Why would Paris or London relinquish strategic strongholds along the Red Sea to Ethiopia? There's also no Ethiopian desire to directly annex any regions in Kenya or Sudan but you could see Ethiopia supporting Sudanese independence via Equatoria - in regards to comparing Manchukuo to Hejaz, that seems a bit extreme, no?
Ethiopia Rises - a Meiji Ethiopia TL
- Thread starter twistedirregular
- Start date
When it becomes no longer viable or profitable. It is the decline of empires after all.
damein fisher
Banned
Like I said, Ethiopia gaining Entente colonies is a hard maybe and would require Ethiopia making a massive effort to the war, but the promise of these colonies is another question that we very well could see; promises =/= gains. As for Hejaz, the point is that they would really be directly controlled, a protectorate is more likely. This is because the European powers wouldn't want Ethiopia controlling too much of the coast on the route to India. I could also see a condominium forming in Hejaz between the UK and Ethiopia in exchange for British Somaliland, though that isn't the most likely.
How extensive do you think Ethiopia's donation to the war effort is?
damein fisher
Banned
Based on what I've read [still reading] it seems pretty significant. Not so much that the Entente will give away colonies, but enough that they might give small concessions. Ethiopia seems like they can get deep into Ottoman Arabia, which means they will likely want it.
Perhaps another puppet and in time member of an Imperial Federation?
Maybe one way that Ethiopia can end up making gains amongst Entente colonies is that they commit their troops to helping ensure Sèvres sticks, and are successful in the effort and the Entente repays them for it.
The Great War Pt. 3
Sept. 27th, 1915: The Battle of Es Sinn: Anglo-Ethiopian forces under the joint command of Charles Townshend and Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu moved towards Ottoman positions at Es Sinn but they both fought over what move to take against the Ottomans - Townshend favored enveloping the positions but Mulugeta had wanted to attack them head-on. However, Mulugeta was pressured into accepting Townshend's plans by Imperial Ethiopian High Command and reluctantly committed his forces to the battle that was to come as Ethiopian troops spearheaded the attack against stiff Ottoman resistance. Ottoman positions had been cleared with Ethiopian and British bayonets while Brigadier General Fry attempted to gather British forces for a frontal assault against Ottoman troops between the Suwaikiya Marsh and the river. After securing support from the EEF's 23rd Imperial Regiment, this was successful but with heavy losses on both sides while Ottoman forces that were under Nureddin Pasha attempted to reinforce the Ottoman lines. Mulugeta contributed his forces to Fry's attacks which captured Ottoman trenches and repulsed the Ottoman attempts at retaking their positions, forcing Nureddin to fall back towards Ctesiphon where he made preparations for another confrontation with Anglo-Ethiopian forces.
Nov. 22, 1915: Battle of Ctesiphon: After consolidating in Es Sinn, Anglo-Ethiopian forces continued the advance to Ctesiphon where Nureddin had established a well-planned defensive position and possessed reserve veteran units such as the 51st Division. Meanwhile, Townshend was attempting another replication of the battle fought at Es Sinn but this found resistance from Mulugeta who realized the extent of prepared Ottoman forces and instead favored smashing through their enemy's fresh 45th Division. After examining the British aerial reconnaissance results, Mulugeta had correctly assessed the weakest positions and opposed the British command's proposal of attacks all along the Ottoman forces in favor of one decisive assault to break through the newer Ottoman troops so that Entente troops could overwhelm the Ottoman reserves before they could be brought up. Mulugeta was forced to compromise with Townshend, the EEF would be leading their planned attack against what they perceived to be the weaker Ottoman position whilst Townshend's troops were to focus on launching attacks all along the line to stretch Ottoman troops thin and unable to respond to the Anglo-Ethiopian advance.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Imperial Ethiopian Divisions were the first Entente formations to launch an overwhelming frontal assault while Townshend's Anglo-Indian columns launched their attacks all along the Ottomans' frontlines. Despite heavy casualties, the EEF managed to penetrate through the 45th Division's lines but their attack soon bogged down with the 51st Division's counterattacks and forced Mulugeta to request British support while attempting to consolidate his gains in the face of consistent Ottoman counterattacks. While the EEF tied down sizable Ottoman troops, Anglo-Indian forces had managed to break through and exploit this opportunity in the face of ever-stiffening Ottoman resistance that was successfully flanked. Nureddin attempted to redirect his reserves to halt British forces but these reserves were also facing stiff - even near-suicidal - resistance from Ras Mulugeta's experienced forces who had not only taken Nasiriyah but had served in the Ethiopian invasion of Yemen. Soon enough, Anglo-Indian and Ethiopian forces had linked up after reinforcements bolstered their positions and allowed for them to successfully encircle Nureddin's troops. However, this was done at the cost of 4,600 British casualties and at 6,000 Ethiopian casualties while the Ottomans themselves had sustained 10,000 casualties in the Battle of Ctestiphon.
(Soldiers of the 2nd Imperial Division of the Ethiopian Expeditionary Force advancing forward in the Battle of Ctesiphon, circa. 1915)
Jan. 20th, 1916 - In the aftermath of Nureddin's escape from the Anglo-Ethiopian encirclement and heavy losses at Ctesiphon, Enver Pasha replaced him with Col. Halil Kut as Anglo-Ethiopian forces managed to force those encircled to surrender at their hands. However, the Ottomans managed to secure their own victories at Gallipoli where the ANZACs retreated from their positions and boosted Ottoman morale but also allowed for Ottoman forces at Gallipoli to be shifted to their new positions in Iraq. Meanwhile, Anglo-Ethiopian forces focused on building up the necessary logistical infrastructure to support further advances from the Entente and deeper into the Ottoman Empire to force Istanbul's capitulation. Constant Ottoman attacks hampered such efforts when Ottoman reinforcements began to arrive in growing numbers in Mesopotamia which saw London place more pressure on Ethiopia to provide more manpower, the former viewing the Middle Eastern Theatre as nothing more than a secondary front in comparison to the Western Front. Ethiopian forces were already being spread thin across the Western Front, the Balkans and in German East Africa but Haile Selassie would turn towards another source of manpower - Islamic Ethiopia.
With the Ottomans' declaration of Jihad in an attempt to rally support from the Muslim world against the Entente, Addis Ababa had feared a potential revolution from the sizable Muslim communities that existed in the Ogaden and Eritrea. The Ethiopian government increased the number of IEA garrisons in the Ogaden where they had monitored the gradual conversion and Highlander settling processes in the southeastern province. As Ethiopia joined the Entente in 1915, these had to be stripped of men needed for the various fronts and led to Haile Selassie becoming more pragmatic, recruiting all-Muslim detachments from the Ogaden and Equatoria whilst relaxing certain measures that had been instituted during Tewodros and Menelik's reigns. This saw Equatoria becoming more autonomous from the Ethiopian government as more Equatorians were conscripted for service alongside those who volunteered, the latter often being Christians. More Eritrean troops had manifested alongside the Ethiopian Expeditionary Forces in Mesopotamia and German East Africa while the Salonika Front was being stripped of more men to be sent to Mesopotamia. Unfortunately, Addis Ababa required more than just volunteers from one of her new provinces - Himyar where there was still unrest from the Ethiopian invasion and annexation in 1913, especially with the declaration of Jihad that aroused Himyar's Sunni Muslims. This ultimately manifested in the 1915 Yemeni Revolt where the Ethiopian administration in Sana'a was overthrown by a combination of Sunni Muslims and Yemeni soldiers from the IEA garrisons.
The 1915 Yemeni Revolt was decisively crushed as Ethiopian forces backed by artillery and armored cars successfully retook the city with few casualties while those who had sparked the revolt were publicly executed to send a message. Concentration camps were established all throughout Himyar and Equatoria where there seemed to be significant unrest, those suspected of being agents sent to these concentration camps while an increasing number of Muslims had been conscripted into the Imperial Ethiopian military. Despite this, Haile Selassie's government recognized the negative effects of suppressing Ethiopia's Muslim population as Addis Ababa made sure that the government's policies of relaxing certain religious rules continued to be enforced. However, the Yemeni Revolt showed that there was not only increasing unrest but even nationalism as several figures in the revolt were revealed to be prominent Yemeni nationalists who were in favor of its independence from the Ethiopian yoke. News of the 1915 Yemeni Revolt made its way to Istanbul where the CUP government seized the chance to play up even more anti-African and anti-Christian sentiment amongst the Ottoman Empire's population which resulted in increased atrocities against Christians as well as Ottoman resistance on the road to Baghdad continuing to harden in the face of the Entente advance.
June 21st-23rd, 1915: Battle of Bukoba: Anglo-Ethiopian forces successfully seized the fort of Bukoba after the Entente's invasion of German East Africa where General Emil Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck had managed to gain a series of victories in 1914. The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and 25th Frontiersmen Battalion, Royal Fusiliers units were bolstered by the professional 4th and 5th Imperial Regiments under the command of Fitawari Habte Giyorgis. Giyorgis was a veteran of the Italo-Ethiopian War, having served valiantly in the Battles of Barentu, Beilul and Assab where he had risen throughout the ranks of Yohannes' personal army and led the capture of Assab alongside Ras Alula. The old Fitawari had given rousing speeches to the Eritrean people, assuring them of Ethiopian protection as Menelik's armies had consolidated Addis Ababa's hold over Eritrea after seizing it from Italian colonial forces. Later on, Habte Giyorgis had become attracted to Pan-Africanism which had been brought into the capital under Menelik via Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariam who was coming back from the Pan-African Congress and this definitely added to the rousing patriotic speech he gave at Bukoba. The old Fitawari promised Ethiopian-backed independence to the people of Tanganyika as he declared her people were liberated from the oppressive rule of Berlin which unintentionally sparked a wave of pro-Ethiopia nationalism in Tanganyika which made the governors that Britain brought in uneasy. Coupled with alarming actions in Ethiopian-occupied regions in the Middle East, this rapidly cooled tensions with the Entente's colonial powers who feared the increase of Ethiopia's influence throughout the non-colonized areas of the world as well as the potential decline of the Great Powers' colonial empires. However, this interested another rapidly expanding and successfully modernized nation - the Empire of Japan.
Nov. 22, 1915: Battle of Ctesiphon: After consolidating in Es Sinn, Anglo-Ethiopian forces continued the advance to Ctesiphon where Nureddin had established a well-planned defensive position and possessed reserve veteran units such as the 51st Division. Meanwhile, Townshend was attempting another replication of the battle fought at Es Sinn but this found resistance from Mulugeta who realized the extent of prepared Ottoman forces and instead favored smashing through their enemy's fresh 45th Division. After examining the British aerial reconnaissance results, Mulugeta had correctly assessed the weakest positions and opposed the British command's proposal of attacks all along the Ottoman forces in favor of one decisive assault to break through the newer Ottoman troops so that Entente troops could overwhelm the Ottoman reserves before they could be brought up. Mulugeta was forced to compromise with Townshend, the EEF would be leading their planned attack against what they perceived to be the weaker Ottoman position whilst Townshend's troops were to focus on launching attacks all along the line to stretch Ottoman troops thin and unable to respond to the Anglo-Ethiopian advance.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Imperial Ethiopian Divisions were the first Entente formations to launch an overwhelming frontal assault while Townshend's Anglo-Indian columns launched their attacks all along the Ottomans' frontlines. Despite heavy casualties, the EEF managed to penetrate through the 45th Division's lines but their attack soon bogged down with the 51st Division's counterattacks and forced Mulugeta to request British support while attempting to consolidate his gains in the face of consistent Ottoman counterattacks. While the EEF tied down sizable Ottoman troops, Anglo-Indian forces had managed to break through and exploit this opportunity in the face of ever-stiffening Ottoman resistance that was successfully flanked. Nureddin attempted to redirect his reserves to halt British forces but these reserves were also facing stiff - even near-suicidal - resistance from Ras Mulugeta's experienced forces who had not only taken Nasiriyah but had served in the Ethiopian invasion of Yemen. Soon enough, Anglo-Indian and Ethiopian forces had linked up after reinforcements bolstered their positions and allowed for them to successfully encircle Nureddin's troops. However, this was done at the cost of 4,600 British casualties and at 6,000 Ethiopian casualties while the Ottomans themselves had sustained 10,000 casualties in the Battle of Ctestiphon.
(Soldiers of the 2nd Imperial Division of the Ethiopian Expeditionary Force advancing forward in the Battle of Ctesiphon, circa. 1915)
Jan. 20th, 1916 - In the aftermath of Nureddin's escape from the Anglo-Ethiopian encirclement and heavy losses at Ctesiphon, Enver Pasha replaced him with Col. Halil Kut as Anglo-Ethiopian forces managed to force those encircled to surrender at their hands. However, the Ottomans managed to secure their own victories at Gallipoli where the ANZACs retreated from their positions and boosted Ottoman morale but also allowed for Ottoman forces at Gallipoli to be shifted to their new positions in Iraq. Meanwhile, Anglo-Ethiopian forces focused on building up the necessary logistical infrastructure to support further advances from the Entente and deeper into the Ottoman Empire to force Istanbul's capitulation. Constant Ottoman attacks hampered such efforts when Ottoman reinforcements began to arrive in growing numbers in Mesopotamia which saw London place more pressure on Ethiopia to provide more manpower, the former viewing the Middle Eastern Theatre as nothing more than a secondary front in comparison to the Western Front. Ethiopian forces were already being spread thin across the Western Front, the Balkans and in German East Africa but Haile Selassie would turn towards another source of manpower - Islamic Ethiopia.
With the Ottomans' declaration of Jihad in an attempt to rally support from the Muslim world against the Entente, Addis Ababa had feared a potential revolution from the sizable Muslim communities that existed in the Ogaden and Eritrea. The Ethiopian government increased the number of IEA garrisons in the Ogaden where they had monitored the gradual conversion and Highlander settling processes in the southeastern province. As Ethiopia joined the Entente in 1915, these had to be stripped of men needed for the various fronts and led to Haile Selassie becoming more pragmatic, recruiting all-Muslim detachments from the Ogaden and Equatoria whilst relaxing certain measures that had been instituted during Tewodros and Menelik's reigns. This saw Equatoria becoming more autonomous from the Ethiopian government as more Equatorians were conscripted for service alongside those who volunteered, the latter often being Christians. More Eritrean troops had manifested alongside the Ethiopian Expeditionary Forces in Mesopotamia and German East Africa while the Salonika Front was being stripped of more men to be sent to Mesopotamia. Unfortunately, Addis Ababa required more than just volunteers from one of her new provinces - Himyar where there was still unrest from the Ethiopian invasion and annexation in 1913, especially with the declaration of Jihad that aroused Himyar's Sunni Muslims. This ultimately manifested in the 1915 Yemeni Revolt where the Ethiopian administration in Sana'a was overthrown by a combination of Sunni Muslims and Yemeni soldiers from the IEA garrisons.
The 1915 Yemeni Revolt was decisively crushed as Ethiopian forces backed by artillery and armored cars successfully retook the city with few casualties while those who had sparked the revolt were publicly executed to send a message. Concentration camps were established all throughout Himyar and Equatoria where there seemed to be significant unrest, those suspected of being agents sent to these concentration camps while an increasing number of Muslims had been conscripted into the Imperial Ethiopian military. Despite this, Haile Selassie's government recognized the negative effects of suppressing Ethiopia's Muslim population as Addis Ababa made sure that the government's policies of relaxing certain religious rules continued to be enforced. However, the Yemeni Revolt showed that there was not only increasing unrest but even nationalism as several figures in the revolt were revealed to be prominent Yemeni nationalists who were in favor of its independence from the Ethiopian yoke. News of the 1915 Yemeni Revolt made its way to Istanbul where the CUP government seized the chance to play up even more anti-African and anti-Christian sentiment amongst the Ottoman Empire's population which resulted in increased atrocities against Christians as well as Ottoman resistance on the road to Baghdad continuing to harden in the face of the Entente advance.
June 21st-23rd, 1915: Battle of Bukoba: Anglo-Ethiopian forces successfully seized the fort of Bukoba after the Entente's invasion of German East Africa where General Emil Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck had managed to gain a series of victories in 1914. The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and 25th Frontiersmen Battalion, Royal Fusiliers units were bolstered by the professional 4th and 5th Imperial Regiments under the command of Fitawari Habte Giyorgis. Giyorgis was a veteran of the Italo-Ethiopian War, having served valiantly in the Battles of Barentu, Beilul and Assab where he had risen throughout the ranks of Yohannes' personal army and led the capture of Assab alongside Ras Alula. The old Fitawari had given rousing speeches to the Eritrean people, assuring them of Ethiopian protection as Menelik's armies had consolidated Addis Ababa's hold over Eritrea after seizing it from Italian colonial forces. Later on, Habte Giyorgis had become attracted to Pan-Africanism which had been brought into the capital under Menelik via Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariam who was coming back from the Pan-African Congress and this definitely added to the rousing patriotic speech he gave at Bukoba. The old Fitawari promised Ethiopian-backed independence to the people of Tanganyika as he declared her people were liberated from the oppressive rule of Berlin which unintentionally sparked a wave of pro-Ethiopia nationalism in Tanganyika which made the governors that Britain brought in uneasy. Coupled with alarming actions in Ethiopian-occupied regions in the Middle East, this rapidly cooled tensions with the Entente's colonial powers who feared the increase of Ethiopia's influence throughout the non-colonized areas of the world as well as the potential decline of the Great Powers' colonial empires. However, this interested another rapidly expanding and successfully modernized nation - the Empire of Japan.
Last edited:
Are you proposing an Ethiopian Commonwealth?
What effects do you think this'll have on the Ottomans?
Samsara123
Banned
This might just make the Ethiopian soldiers and british become fire forged friends in the same way scottish regiments had a close relationships with the Gurkhas
Maybe the rump post-WWI Ottoman state survives instead of being toppled by Ataturk
Who says Ataturk won't play a prominent role in post-war Ottoman Turkey?
Yes, the Entente is rapidly advancing through Mesopotamia but not without heavy casualties.
God save the Emperor!
You'll need a Potsdam to ensure that changes stick.
There's already quite a bit of respect between the soldiers of Britain and Ethiopia.
Great War Pt. 4
Once the necessary logistical infrastructure had been established, Anglo-Ethiopian forces continued the advance to Baghdad where Halil Pasha's troops had been put to good use in preparing fortifications in Baghdad and waiting for the inevitable onslaught. The Anglo-Ethiopian forces faced significant resistance on the road to Baghdad where it had been forced to take a series of Ottoman fortifications along the Tigris and Hai Rivers with relatively heavy losses. Mulugeta had died in battle whilst leading Ethiopian forces against the final Ottoman fort along the Hai River, dying from wounds inflicted by shrapnel of Turkish artillery which saw a young but promising Dejazmach by the name of Nasibu Emmanuel suddenly take over command of the Ethiopian Expeditionary Force. The Anglo-Ethiopian advance continued to penetrate deeper as seemingly constant Ottoman counterattacks with cries of "Allahu Akbar!" exhausted the Anglo-Ethiopian troops that had been facing stiff Ottoman resistance. They were forced to halt in front of Baghdad where British and Ethiopian troops stared down Ottoman soldiers based on the outskirts of the city, the former bringing in new troops from the Salonika Front to relieve units decimated by the Ottoman counterattacks. The Anglo-Ethiopian force was reorganized, resupplied with more than enough supplies and equipment that came from the British and Ethiopian industrial heartlands as preparations for a final push on Baghdad were made. While this was ongoing, London and Addis Ababa requested that Petrograd to relieve pressure on their beleaguered forces during the ongoing Brusilov Offensive that was proving to be quite successful - Russia had been quite successful in routing the Ottoman forces on the Caucasian Front alongside Armenian units. General Yudenich acquiesced to this request with preparations for an offensive that was to begin in coordination with Russia's allies in Mesopotamia and Egypt as Anglo-Ethiopian forces soon became ready for the Battle of Baghdad.
The Battle of Baghdad started with newly-organized Ethiopian units that had undergone training in new tactics and were not only well-equipped but aggressive as well, being tested against Ottoman forces on the outskirts of Baghdad. They proved successful in establishing forward trenches but not without somewhat heavy losses in the face of fierce Ottoman resistance as remaining Ottoman units withdrew deeper into Baghdad. Brutal house-to-house fighting soon became the norm in the Battle of Baghdad where soldiers spent an entire day fighting for one single building, only to lose it to an overwhelming counterattack and vice versa but Anglo-Ethiopian forces eventually won out over the Ottomans due to superior numbers and firepower. The last Ottoman pocket of resistance would be wiped out in a building that Mustafa Kemal had holed up in, all of the soldiers veterans of Gallipoli and the Caucasus when the entire Ottoman 6th Army was virtually wiped out by the time the Battle of Baghdad ended. Only 3,000-4,000 Ottoman soldiers had been taken prisoner while the rest had been massacred in the fighting of the battle that allowed for Anglo-Ethiopian forces to march virtually unopposed into the Anatolian heartland and they joined up with the British thrust from Palestine.
The Yudenich Offensive began with Russo-Armenian attacks from Erzincan and Trebizond that tore apart pacifying Ottoman formations that collapsed in the face of the Russian advance and saw pro-Entente Armenian formations being bolstered by Armenian irregulars joining their ranks. Istanbul scrambled to piece together an army from available formations that came under the command of the veteran Col. Kâzim Karabekir who had fought against Anglo-Ethiopian forces in Mesopotamia and Russian troops in the Caucasus. Despite heavy casualties suffered by Ottoman forces, Kâzim's forces managed to inflict relatively heavy casualties against the advancing Russian troops whose offensive seemed to be slightly bogging down but continued strong. Grand Duke Nikolai declared the establishment of an Armenian state under Russian protection which successfully rallied Armenians from all over the Ottoman Empire and these would be joined by the Imperial Armenian Legion as Haile Selassie reaffirmed Ethiopia's support for an independent Armenia. The Yudenich Offensive, combined with the Anglo-Ethiopian thrusts from Egypt and Mesopotamia, ultimately broke the back of Istanbul who sued for peace in early 1917 to prevent the complete collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Negotiations began between Istanbul and the Entente members prominent in the Middle East as Istanbul left the World War, marking the days of the Central Powers as the Entente stated its terms during peace talks. In Anatolia, Turkish nationalist elements started to rally around Kâzim and Ali Fuat Cebesoy as they both led the Erzurum Conference of 1917 in order to organize Turkish resistance to the Entente forces being ushered in to enforce the rules of any treaty that was concluded.
(Ethiopian forces on the advance from Baghdad to Constantinople, circa. 1916-17)
The Treaty of Samsun was concluded in extensive peace talks that had lasted into mid to late 1917 where London, Addis Ababa, Petrograd, Rome and Yerevan as its participants divided up the Ottoman Empire into different spheres of influence. It left the Sultan's government in Samsun in control of a rump Anatolian state that would be a de-facto protectorate of the Entente powers while the non-Anatolian/Turkish regions were ceded to the Entente powers. Addis Ababa had came into control of a shared condominium with London over Iraq and Palestine where the Jewish Ethiopian Legion had made substantial gains in the Egyptian-Palestinian Campaign of 1915-17. Ethiopia had also received her own occupation zone in southern and eastern Anatolia where it began establishing a pro-Ethiopian sphere of influence in order to influence the Anatolian government that was to rise under an Ethiopian protectorate. However, there had been significant resistance to the claims made by Addis Ababa to Near Eastern territories formerly apart of the Ottoman Empire which had cooled tensions, especially with Habte Giyorgis who had proclaimed Ethiopian support for Tanganikya. Haile Selassie had become increasingly concerned about the post-war world and what role Ethiopia would play as he was influenced by the pan-Africanist and pro-independence factions of the Imperial Court which had envisioned an independent "Third World" under Ethiopia's tutelage. Plans had been covertly made about Ethiopian-backed independence for the African peoples of former German colonies and former Ottoman territories but these aforementioned plans couldn't be instituted with the amount of resistance Ethiopia was facing from her supposed allies. For now, Haile Selassie was going to have bide time for gradual Ethiopian consolidation and expansion as the Emperor of Ethiopia turned his eyes towards the European Fronts that became more and more important with the collapse of the Middle Eastern Front.
The Battle of Baghdad started with newly-organized Ethiopian units that had undergone training in new tactics and were not only well-equipped but aggressive as well, being tested against Ottoman forces on the outskirts of Baghdad. They proved successful in establishing forward trenches but not without somewhat heavy losses in the face of fierce Ottoman resistance as remaining Ottoman units withdrew deeper into Baghdad. Brutal house-to-house fighting soon became the norm in the Battle of Baghdad where soldiers spent an entire day fighting for one single building, only to lose it to an overwhelming counterattack and vice versa but Anglo-Ethiopian forces eventually won out over the Ottomans due to superior numbers and firepower. The last Ottoman pocket of resistance would be wiped out in a building that Mustafa Kemal had holed up in, all of the soldiers veterans of Gallipoli and the Caucasus when the entire Ottoman 6th Army was virtually wiped out by the time the Battle of Baghdad ended. Only 3,000-4,000 Ottoman soldiers had been taken prisoner while the rest had been massacred in the fighting of the battle that allowed for Anglo-Ethiopian forces to march virtually unopposed into the Anatolian heartland and they joined up with the British thrust from Palestine.
The Yudenich Offensive began with Russo-Armenian attacks from Erzincan and Trebizond that tore apart pacifying Ottoman formations that collapsed in the face of the Russian advance and saw pro-Entente Armenian formations being bolstered by Armenian irregulars joining their ranks. Istanbul scrambled to piece together an army from available formations that came under the command of the veteran Col. Kâzim Karabekir who had fought against Anglo-Ethiopian forces in Mesopotamia and Russian troops in the Caucasus. Despite heavy casualties suffered by Ottoman forces, Kâzim's forces managed to inflict relatively heavy casualties against the advancing Russian troops whose offensive seemed to be slightly bogging down but continued strong. Grand Duke Nikolai declared the establishment of an Armenian state under Russian protection which successfully rallied Armenians from all over the Ottoman Empire and these would be joined by the Imperial Armenian Legion as Haile Selassie reaffirmed Ethiopia's support for an independent Armenia. The Yudenich Offensive, combined with the Anglo-Ethiopian thrusts from Egypt and Mesopotamia, ultimately broke the back of Istanbul who sued for peace in early 1917 to prevent the complete collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Negotiations began between Istanbul and the Entente members prominent in the Middle East as Istanbul left the World War, marking the days of the Central Powers as the Entente stated its terms during peace talks. In Anatolia, Turkish nationalist elements started to rally around Kâzim and Ali Fuat Cebesoy as they both led the Erzurum Conference of 1917 in order to organize Turkish resistance to the Entente forces being ushered in to enforce the rules of any treaty that was concluded.
(Ethiopian forces on the advance from Baghdad to Constantinople, circa. 1916-17)
The Treaty of Samsun was concluded in extensive peace talks that had lasted into mid to late 1917 where London, Addis Ababa, Petrograd, Rome and Yerevan as its participants divided up the Ottoman Empire into different spheres of influence. It left the Sultan's government in Samsun in control of a rump Anatolian state that would be a de-facto protectorate of the Entente powers while the non-Anatolian/Turkish regions were ceded to the Entente powers. Addis Ababa had came into control of a shared condominium with London over Iraq and Palestine where the Jewish Ethiopian Legion had made substantial gains in the Egyptian-Palestinian Campaign of 1915-17. Ethiopia had also received her own occupation zone in southern and eastern Anatolia where it began establishing a pro-Ethiopian sphere of influence in order to influence the Anatolian government that was to rise under an Ethiopian protectorate. However, there had been significant resistance to the claims made by Addis Ababa to Near Eastern territories formerly apart of the Ottoman Empire which had cooled tensions, especially with Habte Giyorgis who had proclaimed Ethiopian support for Tanganikya. Haile Selassie had become increasingly concerned about the post-war world and what role Ethiopia would play as he was influenced by the pan-Africanist and pro-independence factions of the Imperial Court which had envisioned an independent "Third World" under Ethiopia's tutelage. Plans had been covertly made about Ethiopian-backed independence for the African peoples of former German colonies and former Ottoman territories but these aforementioned plans couldn't be instituted with the amount of resistance Ethiopia was facing from her supposed allies. For now, Haile Selassie was going to have bide time for gradual Ethiopian consolidation and expansion as the Emperor of Ethiopia turned his eyes towards the European Fronts that became more and more important with the collapse of the Middle Eastern Front.
Last edited:
Samsara123
Banned
SNIP
Someone should write a side story of Hali Salessie and Tsar Nicholas entering the Hagia Sofia together and attending an orthodox christian mass attended by russian and Ethiopian VIPS(nobility,Generals, ambassadors, russian and Ethiopan Orthodox bishops) imagine the symbolism, imagine the combined pride that the heartland of Orthodox christianity has finally returned to christian hands
I can even see the headline:
THE TWO SONS OF CONSTANTINOPLE HAVE RETURNED HOME!
Someone should write a side story of Hali Salessie and Tsar Nicholas entering the Hagia Sofia together and attending an orthodox christian mass attended by russian and Ethiopian VIPS(nobility,Generals, ambassadors, russian and Ethiopan Orthodox bishops) imagine the symbolism, imagine the combined pride that the heartland of Orthodox christianity has finally returned to christian hands
I can even see the headline:
THE TWO SONS OF CONSTANTINOPLE HAVE RETURNED HOME!