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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 12, 2023 6:32:08 GMT
OK thanks for clarifying on those points. In terms of Australia Britain could put pressure on them not to allow US ships to rest/restock in their ports but I think that international law at the time meant that ships of belligerents couldn't do such actions in neutral ports. OTL the US fleet in the western Pacific had been operating from Hong Kong in 1898 as they didn't have any bases of their own but had to leave when the US went to war with Spain. Similarly Graf Spee when taking refuge in Montevideo could only do so for a limited amount of time because it was damaged. As such if I'm remembering rightly even if Britain and Australia wanted to they couldn't legally allow the USN to rest there. Exactly, and even the Netherlands would not allow the US to dock their ships in their Indonesian ports, should the Americans get involved in the war against Japan. Anyways, the next update awaits and a disclaimer. DISCLAIMER and WARNING: This update may contain traces of anti-Semitism, which is used only for the context of the historical segment. This thread does not endorse any form of anti-Semitism or any other kinds of racism whatsoever, and are only written as part of the scenarios involved.---
TURN 010: POGROM
"The mysterious death of Mykhailo Rybachenko and the subsequent suicide of an unnamed girl was circulated as a so-called ritual murder by the Jews, according to the newspaper Bessarabets, which was a Russian anti-Semitic newspaper that was founded several years prior to the infamous Kishinev Pogrom of 1903. The pogrom against the Jews of Kishinev had occurred on Easter of 1903, as was the case with many anti-Jewish pogroms that were launched. 50 days after the Kishinev Pogrom of 1903, the more notorious Slonim Pogrom would occur on Orthodox Pentecost Sunday. Unlike the Kishinev Pogrom that took place in April of 1903, the Slonim Pogrom garnered far more attention from the international media, mostly because in addition to the Belarusian Orthodox population that participated in the mass murder of Jews, several Belarusian Roman and Greek Catholics also joined in the killings, as they also looted much of the Jewish owned stores and stole everything from them. The Jewish refugees that settled in Germany, Britain, and their respective colonies overseas came from both Kishinev and Slonim. Many governments around the world were appalled by the brutality of the Slonim pogroms, as over 134 Jews were killed in the Slonim Pogrom on Orthodox Pentecost. As a result, the Jewish organizations in the United States called on President McKinley to sever ties with the Russian Empire over the pogroms, but he feared that if America cut ties with the Russians, it won't have any more allies left to gain when they eventually entered into the war with Japan in 1904. However, McKinley's decision to merely downgrade their relations with Russia had mollified the Jewish community within America, but several American business magnates opposed the diplomatic downgrading, as the Russian government might retaliate by repealing their license to operate their businesses in the Russian Far East. John Jacob Astor IV, Neily Vanderbilt, and many other American businessmen who made their fortunes in the Russian Far East, had seemingly expressed their anti-Semitic rhetoric when giving support to the Russian government's response.
Though the Slonim Pogroms did eventually result in the growing isolation of Russia from the international community, the consequences of that diplomatic isolation was not felt until 1906 that another attempt at a pogrom in the city of Odessa had not only resulted in failure, as the Jewish self-defense units consisted of veterans of the French Civil War of 1902-07, managed to defend their communities. However, the retaliation against the same Jewish self-defense units triggered a general strike in Odessa, which spreaded into the rest of the Novorossiya Governorate, until a mutiny would break out in Ryazan, which in turn, erupted into the 1906 Russian Revolution. Much of the Jewish population of the entirety of the Novorossiya Governorate were subsequently expelled and relocated into the remains of the Pale of Settlement, but not wishing to take any more chances within the Russian Empire, many Jews of the Novorossiya Governorate chose to immigrate to Britain or Ottoman Palestine. The 1906 Russian Revolution though, would witness the emergence of new states in Eastern Europe, many of which quickly sided with the German Empire, such as Finland, the Baltic nations, Belarus, and Ukraine. The Russian government would also approach the Romanian government on ceding Bessarabia back to Romania in exchange for an alliance between the two states, which King Ferdinand I of Romania hesitated, but accepted the reacquisition of Bessarabia. As the Russian government now had to deal with uprisings in the Caucasus and Central Asia, it gave the Russian volunteer veterans of the French Civil War a chance to push for new reforms that would prevent any more loss of territory to the separatists, leading to the 1917 constitution that enshrined regional and cultural autonomy for the ethnic minorities of the Russian state. Yet, the 1917 constitution was seen as a sham by radicals, as it did not give the same rights and privileges to the Jewish minority within Russia, and many more Jews eventually left Russia altogether by 1920. Yet, a similar political collapse of Austria-Hungary caused by the unexpected re-emergence of Poland as an independent state and the subsequent Polish revolts in the Polish areas under German and Austro-Hungarian control also triggered anti-Jewish pogroms within the crumbling Hapsburg domains. As Germany now burdened itself with stabilizing Eastern and Central Europe, the Russians equally burdened itself with pacifying the revolts in the Caucasus and Central Asia by defeating the rebel troops there and negotiating with the Kazakh and Kyrgyz separatists, before proceeding to pacify the rest of Central Asia. The Jewish community in Palestine would also receive an unexpected amount of diplomatic support from Britain and Germany when the Armenian Uprising of 1909 against Ottoman authority had created another turmoil within the Sublime State, and the two empires threatened to cut financial and military aid to the Ottomans unless they create an autonomous Jewish entity within Ottoman Palestine. Furious at the blackmail, Sultan Abdulhamid II refused to buckle to British and German pressure, which eventually led to a failed coup attempt against him by radicals within the Young Turk movement. Eventually, a compromise was reached between the Ottoman Empire, Britain, Germany, and the Zionist movement, where there will be a strip of land that will be reserved for the Jewish population, but will not include the holy city of Jerusalem, as it is considered one of the three key holy places in Islam and the holiest sites of all Abrahamic faiths. In 1910, the formation of the Jewish Autonomous Vilayet was announced, with the capital of that Vilayet being Haifa, due to the commercial importance of the port in the Levant, alongside Beirut and Antakya." From 'Hear Us Roar: The Rebirth of the Jewish Homeland', courtesy of Yisrael Today.
--- "I could not believe that we degenerated into a stalemate by the time we reached the Loire River. The monarchists had dug several trenches a hundred kilometers away from the river bank, coupled with machine gun nests and artillery at the side. Much of the legionnaires were unhappy about the rain, but that was expected. What was worse for us was that the African legionnaires and the Jewish soldiers within the republican army were constantly bickering with each other instead of cooperating with one another. I had to reprimand the African legionnaires several times to stop pestering the Jewish soldiers, but to no avail. Additionally, many of the colonial subjects of the French Republic had never seen the lands of metropolitan France before, so when they first arrived on metropolitan soil, they were astounded by how modern our towns and villages looked, compared to the squalor and poverty that they were used to for hundreds of years. Many of these African legionnaires were keen on tasting the French way of life that the women in the villages and towns were a bit afraid of their presence. We also had to punish and execute many African legionnaires accused of sexual crimes, as well as theft and many other crimes they committed, which only played into the hands of the reactionaries as their propaganda pieces had depicted our African legionnaires as savage animals. Unfortunately, once we heard of the pogroms being launched in Kishinev on Easter in 1903 and the one in Slonim on Pentecost Sunday in the old Julian Calendar that the Russians used, we had to release from service many Russian Jews that volunteered to fight for the republic. At the same time, the reactionaries began to rotate much of the foreign volunteers that fought for their cause, as the dramatic departure of Austro-Hungarian volunteers was evident by their gradual replacement by the additional arrival of Russian volunteers who came from Siberia. A few of the replacement volunteers were veterans of the conflict in northern Manchuria, and we can tell apart who was a Manchuria veteran from the rest of the Russian soldiers by the crazy idea that he had implemented, which was to mount a potato digger machine gun on a horse drawn carriage and a machine gunner would fire on anyone while the carriage driver moved the carriage.
It was not until June of 1903 that the reactionaries attempted to mount an offensive across the Loire River, with the intention of seizing Feurs from us. The Milice performed admirably, but the reactionaries' use of the National Gendarmerie to harass the Milice positions saved their better trained soldiers for the offensives against our positions. We managed to repel several waves of reactionary attacks for twelve days from June 19th, until July 1st, when our legionnaires somehow managed to cross the river and captured the town of Cleppe, wich was defended by the National Gendarmerie. I led another force that crossed another part of the Loire River and captured Chambeon five days after Cleppe had fallen. The reactionaries grew scared of being encircled and trapped, and so they decided to retreat from their positions at the Loire, and made their way to Montbrison, which they turned it into another fortress, similar to how they turned Lyon into a fortress guarded by trenches. Meanwhile, Marechal Sarrail's troops, which was strengthened by socialist and anarchist militias, had advanced twoards Aix-les-Bains, where a large number of monarchists were dug in. However, Marechal Sarrail's unit suffered too much casualties from their attempt at capturing Aix-les-Bains, and the enemy commander defending Aix-les-Bains, a certain Marechal Debeney, pushed Marechal Sarrail's troops out of Aix-les-Bains and into Chambery, where Marechal Sarrail's forces managed to repel the reactionaries. Yet, by this time, the treasury was running low on funds and our republican government had no choice but to sell some of our far flung colonies. The Americans purchased our West Indies colonies first, followed by Britain purchasing Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which they gave to their Newfoundland colony. Next, the enclave of Guangzhouwan was sold to Japan, who became more interested in our Indochinese colony. Finally, our Oceanian territories were still up for grabs, but the British did not want the Americans to purchase the Oceanian territories, knowing that the reputation they created for themselves in the Philippines was the main reason why we refused to sell our Oceanian islands. Instead, the same British who bought Saint Pierre and Miquelon would completely take over our Oceanian territories and gift them to their new Australian Dominion." From Brigadier General Alfred Dreyfus's memoirs, published in 1939.
--- Excerpts from 'A New Path for Germany: The Chancellorship of Botho zu Eulenburg'
by: Karl Ludwig von Goertzmann
Koenigstein Publishing Press, released on June 17, 2018
Chapter Four: German Internal Affairs During the French Civil War
When Kaiser Wilhelm II found out that some of his subjects were crossing the border to join the civil war in France, he was furious at the imperial edict that he passed, which banned German citizens from traveling to France for the purpose of fighting in its civil war, regardless of political affiliations. He was even more furious when he learned that Prince Julius of the House of Lippe was floating with the idea of having one of his younger sisters wed one of the French claimants on the throne, especially a descendant of the same Emperor that was captured during the Battle of Sedan in 1870. Yet, Chancellor zu Eulenburg advised the Kaiser against punishing the people involved since their participation in the French Civil War could be a valuable source of intelligence gathering for the German military, especially if they wanted to know how the French military improved from the last time they fought against them. What was worse for the Kaiser and Chancellor zu Eulenburg was the French monarchists' attempts to bring the Benelux countries into its orbit, in a kind of military alliance that was aimed at both Britain and the Kaiserreich, as Dutch ports could be used by the French Navy to blockade the British Isles, and Belgium's geographic position could be used by the French to invade Germany proper. Additionally, the German general staff was more curious about the presence of Russian volunteers, since they were itching to gain battle experience for any future war in Europe, and the presence of certain volunteers who fought in northern Manchuria was troubling, given the Russian deployment of the same horse drawn carriage with the machine gun attached to it, which was finally given a nickname of the Kolesnyanka, from the Russian translation of the word meaning chariot. Chancellor zu Eulenburg's domestic policy during the French Civil War of 1902-07 was mainly to use the conflict as an intelligence gathering mission, while at the same time the Germans dispatched Alfred von Schlieffen to Japan as a military attache by August of 1902. During his stay in Tokyo, von Schlieffen wrote a report on the growing industrialization of the Russian Far East, and their role during the Russo-Chinese War. As he wrote in his report, von Schlieffen warned the German government that the Russians opted to build new arsenals close to the front lines where they could easily supply the Russian military with wapons that just came out of their arsenals. Moreover, prominent American businesses were also investing in the double tracking of the Trans-Siberian railway, which could have significant consequences if the project was completed, including the double track construction of the former Chinese Eastern, now Northern Manchurian, Railway. Additionally, the Russians were also busy aiding the conservative Joseon court based in Pyongyang against the Gaehwa rebels in the Sawol Revolt by training their cavalry brigades modeled on the Amur Cossacks.
German industrialization of their colonies in Africa and Qingdao was implemented on a smaller scale, although by 1904 industrialization of German South West Africa was delayed because of the outbreak of the Herero and Namaqua rebellions. German South West Africa was viewed by Chancellor zu Eulenburg as a kind of model colony in which he could settle many Germans, as well as the site where the German Poles could be resettled as punishment for their rebellions. However, the Anglo-German rapprochement in which the chancellor supported, resulted in slightly worsened relations with the Netherlands, whose fear of the German Empire was well founded. Chancellor zu Eulenburg's foreign policy on the other hand, involved the sponsorship of separatist movements within the Russian Empire, an effort that proved successful when the 1906 Russian Revolution broke out and the Baltic regions of the Russian Empire, plus Belarus, Finland, and Ukraine, had broken off from Tsarist authority. Though the Germans initially supported Ottoman expansion in the revolt-ridden Caucasus as a way of depriving the Russian state of its land connection to Persia, the Armenian Revolt of 1909 and the subsequent extermination campaign had dampened such an idea, mostly because it gave the Russians an excuse to put down the revolts in the Caucasus by 1910, followed by a pacification campaign in Central Asia. Yet, the chancellor was opposed to Wilhelm II's blackmailing of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II into creating a Jewish Autonomous Vilayet, as he didn't want to risk Germany's diplomatic relationship with the Turks. The issue of the Jewish Autonomous Vilayet and how it was made was one of the few issues that zu Eulenburg addressed to the Kaiser. Furthermore, Zu Eulenburg had also opposed the creation of the Jewish Autonomous Vilayet, preferring to settle the Jewish refugees fleeing from Tsarist rule to either German South West Africa, or German East Africa, though the Zionist movement was not interested in settling either one of those two territories as a temporary measure. Significantly, zu Eulenburg was also opposed to allowing the US Navy to make a rest stop in any German ports in either German South West Africa or German East Africa, in solidarity with the Japanese, and partly because they felt cheated out of an opportunity to seize the Philippines for themselves. Ironically, the nation that played a role in Germany's failed chance to seize the Philippines from Spain is now becoming one of its great allies against the United States, France, and Russia, though the Anglo-German rapprochement was mostly done out of the need to contain Russia, rather than France.
The 1906 Russian Revolution also provided the Germans with an opprtunity to reach out to the Balkan nations that were more or less nominally or semi-nominally allied with the Russian Empire, as the new kingdom of Croatia, as well as the formerly pro-Hapsburg Obrenovic dynasty of Serbia and the Principality of Bulgaria (though still considered an Ottoman vassal until 1908), were approached with not only a trade offer, but a proposal for a railway project that would go from Hamburg to Kalamata, Greece, with Nis as the central hub in the Balkans. Yet, this railway proposal did not go through until well into the 1940s, long after the Great World War had concluded. The collapse of the Hapsburg domains also allowed the Germans to gain several new allies in the form of the Kingdom of Croatia under the reign of King Leopold I Kliment of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Queen Hilda of Croatia, who was of the Bavarian house of Wittlesbach and the daughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria. The remains of the Archduchy of Austria held a referendum in 1914 on whether they should remain independent or to join the German Empire. About 87% of the Austrian voters who participated in the referendum would vote in favor of entering the German Empire as a separate Kingdom, similar to that of Bavaria, Saxony, and even the dominant Kingdom with the German Empire, Prussia. The Kingdom of Bohemia on the other hand, was split between remaining independent and becoming an autonomous region of the German Empire, but the German population of the Sudetenland were for the most part, itching to become a part of Germany, either as an autonomous region within Austria, or as an autonomous region within the Kingdom of Prussia. A third option was raised, that of being an autonomous region within the Kingdom of Saxony, and it was that option that was chosen by the Sudeten Germans, placing themselves under the authority of the Saxon authorities, though the region of Troppau would voluntarily join the Kingdom of Prussia as an actual province.
--- Excerpts from "Emerging Multicultural Entities in Asia"
by: Pablo Perez Munakata
Oriental Jade Publishing Press, released on March 17, 2019
Chapter Two: The Guangzhouwan Experiment
When the French sold the enclave of Guangzhouwan to the Japanese in 1903, there was a great fear from the United States that Japan would have its eye next on French Indochina. Indeed, as the French Civil War would continue to rage on, it was becoming clear that the far flung colonies in Asia and the wider Pacific region would become more untenable in the long run, and while Britain eventually bought the French Oceanian Islands from an increasingly cash strapped France, Japan eventually bought French Indochina in 1911 for 40 million USD. Yet, it was the purchase of the former French enclave of Guangzhouwan that would become one of the most ambitious colonial projects in Japanese history, where Japanese settlers would intermingle with the local residents of Guangzhouwan, who were predominantly Southern Min speaking. When Japan received the former French Indochina, the Japanese Governor-General of Koshuwan announced that it was willing to allow the settlement of approximately 15,000 displaced Vietnamese peasants who lost their homes during the Vietnamese Uprising of 1907 to French reprisals inside Koshuwan. Yet, in an attempt to promote ethno-racial harmony in the enclave, as a test bed for a much larger ambition of turning the war-torn and politically unstable Philippine Republic into Asia's biggest multiracial, heterogenous nation., the Japanese would also allow the settlement of thousands of Cantonese migrants into Guangzhouwan. Although Japanese was the official language of Guangzhouwan/Koshuwan, the Japanese colonial authorities there would also recognize Min-nan, Hokkien, and Cantonese as recognized languages of the enclave, in addition to Vietnamese. Ethnic Japanese settlers were also encouraged to learn the three recognized Chinese dialects of Koshuwan, as well as Vietnamese. The main problem with attempting to learn Vietnamese was that they were using the Latin script, while the old Chu Nom script may have been better in the short run. It was the difficulty of learning the Vietnamese language that would lead to the attempted development of the newest script called the Chu Nhat, or Japanese script. However, their attempts to build a new Vietnamese script, using Japanese katakana, had been difficult, mostly because there are words of Sino-Vietnamese origin that wouldn't translate well into Japanese katakana, and katakana is often used for words of foreign (mostly European) origin. It was not until the early 1920s, when the successor to the First Chinese Republic, the Chinese State, had started to develop a phonetic system that would make it easier for foreigners to learn the Chinese language. Driven by the need for the simplification of the Vietnamese language, as well as the other Chinese dialects like Min-nan, Hokkien, and others, the hastily named Bopomofo was the only successful attempt to simplify the Chinese writing system. Bopomofo would be taught first in Guangzhouwan, before spreading it into Vietnam and Japan itself, where the Japanese government required that future civil servants posted in Japanese Taiwan and Koshuwan to learn the Chinese language.
The Bopomofo phonetic script became useful as a means of communication between the Vietnamese, Cantonese, Hoklo and other Min-nan speakers, and it also served as the symbol of the new Asiatic syndicalist culture. As inter-ethnic marriages became more common in the 1930s, a new kind of culture was emerging in Koshuwan. As none of the newly ethnically mixed people could come up with a new identity for themselves, they merely referred to themselves as the Nanyang people. The new Nanyang people consisted of the offspring of mixed marriages between Japanese, Cantonese, Hoklo, Teochew, Swatow, Kekyeo, and Vietnamese couples. Nanyang culture as a consequence of the mixed marriages, developed into a kind of Sino-Japanese-Vietnamese fusion, ranging from cuisine, to clothing and even literature written in Nanyang creole, using Hokkien as the root for the Nanyang creole. A Japanese based creole also emerged from this linguistic exchange, commonly called the Daitoa-go, or the Greater East Asian language, but the language itself was developed in Taiwan for inter-ethnic communication between the Taiwanese population and the Japanese colonial authorities. In 1938, Bopomofo was declared the official written script of Koshuwan's emerging Chinese counterpart to Daitoa-go, which used the Japanese script. Eventually, the popularity of Bopomofo as the written phonetic script had spread among the Overseas Chinese population around SE Asia, including Singapore, where it emerged as one of the official written scripts alongside the Latin script. Bopomofo also had an influence on Philippine Hokkien too, though the long established Filipino Chinese community continued to write in traditional Chinese characters, while the exiled ex-Boxer rebels who settled in the country began to use bopomofo to write their own languages. The rising popularity of bopomofo also prodded the Philippine Republic to push for the revival of the old Baybayin script, though introducing new scripts to correspond to the Latin alphabets that weren't found in various Philippine languages. Yet, not a lot of people in the Philippines knew how to read and write in Baybayin, so the project was placed on a backburner until the 1930s, when Pan-Asian rhetoric was at an all time high and the teaching of baybayin was being promoted by the newly formed Philippine Revolutionary Socialist Labor Party and its leader, Cirilo Bognot.
Life in Koshuwan under Japanese control was almost tranquil, although its control of the enclave had remained a sore point between Japan and China today. The enclave could be seen as a contradictory symbol of Japan's attempt at fostering Pan-Asian attitudes among the wider peoples of Asia. In sharp contrast, the Japanese protectorates of Korea and Vietnam was only designed to help modernize the two nations under Japanese control, but the Gimhae Declaration of 1906 explicitly forbids the total annexation of the two protectorates. Shumei Okawa's syndicalist rhetoric would gradually evolve as Japan would be struck by the Syndicalist Revolution of 1917, when the value of the yen would depreciate, and rising layoffs had created a large army of unemployed workers due to the worsened economy because of the Japanese-American War of 1904-07. Syndicalist-controlled trade unions were also formed in Koshuwan, though they were at least a bit more democratic than their Japanese counterparts. Japanese business conglomerates were setting up their businesses in the enclave, and it also served as a conduit for trade with Indochina and southern China, many of which the products manufactured in Koshuwan were often sold at markets in Macau and Hong Kong. Although there were still signs of racial discrimination by all the ethnic groups, the increasing rates of inter-ethnic marriages would eventually dispel the prejudices that the ethnic groups of Koshuwan would have towards each other. Nanyangs would also migrate out of Koshuwan and into Hainan Island and the Leizhou Peninsula. Yet, the residents of the Leizhou Peninsula were not as welcoming to the arriving Nanyang people, as they viewed them with suspicion. Koshuwan would eventually gain independence from Japan in 1972 as the Syndicalist State of Zhanjiang, with Trang Liem being the first President of Zhanjiang.
--- "The Great Exodus, which was referred by the Chinese migrants who resettled in British Malaya and the newly acquired Japanese enclave of Gunagzhouwan that they purchased from the French as part of funding for their civil war, was a period in which anti-Oriental riots broke out in the North American Pacific coast between the Asian migrants that settled in the Pacific coast of North America, and the white population who feared and detested them as they were competing with them for jobs in various areas. It was during this time period that the Asiatic Exclusion Act had been passed down by Congress in 1903, thereby giving the McKinley, Cockrell, and Fairbanks administrations the legal power to completely expel the Asian migrants from the West Coast of the United States. The Ku Klux Klan was actually used as the muscle to instigate anti-Asian and anti-black riots that broke out throughout the states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Whenever the Asian immigrants would retaliate, the KKK members simply shot them out of hand, and much of their homes were looted and often burned with all families locked inside. Several American civilian cruisers were hired by the federal government to repatriate much of the Asian immigrants, often compensating the companies that controlled the cruisers, while simultaneously not compensating the deportees at all. Even the territory of Hawaii was not exempt, as the Asian migrants employed at sugar cane and pineapple farms were also expelled, leading to a shortage of workers in those plantations, much to the fury of the pineapple companies that had to rely on Asian labor. In place of the deported Asians, the pineapple companies like Dole had approached the Canadian government for a request to bring in several hundred Canadian citizens to work on the plantation farms, with much bigger wages than they would pay their former Asian employees. However, Prime Minister Laurier balked at such an idea, since Canada itself didn't have a large pool of population as the United States did. Likewise, Hispanics were also not trusted at all by the pineapple corporations, and given the news of the Buffalo soldiers' mutiny in the Philippines, they were reluctant to bring in the black population to work on the pineapple plantations.
Unfortunately, the British colonial authorities were hard pressed to process some of the Chinese refugees that were expelled by the United States between 1903 and 1909, as the sheer size of the deportee population was too much to handle. Luckily, the Japanese enclave of Guangzhouwan and Japanese Taiwan was willing to host some of them, but the bulk of the deportees would end up back in China, only to find themselves in the middle of a civil war between supporters of Yuan Shikai and Zhang Xun. The deportees who ended up in Guangzhouwan were stunned at the apparent diversity of the city and even more surprised that some of them were able to meet with some of the local Cantonese-speaking residents of the enclave. However, it was Singapore and Sarawak that eventually received the biggest number of the deportees, as even Canada was not safe for their Asian population as well. In fact, the Canadian equivalent of the Great Exodus was triggered by a violent confrontation between an Indian immigrant and a white local over a dispute regarding the discriminatory rule that the white business owner posted on his meat shop. The Canadian version of the anti-Asian riots did occur in 1907, but their biggest one occurred in 1933, when the growth of NatSyndism in the United States and the establishment of the National Syndicalist Canadian Unity Party had resulted in race based violence breaking out of control. In fact, one of the perpetrators of the 1907 anti-Asian race riots in British Columbia was Thomas MacInnes, who eventually became the leader of the Canadian NatSynds. Unlike the American NatSynds, where Moseley had a military background, MacInnes did not serve in any Canadian military branch, although his successor, General Thomas Victor Anderson, had participated in the Canadian equivalent of the Bonus Army March in Ottawa by July 12th, 1936, as a prelude to a failed pro-NatSynd coup that led to the arrest of many prominent far-right politicians, activists and even a few Canadian military officers. General Anderson, who was viewed by George Van Horn Moseley himself as his potential puppet, nevertheless had been radicalized by the economic malaise that had affected the entirety of the British Empire from the end of the Great World War." From 'The Great Exodus: A Chinese Tragedy', courtesy of Zhanjiang Television Broadcast.
--- SLONIM POGROM:
The Slonim Pogrom of May of 1903, had occurred on Orthodox Christian Pentecost Sunday, when a news report emerged that a young girl named Darya Kavalevich, had mysteriously disappeared a few days prior. When her remains were found, they noticed a weird and frightening set of injuries that the local residents of Slonim had presumed that it came from the infamous accusation of the Jewish ritual murder. Kavalevich, who belonged to the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church, had been coming home from a confession when she disappeared. It was because of her association with that church that the Belarusian Greek Catholics, along with their Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox counterparts, had participated in one of the most violent and brutal anti-Jewish pogroms in Belarus's history. The news of the Slonim Pogroms had shocked the whole world, who were reeling from the notorious Kishinev Pogrom the month prior to the events in Slonim. In response, several anti-Semitic rallies organized by the Black Hundreds were held in various cities across the Russian Empire, from Warsaw, to Slonim itself and even cities in eastern Ukraine where the Jews were not numerous, such as Kupyansk and Bakhmut. Not until the 1906 failed Odessa Pogrom and the backlash that led to the 1906 Russian Revolution that the Jewish population of the Russian Empire lived in fear of their lives. In response to the 1906 Russian Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II had issued an edict that pushed the borders of the Pale of Settlement to just the southern border with the former Novorossiya Governorate. In addition, the Tsar also issued another edict that formally called for the Jews that found themselves outside the new borders of the Pale of Settlement to either relocate to their new settlements, or to be banished from Russia forever. Several thousands of Jews would immigrate to the German and British Empires, as well as Ottoman Palestine between 1906 and 1911. When the Eastern European Chaos broke out in response to the 1906 Russian Revolution, several new states in Eastern Europe were formed, but the old anti-Semitic prejudice remained as violent pogroms carried out by the populations of the newly emerging states targeted Jewish neighborhoods. Similar anti-Jewish riots were triggered when the Austro-Hungarian Empire had collapsed, as the Jews of Galicia were targeted by both Polish independence fighters and Ukrainian militiamen seeking to expel both Polish and Jewish inhabitants of Galicia. Tragically, the culture of the Jews of Eastern Europe never recovered as they felt that Eastern Europe became a violent no-man's land where ethnicity and religion were often intertwined.
When the 1917 Russian Constitution was passed, it included a power sharing agreement where each former province of the Russian Empire with significant non-Russian populations would rejoin the Russian state, but they were allowed to retain their right to cultural and political, as well as regional, form of autonomy. Based on the new French and Spanish constitutions that were passed in the same year, it enshrined most of the reforms that were inspired by the Carlist ideology of respect for local cultures and regional autonomy. Although non-Christian minorities like the Muslims and Buddhists were granted more rights and privileges, Jews were not granted the same rights, leading to several left-wing Russian politicians calling the 1917 constitution a sham document. To this day, Jewish culture within the Russian state is currently being rebuilt, but given the resentment and suspicion that the descendants of the various anti-Jewish pogroms that were carried out by Russian nationalists, the relationship between Jews and Eastern European states remained frosty. Only the State of Israel and the Autonomous Jewish Cantons within Madagascar remain the entities with a large Jewish-majority population today, although several Jewish enclaves were formed within German South West Africa and German East Africa prior to the State of Israel and the formation of the Autonomous Jewish Cantons. The legacy of the Slonim Pogrom of 1903 was that the Russian Empire's diplomatic isolation helped in its territorial losses in 1906, as the German Empire benefited mostly from the secession of the Baltic States, Finland, Belarus, and Ukraine, though the latter two reluctantly rejoined the Russian state in exchange for greater autonomy. Ultimately though, anti-Russian sentiment would remain strong within the global Jewish community, followed by anti-American and anti-French sentiment, with the former being associated with the Van Horn Moseley's NatSynd dictatorship and the French reactionaries' brutal actions during the French Civil War. |
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stevep
Fleet admiral
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Post by stevep on Dec 12, 2023 15:25:54 GMT
Looking good and giving a good bit more background on a number of matters. Thoughts on a number of points.
a) I'm not quite clear why a pogrom against Armenians - which is described as a full scale genocide further down the article - seem to prompt Anglo-German pressure for a Jewish homeland in Palestine? i.e.
b) I think you have a typo on the section about the fighting along the Loire River, putting kilometres instead of meters? i.e.
Was there such examples of indiscipline in the French African forces OTL when they served in WWI? I don't recall reading of such other than claims from the Germans during the occupation of western Germany which seems to be grossly exaggerated.
Am I reading the section rightly that the royalist attacks ultimately exhausted themselves and the republicans were able to cross the Loire and secure gains on the other bank?
c) On the sale of Saint Pierre and Miquelon their importance was less the two small islands than that they were bases for French fishermen using their access to the Grand Banks fisheries. Have the French given up their claims to a share of those resources because that would be a hell of a lot more valuable than the two islands themselves?
d) If the French - of whichever faction - were seeking to gain influence in either Belgium or the Netherlands it would be a big issue for both Britain and Germany. As well as breaching the pact on Belgium neutrality! It would be a really stupid thing to do in the midst of a brutal civil war. e) Definitely going to be a vastly different and more liberal Japan here - at least in the 1st half of the 20thC. Also going to be complex relations between it and China especially. Sounds like a lot of effort going into trying to be an east Asian cultural fusion. Going to be a lot nastier in N America, especially in the US which is going to be a lot less popular for people not of NW European descent.  Which will weaken it significantly compared to OTL. Also be interesting to see what solution if any the planters on Hawaii finally use to resolve their manpower problems.
I'm not sure if the main Chinese exodus would be those expelled brutally from N America but more from people fleeing the chaos of China wracked by civil war and the other problems that will generate simply because the populations affected in China proper will be so much larger.
f) I'm a bit surprised that Ukraine was willing to rejoin a greater Russian state after the new constitution in 1917. Although possibly influenced by issues from OTL including the brutal oppression that occurred in the Soviet times.
Steve
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 13, 2023 2:52:35 GMT
a) I'm not quite clear why a pogrom against Armenians - which is described as a full scale genocide further down the article - seem to prompt Anglo-German pressure for a Jewish homeland in Palestine? i.e.
Most likely because it might not just be the Armenians that would be targeted. The Assyrians might end up being targeted too, but given that the massacres might happen at the same time as the Balkan Wars breaking out, the Ottomans could potentially lose a lot on the diplomatic front. Given that by the time the Armenians were going to be subjected to massacres, there might be one thing that Sultan Abdulhamid II fears the most, and that is his deposition. It's this fear that would nearly destroy the Ottoman state, until the British and Germans would offer help in exchange for Palestine. The previous update did mention a compromise, where most of Palestine would be granted to the Jews, but the areas around the OTL West Bank would remain under Ottoman rule, as it includes Jerusalem as well. b) I think you have a typo on the section about the fighting along the Loire River, putting kilometres instead of meters? i.e. Geez, I'm getting the measurements really confused. Did the same thing in the original Rogue Generals by mixing up the metric and Imperial measurements. Was there such examples of indiscipline in the French African forces OTL when they served in WWI? I don't recall reading of such other than claims from the Germans during the occupation of western Germany which seems to be grossly exaggerated. I believe that the claims the Germans were making that you're referring to was actually called Black Horror on the Rhine, and it was an effective kind of German right-wing propaganda. c) On the sale of Saint Pierre and Miquelon their importance was less the two small islands than that they were bases for French fishermen using their access to the Grand Banks fisheries. Have the French given up their claims to a share of those resources because that would be a hell of a lot more valuable than the two islands themselves?
d) If the French - of whichever faction - were seeking to gain influence in either Belgium or the Netherlands it would be a big issue for both Britain and Germany. As well as breaching the pact on Belgium neutrality! It would be a really stupid thing to do in the midst of a brutal civil war. e) Definitely going to be a vastly different and more liberal Japan here - at least in the 1st half of the 20thC. Also going to be complex relations between it and China especially. Sounds like a lot of effort going into trying to be an east Asian cultural fusion. Going to be a lot nastier in N America, especially in the US which is going to be a lot less popular for people not of NW European descent. Which will weaken it significantly compared to OTL. Also be interesting to see what solution if any the planters on Hawaii finally use to resolve their manpower problems.
I'm not sure if the main Chinese exodus would be those expelled brutally from N America but more from people fleeing the chaos of China wracked by civil war and the other problems that will generate simply because the populations affected in China proper will be so much larger.
f) I'm a bit surprised that Ukraine was willing to rejoin a greater Russian state after the new constitution in 1917. Although possibly influenced by issues from OTL including the brutal oppression that occurred in the Soviet times.
Let's also remember that it's the time period when Britain and France are still technically rivals and the Rapprochement never happened due to Prince Edward getting killed. In the event that Britain and France would go to war with each other, St. Pierre and Miquelon would easily be seized by the British, and they could also launch an amphibious invasion of mainland France from both across the Channel and from the Channel Islands. Most of the time, both sides of the French Civil War may have their own moments where their major mistakes could cost them big time. As for Japan though, it isn't exactly that they would be liberal, but rather more open to their country embracing certain left-wing policies that OTL Japan might not be able to embrace until OTL 1947. TTL's Japan might have better labor relations between employers and employees, and they might also be more open to a multicultural society, though that's being tested in their acquired ex-French enclave of Guangzhouwan. I've partly based the ATL fusion culture of Guangzhouwan on the Hearts of Iron 4 mod The New Order's Japanese puppet state of Guandong and the rise of the Zhujin people, which is an ethnic group of mixed Chinese (in this case, Cantonese) and Japanese origin. There might be a lot more Chinese refugees fleeing to areas like Singapore, Malaysia, and even the Philippines (which will definitely attract a lot of refugees, but as hinted in the previous updates, it's constantly unstable and vulnerable to a kind of left wing revolution that would be similar to OTL's Chinese Revolution). IOTL, the Ukrainian People's Republic was formed as an autonomous entity within the Russian Republic, and only declared its independence the following year. I would sense that their entry into the Russian state would be a subject of intense controversy, given the Tsarist repression of Ukrainian national identity. What is more important though, is that TTL's Ukrainian state would have a much larger population than OTL Ukraine, given that the events leading to the Holodomor are butterflied away. |
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stevep
Fleet admiral
Posts: 24,877
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Post by stevep on Dec 13, 2023 9:37:53 GMT
a) I'm not quite clear why a pogrom against Armenians - which is described as a full scale genocide further down the article - seem to prompt Anglo-German pressure for a Jewish homeland in Palestine? i.e.
Most likely because it might not just be the Armenians that would be targeted. The Assyrians might end up being targeted too, but given that the massacres might happen at the same time as the Balkan Wars breaking out, the Ottomans could potentially lose a lot on the diplomatic front. Given that by the time the Armenians were going to be subjected to massacres, there might be one thing that Sultan Abdulhamid II fears the most, and that is his deposition. It's this fear that would nearly destroy the Ottoman state, until the British and Germans would offer help in exchange for Palestine. The previous update did mention a compromise, where most of Palestine would be granted to the Jews, but the areas around the OTL West Bank would remain under Ottoman rule, as it includes Jerusalem as well. b) I think you have a typo on the section about the fighting along the Loire River, putting kilometres instead of meters? i.e. Geez, I'm getting the measurements really confused. Did the same thing in the original Rogue Generals by mixing up the metric and Imperial measurements. Was there such examples of indiscipline in the French African forces OTL when they served in WWI? I don't recall reading of such other than claims from the Germans during the occupation of western Germany which seems to be grossly exaggerated. I believe that the claims the Germans were making that you're referring to was actually called Black Horror on the Rhine, and it was an effective kind of German right-wing propaganda. c) On the sale of Saint Pierre and Miquelon their importance was less the two small islands than that they were bases for French fishermen using their access to the Grand Banks fisheries. Have the French given up their claims to a share of those resources because that would be a hell of a lot more valuable than the two islands themselves?
d) If the French - of whichever faction - were seeking to gain influence in either Belgium or the Netherlands it would be a big issue for both Britain and Germany. As well as breaching the pact on Belgium neutrality! It would be a really stupid thing to do in the midst of a brutal civil war. e) Definitely going to be a vastly different and more liberal Japan here - at least in the 1st half of the 20thC. Also going to be complex relations between it and China especially. Sounds like a lot of effort going into trying to be an east Asian cultural fusion. Going to be a lot nastier in N America, especially in the US which is going to be a lot less popular for people not of NW European descent. Which will weaken it significantly compared to OTL. Also be interesting to see what solution if any the planters on Hawaii finally use to resolve their manpower problems.
I'm not sure if the main Chinese exodus would be those expelled brutally from N America but more from people fleeing the chaos of China wracked by civil war and the other problems that will generate simply because the populations affected in China proper will be so much larger.
f) I'm a bit surprised that Ukraine was willing to rejoin a greater Russian state after the new constitution in 1917. Although possibly influenced by issues from OTL including the brutal oppression that occurred in the Soviet times.
Let's also remember that it's the time period when Britain and France are still technically rivals and the Rapprochement never happened due to Prince Edward getting killed. In the event that Britain and France would go to war with each other, St. Pierre and Miquelon would easily be seized by the British, and they could also launch an amphibious invasion of mainland France from both across the Channel and from the Channel Islands. Most of the time, both sides of the French Civil War may have their own moments where their major mistakes could cost them big time. As for Japan though, it isn't exactly that they would be liberal, but rather more open to their country embracing certain left-wing policies that OTL Japan might not be able to embrace until OTL 1947. TTL's Japan might have better labor relations between employers and employees, and they might also be more open to a multicultural society, though that's being tested in their acquired ex-French enclave of Guangzhouwan. I've partly based the ATL fusion culture of Guangzhouwan on the Hearts of Iron 4 mod The New Order's Japanese puppet state of Guandong and the rise of the Zhujin people, which is an ethnic group of mixed Chinese (in this case, Cantonese) and Japanese origin. There might be a lot more Chinese refugees fleeing to areas like Singapore, Malaysia, and even the Philippines (which will definitely attract a lot of refugees, but as hinted in the previous updates, it's constantly unstable and vulnerable to a kind of left wing revolution that would be similar to OTL's Chinese Revolution). IOTL, the Ukrainian People's Republic was formed as an autonomous entity within the Russian Republic, and only declared its independence the following year. I would sense that their entry into the Russian state would be a subject of intense controversy, given the Tsarist repression of Ukrainian national identity. What is more important though, is that TTL's Ukrainian state would have a much larger population than OTL Ukraine, given that the events leading to the Holodomor are butterflied away.
Yes I wasn't clear on the French black forces occupying western Germany. Did mean the Rhineland after WWI not something in WWII - my error for being unclear.
One other effect of avoiding the Holodomor is that not only would the Ukrainian population in total be larger but it could be the majority in areas that OTL are parts of Russia, such as parts of the Don bend region. Think I read once that they were significant in the Rostov region, and neighbouring areas.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 13, 2023 15:07:48 GMT
Not only the Don, but the Kuban as well. The Don-Kuban entities that are well known Cossack strongholds have significant Ukrainian populations in them. Such population is also why TTL's Russian state is trying to play nice with them, though if things get really ugly, then they would end up with a really nasty conflict with eachother.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 19, 2023 6:17:43 GMT
TURN 011: TRENCHES EVERYWHERE
Portions from 'World Tour Guide' by Monty Hull
History Legends Channel Network, released on July 16th, 2018
Episode Three: The French Civil War Trenches
(scene starts with the trenches built by the French republican monarchist forces as HULL walks close to what appeared to be an old machine gun nest)
HULL: (points at the old machine gun nest) So here we are in the Loire River, where much of the battles that took place during the French Civil War have taken place here. We're at the site where the French republican forces had entrenched themselves, as you can tell by what appeared to be an old machine gun nest here. (sees tour guide GISELLE BISEAU) Ah, Bonjour, Madame!
BISEAU: (nods) Bonjour.
HULL: So what can you tell us about the trenches that were built here in the banks of the Loire River?
BISEAU: (in FRENCH) Well, the trenches that were built by the Republican forces started from close to the city of Lyon to the Swiss border, but it was the monarchists who first built their own trenches. The difference between the monarchist style and the republican style was that monarchists also took great measures to build a makeshift infirmary beside the machine gun nests, and the ammunition depot was built away from the artillery pieces.
HULL: Did the Republicans also built their trenches in a similar fashion?
BISEAU: (in FRENCH) No, since the trenches that were built by the Republican forces were at first shoddy. The legionnaires spent more time digging trenches than their monarchist counterparts, but they took to the mud like fish in the water.
HULL: And how were the monarchists' trenches designed and built?
BISEAU: (in FRENCH) The monarchists' trenches were actually dug and designed in a zig zag formation, as opposed to the straight line formation that was seen in the republican trenches. The main advantage that the monarchists' trenches had was that they could set up a kind of front line machine gun positions on the pointy end of the zig-zag, facing the front. Their opponents would tire themselves out trying to navigate through the zig-zag style trenches, and that's just the front line trenches. The support trenches would also have wooden blockhouses where the heavy caliber machine guns would be posted, though in the first few years the potato digger machine guns were used in the wooden blockhouses.
HULL: And what of the reserve trenches?
BISEAU: (in FRENCH) The reserve trenches would have ammunition depots, storages for food, medical supplies, and weapons. However, you would also have the dugouts where communications would be conducted. The makeshift infirmaries were also built as dugouts as well, to prevent artillery shells from hitting it, ensuring the safety of wounded soldiers that are being operated on by medics.
(scene switches to another set of trenches, this time close to the town of Valserhone)
HULL: Unlike the trenches located at the Loire River, the mountainous ranges that were located on the border between France and Switzerland required a different kind of design for defensive structures, while trenches built in forests did not have any artillery placements, as the thickness of the trees inside the forests made it impossible for artillery gunners to bombard enemy positions, forcing both sides to engage in close quarters combat. (points at the mountain far from his position) It took almost four years for the Republican forces to dig beneath the mountains to create their mountain redoubt, which contributed to the stalemate that the French Civil War was becoming, until the monarchists had devoted much of their time to develop and research on longer ranges for their artillery pieces.
(scene switches to a trench close to the city of Vichy)
HULL: The sleepy spa town of Vichy emerged as one of the great sites of several battles during the French Civil War. A stronghold containing several trenches around the Allier River, as well as several makeshift fortifications built in the style of the old star fortresses were constructed by the monarchists, but the speed in which it was built had made it look shoddy. Nevertheless, the defenses around Vichy played a role in the First, Second, and Third Battles of Vichy, with the first and third being a Republican offensive, and the second being a monarchist offensive. All three battles that took place around Vichy ended in a stalemate, with significant losses on both sides. (1)
--- France - More Monarchist Muscle
By the time both sides had settled and dug in their positions around the Loire River, the race to see which side would build the longest network of trenches had began, with the monarchists digging from their positions around Lyon to the Atlantic coast. The town of Angers, where the monarchist camp was located, was also fortified with several networks of trenches built in a similar style to the star fortresses of the early modern era. Several foreign volunteers fighting for the monarchists would also gain valuable experience in trench construction, as well as other feats of military engineering, especially the Russian volunteers who were present. When the veterans of the northern Manchurian campaign arrived in France to replace their battle hardened colleagues who were due to return to Russia, they also introduced the infamous kolesnyanka, which was a machine gun mounted on a carriage driven by a single horse with a man holding the whip. (2) However, as the trench stalemate had becoming more clear, it appeared that the cavalry would be at a severe disadvantage. One of the Russian volunteers that arrived in France as a volunteer was the Duke of Madrid, Infante Jaime. Infante Jaime had been among the veterans of the northern Manchurian campaign, where he demonstrated his bravery against the honghuzi bandits in eastern Manchuria, around the Lake Khanka area. As he and Louis Bonaparte were serving in the Russian Army, they were in a unique position to influence the Tsarist court with some of the ideas that they held. (3) In addition, they were also joined by Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich, though he did not stay long, as he told his fellow officers of his impending marriage to Princess Ksenija of the House of Petrovic-Njegos. (4) His wedding ceremony to the younger daughter of Prince Nikola I of Montenegro took place in the summer of 1903, though he was escorted to the royal palace in Cetinje by the Montenegrin and Russian volunteer contingent. As he was expected to return to the battlefields of France, Nikola I decided that he take his new wife with him, as she wanted to volunteer as a nurse overseeing the health of the Montenegrin, Serbian, and Russian volunteers in France. Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich's friendship with Prince Louis Bonaparte and Infante Jaime was the crucial link that contributed to the development of the 1917 Russian constitution, as Infante Jaime became the unofficial political tutor for the heir to the Russian throne. It was thanks to Infante Jaime's Carlist ideology that he grew up with that became the foundation for both the 1917 Russian constitution and the political reformations that took place in France after the civil war ended.
Amusingly enough, it was the Grand Duke himself who suggested a bold, yet controversial idea to solve the monarchist succession question by proposing a series of arranged marriages for the future offspring and next generation of Legitimist, Orleanist and Bonapartist claimants. Though Infante Jaime was intrigued by Grand Duke Mikhail's idea, when he brought his idea up to Prince Louis and Prince Philippe of Orleans, the latter was appalled by such a proposal. Prince Philippe asked his Legitimist counterpart if the Grand Duke had gone insane, to which Infante Jaime explained the reasoning behind such a thing. By unifying the bloodlines of the main branch of the House of Bourbon (which is represented by the Legitimists), the cadet branch in the House of Orleans and the 'newcomer' royal House of Bonaparte, they would unify the marital and familial ties with each other and giving the monarchist faction the necessary political power to overturn the Republic. Grand Duke Mikhail's proposal was soon discussed among all three supporters of the rival claimants, though Prince Philippe wasn't comfortable with the idea of having both Bourbon branches form marital ties with what they saw as a usurper dynasty in the Bonapartes. (5) Yet, Infante Jaime jokingly said that the title of Emperor of the French sounded a lot more prestigious than being merely King of France. Though the discussions were being done in secret, as to ensure that no one finds out about it, a captured monarchist soldier was interrogated by Republican military intelligence about the proposal. It was also why the Republican government had issued special orders to both Marechals Sarrail and Dreyfus to assassinate the three claimants to the French throne to undermine the monarchists' reasons to fight in the civil war and end the conflict with the Republican victory. However, all of the assassination attempts ended in failure, and the nature of the special orders was revealed through the interrogation of a legionnaire who surrendered to monarchist forces outside Chaponost in December of 1902. It was then that the royals who were participating in the front lines were ordered to return to Angers, where they would work as part of the unified monarchist joint chiefs of staff. Out of the need to protect the royals who are fighting as volunteers, would emerge from the chosen group of bodyguards France's very first intelligence agency, the Directorate for National Security and Intelligence.
Princess Ksenija Petrovic-Njegos of Montenegro.
The Directorate for National Security and Intelligence was the answer to the Republican government's Deuxieme Bureau, which had been staffed entirely by pro-Republican officers after being purged of suspected pro-monarchists and anti-Dreyfusards from service. Those defectors would join the DNSI, and their initial role was to protect and guard the lives of the royals who were in France as volunteers. Their roles would expand to infiltrating Republican dominated areas, where they could locate and eliminate various Republican generals, Milice officers, and Republican politicians. In February of 1903, five DNSI agents were successful in foiling a Milice plot to assassinate Charles Maurras by alerting him of the plot. On Valentine's Day, three DNSI agents murdered a young socialist politican named Jean Laures by kidnapping him outside his home in Castres and executing him through a bullet in the head. However, the DNSI's activities alerted the Deuxieme Bureau and began to collaborate with the Milice in hunting down the DNSI agents. Often times, they would capture a DNSI double agent posing as a Milice paramilitary volunteer by pretending to ask for directions at a nearest monarchist camp. The National Gendarmerie in turn, would collaborate with the DNSI in counter-espionage operations, uncovering hidden Milice cells deep within monarchist held areas. However, the DNSI intelligence apparatus would expand much of their activities beyond their legal duties, and began to organize anti-Jewish riots in a similar scene to the infamous Kishinev and Slonim pogroms that would take place in Easter and Pentecost respectively. Instigating riots had somehow become one of the DNSI's most feared tactics carried out within the Republican held areas of southern France, as they forced the Milice to carry out anti-riot pacification campaigns that often diverted them from the external danger that lay ahead. Between February of 1903 until June of 1903, much of the battles that took place were carried out by the National Gendarmerie against the Milice, aided by their respective colleagues in the intelligence services.
--- "Life in the trenches before the 1905 breakthrough had been dominated by constant artillery bombardments conducted by both sides of the French Civil War, and machine gun fire had often killed more French soldiers of both factions than diseases combined. As both factions also possessed factories in which they could produce their weapons, the financial expenditure needed to invest in expanding their war production was the reason why the French government had to sell much of its colonies in an act of desperation. Yet, much of the French public were appalled by the way their government had seemingly sold all of their far flung colonies, feeling like they voluntarily downgraded their own prestige, but it was a necessary measure in order to win the war against their own domestic enemies. What ultimately broke the stalemate in the French trenches was not any fancy invention, or some new tactic that was pioneered, but rather, a weapon that until the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, had not been subjected to much scrutiny. It was a simple shotgun, or more precisely, the Winchester M1897 shotgun and its predecessor, the Winchester M1887 shotgun, that was eventually introduced to the French Civil War when the French Republican forces purchased over 20,000 of the M1887 shotguns. (6) The first battle in which the French republican forces used the M1887 shotgun was during the successful Battle of Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure, in which a surprised monarchist force was stunned at how one of their soldiers suffered excruciating pain after being shot by a legionnaire armed with the M1887 shotgun. The M1887's current successor, the M1897 shotgun, had been introduced to the Philippine conflict in November of 1902 when it became apparent that the Luzon offensive had grounded into a halt, and General Antonio Luna's forces were successful in holding up the defensive line around the mountain redoubt. Eventually, the American government authorized the sales of the M1897 shotguns to the same French republican forces that were fighting against the monarchists, and the results were already clear. Between the Battle of Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure on October 25th, 1905, and January 18th of 1906, over 3,800 monarchist soldiers were killed as a result of gunshot wounds caused by bullets fired from the shotguns. Luckily for the monarchists, when they captured several legionnaires equipped with the American shotguns, most of the shotguns being the M1887 model, though over 12 M1897 shotguns also fell into the hands of the monarchists. In December of 1905, one of the monarchist officers who commanded over 34,000 monarchist soldiers and foreign volunteers named Charles Nouges had requested to examine the M1887 and M1897 shotguns that the republican forces used against the monarchists. He found, to his surprise and horror, the impact when the shotgun's bullet had struck its target. As Nouges also received medical reports from the front on certain soldiers who suffered from gunshot wounds caused by the shotgun's bullets, he soon realized that the shotguns have a devastating potential as a trench clearing weapon. Nouges and many other monarchists would begin to reverse engineer the M1887 and M1897 shotguns and come up with their own design. Named the Nouges Model 1905 shotgun, it was basically a reverse-engineered version of the M1887 shotgun, though with the pump action seen in the M1897 rifle, making the Nouges Model 1905 a derivative of the M1897 instead of the M1887. The major difference between the M1897 shotgun and the Nouges Model 1905 was that the latter had a special kind of magazine that could hold up to 5 rounds of ammunition. The only trade off is that the Nouges Model 1905 sacrificed its ability to conduct slamfire, as any attempt to slamfire with the Nouges Model 1905 had resulted in the barrel becoming unstable, potentially killing the handler, plus the trigger's ability to hold was disabled, meaning that if the shooter wants to fire the Nouges Model 1905, it would have to release the hold on the trigger before squeezing it again.
The Nouges Model 1905 shotgun eventually entered service in summer of 1906, just as the republican forces were about to launch another offensive aimed at capturing the strategic stronghold of Vichy, but this time the republican offensive was repulsed by the monarchists, though with larger casualties reported by Marechal Sarrail's troops. Much of the destructive power of the Nouges Model 1905, and its quick pump action made it a suitable weapon for trench clearing operations, as well as being an effective weapon for use by the cavalry, and later during the Great World Wars by cask crews. However, the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare would force the French government to ban the use of the shotguns for its military until the Great World War when said convention went out of the window. In addition to the French Army, the Russian volunteers who were equipped with the Nouges Model 1905, had brought it back to Russia, where Nikolai Tretyakov and Sergei Mosin were given an opportunity to examine the Nouges Model 1905 and its American predecessor in the M1897 shotgun. Yet, the Winchester shotguns were not the only weapons that graced the French battlefields. Before the French Civil War broke out, the Italian military was testing a revolutionary kind of rifle that no one has ever experimented before. The automatic rifle that was designed by an officer named Amerigo Cei-Rigotti, the rifle that bore his name had been tested by the Italian military prior to the French Civil War. When that conflict broke out, the Italian volunteers who joined the monarchists had carried out field testing of the rifle in Angers. However, the fact that there were major flaws in the Cei-Rigotti rifle prototype (7) was the main reason why it was never formally adopted by any military in the world, until the Cei-Rigotti rifle was presented to Charles Nouges while he was testing the M1897 shotgun. Unfortunately, it would be a decade and a half before the Cei-Rigotti rifle would fix its flaws by a joint Franco-Italian military collaboration, though in this case the Beretta arms manufacturer would collaborate with the French Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne. The end result of this was the first automatic rifle called the BeMAS M1918A, with A standing for Automatic." From 'Rifle Development during the Early 20th Century', courtesy of History Legends Channel Network, released on March 28th, 2019.
--- Excerpts from 'Balkan Intrigues and Games: A Civilizational Clash Between Austria-Hungary and Russia'
by: Zlatan Delic
Stanford University Printing Press
Chapter Three: Prelude to the Balkan Wars
The presence of the foreign volunteers from the Balkan nations during the French Civil War had worried the Austro-Hungarian government, despite the presence of their own foreign volunteers fighting for the monarchist faction so far. However, the majority of the Balkan volunteers who were fighting for the same faction as the Austro-Hungarians came from Serbia and Montenegro, with Bulgaria providing the second largest number of volunteers. Those Balkan volunteers would also become the core of the experienced NCOs that built the backbone of the Balkan armies that eventually defeated the Ottoman Empire and drove the out of Europe, as their battle experience, along with the introduction of various new weapons, tactics, and strategies, were valuable. Most importantly, the Balkan nations also gained a second ally besides Russia in their desire to topple Austro-Hungarian power in the region. The Kingdom of Italy, which had been left out of the colonization frenzy, had clear designs on Ottoman Tripolitania as its first target of colonization. Like Germany, Italy also had trouble with keeping its population within its borders as many of its citizens were immigrating to the Americas and Australia, despite the clear preference for migrants from northern Europe. In 1903, during the French Civil War, the Italian government had approached their Balkan counterparts for a possible alliance aimed at destroying the Ottoman Empire in Europe and Africa. Foreign Minister Enrico Morin arrived in the capital of Belgrade for talks with top Serbian officials on the possibility of a wider Mediterranean alliance between the two nations, with Montenegro, Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria joining in as well. Serbian Prime Minister Dmitrije Cincar-Markovic was pleased with the idea of Italy joining in the war against the Ottomans, should the Balkan nations initiate the conflict in the first place. Though there were no talks of marital alliances between Italy and the Balkan nations, additional diplomatic overtures were also made as Serbia eventually became the middle man in the diplomatic relations between Italy and Russia. Though the Russian ambassador to Serbia had not been authorized to get involved in such talks between the Italian and Serbian officials, he relayed the nature of the talks to Russian Foreign Minister Vladimir Lamsdorf. Lamsdorf in turn, would send Aleksander Izvolskiy to Belgrade for talks with Prime Minister Cincar-Markovic, promising to help the Balkan alliance with their war against the Ottomans by a possible opening of the Caucasus theater, in the event of war.
Although Foreign Minister Morin had wanted to guide Italy's expansionist goals with the aim of establishing the spazio vitale, he also realized that the Italian state wasn't as powerful as its much wealthier neighbors, and had to rely on alliances in order to safeguard Italian interests. In addition to the long coveted region of Albania as a target of Italian expansionist goals, there were also Rhodes and many other Greek islands that the Italians wanted, but fearful of pushing Greece further into the arms of the British had prevented the plan from carrying out. France in particular, was also keen on keeping Greece as an ally, leaving the Russians with either Bulgaria, or Montenegro, as Serbia was still under the control of the Obrenovic dynasty. However, as the only child of Alexander I Obrenovic was Princess Elizabeth, he had to approve of a law that nominated Prince Mirko of Montenegro as his Heir Apparent, thereby placating the House of Petrovic-Njegos. (8) The new head of the Karadjordjevic family, Prince Aleksander, was still keen on pushing for the Karadjordjevic dynasty to supplant the Obrenovic family as the ruling dynasty of Serbia, had consented to the marriage match between himself and Princess Margaret of Denmark, who was the daughter of Prince Valdemar, the youngest son of King Christian IX. However, as he was still a minor at that time, he was sent to foster with his future wife's family in Denmark until he was old enough to manage his family as its head. During his residency in Copenhagen, the young Aleksander Karadjordjevic would attend the same schools as the other Danish princes that received formal education. In 1906, influenced by the maritime tradition of his future wife's country, though the Danish Navy was rather small at the time of the great upheavals of the 1900s, Prince Aleksander would enter the Nikolayev Naval Academy as an officer cadet. (9) At that time, the Nikolayev Naval Academy's superintendent was Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov but as he placed a request to be transferred to the Pacific Fleet, Ivan Bubnov would eventually replace him in September of 1906. However, the 1906 Russian Revolution had thrown much of the military into chaos, as the various areas of the Russian Empire seceded from Tsarist authority and parts of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets were being fractured, with certain ships being captured by pro-independence figures. As Bubnov had a naval engineering background, he was commissioned by the Tsarist government to design and construct the first purely Russian submarine that can act as maritime reconnaissance units in both the coast lines and at high seas. Bubnov's designed submarine, the Delfin, was based on the former American submarine labeled the Fulton, which became the Som-class submarine. One tidbit worth mentioning was that one of Prince Aleksander's naval academy classmate was Boris Savinkov, who was recommended as a suitable officer cadet candidate by his superior officer aboard the same Som-class submarine that he served in. (10) Eventually, both Prince Aleksander and Savinkov would graduate from the Nikolayev Naval Academy in 1912, and formally commissioned as Ensigns in the Imperial Russian Navy. In 1917, Prince Aleksander and Princess Margaret would marry in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in the city of Kazan, with the latter taking the baptismal name of Marina, the House of Karadjordjevic would see its fortunes revive.
What would ultimately trigger the Balkan War of 1909 was an event taking place outside the Balkans, but eastern Anatolia. It was in the same year, or perhaps months before, the Ottoman Armenian population was subjected to persecution by the increasingly radicalized Turkish nationalists who saw the ideology of pan-Ottomanism end in failure, and Turkish nationalism was becoming stronger. The various Armenian Pogroms of 1908-09 was aimed at ethnically cleansing parts of eastern Anatolia with significant Armenian populations residing within the Six Vilayets. Additionally, the Assyrian Christian minority also faced political and religious persecutions as well, and that was one of the main reasons why Russia offered to take in all of the Assyrian Christians in exchange for expelling the remaining Circassian population, to the fury of the Ottoman government. Fearful of a similar event awaiting the Christian populations of the Balkans, the Balkan Christian population began to form self-defense units aimed at protecting their communities. Yet, this preventive self-defensive measure had also triggered outrage from the only remaining loyal subject of the Ottomans in the Balkans: the Albanians. (11) Though much of the Albanian population had become Muslim, there were certain pockets of Albania where Christianity remained the dominant faith. In areas of the Ottoman Empire where Albanians are a majority, there were clashes between said dominant ethnic group and the remaining minorities that haven't yet joined their compatriots living in neighboring independent states, as was the case with the Serbs around the region of Kosovo and Metohija. When the Balkan Wars broke out, not did the independent Balkan nations declare war on the Ottoman Empire, but Italy would also declare war as well, with the sole intention of seizing both its promised Albanian lands and Tripolitania.
--- Korea - Return of the Crown Prince
When Crown Prince Sunjong returned to Korea after spending almost a few months in China as a de facto political hostage, he found his homeland in the midst of a civil war between the pro-Russian and pro-Japanese factions. Though when he went to see his father in Pyongyang, he offered to contact General Zhang Xun and request for Chinese troops to restore order in Korea, only for Emperor Gojong to flatly reject such an offer. Moreover, Crown Prince Sunjong also learned that his half-siblings had apparently been enlisted in the Page Corps in Russia when the civil war broke out in Korea. As the Gaehwa rebels were forced to spend much more resources in suppressing the peasant revolts in rural areas of the south, the Imperial Korean Army would launch its first offensive of the war, aiming to recapture both Goseong and Sokcho, which came under occupation by the Gaehwa rebels. Though both sides were evenly matched, the Gaehwa rebels were preoccupied with the suppression of the remaining peasant rebellions throughout the south. However, the Imperial Korean Army by late 1902 and beginning of 1903, was still suffering from issues like illiteracy among both non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers alike. Even as the Joseon court was attempting to tackle this problem, time was not on their side. On the other hand, the Gaehwa rebels did not fare any better in their own literacy problem, so they began to rely more on a growing number of educated Koreans who went to the newly established schools formed by Christian missionaries as a means of exposing themselves to a Western style of learning. As a means of strengthening much of the Pacification Army's chronically incompetent military officer class, selected non-commissioned officers were sent to study in Japanese military academies after March of 1903. In contrast to the new officer candidates that were sent to Japan for further education, the officers of the Imperial Korean Army were sent to study in various Russian military academies inside the Russian Empire, and at the same time, Russian General Mitrofan Nadein had obtained permission from Emperor Gojong to reorganize the military academy of the Korean Empire, with several Russian army and navy officers being sent to teach the officer cadets in the new academies that were established in Pyongyang and Hamhung. In the summer of 1903, the Admiral Yi Naval Academy was established in the minor town of Hongwon, which also became the first site of a modern shipyard established by former employees of various American shipbuilding companies that were laid off when their company underwent a massive reorganization. The Admiral Yi Naval Academy was built on the model of the Nikolayev Naval Academy in St. Petersburg, and Russian naval officers like Mikhail Sablin and his brother Nikolai oversaw the teaching of the naval officer cadets in Hongwon. Likewise, the Imperial Korean Army Academy established in Pyongyang was built on the model of the General Staff Academy in St. Petersburg as well.
Unlike the Admiral Yi Naval Academy, the Imperial Korean Army Academy also accepted students from the Mongolian Khaganate as well, since they did not have their own military academy as well. In the same year that the Admiral Yi Naval Academy was established, Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren sent the newly appointed Mongolian Minister of External Affairs, Bayantömöriin Khaisan, to the Russian capital for an audience with Tsar Nicholas II. External Affairs Minister Khaisan had requested on behalf of the Mongolian government for a few Russian military officers to establish Mongolia's own military academy where future officers of the Mongolian military could be educated and prepared for future commands. A young Russian officer of Kalmyk descent named Oka Gorodovikov was attached to seven Russian officer staff tasked with helping the Mongolian government build its own military academy, due to his fluency in Kalmyk-Oirat, which is intelligible with the various dialects of Mongol spoken in both Outer and Inner Mongolia. In addition to sending Lavr Kornilov as the leader of the Russian military attache sent to Mongolia, two of Emperor Gojong's sons who stayed in Russia would also join: Princes Yi Ju-won and Yi Ju-chan. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to reunite with his younger brothers, Crown Prince Sunjong would eventually arrive in Urga to see them and Prince Yi Kang as well. The reunion of Emperor Gojong's sons in Urga was dampened by Crown Prince Sunjong's criticism of his younger brothers' decision to serve in the Imperial Russian Army, only for Prince Yi Kang to remind the Crown Prince that he would have easily been killed when China descended into chaos and the late Qing royal family were massacred by the Republican forces. A letter would be sent to the princes from Emperor Gojong himself in May of 1903, recalling them back to Korea, as they needed their expertise in suppressing the Gaehwa rebels. To ensure that Princes Yi Ju-won and Yi Ju-chan continued their Russian military service, they were reassigned to the Korean Cossack Brigade, though said brigade would fall under the nominal leadership of General Nadein.
The first campaign in which the Korean Cossack Brigade participated in was in May 17th, 1903, when over 1,200 Korean cavalrymen accompanied over 9,000 infantrymen from Pyongyang, intending to capture the strategically important town of Paju, where the Gaehwa rebels had established a supply depot, as well as erected a strong network of fortifications. However, the Siege of Paju would become one of the longest battles of the Sawol Revolt, as the Gaehwa rebels prepared their defenses with the aid of Japanese advisors. As a result of the Imperial Korean Army's failure to make any advances into Paju, they had no choice but to dig their own trenches in preparation for an anticipated Gaehwa rebel offensive. Unlike the trenches in France that were built during the French Civil War, the trenches dug in Korea were not of great quality, prior to the arrival of several Russian military engineers who had to teach their Korean colleagues on the fly, even while the Gaehwa rebels were attempting to attack the Imperial Korean Army positions a few meters away from Paju. However, the rebel offensive that took place on May 25th did result in the deaths of over 4 military engineers, and the Russian government had to withdraw them, unless they wanted them to be captured. Unlike the French Civil War trenches though, the Korean trenches were built approximately 200 meters away from the river banks, as to prevent any rebel advances from succeeding. The Righteous Armies fighting for the Joseon court also harassed the Gaehwa rebels in river crossings and densely forested areas, and the forests were often perfect places where the majority of skirmishes were carried out. On one occassion, over 100 soldiers from the Righteous Army had carried out a bold ambush against a lightly guarded supply depot in the town of Yeongwol, though the raid was rather costly, as over 35 guerrillas were killed and 10 of them were captured.
While the 1906 Russian Revolution forced the Tsarist government to scale back on its involvement in the proxy war against Japan, the Russian advisors made one final donation in the form of the last shipments of the latest Winchester M1897 shotguns they've obtained from the monarchist arsenals during the French Civil War, as well as the Russian licensed copy of the Nouges Model 1905 shotgun. Yet, these shotguns were only useful in open pitch battles, as their loud crack made it an unsuitable weapon for guerrilla raids. However, the Gaehwa rebels would opt for a different strategy instead of carrying out constant military campaigns against a well entrenched force in Pyongyang. Instead of pacifying the countryside where the peasantry was becoming more hostile, the Gaehwa rebels began to build new schools just outside or within the village center, employing experienced Gaehwa Party members who had a teaching background. (12) In August of 1903, Gimhae would become the first village in southern Korea where the Gaehwa Party had formed the first modern school for Gimhae's children. Initially, only 10 teachers were hired from within the Gaehwa Party to manage a school of over 120 pupils, but the Gaehwa Party was able to obtain assistance from Shumei Okawa and a growing number of Japanese syndicalists like Shushi Kotoku, Toshihiko Sakai, and Sanshiro Ishikawa, in helping to create a new educational system in Korea that was more syndicalist in nature. The Gaehwa Party's increasing turn towards the left had been helpful in creating the first agrarian movement inside Korea, which would play a role in the Pan-Asian movements of the future, as well as the first workers' movements as well. The Japanese syndicalists saw Korea as a test bed for the kind of syndicalist system that they wanted to implement eventually in Japan itself. The agrarian movement in Korea was mainly focused on land reform, in which peasants were now able to own a certain plot of farmland in exchange for selling much of their produce on the local and national markets. The Japanese syndicalists also encouraged and taught Korean farmers how to cultivate sugar beets, though this attempt at turning Korea into another sugar beet nation would end in failure, as none of Korea's cuisine involved the use of sugar beets. (13) However, the cultivation of ginseng has unexpectedly created a market for herbal medicine that is used to help improve the cognition and memory in the average Japanese citizen. Thus, the Gaehwa Party-controlled areas of southern Korea would use the cultivation of ginseng as a quasi-currency that is used in exchange for Japanese weapons, ammunition, and in certain cases, books and writing materials needed to supply the village schools.
Education in areas of Korea under the control of the Gaehwa Party has also been reformed to resemble the Japanese educational system, with elementary, junior and senior high, as well as university level education. Though the areas of Korea that remained under Emperor Gojong's control have a similar system, the only difference is that over 45% of the Gaehwa Party-controlled schools that were being established around the entirety of southern Korea was geared towards vocational training. In sharp contrast, the schools in northern Korea maintained some of the Christian-managed schools that gave the students there Western learning. Additionally, the first Korean boarding school dedicated to teaching military related subjects were built in Pyongyang around the winter of 1904, under both Emperor Gojong and General Nadein's supervision. The success of the Korean boarding school would lead to Nadein's recommendation to the Tsarist government on the construction of a similar boarding school for young boys. Though the project was hindered by the 1906 Revolution, its first successful project would result in the foundation of the Skobelev Military School for those who wished to pursue a career in the army, and the naval counterpart in the Golovnin Naval School (though in 1949, it was renamed the Kolchak Naval School). (14) Vocational schools were also built in northern Korea at the same time as the growth of the Gaehwa Party-controlled schools in southern Korea, though the instructors in this case were mostly Russian industrial workers employed by American corporations based in the Russian Far East, before their eventual replacement by Korean teachers. By the time the Gaehwa rebels eventually won their victory against the Joseon court and the Japanese establishment of a protectorate over Korea, the Japanese Resident-General was surprised to see how extremely well organized Korea's educational system really was. The presence of such vocational schools, as well as the military schools for young boys were the reasons for the Japan Syndicalist Party's main platform of reforming their own educational system. The Korean influence on the educational systems around Asia would remain permanent, as even Siam, Nusantara, the Philippines, and Vietnam, would adopt the similar educational reforms to that of Korea and Japan. (15)
--- (1) Think the Battles of Vichy as the OTL 1916 Battle of Verdun on steroids, if the Germans attacked the first and third time, and the French attacked the second.
(2) TTL's version of the tachanka, though this is before the advent of the automobile.
(3) This is true of OTL as well. In OTL 1895, the Legitimist and Carlist claimant on the French and Spanish thrones would serve in the Imperial Russian Army. This time around, his service would be enormously beneficial.
(4) As referenced in one of the earlier updates. Unlike TTL, OTL Ksenija Petrovic-Njegos never got married, so in this time around, her marriage to Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich is also a political dynamite, as his cousin Prince Ivan Konstantinovich is married to Princess Jelena Karadjordjevic ITTL, and IOTL as well.
(5) The Legitimists are essentially the main branch of the House of Bourbon, while the Orleanists are the Bourbon's cadet branch. The Bonapartes are essentially outsiders in their view.
(6) Fun fact: the Germans protested about the use of shotguns during OTL's WWI, because of the bullet, or rather the shotgun shell containing metallic pellets, can cause agonizing pain that makes extraction during surgery difficult. In fact, the Germans threatened to execute any American soldier they captured who held a shotgun, but the Americans would retaliate by executing any German soldier who uses chemical gas and flamethrowers. Shotguns were seen as useful weapons in trench clearing operations.
(7) The Cei-Rigotti rifle was the first attempt by Italy to produce what we now call the automatic rifle, but its flaws ensured that no nation in the world would adopt it, leading to the OTL Fedorov Avtomat becoming the first real 'assault rifle'.
(8) IOTL, the Serbian government did in fact, plan on offering the Serbian crown to Prince Mirko in the event that Aleksander I Obrenovic was overthrown in the 1903 May Coup, along an unnamed English or German prince before Peter I Karadjordjevic took the crown, leading to the Karadjordjevic dynasty being re-established in Serbia. Peter I's father was the ruling Prince of Serbia, but his downfall happened because of his refusal to declare war against Russia during the Crimean War.
(9) IOTL, Prince Aleksander who became Aleksander I of Yugoslavia, had attended the Page Corps in the Russian Empire. Here, a different upbringing caused by the deaths of his father and older brother would influence the young Aleksander's military career.
(10) As referenced in one of the previous updates on the Savinkov segment.
(11) The loyalty of the Albanian population to the Ottoman state was one of the reasons why it planned to create a kind of Albanian Vilayet that would consist of Sandzak, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania proper, and Epirus.
(12) Not many members of the Gaehwa Party would have been teachers in the beginning of TTL's Korean Civil War and the OTL upheavals that led to the OTL Japanese Annexation of Korea.
(13) To this day IOTL, and most likely ITTL, Korea has never cultivated its own sugar beets and sugar canes, and have to import them from overseas.
(14) TTL's northern Korea would definitely have a lot of military schools, and possibly more in the northern half than the southern half. Kinda like OTL North Korea's military educational system, minus the communism for TTL's Korea under Emperor Gojong's control.
(15) As we shall see, vocational schools built to prepare students for blue collar work would be the bedrock of the syndicalist movement ITTL.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Dec 19, 2023 13:10:48 GMT
Well its sounding bad for France with distinct hints that the monarchist groups are going to cobble together some sort of deal and end up winning the war. Although while possibly a deal might be made between the Legitimists and Orelanist claimants it would be difficult to see the Bonapartists included. Both because of the hostile view between them and the Bourbons and because while its fairly easy to make a deal between two factions with one or more marriages between sons and daughters - albeit its still likely to be a matter of dispute as to whom becomes the actual king - but more difficult still to make such a deal between three.
With Italy combining with a Balkan alliance one issue would be that both it and Serbia [and to a degree Greece for the southern part] both have designs on Albania. Serbia wants its own access to the sea so its not as dependent on naval powers and Greece had historical claims in the region. This was part of the reason why the 2nd Balkan war happened OTL. Italian and Austrian pressure meant that an Albanian state was established to prevent Serbia getting that so it kept territories in Macedonia that it had occupied but which were more aligned [at the time] with Bulgaria and had been promised to Bulgaria, angering the latter. Your going to have a lot of competing factions all squabbling for their own interests and avoiding a clash. Not saying its impossible but holding everybody together is going to be an issue.
Also if Russia gets involved directly here, which it might do with its desire to protect the eastern Christians like the Assyrians then its going to want 1st dibs on Constantinople, which is going to mean a bigger war - as the Turks won't want to give that up - and will not go down well with the Greeks.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 19, 2023 18:26:02 GMT
Well its sounding bad for France with distinct hints that the monarchist groups are going to cobble together some sort of deal and end up winning the war. Although while possibly a deal might be made between the Legitimists and Orelanist claimants it would be difficult to see the Bonapartists included. Both because of the hostile view between them and the Bourbons and because while its fairly easy to make a deal between two factions with one or more marriages between sons and daughters - albeit its still likely to be a matter of dispute as to whom becomes the actual king - but more difficult still to make such a deal between three.
With Italy combining with a Balkan alliance one issue would be that both it and Serbia [and to a degree Greece for the southern part] both have designs on Albania. Serbia wants its own access to the sea so its not as dependent on naval powers and Greece had historical claims in the region. This was part of the reason why the 2nd Balkan war happened OTL. Italian and Austrian pressure meant that an Albanian state was established to prevent Serbia getting that so it kept territories in Macedonia that it had occupied but which were more aligned [at the time] with Bulgaria and had been promised to Bulgaria, angering the latter. Your going to have a lot of competing factions all squabbling for their own interests and avoiding a clash. Not saying its impossible but holding everybody together is going to be an issue.
Also if Russia gets involved directly here, which it might do with its desire to protect the eastern Christians like the Assyrians then its going to want 1st dibs on Constantinople, which is going to mean a bigger war - as the Turks won't want to give that up - and will not go down well with the Greeks.
That is also the problem with the Balkan League and Russia regarding territorial goals IOTL as well. There's also crucial differences here and OTL: the collapse of Austria-Hungary ITTL removes any potential opposition to a Serbian direct access to the sea, but Italy may not be comfortable with a larger Serbian annexation of Albanian territory. Greece and Bulgaria would also be fighting each other over what is OTL Greek and Turkish Thrace, so that might also be a problem as well. Given that Greece may be drifting towards the Anglo-German bloc, said bloc might be mixed between supporting Greek ambitions and Ottoman territorial integrity. If Italy would be given a larger share of Albanian territory, then Serbia could be compensated with being granted their wish of unification with Montenegro under the House of Petrovic-Njegos, though I suspect that TTL's Serbia might be more pro-Italian than pro-Russian. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Dec 19, 2023 22:20:52 GMT
Well its sounding bad for France with distinct hints that the monarchist groups are going to cobble together some sort of deal and end up winning the war. Although while possibly a deal might be made between the Legitimists and Orelanist claimants it would be difficult to see the Bonapartists included. Both because of the hostile view between them and the Bourbons and because while its fairly easy to make a deal between two factions with one or more marriages between sons and daughters - albeit its still likely to be a matter of dispute as to whom becomes the actual king - but more difficult still to make such a deal between three.
With Italy combining with a Balkan alliance one issue would be that both it and Serbia [and to a degree Greece for the southern part] both have designs on Albania. Serbia wants its own access to the sea so its not as dependent on naval powers and Greece had historical claims in the region. This was part of the reason why the 2nd Balkan war happened OTL. Italian and Austrian pressure meant that an Albanian state was established to prevent Serbia getting that so it kept territories in Macedonia that it had occupied but which were more aligned [at the time] with Bulgaria and had been promised to Bulgaria, angering the latter. Your going to have a lot of competing factions all squabbling for their own interests and avoiding a clash. Not saying its impossible but holding everybody together is going to be an issue.
Also if Russia gets involved directly here, which it might do with its desire to protect the eastern Christians like the Assyrians then its going to want 1st dibs on Constantinople, which is going to mean a bigger war - as the Turks won't want to give that up - and will not go down well with the Greeks.
That is also the problem with the Balkan League and Russia regarding territorial goals IOTL as well. There's also crucial differences here and OTL: the collapse of Austria-Hungary ITTL removes any potential opposition to a Serbian direct access to the sea, but Italy may not be comfortable with a larger Serbian annexation of Albanian territory. Greece and Bulgaria would also be fighting each other over what is OTL Greek and Turkish Thrace, so that might also be a problem as well. Given that Greece may be drifting towards the Anglo-German bloc, said bloc might be mixed between supporting Greek ambitions and Ottoman territorial integrity. If Italy would be given a larger share of Albanian territory, then Serbia could be compensated with being granted their wish of unification with Montenegro under the House of Petrovic-Njegos, though I suspect that TTL's Serbia might be more pro-Italian than pro-Russian.
Very true. The Balkans are very messy at the best of time.
Good point that with the Anglo-German bloc emerging there could be interesting conflicts between Turkish and Greek interests. Given the excesses of the Young Turks regime and the possibility of Greece gaining the straits that might be an attractive option as it would win support with the Balkan bloc and also get a friendly power that is more politically acceptable in charge of the straits and which would have an interest in keeping them out of Russian hands. However likely that there's no way any Balkan alliance would be stable indefinitely. The other thing might be the timing of this war with Turkey compared to the Russian revolution and how deeply that seems to nullify Russian power, at least for a period. I was forgetting about the Russian revolution in TTL so that would affect how all powers view Russia and other nations.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 20, 2023 2:41:59 GMT
Very true. The Balkans are very messy at the best of time.
Good point that with the Anglo-German bloc emerging there could be interesting conflicts between Turkish and Greek interests. Given the excesses of the Young Turks regime and the possibility of Greece gaining the straits that might be an attractive option as it would win support with the Balkan bloc and also get a friendly power that is more politically acceptable in charge of the straits and which would have an interest in keeping them out of Russian hands. However likely that there's no way any Balkan alliance would be stable indefinitely. The other thing might be the timing of this war with Turkey compared to the Russian revolution and how deeply that seems to nullify Russian power, at least for a period. I was forgetting about the Russian revolution in TTL so that would affect how all powers view Russia and other nations. IOTL, Russia threatened to go to war against Bulgaria when the latter is on the verge of seizing all of Turkish Thrace. Basically, TTL's 1906 Revolution might give Russia's rivals an opportunity to retake some of their lost lands back. The Ottomans in particular, would be itching to reconquer the Caucasus, as well as incite a Circassian rebellion, but the 1909 massacres of the Armenians had raised fears in the Balkan Christian populations that they might be next, which snowballs into TTL's Balkan Wars. One other thing that I may have already mentioned is that by the time TTL's Balkan War has broken out, Austria-Hungary would either be in the process of collapsing, or has already collapsed, meaning that an independent Albanian nation might not be in the cards. However, it would be Italy who is itching to get their pound of flesh regarding both Albania and Tripolitania. There was also one other thing that I almost forgot to mention, and that would be the 1906 Revolution having an effect on Russia's willingness to cede Bessarabia back to Romania in exchange for non-interference in the revolution. In the Balkans, it might be Germany and Italy that would come to blows with each other over their respective spheres of influence, as the Italians would want Slovenia and Croatia, in addition to gaining allies in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Montenegro, and Greece. I will definitely go back to China for the next update, and given that I haven't addressed the aftermath of the Russo-Chinese War, that would be a vital update, plus the leadup to the Japanese-American War. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Dec 20, 2023 11:51:40 GMT
Very true. The Balkans are very messy at the best of time.
Good point that with the Anglo-German bloc emerging there could be interesting conflicts between Turkish and Greek interests. Given the excesses of the Young Turks regime and the possibility of Greece gaining the straits that might be an attractive option as it would win support with the Balkan bloc and also get a friendly power that is more politically acceptable in charge of the straits and which would have an interest in keeping them out of Russian hands. However likely that there's no way any Balkan alliance would be stable indefinitely. The other thing might be the timing of this war with Turkey compared to the Russian revolution and how deeply that seems to nullify Russian power, at least for a period. I was forgetting about the Russian revolution in TTL so that would affect how all powers view Russia and other nations. IOTL, Russia threatened to go to war against Bulgaria when the latter is on the verge of seizing all of Turkish Thrace. Basically, TTL's 1906 Revolution might give Russia's rivals an opportunity to retake some of their lost lands back. The Ottomans in particular, would be itching to reconquer the Caucasus, as well as incite a Circassian rebellion, but the 1909 massacres of the Armenians had raised fears in the Balkan Christian populations that they might be next, which snowballs into TTL's Balkan Wars. One other thing that I may have already mentioned is that by the time TTL's Balkan War has broken out, Austria-Hungary would either be in the process of collapsing, or has already collapsed, meaning that an independent Albanian nation might not be in the cards. However, it would be Italy who is itching to get their pound of flesh regarding both Albania and Tripolitania. There was also one other thing that I almost forgot to mention, and that would be the 1906 Revolution having an effect on Russia's willingness to cede Bessarabia back to Romania in exchange for non-interference in the revolution. In the Balkans, it might be Germany and Italy that would come to blows with each other over their respective spheres of influence, as the Italians would want Slovenia and Croatia, in addition to gaining allies in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Montenegro, and Greece. I will definitely go back to China for the next update, and given that I haven't addressed the aftermath of the Russo-Chinese War, that would be a vital update, plus the leadup to the Japanese-American War.
Thanks for the details.
On that 1st bit as far as I know Bulgaria did occupy virtually all of E Thrace other than the immediate area of Constantinople - which they failed to take and the Gallipoli peninsula but possibly that'#s what your referring to? They lost that when the 2nd Balkan War started as Turkey and Romania joined in piling into them and Turkey regained E Thrace.
Relations between Germany and Italy might depend on how willing the two are to come to a deal and also what side Germany and Britain take in any Greek-Turkish conflict. If the latter two were on the Greek side then a mutually agreeable deal might be arranged.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 20, 2023 23:41:40 GMT
Yes, I think one of the battles around Çatalça was where Bulgaria lost due to having a different artillery piece.
Although I'm not yet sure if Britain and Germany would have a kind of pragmatic compromise where Germany would be the Master of the Land, and Britain would remain the Mistress of the Sea or something.
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stevep
Fleet admiral
Posts: 24,877
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Post by stevep on Dec 20, 2023 23:51:01 GMT
Yes, I think one of the battles around Çatalça was where Bulgaria lost due to having a different artillery piece. Although I'm not yet sure if Britain and Germany would have a kind of pragmatic compromise where Germany would be the Master of the Land, and Britain would remain the Mistress of the Sea or something.
I think that Britain would be very concerned about such a deal given that Germany would then have much greater resources and the ability to concentrate them against the UK. As Palmerston said Britain [at least if lead by someone not a total idiot] has no permanent alliances but has permanent interests and the foremost among the latter was that no single power would have overwhelming control over the continent.
However some deal while Russia still looked a significant power and other nations weren't totally under German domination would be possible, although it would be risky. Capacities [and limits on them] can be lasting but intentions can be changed very quickly.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 21, 2023 2:56:50 GMT
I think that Britain would be very concerned about such a deal given that Germany would then have much greater resources and the ability to concentrate them against the UK. As Palmerston said Britain [at least if lead by someone not a total idiot] has no permanent alliances but has permanent interests and the foremost among the latter was that no single power would have overwhelming control over the continent.
However some deal while Russia still looked a significant power and other nations weren't totally under German domination would be possible, although it would be risky. Capacities [and limits on them] can be lasting but intentions can be changed very quickly. When it comes to geopolitics, Britain has literally ended in a catch-22 situation. Back the Germans against the Russians, and they risk allowing the Kaiser to reign supreme over all of Europe. Don't back the Germans against the Russians, and they risk losing the Great Game. There is also one other thing that I would still have to address as well: the divorce of Norway from their union with Sweden, as the Norwegian crown may be up for grabs. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 29, 2023 5:58:06 GMT
TURN 012: TENSIONS AND DISTRUST
China - Era of Ethnic Blood Feuds
Ethnic violence continued to escalate after China's shocking defeat at the hands of Russia during the Russo-Chinese War and the Russian annexation of northern Manchuria that soon followed. Manchus who now fled to their ancient homeland were furious at the presence of the Chinese colonists there, and they began to massacre them in large numbers in retaliation for the Chinese massacres committed against the ethnic Manchus that settled in the Han core of China. Additionally, the Manchu refugees also targeted the Koreans of the historical region of Jiandao in retaliation for Emperor Gojong's failed attempt to annex parts of Jiandao with significant Korean populations there, leading to their exodus to both northern Manchuria and the Russian Far East, where they became the new backbone of the Russian Far Eastern economy today. In October of 1902, an attempted Manchu uprising was launched against the First Chinese Republic, headed by one of the last remaining survivors of the deposed Qing royal family. As it turned out, the Chinese Republican forces had failed to locate any other remotely connected members of the Aisin-Gioro clan, giving Zhang Xun and the pro-Qing supporters a chance to revive the Qing dynasty. However, the Chinese Republican forces would brutally suppress the uprising within a month, mainly through terror campaigns, but Shanqi, or Prince Su of the First Rank, and his family, were able to escape from the terror that unfolded when the Chinese Republican forces attacked the Aisin-Gioro stronghold of Shenyang. This time around, the Manchu refugees were able to form an ad hoc militia that was able to defend much of Shenyang against the Chinese Republican forces.
However, the growing ethnic hostilities between the Han Chinese and Manchus had effectively demoralized the Qing loyalists, as the former had viewed them as Han traitors, or Hanjian. (1) The Manchus also viewed the Han Chinese Qing loyalists as useful and disposable dogs, and were not hesitant to persecute them. The drop in morale suffered by the pro-Qing loyalists caused by Manchu resentment against the Han Chinese who remained faithful to the Qing Dynasty was one of the reasons why the Chinese Republican forces initially gained an upper hand against them when the Chinese Era of Ethnic Blood Feuds broke out when they succeeded in killing most of the Aisin-Gioro clan members. However, the real start of the civil war breaking out in China would not start until the spring of 1903, when Zhang Xun received news of the survival of Prince Su of the First Rank. However, the blood feud between the Chinese and Manchus forced Zhang Xun to turn towards a prominent, though unheard of outside China, figure bearing the title of Duke Yansheng.
The incumbent holder of the title of Duke Yansheng at the time of the Era of Ethnic Blood Feuds was Kong Ling-yi. (2) The Kong family had traced their lineage back to Confucius, and the prestige of such a bloodline had made the Kong family and clan an attractive alternative for the Chinese monarchists who had no choice but to switch their allegiance from the greatly reduced Aisin-Gioro clan to the Kong family/clan. When Zhang Xun would travel to Qufu for an audience with Kong Ling-yi, the latter gave the former Qing loyalist general a harsh reprimand on the emerging bloodletting that has engulfed China. Kong explains that such a tragedy will not heal so easily, and bitter hatreds will eventually poison the nation. The conversations went on for hours, with several Chinese monarchist soldiers standing guard over the Kong family home in case the Republican forces attempted to capture the place. When Zhang Xun finally asked Kong Ling-yi if he was interested in becoming the new Emperor of China, Kong flatly declined giving his reasons:
"I cannot in good conscience become the Emperor of a blood soaked land that is teeming with madness and bitter hatred. Your involvement in the massacres of people from a different race (Jindandao Massacre) has forever tainted the reputation of our people, and the other peoples living within our country will view us with suspicion and hatred. Already, the Mongols and Manchus have turned their backs on us, with the Uyghurs possibly following suit. The Tibetans have already declared their independence and retreated into isolation, and half of our territory has been taken by a fearsome enemy from the north (Russians). What has happened to the Han (Chinese) people all these centuries? We've all failed to adapt to the changing times, and it has led to numerous tragedies that befell our nation. We failed to stay vigilant with our northern border, and it resulted in the Mongols oppressing our people. We failed in our diplomatic endeavors and it has led to the Manchus conquering and oppressing our people. Have we been so downtrodden that we can still think of ourselves as more civilized, compared to the so-called barbarians that conquered us? No, dear General, I cannot become the savior of our nation, while blood remains flowing down our fields and rivers."
The gradual decline of popularity for monarchism within China hasn't stopped Zhang Xun from seeking other candidates for the Chinese throne, but fearing their growing inability to locate a suitable candidate, including the refusal of the Marquis of Extended Grace to take the throne, had forced Zhang Xun and his inner circle to contemplate reviving one of the more ancient Chinese titles for this period. One of Zhang Xun's junior subordinates named Tang Yu-lin suggested the title of Bawang (3), or Hegemon-Protector. The title was rather appropriate, for it would allow the holder of such a title to claim political office without ever claiming royal authority. As Zhang Xun became the de facto leader of the northern junta based in Shenyang, it was only fitting that he would become the Bawang of All China. Thus, on August 8, 1903, Zhang Xun was formally proclaimed the Bawang of All China. Though he held on to the hope of restoring the Qing royal family to its former glory, the Bawang of All China eventually become the most powerful title that is not of royal origin. Zhang Xun's emergence as Bawang has infuriated the Legislative Yuan, though by now, it had to hold emergency elections to choose the First Chinese Republic's first President. Approximately a week after Zhang Xun's appointment as the Bawang of All China, the Republican Legislative Yuan would elect Song Jiao-ren as the first president of the First Chinese Republic, though there were no fanfare regarding the first election China has ever seen. As Beijing was much too close to Zhang Xun's stronghold in Shenyang, the seat of the republican government would move to Nanjing by August 29th. Beijing itself would fall to Zhang Xun's forces by September 3rd, 1903, though without any soldier lost. However, it was the discovery of the graves of the murdered Qing royal family the next day that forever cemented Zhang Xun's position as Bawang and the Era of Ethnic Blood Feuds would begin.
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Japan - War Clouds in the Horizon
As Japan continued its proxy conflict with Russia over the Korean peninsula, the Japanese government and military leadership were beginning to worry about the American change in tone regarding their involvement with supporting the Filipino rebels by covert means. The escalation of American involvement in the Philippines had forced the Japanese government to increase its military expenditure, despite its economy not being well adapted to a war footing. Indeed, much of the military production after 1902 until the start of the Japanese-American War of 1904-07 was geared towards the production of warships. Most of the warships being made between 1902 and 1904 were actually done in British shipyards, until the middle of 1903 when the German shipbuilding company Blohm and Voss, based in Hamburg, had offered to design a new kind of Japanese destroyer and cruiser. Though Britain objected to the German offer, the Japanese accepted it as they wanted to see how a German-designed warship in Japanese service would fare, in stark contrast to British-built warships. Blohm and Voss would come up with improvements on the existing Victoria Louise-class protected cruisers, resulting in slightly greater speed and durability. Dubbed as the Furst Oskar-class protected cruiser, its main feature was the switch from the 21 cm gun to the 17 cm gun. Though considered a major downgrade, it also allowed Blohm and Voss to add a third gun to a redesigned turret, which became the main design for most German naval vessels. As the naval battles would become more of who gets to reload and fire their guns quicker, it became a necessary measure to sacrifice firepower in favor of reloading time.
When Kaiser Wilhelm II was given the tour of the shipyard in Hamburg owned by Blohm and Voss, he was shown the redesigned Victoria Louise-class that was redubbed as the Furst Oskar-class. Though the Kaiser was hardly impressed with the design, the owner of the Hamburg shipyard promised to give him the tour of the completed Furst Oskar-class. That promise however, was only fulfilled in February 24th of 1904, exactly the same day when the United States declared war on Japan, triggering the Japanese-American War, when the US Asiatic Squadron carried out a naval bombardment against the Ryukyuan island of Miyakojima, which was followed by an amphibious landing of over 9,000 American troops that were redeployed from the Philippines. Aboard the lead ship of its class, the SMS Furst Oskar demonstrated its deadly ability when it fired its 17 cm guns at a decommissioned target ship, the SMS Preussen. The speed of which the sailors had reloaded the guns had impressed the Kaiser, and the guest of honor himself, Prince Oskar von Hohenzollern. In fact, one of the officers who was appointed the captain of the SMS Furst Oskar was Paul Behncke, an experienced officer who commanded a squadron in the Far East.
The performance of the SMS Furst Oskar would also impress the Japanese ambassador to the German Empire, and was one of the reasons why said ambassador would cable the Japanese Foreign Minister, Jutaro Komura, on his observation of the SMS Furst Oskar. The Japanese government would place an order for five of the Furst Oskar-class warships to be built in German shipyards, but they would not be completed until 1908, by which time the conflict with the United States had ended in a stalemate, with neither side gaining the upper hand. However, the debut of the five German-built Furst Oskar-class armored cruisers in Japanese service became a vital backbone of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and subsequently, the Japanese Furst Oskar-class cruisers were named the Tasogare-class cruisers (Tasogare being the Japanese word for twilight). The performance of the rebranded Tasogare-class cruisers had outshone the other Japanese vessels built in British shipyards, prompting the British government to re-assess their shipbuilding capabilities to ensure that they learned from how the Germans outdid them in ship production. Most significantly, the Japanese naval arsenals were given new contracts to construct new ships in the event of another war breaking out with the United States, although the limited number of colonies it had meant that Japan could not use all of the resources acquired as part of trade deals with the other nations that it had a trade agreement with. The gradual shifting of naval production from being done in British shipyards to Japanese ones became more important as the 1922 Japanese Revolution broke out over rising unemployment and inflation caused by the damage the Japanese economy sustained from the Japanese-American War of 1904-07.
As the Japanese economy by 1903 had not yet gone on a war footing, much of its economic activity was still geared towards manufacturing and resource importation from other countries. The development of Taiwan as a model colony had attracted numerous Japanese and Ryukyuan immigrants to settle in the island, though a large number of ethnic Chinese migrants who were expelled from North America as a result of the Asiatic Exclusion Act of 1903 had arrived on Taiwanese shores. Modernization efforts were made into developing much of Taiwan's infrastructure, and most of the urbanization efforts that were implemented were eventually adopted into similar efforts made in the greater Ryukyu Island chain, though the villages within the island chain would be connected by harbors and ports. As the Ryukyu Island chain was going to be a vital target of an enemy invasion, the Japanese military would begin one of the most ambitious fortification projects ever made. Every small island within the Ryukyu Island china were converted into miniature fortresses, with trenches and machine gun nests being built there. Yet, the labor involved in such undertaking was hampened by the lack of soldiers stationed in those islands. In sharp contrast, a similar fortification plan implemented in the Japanese Home Islands had been undertaken, though the Japanese Army was forced to shelve their plans to build their mountain redoubt back in January of 1902 at Mount Hakkoda due to extreme weather conditions. (4) The construction of the now-famous Hakkoda Line, which dominated much of Aomori Prefecture's landscape, was further complemented by the chain of coastal fortifications along the Tsugaru Strait. Wakkanai was also fortified, as the Japanese military leadership knew that if the Americans or the Russians wanted to endanger Japanese security, Wakkanai would be the first target that they would need to take. Additionally, the Japanese government also collaborated with the military leadership on creating a war plan in the event of an actual shooting war with Russia, by targeting both the Kurile Islands and Sakhalin Island for conquest. However, the military leadership flatly refused to organize a plan for an invasion of the American territory of Alaska, as they did not have the necessary logistics needed to carry out such an impossible task, and also declined to plan an invasion of Hawaii for the same reason. As Admiral Heihachiro Togo pointed out, extending the supply line on Japan's part would allow the United States to harass and destroy Japanese convoys in war time, and it was much more preferable to have a shorter supply line where the Americans would be forced to overextend their supply lines. (5)
In July of 1903, the Japanese government had sponsored the repatriation of its citizens who immigrated to the United States as a result of the Asiatic Exclusion Act by resettling them in both Hokkaido and Taiwan. The stories that the repatriated Japanese citizens had told their compatriots thinking of moving out of Japan had dissuaded them from doing such a thing, often suggesting that moving to Taiwan, or even the new enclave of Koshuwan would be much more preferable, as they wouldn't be subjected to pogroms there. Gradually, the Japanese government would conduct such a propaganda campaign that targeted its own citizens with horror stories of how they would not be treated well by the American army should they invade the Japanese home islands, based on the stories of incidents that occurred in the United States. In turn, the McKinley administration would also conduct a propaganda campaign of an extremely racist nature, depicting not only the Japanese, but the Chinese and Korean people as well, as rats infesting the white American home. (6) Such a campaign had the effect of galvanizing much deeper anti-Asian hatred within the American public, though nowhere near as bad as the Van Horn Moseley period's anti-Asian propaganda that took an even darker tone. Furthermore, the war between the United States and the Philippines had been reported in Japanese newspapers everyday throughout both Japan and its colonies, to the point where translators were hired by foreign embassies to translate the articles written in Japanese into the languages of the foreign embassies in question. One other caveat of the Japanese economy's inability to handle a greater amount of stress was the fiscal pressure that was self-imposed due to the proxy war in the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese covert involvement with the Filipino rebels. The fiscal pressure would subside in 1907 after the war with the United States had ended, but the proxy war against Russia in Korea had eaten up more of its annual budget than the shooting war against the United States.
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"The gradual expansion of the Trans-Siberian Railway by means of double tracking, had the unintentional effect of attracting thousands of workers seeking their fortunes elsewhere. As the western regions of the Russian Empire were on the verge of political chaos, over 20,000 Russians would move from the old Muscovite heartland and into central and eastern Siberia, with promises of jobs and accommodation. The American businesses conducting their work in the Russian Far East had kept their promise of offering them new jobs in the shipbuilding and armaments industry, as well as infrastructure and agricultural work. The most attractive area of the Russian Empire that received the largest share of migrants were in the Amur Oblast, which was expanded by the inclusion of northern Manchuria that the Russians annexed from China after the Russo-Chinese War. New farms were already being created, with much agricultural work being dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans, rice, wheat, and assorted vegetables. In addition to the numerous Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and other various ethnic groups of the Russian Empire, tens of thousands of Koreans fleeing from both the Manchu violence in Jiandao and the civil war in their homeland have settled in Amur Oblast, where their skills and expertise in rice cultivation have come in handy. Surprisingly enough, over 500 American expatriates moved to the Russian Far East while being employed for famous businessmen like Neily Vanderbilt and John Jacob Astor IV. Those American expatriates were involved in low level management jobs, where they helped their upper management colleagues run their respective businesses. Additionally, some Americans that resided in the Russian Far East had come from the Deep South, where agriculture was rather common there. They introduced to the Russian settlers of the Russian Far East the kind of traditions that one could see in the American South, such as Southern Hospitality that was adapted and reformed by the Russians into Siberian Pleasantry. The whole concept of Siberian Pleasantry was that one should be prepared to help out those in need, especially strangers that were struggling with hardships in life. It is also rooted in Christian teachings, and given that Russia at this point was a conservative, Orthodox Christian nation, Siberian Pleasantry could also be a form of Orthodox Christian hospitality. Rugged self-reliance was always a necessity in the vast expanses of Siberia, as the extreme weather conditions have forced its inhabitants to adapt to the ever changing environment.
Most of the towns in northern Manchuria had changed their Chinese names to either Russian or Manchu ones, the prime example being the name change from Heihe to Aigun, and Qiqihar was changed to Tretyakovo, named after General Tretyakov. The all famous Siberian butter industry was further expanded into northern Manchuria as new dairy farms were being established, and the Lesser Khingan Mountains became ideal places to raise cattle for their milk. By the 1960s, approximately 72% of Amur Oblast would consist of ethnic Russians, with 28% of the remainder being of non-Slavic origin, primarily Koreans. The economic engine of Amur Oblast and Primorye Krai had been the sole source of prosperity within the Russian Far East, but even they did not stop there, for the ever expanding Trans-Siberian Railway had also expanded its lines to the autonomous region of Yakutia, as well as the city of Magadan and the region of Kamchatka and Chukhotka Peninsulas. Yet, much of the work that was done on the rail expansion into autonomous Yakutia and the inhospitable regions of Siberia involved prison convict labor, as the katorgas often supplied the railway companies with free labor from professional criminals and political prisoners. (7) It was not until 1991 that the Russian government would formally abolish the prison labor policy for strategically important infrastructures, and instead had redirected much of prison labor into prison upkeeping as a means of teaching them several new skills. (8) With the completion of several new tracks for the Trans-Siberian Railway, some of the work stations built along the rails evolved into small towns and villages, often accompanied by the construction of banks, markets, and other forms of small businesses. In autonomous Yakutia alone, the railway extension was built along the banks of the Lena River, which contributed to the growth of those river towns and the influx of settlers into those areas, to the consternation of the indigenous Yakut people living there. Important dairy farms that were established within central and eastern Siberia had to be connected by rail to major cities, as the larger population residing in them required a much larger supply of butter. Although agriculture remained a dominant form of industry in Russia between the 1910s and the 1940s, it was also important to note that industrialization had come in rather late, mainly because of the 1906 Revolution and how it disrupted all forms of economic activity. In the 1930s, the Russian State under Prime Minister Alexei Khvostov and his successor, Konstantin Rodzaevsky, had presided over an ambitious industrialization proposal for all of Russia. It started with a small scale project of introducing the latest mass production technology by one of the NatSynd industrialist and Director of the National Recovery and Revitalization Authority, Henry Ford. Ford had long harbored a deep sense of anti-Semitic hatred, and his articles on the Jews had garnered public controversy and support within the Russian State. Ford himself would travel to the Russian State to meet with Prime Minister Khvostov and later on, Rodzaevsky, for the 1936 Russo-American Free Trade and Technological Exchange Agreement. Ford's system of mass production had caught on, and both the American NatSynds and the Russian fascists benefited from closer ties with each other. From the Russians themselves, the American NatSynd regime would adopt the same convict labor system for its own prisons, though American corporations would take advantage of cheap prison labor for much of their businesses. (9)" From 'The History of the Trans-Siberian Railway'
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Excerpts from 'Building the American Superpower: From McKinley to MacNichol'
by: Shane Connelly
Kilkenny Publishing Press, released on October 14, 2018
Chapter Three: American Unpreparedness
The large American military presence in the Philippines was a major source of controversy within the American public, as the Anti-Imperialist League had grown stronger, with new members joining up and a significant number of those new members had originally come from American military veterans themselves who fought in the Philippines, but became disillusioned with what they were doing. Their replacements for the Philippine campaign gradually came from US military regiments based in the Deep South, meaning that they would not mind committing such atrocities against a civilian population that belonged to a different race. Yet, for all of its bravado, the American government was completely unprepared for its inevitable war with Japan, as the Panama Canal has yet to be built, and a two ocean navy was non-existent before the Van Horn Moseley economic and military expansion of the 1930s. The 126,000 troops currently fighting in the Philippines was seen by American military leaders at that time as sufficient, compared to the unknown number of actual active soldiers that the Japanese will deploy in a moment's notice. American bravado and thoughts of racial superiority over the Asiatic hordes were still in high peak before the 1904-07 conflict had given them a nasty shock at how wrong they really were. Additionally, the political crisis within neighboring Mexico and the long standing border disputes that were not settled until the Van Horn Moseley regime in the 1930s and 1940s meant that the United States was forced to pay attention to its own backyard, lest Mexico's revolutions spill over into its southern border. (10) Even so, the American military was not yet the juggernaut that it eventually became during the Great World War. However, American military experience gained during the conflict with Filipino rebels have been a valuable learning curve, in that the American military were exposed to new theaters of war, and their jungle warfare was also valuable during their interventions in Latin America. The Banana Wars in which Smedley Butler had participated in and eventually became its most outspoken critic, was an exercise in protecting US corporate interest, but it was his criticism and condemnation of the Van Horn Moseley regime that eventually led to his assassination by a member of the Silver Legion, one of the primary allies of the American National Syndicalist Unity Party in 1940, when Butler was shot in the head during a speech in Hanover, Germany.
The concentration on the war effort in the Philippines also led to America neglecting to bring in additional reinforcements from the continental United States, especially naval assets that were needed to patrol the seas around the Philippine Islands. The sheer long logistical line that the US had to use when resupplying its garrisons in the Philippines had been a major challenge, whether it was going through the Pacific and Hawaii, or the Atlantic, the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean. Additionally, in areas around the Philippines under American occupation, the American military occupation authorities were forced to build entirely new army and navy bases on the fly, and much of their work was rushed. Manila was an exception, as it was already a city capable of handling larger ships, but the town of Gubat was converted into a makeshift US navy base in southeastern Luzon. The US Asiatic Squadron would use Manila and Gubat as their main bases for further operations in the Philippines, until the January of 1905 Battle of Gubat in which the American and Japanese Navies would clash in what was their first naval battle with each other outside the Japanese Home islands. Though that battle eventually ended in an American victory, with over 5 Japanese warships sunk to 4 American warships lost, the American ground forces were evenly matched with their Japanese counterparts. However, the introduction of the shotguns to the Philippine conflict had prepared the Japanese military for such eventuality, and Japanese infantry fared a bit better in trench warfare than their American counterparts. (11) Additionally, Japanese troops are far more used to the tropical Philippine weather than Americans, despite the latter being in the Philippines for two years. Yet, the Philippine theater of the Japanese-American War was not the only front in which the two nations fought, although an attempted American amphibious invasion of Hokkaido was a different thing altogether.
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South Africa - Aftermath of a Brutal Conflict
The aftermath of the British victory over the two former Boer republics was not of any celebration, as the British public had expected, but rather one of concern and fear. Though they finally solved the thorny issue regarding the tensions between the Boers and Uitlanders, as the term they used for British subjects in South Africa, there were mutual distrust between the Boers and the indigenous African tribes in the region. Indeed, it was only through the harsh enforcement of British law and order that prevented the African tribes from taking their revenge on the Boer population, and the Boer families themselves had to rebuild their lives anew in the far distant regions of South Africa, close to the borders with Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa. Some of the Boers chose to leave from their homes and migrate elsewhere, mostly to German Southwest Africa and even the United States. The Boers who settled in the United States gravitated towards the Deep South, where race relations between white and black Americans were as tense as ever. The influx of the Boer immigrants into the Deep South had gradually changed the lifestyle of the Southerners, who appreciated the work ethic that the Boers introduced to them. Indeed, while the Boer immigrants would initially be hostile towards English speaking Americans, they found, much to their surprise, that the United States and the British Empire were still at a loggerheads. The culture that the Boers introduced to the Deep South consisted of their brand of Calvinist Christian faith, which melded well with the predominantly Baptist population of the South.
The Appalachian Mountains also attracted a few hundred Boer immigrants, who found such a region suitable for farming, logging, and even mining, though jobs in the coal mines were competitive, with the Boer immigrants taking most of them, much to the frustration of the Southerners. However, it was their mutual hatred of the black population that united the white Southerners and Boer immigrants, and it was not an accident that the 1910s became a massive propaganda boost for the notorious Ku Klux Klan, when over 500 Boer immigrants had joined. Though the Klan leadership was hesitant about taking in the immigrants who spoke a different language, they admired their skills when tracking down any prey they hunted, which was useful for when they went knightriding. However, the larger Boer community had made it clear that while they're okay with their anti-black sentiment, they did not approve of the Klan's terror campaigns and had to be smart about it. Ironically, the Klan became the primary rival and enemy of the NatSynd regime, as the Klan's knightriding campaign only served to force the black population into forming self-defense units that protected their communities from Klan raids, leading to clashes between black militias and Klansmen, leading to the NatSynd's implementation of the notorious Liberia Plan of the late 1930s, (12) which they would start shipping black Americans to Liberia, in exchange for a series of economic and military agreements. Meanwhile, the Klan itself would face a violent purge by NatSynd paramilitary units called the Special Protection Squads, though they would gain the nickname of Blueshirts, after the blue long sleeve shirts that they wore, with khaki pants and boots, in an event called the Night of the Last Ride. (13) The Night of the Last Ride occurred on November 9, 1934, in which the Blueshirts rounded up over 3,000 suspected Klansmen on Van Horn Moseley's orders and had them all executed. The second generation of Boer-Americans also helped Moseley carry out the order, having changed their view of the Klansmen from being eccentric to just outright hooligans with terrorist behavior.
The other Boers who chose to remain in South Africa on the other hand, begrudgingly bent the knee to the British authorities and became loyal British subjects, though harboring a grudge towards all Uitlanders. When some Boers who lived in the United States returned to South Africa, starting in 1907, they returned with them some of the techniques that they learned from when they were in the Klan, until American immigration authorities had issued an order for their deportation on grounds of misbehavior and other kinds of criminal charges. The Boer version of the KKK became the forerunner of the Volkskommando, the paramilitary arm of the Boer independence movement. Back then, they thought of raiding lands inhabited by African tribes or burning down Uitlander settlements, until they realized that they won't get any support from their fellow Boers for attempting to re-ignite the Boer Wars once again. Thus, they opted to live in the mountains, far from the prying eyes of the British colonial government in South Africa. The leader of the new Boer faction, Deneys Reitz, had formed the Bittereinders, or the irreconcilables, which dedicated their struggle to the re-establishment of the two Boer republics. However, when news of the Anglo-German rapprochement had reached the ears of the Boer leaders, they were furious at the Kaiser's apparent betrayal of the Boer cause, though Reitz was aware that the German government cared more about a rapprochement with the British than supporting a losing cause. With Reitz was the new Boer general, Ferdinandus Jacobus Potgieter, who presided over the Boer defensive actions until the eventual defeat of his forces in the closing stages of the Second Boer War. He, like many other Bittereinders, refused to sign a pledge that stated his allegiance to the British Crown, and opted to live in exile in the United States. Potgieter and 20 other exiled Boer commandos had offered their service to President McKinley, as instructors on guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency operations, to which the President had politely declined, as the war in the Philippines was garnering much negative attention with the American public.
Much of the Cape Colony's demographics radically changed as a result of British colonial rule, with the Cape Boers moving away to the new Veldland colony, where their ethnic kin folk became the majority. However, the Coloureds, a predominantly mixed peoples of African and European background, were divided over their future under British rule. (14) On one hand, the Uitlanders can be just as prejudicial as their Boer counterparts, shunning people who came from mixed backgrounds, as well as giving their disapproval on the thought of race mixing. On the other hand, the indigenous African tribes would never approve of the Coloureds living within their lands, due to the same reasons as previously mentioned. In the end, they reluctantly opted to settle in the Cape Colony, enduring the racial abuse given to them by the Uitlanders, while facing intense anger from both the indigenous African tribes and Boer settlers for marrying one another. The Veldland Boers did not bother to interact with other ethnic groups within South Africa, preferring to keep to themselves. Although mining and farming remained the dominant industries in which the Boers excelled in, commerce and trade was something they were not good at, nor did they intend to learn and excel in. In fact, between 1903 and 1918, approximately 26% of Veldland Colony had undergone industrialization, mainly in the production of consumer goods and farming equipment. Yet, Veldland Colony gradually emerged as the bread basket of the entirety of South Africa, as the Boer farmers there continued to grow all sorts of crops, such as potatoes, grains, sugarcane, and many others. Thanks to the blossoming, yet uneasy, relationship between the British and German Empires, German Southwest Africa became the primary export market for goods produced in the Cape and Veldland Colonies.
Yet, the social and ideological mindsets that the Uitlanders and Boers had maintained were drastically opposites of each other. The Boers tended to be more conservative and reactionary, while the Uitlanders were liberal minded, though only to a certain extent. When the Dominion of South Africa was proclaimed in 1910 through the South Africa Act of 1909, the Boer population of the Veldland Colony were given less representation than their Uitlander counterparts in government, and the new South African colonial government still distrusted the resentful Boers. The resentment and anger eventually exploded into the Veldland Rebellion of 1914, in which the Bittereinders had declared the independence of the Veldland Colony as the Afrikaner Volksrepublik. (15) Though the rebellion initially succeeded in the opening stages, as the veterans of the Second Boer War were able to take the British colonial authorities by surprise, the rebellion was eventually crushed with the intervention of not only the British forces in South Africa, but also by the Portuguese based in Portuguese East Africa, when the Bittereinders attempted to conquer parts of southern Portuguese East Africa. The suppression of the rebellion would result in over 16,000 Boers massacred by both the British and Portuguese troops, and an additional 25,000 Boers being forced into exile, mainly in the United States, but also in French Madagascar, Brazil, and the Dutch East Indies. The additional punishment meted out to the Veldland Colony within the Dominion of South Africa was the reduction of their entity to a mere province, with British attempts to fully settle the Veldlands with British subjects from all across the British Empire, until the Great World War forced the South African colonial government to suspend the resettlement and expulsion of the Boers. The modern anti-British sentiment bourne by the American NatSynd regime had its roots in the later generations of Boer exiles that settled in the American South and the North, as the Boers would also find common cause with an unexpected group: the Irish. (16)
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"The evolution of the American English language had radically shifted after the rise of George Van Horn Moseley's NatSynd regime, as it adopted certain words and spelling from other languages. Although there were debates on whether or not American English should replace words that have French origins, they feared offending their erstwhile French allies over such trivialities. Yet, the need to differentiate the words and grammar in American and British English proved to be stronger, and eventually, old English words of Anglo-Saxon origin, as well as words originated from Dutch and German, would emerge. For example, the term American English was changed to American Anglish, or alternatively, they used Aenglish Moot. (17) Lee M. Hollander, the father of what became known as American Roots Aenglish, had viewed the Moseley regime's desire to transform American English into the Anglish Moot that modern American ultranationalists had wanted. Yet, despite the rampant anti-Semitism within the NatSynd regime, Hollander was spared by the Moseley regime because of his works in the studies of Old Norse and other Germanic language. (18) The American Society for Linguistical Reform was founded in 1932, with Hermann Collitz being its inaugural president, before stepping down in 1934 due to old age, in favor of Edgar Howard Sturtevant, and the organization dedicated itself to researching into other languages, especially ones that were considered extinct. The rules for American English spelling gradually changed to reflect that of the old Anglo-Saxon spelling rules. For example, or rather, likething, the word 'white' was instead written as hwite. The bureaucratic nightmare that would come out of the linguistic reformation of the American English language and its transition into American Aenglish was immense during the early years of Moseley's regime, and lasted from 1939 until 1954, when Edgar Grayson succeeded Moseley as the Grand Marshal (later changed to Ealdorman in 1955) of the American Continental State, or Rike. (19) Ealdorman Grayson and his successors would eventually rename it the Vireldilsrike, with the word vireldil from the Dutch word 'werelddeel', and the American mainland was now referred to as the Vastland. (20) Even the food terms have been changed, as beef became ox meat, and pork chops became swine steak. The linguistic reform that gave birth to the bureaucratic nightmare eventually ended in 1990, when the NatSynd regime collapsed in popular uprisings that led to multiparty elections, and the American Vireldiksrike would once again become the United States of America, though it also gained the Roots English name of the Oned Rikes of America. (21) Consequently, the re-emerged USA would recognize Roots English as a de facto official language, alongside American Standard English. In actuality, two variants of American English were recognized by the post-NatSynd government as legally recognized separate languages, because of how detailed the development of Roots English, or Roots Anglish was. So basically, we have American Standard English, and American Roots Anglish as the recognized languages of America." From 'NatSyndism and the Attempt to Create a New American Civilization', courtesy of History Legends Network Canada.
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(1) A term meaning 'Han Chinese traitor', which was actually used IOTL after the Second Sino-Japanese War to indicate pro-Japanese Chinese collaborators.
(2) The Kong family were directly descended from Confucius, and having that kind of pedigree meant that they were held in high esteem.
(3) An archaic Chinese term used during the Five Hegemons period, in which individuals can claim a position of authority, short of actually claiming royal power in itself.
(4) Thus avoiding one of OTL Japan's worst mountaineering incidents, the Hakkoda Mountain incident where several Japanese soldiers froze to death while going on a mountain exercise because of extreme weather.
(5) A factor similar to how OTL's Russian Baltic fleet had to sail around the world......only to be smashed apart by the Japanese as well.
(6) Basically the Yellow Peril propaganda turned up to 11.
(7) One mistake that I did when confusing between the words 'katorga' and 'gulag', as the latter refers to the OTL Soviet labor camps.
(8) OTL Russia still has penal colonies that utilize inmate labor for logging and mining, as well as sewing uniforms for the OTL Russian military. ITTL, penal colonies would be more similar to OTL American prison labor systems.
(9) Just like OTL.
(10) How TTL's America would handle the Pancho Villa Expedition and the Banana Wars remain to be seen, but let's say it won't be pretty.
(11) OTL Philippine-American War also saw the use of shotguns as well.
(12) Similar to the OTL Madagascar Plan, though the difference is that TTL's Liberia Plan is also based on OTL George Lincoln Rockwell's drastic proposal of deporting African-Americans to Liberia, while OTL Madagascar Plan is an ambitious but failed 'resettlement' plan that the Nazis had for the Jews before the Holocaust took place.
(13) Knightriding was actually a term that refer to Klan raids, where they would raid areas with large black populations.
(14) The main African tribes that mixed with the Boers in this case are the Xhosa and Khoisan. Coloureds could also mean mixed peoples with more than one ethnic origin, which in this case, can include the Asians that migrated to OTL South Africa.
(15) Based on the OTL Maritz Rebellion, where the Bittereinders attempted to re-establish the two Boer republics, but the rebellion was defeated by the South African colonial forces.
(16) Will be covered in the next update, but let's say that Irish Home Rule would probably face a lot of intense scrutiny.
(17) Based on the OTL effort by Paul Jennings to increase his work on the linguistic purity of the English language, which he called it Anglish, or Anglish Moot. It is essentially what modern English would sound like if the OTL Norman Conquest had failed.
(18) Hollander was born to two Jewish parents who migrated to the US IOTL.
(19) The ATL son of William Grayson, the man infamous for pulling the trigger that sparked the OTL and TTL's Philippine-American War.
(20) Ealdorman was a term used in Anglo-Saxon England, which meant a representative of the King in local affairs, and their authority is independent from their king.
(21) Basically what if America had gone the route of Oceania from 1984, though fascist or OTL Nazi like, a la Man in the High Castle.
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Which will weaken it significantly compared to OTL. Also be interesting to see what solution if any the planters on Hawaii finally use to resolve their manpower problems.