Iranian Colonial Empire?

I am going to begin a victoria 2 game as Persia, and i was wondering the plausibility of Persia becoming a colonial power in Africa, with a POD no earlier than 1836? I like to keep an air of plausibility to my Pdox games. Thank you :)
 
If we're talking strictly within the game, I never go further south than Djibouti, my conquering is always in central Asia, india and southern Arabia:Yemen, Oman, the Gulf states, etc. Anything more just doesn't seem like a prudent use of resources, Persia is a nation surrounded by nations that could defeat it handily in any war over colonies and unless you're cheating I doubt you're able to field any sort of force, military/industrially or whatever, that can do anything but keep parity with other secondary powers and stay solvent as a nation. A sprawling colonial empire that you probably can't defend and isn't all too profitable in the first place is, on its face, highly improbable.

In real life however, if my understanding of Persia's 19th century history is correct, Persia was a mess for pretty much of the entire run of the game. Plague, demographic collapse, terrible, god-awful governance that left the country an economic and social husk. Any restoration at that point would be gradual, lots of baby steps. A meiji-style modernization just isn't in the works, nor is an Oman style colonization. The best you can do for Persia is give it a breather and let the country recover from the past 200 years.
 
You got to weaken both Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Persia was definitely distracted by the numerous wars with the Ottoman Empire and by the 1800's the rise of Russia
 
I played a game where Brittany ended up colonising most of the Americas
In Victoria II, you played a game where Brittany, a country which does not exist at the start without a player releasing it, colonize the Americas when nearly every port there is too far away from them and already colonized?

I have a sneaking suspicion that you confused V2 with a game set before it, where wizard kings rule empires through the use of paper mana, bird mana, and sword mana.
 
Not plausible.

The first hoop Persia would have to get over is its basic geography; Iran's coastal regions are mostly dry, mountainous, and/or sparely populated areas separated from its main centers of population and power (The Iranian Plateau); an oddly unique situation all told. As a result, there aren't that many large ports or much of a naval tradition that would make colonization even viable, regardless of the political issues. The Shah's hold on the edges of his empire at this time were weakening, and the court hemorrhaging money (African colonization was expensive!), meaning the Empire would need the time and resources to get its economy in order before it can even hope to fund a major venture... or put all its money in a giant metal box and run the risk of becoming a second Scotland if the venture should fail, something no sane Shah would do.

Since the region lacked the population density and farming efficiency (living in a rocky, arid desert with sub-par irrigation will do that) for effective industrialization and oil wouldn't become a major international commodity until after the Scramble for Africa had taken off, there's also the question of where the country would be getting the quick capital to fund this dizzying economic expansion without, again, running the risk of bankrupting the country if the colony flops. If they did manage to get that money, they'd also have to have a government more interested in investing it in naval power than, say, administrative and education reform, infrastructure, or the thousand and one more immediate and less risky economic ventures of the time. Again, its unlikely a sane Shah is going to try this... and one that does is quite likely to get displaced by his advisors rather quickly.
 
In Victoria II, you played a game where Brittany, a country which does not exist at the start without a player releasing it, colonize the Americas when nearly every port there is too far away from them and already colonized?

I have a sneaking suspicion that you confused V2 with a game set before it, where wizard kings rule empires through the use of paper mana, bird mana, and sword mana.
You my good sir would be correct, I just mentally associated colonising and game with the paradox game I have been playing most recently.
 
Iran once engulfed central Asia, a good deal of Arabia, nearly all of Anatolia bowed as well. There're your goals, forget Africa, reconquer the wonder of the old days, when Cyrus the Great ruled.
 
Iran once engulfed central Asia, a good deal of Arabia, nearly all of Anatolia bowed as well. There're your goals, forget Africa, reconquer the wonder of the old days, when Cyrus the Great ruled.

You mention Arabia, maybe Qajar Persia (for all its numerous faults that make this scenario so difficult and implausible) can usurp Oman's colonial empire before the British do?
 
I am going to begin a victoria 2 game as Persia, and i was wondering the plausibility of Persia becoming a colonial power in Africa, with a POD no earlier than 1836? I like to keep an air of plausibility to my Pdox games. Thank you :)
Let them get the Caucasus and Central Asia +Afghanistan and India ( somehow butterflying Moguls) and hold feat in some parts of Africa instead of Arabs and Ottoman. Shia Mali for example. Maybe conversion of former Sunni Territory to Shia through heavy Persian influence. On the otber hand Persia itself converted only as late as tbe 18th Century to Shia I think.
 
Let them get the Caucasus and Central Asia +Afghanistan and India ( somehow butterflying Moguls) and hold feat in some parts of Africa instead of Arabs and Ottoman. Shia Mali for example. Maybe conversion of former Sunni Territory to Shia through heavy Persian influence. On the otber hand Persia itself converted only as late as tbe 18th Century to Shia I think.

Well that is difficult to gauge. By the early Safavid period however is when Twelver Shi'i became formulated fully. Before then, Shi'i already dominate the extreme north of the region, especially Tabarestan and as far south as Qom.
 
You mention Arabia, maybe Qajar Persia (for all its numerous faults that make this scenario so difficult and implausible) can usurp Oman's colonial empire before the British do?

I'm unsure, and am generally unable to answer such questions as I do not know enough about 19th century Iran's capabilities. The Omani 'Empire' might be a good grabbing point, though. The Sultanate of Zanzibar and such.
 
I'm unsure, and am generally unable to answer such questions as I do not know enough about 19th century Iran's capabilities. The Omani 'Empire' might be a good grabbing point, though. The Sultanate of Zanzibar and such.

It's a real stretch, but it's the only option. I'm also not sure about a lot of this, but I guess more people like Amir Kabir in high positions, combined with leadership eagerly willing to embrace it? In 1836, that's pretty hard to set the culture and bureaucracy toward that direction.

It would more just give a claim on Zanzibar, based on how the Zanzibar Sultanate split from Oman. Meaning you now need to introduce a strong (enough) Persian navy to launch an overseas expedition to secure Zanzibar. Presumably, Omanis and their former fleet will make up a large portion of this.

Speaking of Victoria 2, I once made a little mod which added Amir Kabir's reforms (extra research points for westernisation) as well as the later Constitutional Revolution. It was kinda incomplete, like my Persia test game. I was aimed for Nader Shah's Persia (or at most, Achaemenid Persia), which if you're playing Victoria 2 as I was seems more interesting than African colonies.
 
I've never played this Victoria 2.sounds interesting. Where do you find it?

Steam has a really cheap copy with all the DLC included. Now you might want to wait for a sale if you want a really good bargain like I got. I got VIC2 for 5 bucks, but the regular price can't be too much higher.
 
Steam has a really cheap copy with all the DLC included. Now you might want to wait for a sale if you want a really good bargain like I got. I got VIC2 for 5 bucks, but the regular price can't be too much higher.
I might have to try it out. What's it like
 
Steam has a really cheap copy with all the DLC included. Now you might want to wait for a sale if you want a really good bargain like I got. I got VIC2 for 5 bucks, but the regular price can't be too much higher.
Dully note that V2 is effectively unplayable without DLC. Anyone playing without both DLCs is just torturing themselves.
 
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