Next part will be up either tomorrow or Sunday. Anything that you guys would like to see?
Christianity, Commerce and Civilization: A Scramble for Africa TL
- Thread starter Gwrtheyrn Annwn
- Start date
The next part will be up tomorrow.
Yeah there's quite a few agrarian issues in Hungary that could be solved by this colonial project of Austria Hungary. Mostly providing land grants those landless agricultural workers who agree to move down there, ideally of course.
Sorry all large amounts of unexpected work mean the part is delayed further will definitely be up to today though.
Part 4:
From now on I'll will write this TL as though it were extracts from a history book, "The Colonization and Conversion of Africa 1878-1916"
Extract from “The Colonization and Conversion of Africa 1878-1916” by Arthur Lawrence
The Establishment of Austro-Hungarian Congo:
The Austro-Hungarian decision to go after Henry Morton Stanley and the Congo, was caused by the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, at the time, Guyla Andrassy’s obsession with Doctor David Livingstone. Despite never meeting the Scotsman, he became fascinated with Livingstone’s work and exploration. When Andrassy heard of Stanley’s return to Britain and the subsequent rejection of his services by William Gladstone, Andrassy’s British counterpart, he contacted him in regard to establishing a Austro-Hungarian colony.
Faced with initial objections by the French Prime Minister William Waddington, Andrassy rallied his support among Ottoman, Spanish and Danish politicians and convinced Waddington to allow the Austro-Hungarians to found a colony. Them faced with possible Portuguese objection Andrassy convinced Spain to intimidate the Portuguese into not acting on this infringement of their claimed area. The Portuguese, not wanting a war that would wreck their country accepted the Austro-Hungarian establishment of the colony.
The Congo War:
Following the founding of Österreicher Kongo, Andrassy began to expand the Austrian claim. This caused the Portuguese to get increasing nervous. They appealed to their allies, Britain and Germany, but both rejected the Portuguese entreaties. Following this rejection Portugal took matters in to their own hands. A night attack on the Austrian base on the 20th May 1879 lead to the Congo War. This minor war, fought over the Kingdom of the Congo, was fought solely by Austro-Hungary and Portugal, both left their allies out of the war. The Austro-Hungarian stirred up a rebellion within the Kingdom of the Congo and drove the Portuguese out of the Kingdom. Austro-Hungarian forces under the command of Stjepan Jovanović besieged and captured the Portuguese port of Cabinda. Jovanović and his army then turned south to attack Angola, with the help of navy attacks on Portuguese towns, the army stormed through the Portuguese control region. However, the climate took its toll on the European soldiers and by the end of the war the majority of the 10,000 strong army was African recruits drafted into to service from the Kingdom of the Congo and the Austro-Hungarian colony.
A Change in Plans:
The massacre of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers by nature in the Congo, lead to the Franco-Austrian Alliance taking up a different approach to colonization. This new approach involved setting up native puppet states, instead of colonies.
Points of the Civilization Plan:
- Step up small colonies on the coast.
- Spread influence through bribery and trade agreements.
- Set up puppet states through sympathetic noblemen and chieftains.
- Convert rulers and natives to Christianity.
- Civilize, modernize and industrialize the puppet states, until they’re modern nation states.
From now on I'll will write this TL as though it were extracts from a history book, "The Colonization and Conversion of Africa 1878-1916"
Extract from “The Colonization and Conversion of Africa 1878-1916” by Arthur Lawrence
The Establishment of Austro-Hungarian Congo:
The Austro-Hungarian decision to go after Henry Morton Stanley and the Congo, was caused by the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, at the time, Guyla Andrassy’s obsession with Doctor David Livingstone. Despite never meeting the Scotsman, he became fascinated with Livingstone’s work and exploration. When Andrassy heard of Stanley’s return to Britain and the subsequent rejection of his services by William Gladstone, Andrassy’s British counterpart, he contacted him in regard to establishing a Austro-Hungarian colony.
Faced with initial objections by the French Prime Minister William Waddington, Andrassy rallied his support among Ottoman, Spanish and Danish politicians and convinced Waddington to allow the Austro-Hungarians to found a colony. Them faced with possible Portuguese objection Andrassy convinced Spain to intimidate the Portuguese into not acting on this infringement of their claimed area. The Portuguese, not wanting a war that would wreck their country accepted the Austro-Hungarian establishment of the colony.
The Congo War:
Following the founding of Österreicher Kongo, Andrassy began to expand the Austrian claim. This caused the Portuguese to get increasing nervous. They appealed to their allies, Britain and Germany, but both rejected the Portuguese entreaties. Following this rejection Portugal took matters in to their own hands. A night attack on the Austrian base on the 20th May 1879 lead to the Congo War. This minor war, fought over the Kingdom of the Congo, was fought solely by Austro-Hungary and Portugal, both left their allies out of the war. The Austro-Hungarian stirred up a rebellion within the Kingdom of the Congo and drove the Portuguese out of the Kingdom. Austro-Hungarian forces under the command of Stjepan Jovanović besieged and captured the Portuguese port of Cabinda. Jovanović and his army then turned south to attack Angola, with the help of navy attacks on Portuguese towns, the army stormed through the Portuguese control region. However, the climate took its toll on the European soldiers and by the end of the war the majority of the 10,000 strong army was African recruits drafted into to service from the Kingdom of the Congo and the Austro-Hungarian colony.
A Change in Plans:
The massacre of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers by nature in the Congo, lead to the Franco-Austrian Alliance taking up a different approach to colonization. This new approach involved setting up native puppet states, instead of colonies.
Points of the Civilization Plan:
- Step up small colonies on the coast.
- Spread influence through bribery and trade agreements.
- Set up puppet states through sympathetic noblemen and chieftains.
- Convert rulers and natives to Christianity.
- Civilize, modernize and industrialize the puppet states, until they’re modern nation states.
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Interesting developments in regard to the method of colonization. This will certainly set the butterflies flapping.
A lot of us lurk but it's good. Sticks to Habsburg principals from the HRE, divide and conquer. That last point is vague enough to work in conjunction with colonialism IOTL
Thanks. Oh the butterflies will be flapping. (but not to much.)
OK, just worried by the lack of comments. The Hapsburg colonization methods are partially designed on their methods in the HRE, yes.
Just to clarify: Has A-H actually annexed Angola, or just Cabinda/Kingdom of Kongo? The latter would make more sense, as the Portuguese have been entrenched in Angola for longer than any other colonial power in Africa.
Interesting updates. I'm still not fully convinced of an A-H colony in the Congo, but I did like that you went to the effort to stop any French objections that would likely occur. I imagine this Congo would still be smaller than OTL's though, even a little.
Some interesting butterflies to consider: In OTL Cecil Rhodes for the British South Africa Company staked a claim to Katanga that the British never fulfilled. ITTL, if France and A-H are in alliance, and Britain is cozying up to Germany, I could see them taking Katanga to limit Austrian influence.
Interesting updates. I'm still not fully convinced of an A-H colony in the Congo, but I did like that you went to the effort to stop any French objections that would likely occur. I imagine this Congo would still be smaller than OTL's though, even a little.
Some interesting butterflies to consider: In OTL Cecil Rhodes for the British South Africa Company staked a claim to Katanga that the British never fulfilled. ITTL, if France and A-H are in alliance, and Britain is cozying up to Germany, I could see them taking Katanga to limit Austrian influence.
A-H has annexed Cabinda and established a puppet state in the Kingdom of the Kongo, Angola remains Portuguese. As for the size of the Congo, it will probably have a longer coastline but not penetrate as far into the heart of the continent and thus end up smaller, yes.
In regards to the butterflies, this could be an interesting idea that I will follow up.
Thanks for the continued support.
I also wonder about the diseases you say have decimated the A-H colonial forces in Africa; quinine was in use by the time Europeans began to colonise Africa in earnest, and allowed white Europeans to penetrate further into Africa. I still think it's a smarter choice to 'divide and rule' as the Austrians are doing regardless, using native proxies to build their empire, but it's something else to consider if they ever send settlers.
Out of curiosity, will we be hearing about other Europeans and their empires as well as the Austrians, and what other areas will the Austrians be going for? Or are they quite happy with the Congo (itself, if properly exploited, supposedly a decent resource base)? What about Belgium?
And do you plan on addressing the Berlin Conference or an ATL equivalent? Perhaps a 'Vienna Conference', or Leopold decides to go for a 'Brussels Conference' to try and satisfy his ego before all the best bits are taken.
Some of the most profitable parts of Africa have always been the bits where white settlers could emigrate to en masse (even if they didn't in reality), such as South Africa (already British of course) and the East African highlands. Also Togoland was said to be Germany's only OTL colony that turned a decent profit.
One final thing, before you go rushing in (as some are wont to do), is to consider what powers didn't have African colonies and the reasons why. The Dutch, for example, surrendered their Gold Coast holdings to Britain in OTL. This was because the Dutch colonial affair minister at the time realised these holdings were unprofitable yet expensive to maintain, and the Dutch were still busy subjugating parts of the much more lucrative Indonesia and they needed the British to accept the Dutch sphere of influence over Sumatra in its entirety (which the British were resistant to do because obviously they too controlled parts of the Straits of Malacca).
The point is, I can't see the Dutch going for anymore colonies in Africa. They still have Surinam (another treaty at the same time as the ones establishing their dominance over Sumatra and ceding the Gold Coast was to contract workers from the British Raj to work in Surinam, interestingly enough).
For other powers, such as the Danes, Swedes, etc, it's worth considering the reasons why not.
Out of curiosity, will we be hearing about other Europeans and their empires as well as the Austrians, and what other areas will the Austrians be going for? Or are they quite happy with the Congo (itself, if properly exploited, supposedly a decent resource base)? What about Belgium?
And do you plan on addressing the Berlin Conference or an ATL equivalent? Perhaps a 'Vienna Conference', or Leopold decides to go for a 'Brussels Conference' to try and satisfy his ego before all the best bits are taken.
Some of the most profitable parts of Africa have always been the bits where white settlers could emigrate to en masse (even if they didn't in reality), such as South Africa (already British of course) and the East African highlands. Also Togoland was said to be Germany's only OTL colony that turned a decent profit.
One final thing, before you go rushing in (as some are wont to do), is to consider what powers didn't have African colonies and the reasons why. The Dutch, for example, surrendered their Gold Coast holdings to Britain in OTL. This was because the Dutch colonial affair minister at the time realised these holdings were unprofitable yet expensive to maintain, and the Dutch were still busy subjugating parts of the much more lucrative Indonesia and they needed the British to accept the Dutch sphere of influence over Sumatra in its entirety (which the British were resistant to do because obviously they too controlled parts of the Straits of Malacca).
The point is, I can't see the Dutch going for anymore colonies in Africa. They still have Surinam (another treaty at the same time as the ones establishing their dominance over Sumatra and ceding the Gold Coast was to contract workers from the British Raj to work in Surinam, interestingly enough).
For other powers, such as the Danes, Swedes, etc, it's worth considering the reasons why not.
Just some extra points you probably already thought of them. The Austrians should more or less break their puppet states into as many tribal majority regions as possible otherwise things will get messy in the long run. Look at the current state of the eastern region of the Congo as an example. As long as all the petty chieftains/nobles are squabbling with each other over (just like the old HRE) no ones going to question the overbearing position of their foreign overlord. I would hope that each "state" has some type of Imperial "advisor" who reports to the colonial authority in the coastal colonies. A Long leash but a tight one nevertheless. Maybe some sort of federal colonial state could emerge with each of the regions acknowledging the overall authority of whatever coastal capitol is designated (possibly a renamed Banana. Franz Josefstadt?) All the while left to their own devise.
Also considering how massive their new Congolese colony (with puppet states) is, even minus Katanga, I wonder if they really would need anymore colonial territory. It's been hinted that they'll go after North Borneo compared to OTL they just to be honest don't have the ability to go to far since they're outlet ports can be easily blocked by the Italians in the event of war.
Also considering how massive their new Congolese colony (with puppet states) is, even minus Katanga, I wonder if they really would need anymore colonial territory. It's been hinted that they'll go after North Borneo compared to OTL they just to be honest don't have the ability to go to far since they're outlet ports can be easily blocked by the Italians in the event of war.
^ Divvying up colonial territories along tribal lines isn't really in-line with European thinkng in the day. More likely they'd prop up certain strongmen against others, organise tribes into confederations under European supervision, and give private corporations free-reign over the resources and how to manage them.
Keep in mind, at the establishment of new colonies the thinking is not "What will this be like when they get independence?" In their minds, they'll be keeping their colonies forever.
Keep in mind, at the establishment of new colonies the thinking is not "What will this be like when they get independence?" In their minds, they'll be keeping their colonies forever.
Yeah true I kinda went off on that post my bad
Yeah I put a little bit of hindsight into that post and I mean I was more or less going for what you just described I'm just did badly at it But no worries I know that the idea of eventually giving freedom to the colonies was pie in the sky just trying to figure how AH could control the territory more easily. After all the colony is still about the size of Empire itself more or less. It's practically their own India, with their puppets filling in as Princely states.
Benevolent
Banned
It seems like the best bet would have been to simply take what would later be equatorial DRC, it was all that populated and made up of basically small subsistence farmers of Banana, sweet potato and taro rather than the densely populated KiKongo who resided in the south of DRC and northern Angola who by then were under Portuguese control.
You wouldn't even need puppet states, African agriculture wasn't compatible with rainforest climates until Banana and new world crops became established so you'd just have small villages near waterways.
You wouldn't even need puppet states, African agriculture wasn't compatible with rainforest climates until Banana and new world crops became established so you'd just have small villages near waterways.