Proposals and War Aims That Didn't Happen Map Thread

You do have to take into account how ephemeral identities can be, tho
I don't see why that's necessarily true in this case. Yes, identities are fluid, but they're certainly not formless ether. Identities are self-reinforcing, particularly against one another and particularly in this situation. Every Ukrainian I've met is pretty serious and unyielding about the fact that they're Ukrainian and explicitly not Russian. Since Crimea, they've been willing to get in a fight about it.
 
Ottoman_Claims.png

The Ottoman Empire's ambitions for a Central Powers victory.
* Annexing Kuwait, the Dodecanese Islands, and Kars
* Making client states out of Egypt, Sudan, and many lands in southern Arabia and the Caucasus
* Extending their influence as far east as Iran and Afghanistan
 
Why would there be an Armenia? Didn't the Ottomans try to kill them all during WW1?
I'm not entirely sure. The Ottomans were terrified of Armenian nationalism, especially because of their large population in eastern Anatolia, where it was thought they might ally themselves with the christian Russians against the empire. I'm guessing the idea with the client state was, more or less, to purge them from Ottoman territory proper, push whoever was left somewhere else, and economically exploit them.

Or it might not have been Armenian at all, but instead populated by Azeris. Either way is horrifying.
 
I'm not entirely sure. The Ottomans were terrified of Armenian nationalism, especially because of their large population in eastern Anatolia, where it was thought they might ally themselves with the christian Russians against the empire. I'm guessing the idea with the client state was, more or less, to purge them from Ottoman territory proper, push whoever was left somewhere else, and economically exploit them.

Or it might not have been Armenian at all, but instead populated by Azeris. Either way is horrifying.

I fear that you are correct in that the Ottomans saw the Armenians as the Nazis saw the Poles: obstacles to be annihilated in the aftermath of victory.
 
Propaganda really is something else, huh?
"The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building!"

"George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front."

"Oh, no sir, absolutely not. [aside] Mad as a bicycle!"
 
Top