I changed the image link. Hopefully, you can see the piece now.
Map Thread XX
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I changed the image link. Hopefully, you can see the piece now.
Very cool. Is there any stomach for a Reconquista? Are the Umayyads considering a push for Rome? How substantial is Frankish influence over the Belgicae Confederatio?The Beginning of a New MileniumMap of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, just on the year 1000, showing the continent's 5 greatest powers.
The basic POD is that the Umayyads succeed on conquering Aquitaine and southern France, while the Byzantines retain the Italian Peninsula, while the Franks stablish their kingdom in Central Europe, and the Belgicae Confederatio (a collection of small states and principalities, similar to the HRE) is stablished on the former territories of the Kingdom of Soissons.
Open to answer all of your questions
View attachment 685330
I am more than willing to go over lore for this one, set in the same universe as the ERE revival map.
Does this mean the Roman Empire continues to have a Latin speaking elite?The Beginning of a New MileniumMap of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, just on the year 1000, showing the continent's 5 greatest powers.
The basic POD is that the Umayyads succeed on conquering Aquitaine and southern France, while the Byzantines retain the Italian Peninsula, while the Franks stablish their kingdom in Central Europe, and the Belgicae Confederatio (a collection of small states and principalities, similar to the HRE) is stablished on the former territories of the Kingdom of Soissons.
Open to answer all of your questions
View attachment 685330
Just something I made while killing some time. In the vent of the "x countries" meme a few months ago. Don't take this too seriously 
The Time Stream Task Protection Force has detected almost infinite timelines in which humans settle the land that we know as "Iran". Collected in this memo are 12 particularly interesting ones for the people of Timeline Prime.
A1 - The Real South Ossetia
You'd have to be a fool not to know who the Ossetes are - the Ossetian National Republic is, after all, the largest economy in the world, as well as the largest exporter of food in Europe and Asia. Their influence looms large over all of the international community - with one permanent seat in the Global Council, the descendants of the once fearsome Scythians are a force to be reckoned with. Of course, nowadays Scythians are mostly calm people who keep to their own and only wish to continue exporting their plentiful goods. If you find a Scythian you'll be glad to do so. If you visit the country, you'll find delicious food, beautiful, strong and independent women and a veritable cultural legacy.
Not nearly as peaceful are their southern neighbours in the Federation of Ranska, the large Slavic hegemon which has ruled over most of the Middle East in one shape or another since the arrival of the Slavic peoples to the mostly uninhabited region in the 1500s AUC. Their conflicts with the Republic of Krajina to their west and with the Respublika Slavonska to the east cover most of the international news, but if you were around in the 40s, you may also know about the Aryan War, a conflict in which the southern autonomous Region of Aryanam tried to break free from their historical overlords, helped by the Federation of Magan to the other side of the Slavic Sea, as well as, diplomatically, by Scythia and its allies in the Ket Republic. Why was there such a support for the Aryans, a group of people that seem to have radicalized into extreme fire-worship and which pitted two rival nuclear powers against each other?
Well, one reason may be cultural. It's a little known fact that these Aryans are a far-away cousin of the Ossetes, who speak a similar language. Back in the 200s AUC, the Ossetes were responsible for the downfall of the Aryans, as they killed their tribal leaders, Kurush and Darush, in a military campaign to assert power over all of the Middle East. Perhaps things would have been very different had these campaigns succeeded. Yet now, bygones are bygones, and cousins have rallied to support each other. The Aryan war has mostly died down after the change of government in Ossetia and the granting of more autonomy to the Aryanam region by Ranska, but you may never know what may happen in the future.
A2 - Roxana's Dream. Argead-Achaemenid Global Empire
A series of freak accidents did general after general in during Alexander the Great's glorious conquest of the known world. Seleucus died protecting Hephaestion from Indian swords in battle against King Poros, and after the absorption of Poros' elephant columns the conquest of India came easy - Krateros and Ptolemy died of plague returning to Babylon. Antipater died storming the walls of Carthage, Cassander died of thirst in Arabia Felix, and Arrhidaeus died mysteriously when Alexander came to visit him in Pella. By the time of Alexander's death in 56 AA, only three important men remained: Perdiccas, Hephaestion and, of course, Alexander's son, Alexander IV. After a short but protracted succession struggle, this loyalist faction got out ahead and managed to continue imposing Alexander's vision for the Empire - a melting pot of cultures where Greeks and Persians would manage to bring the whole world to heel.
Alexander IV would marry a descendant of the Achaemenid Dynasty and continue the expansion his father had started, moving eastward. The proud, wealthy cities of the Saka and the Tokhar were subdued rapidly, their coffers filling up the Argead Empire's, but yet this was not enough for the young son, who wanted to emulate his father's amazing accomplishments. Moving further eastwards, surviving deserts, steppes and mountains, Alexander IV was able to reach the far east. While the Qiang people had not much to conquer, they were still integrated - a far bigger prize came when the Ba and Shu kingdoms agreed to swear loyalty to him in exchange for a defeat of the tyrant Qin kingdom. Momentous war came to the Chinese states as Alexander's army routed the Qin in battle, and annexed a wide area of western China. With the Sichuan basin under their control, the Macedonians would never again have a lack of food.
Many things could happen to the unwieldy, gigantic Argead empire, but it had established an impression over the entirety of Eurasia. While empires would come and go, the identity of the Global Empire would endure, as a multiethnic, multicultural society which sought for the rest of history to be united.
A3 - Res Públishahr Eranica et satrapae
The Roman conquest of Iran was not easy, but by the time of Mark Antony it was complete. Large colonies sprung throughout the areas considered inhabitable by the Romans, even replacing some ancient Iranian cities like Ectabana, Yazd and Rayy. The new cities such as Coltana, Shahshar and Acquafria would become the heartlands of the new Latin-speaking nation that would survive in the Iranian plateau to this day. Throughout the years, the Roman population of Iran waxed and waned, and after the fall of the Western Empire and the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia, Iran would be cut off from the rest of the Western world (a reason to which it owes its Nestorian, not Chalcedonian, form of Christianity). However, Romance peoples would remain a firm addition to the colorful population of Eran, and it was them who would lead the process of nation-building in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, where the Latinist movement and a joint alliance with the French against Russia meant that the Eranic Republic would emulate the Western style of nation-building.
An important colonial empire in the Nineteenth Century, Iran would own large portions of Punjab and Sindh before these were forcefully wrested away, together with the rest of French and Iranian India, in the First World War by the ascendant Spanic Empire and its local ally, the Iranian-speaking Republic of Light. Pyrdain took the Eranic colonies in Zanzibar and Kilwa, while the Saxons eventually acquired all colonies in the East Indies, save the small islands of Ternate and Tidore, which remained under Eranic hands until independence (as a protectorate of the Republic) in 1987.
The Iranians, a once-proud people, have been confined to small territories within Iran. Four Autonomous Republics - Parsia, Media, Hyrcania and Pahlavia - remain as the only area in which Iranian languages are co-official within the Eranic Republic. The Republic's attitude towards Iranian peoples has long been controversial - based on French-like ideas of national unity, their languages and customs have been greatly suppressed by public policy to teach Eranic to all the peoples of the country. Their fire temples and religious clothing are far more persecuted by Eran's "laymanship" (secular) law than Christian or Jewish religious institutions. Yet this is not enough for some - for instance, Justin Zahmar, far-right presidential candidate, has gone so far as to prohibit the refurbishment or construction of new fire temples.
B1 - Just Society Kayanians
When Kavad I faced his succession, it was very clear what he must do to continue his radical reforms of Iranian administration and finally banish the Parthian and Persian noblemen and mobeds which had made his life impossible. He had to, against common wisdom, choose his third son, Xerxes, as a heir. Not only was he infinitely more capable than his brother Kawus, as he had proven by routinely beating the Byzantines in the Iberian War with minimal Immortal casualties, but he was also a devout follower of the Just Society, the religious movement embodied by the priest Mazdak which sought to radically alter Sassanian society. Imprisoning Kawus and a younger brother, Khosrau, in the Fortress of Oblivion, Kavad gave the reigns of government to Xerxes, while supervising from afar. Kawus led an uprising against the Empire, with the support of the Parthian clans - an uprising that was thoroughly trounced, the Parthians forced to escape to Armenia.
Xerxes knew that in order to have a successful rule, he had to do two things - decisively beat the Byzantine Empire, which was busy in the West reconquering Africa and Italy, and replace the feudal bureaucracy of the Parthian clans and religious movements with his own secular bureaucracy, supported by the common folk, who were enthralled by the Just Society's message of land redistribution, free love, and communal property. The two things were successfully achieved by "Xerxes of the Immortal Soul" - his victory in the War of 540 led to Byzantium being forced to cede much of the Levant (incidentally transforming itself into a Mediterranean thassalocracy), which allowed for Xerxes to continue the rewriting of Iranian history, claiming direct descent from the Kayanians (Iran's mythical founding dynasty) and the Achaemenids (who Kavad seeked to erase from history, but who Xerxes recovered into the official narrative of Iran's origins).
As important as this, however, was the reform of land and public services. While the Shahanshah's own estates were (mostly) untouched, grain silos were reformed and a ration of grain was given to all citizens. Land was handed out to communal farms, and taken away from nobles. The Fire Temples were given over to communal mobed ownership and became open places of sanctuary to those without a home. And the bureaucracy was thoroughly reformed - any person could become a deghan, a member of the country's civil service, which became the first step to the creation of semi-democratic rule in the Empire. Other religions were tolerated, although their power diminished - while the figure of exilarch remained abolished, for instance, Jews were given the permission to teach and preach their religious laws (which led to the final creation of the talmud).
Iran, with its many vassals and egalitarian message, was able to sustain a strong and stable society that would last and evolve for centuries, even millenia. The Qarmatian movement of the nascent Islamic movement were soon co-opted and the Caliphate became another Iranian vassal. Byzantium, with its eyes decisively put in the West (first in Spain and Italy, and then, after 900, in the New World), would soon stop being a direct rival. Kayanian rule seemed, finally, reestablished.
B2 - Agent of Byzantium
Khosrau I was often called Anushirvan, or "He of the Immortal Soul". Few people could say their titles trumped such a glowing commendation of everything Khosrau had been. One of these people was Khosrau II - Parviz - "That of the Eternal Victory".
A short and extremely decisive victory against the Byzantine usurper Phocas led to the annexation of all lands once owned by the Achaemenid Empire (although the Sassanids were probably unaware it was the Achaemenids who owned this land). Further incursions into India and South Arabia were met only with resounding success. The Turks were also routed decisively, aided by Iran's future perpetual ally - the non-Shaz Turks, as well as the Uralic peoples, who would convert to Mazdayasna and become the Confederation of Turan. The Parthians were routed as well, sent off to live in a small area of Daylam, where the Karenids, the most loyal to Khosrau II, would eventually come out on top. When threatening messages came of a new false prophet who rallied the Arab armies to the West, Khosrau acted decisively, and in his support of the false heir Musaylimah, split the Arabic ummah. The followers of Abu Bakr were forced north in retreat, where Khosrau lend out a hand and helped them overthrow the annoying Ghassanid puppet of the Byzantines (the Lakhmid king had been exiled by Khosrau previously, and his lands directly annexed into Eranshahr). Another contestant nipped in the bud.
For the next 200 years, a cold war would emerge between what remained of Byzantium (and its allies, Ethiopia and, situationally, the Gupta Empire in India) and Eranshahr, and its ally in the Confederation of Turan. Yet Iran came out in top in another decisive war, in which Yemen was forever wrested from the Ethiopian rule and the Guptas were directly annexed. Never had Iran had such a great success.
Yet dark omens come to the Iranians, who now, in the year 1558 of Alexander's era, a man who now has been decisively routed from history and ironically only consigned to the Zoroastrian calendar, seem to be losing ally after ally. The Zoroastrian priesthood had established strong presence in Turan and in the Deccan, and now understands it doesn't need to owe its loyalty to the Shahanshah; and to make matters worth, Turan and the south Indian kingdom of Vijayanagara seem to be negotiating with China and Byzantium to take down the one empire they're all threatened by. The world waits with bated breath.
B3 - The (un)Holy Iranian Empire
Things didn't have to go this way. If only that woman Shirin hadn't converted Khosrau II to Christianity, the tribes and the mobads would have stayed loyal to the Shahanshah. But Nestorianism was a threat to all - this couldn't work out. A fundamental revolt led to a new understanding of the "Persian-Parthian confederacy", one that was far closer to a true confederacy. The small remnants of Khosrau's empire were confined to Ctesiphon - everyone else swore loyalty to him in all but name.
500 years later, the Holy Iranian Empire has resulted a remarkably stable fixture of society, but has led to the absolute and total balkanization of what once was a grand empire. Nine electors (the Kusro of Fars, the Shahrbaraz-Electors of Ray, Abudagaban, Parthava, Rhages, Varaz, Hamadan and Suren) and dozens of princes hold an uneasy truce over their country, allying to (mostly) avoid foreign encroachment on their land but unable to fully integrate the country once again. In its midst, the true diversity of the Iranian empire has come out, and it's absolutely astounding. The Exilarchy has taken control of much of central Mesopotamia, including the ruins of Babylon, over which they celebrate every Yom Kippur. The Christian Kingdom of Asorestan is a force to be reckoned with - as is the absolutely massive Domain of Khosrau, the capital of Ctesiphon, which is mostly Christian and by far the largest city in the world, although its shine has somewhat faded in favor of the Most Serene Republic of Ormazd, the Mandaean-influenced merchant republic. The Manichaean Republic of the Light dominates the city of Samarkand, while in Balkh, Mother of Cities, the mobad-mobadan, Priest of Priests, holds sway over a Zoroastrian prince-archbishopric. They squabble constantly amongst each other as well as with the Buddhists of Bamiyan and the Zunbils.
Other emperors and kings have tried to get their hands on the Empire, to some avail. The Hephtalites and Turks have established small duchies which are official members of the Empire and contend for expansion of the electorate. The same thing happens with the Kindah Caliphate, a Quranist empire that constantly squabbles with the "madrasa-lover" mystic Hashemid Caliphate in the Holy Cities. In the north, the Christians have spread over the border, with Armenian and Georgian Bagratids being perceived in the empire as agents of Byzantium.
C1 - The Wall of Fire
After victory in al-Qadisiyyah, Caliph Umar reportedly stated that:
That is, for about five years, until the shahanshah was assassinate and the country erupted into civil discord. Unlike previous stints at overlordship by the Parthian clans, this time the clans were done with Sassanid oversight. They had just lost them both Transoxiana to the Turks and Mesopotamia to the Arabs, after all. What could they gain from the Persians that they didn't get themselves?
Such, the "Period of Eight Shahanshahs" arrived, as each of the Parthian Clans declared themselves independent over their territory, while a small rump on Parsis retained the Sassanian rulers. Each of them went in different directions. The Mihran and Soren suffered great conflict over the region of Khurasan, until it was eventually taken over by the Kanarang of Abarshahr, who established a military dictatorship that seemingly prescinded dynastic titles (though today most historians believe that the Kanarang was an Ispadhuban), and which eventually even converted to a (heavily modified) version of Islam.
Lacking these rich lands, the Mihran sought to grow closer to the Chinese, and eventually with the help of the Western Protectorate defeated the Turks and became a Chinese tributary. They radically reinterpreted Zoroastrianism, believing that their defeat in the battlefield had been the will of Mithra, and, together with the Ispadhuban and the Espandiyah, restored an older version of the Zoroastrian faith where Mithra and Anahita regained prominence. On the other hand, the Soren grew closer and closer to the Empire of Harshavardhana in India, and inherited a large portion of the land after his death. The Soren eventually would convert to Buddhism.
In the west, the Varaz, who were closely tied to the Bagratids, became Armenian Orthodox, while the Zik retained their Zoroastrian traditions and control over Azerbaijan. The House of Karen, divided into two, was greatly changed; the western contingent, based on Hamedan, would declare themselves the new Arsacids, while the eastern Karen would grow closer and closer to Turkic clans out of necessity, and eventually became Manichaean as well.
The Sassanian rump was left with little outside Parsis and the Zoroastrian clergy and would enter a long period of decline, as Muslim cultural ascendancy continued.
C2 - The Timurid Rennaisance
Nobody expected Timur's ascendancy to grow to this level, but after his annexations in Ankara and Delhi, it was clear that his fearsome empire would be by far the most powerful force in the world until his death. His expected conquest of Ming China went ahead, miraculously, without a hitch, thanks to massive defections by the Ming army, who interpreted the return of Turkic conquerors so soon after the defeat of the Yuan as a sign that the Ming had once again lost the Mandate of Heaven. The Timurids declared themselves the leaders of the Later Yue (新月) Dynasty in China, mostly absorbing local power structures, while ruling from the oasis town of Urumqi, which magically was now in the centre of their empire.
The massive Timurid Empire would not last for long, yet it would be one of the most impressive empires to exist. Scions of the Timurids would not only continue to rule the two great empires that arose from the separation (the Yue from Kaifeng and the Timurids proper from Baghdad) after the death of Shah Rukh, but would also father three other dynasties - the Mughals of Delhi, the Timurid Sultanate of Rum, which eventually would "restore" the glory of Rome from Constantinople, and the Tibetan Shahs. To this day, the influence of Timur's empire on Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Indian and Greek culture is massive. They are responsible for making Islam the majority religion in all regions they dominated as well as the close cultural ties that unify most of southern Eurasia.
C3 - Iran á la Indie
Iran was a core Muslim expansion and fundamentally changed what it meant to be Muslim. Yet, in Iran itself, traditional power structures greatly opposed the overshadowing of the traditional Mazdayasna religion, especially in Daylam and Hyrcania, the far-northern region far away from Arabic influence, which often continued to have Zoroastrian rulers. Thus, when Iran's independence from foreign occupiers came to be in the 1940s, the region perplexed them. The country contained a Muslim majority, both in its south and its east, but to the north, Zoroastrianism remained, together with a radical Zoroastrian separatist ideology. Between the two regions, straddling great cities like Isfahan, Yazd and Hamadan, the Khurramites ("Joyful Folk"), with their communal property, equal gender relations, free love, encouraged hedonism, and egalitarian political systems, disgusted and baffled both sides. The Khurramites were fierce warriors, however, and would not be easily subdued.
Thus, colonial administrators decided to split the country into two: the Islamic Republic of Iran (جمهوری اسلامی ایران) would hold most of the territory of the land, but the north would be held by the Republic of Parthia (𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ) and the middle by the Joyful Republic of Korran. This partition would come into effect the 12th of september of 1947, when the country would be officially divided.
Of course, the partition upended thousands of diverse communities where people lived side by side. Zoroastrians fled north in droves, while Khurramites took up arms and expelled all other faiths (except, interestingly, the Bahaí and Sikhs, who they saw as fellow travellers). Hundreds of thousands of people died.
What the colonial masters had not taken into account either was the fact that, while the Muslims of the East, influenced by the Qizilbash movement, were mostly Shi'a, those in the west were mostly Sunni. A second, extremely bloody, civil war ensued until four countries remained in the region - the IRI, Parthia, Korran, and the Republic of Khorasan. All four countries are hostile to each other.
D1 - The Great Game.
It was clear to everyone that the greatness of the Iranian empires of old had faded by the time of the Qajar, and that there would be no way for them to become a global hegemon. However, Iran was still a proud nation, one that could hold its own against the imperialist menace that had taken so many countries already. Some people plausibly imagined a world in which Iran narrowly maintained its independence as a nation, unlike any other state of the Asian continent but China, Thailand and Japan. The Iranian people thought themselves that it would be impossible for upstart 'Franks' to take over their land.
Concession after concession by weak Qajar rulers who liked delegating the issues of state to private European entrepeneurs, however, weakened the Iranian state step by step. A tobacco concession in 1890 was followed by one on oil in 1901, and then, in 1906, the Qajar shah delegated to the Baron de Reuter all Persian roads, telegraphs, mills, factories, extraction of resources, and other public works, in repetition of a 1872 concession so extreme even the British government had requested its undoing. After this, the British had to intervene; and not to be outdone, the Russians came in as well.
A 1910 agreement between the two states divided Iran into thirds. The southern third, expanded from the original British zone of influence to include the ports of Bushehr and Bandar-'Abas and the refinery in Abadan, would become part of the Bombay presidency. The northern third, which included Mazandaran and Azerbaijan as well as much of central Iran, would become Russian territory. A small buffer state was created by the Russians which, while nominally ruled by the emperor Mohammed Shah, who claimed the dynastic name Pahlavi, was truly the military fief of the Persian Cossacks.
In the centre, in theory, the Qajars still ruled. However, a revolution in 1915 abolished the "Fatherland-selling" Shahs and established the Iranian Republic, which detested both of its neighbors. Too concerned with World War I, both States had no choice but to let the Republic remain, ruling a rump Iran from Isfahan.
D2 - The Persianate Turks
Few Empires in our history have been as powerful as the massive Randomid Caliphate, who came from an amalgamation of the Oghuz-speaking Ottoman, Safavid and Timurid dynasties. It is not quite clear how these three Empires, bitter enemies at first, became the same country, but maybe it shouldn't be so surprising. After all, they came from similar Turkic tribes all belonging to the Oghuz macrogroup; they were all Persianate, having adopted Iranian customs in their court; and their administrations, ruling bustling and diverse world powers, had many similarities. Whatever their origin, the Randomid Caliphate would grow and grow, at one point holding almost 40% of the world's population. The three triplet capitals of Constantinople, Baghdad and Delhi would truly become magnificent cities. While the Randomid Caliphate would eventually fall apart, its cosmopolitan power-sharing tradition would make the Middle East an exceedingly stable place to this day.
D3 - A Nightmare in 1953
Everyone thought it would stop before this. When Mossadeq went to talk with Attlee and Morrison in 1951, everyone thought that would be the end of it; Attlee was seen as cordial and broadly supportive of decolonisation, and both Bevan as well as Harry Truman supported the rewriting of Anglo-Iranian Oil so that it would be more closely similar to the 50/50 agreements that had been signed in countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. But Attlee was defeated in the 1951 general election before any deal could come through. Then, Mossadeq came to New York, and before the United Nations made a point that made even the more veterate of pro-Western diplomats blush. Nothing could stop the nationalization of Anglo-Iranian, until in 1952 Truman was replaced by the Red-paranoid Ike Eisenhower. And even then, it seemed that the problem would end with a simple coup d'etat, with the veritable Kermit Roosevelt at its fore. But alas, Mossadeq escaped his house, and the public rose up to support him, declaring the Iranian National Republic in Tehran. Kermit and Ayatollah Kashani dead, and the Shah fleeing to Brussels, it seemed like everything that could have possibly gone wrong had just gone wrong.
Yet, once again, the Iranian situation would worsen. General Fazlollah Zahedi, now Prime Minister, managed to get a hold of most of the rural south's garrisons, but the north had mostly broken its allegiance to the Imperial government. Open warfare broke out in Tehran, where, although the pro-revolutionary forces held, Mossadeq was killed, and replaced as leader of the republic by a shadowy council led equally by the Iranian National Front and the Tudeh Party. In response to this, the British could no longer hold on. Churchill authorised an invasion of Abadan to start the 7th of September, 1953; the following week, Bandar 'Abbas and Bushehr were invaded by American-British forces.
Pandemonium broke out over this. General Abdel Nasser, in Egypt, reacted to this brazen act of imperialism the most strongly, launching a coup d'etat declaring the concession over the Suez over; in return, as "support" for the Kingdom of Egypt, Franco-Israeli troops started an invasion.
To the North, this push by the West, which seemed particularly imperialistic, was just what was needed for the hardliners, who had been receding in previous months, to take over the Presidium of the Soviet Union. Beria, now on the outside of the party, and increasingly sidelined by Malenkov and Khruschev, suddenly came out on top, demanding an invasion of Iranian Azerbaijan in support of Tudeh. This proceeded, and, by October of 1953, the international troops of five different nations (Iraq, the UK, the US, the USSR and Saudi Arabia) were in Iranian soil.
With the situation in the world rapidly deteriorating, Operation Unthinkable seems suddenly almost a certainty, and the breaking of the uneasy truces in Israel and Korea all but certain. Will a new World War break out, the first since Man has obtained domain over the realm of the atom?
The Time Stream Task Protection Force has detected almost infinite timelines in which humans settle the land that we know as "Iran". Collected in this memo are 12 particularly interesting ones for the people of Timeline Prime.
A1 - The Real South Ossetia
You'd have to be a fool not to know who the Ossetes are - the Ossetian National Republic is, after all, the largest economy in the world, as well as the largest exporter of food in Europe and Asia. Their influence looms large over all of the international community - with one permanent seat in the Global Council, the descendants of the once fearsome Scythians are a force to be reckoned with. Of course, nowadays Scythians are mostly calm people who keep to their own and only wish to continue exporting their plentiful goods. If you find a Scythian you'll be glad to do so. If you visit the country, you'll find delicious food, beautiful, strong and independent women and a veritable cultural legacy.
Not nearly as peaceful are their southern neighbours in the Federation of Ranska, the large Slavic hegemon which has ruled over most of the Middle East in one shape or another since the arrival of the Slavic peoples to the mostly uninhabited region in the 1500s AUC. Their conflicts with the Republic of Krajina to their west and with the Respublika Slavonska to the east cover most of the international news, but if you were around in the 40s, you may also know about the Aryan War, a conflict in which the southern autonomous Region of Aryanam tried to break free from their historical overlords, helped by the Federation of Magan to the other side of the Slavic Sea, as well as, diplomatically, by Scythia and its allies in the Ket Republic. Why was there such a support for the Aryans, a group of people that seem to have radicalized into extreme fire-worship and which pitted two rival nuclear powers against each other?
Well, one reason may be cultural. It's a little known fact that these Aryans are a far-away cousin of the Ossetes, who speak a similar language. Back in the 200s AUC, the Ossetes were responsible for the downfall of the Aryans, as they killed their tribal leaders, Kurush and Darush, in a military campaign to assert power over all of the Middle East. Perhaps things would have been very different had these campaigns succeeded. Yet now, bygones are bygones, and cousins have rallied to support each other. The Aryan war has mostly died down after the change of government in Ossetia and the granting of more autonomy to the Aryanam region by Ranska, but you may never know what may happen in the future.
A2 - Roxana's Dream. Argead-Achaemenid Global Empire
A series of freak accidents did general after general in during Alexander the Great's glorious conquest of the known world. Seleucus died protecting Hephaestion from Indian swords in battle against King Poros, and after the absorption of Poros' elephant columns the conquest of India came easy - Krateros and Ptolemy died of plague returning to Babylon. Antipater died storming the walls of Carthage, Cassander died of thirst in Arabia Felix, and Arrhidaeus died mysteriously when Alexander came to visit him in Pella. By the time of Alexander's death in 56 AA, only three important men remained: Perdiccas, Hephaestion and, of course, Alexander's son, Alexander IV. After a short but protracted succession struggle, this loyalist faction got out ahead and managed to continue imposing Alexander's vision for the Empire - a melting pot of cultures where Greeks and Persians would manage to bring the whole world to heel.
Alexander IV would marry a descendant of the Achaemenid Dynasty and continue the expansion his father had started, moving eastward. The proud, wealthy cities of the Saka and the Tokhar were subdued rapidly, their coffers filling up the Argead Empire's, but yet this was not enough for the young son, who wanted to emulate his father's amazing accomplishments. Moving further eastwards, surviving deserts, steppes and mountains, Alexander IV was able to reach the far east. While the Qiang people had not much to conquer, they were still integrated - a far bigger prize came when the Ba and Shu kingdoms agreed to swear loyalty to him in exchange for a defeat of the tyrant Qin kingdom. Momentous war came to the Chinese states as Alexander's army routed the Qin in battle, and annexed a wide area of western China. With the Sichuan basin under their control, the Macedonians would never again have a lack of food.
Many things could happen to the unwieldy, gigantic Argead empire, but it had established an impression over the entirety of Eurasia. While empires would come and go, the identity of the Global Empire would endure, as a multiethnic, multicultural society which sought for the rest of history to be united.
A3 - Res Públishahr Eranica et satrapae
The Roman conquest of Iran was not easy, but by the time of Mark Antony it was complete. Large colonies sprung throughout the areas considered inhabitable by the Romans, even replacing some ancient Iranian cities like Ectabana, Yazd and Rayy. The new cities such as Coltana, Shahshar and Acquafria would become the heartlands of the new Latin-speaking nation that would survive in the Iranian plateau to this day. Throughout the years, the Roman population of Iran waxed and waned, and after the fall of the Western Empire and the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia, Iran would be cut off from the rest of the Western world (a reason to which it owes its Nestorian, not Chalcedonian, form of Christianity). However, Romance peoples would remain a firm addition to the colorful population of Eran, and it was them who would lead the process of nation-building in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, where the Latinist movement and a joint alliance with the French against Russia meant that the Eranic Republic would emulate the Western style of nation-building.
An important colonial empire in the Nineteenth Century, Iran would own large portions of Punjab and Sindh before these were forcefully wrested away, together with the rest of French and Iranian India, in the First World War by the ascendant Spanic Empire and its local ally, the Iranian-speaking Republic of Light. Pyrdain took the Eranic colonies in Zanzibar and Kilwa, while the Saxons eventually acquired all colonies in the East Indies, save the small islands of Ternate and Tidore, which remained under Eranic hands until independence (as a protectorate of the Republic) in 1987.
The Iranians, a once-proud people, have been confined to small territories within Iran. Four Autonomous Republics - Parsia, Media, Hyrcania and Pahlavia - remain as the only area in which Iranian languages are co-official within the Eranic Republic. The Republic's attitude towards Iranian peoples has long been controversial - based on French-like ideas of national unity, their languages and customs have been greatly suppressed by public policy to teach Eranic to all the peoples of the country. Their fire temples and religious clothing are far more persecuted by Eran's "laymanship" (secular) law than Christian or Jewish religious institutions. Yet this is not enough for some - for instance, Justin Zahmar, far-right presidential candidate, has gone so far as to prohibit the refurbishment or construction of new fire temples.
B1 - Just Society Kayanians
When Kavad I faced his succession, it was very clear what he must do to continue his radical reforms of Iranian administration and finally banish the Parthian and Persian noblemen and mobeds which had made his life impossible. He had to, against common wisdom, choose his third son, Xerxes, as a heir. Not only was he infinitely more capable than his brother Kawus, as he had proven by routinely beating the Byzantines in the Iberian War with minimal Immortal casualties, but he was also a devout follower of the Just Society, the religious movement embodied by the priest Mazdak which sought to radically alter Sassanian society. Imprisoning Kawus and a younger brother, Khosrau, in the Fortress of Oblivion, Kavad gave the reigns of government to Xerxes, while supervising from afar. Kawus led an uprising against the Empire, with the support of the Parthian clans - an uprising that was thoroughly trounced, the Parthians forced to escape to Armenia.
Xerxes knew that in order to have a successful rule, he had to do two things - decisively beat the Byzantine Empire, which was busy in the West reconquering Africa and Italy, and replace the feudal bureaucracy of the Parthian clans and religious movements with his own secular bureaucracy, supported by the common folk, who were enthralled by the Just Society's message of land redistribution, free love, and communal property. The two things were successfully achieved by "Xerxes of the Immortal Soul" - his victory in the War of 540 led to Byzantium being forced to cede much of the Levant (incidentally transforming itself into a Mediterranean thassalocracy), which allowed for Xerxes to continue the rewriting of Iranian history, claiming direct descent from the Kayanians (Iran's mythical founding dynasty) and the Achaemenids (who Kavad seeked to erase from history, but who Xerxes recovered into the official narrative of Iran's origins).
As important as this, however, was the reform of land and public services. While the Shahanshah's own estates were (mostly) untouched, grain silos were reformed and a ration of grain was given to all citizens. Land was handed out to communal farms, and taken away from nobles. The Fire Temples were given over to communal mobed ownership and became open places of sanctuary to those without a home. And the bureaucracy was thoroughly reformed - any person could become a deghan, a member of the country's civil service, which became the first step to the creation of semi-democratic rule in the Empire. Other religions were tolerated, although their power diminished - while the figure of exilarch remained abolished, for instance, Jews were given the permission to teach and preach their religious laws (which led to the final creation of the talmud).
Iran, with its many vassals and egalitarian message, was able to sustain a strong and stable society that would last and evolve for centuries, even millenia. The Qarmatian movement of the nascent Islamic movement were soon co-opted and the Caliphate became another Iranian vassal. Byzantium, with its eyes decisively put in the West (first in Spain and Italy, and then, after 900, in the New World), would soon stop being a direct rival. Kayanian rule seemed, finally, reestablished.
B2 - Agent of Byzantium
Khosrau I was often called Anushirvan, or "He of the Immortal Soul". Few people could say their titles trumped such a glowing commendation of everything Khosrau had been. One of these people was Khosrau II - Parviz - "That of the Eternal Victory".
A short and extremely decisive victory against the Byzantine usurper Phocas led to the annexation of all lands once owned by the Achaemenid Empire (although the Sassanids were probably unaware it was the Achaemenids who owned this land). Further incursions into India and South Arabia were met only with resounding success. The Turks were also routed decisively, aided by Iran's future perpetual ally - the non-Shaz Turks, as well as the Uralic peoples, who would convert to Mazdayasna and become the Confederation of Turan. The Parthians were routed as well, sent off to live in a small area of Daylam, where the Karenids, the most loyal to Khosrau II, would eventually come out on top. When threatening messages came of a new false prophet who rallied the Arab armies to the West, Khosrau acted decisively, and in his support of the false heir Musaylimah, split the Arabic ummah. The followers of Abu Bakr were forced north in retreat, where Khosrau lend out a hand and helped them overthrow the annoying Ghassanid puppet of the Byzantines (the Lakhmid king had been exiled by Khosrau previously, and his lands directly annexed into Eranshahr). Another contestant nipped in the bud.
For the next 200 years, a cold war would emerge between what remained of Byzantium (and its allies, Ethiopia and, situationally, the Gupta Empire in India) and Eranshahr, and its ally in the Confederation of Turan. Yet Iran came out in top in another decisive war, in which Yemen was forever wrested from the Ethiopian rule and the Guptas were directly annexed. Never had Iran had such a great success.
Yet dark omens come to the Iranians, who now, in the year 1558 of Alexander's era, a man who now has been decisively routed from history and ironically only consigned to the Zoroastrian calendar, seem to be losing ally after ally. The Zoroastrian priesthood had established strong presence in Turan and in the Deccan, and now understands it doesn't need to owe its loyalty to the Shahanshah; and to make matters worth, Turan and the south Indian kingdom of Vijayanagara seem to be negotiating with China and Byzantium to take down the one empire they're all threatened by. The world waits with bated breath.
B3 - The (un)Holy Iranian Empire
Things didn't have to go this way. If only that woman Shirin hadn't converted Khosrau II to Christianity, the tribes and the mobads would have stayed loyal to the Shahanshah. But Nestorianism was a threat to all - this couldn't work out. A fundamental revolt led to a new understanding of the "Persian-Parthian confederacy", one that was far closer to a true confederacy. The small remnants of Khosrau's empire were confined to Ctesiphon - everyone else swore loyalty to him in all but name.
500 years later, the Holy Iranian Empire has resulted a remarkably stable fixture of society, but has led to the absolute and total balkanization of what once was a grand empire. Nine electors (the Kusro of Fars, the Shahrbaraz-Electors of Ray, Abudagaban, Parthava, Rhages, Varaz, Hamadan and Suren) and dozens of princes hold an uneasy truce over their country, allying to (mostly) avoid foreign encroachment on their land but unable to fully integrate the country once again. In its midst, the true diversity of the Iranian empire has come out, and it's absolutely astounding. The Exilarchy has taken control of much of central Mesopotamia, including the ruins of Babylon, over which they celebrate every Yom Kippur. The Christian Kingdom of Asorestan is a force to be reckoned with - as is the absolutely massive Domain of Khosrau, the capital of Ctesiphon, which is mostly Christian and by far the largest city in the world, although its shine has somewhat faded in favor of the Most Serene Republic of Ormazd, the Mandaean-influenced merchant republic. The Manichaean Republic of the Light dominates the city of Samarkand, while in Balkh, Mother of Cities, the mobad-mobadan, Priest of Priests, holds sway over a Zoroastrian prince-archbishopric. They squabble constantly amongst each other as well as with the Buddhists of Bamiyan and the Zunbils.
Other emperors and kings have tried to get their hands on the Empire, to some avail. The Hephtalites and Turks have established small duchies which are official members of the Empire and contend for expansion of the electorate. The same thing happens with the Kindah Caliphate, a Quranist empire that constantly squabbles with the "madrasa-lover" mystic Hashemid Caliphate in the Holy Cities. In the north, the Christians have spread over the border, with Armenian and Georgian Bagratids being perceived in the empire as agents of Byzantium.
C1 - The Wall of Fire
After victory in al-Qadisiyyah, Caliph Umar reportedly stated that:
While no mountain of fire would materialize, it seemed as such, essentially; the Arabs took over all areas west of the Zagros, including, after a long and protracted struggle, Khuzestan; while to the East, the Sassanian monarchy would remain supreme.
That is, for about five years, until the shahanshah was assassinate and the country erupted into civil discord. Unlike previous stints at overlordship by the Parthian clans, this time the clans were done with Sassanid oversight. They had just lost them both Transoxiana to the Turks and Mesopotamia to the Arabs, after all. What could they gain from the Persians that they didn't get themselves?
Such, the "Period of Eight Shahanshahs" arrived, as each of the Parthian Clans declared themselves independent over their territory, while a small rump on Parsis retained the Sassanian rulers. Each of them went in different directions. The Mihran and Soren suffered great conflict over the region of Khurasan, until it was eventually taken over by the Kanarang of Abarshahr, who established a military dictatorship that seemingly prescinded dynastic titles (though today most historians believe that the Kanarang was an Ispadhuban), and which eventually even converted to a (heavily modified) version of Islam.
Lacking these rich lands, the Mihran sought to grow closer to the Chinese, and eventually with the help of the Western Protectorate defeated the Turks and became a Chinese tributary. They radically reinterpreted Zoroastrianism, believing that their defeat in the battlefield had been the will of Mithra, and, together with the Ispadhuban and the Espandiyah, restored an older version of the Zoroastrian faith where Mithra and Anahita regained prominence. On the other hand, the Soren grew closer and closer to the Empire of Harshavardhana in India, and inherited a large portion of the land after his death. The Soren eventually would convert to Buddhism.
In the west, the Varaz, who were closely tied to the Bagratids, became Armenian Orthodox, while the Zik retained their Zoroastrian traditions and control over Azerbaijan. The House of Karen, divided into two, was greatly changed; the western contingent, based on Hamedan, would declare themselves the new Arsacids, while the eastern Karen would grow closer and closer to Turkic clans out of necessity, and eventually became Manichaean as well.
The Sassanian rump was left with little outside Parsis and the Zoroastrian clergy and would enter a long period of decline, as Muslim cultural ascendancy continued.
C2 - The Timurid Rennaisance
Nobody expected Timur's ascendancy to grow to this level, but after his annexations in Ankara and Delhi, it was clear that his fearsome empire would be by far the most powerful force in the world until his death. His expected conquest of Ming China went ahead, miraculously, without a hitch, thanks to massive defections by the Ming army, who interpreted the return of Turkic conquerors so soon after the defeat of the Yuan as a sign that the Ming had once again lost the Mandate of Heaven. The Timurids declared themselves the leaders of the Later Yue (新月) Dynasty in China, mostly absorbing local power structures, while ruling from the oasis town of Urumqi, which magically was now in the centre of their empire.
The massive Timurid Empire would not last for long, yet it would be one of the most impressive empires to exist. Scions of the Timurids would not only continue to rule the two great empires that arose from the separation (the Yue from Kaifeng and the Timurids proper from Baghdad) after the death of Shah Rukh, but would also father three other dynasties - the Mughals of Delhi, the Timurid Sultanate of Rum, which eventually would "restore" the glory of Rome from Constantinople, and the Tibetan Shahs. To this day, the influence of Timur's empire on Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Indian and Greek culture is massive. They are responsible for making Islam the majority religion in all regions they dominated as well as the close cultural ties that unify most of southern Eurasia.
C3 - Iran á la Indie
Iran was a core Muslim expansion and fundamentally changed what it meant to be Muslim. Yet, in Iran itself, traditional power structures greatly opposed the overshadowing of the traditional Mazdayasna religion, especially in Daylam and Hyrcania, the far-northern region far away from Arabic influence, which often continued to have Zoroastrian rulers. Thus, when Iran's independence from foreign occupiers came to be in the 1940s, the region perplexed them. The country contained a Muslim majority, both in its south and its east, but to the north, Zoroastrianism remained, together with a radical Zoroastrian separatist ideology. Between the two regions, straddling great cities like Isfahan, Yazd and Hamadan, the Khurramites ("Joyful Folk"), with their communal property, equal gender relations, free love, encouraged hedonism, and egalitarian political systems, disgusted and baffled both sides. The Khurramites were fierce warriors, however, and would not be easily subdued.
Thus, colonial administrators decided to split the country into two: the Islamic Republic of Iran (جمهوری اسلامی ایران) would hold most of the territory of the land, but the north would be held by the Republic of Parthia (𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ) and the middle by the Joyful Republic of Korran. This partition would come into effect the 12th of september of 1947, when the country would be officially divided.
Of course, the partition upended thousands of diverse communities where people lived side by side. Zoroastrians fled north in droves, while Khurramites took up arms and expelled all other faiths (except, interestingly, the Bahaí and Sikhs, who they saw as fellow travellers). Hundreds of thousands of people died.
What the colonial masters had not taken into account either was the fact that, while the Muslims of the East, influenced by the Qizilbash movement, were mostly Shi'a, those in the west were mostly Sunni. A second, extremely bloody, civil war ensued until four countries remained in the region - the IRI, Parthia, Korran, and the Republic of Khorasan. All four countries are hostile to each other.
D1 - The Great Game.
It was clear to everyone that the greatness of the Iranian empires of old had faded by the time of the Qajar, and that there would be no way for them to become a global hegemon. However, Iran was still a proud nation, one that could hold its own against the imperialist menace that had taken so many countries already. Some people plausibly imagined a world in which Iran narrowly maintained its independence as a nation, unlike any other state of the Asian continent but China, Thailand and Japan. The Iranian people thought themselves that it would be impossible for upstart 'Franks' to take over their land.
Concession after concession by weak Qajar rulers who liked delegating the issues of state to private European entrepeneurs, however, weakened the Iranian state step by step. A tobacco concession in 1890 was followed by one on oil in 1901, and then, in 1906, the Qajar shah delegated to the Baron de Reuter all Persian roads, telegraphs, mills, factories, extraction of resources, and other public works, in repetition of a 1872 concession so extreme even the British government had requested its undoing. After this, the British had to intervene; and not to be outdone, the Russians came in as well.
A 1910 agreement between the two states divided Iran into thirds. The southern third, expanded from the original British zone of influence to include the ports of Bushehr and Bandar-'Abas and the refinery in Abadan, would become part of the Bombay presidency. The northern third, which included Mazandaran and Azerbaijan as well as much of central Iran, would become Russian territory. A small buffer state was created by the Russians which, while nominally ruled by the emperor Mohammed Shah, who claimed the dynastic name Pahlavi, was truly the military fief of the Persian Cossacks.
In the centre, in theory, the Qajars still ruled. However, a revolution in 1915 abolished the "Fatherland-selling" Shahs and established the Iranian Republic, which detested both of its neighbors. Too concerned with World War I, both States had no choice but to let the Republic remain, ruling a rump Iran from Isfahan.
D2 - The Persianate Turks
Few Empires in our history have been as powerful as the massive Randomid Caliphate, who came from an amalgamation of the Oghuz-speaking Ottoman, Safavid and Timurid dynasties. It is not quite clear how these three Empires, bitter enemies at first, became the same country, but maybe it shouldn't be so surprising. After all, they came from similar Turkic tribes all belonging to the Oghuz macrogroup; they were all Persianate, having adopted Iranian customs in their court; and their administrations, ruling bustling and diverse world powers, had many similarities. Whatever their origin, the Randomid Caliphate would grow and grow, at one point holding almost 40% of the world's population. The three triplet capitals of Constantinople, Baghdad and Delhi would truly become magnificent cities. While the Randomid Caliphate would eventually fall apart, its cosmopolitan power-sharing tradition would make the Middle East an exceedingly stable place to this day.
D3 - A Nightmare in 1953
Everyone thought it would stop before this. When Mossadeq went to talk with Attlee and Morrison in 1951, everyone thought that would be the end of it; Attlee was seen as cordial and broadly supportive of decolonisation, and both Bevan as well as Harry Truman supported the rewriting of Anglo-Iranian Oil so that it would be more closely similar to the 50/50 agreements that had been signed in countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. But Attlee was defeated in the 1951 general election before any deal could come through. Then, Mossadeq came to New York, and before the United Nations made a point that made even the more veterate of pro-Western diplomats blush. Nothing could stop the nationalization of Anglo-Iranian, until in 1952 Truman was replaced by the Red-paranoid Ike Eisenhower. And even then, it seemed that the problem would end with a simple coup d'etat, with the veritable Kermit Roosevelt at its fore. But alas, Mossadeq escaped his house, and the public rose up to support him, declaring the Iranian National Republic in Tehran. Kermit and Ayatollah Kashani dead, and the Shah fleeing to Brussels, it seemed like everything that could have possibly gone wrong had just gone wrong.
Yet, once again, the Iranian situation would worsen. General Fazlollah Zahedi, now Prime Minister, managed to get a hold of most of the rural south's garrisons, but the north had mostly broken its allegiance to the Imperial government. Open warfare broke out in Tehran, where, although the pro-revolutionary forces held, Mossadeq was killed, and replaced as leader of the republic by a shadowy council led equally by the Iranian National Front and the Tudeh Party. In response to this, the British could no longer hold on. Churchill authorised an invasion of Abadan to start the 7th of September, 1953; the following week, Bandar 'Abbas and Bushehr were invaded by American-British forces.
Pandemonium broke out over this. General Abdel Nasser, in Egypt, reacted to this brazen act of imperialism the most strongly, launching a coup d'etat declaring the concession over the Suez over; in return, as "support" for the Kingdom of Egypt, Franco-Israeli troops started an invasion.
To the North, this push by the West, which seemed particularly imperialistic, was just what was needed for the hardliners, who had been receding in previous months, to take over the Presidium of the Soviet Union. Beria, now on the outside of the party, and increasingly sidelined by Malenkov and Khruschev, suddenly came out on top, demanding an invasion of Iranian Azerbaijan in support of Tudeh. This proceeded, and, by October of 1953, the international troops of five different nations (Iraq, the UK, the US, the USSR and Saudi Arabia) were in Iranian soil.
With the situation in the world rapidly deteriorating, Operation Unthinkable seems suddenly almost a certainty, and the breaking of the uneasy truces in Israel and Korea all but certain. Will a new World War break out, the first since Man has obtained domain over the realm of the atom?
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This is my first time posting here in quite a while. This is part of a map-timeline inspired by some of the Sino-Soviet War TL’s on this forum, taking place in a world where the Sino-Soviet border conflict escalated into open war between China and the Soviet Union.
THE SCORCHED EARTH: THE SINO-SOVIET WAR OF 1969-1970
Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, idealist communists thought that the victory of communism was inevitable. With communist/socialist governments spanning from Central Europe to China by the 1950s, communism could boast that a quarter of the globe lived under the banner of the hammer and sickle. This idealist vision of cooperation between the communist hegemons of China and the Soviet Union would fall flat, very so.
The first friction between Moscow and Beijing was first over new Soviet premier Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin’s actions and crimes in a secret speech in 1956. This provoked outrage in Mao, then leader of communist China, who staunchly supported Stalin and saw Khrushchev's denouncement of Stalin as an insult to communist ideology. By the 1960s, the two powers were only nominally allied to one another against the capitalist bloc, both supporting the communist Vietnamese against the capitalist South. In 1961, Mao would denounce Soviet communism as a work of ‘revisionist traitors’, fully cutting ties with Moscow. Mao would go on an attempt to make China an independent communist power, launching the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, resulting in the death of millions.
With ideological tensions growing, the Soviet government took the initiative and amassed a large amount of the Soviet Army at the Sino-Soviet border. The Chinese would also mass troops, making the borders heavily militarized in the late-1960s. In March 1969, the Zhenbao Island incident took place, with Chinese troops assaulting the Soviet army stationed in the island, expelling them with numbers and by surprise. This was not the only skirmish to break out; numerous skirmishes had occurred at the Soviet-Xinjiang border and in Manchuria. The Soviets would retaliate and would retake Zhenbao Island back from the Chinese. In an attempt to recollect their dead, the Chinese would continue to fire at the Soviet soldiers. This would be the last straw for the Soviet command, seeing the Chinese as aggressors in the far-east, more of the Soviet army would be sent over to battle the Chinese, with Brezhnev ordering a partial mobilization of Soviet forces in the near east. The Warsaw Pact would condemn the Chinese also with the exception of Romania.
American president Nixon called for the de-escalation of the conflict and offered to mediate in negotiation to prevent an all-out nuclear war between the two powers. In secret negotiations between the USA and USSR in the months following the outbreak of war, the Soviet Union would agree to cease support to the North Vietnamese in exchange for no American involvement in their war with China, though the USA still supported China in terms of supplies. All the while, the Soviet prepared for war, secretly funding an anti-Chinese Uyghur insurgency in Xinjiang.
The Chinese had subtly claimed the entirety of the Far-East as theirs, lamenting the 1858 Treaty of Aigun while the Soviets wanted to replace Mao with a more compliable leader. This would finally explode into open war between the communist behemoths in July 1969. The Chinese would strike first, finally seizing control of Zhenbao Island in the first months of the war while also striking into Primoskye. The Soviet Army struck into Western Manchuria, capturing Hulunbuir. The Warsaw Pact would declare war on the Chinese, with the exception of Romania.
By November of 1969, the Chinese had pushed deep into Outer Manchuria, capturing the majority of Primsorkye but Mao’s fortunes were slipping. The far more advanced Soviet Army was hauled over, invading Xinjiang, Outer Mongolia, and Northern Manchuria. The endless human wave attacks of poorly-armed Chinese peasants would be slaughtered by the Soviet Army as they pushed on into China. By December of 1969, Mao’s plan of using sheer numbers against the Soviet Army had failed and the Soviet Army continued to advance deeper into Manchuria, threatening Chinese fortifications in the region. The decision was taken by Mao for the deployment of chemical and tactical nukes to deter the Soviet Army, with the first nukes detonated by the Chinese in January of 1970 in Manchuria. The Soviet Army would retaliate by the use of tactical nukes against the Chinese army.
The use of nukes infuriated the Soviets, who retaliated by the use of their chemical weapons and tactical nukes against the Chinese. The war was getting out of control by this point, with the Soviets sending a final ultimatum to Beijing in March of 1970, cease the war and start negotiations or face total annihilation. Despite the calls of the international community to end the war, Mao would ignore it, claiming that if they killed half of the Chinese population, there would still be the other half to keep on fighting. The Soviets would respond with the atomic bombing of Beijing, wiping out the ancient capital with the flick of a nuke. Mao was able to escape outside Beijing and angrily ordered a nuclear strike against all Soviet cities and bases. The Chinese would launch their arsenal, and only the cities of Khabarovsk, Sakhalinsky, Chita, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, and a Moscow suburb would be hit.
The Soviets responded with the annihilation of the majority of China’s cities, with millions of Chinese being vaporized within a month. The death and destruction was huge, too much for a civilization to handle, with every Chinese city struck with a nuclear weapons. Weeks after the nuclear attacks against China, Mao would be executed by mutinous elements within the CCP and the Chinese army. Lin Bao would rise to the position of Chinese premier. Peace would be established in April 1970, with a ceasefire declared as China stood on the edge of societal collapse.
Wohooo!Just something I made while killing some time. In the vent of the "x countries" meme a few months ago. Don't take this too seriously
View attachment 685398
The Time Stream Task Protection Force has detected almost infinite timelines in which humans settle the land that we know as "Iran". Collected in this memo are 12 particularly interesting ones for the people of Timeline Prime.
A1 - The Real South Ossetia
You'd have to be a fool not to know who the Ossetes are - the Ossetian National Republic is, after all, the largest economy in the world, as well as the largest exporter of food in Europe and Asia. Their influence looms large over all of the international community - with one permanent seat in the Global Council, the descendants of the once fearsome Scythians are a force to be reckoned with. Of course, nowadays Scythians are mostly calm people who keep to their own and only wish to continue exporting their plentiful goods. If you find a Scythian you'll be glad to do so. If you visit the country, you'll find delicious food, beautiful, strong and independent women and a veritable cultural legacy.
Not nearly as peaceful are their southern neighbours in the Federation of Ranska, the large Slavic hegemon which has ruled over most of the Middle East in one shape or another since the arrival of the Slavic peoples to the mostly uninhabited region in the 1500s AUC. Their conflicts with the Republic of Krajina to their west and with the Respublika Slavonska to the east cover most of the international news, but if you were around in the 40s, you may also know about the Aryan War, a conflict in which the southern autonomous Region of Aryanam tried to break free from their historical overlords, helped by the Federation of Magan to the other side of the Slavic Sea, as well as, diplomatically, by Scythia and its allies in the Ket Republic. Why was there such a support for the Aryans, a group of people that seem to have radicalized into extreme fire-worship and which pitted two rival nuclear powers against each other?
Well, one reason may be cultural. It's a little known fact that these Aryans are a far-away cousin of the Ossetes, who speak a similar language. Back in the 200s AUC, the Ossetes were responsible for the downfall of the Aryans, as they killed their tribal leaders, Kurush and Darush, in a military campaign to assert power over all of the Middle East. Perhaps things would have been very different had these campaigns succeeded. Yet now, bygones are bygones, and cousins have rallied to support each other. The Aryan war has mostly died down after the change of government in Ossetia and the granting of more autonomy to the Aryanam region by Ranska, but you may never know what may happen in the future.
A2 - Roxana's Dream. Argead-Achaemenid Global Empire
A series of freak accidents did general after general in during Alexander the Great's glorious conquest of the known world. Seleucus died protecting Hephaestion from Indian swords in battle against King Poros, and after the absorption of Poros' elephant columns the conquest of India came easy - Krateros and Ptolemy died of plague returning to Babylon. Antipater died storming the walls of Carthage, Cassander died of thirst in Arabia Felix, and Arrhidaeus died mysteriously when Alexander came to visit him in Pella. By the time of Alexander's death in 56 AA, only three important men remained: Perdiccas, Hephaestion and, of course, Alexander's son, Alexander IV. After a short but protracted succession struggle, this loyalist faction got out ahead and managed to continue imposing Alexander's vision for the Empire - a melting pot of cultures where Greeks and Persians would manage to bring the whole world to heel.
Alexander IV would marry a descendant of the Achaemenid Dynasty and continue the expansion his father had started, moving eastward. The proud, wealthy cities of the Saka and the Tokhar were subdued rapidly, their coffers filling up the Argead Empire's, but yet this was not enough for the young son, who wanted to emulate his father's amazing accomplishments. Moving further eastwards, surviving deserts, steppes and mountains, Alexander IV was able to reach the far east. While the Qiang people had not much to conquer, they were still integrated - a far bigger prize came when the Ba and Shu kingdoms agreed to swear loyalty to him in exchange for a defeat of the tyrant Qin kingdom. Momentous war came to the Chinese states as Alexander's army routed the Qin in battle, and annexed a wide area of western China. With the Sichuan basin under their control, the Macedonians would never again have a lack of food.
Many things could happen to the unwieldy, gigantic Argead empire, but it had established an impression over the entirety of Eurasia. While empires would come and go, the identity of the Global Empire would endure, as a multiethnic, multicultural society which sought for the rest of history to be united.
A3 - Res Públishahr Eranica et satrapae
The Roman conquest of Iran was not easy, but by the time of Mark Antony it was complete. Large colonies sprung throughout the areas considered inhabitable by the Romans, even replacing some ancient Iranian cities like Ectabana, Yazd and Rayy. The new cities such as Coltana, Shahshar and Acquafria would become the heartlands of the new Latin-speaking nation that would survive in the Iranian plateau to this day. Throughout the years, the Roman population of Iran waxed and waned, and after the fall of the Western Empire and the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia, Iran would be cut off from the rest of the Western world (a reason to which it owes its Nestorian, not Chalcedonian, form of Christianity). However, Romance peoples would remain a firm addition to the colorful population of Eran, and it was them who would lead the process of nation-building in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, where the Latinist movement and a joint alliance with the French against Russia meant that the Eranic Republic would emulate the Western style of nation-building.
An important colonial empire in the Nineteenth Century, Iran would own large portions of Punjab and Sindh before these were forcefully wrested away, together with the rest of French and Iranian India, in the First World War by the ascendant Spanic Empire and its local ally, the Iranian-speaking Republic of Light. Pyrdain took the Eranic colonies in Zanzibar and Kilwa, while the Saxons eventually acquired all colonies in the East Indies, save the small islands of Ternate and Tidore, which remained under Eranic hands until independence (as a protectorate of the Republic) in 1987.
The Iranians, a once-proud people, have been confined to small territories within Iran. Four Autonomous Republics - Parsia, Media, Hyrcania and Pahlavia - remain as the only area in which Iranian languages are co-official within the Eranic Republic. The Republic's attitude towards Iranian peoples has long been controversial - based on French-like ideas of national unity, their languages and customs have been greatly suppressed by public policy to teach Eranic to all the peoples of the country. Their fire temples and religious clothing are far more persecuted by Eran's "laymanship" (secular) law than Christian or Jewish religious institutions. Yet this is not enough for some - for instance, Justin Zahmar, far-right presidential candidate, has gone so far as to prohibit the refurbishment or construction of new fire temples.
B1 - Just Society Kayanians
When Kavad I faced his succession, it was very clear what he must do to continue his radical reforms of Iranian administration and finally banish the Parthian and Persian noblemen and mobeds which had made his life impossible. He had to, against common wisdom, choose his third son, Xerxes, as a heir. Not only was he infinitely more capable than his brother Kawus, as he had proven by routinely beating the Byzantines in the Iberian War with minimal Immortal casualties, but he was also a devout follower of the Just Society, the religious movement embodied by the priest Mazdak which sought to radically alter Sassanian society. Imprisoning Kawus and a younger brother, Khosrau, in the Fortress of Oblivion, Kavad gave the reigns of government to Xerxes, while supervising from afar. Kawus led an uprising against the Empire, with the support of the Parthian clans - an uprising that was thoroughly trounced, the Parthians forced to escape to Armenia.
Xerxes knew that in order to have a successful rule, he had to do two things - decisively beat the Byzantine Empire, which was busy in the West reconquering Africa and Italy, and replace the feudal bureaucracy of the Parthian clans and religious movements with his own secular bureaucracy, supported by the common folk, who were enthralled by the Just Society's message of land redistribution, free love, and communal property. The two things were successfully achieved by "Xerxes of the Immortal Soul" - his victory in the War of 540 led to Byzantium being forced to cede much of the Levant (incidentally transforming itself into a Mediterranean thassalocracy), which allowed for Xerxes to continue the rewriting of Iranian history, claiming direct descent from the Kayanians (Iran's mythical founding dynasty) and the Achaemenids (who Kavad seeked to erase from history, but who Xerxes recovered into the official narrative of Iran's origins).
As important as this, however, was the reform of land and public services. While the Shahanshah's own estates were (mostly) untouched, grain silos were reformed and a ration of grain was given to all citizens. Land was handed out to communal farms, and taken away from nobles. The Fire Temples were given over to communal mobed ownership and became open places of sanctuary to those without a home. And the bureaucracy was thoroughly reformed - any person could become a deghan, a member of the country's civil service, which became the first step to the creation of semi-democratic rule in the Empire. Other religions were tolerated, although their power diminished - while the figure of exilarch remained abolished, for instance, Jews were given the permission to teach and preach their religious laws (which led to the final creation of the talmud).
Iran, with its many vassals and egalitarian message, was able to sustain a strong and stable society that would last and evolve for centuries, even millenia. The Qarmatian movement of the nascent Islamic movement were soon co-opted and the Caliphate became another Iranian vassal. Byzantium, with its eyes decisively put in the West (first in Spain and Italy, and then, after 900, in the New World), would soon stop being a direct rival. Kayanian rule seemed, finally, reestablished.
B2 - Agent of Byzantium
Khosrau I was often called Anushirvan, or "He of the Immortal Soul". Few people could say their titles trumped such a glowing commendation of everything Khosrau had been. One of these people was Khosrau II - Parviz - "That of the Eternal Victory".
A short and extremely decisive victory against the Byzantine usurper Phocas led to the annexation of all lands once owned by the Achaemenid Empire (although the Sassanids were probably unaware it was the Achaemenids who owned this land). Further incursions into India and South Arabia were met only with resounding success. The Turks were also routed decisively, aided by Iran's future perpetual ally - the non-Shaz Turks, as well as the Uralic peoples, who would convert to Mazdayasna and become the Confederation of Turan. The Parthians were routed as well, sent off to live in a small area of Daylam, where the Karenids, the most loyal to Khosrau II, would eventually come out on top. When threatening messages came of a new false prophet who rallied the Arab armies to the West, Khosrau acted decisively, and in his support of the false heir Musaylimah, split the Arabic ummah. The followers of Abu Bakr were forced north in retreat, where Khosrau lend out a hand and helped them overthrow the annoying Ghassanid puppet of the Byzantines (the Lakhmid king had been exiled by Khosrau previously, and his lands directly annexed into Eranshahr). Another contestant nipped in the bud.
For the next 200 years, a cold war would emerge between what remained of Byzantium (and its allies, Ethiopia and, situationally, the Gupta Empire in India) and Eranshahr, and its ally in the Confederation of Turan. Yet Iran came out in top in another decisive war, in which Yemen was forever wrested from the Ethiopian rule and the Guptas were directly annexed. Never had Iran had such a great success.
Yet dark omens come to the Iranians, who now, in the year 1558 of Alexander's era, a man who now has been decisively routed from history and ironically only consigned to the Zoroastrian calendar, seem to be losing ally after ally. The Zoroastrian priesthood had established strong presence in Turan and in the Deccan, and now understands it doesn't need to owe its loyalty to the Shahanshah; and to make matters worth, Turan and the south Indian kingdom of Vijayanagara seem to be negotiating with China and Byzantium to take down the one empire they're all threatened by. The world waits with bated breath.
B3 - The (un)Holy Iranian Empire
Things didn't have to go this way. If only that woman Shirin hadn't converted Khosrau II to Christianity, the tribes and the mobads would have stayed loyal to the Shahanshah. But Nestorianism was a threat to all - this couldn't work out. A fundamental revolt led to a new understanding of the "Persian-Parthian confederacy", one that was far closer to a true confederacy. The small remnants of Khosrau's empire were confined to Ctesiphon - everyone else swore loyalty to him in all but name.
500 years later, the Holy Iranian Empire has resulted a remarkably stable fixture of society, but has led to the absolute and total balkanization of what once was a grand empire. Nine electors (the Kusro of Fars, the Shahrbaraz-Electors of Ray, Abudagaban, Parthava, Rhages, Varaz, Hamadan and Suren) and dozens of princes hold an uneasy truce over their country, allying to (mostly) avoid foreign encroachment on their land but unable to fully integrate the country once again. In its midst, the true diversity of the Iranian empire has come out, and it's absolutely astounding. The Exilarchy has taken control of much of central Mesopotamia, including the ruins of Babylon, over which they celebrate every Yom Kippur. The Christian Kingdom of Asorestan is a force to be reckoned with - as is the absolutely massive Domain of Khosrau, the capital of Ctesiphon, which is mostly Christian and by far the largest city in the world, although its shine has somewhat faded in favor of the Most Serene Republic of Ormazd, the Mandaean-influenced merchant republic. The Manichaean Republic of the Light dominates the city of Samarkand, while in Balkh, Mother of Cities, the mobad-mobadan, Priest of Priests, holds sway over a Zoroastrian prince-archbishopric. They squabble constantly amongst each other as well as with the Buddhists of Bamiyan and the Zunbils.
Other emperors and kings have tried to get their hands on the Empire, to some avail. The Hephtalites and Turks have established small duchies which are official members of the Empire and contend for expansion of the electorate. The same thing happens with the Kindah Caliphate, a Quranist empire that constantly squabbles with the "madrasa-lover" mystic Hashemid Caliphate in the Holy Cities. In the north, the Christians have spread over the border, with Armenian and Georgian Bagratids being perceived in the empire as agents of Byzantium.
C1 - The Wall of Fire
After victory in al-Qadisiyyah, Caliph Umar reportedly stated that:
While no mountain of fire would materialize, it seemed as such, essentially; the Arabs took over all areas west of the Zagros, including, after a long and protracted struggle, Khuzestan; while to the East, the Sassanian monarchy would remain supreme.
That is, for about five years, until the shahanshah was assassinate and the country erupted into civil discord. Unlike previous stints at overlordship by the Parthian clans, this time the clans were done with Sassanid oversight. They had just lost them both Transoxiana to the Turks and Mesopotamia to the Arabs, after all. What could they gain from the Persians that they didn't get themselves?
Such, the "Period of Eight Shahanshahs" arrived, as each of the Parthian Clans declared themselves independent over their territory, while a small rump on Parsis retained the Sassanian rulers. Each of them went in different directions. The Mihran and Soren suffered great conflict over the region of Khurasan, until it was eventually taken over by the Kanarang of Abarshahr, who established a military dictatorship that seemingly prescinded dynastic titles (though today most historians believe that the Kanarang was an Ispadhuban), and which eventually even converted to a (heavily modified) version of Islam.
Lacking these rich lands, the Mihran sought to grow closer to the Chinese, and eventually with the help of the Western Protectorate defeated the Turks and became a Chinese tributary. They radically reinterpreted Zoroastrianism, believing that their defeat in the battlefield had been the will of Mithra, and, together with the Ispadhuban and the Espandiyah, restored an older version of the Zoroastrian faith where Mithra and Anahita regained prominence. On the other hand, the Soren grew closer and closer to the Empire of Harshavardhana in India, and inherited a large portion of the land after his death. The Soren eventually would convert to Buddhism.
In the west, the Varaz, who were closely tied to the Bagratids, became Armenian Orthodox, while the Zik retained their Zoroastrian traditions and control over Azerbaijan. The House of Karen, divided into two, was greatly changed; the western contingent, based on Hamedan, would declare themselves the new Arsacids, while the eastern Karen would grow closer and closer to Turkic clans out of necessity, and eventually became Manichaean as well.
The Sassanian rump was left with little outside Parsis and the Zoroastrian clergy and would enter a long period of decline, as Muslim cultural ascendancy continued.
C2 - The Timurid Rennaisance
Nobody expected Timur's ascendancy to grow to this level, but after his annexations in Ankara and Delhi, it was clear that his fearsome empire would be by far the most powerful force in the world until his death. His expected conquest of Ming China went ahead, miraculously, without a hitch, thanks to massive defections by the Ming army, who interpreted the return of Turkic conquerors so soon after the defeat of the Yuan as a sign that the Ming had once again lost the Mandate of Heaven. The Timurids declared themselves the leaders of the Later Yue (新月) Dynasty in China, mostly absorbing local power structures, while ruling from the oasis town of Urumqi, which magically was now in the centre of their empire.
The massive Timurid Empire would not last for long, yet it would be one of the most impressive empires to exist. Scions of the Timurids would not only continue to rule the two great empires that arose from the separation (the Yue from Kaifeng and the Timurids proper from Baghdad) after the death of Shah Rukh, but would also father three other dynasties - the Mughals of Delhi, the Timurid Sultanate of Rum, which eventually would "restore" the glory of Rome from Constantinople, and the Tibetan Shahs. To this day, the influence of Timur's empire on Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Indian and Greek culture is massive. They are responsible for making Islam the majority religion in all regions they dominated as well as the close cultural ties that unify most of southern Eurasia.
C3 - Iran á la Indie
Iran was a core Muslim expansion and fundamentally changed what it meant to be Muslim. Yet, in Iran itself, traditional power structures greatly opposed the overshadowing of the traditional Mazdayasna religion, especially in Daylam and Hyrcania, the far-northern region far away from Arabic influence, which often continued to have Zoroastrian rulers. Thus, when Iran's independence from foreign occupiers came to be in the 1940s, the region perplexed them. The country contained a Muslim majority, both in its south and its east, but to the north, Zoroastrianism remained, together with a radical Zoroastrian separatist ideology. Between the two regions, straddling great cities like Isfahan, Yazd and Hamadan, the Khurramites ("Joyful Folk"), with their communal property, equal gender relations, free love, encouraged hedonism, and egalitarian political systems, disgusted and baffled both sides. The Khurramites were fierce warriors, however, and would not be easily subdued.
Thus, colonial administrators decided to split the country into two: the Islamic Republic of Iran (جمهوری اسلامی ایران) would hold most of the territory of the land, but the north would be held by the Republic of Parthia (𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ) and the middle by the Joyful Republic of Korran. This partition would come into effect the 12th of september of 1947, when the country would be officially divided.
Of course, the partition upended thousands of diverse communities where people lived side by side. Zoroastrians fled north in droves, while Khurramites took up arms and expelled all other faiths (except, interestingly, the Bahaí and Sikhs, who they saw as fellow travellers). Hundreds of thousands of people died.
What the colonial masters had not taken into account either was the fact that, while the Muslims of the East, influenced by the Qizilbash movement, were mostly Shi'a, those in the west were mostly Sunni. A second, extremely bloody, civil war ensued until four countries remained in the region - the IRI, Parthia, Korran, and the Republic of Khorasan. All four countries are hostile to each other.
D1 - The Great Game.
It was clear to everyone that the greatness of the Iranian empires of old had faded by the time of the Qajar, and that there would be no way for them to become a global hegemon. However, Iran was still a proud nation, one that could hold its own against the imperialist menace that had taken so many countries already. Some people plausibly imagined a world in which Iran narrowly maintained its independence as a nation, unlike any other state of the Asian continent but China, Thailand and Japan. The Iranian people thought themselves that it would be impossible for upstart 'Franks' to take over their land.
Concession after concession by weak Qajar rulers who liked delegating the issues of state to private European entrepeneurs, however, weakened the Iranian state step by step. A tobacco concession in 1890 was followed by one on oil in 1901, and then, in 1906, the Qajar shah delegated to the Baron de Reuter all Persian roads, telegraphs, mills, factories, extraction of resources, and other public works, in repetition of a 1872 concession so extreme even the British government had requested its undoing. After this, the British had to intervene; and not to be outdone, the Russians came in as well.
A 1910 agreement between the two states divided Iran into thirds. The southern third, expanded from the original British zone of influence to include the ports of Bushehr and Bandar-'Abas and the refinery in Abadan, would become part of the Bombay presidency. The northern third, which included Mazandaran and Azerbaijan as well as much of central Iran, would become Russian territory. A small buffer state was created by the Russians which, while nominally ruled by the emperor Mohammed Shah, who claimed the dynastic name Pahlavi, was truly the military fief of the Persian Cossacks.
In the centre, in theory, the Qajars still ruled. However, a revolution in 1915 abolished the "Fatherland-selling" Shahs and established the Iranian Republic, which detested both of its neighbors. Too concerned with World War I, both States had no choice but to let the Republic remain, ruling a rump Iran from Isfahan.
D2 - The Persianate Turks
Few Empires in our history have been as powerful as the massive Randomid Caliphate, who came from an amalgamation of the Oghuz-speaking Ottoman, Safavid and Timurid dynasties. It is not quite clear how these three Empires, bitter enemies at first, became the same country, but maybe it shouldn't be so surprising. After all, they came from similar Turkic tribes all belonging to the Oghuz macrogroup; they were all Persianate, having adopted Iranian customs in their court; and their administrations, ruling bustling and diverse world powers, had many similarities. Whatever their origin, the Randomid Caliphate would grow and grow, at one point holding almost 40% of the world's population. The three triplet capitals of Constantinople, Baghdad and Delhi would truly become magnificent cities. While the Randomid Caliphate would eventually fall apart, its cosmopolitan power-sharing tradition would make the Middle East an exceedingly stable place to this day.
D3 - A Nightmare in 1953
Everyone thought it would stop before this. When Mossadeq went to talk with Attlee and Morrison in 1951, everyone thought that would be the end of it; Attlee was seen as cordial and broadly supportive of decolonisation, and both Bevan as well as Harry Truman supported the rewriting of Anglo-Iranian Oil so that it would be more closely similar to the 50/50 agreements that had been signed in countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. But Attlee was defeated in the 1951 general election before any deal could come through. Then, Mossadeq came to New York, and before the United Nations made a point that made even the more veterate of pro-Western diplomats blush. Nothing could stop the nationalization of Anglo-Iranian, until in 1952 Truman was replaced by the Red-paranoid Ike Eisenhower. And even then, it seemed that the problem would end with a simple coup d'etat, with the veritable Kermit Roosevelt at its fore. But alas, Mossadeq escaped his house, and the public rose up to support him, declaring the Iranian National Republic in Tehran. Kermit and Ayatollah Kashani dead, and the Shah fleeing to Brussels, it seemed like everything that could have possibly gone wrong had just gone wrong.
Yet, once again, the Iranian situation would worsen. General Fazlollah Zahedi, now Prime Minister, managed to get a hold of most of the rural south's garrisons, but the north had mostly broken its allegiance to the Imperial government. Open warfare broke out in Tehran, where, although the pro-revolutionary forces held, Mossadeq was killed, and replaced as leader of the republic by a shadowy council led equally by the Iranian National Front and the Tudeh Party. In response to this, the British could no longer hold on. Churchill authorised an invasion of Abadan to start the 7th of September, 1953; the following week, Bandar 'Abbas and Bushehr were invaded by American-British forces.
Pandemonium broke out over this. General Abdel Nasser, in Egypt, reacted to this brazen act of imperialism the most strongly, launching a coup d'etat declaring the concession over the Suez over; in return, as "support" for the Kingdom of Egypt, Franco-Israeli troops started an invasion.
To the North, this push by the West, which seemed particularly imperialistic, was just what was needed for the hardliners, who had been receding in previous months, to take over the Presidium of the Soviet Union. Beria, now on the outside of the party, and increasingly sidelined by Malenkov and Khruschev, suddenly came out on top, demanding an invasion of Iranian Azerbaijan in support of Tudeh. This proceeded, and, by October of 1953, the international troops of five different nations (Iraq, the UK, the US, the USSR and Saudi Arabia) were in Iranian soil.
With the situation in the world rapidly deteriorating, Operation Unthinkable seems suddenly almost a certainty, and the breaking of the uneasy truces in Israel and Korea all but certain. Will a new World War break out, the first since Man has obtained domain over the realm of the atom?
I like especially The Great game one, having in head similar scenario...
The Empire of All Man. The first and only unification of all of Humanity. Her only Emperor, the great Alexandros the Perfect for only 23 years- nearly the whole time he was Emperor he was out on tour- expanding his empire and teaching his sons the ways of war. Through Alexandros nearly all of Mankind was unified- save for the far north and the desert tribes of the Saharos. And through Alexandros's death, the Empire of All Man shattered nearly instantly. Fillipea- Alexandros's eldest son was to be given the empire upon his fathers death. Alexandros's other sons- Constanius and Alexei grew jealous as Fillipea's growing bond with his father- and finally with the declaration that Alexandros was to be giving Fillipea the reigns of the empire- they snapped.
With Alexandros's suspicious death, Constanius and Alexei revolted at two ends of the empire- with the Constantinian Dynasty in the west, and the Army of Alexus along the Divine Ponds. With these two revolts, the Empire of All Man collapsed instantly as Fillipea was forced to retreat to the Valley of Ressea and stand between his two brothers and the capitol of Ellasia. With Fillipea on the defensive and far from the frontier- the various regions far from the capitol and the 3 brothers control began to break away from the Empire- leading to the re-fragmentation of Mankind and a horrible warlord era lasting thrice as long as Alexandros's reign.
And yet still, despite the short-lived nature of the Empire- something new has sparked within Mankind. Unity. Connection. Security. While the warlords of now provide 1 or none of these, it seems future generations will be inspired by Alexandros. For while none can achieve perfection, Mankind shall see to it that they shall attain greatness.
With Alexandros's suspicious death, Constanius and Alexei revolted at two ends of the empire- with the Constantinian Dynasty in the west, and the Army of Alexus along the Divine Ponds. With these two revolts, the Empire of All Man collapsed instantly as Fillipea was forced to retreat to the Valley of Ressea and stand between his two brothers and the capitol of Ellasia. With Fillipea on the defensive and far from the frontier- the various regions far from the capitol and the 3 brothers control began to break away from the Empire- leading to the re-fragmentation of Mankind and a horrible warlord era lasting thrice as long as Alexandros's reign.
And yet still, despite the short-lived nature of the Empire- something new has sparked within Mankind. Unity. Connection. Security. While the warlords of now provide 1 or none of these, it seems future generations will be inspired by Alexandros. For while none can achieve perfection, Mankind shall see to it that they shall attain greatness.
They have a mixed elite. Justinian I instituted that his successor and their successors should speak Latin as the language of the empire, while speaking greek as mother tongue. Thus, the more latinized areas (Italian peninsula, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the central Balkans) still speak latin, while the rest of the Empire (Greece and Anatolia) have a near-majority of greek speaking elite.
There is not really any ideas to do a "Reconquista", because of a simple matter: the kingdoms who started the reconquista OTL were the ones who survived the invasion of Iberia (mainly the Kingdom of Asturias, helped by the basque tribes and the Franks); however, as the Umayyads conquered the whole peninsula, winning a decisive victory in the Battle of Covadonga, there was no organized resistance to them, and the defeat of the Franks in the Battle of Tours made the Franks to agree on a peace treaty and stablishing a permanent border, in fear of a future muslim invasion of Northern Gaul and Germania.
No, they are not. In fact, the Kingdom of Burgundy was allowed to be independent as they act as a buffer state betwen Rome and them, such as Armenia acted as a buffer between the Romans and Sassanians. Both empires know that a total victory over the other would be a costly one, and so they prefer not to attack.
The Belgicae Confederatio is not a Frankish vassal in political terms, but still the culture of the Belgians is really influenced by them. They're both germanic entities, and so their relationship is friendly, and cooperation to stop norman/viking invasions and raids is sometimes needed.
This is awesome. It reminds me of Game of Thrones, being a historical-inspired fantasy world
errorofmyself
Banned
Hey @Fed would you mind doing something similar to this for my future TL ?So, if you ignore the ginormous "COLOMBIA" on one side of the map, this is essentially (AFAICT) an OTL map for the rebellions that hit Brazil during the regency of Pedro II. If you can't get over that huge "COLOMBIA" sign, it's because it's a map I drew up for my TL.
I really love the idea that human unification having been achieved once, no matter how briefly, is enough to make it an aspirational goal for every generation to come. I'm imagining this entire world becoming a kind of China writ large; a macro-scale "civilisation state" endlessly going through cycles of centralisation and fragmentation - "long divided, must unite; long united, must divide" and all that. While none would ultimately succeed in restoring the Empire to its full territorial extent, some will come close enough to credibly claim the mantle of "All Man".
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A Map of North America, circa 1936 in a Kaiserreich-esque scenario for TL-191.
In 1915, the Entente Forces in North America (comprising of Britain, the Dominion of Canada, and the CSA) would inflict a defeat the Union, thus winning the war. The Confederacy would cede from the north the states of West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware as well as parts of New Mexico and Missouri (forming the new states of Arizona and Jefferson respectively) along with Haiti being ceded a territory. The Canadian would gain Upper Michigan, the remainder of Maine, and parts of Minnesota and Washington. Following it's defeat in the First Great War, the United States of America would descend into political chaos which culminated in the American Civil War which lasted from 1916 to 1923, which the country disintegrated into several different nation states. The biggest one is the newly formed United Socialist States of America formed of various Syndicalist Militias headed by Eugene Debs, a Socialist. Following Debs' death in 1926, his successor would be President William Z. Foster, who would oversee the nationalization of all major industries across the USSA as well as building up it's military for a war against the CSA. Likewise, it would also engage in various activities across the South to agitate the Poor White, Black, and other populations who have been long marginalized by the ruling white elite of Confederate society, which had strained Confederate-USSA relations. In the west of the former Union is the Pacific States of America, a rump nation where the Federal Government is still in control with President Frank Marriam. The PSA's goals are to reunify the remainder of the former Union, to defeat and crush the Syndicalists out east, and ultimately, get revenge on the Confederacy. To achieve these, the PSA have too been reading for war, possessing a large fleet and air force. In middle, are several nation states, comprising of the Confederate satellite states of the Navajo Republic (formerly northern New Mexico), the Holy Republic of Deseret (a theocratic Mormon nation), and the Free State of Colorado. The others to the north are the Dakota Confederacy and the Montana Free Republic as well on the east coast, the New England Commonwealth, a British protectorate. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, the Confederate States of America expanding it's sphere of influence under it's so-called Golden Circle foreign policy. This expansion however had created rifts between Britain and the CSA, so much so, that by 1936, cracks in the Anglo-Confederate Alliance are beginning to show, particularly as disputes between the two nations around Jamaica and the Bahamas intensify. All the meanwhile, the Confederates are beginning to get more concerned about it's Northern Syndicalist neighbor as it is creating trouble and building up it's military for another war.
In 1936, the storm clouds of war gathered above North America yet again as tensions between the PSA, Confederacy, USSA, and the British Empire grow. The question is, what will be the fate of North America will be?
There is a point to be made that the origins of the Alpine War can be drawn from before the ink of Versailles dried.
From the ruination of the Great War emerged two very distinct, although comparable, ideologies of state. In Germany's case it was the "ferric imperialism" (Eisenimperialismus) of Manfred von Richthofen, which combined the monarchic conservatism of old which the "youthful dynamism" of right-wing thought. In Italy's case the transformation was much more imperfect: fascism. "That brutish, unenlightened form of ideological truancy, fit only for street thugs and intellectually deficient," as Richthofen scathingly declared it, embodied by Benito Mussolini and his Blackshirts. Both leaders were more similar than both of them cared to admit: they were both heroes of war who were always uncomfortable in peacetime, who - in times of severe crisis - took extraordinary measures and marched on their respective capitals to establish a new order shaped in their image. The great difference between Richthofen and Mussolini, however, was that their ways of governing diverged in highly meaningful ways.
Both leaders were de facto subjected under a monarch: Kaiser Wilhelm III and King Victor Emmanuel III. However, Mussolini cultivated a personal reverence towards himself, portraying himself as a kind of demigod to the Italian people, which alienated traditional conservatives and the King himself. Richthofen, although branded a tyrant by many of his contemporaries, steered clear of this self-aggrandizing yet ultimately destructive practice, instead delivering himself modestly and - most importantly - relying on his own achievements to win over the German public. "He never granted himself undue adulation, nor he demanded it from his citizens. He only made himself public whenever he had earned it through his accomplishments," wrote British historian Dr. Eric Bradbury in 1976. "Mussolini's egotism placed great strain amongst those cliques who had originally supported him, but now saw him as a mad dictator with a dangerous fascination with the grandiose. In short, whatever praise Richthofen received was genuine in its austerity, while Mussolini raveled in plentiful, albeit worthless, glorification."
The tensions within Italy's fascist regime only grew wider as the years passed by. Here, another crucial distinction between Richthofen and Mussolini comes into play: ambition. Richthofen espoused the doctrine of Rückgewinnung - "reclamation" - a cornerstone of his Eisenimperialismus ideology, which argued for the return of German lands lost in Versailles. Richthofen was not opposed to conquest and expansion; however, these plans laid in a distant, still concealed future; in the short term, Richthofen advertised these small yet easily achievable goals which served as fuel to his popularity. Wether it was the remilitarization of the Rhineland or the peaceful annexation of Danzig, achievements like these were politically cheap although still tremendously popular with the masses. Mussolini, meanwhile, failed to exercise the same prudence, and from the moment he obtained power he advertised the creation of a "New Roman Empire" stretching from Iberia to the Pontus, an impossible ambition. Mussolini soon understood just how incoherent his claims were, and when he tried to make feeble steps in lieu of his Augustine agenda, he was met with reproach by the impatient masses who had been accustomed to expect greatness by the fascist propaganda machine. "Mussolini shot himself in the foot," Dr. Bradbury surmised. "He promised too much, and the people had prodigious memories. They demanded their Nuova Roma, and the dictator simply couldn't deliver on such grandiose expectations."
As the people's patience ran thin, and with the internal power-brokers of Italy watching Mussolini with increasing disdain, the fascist knew he needed to do something to reestablish himself as a strong leader for Italy. That is why in March 1937, when the Anschluss between Germany and Austria was complete, Italy launched an invasion of North Tyrol and encircled Innsbruck. Mussolini claimed Austria was part of Italy's sphere of influence, and he spent the early months of '37 furiously opposing any attempts by Germany to interfere in Austrian matters. This didn't stop the Austrian people from voting overwhelmingly in favor of unification, nor the Austrian Army - traditionally dominated by fascistic forces - to bitterly oppose the Italian invasion in the final days of Austrian independence. Richthofen promised immediate retaliation, and the day after Anschluss was complete he declared war on Benito Mussolini.
The rest, as many often say, is history.
From the ruination of the Great War emerged two very distinct, although comparable, ideologies of state. In Germany's case it was the "ferric imperialism" (Eisenimperialismus) of Manfred von Richthofen, which combined the monarchic conservatism of old which the "youthful dynamism" of right-wing thought. In Italy's case the transformation was much more imperfect: fascism. "That brutish, unenlightened form of ideological truancy, fit only for street thugs and intellectually deficient," as Richthofen scathingly declared it, embodied by Benito Mussolini and his Blackshirts. Both leaders were more similar than both of them cared to admit: they were both heroes of war who were always uncomfortable in peacetime, who - in times of severe crisis - took extraordinary measures and marched on their respective capitals to establish a new order shaped in their image. The great difference between Richthofen and Mussolini, however, was that their ways of governing diverged in highly meaningful ways.
Both leaders were de facto subjected under a monarch: Kaiser Wilhelm III and King Victor Emmanuel III. However, Mussolini cultivated a personal reverence towards himself, portraying himself as a kind of demigod to the Italian people, which alienated traditional conservatives and the King himself. Richthofen, although branded a tyrant by many of his contemporaries, steered clear of this self-aggrandizing yet ultimately destructive practice, instead delivering himself modestly and - most importantly - relying on his own achievements to win over the German public. "He never granted himself undue adulation, nor he demanded it from his citizens. He only made himself public whenever he had earned it through his accomplishments," wrote British historian Dr. Eric Bradbury in 1976. "Mussolini's egotism placed great strain amongst those cliques who had originally supported him, but now saw him as a mad dictator with a dangerous fascination with the grandiose. In short, whatever praise Richthofen received was genuine in its austerity, while Mussolini raveled in plentiful, albeit worthless, glorification."
The tensions within Italy's fascist regime only grew wider as the years passed by. Here, another crucial distinction between Richthofen and Mussolini comes into play: ambition. Richthofen espoused the doctrine of Rückgewinnung - "reclamation" - a cornerstone of his Eisenimperialismus ideology, which argued for the return of German lands lost in Versailles. Richthofen was not opposed to conquest and expansion; however, these plans laid in a distant, still concealed future; in the short term, Richthofen advertised these small yet easily achievable goals which served as fuel to his popularity. Wether it was the remilitarization of the Rhineland or the peaceful annexation of Danzig, achievements like these were politically cheap although still tremendously popular with the masses. Mussolini, meanwhile, failed to exercise the same prudence, and from the moment he obtained power he advertised the creation of a "New Roman Empire" stretching from Iberia to the Pontus, an impossible ambition. Mussolini soon understood just how incoherent his claims were, and when he tried to make feeble steps in lieu of his Augustine agenda, he was met with reproach by the impatient masses who had been accustomed to expect greatness by the fascist propaganda machine. "Mussolini shot himself in the foot," Dr. Bradbury surmised. "He promised too much, and the people had prodigious memories. They demanded their Nuova Roma, and the dictator simply couldn't deliver on such grandiose expectations."
As the people's patience ran thin, and with the internal power-brokers of Italy watching Mussolini with increasing disdain, the fascist knew he needed to do something to reestablish himself as a strong leader for Italy. That is why in March 1937, when the Anschluss between Germany and Austria was complete, Italy launched an invasion of North Tyrol and encircled Innsbruck. Mussolini claimed Austria was part of Italy's sphere of influence, and he spent the early months of '37 furiously opposing any attempts by Germany to interfere in Austrian matters. This didn't stop the Austrian people from voting overwhelmingly in favor of unification, nor the Austrian Army - traditionally dominated by fascistic forces - to bitterly oppose the Italian invasion in the final days of Austrian independence. Richthofen promised immediate retaliation, and the day after Anschluss was complete he declared war on Benito Mussolini.
The rest, as many often say, is history.
I've seen some depressing timelines, but damn this one is just so... believably apocalyptic? It's like the WW2 eastern front but with more death in a shorter timeframe.
I don't see China staying unified for much longer after that. I wonder what the international response would be like? I'm sure there would be a gigantic humanitarian effort, but i just don't think even a magically united humanity could do much about basically all of China becoming a nuclear wasteland. And not only is that a staggering human disaster, that's gotta be awful for the environment too. It isn't a global thermonuclear exchange, but i think it would probably have effects that the whole planet would feel.
Compared to a 'cold war goes hot' apocalypse where everyone gets nuked, where there's the mentality of 'no one knows who shot first, it's noone's fault, we're all in this together', in this timeline the sheer unfairness of China getting obliterated while the rest of the world just watches is crushing, and i think that would be at the forefront of basically everyone's thoughts about the whole situation. I think the Soviets would face a huge amount of international and even internal backlash for the nuking, and i wonder if they would even survive in the long run. Because, the first thing i thought about was the parallels between the Sino-Soviet war and the eastern front of WW2, and with the Great Patriotic War being such a prominent, pivotal element of the post-WW2 Soviet national identity; i think the sheer weight of the percieved hypocrisy of the more militarily advanced Soviets inflicting a comparable treatment on less-developed China would be too much.
But yeah, overall i think this war would irreversibly make the world a worse place to live in, and it just highlights how awful A. Asian land wars really are; and B. direct warfare between major nations post-1945 would be. Gotta say, excellent work at making a dark timeline!
Nice, but while it will look ugly, I would think that Germany would also establish control over and a corridor to Trieste and Istria, simply to get a Mediterranean port. If Germany don’t want to own it, Germany could establish a protectorate over it.
Doesn’t it say they nuked first? And chemically attacked? I can’t see anyone giving a damn about the “plight of the Chinese refugee” in that case.
Crazymachines
Banned
I had a lot of fun with this one; it's an alternate 1545, can you spot all the divergences?
If Germany had to remilitarize the Rhineland, shouldn't it not control Alsace-Moselle ?
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