters had few paintings depicting the Sultans as warriors of God depicted (most were cut down as blasphemy by the Ottoman Government, though ambiguous ones were allowed to stay), and more especially, paintings depicting the charity works of progressive sultans like Osman II, Suleiman I, Abdulmejid II, Mehmed V, Abdulmejid I in the best light possible began circulating in the Christian half of the empire during the Imperial Renaissance. Ottomanism itself was directly strengthened by this cultural movement, as literary proses praising the growing strength of the Ottoman Empire began to spring up in Ottoman poetry from all ethnic groups during this time. More iconic was the adoption of the Tughra within Christian calligraphy circles as well.

The Tughra had been for quite some time, a style of calligraphy that was allowed for Islamic calligraphers in the Ottoman Empire. But with equality of religion guaranteed by the constitution, many Christian and jewish calligraphers in the empire were starting to adopt the Tughra technique and it was spreading throughout the Empire like wildfire. There is a good reason why the Tughra is seen as one of the Ottoman Empire’s national symbols even today.

The Sultanas of the Ottoman Empire, Sehsuvar Hanim and Mehisti Hanim were especially encouraging of the Imperial Renaissance movement. The two were popular for their commitment to Abdulmejid II, and as the Sultan was going to be the last Sultan with multiple wives in the Ottoman Empire, the two used their special status to grant extra funds, extra charities to the Imperial Renaissance movement. Mehisti Hanim, who was proficient with the cello went to public theatres throughout the empire to display her talent with the instrument, and Sehsuvar was extremely talented with the violin, and she too went to different theatres of the empire, displaying her talent for the country and empire to see.

a 9 year old Durrusehvar Sultan​

Abdulmejid II’s legitimate daughter, and by all rights, the heir to the Abdulmejid II portion of the Osmanoglu line, Durrusehvar Sultan, was also growing up at a constant pace. At 9 years old, she was already smart, and she was learning the various languages of the empire through her court tutors. She studied various subjects that was prescribed in the national curriculum as well. Her bubbly yet polite attitude was used by the Ottoman Foreign Ministry when courting foreign investors and foreign diplomats. They loaned her from her parents, and under the watchful eye of an Imperial caretaker, the young girl would be taken by foreign ministry and would be told to entertain the diplomats and investors. Her exposure to political and diplomatic life at such a young age certainly aided her when she ascended to the throne as Sultana in 1947.

The Heir to the Ottoman Throne, Osman Fuad, was also living a life of luxury after the death of Ahmed Nihad in 1917, to his displeasure. As a spare heir, he was allowed before to fight in the Italo-Ottoman War, and the Balkan War, however after he was confirmed as heir, the Ottoman Government refused to allow himself to join any dangerous activities within the empire that might have even the tiniest risk of danger. Osman Fuad was so despaired by the golden cage he was imprisoned in, that he appealed to his close old friend, Mustafa Kemal Pasha after he became Grand Vizier to take him out. Ironically, all Kemal had to do was ask Abdulmejid II to take him out and the heir was out of his confinement in Topkapi Palace, and though he was not allowed to join any dangerous activities, he was allowed to move throughout the empire. His marriage in July 7, 1922 to Akabe Aslanyan Hanim, an ethnic Armenian who belonged to an Islamic Armenian family of old was controversial to Turkish nationalists within the empire, however his marriage was welcomed by the vast majority of the empire. It was a symbol of ethnic tolerance and ethnic peace in the Empire too. And though Akabe proved to be infertile in the end, depriving Osman Fuad of a direct heir when he became Osman IV, the marriage was a harmonious marriage, filled with respect for one another.” The Ottoman Imperial Family: A History © 2020

***

“After eight years of negotiation, Dutch Minister for the Colonies, Simon de Graaff finally accepted the Dutch East Indies and their calls for at least, slow democratization. The East Indies and their nationalist leaders had been trying to get at least a colonial legislature ever since 1913 after the final conflicts of the Aceh War had come to an end. However, the Dutch had quickly recognized that the special autonomy given to Aceh had stirred up regionalists sentiments in the colonies, and the Dutch tried to take advantage of this and exploit this upswing in regionalist feelings. To an extent, they were successful in preventing a unified demand, as regionalists managed to gain momentum in Aceh, South Moluccas, and Dutch Papua, however the rest of the colonies consisting of Java, Borneo and Sumatra continued to agitate for reforms within their colonial setup.

Prime Minister Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck of the Netherlands​

Reform in the colonies however was something that was long in the coming. The plantation class owners in the east indies were extremely powerful in their influence, and virtually everyone, even the Dutch government in Amsterdam wanted to do nothing with the plantation owners, as they always made up fusses whenever new laws were passed. The exploitation of the East Indies economically made the economic exploitation of India, Africa on a per capita basis seem tame, and whilst a shared identity was still not really there, the East Indies were all united in their belief that if the Netherlands wanted the East Indies to not revolt, then reforms was absolutely necessary. The reform package was led in the Dutch domestic sphere by Prime Minister Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck. Beerenbrouck was a unique case. Before 1918 Catholics were barred from being Prime Minister in the Netherlands, and other political offices were closed to them as well. As such, Beerenbrouck definitely knew how people felt when they were left out of the governing political apparatus and was sympathetic to some of the goals of the East Indies and their inhabitants.

The reform commission for the Dutch East Indies had their first meeting on the 23rd of October, 1919 and the Dutch Prime Minister gave the commission a time period of two years to come up with a reform package which would be mutually beneficial to both sides. On the 25th of November, 1921, the commission handed their report to the government. The report advocated for the creation of a 120 seat legislature, with 30% of the population, who had access to literacy being allowed to vote. The legislature would have 83 seats allowed to be contested in the election, and the rest of the seats would have their incumbents appointed by the Dutch government and the European minority in the Dutch East Indies. This legislature, which was to be named Volksraad in the future, would have power over the right to vote on taxes, expenditures, local development, trade regulation, salary regulation, and would be allowed to vote for contingent elections for the deputy governor of the Dutch East Indies. It kept other matters of the state, such as the overall economy, foreign affairs, education, religion, military all firmly in the hand of the Dutch government, reinforcing their control of the colonies, whilst also placating the nationalists with a lot of their goals being met.

The Volksraad​

The plan was then presented to the East Indies on the 12th of February, 1922, and the East Indies’s Nationalist deputies agreed to the reform plan easily. The Dutch East Indies Colonial Reform passed through the Dutch parliament on the 27th of May, 1922, solidifying the reform, and elections for the first volksraad was called up for August 27, 1922.

As pro-independence parties and socialist parties were banned by the government, a centrist pro-autonomist and pro-regionalist party (it was more like a loose alliance) formed around Ki Hajar Dewantara and his National Party of the East Indies. It was explicitly unionist in nature, and rejected the idea that each ethnic group of the East Indies could have their ethnic independence. Instead it argued for Pan-East Indian politics. It also had a hint of classical liberalism and social democracy in its economic outlook. Meanwhile, the Sultan of Aceh, Daud Syah II took up the political scene, and organized an Acehnese regionalist party as well called the Aceh Alliance. It was directly funded with Aceh Royalty and Aceh Aristocracy’s money, which made the party dominant and virtually unchallenged in Aceh. Previous Dutch efforts to conduct a divide and conquer strategy did pay off, and the Papua Representation Committee and the Maluku Movement all explicitly rejected a Pan East Indian identity. The Minorities Representation Association led by Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati was however pro Pan-East Indies despite the fact that it was formed to protect the rights of the religious minorities, such as the Hindus, Buddhists and Christians though most of their voting populace remained ambiguous on the issue.

​

During the elections, the National Party of the East Indies won the majority of the votes, and won a 1-seat majority in the Volksraad. As such, Ki Hajar Dewantara was elected to become the first President of the East Indies Volksraad. This would be the first step towards the creation of the Realm of Nusantara.” The Peaceful Reformation of the Dutch Empire; a Historical Case to be pursued? © 2016

***

Footnotes:-

[1] – Check post #1547 for airplane information

[2] – Based on otl Blackburn Blackburn.

[3] – Based on Blackburn dart otl.

 

[Sarthak]

Thoughts?

 

[Sarthak]

I've been rereading the TL, and have some ideas as to what the Second Great War might entail. The "betrayal" of Germany by Austria during World War One and the propagation of the stab-in-the-back myth in that form, Serbian revanchism due to their defeat in the Balkan War and general nationalism advocating for the expansion of their nation state, worsening relations between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (plus Russian imperialism and their ever-present interest in controlling the Bosporus), and the Second Sinai Crisis seem like they will contribute to the war breaking out sometime in 1941.

1939 - 1942 basically is the starting date for the second great war

As to the sides of the conflict. The UK and Ottoman Empire by virtue of their alliance will likely be on the same side. Russia will likely be their enemy, and could ally with Germany and Italy (either for ideological reasons or out of convenience, depending on how their Civil War ends) as Italy would still have possible nationalist pretensions regarding South Tyrol, Trent, Istria etc. and Germany would want revenge against Danubia (who could enter on the side of UK and OE), although Danubia might enter ala Yugoslavia/Denmark/Netherlands/Belgium from OTL WW2, against their will.

France I am uncertain about. They may remain neutral, or could enter on the UK's side if the alliance between them holds and France remains a multiparty liberal democracy. Greece will also ally with the Ottoman Empire as was explained in a previous chapter, and Serbia would be on Russia's side. The involvement of Egypt and The Sinai Zionist Republic is tricky, as they would end up against each other, but I don't if it would be a regional conflict or something that becomes intertwined with the larger conflict.

Bavaria might end up as a victim/target of German nationalism, Switzerland will just be neutral as always, Spain may enter due to their TTL WW1 involvement (or otherwise be neutral as they likely would not have anything to gain), Belgium and the Netherlands seem likely to be neutral or drawn in if a Great Power decides to attack through them. Curiously Iran may become involved depending on how their government develops (democratic or authoritarian) and what Russia's stance towards them is (another Russian goal being a warm-water port on, and access to the Persian Gulf).

splendid predictions. We shall see what comes true!

 

[Rizkyss]

With that painting competion, I thought there will be Hitler in there

 

[Sarthak]

With that painting competion, I thought there will be Hitler in there

he's like long dead now.

 

[haider najib]

Could you give any details on ottoman mountainers or ottoman special forces. Could you also give any insight in the military culture is it a melting pot for various ethnic groups?

Lastly do ottomans still have coastal defensives?

 

[ZeroFrame]

he's like long dead now.

Thank god.

 

[Sarthak]

Could you give any details on ottoman mountainers or ottoman special forces. Could you also give any insight in the military culture is it a melting pot for various ethnic groups

Details on the military will come in the future don't worry.

Lastly do ottomans still have coastal defensives?

Yes though a lot of them needs to be modernized.

 

[Sarthak]

Thank god.

Indeed.

 

[Sarthak]

Also 50 chapters everyone! 😌😃🎉

 

[TimTurner]

Also 50 chapters everyone! 😌😃🎉

thank you for your hard work! cheers! here's to another 50 more!

 

[ZeroFrame]

Also 50 chapters everyone! 😌😃🎉

It’s more impressive considering you have 3-4 TLs going on currently. Despite the amount of work you do you’re still consistent, rarely skip a beat and great at writing. Cheers.

 

[Nurhaci]

Although the original design of Kaysar class have a bit overstate,I still hope Ottoman Navy have their own Big 7 level battleship.

 

[CountryUsedToBeBritish]

The United Kingdom was rather getting worried about the increasing economic and military power of the Russian Empire, despite its internal problems, and the Ottomans, having sought a great power ally for over a decade by that point, were thankful that they did receive said ally.

getting rather

Arabia, cornered on all sides by the British and Ottomans, began their process of militarization as well, which would culminate in the Second Great War.

Oh dear. Guess this time it didn't start from Germany.

In order to streamline monetary resources, a lot of the money allocated for the military budget had been diverted in 1920 and the Military was never happy with that idea, and they had protested a lot.

Basically every military ever.

As sucg, Ki Hajar Dewantara was elected to become the first President of the East Indies Volksraad.

such

 

[Sarthak]

It’s more impressive considering you have 3-4 TLs going on currently. Despite the amount of work you do you’re still consistent, rarely skip a beat and great at writing. Cheers.

Thank you!