And yet another (good) timeline kills off the Ottoman Empire... One can only hope that "dissolution" means something to the effect of federalisation, balkanized Middle East is so OTL.
There just seems to be no good reason for it to suddenly up and die. While I'm sure David will give a thought out, reasoned and justifiable way for it to go it just seems to be a tired old theme of 'dusty old non-christian empires collapse'. ITTL it seems to be in far better shape than it was OTL early 20th century, so it just seems a bit out of left field for it to collapse when OTL it required three years of devastating invasion whilst already in a relatively poor state. While I'm sure you can point to any number of equivalent collapses to how David appears to be approaching this one, that it is the Ottoman Empire and not Bharat or Germany, also large multi-ethnic states, makes this choice of events feel a little... overdone.
My only "complaint" is that the Ottoman Empire suddenly coming to a collapse, and when put into context with previous updates it is sudden, is an AH trope that has been used time and time again. I'm willing to bet that David will put a more interesting spin on it that usual, but "middle east collapses into ethnic and religious violence" is, well, boring. Seeing that part of the world develop into something wholly different to OTL is much more fun, especially considering that we are all reminded every day what a mess the middle east is in.
As I said, Yugoslavia's and Iran's wild upheavals also felt (to the international media) as if they came from nowhere. Try telling someone in 1988 that the Soviet Union will cease to exist in 3 years. They'd call you absolutely nuts - everyone knew "that the USSR is here to stay for many decades or even centuries". No one payed attention to the cracks and even fewer people - the public as well as the media - understood them.
I can't speak about Iran, but Yugoslavia's trouble was a long time coming. Too much history between Serbs and Croats for it not to be.
Soviet Union nothing, try telling somebody in 1988 that they were living in the last year of the Cold War. Berlin Wall's coming down, yeah right. You've been in the funky granola again, haven't you? I think at that point, most of the Warsaw Pact members' financial situations are worse than Greece's today.
Forgive me for asking what may seem like to dumb questions, but can someone answer me the two following questions:
- What has happened to the Imperial Family?
- Does the Republic of Ezo have the Northern Territories or are they still Russian?
OK, thanks for letting me know. Though by "annexed by Russia a la OTL" you surely mean "Stolen by Russia a la OTL"I'm given to understand that as to 2, they were annexed by Russia a la OTL. As to 1, Hirohito was killed, and I think that the monarchy was abolished with his death. I'm not sure though.
I'm given to understand that as to 2, they were annexed by Russia a la OTL.
• The Kurile Islands, Sakhalin Island, and the Siberian provinces seized by Japan after the end of the Second Great War are to be turned over to the Russian Republic.
OK, thanks for letting me know. Though by "annexed by Russia a la OTL" you surely mean "Stolen by Russia a la OTL"