Rememberences of Map Contests Past

[B_Munro]

wilcoxchar:

A simple submission this time around. POD is that the Pilgrims don't return to England and instead sail west for the Dutch. And I apologize for any gratuitous Dutch.

[B_Munro]

And OAM47, wierd names and all.

[B_Munro]

Another shorty: once again I win due to lack of strong competition. Go me!

(Oh, and Jman was second, wilcoxchar third)

MoF 9 on new year's eve, if alcohol doesn't interfere.

Bruce

[B_Munro]

MoF 9:

"A map of the Middle East at least twenty years after an alternate partitioning of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War One"

LylyCSM2:

[B_Munro]

Rekjavik:

For this map I tried to for a more modern appearance than what I normally do, I just hope it shows.

In this world the Ottomans have more success in the early days of the war, taking most of the Sinai in the West and invading Kuwait in the East. However, the British react more vigorously towards them and begin grinding them down. The Ottomans begin a scorched earth policy (or what you can do in a desert environment) making the lives of the British soldiers much more difficult. Still, the Arab Revolt occurs and is even more vicious due to the more damaging Ottoman retreat. Still, by 1918 the Ottomans collapse and surrender to the British.

Due to the higher British casualties the Allies are more aggressive towards the Ottomans, carving up large areas of its coast and eastern frontier. Armenia is significantly larger than our world's, and Kurdistan is created. Although Georgia and Azerbaijan fell to the Russians (Kerensky does a few things differently and ends up with much more support. This is enough for a White victory and a Republic is set up after the Civil War ends in 1923) Armenia managed to gain an alliance with Britain against the Turks, although it acts as a good deterrent against the Russians at any rate. As for Turkey, they managed to fight off the Greeks in central Anatolia, but without the extra manpower from the coastal and eastern areas fail to dislodge the Greeks from the West. A ceasefire is signed in late 1922, but the damage was done. By 1935 the Turkish government fell to Communist forces supported by Communist Germany (Germany fell into civil war in 1932 and the Communists managed to gain victory by the skin of their teeth). In 1937 the Turkish Peoples Republic signed the Pact of Blood with Germany, Spain and Hungary.

By 1940 a dark cloud is over Europe. The last of the Rightist forces in Spain were suppressed, with only a French backed rump state in Catalonia remaining. Austria joined Germany in late 1937, and the Czechoslovak government fell for workers uprisings in 1939. Turkey, highly militarised due to their reactionary neighbours, is more than prepared to fight the imperialists out of their homeland. The Italians are hanging onto their colony by a thread, the French and British are afraid of another war and thus their defences in the Middle East are woefully under-equipped. Only Greece has built up any significant forces to defend their new land, yet their own lands are restless and Ankara will do what it can to see the Red Banner fly over Istanbul. Until the order to strike is sent, they will wait.

[B_Munro]

Rubberduck3y6:

This is the first time I've entered one of these contests, mainly because I'm not that good at getting a plausible story to go with the map. Just a warning.

You should be able to work most of it out from the map, but I'll point out a few things. The 'Former Russian Possessions' include Georgia, Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia which broke away from Russia during its civil war and western Armenia which was a Russian CoN (Council of Nations, TTL's League of Nations) Mandate. Russia is currently re-establishing control over these countries and is wait for an opportunity to annex them. Smyrna was made into a free city due to disputes between Greece and Italy over the city. The 'Aegean Region' is part of Italy. Only capital cities are marked and independent countries names are larger than colonies/protectorates/mandates. That should be it, so here's the map:

[B_Munro]

Mine:

Oy. Just the wrong basemap, I guess: something weird happened in paint. Oh well: Xmas approaches, other pots on the fire, and no time.

This is a world where WWI ended in a stalemate of exhaustion. The Germans were unwilling to give any of their bargaining points away to help out their Ottoman allies, so, although the Turks managed to pick up the Transcaucuses and hold them with German help against the Soviets, they're still miffed at the Germans for not backing them on getting their Arab provinces back.

The British were a little more supportive of the Hashemites, although the French insisted on some extra territory for Syria in compensation for losses elsewhere. The Saudis are, of course, a pain in the ass.

The USSR, with the Germans propping up the Ukraine and the Turks in the Transcaucuses, is weaker than OTL, and under different leadership: it has made more of an effort make the East turn Red, and stirred up so much trouble in Iran as to lead to 1942's three-way split.

The international scene is tense: neither France nor Italy have particularly democratic governments at the moment, and unlike CP-victorious TLs, the Germans have not been in a good position to make them disarm. Another big war is brewing, and currently, it's hard to say which sides Turkey and the UK will be on, if they get involved at all...

[B_Munro]

Zizon:

Britain, France and Russia take up Djemal Pasha's offer to overthrow the rest of the Young Turks in 1916 due to Britain being able to placate France from her demand of southern Cilicia in return for control over Irak (this was part of the Sykes plan, and would give Britain a buffer zone from Russian influence in the Middle East). In return for their support, Russia demanded parts of Armenia, Istanbul and the Dardanelles, and Britain demanded that Sherif Hussein (who was planning, with the British, the Arab revolt) to be a (merely figurehead) leader over a British controlled Arabia, as well as a Free Zionist State. This also formally stripped the Ottoman Empire of its African possessions.

The coup d'etat took place in April, 1916 and was successful with Djemal's forces taking Istanbul and most Ottoman military units coming to his side. Some forces stayed loyal to the Young Turks from having fought against them at Gallipolli and that the Allied demands were too harsh. The Allies let the Ottoman Empire stay intact at the time, and said that they would resolve the matter with a post-war conference.

With the Ottoman Empire now on the Allied side, the soft underbelly of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was wide open, and with Italy joining the war in late 1916 the Allies had little trouble dealing with Austria-Hungary. Germany was still a problem, however, and continued to fight on into 1917. The Russian Revolution still happened in 1917, and with this all Russian claims in the Near East were forfeit. For their help in the war effort, Turkey was given permanent control over Armenia, and Italy was given Libya.

Things havn't really changed much since the end of the First World War. With no American intervention, the congress turned out quite different.

Comments? Critiques? Complaints? This is the first time I've tried making a map like this, hope you like it.

[B_Munro]

Stateless Englishman:

I've wanted to enter one of these map contests for so long, I can't believe it's MoF 9 and the first one I've made a map for!

British and French mandates are divided closer to the original Sykes-Picot agreement. Independent Pontus is supported at Sevres. Greece gets more or less original territorial additions, Thrace plus Smyrna, to which it adds some of the surrounding area. This (and other butterflies) causes a more radical form of Turkish nationalism to arise in Turkey, with the announcement of Oghuzestan, proposing to unite all Oghuz Turks, and take back the rest of Anatolia. The following war with Armenia and tensions lead to a war with the (neo-Trotskyist) Federation of Socialist Republics. Nationalist Greece attempts to take advantage of the situation. France intervenes in an attempt to support the Armenians and Kurds - they have limited success against Turkey, but are deadlocked with the FSR. At the end of the war, the FSR has expanded into Eastern Anatolia, Greece has been pushed out of Asia, and France has expanded very slightly.

[B_Munro]

Feo:

I've found that Tsarist Russia wanted to replace Turkish population of Thrace and Istambul with Cossacks.
Yes, Cossacks in Istambul.


The Middle East in 1937

Thist time there is not a precise TL, just wanted to try something completely different.
Basically there is not Russian Revolution, Wilson doesn't presents the Fourteen Points and at the end of WWI the Ottoman Empire is partitioned in a XIX century style between the Entente powers.

The Russian Empire gain Thrace with Istambul (now Constantinople again) and parts of Armenia.
France got Cilicia, Syria and present day northern Lebanon.
Britain got Palestine(with jewish settlements), a protectorate over Hedjaz and pressed for a creation of a British Influenced Kurdistan and a British Influenced Iraq, somewhere between the 20's and the 30's Iraq becomes less British Influenced.
Italy gain a small but populated "Levante" (present day Nortern Palestine adn Southern Lebanon) with a lots of jewish settlements.
Grece seek to annexe Ionia and the southern half of the Dardanels but the rest of Greek requests are turned down by the Tsar.
the Saudis didn't attack Hedjaz (protected by the British) but they went for Yemen Insted
Last but not least the Turkish Republic, they lose Istambul and Izmir but thing could have been worse.

[B_Munro]

Iori:

The idea of a Turkish state failed, however the idea of an independent nation did'nt.

Israel was never formed do to British opposition to mass Jewish immigration and the Holocaust being less bad do to other countries opening their borders to Jewish refugees.

With Nationalistic movements forming in Egypt, Britain split an area around the Suez Canal off from Egypt and turned it into a Dominion, one which it purposefully treated very well.

In Arabia the Saudi's and their Wahabism were seen negatively by the West, leading to the formation of an Arabian Kingdom under the Rashidi's, a family that was far less extreme and had been loyal to the Ottomans.

In Iraq it was decided that a single Federal state would be created with three states, one for the Shi'a Arabs, one for the Sunni Arabs and one for the Iraqi Turkmens, as well as other minorities.

[B_Munro]

Alex Richards:

Following a more decisive Entente Victory, the Republics of Armenia and Kurdiastan were pulled from the Ottoman Empire along with Syria, the Hedjaz, and the twin Kingdoms of Mesopotamia and Iraq (under the sons of Ibn Ali I of Hedjaz). However, the Soviet Union annexed Armenia, and the rump Ottoman State collapsed into a civil War. The Greeks have lost much land to the (secretly) Italian backed National Liberation Army, and while the Sultan and his self proclaimed Calif of a cousin duel for control of the Sultanate's supporters, they're part in the war is outmatched by the the Soviet backed People's Republic, and Attaturkian Republic. Britain, France and Italy have all gained land in return for help for their respective factions.

EDIT: I think we need to add Kurdistan to the list of AH.Com Clichés

[B_Munro]

Aaaand Krall.

Even early on in the First World War the members of the Entente were making plans on how to carve up the Ottoman Empire. As "the sick man of Europe" the Ottomans' demise was almost certain, and France, Britain and Russia - as well as more minor powers such as Greece and Bulgaria - all had designs on their territory.

Sure enough the Ottomans fell, and as they did so the masses of Turks in Anatolia and Thrace rose up against their weak Emperor and established a new republic, a Turkish republic. The leaders of this new state tried to negotiate with the Entente in order to secure their country as much territory as possible. Unfortunately their revolution had come too late to make a huge difference, and their negotiating position was weak. Fortunately for them, Britain saw a chance at making a new ally. Whilst Greece made demands for all of European Turkey as well as much of Turkey's Aegean coastline and France made plans to annex much of Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast, Britain's representatives argued for a more conservative and Turk-friendly plan.

The resulting Turkish Republic was smaller than the Turks would have liked, but they were still strong, and, following the communist revolution in Russia and the USSR's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, vital to NATO's anti-USSR efforts, and provided a bulwark against Soviet expansion in to the Mediterranean.

Turkey joined NATO in 1948, and immediately Soviet influence in Europe was curbed as a potential communist puppet had dedicated itself to democracy and capitalism.

For the duration of the Cold War Turkey's foreign policy was to protect itself against the USSR by making it as vital for the protection of "the West" as possible. As a result numerous military installation were handed over to joint NATO forces, including three major docks and two major air bases. From these bases NATO could keep surveillance on communist military movements in Southern Europe and in Central Asia, and in return Turkey was constantly protected by a large contingent of primarily US interceptor aircraft, and there was rarely a time when a British or French aircraft carrier wasn't in port with full escort.

So, all in all, Turkey did rather well for itself.

[B_Munro]

And Krall won that, with Rubberduck3y6 and the Stateless Englishman tied for second, with Rekjavik a trailing third.

Happy New Year all!

Bruce

[B_Munro]

MoF 10: The Revolution Has Failed.

Meh.

Here's Rubberduck3y6:

East Asia c1900 in a world where Japan failed to modernise (failed Meiji Restoration).

[B_Munro]

Jman:

The Cultural Revolution in China plunges the country into economic and political chaos. There's another Great Famine and both urban and rural Chinese revolt against Mao's government. The PRC falls back to the northern provinces, and is unable to garrison the separatist-plagued fringes (Tibet, Outer Mongolia, Manchuria, Sinkiang), which it is forced to give autonomy (read: de facto independence). The ROC re-invades from Taiwan. The ROC's army is not nearly large enough to conquer China when they first land, but mass defections from the PRC and citizen-militias soon swell their ranks. The US and its allies are still bogged down in Vietnam, but they send money, what materials they can spare, and their good wishes. They also extend diplomatic recognition to the ROC as the rightful government of China, and the ROC still has a permanent spot on the Security Council. In the provinces caught in the middle it's simply a return to the Chinese Civil War, and they feel no loyalty to either side. Someone steps forward and claims to be the rightful Qing emperor, and the people are so desperate for stability they accept him. A more "moderate" (than Mao, anyway) Communist leader named Deng Xiaoping sets up the People's Republic of Sichuan, which is Communist but not aligned with the PRC or anyone really. And a bunch of ambitious generals take advantage of the power vacuum in Yunnan (where the spheres of influence of the ROC, P.R. Sichuan, and North Vietnam overlap and cause chaos) and set up a number of tin-pot jungle dictatorships, the so-called Guerrilla Republics.

[B_Munro]

And Krall:

The Dreikaiserbund between Imperial Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Imperial Russia survives into the early 20th century and Germany succeeds in politically isolating France from the rest of Europe.

The French government is seen by many as weak, corrupt and compliant, creating support for radical revolutionary political parties in the French Third Republic. These revolutionary movements, however, are unfocused and fragmented. Many hope to create a socialist French state, whereas other parties are focused more on revanchism, and ending Germany as a significant power in Europe.

There are allegations of major political parties fixing the vote during the 1911 legislative elections, leading to widespread unrest. This culminates in a revolution begun by the Parti Nouveau and their little-known leader René Henri Monfort. The revolution fails, resulting in the death and capture of several members of the Parti Nouveau, including Monfort.

Monfort decides to take advantage of the press coverage of his trial. Every word he says is printed in the newspapers the next day, allowing him to paint himself and the Parti in a positive light, as well as championing their revanchist policies. Public support for Monfort and the Parti increases, yet the judge at Monfort's trial still gives him a harsh sentence. However, he successfully pleas against the sentence on the terms of malicious prosecution, and his sentence is greatly reduced.

For the next five years Monfort maintains a position as an important and popular political figure, and manages to radicalise a large portion of the French people in favour of his revanchist aims. He is elected President, and the Parti Nouveau wins a majority in the French Parliament. Their main rivals in the Parliament are the socialist, left-wing Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste (Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party). Their leader is suspected of, charged with, and found guilty of treason by passing confidential information to German spies, leading to a great deal of anti-socialist and anti-communist backlash, and the banning of the RRRSP from Parliament.

With their power over government secure, Monfort and the Parti Nouveau set out what they hope to achieve for France. This includes the end of French political isolation, the end to Germany's colonial empire, and the reclamation of core French territory. The extent of "France's core" is debated over greatly, with the most moderate people believing that the only land France need reclaim is Alsace-Lorraine.

The piece of propaganda below shows the greatest extent of France's claims on their neighbours.

The Parti Nouveau's explanation for these claims are thus:
-All French speakers must be united under one state.
-The Rhine is the natural eastern border of France.
-Other states must be conquered or subjugated in order to keep them from falling into the oppressive German sphere of influence.

Vive la France.

[B_Munro]

Rubberduck3y6 in first, Krall in second, Jman third. Better things ahead!

Bruce

[B_Munro]

MoF 11:

March Across Attica
The Persians win at the Battle of Marathon and ultimately triumph against Greece. Create a map showing the results of this victory!



I'll allow for a relatively liberal interpretation of the challenge statement. Feel free to make any sort of map from any time period, provided you can connect what's shown to the Persian victory over Greece.


Jman:

This is from a school textbook from TTL, specifically the chapter on ancient history (roughly the Roman period) when three great empires dominated the "axis of civilization" (in this Persian-centric world, the entire region from Spain to India is one historical unit, comparable to OTL's "Mediterranean World"). The seal at the top is the Persian Ministry of Culture stamp (the nationalist propaganda wing of a very nasty expansionist Persian regime that wants the reclaim the full extent of the old Persian empire).

The script is Aramaic, which is TTL's equivalent of OTL's Latin alphabet, although Aramaic itself is as dead as OTL Latin. The top part says "Three Kingdoms" in an approximation of an Aramaic-derived language (which is a fancy way of saying Hebrew via Google Translator put into Aramaic script). The labels for the Three Kingdoms are KARTAGO (Carthage, in gold), HAXAMANIS (an old word for Achaemenid Persia, in green) and KANAKJA (A Persian spelling of Chanakya, who ITTL was a conquering general and dynasty-founder rather than an advisor to one, in blue). Tributaries, protectorates and other satellites are in a grayer shade of their patron's color. Map to follow.

[B_Munro]

Jman's map: