In terms of racial background, how are Jews viewed, specifically in the USA but also throughout the world? IOTL, they were not really considered fully "white" until the second half of the 20th century, when they started to be assimilated into mainstream society like other contemporaneous immigrant groups from Eastern and Southern Europe. ITTL though, Jews are less of a "European" race. Many more of them have immigrated to the Ottoman Empire and, I'm assuming, have assimilated into that society to a certain extent. Are Jews seen as more "Semitic"? If so, how is that affecting how people treat them?
Waiting for Jonathan's answer, I believe that, as race is marginally less relevant here IOTL, there will be less issues about considering Jews as "white" overall ... Of course, this won't necessarily mean that Jews will be unanimously accepted as equals in Western "white"-dominated socities by 1900 AD.
Also, most countries with substantial Jewish communities have well-established ideas and stereotypes about Jews at this point. The fact that somewhat more Eastern European Jews are emigrating to the Ottoman Empire and fewer to the United States won't change centuries-old opinions
that much, especially since some of those Jews are also moving to Western Europe. If anything, French, German or American opinions of Jews are more likely to be affected by the Ostjuden settling in
their countries as by those going to the Balkans or Turkey.
In terms of racial categories, the American courts ruled Jews to be white in OTL, and this will probably still be the case, although the ruling class (including the old Sephardic and German-Jewish families) will still look on the new arrivals as "not our kind, dear." In Europe, I suspect that the view of Jews as vaguely "oriental" will be strengthened somewhat, but the presence of Africans and Indians will also make Jews seem less exotic by comparison. And with religion less important to national identity in places like France, Jews might have an easier time - after all, if Senegalese Muslims can be French, why not Jews? In a society where whiteness matters less, the question of whether Jews are white loses some of its force.
Europe and the United States at this point are mixed bags for Jews, but for those not unfortunate enough to be in Hungary or Belgium, things aren't too bad.
Finally, has Zionism as we know it been completely butterflied away? Is it more of a romantic-national movement concerned with settlement and cultural revival instead of statehood?
I think that the historical motives that led to the rise of Zionism as signicant force OTL will be lacking ITTL. You may have some equivalent of the Chovevei Zion and similar groups, but nothing like a large concerted effort to create a Jewish national home in Palestine I think.
Also waiting for Jonathan's response, but I'd like to politely disagree. Early Zionists were founding settlements in Israel in 1819 and the rise of nationalism ITTL is likely to create a Jewish identity just as it created Indian and Chinese and even German identities. Jews may even be inspired by the Male who were another exiled group that returned to their homeland after a period of separation. So Zionism will likely exist, and Jews will still try to emigrate to the Israel/Palestine region.
Zionism exists but in a different form. I think azander12 has it right - TTL's Zionism is a romantic-nationalist movement that wants to revive the Hebrew language and settle in the Sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Akka, but is largely unconcerned with setting up an independent state. There's a pro-independence faction, but it's a fringe movement, and most Zionists are fine with Ottoman rule as long as they have immigration rights and cultural autonomy. Many of them are also interested in creating cross-border Jewish institutions, which could prove to be another test case for post-Westphalianism, but in the meantime, relations between Jews and Arabs (and between Jews and Turks) are somewhat better than OTL.
BTW, Jewish nationalism is at least as practical an issue in Salonika as it is in Israel/Palestine. With so many different groups of Jews in the city, and with cultural and economic fault lines between them, some people want to erase the divisions by promoting a common Jewish identity - sort of a diaspora Zionism that takes a romantic-nationalist view of the Jewish people but doesn't tie it to a particular territory. Of course, for every two Jews, there are three opinions as to what this common identity should be - there are Yiddishists and Hebraists, those who think Judaism should be defined by religious practice or birth and those who favor a definition based on cultural inheritance or shared commitment, and varying views on which cultural strain of Judaism should be the default to which the others assimilate. Salonika's politics are a bit messy, and that's even before the non-Jews get involved.
What happened to Captain Dreyfuss anyway?
Didn't he save the Emperor's life and get promoted? Or was that someone else?
No, that was Dreyfuss. I don't think his example can be taken to mean much broader, however. One competent Jewish Frenchmen doesn't necessarily mean less prejudice overall.
Saving the emperor's life did in fact help Dreyfus' stalled career; he was promoted to lieutenant colonel shortly afterward, and to full colonel during the civil war (in which he served on the government side). But Ganesha is right to say that this didn't have much effect on the bigger picture. The incident may have changed a few Frenchmen's opinions of Jews, but there's still casual anti-semitism across much of society and more virulent anti-semitism on the far right.
With that said, though, France - along with Britain, Germany, Italy and increasingly Austria - is one of the better places in Europe to be a Jew. There's a glass ceiling, but it's a high one, and very little day-to-day harassment.
Any thoughts as to the effects on the arts and culture generally of the Great War?
To take just one example, in OTL Edward Elgar rose to prominence at the turn of the century with his Pomp & Circumstances marches which are all patriotic swagger. At the end of the OTL Great War he composed the elegaic Cello Concerto. What would the Elgar of TTL produce?
Or in OTL the modern art movement at this time was dominated by post-impressionism, which often took influences from 'primitive' non-European art. What would be the effect of an earlier Great War or for that matter non-European cultures already being more known and influential?
There's certainly an earlier transition from "war is glorious" to "war is hell" - large-scale industrial warfare will do that. The glory is permanently tarnished, and music and art will reflect that, although there will still be portrayals of heroism and self-sacrifice. Elgar might actually serve as an officer in the war - as a British aristocrat in his 30s, he'd be expected to do so - and assuming he survives, his music might be elegiac from the beginning.
There's already been considerable influence of non-European cultures on the European states that have had closest contact with them - there's a fair amount of West Africa in French art, literature and music by this point. Non-European art is still considered somewhat primitive, although the perception of what's primitive and what isn't is more nuanced; I'm not sure how primitivist postwar European art will be, although artists and musicians will certainly be casting about for new themes that represent a break from the previous, shattered era.
The last update was great, I love those literature interludes and this kind of exotic short stories are great : I love Jack London, Francisco Coloane and this kind of writers.
Thanks! The literary updates are a lot of fun to write, so there'll be more.
On the last academic update, it made me fear more that ever for the future of Russia : call me pessimistic but I got the feeling Russia is on a line and could easily become something much less pleasant than this ... China could also evolve in something nasty (a Confucian backslash?).
Russia and China are certainly on a tightrope - if their reforms fail, or if the reformers have to resort to dictatorial methods to make things work, then things could get pretty bad. Of course, they might also muddle through, or they might have trouble but not enough to send them into the abyss.
There's no Ungern-Sternberg equivalent in Siberia, although there are a few warlords in isolated regions, and other populations that aren't in outright rebellion but are able to get away with ignoring the government for now.
Very interested to see any different developments in southern Africa!
I'd love to hear more about the Ottoman empire and how it is coping with the rise of nationalism in the Balkans : Bosnia seems loyal and kinda have to if it doesn't want to become a Serbian province but Albanians might want at least an Albanian Vilayet and of course Bulgarians will be restive. Arab nationalism could also develop (even if more based on religion than language).
You'll see both of these in 1900-10. There have been several southern African updates already; the
list on the wiki will point you to them. BTW, thanks to sketchdoodle for updating the list.
This part of Africa was fairly quiet during the war (although there were a couple of scenes in Mutapa and Yeke) so there isn't a great deal of immediate shakeout to include in the next update, but long-term effects will snowball during the early twentieth century.
The Ottomans are indeed facing trouble in the provinces. The Bosnians are loyal - even most of the Bosnian Serbs are, due to Austria's political bungling during the occupation - but they've become used to running things their own way. The Albanians also ruled themselves during the war and want more autonomy now, to say nothing of the Yemenis and the desert tribes. And all this is happening at a time when Ottoman semi-demi-democracy has become sclerotic and is running out of ideas. The first two or three decades of the twentieth century won't be smooth ones.
