AH challenge: Austro-Hungarian colonies in Africa

What is Dongola Bay? Do you mean Delagoa Bay? They did not ever control it.

Yes, Delagoa. Sorry about the typo.

In 1778 the Austrians preformed a geological survey of the Indian Ocean, and to seek out sites for an Austrian colony. This was headed by the Austrian East India Company, which had been established in Trieste at the time.

They wanted to establish a trading center mostly, where goods from Asia could be bought, sold, and gathered to ship back to Trieste. They set up a station on the Malabar Coast of India, the Nicobar Islands, and Delagoa Bay.

It was more a whimsical idea than serious, but the Empress Maria Theresa and Josef agreed to the plan put forward by a Dutch gentleman who had experience dealing in the opium trade. Needless to say, the they had abandoned the idea by 1783; they weren't making any money and the company was quickly liquidated.

The colonization of Delagoa is listed on this site, but it's for a game, so I'm not sure how reliable it is. It does have some interesting information about the Austrian navy though. There's an article on the colonization of the Nicobar Islands on Wikipedia, at least.
 
The colonization of Delagoa is listed on this site, but it's for a game, so I'm not sure how reliable it is. It does have some interesting information about the Austrian navy though. There's an article on the colonization of the Nicobar Islands on Wikipedia, at least.

The material usually found on Avalanche Press' website is reliable and always very interesting. Its president, Mike Benninghof, is an Austro-Hungarian nut. Which explains the greater attention given to A-H in many of its games.
 
Yes, Delagoa. Sorry about the typo.

In 1778 the Austrians preformed a geological survey of the Indian Ocean, and to seek out sites for an Austrian colony. This was headed by the Austrian East India Company, which had been established in Trieste at the time.

They wanted to establish a trading center mostly, where goods from Asia could be bought, sold, and gathered to ship back to Trieste. They set up a station on the Malabar Coast of India, the Nicobar Islands, and Delagoa Bay.

It was more a whimsical idea than serious, but the Empress Maria Theresa and Josef agreed to the plan put forward by a Dutch gentleman who had experience dealing in the opium trade. Needless to say, the they had abandoned the idea by 1783; they weren't making any money and the company was quickly liquidated.

The colonization of Delagoa is listed on this site, but it's for a game, so I'm not sure how reliable it is. It does have some interesting information about the Austrian navy though. There's an article on the colonization of the Nicobar Islands on Wikipedia, at least.

I came across this:

http://www.mozambiquehappenings.co.za/maputohomepage.htm

It says the presence there was Thande's Ostend Company.
 
Ah, great. Interesting read.

I'm not sure if it could be the Ostend company, though, considering the British forced Charles VI to surpress it as part of their alliance in the 1730s. A revived one, I guess.
 
Congo Free State

well, OTL, the closest the A-H got to an African colonial empire was in the Congo Free State, when large nos. of expat Hapsburg mercs served, alongside other Europeans, as officers in King Leopld's FORCE PUBLIQUE...
 
Yes, well there's this little thing called the Ottoman Empire with a large war fleet that might just object to that. Not to mention all the other powers.

Hmm, I don't think the Ottoman Empire maintained a permanent blockade of all A-H ports now did they? They are not going to object to the normal movement of ships. And the other powers will not suddenly get upset about a few limited colonial ventures.
 
Hmm, I don't think the Ottoman Empire maintained a permanent blockade of all A-H ports now did they? They are not going to object to the normal movement of ships. And the other powers will not suddenly get upset about a few limited colonial ventures.

Right, but Libya at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire, and both Tunisia and Egypt were protectorates in the broadly theoretical sense. The Ottomans will object to the Austrians invading their land.
 
Right, but Libya at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire, and both Tunisia and Egypt were protectorates in the broadly theoretical sense. The Ottomans will object to the Austrians invading their land.

True, but there is the whole rest of Africa.
 
True, but there is the whole rest of Africa.

The Austrians have essentially zero naval power projection. The North African coastline is in either the French or Ottoman spheres. Where are they going to go? Especially given that at this point much of the coastal African states are already protectorates or de-facto protectorates of the British, French or Portuguese, or are states which are quite powerful locally and would require substantial effort and resources to subdue. It's not as if Africa was a blank slate before the Europeans rocked up.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
Easy - Franz agrees with Conrad instead of firing him in 1911

AH challenge: Austro-Hungarian colonies in Africa
Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to gain Austria-Hungary a colony in Africa. It doesn't have to be big, the size of Togoland is fine, but it has to be there.

Go!

PoD is Austria-Hungary deciding, per Conrad's plan, to give the Italians a thrashing in the Italo-Ottoman War. The Austro-Hungarians put the Italians on the defensive and devastate bordering regions of northern Italy.

The Austro-Hungarian functional alliance with the Ottomans deters the Balkan League from moving.

Nobody lifts a finger for the Italians, not the Entente, which wants to break out the popcorn and see what happens, and not Germany, which for good reason does not trust Italy anymore.

The Libya campaign quickly becomes an unaffordable luxury for Italy. The Austro-Hungarian fleet breaks out of the Adriatic and cooperates with the ottoman fleet in the Aegean.

At the peace table, the Austro-Hungarians demand an indemnity. They don't want to actually annex additional Italian speaking territories, even if there's a sentimental/historical attachment (Lombardy & Venetia). But they Austro-Hungarians need to mark their victory in some visible way on the map, because that's just what you do when you win a war.

So, they force Italy to yield Somaliland to them. Austro-Hungarian Somaliland. To sweeten the pot, the treaty also supports a partition of Eritrea, yielding most of it to the Ottomans, with a narrow strip for Abyssinia to give it access to the sea.

So we have, at least temporarily, contained Balkan nationalism, preserved and even extended Ottoman territory, seriously messed with Italy, given most nationalities of the empire something to cheer about and, oh yeah, obtained an Austro-Hungarian colony in Africa.
 

katchen

Banned
I think that we are all forgetting the biggest window for Austria to get colonies. Remember the settlement the Pope proposed to Louis XIV to the Spanish succession in which he would get Spain and the Holy Roman Empire would get Spain's Empire? What if that settlement had been accepted by Louis XIV as the best deal he could get. No War of Spanish Succession (or a war in which the Protestant powers would be at a much greater disadvantage). And Austria, as elector would wind up with some of if not the bulk of Spain's empire including such near cities as Oran, Melilla and Ceuta in North Africa.So instead of a late tiny Austrian Empire that involves Austria-Hungary acting totally out of character, try to work on what a Spanish Empire that turned into an Austrian Empire turned to Austria-Hungarian Empire would look and sound like in the New World. That would be a VERY interesting time line.
 
Remember the settlement the Pope proposed to Louis XIV to the Spanish succession in which he would get Spain and the Holy Roman Empire would get Spain's Empire? What if that settlement had been accepted by Louis XIV as the best deal he could get. *<snip>* Austria, as elector would wind up with some of if not the bulk of Spain's empire including such near cities as Oran, Melilla and Ceuta in North Africa.
Although I don't know how those towns on the North African coast were classified by the Spanish government before the treaty, I strongly suspect that they would have been counted as part of Spain itself rather than of its empire (due to not only their proximity to mainland Spain but also the fact that they're east of "the line") for that division.
 
AH gains a colony from a war settlement, maybe the war over Italian unification explodes into something bigger, maybe tied into an early Franco-Prussian war so it's France+Sardinia-Piedmont vs Prussia+Austria? - AH+allies win, AH gains a French colony?
 
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