Is this really the time or place to be arguing about the British Empire or the monarchy?
Map Thread XXI
- Thread starter fluttersky
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No, although I can always claim that in fact all my maps that do not contradict each other belong to the same universe.
"Wilsonian" Armenia never joined the Soviet Union, so the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict did not happen, and the collapse of the USSR was butterflied away.
No idea. There's already a Black Ruthenia, it's a historical region of Belarus based around Navahrudak.
I wasn't thinking I'd return to this scenario, but I'm home for the weekend so I figured I'd expand this scenario to a world map since I can use MS Paint. Most of the lore is the same from the first post, although after hearing feedback I did change the lore of Italy and Austria-Hungary. Instead of A-H maintaining South Tyrol in its entirety and Italy gaining Dalmatia, Italy instead compromised with A-H and received Trentino while the rest of South Tyrol remained Austrian due to having a higher concentration of Germans. Trieste is also still ceded to Italy, although it remains an Italian exclave so that the Triple Monarchy (of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia, reorganized during the reign of Emperor Otto) can maintain a Mediterranean coast.
TTL's 2022 is very convergent with the 2022 of our own world. Despite World War 2 never occurring and the U.S. being somewhat more isolationist, decolonization still occurs, and while it's faster or slower in different areas, for the most part by the present the results are recognizable. There are exceptions, however, the biggest of which is India, where a more violent Indian independence movement led to the fracturing of the former British Raj into several different nations (credit to @Sriyam Swastik for the borders - I've used them before, but I really like the geopolitical dynamic shown in the subcontinent). Meanwhile, Portugal has managed to hold on to its colonial empire in Africa, Goa, Macau, and East Timor, and without an equivalent to the Carnation Revolution the Salazarist government has remained in place. Despite mostly decolonizing, France has also maintained two exclaves in Algeria, which have since become predominantly inhabited by the Pied-Noir following voluntary population transfers between France and Algeria. The United Kingdom also maintains more influence in Africa, as while Britain still decolonized, more African countries decided to keep the constitutional monarchy, including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and the East African Federation, which was created in 1963.
As mentioned in the original post, the USSR has managed to survive to the present, and throughout its history has managed to remain more democratic than IOTL, with this democracy being solidified in the 1990s by Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the USSR from a one party state (albeit a fairly big tent party as far as communist parties are concerned) to a multiparty system, albeit still a dominant party system with the Communist Party holding on to power. Of some note is the existence of the Yakut SSR, which was lifted from the level of ASSR during Bukharin's time as Soviet leader. The USSR is the only ideologically communist state currently (although by the 21st century they've drifted more towards social democracy), although they do have allies. China remains dominated by the Kuomintang, but while they are still nationalist they never had a rightward shift due to there being much less of a conflict with the Chinese Communist Party, leading to China and the USSR remaining fairly close allies, with India at a distant third. Across the Yellow Sea, Japan has managed to hold on to its empire in Korea, Taiwan, and Micronesia, however they also never fell into military rule, with Taisho democracy surviving through the reigns of Hirohito and Akihito into the present day under the reign of Emperor Naruhito. The rest of East Asia is relatively the same, although Vietnam and Laos have maintained their monarchies and the White Rajahs have remained in their position in Sarawak, joining the other nine hereditary rulers of Malaysia.
Geopolitically, the New World is almost identical to our own. The biggest territorial difference is that the West Indies Federation, the Bahamas, and British Honduras (Belize) joined Canada in 1962, with the provinces being viewed largely as the Canadian Hawaii. Besides this, the Dutch still control Suriname. Societally, however, things are fairly different. The U.S. has remained much more isolated despite actually joining the League of Nations after its foundation, and while it is more conservative than our U.S. it also boasts a much stronger welfare state thanks to the influence of former President Huey Long. Brazil might be the most different American country from its OTL counterpart. Spending much of the 20th century under an integralist dictatorship headed by Plinio Salgado and later Plinio Correa de Oliveira, a referendum in 1993 would see the Brazilian monarchy restored, and after the death of Oliveira two years later the Emperor would oversee the liberalization of Brazil, transforming it into a modern constitutional monarchy.
Feel free to ask any questions about the scenario! As I said earlier, this was initially more just focused on creating nice borders, and expanding it to the rest of the world I wanted to continue the feeling of a world inspired by the interwar period that nevertheless is still very familiar to residents of OTL. Naturally this means that some butterflies were ignored, but I hope the scenario is still relatively coherent and not just all over the place.
Continued from my previous post; I've been on a roll lately!
At the turn of the second millenium, China is a century deep into the Second Spring & Autumn Period. After nearly 800 years, the legacy of the Han dynasty is fading into myth, as the prospect of a united China accelerates further out of reach. While conflict is as prevalent as would be expected, the utter anarchy and confusion that characterized previous eras of civil war is muted, if present at all, especially in the south. The new status quo of interstate relations has stabilized greatly, and rulers and their subjects are far more comfortable in this system - enough so to begin testing the new boundaries.
In the Far West, the fortunes of Rome have faded as quickly as they rose. Though the imperial golden age of the 8th-9th centuries was short, its effects were far-reaching enough to have fundamentally shaped the future of the European continent. The situation is the most stable it's been in decades, with most warlords having pledged alliegance to either the Northern or Eastern Imperial governments. The Eastern court, with near-complete control of the Mediterranean and its capital in Constantinople, is the clear contender for legitimacy, but it is in no position to expand its reach further anytime soon. The Northern court is currently in a stronger position, and has had a large influence over the recent rise of the Kingdom of Poland. Along with the appearance of the multitude of Rus kingdoms, there is now a direct chain of borders between Rome and the ascendant Volga Bulgarian Khanates, who are quite peaceful... for now.
I wonder what, uh, Chinese-subsidized pro-independence in this context means...
Do any of the Russian splinter states have nuclear weapons? With the example of Ukraine and apparently now Kazakhstan, I'd say it might be useful for some of the states to carry some cans, er, missiles full of radioactive deterrent in case Russia gets frisky again, as it is generally wont to do.
Which nations occupy Kaliningrad? I'm somewhat skeptical of it surviving independently, unless it receives a load of EU subsidies or something - might be annexed either Poland or Germany.
Chinese subsidised independence is influenced by the theory of "debt-trap diplomacy", and a lot of the influential figures in those states have essentially sold their souls to China in exchange for funding.
The nuclear situation is a complete mess with many warheads missing or assumed missing. Several splinter states claim to have warheads, with some claiming they disarmed them, but it's unclear if they actually have them.
Kaliningrad was occupied by Poland and is an independent state, but is currently under a joint European occupation government. Poland and Germany do not want to annex it because it would create a large russian minority.
This is very nice, I love a religious map. Indian and Somali Jews? Cool as hell. But, and this is a big pet peeve of mine, the Church of the East is not accurately described as Nestorian. That's a misnomer applied by more western churches to slander the Church of the East for not agreeing to anathemize Nestorius. His teaching is in no way fundamental to the doctrines of the church, and in fact it doens't even follow all of it. The successor to the Church of the East, the modern Assyrian Church of the East, has explicitly repudiated the name Nestorian as applied to their church.
It's kind of an annoying problem to get around, since 'Nestorian' is such a nice succint name to put on a list like this, and the obvious alternative of Church of the East is a bit clunky. I've had the same problem in my TL. I've gone with East Syriac or Assyrian to describe it. To fit the theme you've got going on, you could call it East Syriac/Assyrian Rite Chalcedonian, since the Church of the East also eventually approved the Council of Chalcedon (in 544, specifically), after initially not having done so.
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another from my timeline.
the romans after the byzantine Sassanid war in the 650s helped Gil Gavbara get the throne of Persia, the term Dabuyid is not what the empire refer to itself as they kept the empire's name Ērānšahr and saw themselves as the continuation of the earlier Sassanids due to the tang expansion and various Turkic migrations no true large scale war occurred between the romans and the Dabuyids for 150 years but during the times of crisis, but from 800s to 890s a series of wars occurred were Iran reconquered many areas to its east Transoxiana was reincorporated to the empire after defeating the tang garrisons, to the west southern Mesopotamia from the roman vassals and managed to return to the empire border to the Sassanid borders of 600 ad after a favorable treaty were Kavad III had with the roman emperor Constantine VI
Continuation of my earlier "assassination of Caesar" map.
After going mad (and also going mad with power), Caesar proclaims himself the Eagle Emperor[1], and, putting his supporters in high-ranking positions, proclaims a new Roman Empire.
Believing himself to be chosen by the gods[2] Caesar begins a massive war of conquest that cements him as one of the most influential figures in European history. First, he establishes a corridor between Roman Hispania and Roman Italy, allowing for a conquest into the rest of unconquered Hispania. After this, he turns his attention to Gaul and captures tribe after tribe until it is fully under Roman domain. He then turns to the Rhine and Illyria, conquering those as well.
Following the conclusion of the Caesarean wars of conquest, Caesar settles in Rome and institutes numerous reforms, including the codification of Roman polytheism as law, with other ideologies banned[3]. He also builds a Great Rhenish Wall[4] along the Rhine to ward off "barbarian hordes"; they're still a tourist attraction as of 2022.
Over the years; Caesar's growing age begins to concern him, and he sends off different missions to Scandinavia, Africa, India, and the Middle East to find different herbs to brew into an "elixir of immortality". In 14 BC, he ingests deadly nightshade over the course of several days, believing it to make him immortal. He dies.
The remnants of Caesar's empire fall to Caesarion[5], the product of an affair with Cleopatra, the pharaoh of a surviving Ptolemaic Egypt. Caesarion doesn't rule as well as his father and is forced to commit suicide by a rival emperor. With the Caesarean dynasty now in chaos, Octavian[6] takes over, declaring himself Augustus Caesar and beginning the Augustine dynasty of Rome.
[1] Unfortunately, it turns out "Dragon Emperor" only happens to be the name of the villain in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, who is inspired by Qin Shi Huang. I thought it to be a cool name regardless.
[2] A nod to the Chinese "mandate of heaven" concept.
[3] TTL's equivalent of the elimination of the Hundred Schools of Thought, including Confucianism.
[4] Great Wall of China.
[5] TTL's equivalent to Qin Er Shi, alive due to butterflies.
[6] TTL's equivalent to Gaozu of Han.
To be honest - and meaning no offense, of course - I fail to see how "Italy is even more screwed out of its rewards compared to OTL" results in no Fascism. If anything, I can see Fascism getting a lot stronger and ending up being a twin, rather than a little cousin, to OTL Nazism.
Kaiserreich - Sultanate of Egypt
Desert War (1938-1940)
As the Ottomans began to encroach on the Suez Canal, a convene between neighboring Arab states took place within the confine of Cairo. Weary of a resurgent Turkish hegemony taking root, the independent powers of West Asia and representatives of seceding regions made the initiative to form a coalition to pre-emptively dismantle the threat. The convene eventually culminated in a proper alliance in 1938, with such an endeavor later to be known as the Cairo Pact.
The crisis eventually escalated into a full-blown war when the Ottomans annexed the Mutassarifate of Jerusalem, despite the condemnations from its neighbors. The annexation sparked a frenzy of secessionist uprisings, ranging from the Hashemite-led forces of Hejaz to the mutinous tribes across the Levant. The Republic of Iran launched a surprise invasion of Mesopotamia, and the Sennusi Order under Idris I waged a war of independence against the Ottomans.
However, it was the Royal Egyptian Army that delivered the killing blow. Under the flexible initiative of Muhammad Naguib’s command, the Sultanate of Egypt was able to destroy large formations of Turkish forces during the crossing of the Suez. Such a triumph enabled them to immediately occupy Palestine within a few weeks and later paved the occupation of the entire Levant in 1939.
It wasn’t until 1940 when the Cairo Pact blitz its way deep into the southern hemisphere of Anatolia. With little to no reserves after grudging themselves against the powerful coalition, the Ottoman Empire eventually recognized the independence of all seceding regions and concede their outer territories to neighboring powers such as Egypt and Iran. What follows is the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the new Republic of Turkey.
Annexation of the Levant (1938-1945)
Despite the previous agreement to allow the Levant to become its independent polity, the Sultanate of Egypt instead took the opportunity to forcefully annex the region under the pretense of regional security and pan-Arab unity. While the action was condemned by their neighbors, with Hejaz and Rashidi Arabia pulling out from the Cairo Pact, most of its neighbors nevertheless recognize their suzerainty across the region.
Being the only few to benefit from the aftermath of the war, the newly-industrialized Egypt took advantage of its economic power to integrate the Levant into its fold: Electrification efforts across dim-litted regions such as Sinai and Palestine were made, and the construction of a Cairo-Damascus railway was set to be accomplished in early 1943.
Despite their investment, warring tribes who refused to recognize their rule wage skirmishes against the Egyptian regime, sometimes with Turkish support. Such an insurgent threat became paramount during the Rebellion of Diyarbakir in 1942 when an army of 550 raiding tribesmen defeated a well-armed garrison in the Battle of Diyarbakir. Some would eventually follow suit, with cities such as Raqqah and even Jerusalem joining such an endeavor.
I have no idea how, but somehow I completed this spur-of-the-moment project to compress this map of pre-Columbian North America into a WorldA.
I plan on doing a world map of this, but I figured this could stand on its own for now as I have many projects, a lot of real-world stuff going on, and it turns out a POD over two millennia ago requires copious amounts of thinking
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