Zionist Uganda

[David bar Elias]

Zionist Uganda

(Discussion link)

The POD for this timeline is that the Seventh Zionist Congress votes in 1905 to accept the British Uganda Plan as a temporary refuge for Jewish refugees fleeing from Russian persecution. The vote swung in this direction due to a far worse outbreak of anti-semitism in Russia following that nation's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).

1905:

The Seventh Zionist Congress votes to accept the British Uganda Plan (due to even worse anti-semitism in Russia after the end of the Russo-Japanese War). Several armed expeditionary forces are organized, with British approval, to scout out the site for a major settlement on the Mau Plateau (due to the presence of lions and the Massai).

An armed expedition arrives on the Mau Plateau. Ground is broken for what will one day become the city of New Akko. Accompanying the expedition are the first 50 colonists (mostly Russian and Polish Jews). Skirmishes with the Massai are common, although many of the lions killed before they can become much of a threat.

A second group of 300 Russian Jews arrives in Kampala, Uganda. Another armed expedition accompanies them. In Basel, the Jewish Territorialist Organization (ITO) is founded to recruit more colonists. As the pogroms in Russia see no signs of ebbing, many recuits are found. By the beginning of 1906, some 12,000 Jews have immigrated to both Kampala and New Akko.

1906:

The first Orthodox synagogues are completed in both Kampala and New Akko. At this time, the British authorities under Dr. David Bruce in Uganda are attempting to deal with an outbreak of sleeping sickness, a disease spread by the tetse fly. The outbreak of this disease sends many of the new settlers to New Akko instead.

The Massai attempt to overwealm New Akko several times, but are defeated by the armed members of the expeditionary force. Finally, later in the year, the citizens of New Akko and the Massai reach an agreement to forstall more violence. The settlers recognize the rights of the Massai to use a large portion of the Mau Plateau for their cattle grazing, while the Massai agree to recognize the establishment of several mid-sized kibbutzim (communal farms), which don't interfere with the Massai, as well as to recognize the Jewish holdings in the 5,000 square acres. The Jews also agree to trade with the Massai things such as metal tools. This represents a major breakthrough for the Jews, and serves as the basis for dealing with the natives in the future.

Immigration ships from Eastern Europe arrive at the port of Mombassa. Wagons, escorted by ITO-funded guards, take colonists to Uganda. The nucleus of the future Jewish Defence League can be seen in these armed expeditions. The completion of the Kampala-Mombassa Line will help ease transportation difficulties greatly. Many Jewish immigrants simply stay in and around Mombassa in this early period of time.

1907:

The first great year of immigration. Some 500,000 Russian and Eastern European Jews immigrate to both Uganda and Kenya. In addition to New Akko and Kampala, sizable Jewish communities have been established in Mombassa, Kenya, and in Jinja, Entebbe, Masaka, and Port Bell, Uganda. Many shetls in Eastern Europe simply move together to East Africa. This year also sees another 450,000 Jews immigrate to the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa.

The influx of new colonists is not without its problems. Many Bantu tribes in Uganda are hostile to the new colonists. The appease this anger, many Jews (especially those from the urban centers of the Russian Empire) begin opening schools for the native children. While not religious like the Christian missionary schools, some ideas do rub off. Roads, such as Herzl Road (linking Masaka and Jinja) begin to sping up. The Kampala-Mombassa Line is jump started by the influx of willing labor. It's completion will alow for much more rapid colonization of the surrounding coutryside.

Things are further complicated by the presence of Christian missionaries, many of whom resent the large Jewish presence. Tensions between tribes that have converted to Catholism and Protestant faiths causes outbreaks of violence in northern Uganda. Many Jews stay in the south part of the colony, hugging Lake Victoria.

The British are appreciative, for the most part, of having such a loyal group of colonists, who now outnumber all of the other whites in Uganda combined.

In addition to schools, Jewish doctors open clinics that treat both Jew and African alike. This helps to ebb the sleeping sickness.

In late 1907, Kampala is renamed Tel Aviv ("hill of spring"). The name originates with Nahum Sokolow, the Secretary General of the World Zionist Congress (now a resident of this city). It symbolizes the Jewish dream of renewal and protection in a dangerous world.....

[David bar Elias]

1908-1909:

The major new development this year is the foundation of the Jewish Defence Forces (JDF). Founded by Joseph Trumpledor (who now lives in New Akko instead of Palestine in TTL), the JDF is formed to protect the lives of Jewish property, which had come under attack from the Christian tribes in Uganda. Armed with British weapons, and JDF begins patrolling the outskirts of the Uganda and Kenya settlements.

The JDF faces its first real baptism of fire that same year. In reaction to the growing number of Jewish colonists, the Central-Sudanic (also known as the Nilo-Hamitic) peoples of northern Uganda begin a revolt against the British. Centered mostly around the towns of Gulu, Lira, and Soroti, the fighters cause quite a bit of trouble, until late 1908, when Trumpledor leads the JDF into northern Uganda. Bribing several tribes into helping him, Trumpledor crushes the main rebel force at the Battle of Gulu on November 21, 1908. The grateful British authorities allow Trumpledor to build a massive fortification-Fort Maccabee-in the town of Gulu.

It's later revealed that a few nefarious Christian missionaries secretly encouraged the revolt. Ironically, the end result of this revolt is that missionary activity is curbed by the colonial government of Uganda (now completely dominated by the Jewish immigrants).

Another two million Jews from Eastern, southern, and central Europe immigrate to both Kenya and Uganda from 1908 to 1909. Situated mostly in the Mau Plateau, coastal Kenya (especially around Mombassa), and southern Uganda, the Jews bring about many changes in Britain's East African territories.

For one, Yiddish, along with Swahilli, is becoming the language of trade in both Kenya and Uganda. The Tel Aviv-Fort Maccabee Railway is completed in mid-1909, facilitating greater travel. The Jews continue to reach out to the natives of both Kenya and Uganda, especially in north Uganda. Schools, hospitals, universities, sewage treatment, urban renewal, and agricultural advancements are comming to East Africa.

The British colonials tend to look down at the Jewish effort to improve the lives of the African residents (in OTL, the British tended to learn Swahili rather than teach English). But if they really want to bother......

Meanwhile, the ITO is now working on recruiting more and more skilled Jews from Western Europe to immigrate to East Africa. Most of this new immigration comes from France and Great Britain herself. The French Jews still have sour memories of the Dreyfuss Affair, after all.

By June 1, 1909, some 2.7 million Jews now call Kenya and Uganda home. In Britain, there is talk of granting both Kenya and Uganda dominion status as the Dominion of East Africa, due to the higher percentage of white immigrants than in OTL.

Inspired by the succeses of the Jewish colonies in East Africa, the colonial governments of Upper and Lower Rhodesia invite the Jews to form settlements in those two British colonies. Some 77,000 Jews take this opportunity, mostly younger and more adventurous Jews. They take their idealistic notions with them when dealing with the natives.

Although this whole thing began as a temporary program to house Russian Jews, East Africa is now one of the major focal points of Jewish life. Why go to the swamp-ridden and barren land of Palestine when there are thriving cities, shetls, settlements, and kibbutzim in the verdant lands of East Africa?......

[David bar Elias]

1910:

A huge year for Africa, as Great Britain grants dominion status to both South Africa (as the Union of South Africa), and East Africa (Kenya and Uganda, now home to almost 3 million Jews). The Jews prove to be excellent agents for the British when dealing with the natives, as they tend to be the only whites that the natives trust. East Africa's capital will be the city of Nairobi. Another one million immigrants, mostly from Russia and Poland, settle in East Africa this year. Africa is being advertised effectively by the ITO as a paradise. They've even inspired many of the old Zionist settlers of Palestine (those left over from the Aliyahs) to settle in East Africa.

In Uganda, a concerted effort is made to eradicate the tetse fly, by draining the swamps and brackish water that permeates many areas of the former colony. This also ends up eradicating malaria from the area as well (as happened with yellow feaver in Panama and Cuba in OTL). This helps to ease remaining tensions with the northern tribes, who appreciate the Jewish outreach to them.

Chaim Wietzman has now settled in the Jewish settlement of Herzlberg (just outside of Mombassa). He starts the Wietzman School of Agriculture (now the Wietzman Institute of Technology), which is open to Jews, Africans, and Asians alike. Mombassa, now a major Indian Ocean trading port, is home to some of the first light industry in East Africa, as Jewish industrialists begin employing Asians and Blacks in textile factories, creating the nexus of a highly skilled workforce.

Marc Chagall has now settled in New Jerusalem. His paintings from now on combine African and Jewish styles with great liberty.

Meanwhile, another 100,000 Jews, mostly spillovers from the old Ugandan colonies, immigrate to Upper and Lower Rhodesia. Their presence eases tensions with the natives, to the delight of the British colonial agents. Many come due to the overcrowding that the new Russian and Polish immigrants are causing.

Joseph Trumpledor enlarges the JDF, and reorganizes it. The JDF sees its first African recruits, drawn mainly from the recently converted Bantus of Uganda, where the Jewish investment in their well-being is starting to pay off. [It should be noted that while the Jewish faith has strong adversity to conversions, they don't try to stop gentiles from converting on their own]. The British are shocked by the idea of blacks serving in the same regiments as whites, but Trumpledor states that the JDF is religiously bound to accept all qualified Jewish applicants, wherever they may be from. Cavalry sqadrons are added, and Trumpledor keeps his men drilled constantly, to be on the watch for native uprisings (which, due to the positive Jewish interactions, have not happened). Still, it never hurts to be prepared.....

Overall East African policies towards Africans is more modeled on South Africa's system, with enfrancisement comming with property holdings (and in the case of the Jews, education as well). This policy will liberalize quite a lot over the next couple of decades....

Nairobi's name is changed to New Jerusalem, after an influx of some 300,000 new Polish Jews tips the scales in favor of a Jewish majority. This move symbolizes the new faith that the Jews have in their new homeland. It also shows just how much of a backwater Palestine has become. Many former Palestinian settlers are immigrating to East Africa, after all.

The New Jerusalem-Mombassa-Tel Aviv Railway is completed, allowing for a booming trade economy. The Massai continue to roam with their cattle heards unabated, and have largely kept their word of the bargain. They've even allowed the Jews to purchase another 3,500 acres on the Mau plateau, in exchange for more of the well-made tools, and that well made cattle feed from Chaim Weitzman's laborotories [he was a major botonist in OTL, and takes this even further in TTL].......

[David bar Elias]

1911-1914:

Another 1.5 million Jews from Eastern Europe immigrate to East Africa. The IPO is now quite adept at spreading stories of the wonderful paradise that East Africa has become for the Jewish faith, along with the stories of exotic wildlife and paintings of beautiful African landscapes (many of them by one Marc Chagall). The Orthodox, in particular, are far less stringent about leaving for East Africa, as they believe that Jews cannot form a state in the Holy Land until the Messiah comes.

The results show themselves soon enough. In 1910, Mombassa is renamed Port Shalom (which is perfect-shalom means "hello," "goodbye," and "peace," -the perfect names for a major port and city). Some 200,000 of these new settlers come to Upper and Lower Rhodesia, greatly boosting the economies of the two colonies.

In 1911, after New York's notorious Triangle Shirtwaist fire, (in which the victims were poor Jewish women laborers), Jacob Schiff, a wealthy American Zionist, begins financing Jewish immigration from "The jungles of New York to the paradise of Africa). Although limited at first, eventually, some 150,000 Jews from the Lower East Side immigrate to East Africa. In Britain, the East End is rapidly emptying of Jews as the poor laborers seek a better life in the wide open spaces of the African frontiers.....

By 1912, Jews completely dominate the coffee trade. Grown in the highlands of Kenya, the farming is done on many kibbutzim. A few token Massai have worked on the Kibbutzim, and fewer still have even converted to Judaism. Another 4,000 acres on the Mau plateau is Jewish owned, and is the maximum estent of Jewish settlement in the area. Most new immigrants go to Tel Aviv or Port Shalom, and areas immediently surrounding it.

By 1913, the big cities of East Africa have been electrified. The great Universities of Port Shalom, Tel Aviv, New Akko, New Jerusalem, and Fort Maccabee (now a major city) are the centers of intellectual life in Africa. The British, by now, are not surprised as the Jews open the doors of these institutions to Africans and Asians as well as whites.

From the very beginning of the Ugandan settlements, Jews allowed their women a say in how the settlements were run (which happened in OTL's Palestinian settlements as well). East Africa's Knesset (Parliament), officially votes to allow women to vote. Qualified African women are guranteed this same provision, further deepening the "Special Relationship" that the Jews enjoy with the natives. More and more natives are taking advantage of the enfrancisement programs, which revolve around education and property. The Jewish respect for native religions deepends the bonds. Since missionaries are discouraged from comming to East Africa, Judaism is the only major religion that many tribes tend to come into contact with.....in Uganda, the formerly hostile Christian tribes have settled down in a bountiful trade with the Jewish colonies on Lake Victoria, Lake Abraham (formerly Lake Kwania), Lake Albert, and Lake Kyoga.

By June of 1914, the Jewish population of the Dominion of East Africa is up to 5.1 million (Orthodox families in particular tend to have large families). The JDF numbers some 25,000 men, with Joseph Trumpledor as their commanding officer.

One June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assasinated in Sarajevo, plunging the world into the fires of the First World War.

For the Jews of East Africa, one era was ending and another was beginning......

[David bar Elias]

1914-1919-The Great War:

When Great Britain declared war on Germany in August of 1914, the Dominions of East Africa and South Africa quickly followed. For the Jewish Defence Forces, this was to be their first real action since the 1908 Uganda uprisings.

As there were only 3,000 German troops in German East Africa, Governor Heinrich von Schnee ordered them to refrain from attacking British forces. Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, never one to sit on his tuchuss and do nothing, wasted no time in disobeying the orders.

Vorbeck had visited East Africa a couple of times, and had seen the JDF training excercises, and knew the pain that they could inflict. He had a hearty respect for Joseph Trumpledor in particular, having shared in a Yom Kippur break-the-fast feast with him.

For a while, little happened. Trumpledor wanted his recruits trained properly, while Vorbeck, with only 200 officers and 2,800 Askaris, had few supplies. Despite this, Vorbeck attempted a raid over the border into the settlement of Ramwat David. It might have succeeded, had there not been a major JDF training camp nearby. The raw recruits fought a pitched battle with the Germans. Despite dogged attacks, the recruits held off the German advance. Lettow-Vorbeck, having lost many of his best officers, was forced to retreat.

Both Trumpledor and Vorbeck ended up facing each other from October 2-4, 1914. JDF forces, aided by a battalion of Indians, launched an amphibious assault at the port city of Tanga. Vorbeck fought hard, but he was forced to withdraw from his positions. Having already been mauled by the JDF, and without his most competent officers, who were buried at Ramwat David, Vorbeck was in a very weak position indeed after Kanga, especially as news came of a South African force that was invading from Upper Rhodesia.

By early mid-October, there was little that Vorbeck could do as JDF forces, impossibly strong, overran German East Africa. The Jews already had a strong rapport with the natives (with the notable exception of those who were in the Askaris), who welcomed the JDF as they occupied the major cities. The British ordered Trumpledor to Egypt. Trumpledor was eager to take Jerusalem from the Ottomans, but was stuck defending the Suez Canal from Turkish attacks.

Meanwhile, Vorbeck wasn't done in East Africa. From 1915-1917, he launched guerilla raids at the JDF, hoping to keep the prized warriors from being deployed to the European Theatere. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. London had agreed that former German East Africa would be incorperated into the Dominion of East Africa. Thousands of Rhodesian and East African Jews began flooding into the territory. As their traders already had a good reputation amongst the natives, the transition was fairly smooth. Lettow-Vorbeck bowed to the inevitable and surrendered on February 1, 1917. He spent the rest of the war in a luxurious home in New Jerusalem (Trumpledor, in fact, insisted on it-it was his home).

In 1917, the JDF finally saw some action in the Middle East. Smashing through the Turkish lines bellowing "AMCHA!" (Hebrew for "Our Nation!"), the JDF served as the force that broke the Turks as Edmund Allenby advanced northwards. Jerusalem fell on April 3 of that year. Photographs of a weeping Joseph Trumpledor praying at the Western Wall with his men served as a huge morale booster for East Africa, where millions of Jews celebrated the fall of Jerusalem.

By 1918, the war was finally at an end, with the JDF being the first allied soldiers to enter Damascas (much to the chagrin of Lawrence of Arabia). At the Versailles Conference of 1919, German East Africa was recognized as a possesion of the Dominion of East Africa. Britain also gained a Mandate over Palestine, Iraq, and Transjordan.

By now, the Jews were firmly rooted in East Africa. But there was still controversy. Some radical Zionists wanted to immigrate en masse to Palestine. But the vast majority of Jews were content in their established businesses in East Africa, and besides, there was Tanganyka to incorporate properly. East African insitutions, from education to health care, were begining to take root.

Joseph Trumpledor returned to New Jerusalem in triumph. In the elections of 1919, he was elected Prime Minister. Along with Jan Smutts, now the Prime Minister of South Africa, Trumpledor pushed hard for the new League of Nations, which East Africa joined in 1920.

Paul Lettow-Vorbeck bid a tearful goodbye to his friend, and sailed home to Germany. But he would be back one day, as it turned out......

For Joseph Trumpledor, the best days were yet to come.....

[David bar Elias]

1920-1929:

Joseph Trumpledor had rode into office as a huge war hero. Now, he would prove that he could govern as effiently as he could wage war.

The first great crisis came as a result of the Russian Civil War. The hated Czar had been overthrown in 1917 and killed on year later. The Provisional Government had been overthrown, and a civil war had erupted between the Whites (reactionaries) and the Reds (Bosheviks). The remaing Jews of Russia faced brutal attacks by the Whites (the crimes of the infamous Baron Roman Ungurn von Sternberg in particular shocks the communities of East Africa). IPO agents need little effort to convince the remaining 2.3 million Russian Jews to immigrate to East Africa. The USA was retreating into isolationism, and in 1924 would enact strict immigration quotas. Jews had only one place to go, and that was to East Africa.

Former German East Africa proved easy to integrate. Towns, settlements, and cities were established, and the natives gained enfracisement. Many of the new refugees from Russia settled in these new territories. Dar es Salaam was renamed Maimonodies in 1923. The Jews began developing their rapport with the local tribes, especially the famed and fearsome Mwamumzenti (the only warriors in east Africa ever to have beaten the Massai in conflict).

In 1922, Upper and Lower Rhodesia both held referendums on their futures. Upper Rhodesia (where Jews made up the majority of the white settlers) voted to join East Africa, while Lower Rhodesia voted to join the Union of South Africa. Jan Smutts was greatly strenghened by the addition of the heavily English and Jewish colony of Lower Rhodesia, and did not lose the election of 1924 (as happened in another universe). Herzog's National Party was reduced to the fringes of the Afrikaner population, and faded into obscurity. Influenced by East Africa, Jan Smutts began a project of enfrancisement for the native South Africans (helped by numerous Jewish agents). Bechuanaland was added to South Africa in 1927, making South Africa one of the two economic powerhouses on the continent (the other being East Africa).

Trouble came in the former German possesion of Rwanda. The territory was divided between the tall, agrarian Tutsis and the short, cattle herding Hutus. Using a descriminatory identification system, the Germans had stoked years of resentment by favoring the Tutsis. An outbreak of violence occured as the Germans withdrew.

The Jewish authorities wasted no time. The guest-book system was outlawed, and the Hutus were fully enfrancised. Many Tutsis were leaving for the new kibbutzim in Tanganyka, and the Hutus soon became loyal citizens of the Dominion of East Africa, leading a lifestyle not unlike the Massai, with vast cattle ranges protected by the government in New Jerusalem.

The influx of Russian refugees led to the Jewish population to stand at 9.1 million by 1924. This didn't inlcude the natives all over the Dominion that were still in the process of converting (to convert to Judaism, you need to show that you mean it.....of course, most natives aren't necessarily Jewish. But many have adopted some Jewish customs and laws.....). Another 1.7 million Jews immigrated out of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and southern Europe, making Russia, Poland, and the east virtually free of a Jewish presence for the first time in millenia. Many wealthy Jewish families, such as the Rothchilds, assisted the poor Jews of these nations in immigrating.

In the mideast, Britain merged Palestine with the new Heshamite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1925. Some radical Zionists protested, but most Jews shrugged. There was nothing like OTL's Balfour Declaration to hold Britain accountable for.

The Port Shalom-Salisbury-Cape Town Line was built from 1922 to 1926. This served as the basis for the famous Cape-to-Cairo Railway, built with mainly East and South African money and built from 1925 to 1931.

Trade between Jan Smutt's South Africa and Joseph Trumpledor's East Africa led to a surging economy. It was, after all, the Roaring Twenties. The first air service, which distributed mail from Tel Aviv to Cape Town was established in 1928. Aviation became quite popular after Port Shalom's own David bar-Eleazar became the first man to fly non-stop across the Indian Ocean. The films of the Marx Brothers played to packed movie houses. Heavy Industry came to the Dominion in the Roaring Twenties, manufacturing Ernst Manaru's (half Jewish, half Bantu) sturdy Golems (autos resembling the Tin Lisie). The nickname "Golem" symbolized their power over the new highways of East and South Africa.

Joseph Trumpledor celebrated all these acheivements, before retiring in 1928. His retirement seemed to symbolize the end of another era. The people who thought this were right, in more ways than one.....