a Valkyrie Rises Over Europe, a Alternate Story of the Cold War
- Thread starter Kaiser K
- Start date
I look at that map and the quote and I feel the United Arab Republic and Nasser may be on the verge of doing something dumb. If they are up to something I eagerly await to see what it is.
I'm Back Baby!
You'll just have to wait and see now won't you?
Now, I don't have an exact timetable on when I can get the next update up, depends on how my schedule goes and how I can fit it in, but I've been doing some writing projects lately to get back into a groove, and I already had finished half of the next update months ago when I originally planned on posting it at first; so hopefully it shouldn't take too long.
Imperator Maximilianius
Banned
I'm Back Baby!
You'll just have to wait and see now won't you?
Now, I don't have an exact timetable on when I can get the next update up, depends on how my schedule goes and how I can fit it in, but I've been doing some writing projects lately to get back into a groove, and I already had finished half of the next update months ago when I originally planned on posting it at first; so hopefully it shouldn't take too long.
Well, that's good.
Very good, a little writing is always a great way to kick off a New Year; and so is a new update!
Holy cow, that is going to be a UAR to contend with
Tell me about it.
Welcome back, Kaiser.
Thanks man.
I just want to thank all of you, my loyal and dedicated readers for being so patient and loyal over the last few months of inactivity, silence and quiet; that I thank you for.
That being said, it is finally, FINALLY time to bring you what you all have been waiting for, arriving from the other side of the tracks, and extremely long over due, I present to you.
PART 20!
Figure 1: Nasser speaks to a jubilant crowd in downtown Cairo as he announces the ascension of Syria into the Republic, circa. 1957
Figure 2: General Salah Jadid and Captain Hafez al-Assad, the instigators of the 1957 Syrian coup d'etat
Of course, while events set in motion in Egypt occurred, other actors in the Middle East at the same time were setting up their own moves in play at the same time; along unknowingly as the world's attention peered on more pressing matters at hand. Leaving what was about to unfold within Syria to unfold however it would.
The conundrum that existed with Syria at this point and time can be traced back to the First World War, when the territory that came to encompass the country was "liberated" from the control of the former Ottoman Empire and assumed by the French; who combined the territory with the Sanjak of Alexandretta and State of Lebanon to form what would become the French Mandate of Syria. The history of the mandate was marked by periods of instability, local violence and strained political relations between the civillian population and both the French civilian government in Paris and the colonial government in Damascus over the matter of Syria's formal political status, a matter which would continue to persist between the two sides until the French government-in-exile (who had reassumed control of the region with British assistance during the war after a brief period of Vichy rule) was ultimately forced to grant full independence to the newly christened Syrian Republic on April 17th, 1947, and while the day of independence came as a day of jubilation for some in Syria; it was only merely the start of the road that the country and it's people were to set to go on.
While independence had initially been met with optimism and hope from both the international community and individuals within Syria itself, the country and it's politics were (unfortunately depending on whom you asked) met almost immediately from the point of independence with extreme upheaval and instability as dozens of factions spread across the entire political spectrum attempted to undermine not only each other, but the democratically elected (American/ACT supported) national government; all in an effort to grow their own power base and ultimately assume control of the country for themselves of course. Two of these factions in particular, those being the left-wing leaning and Pan-Arab Ba'ath Party and the openly fascist (and German supported) Syrian Social Nationalist Party came to ultimately become the two strongest of these many political movements within the country; the former partly on the basis of the growing support for both Nasserist and Pan-Arab policies on the part of both much of Syria's civilian populace as well as it's military and political elite. This support for Pan-Arab policies would probably have lead one around at the time to believe that if any group within Syria would make the step needed towards overthrowing the existing (and almost universally unsupported) Syrian federal government, that it would have been the Ba'ath Party, however as history would outlined; it was ultimately another group that would be the ones to set Syria onto the course it would soon follow.
Figure 3: Officials from the Syrian and Arab governments oversee the signing of the Accord of Syro-Arab Unification; circa 1958
It was November 18th, 1957 when forces of the before mentioned Syrian Social Nationalist Party, headed by a pair of charismatic and dangerous former Generals by the names of Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad, launched a coup d'etat against the elected regime of President Hasim al-Atassi; who's government enjoyed very little support within the country. This led to the betrayal of the government by military officials, and ultimately the coup's success, new elections were called almost immediately after the coup; elections which Jadid (who had assumed the Presidency on an initially interim basis) would win by a somewhat questionable albeit considerable margin over the Ba'ath Party candidate General Amin al-Hafiz. The SSNP administration, albeit initially popular at first, soon faced growing opposition from the considerable majority of the populace who demanded that Syria join it's other Arab brothers and unite with the Untied Arab Republic, in an attempt to save face and maintain some sort of power, Jadid offered a proposition to Arab President Gamal Abdel Nasser, that proposition of course being the ascension of the Syrian Republic into the UAR; in exchange for positions of power for both Jadid and al-Assad.
Ultimately Nasser would choose to accept Jadid's proposition in spite of his own concerns regarding the continuing expansion of the Republic and the continuing weakening of Egyptian domination as a result of the growth, this was for a multitide of reasons, among them being Nasser deciding that the risk of not accepting Syria's offer and alienating both his own and the Pan-Arab cause's support domestically (and straining relations between the various components of the UAR as a result) was too great of a one to take despite his reservations regarding the offer, and while Nasser also greatly considered the risk that both the dangerous and sadistic Jadid and al-Assad potentially could pose to himself, the risk was ultimately worth it in the eyes of Nasser; especially as he considered that being able to gain Syria's ascension to the Republic without having to drop a single ounce of Arab blood in the process would be a huge propaganda coup for both himself and the Pan-Arab cause domestically.
Thus, with all risks and rewards considered and weighed by all parties, Nasser and Jadid would agree to and sign the official "Accord of Syro-Arab unification" on February 19th, 1958 in the halls of the Syrian Parliament Building in Damascus, making the ascension of Syria into the United Arab Republic as it's fifth constitute member official on midnight February 20th, 1958; the Pan-Arab sentiments in both neighboring Iraq and Lebanon would ultimately drive the governments of both countries to accept unification with Cairo by the end of year additionally. Bringing the total constitute members of the United Arab Republic to seven as the New Year dawned on 1959, and ultimately would put the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into a precarious position going forward.
That being said, it is finally, FINALLY time to bring you what you all have been waiting for, arriving from the other side of the tracks, and extremely long over due, I present to you.
PART 20!
=======
PART 20
The Twentieth Century Pharaoh
Throughout the entirety of human history, nation states have risen and fallen like species on the food chain. Those nations with insufficient positive characteristics die off like the unfit specimens that truly are, while nations with the will to survive and the characteristics to evolve can rise from the ashes like a phoenix and achieve long sustaining racial and political success
- Albert Speer
PART 20
The Twentieth Century Pharaoh
Throughout the entirety of human history, nation states have risen and fallen like species on the food chain. Those nations with insufficient positive characteristics die off like the unfit specimens that truly are, while nations with the will to survive and the characteristics to evolve can rise from the ashes like a phoenix and achieve long sustaining racial and political success
- Albert Speer
Human history has always been one enamored with colorful figures, many of whom found a myriad of ways to achieve lofty and previously thought to be unachievable goals. Men like Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler forged empires out of entire continents, men like George Washington and Giuseppe Garibaldi fought for the freedom and unity of their homelands; while other men fought for more deceitvul and treacherous goals. Many of these men, especially those known better to modern contemporaries still shine as engima's of personality and question to this day. One of these men in particular was perhaps the greatest curiosity to historians, was a certain individual born in the city of Alexandria, Egypt; a man who rose through the ranks of the Egyptian Army and soon into the hearts of hundreds of millions loyal. That man was of course Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Figure 1: Nasser speaks to a jubilant crowd in downtown Cairo as he announces the ascension of Syria into the Republic, circa. 1957
The rise of the United Arab Republic to world prominence during the 1950s and early 1960s had largely been an unexpected one. Built largely on the skills of men who found themselves in the right place at the right time to seize upon the salivating desires of the masses. Egypt, which formed the central component of the growing state, had been a mere backwater on the dawn of the Free Officer's Revolution a mere decade prior, a slowly growing British protectorate headed by a corrupt kleptocratic and increasingly unpopular monarch in the form of then King Farouk; largely guided in it's foreign and domestic policies by the personal whims of whatever London desired from one moment to the next. The Arab world itself was comparatively divided and weak as well, split between a multitude of colonial and installed cooperative governments that largely did not serve with the true interests of the people in mind. This would however begin to drastically change with the rise of the UAR, a country birthed out of the ideas of ideologues and the pools of blood dropped by the men who fought for it's existence. Had successfully managed to grow to new heights within in a mere decade, under the leadership of President Muhammad Naguib, the new Arab republic had managed to capitalize on it's considerable oil wealth, undertaking several industrialization projects (such as the Aswan Dam) to transform the new state from a primarily agricultural based country to a increasingly modern industrial state capable of competing with the great powers on the international market; in addition to generally just developing the Arab economy towards a more increasingly diverse and modern economy for the betterment of the Arab people. The UAR had also (with extensive German assistance) expanded and transformed it's armed forces into a new modern and increasingly effective military force that could defend her expanding borders, which had grown to incorporate first Palestine and Jordan in the aftermath of the 1948 Revolutions; and later Libya and Sudan in the mid 1950s.
However, not all was well within the UAR. In actuality. Arab politics was growing increasingly polarized as the decade progressed, in spite of the so called united front showcased among the public circle by the regime. Behind the scenes, there in reality existed a growing level of distrust and animosity between the President, Muhammad Naguib, and his Vice President, Gamal Abdel Nasser; who found themselves increasingly bickering and disagreeing with one another regarding political and economic matters. The fallout within the UAR's government between the two former brothers and conspirators in arms was largely of a ideological nature, as while Nasser and Naguib had been united firmly in their goal of freeing Egypt from Western imperial tyranny years prior, the ideological differences that existed between the committed Pan-Arabist and Arab socialist that was Nasser and the extensively more conservative and stoic military man that was Naguib was now left to be unchecked and grow wotj the two men's common interests increasingly growing unaligned. This rift and Naguib's own differing political policies in turn found Nasser himself growing increasingly disillusioned personally and politically at his former friends own tyranny; even going as far to accuse him of being "The devil in disguise" during a heated backdoor meeting in Cairo on December 9th, 1956.
As a result of the antagonistic and increasingly vicious behavior on Nasser's part as the distrust between the two men grew. Naguib found that his own political security was potentially even more greatly threatened then he had even previously imagined, and began fearing that his former protege would soon seek to overthrow him and assume total power for himself. Determined to prevent this threat from coming to fruition, Naguib soon contacted the Mukhābarāt, the UAR's intelligence service; and began plotting a large scale political purge to deal with Nasser and the Nasserist bloc within government as part of a last ditch attempt to secure his own power base within the country. Ironically, his fears were not unfounded, as Nasser himself had been in actuality plotting with his own loyalists for many weeks a so called "March on Cairo" to dispose of Naguib from the Presidency and assume full political power himself. However, before any moves could ultimately be made by either man. Muhammad Naguib's would end up dying at the hands of a 45. caliber bullet fired by a member of the Islamist group known as the "Muslim Brotherhood"; a mere three days before Nasser's planned coup d'etat. As a result of Naguib's untimely death; and by virtue of being his Vice President. Nasser would end up automatically assuming the Arab Presidency upon the General's death, ending the internal power struggle between the Naguibists and the Nasserists on a admittedly twisted note; as well as serving as what would be the beginning chapter for what was to come next in the coming years.
However, not all was well within the UAR. In actuality. Arab politics was growing increasingly polarized as the decade progressed, in spite of the so called united front showcased among the public circle by the regime. Behind the scenes, there in reality existed a growing level of distrust and animosity between the President, Muhammad Naguib, and his Vice President, Gamal Abdel Nasser; who found themselves increasingly bickering and disagreeing with one another regarding political and economic matters. The fallout within the UAR's government between the two former brothers and conspirators in arms was largely of a ideological nature, as while Nasser and Naguib had been united firmly in their goal of freeing Egypt from Western imperial tyranny years prior, the ideological differences that existed between the committed Pan-Arabist and Arab socialist that was Nasser and the extensively more conservative and stoic military man that was Naguib was now left to be unchecked and grow wotj the two men's common interests increasingly growing unaligned. This rift and Naguib's own differing political policies in turn found Nasser himself growing increasingly disillusioned personally and politically at his former friends own tyranny; even going as far to accuse him of being "The devil in disguise" during a heated backdoor meeting in Cairo on December 9th, 1956.
As a result of the antagonistic and increasingly vicious behavior on Nasser's part as the distrust between the two men grew. Naguib found that his own political security was potentially even more greatly threatened then he had even previously imagined, and began fearing that his former protege would soon seek to overthrow him and assume total power for himself. Determined to prevent this threat from coming to fruition, Naguib soon contacted the Mukhābarāt, the UAR's intelligence service; and began plotting a large scale political purge to deal with Nasser and the Nasserist bloc within government as part of a last ditch attempt to secure his own power base within the country. Ironically, his fears were not unfounded, as Nasser himself had been in actuality plotting with his own loyalists for many weeks a so called "March on Cairo" to dispose of Naguib from the Presidency and assume full political power himself. However, before any moves could ultimately be made by either man. Muhammad Naguib's would end up dying at the hands of a 45. caliber bullet fired by a member of the Islamist group known as the "Muslim Brotherhood"; a mere three days before Nasser's planned coup d'etat. As a result of Naguib's untimely death; and by virtue of being his Vice President. Nasser would end up automatically assuming the Arab Presidency upon the General's death, ending the internal power struggle between the Naguibists and the Nasserists on a admittedly twisted note; as well as serving as what would be the beginning chapter for what was to come next in the coming years.
Figure 2: General Salah Jadid and Captain Hafez al-Assad, the instigators of the 1957 Syrian coup d'etat
Of course, while events set in motion in Egypt occurred, other actors in the Middle East at the same time were setting up their own moves in play at the same time; along unknowingly as the world's attention peered on more pressing matters at hand. Leaving what was about to unfold within Syria to unfold however it would.
The conundrum that existed with Syria at this point and time can be traced back to the First World War, when the territory that came to encompass the country was "liberated" from the control of the former Ottoman Empire and assumed by the French; who combined the territory with the Sanjak of Alexandretta and State of Lebanon to form what would become the French Mandate of Syria. The history of the mandate was marked by periods of instability, local violence and strained political relations between the civillian population and both the French civilian government in Paris and the colonial government in Damascus over the matter of Syria's formal political status, a matter which would continue to persist between the two sides until the French government-in-exile (who had reassumed control of the region with British assistance during the war after a brief period of Vichy rule) was ultimately forced to grant full independence to the newly christened Syrian Republic on April 17th, 1947, and while the day of independence came as a day of jubilation for some in Syria; it was only merely the start of the road that the country and it's people were to set to go on.
While independence had initially been met with optimism and hope from both the international community and individuals within Syria itself, the country and it's politics were (unfortunately depending on whom you asked) met almost immediately from the point of independence with extreme upheaval and instability as dozens of factions spread across the entire political spectrum attempted to undermine not only each other, but the democratically elected (American/ACT supported) national government; all in an effort to grow their own power base and ultimately assume control of the country for themselves of course. Two of these factions in particular, those being the left-wing leaning and Pan-Arab Ba'ath Party and the openly fascist (and German supported) Syrian Social Nationalist Party came to ultimately become the two strongest of these many political movements within the country; the former partly on the basis of the growing support for both Nasserist and Pan-Arab policies on the part of both much of Syria's civilian populace as well as it's military and political elite. This support for Pan-Arab policies would probably have lead one around at the time to believe that if any group within Syria would make the step needed towards overthrowing the existing (and almost universally unsupported) Syrian federal government, that it would have been the Ba'ath Party, however as history would outlined; it was ultimately another group that would be the ones to set Syria onto the course it would soon follow.
Figure 3: Officials from the Syrian and Arab governments oversee the signing of the Accord of Syro-Arab Unification; circa 1958
It was November 18th, 1957 when forces of the before mentioned Syrian Social Nationalist Party, headed by a pair of charismatic and dangerous former Generals by the names of Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad, launched a coup d'etat against the elected regime of President Hasim al-Atassi; who's government enjoyed very little support within the country. This led to the betrayal of the government by military officials, and ultimately the coup's success, new elections were called almost immediately after the coup; elections which Jadid (who had assumed the Presidency on an initially interim basis) would win by a somewhat questionable albeit considerable margin over the Ba'ath Party candidate General Amin al-Hafiz. The SSNP administration, albeit initially popular at first, soon faced growing opposition from the considerable majority of the populace who demanded that Syria join it's other Arab brothers and unite with the Untied Arab Republic, in an attempt to save face and maintain some sort of power, Jadid offered a proposition to Arab President Gamal Abdel Nasser, that proposition of course being the ascension of the Syrian Republic into the UAR; in exchange for positions of power for both Jadid and al-Assad.
Ultimately Nasser would choose to accept Jadid's proposition in spite of his own concerns regarding the continuing expansion of the Republic and the continuing weakening of Egyptian domination as a result of the growth, this was for a multitide of reasons, among them being Nasser deciding that the risk of not accepting Syria's offer and alienating both his own and the Pan-Arab cause's support domestically (and straining relations between the various components of the UAR as a result) was too great of a one to take despite his reservations regarding the offer, and while Nasser also greatly considered the risk that both the dangerous and sadistic Jadid and al-Assad potentially could pose to himself, the risk was ultimately worth it in the eyes of Nasser; especially as he considered that being able to gain Syria's ascension to the Republic without having to drop a single ounce of Arab blood in the process would be a huge propaganda coup for both himself and the Pan-Arab cause domestically.
Thus, with all risks and rewards considered and weighed by all parties, Nasser and Jadid would agree to and sign the official "Accord of Syro-Arab unification" on February 19th, 1958 in the halls of the Syrian Parliament Building in Damascus, making the ascension of Syria into the United Arab Republic as it's fifth constitute member official on midnight February 20th, 1958; the Pan-Arab sentiments in both neighboring Iraq and Lebanon would ultimately drive the governments of both countries to accept unification with Cairo by the end of year additionally. Bringing the total constitute members of the United Arab Republic to seven as the New Year dawned on 1959, and ultimately would put the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into a precarious position going forward.
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The West's opinion of the UAR is one that you could say is very cold, the rapid growth of the country into borderline superpowerdom and the weakening influence the West has in the region (as well as the growing albeit subtle German influence as a result of the UAR and the Reich's close relationship) in unsettling many in London, Washington and Moscow; and being pretty much unable to keep the cogs of the machine from collapsing in the Middle East is even worse for them.
Iran is even more unsettled by the developments then even the West is, especially if the growing threat of the UAR going for nuclear weapons proves to come true.
So we might see the UAR and Iran go at each other.
Say Hello to the Iran-Iraq War times 10.
Might, that's the keyword; might. There are no guarantees in this universe.
He's certainly ambitious enough to have more then an outside shot at succeeding at the goal, through a lot of outside circumstances theoretically out of his control have been partly responsible for how much he has succeeded at achieving his Pan-Arab unity goals.
They do, sorry; I meant the Soviet capital (can't remember what it is at the exact moment)