MotF 231: Bought With Blood and Steel

[Kaiphranos]

MotF 231: Bought With Blood And Steel

The Challenge

Make a map showing a country that has recently achieved the status of a great power through victory in a major conflict.

The Restrictions

There are no restrictions on when the PoD of your map should be. Fantasy, sci-fi, and future maps are allowed.

If you're not sure whether your idea meets the criteria of this challenge, please feel free to PM me or comment in the main thread.
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Entries will end for this round when the voting thread is posted on Monday, March 1, 2021.
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PLEASE KEEP ALL DISCUSSION ON THE CONTEST OR ITS ENTRIES TO THE MAIN THREAD.
Any discussion must take place in the main thread. If you post anything other than a map entry (or a description accompanying a map entry) in this thread, you will be asked to delete the post.

Don't forget to vote on MotF 230!​

 

[AstroRangerBeans]

The Menwari or Munawar or Menwars are the current Iranian dynasty which had ruled the country and as a dominant imperial family which rivaled the former Ottoman Turkey, the Menwar or Menwer where a word referred to 'the Enlightened' which refers to the reign of Anwer or Anwar the First or Anwar I which had ruled the country, dating back to his early reign in the 1850 as he was a former British volunteer soldier and pretender to the Persian throne and his successes in pulling modernization was spearheaded by both British and the Japanese in response to growing threat of Russian dominance which had dominated the Central Asian region and he was fond of Ashfari Era literature and Achaemenid and Alexander the Great stories from the West and he also guided to bring Iran back into the greatness.

The Great Game was so fierce between the two great powers and a soldier from the British India had started uprisings in the Sultanate of Kalat and overthrew a local sultan where they proceed to instigate violent uprising in Isfahan and capture the Shah and then Anwer finally stepped into an abandoned throne where he became the Shah of Iran by 1851 and began the series of modernization from where he appointed several key friends educated from the British Isles into the cabinet posts as he was heard rich tales of past armies and recent growing marauder Khivans and where he began to effectively modernize the military structure as well as appointing key military advisors from the British East India Company (North Hindustan) and France as well as Carnatique in effectively modernize the country's military as well as training and imposing discipline on troops, by the end of 1850s, Anwar the First had took advantage to gain tribal armies as key allies.

As the Great Game between the two giants rages on, the Anwar I had proceeded to the conquest of Kalat where he managed to sought to marry the local queen in order for him to gain or consolidate his reputation as a Persian Shah and his gain on several geographical chokepoints made his plans for his expedition to Afghanistan or will be known as his planned military conquest but the geography and rugged mountains had made his modernizing army difficult, though he turned his attention to the rival, Khiva where several attempts made by Cossacks and the Russians to conquer and consolidate its influence has failed in the previous decades but Anwar I has possession of preparing an army of 80,000 trained troops and scouts as well as beefing up its allies to begin his conquest of Khiva during the time that the Crimean War was close over the Eastern Question as the Imperial Russians had attempted to assert the claim of authority of the Eastern Christians that causes condemnation from both France and Britain.

The Ashgabat Expedition, spearheaded by British-trained general Mohammad Rezghi which he accompanied 80,000 troops into the gates of Khivan capital in order to punish or pursue punitive attacks on Slave Khanate that is not only led to renewed increasing prestige but the unknown dangers of looming war between Russia and modernizing Iran is very closer as the tensions between Britain, France, and Russia reaches boiling point by 1856 with the onset of Crimean War over the Eastern Question with regards to Ottoman Turkish declining status as they became the 'sick man of Europe' and renewed religious dispute between the Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians over the ownership of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem including the Church of the Nativity and Holy Sepulchre.

During part of Crimean War, Anwar I has seen an opportunity to deny Russians from conquering Khiva has surprisingly attacked huge contingents of invading Russian forces during the course of counterattack campaign to defend their newly-conquered possessions and with the help of British and French forces from their colonies, the battle has turned in favor of Anwar and its forces and by the time the Persians had lay siege, the final blow to the Russian morale and deterred them from planning to expand influence into the Indian Ocean in appeasing with Britain. His victory has brought surviving 40,000 soldiers home with captured Russian weapons through the streets of the capital as the jubilant advisors had also celebrated the victory which is the sign of growing and reemerging the old kingdom into a future 20th century great power where he instructed General Ahmad of strong knowledge of Afghani geography had conquered the difficult region through easier means as rebellions suppressed to show how strong the modernizing Persian army is and it is a reality that Persia is building a new railroad network between capitals and other cities as well as industrial centers and ports to facilitate industrialization in order for his future successor to eye on the Ottoman Turks, should they prepare to knock them down in instigating vengeance on its biggest rival.


Fast forward into the 20th century, as his son named Nader became a new Shah where he started to promote modernization through education programs especially the inhabitants of Iranic groups including the Pashtuns to Persianize the educated populace in between parts of the 20th century in their efforts to recover the centuries of humiliation and to regain much preeminence as a potential great Islamic power, but during the European Wars of 1914-1918, they remained neutral during his years of reign as a second Shah of Persia under the Menawari Dynasty. In the aftermath of the war where Ottomans has regained supreme and a huge threat to their country's potential status as a future great power, he began to promote 'Persian/Iranian Unity' among their cultures and ethnolinguistic groups even the growing Ottoman Turkish militarism where militarists had called for putting the Sultan into public sphere and absolute control as well as calling for liberation of fellow brothers from European colonialism, he was soundly alarmed as the threat of militarist Ottoman Turks could mean that the country will face another potential war or planning to open their strike to avenge the Ottoman Turks.

During the course of vengeance war, the Persians had a mighty army and industry, capable of repelling Ottoman Turkish forces as well as equipped with powerful anti-aircraft artillery and also most importantly, the geography including the rugged and mountainous rims as well as the Zagros Mountains which had provided natural support for guerilla army and provide excellent natural defenses in placing their own brave forces on different flanks, by mountainous features that the enemy couldn't able to hold or simply exhaust their resources.

The Battle of Hamedan was the greatest turning point during the Iranian Campaign as hundreds of thousands of brave soldiers who took their pledge to sacrifice to fight harder against the Ottoman Turks was driven out as relentless and sudden counterattacks by launching anti-tank artillery and mostly, their spirit and effort as geography had prevented the Central Powers from thrusting their push into the heart of the country with bad weather conditions and unfamiliar geography has made them worse for the enemy, thus pushing them out of the country by the end of mid 1942 where brave forces under the Shah has proceeded to gain the rich and strategic Mesopotamian region for prestige and prized glory that the Persians has been trying to fulfill their dreams of Anwar I and other previous Shahs.

Growing resistance movements such as rebellious ethnic minorities and military's own Fifth Column conspiracy together with the Allied push into the Thrace has forced them to surrender, the Treaty of Isfahan had also dismantled the 'Sick Man of Europe' to achieve their goals and the country became an emerging power in the Grand Game/Invisible War years, with the new 1946 constitution had changed to the name 'Iran' in promoting their culture and claiming the mantle, thus the postwar Iranian Economic and Cultural Renaissance has began.

And, the World War has also destroyed all European empires except the Soviet Russia, the Ottoman Turks are also included in the destructive consequences as uncovering war crimes against ethnic minority groups such as the Kurds, Armenians, and the orders during the course of the war and subsequent Persian-led Operation Nader Shah had also caused repercussions when Persians had to destroy the Ottoman Turkish dominance as well. The Rosenvelt-Kagawa Plan has also rebuilt the economies of Persia as well as the annexation of occupied southern Mesopotamia and the retrocession has also given the chance for their dreams of his father, Anwar of the country becoming a modern great power come true by the end of the 2nd Millennium.

Today, Iran is the 8th world's largest economy with over worth of $1.9 trillion due to huge energy industry including oil, service-oriented sectors, and burgeoning manufacturing sector where the country stands with huge robust population where the country has been ranked with 0.880 in terms of standards of living index and it is considerably a great power where they extended their influences with neighboring countries under the umbrella of Baghdad Pact with members such as Caucasian Confederation, Kurdistan, and Levantine Confederation, a member of G16, and other important international organizations including the International Union, and most importantly, Iran has colonies on both Moon and Mars as of this day.

Members of Baghdad Pact:

• Imperial State of Iran
• Kurdistan
• Caucasian Confederation
• Levantine Confederation

 

[The Tai-Pan]

 

[Prince di Corsica]

​

The end of days has already come to pass for the Empire. The arrival of the Spanish was a herald to the destruction that would be coming, one that took the form of pestilence and fratricidal war, that brought entire cities to ruin and killed countless people, notables and peasants alike. Which meant that, when the Spanish returned, brandishing their weapons and seeking to conquer all, there was little in the way to stop them. For when the war between the brothers was over, in that very same day, the Spanish returned, and the Inca Atahualpa immediately suspected those strange men were runa quicachac, 'destroyers of peoples'. They were thieves, demons, coming to steal the wealth of the Inca and enslave the people to their perfidious will. Immediately a plan was made to destroy the invader and rid the land of their evil. A trap was set to lure in the demons, but their cunning tricks swept it over the Inca's feet, capturing him and taking him hostage, to ensure the Empire complied to their demands.

Then, they forced the Inca to grant them treasures of gold, which they melted greedily into bars, lying at every time that they would set him and his people free as long as he complied. They ransacked the temples and the cities in their lust for gold, and dared to try the Inca in their daemonic court and sentence him to death, and then forced him to renounce the gods to avoid dying in a pyre. The torturous Spanish murdered him by suffocation instead, for crimes against their sacrilegious morality. After having murdered the Inca, the Spanish declared his brother Túpac Huallpa as their champion, but he wouldn't survive long. Then, the Spanish placed Manco Inca on the throne, as he had been a friend of theirs until then.

Manco Inca had seen the destruction those demons had brought into his country, and was smart enough to pretend to be their ally until the time was ripe to destroy them. He came to know the Spanish and the disputes between their leaders, learning how to do as they had done, and instill discord among them to make them weaker. Then, taking advantage of their untold greed, said he would bring them a golden statue for them to melt, only to escape from their captivity and come join the armies of his people, already amassing to destroy the invader.

With the Inca now safe and free to lead them, the armies of the North advanced over Cusco, where the arch-demon, Pizarro, hosted his court, and over Lima, the port they were using to ship gold to whatever hellish nightmare land their 'Spain' was supposed to be. With the Spanish forces focused on those two cities, their fall would begin the downfall of the entire demoniac venture. And so it was. Manco Inca broke the Spanish, first in Cusco and then in Lima, and entered the city of his ancestors, proclaiming the Empire restored and calling on the peoples, not just under his domain, but all others under the Sun, the barbarians to the south and the tribes to the east and north, to unite and fight against these demonic entities that had come to destroy the world.

The war was brutal like no other had been seen before under the sun. The Spanish demons kept coming from across the sea, from the lands of Panama and Spain, wave after wave. Their terrifying weapons seemed unending, and mightier than anything our people could muster. But Manco Inca was a very smart man, and he understood that, to fight the demons, we would have to learn how to use their weapons. Captured Spanish soldiers were forced to teach us how to wield and create such weapons and our soldiers were quick to adapt, and our smiths quick to learn. Arquebuses, artillery and crossbows were used back against the Spanish, and they were forged within the walls of our cities as well. Horses were left alive and learned how to ride. The Inca himself led battles on such a mount. Soon enough, our soldiers were as strong in combat as their own, and we were ever more capable of pushing back those demons.

Eventually, peace was agreed upon, and trade opened between our ports. The Inca, sensing the need to restore the forces of his people, accepted to allow the Spanish to remain in Guayaquil and in Chile, knowing well that, sooner rather than later, we would come to reclaim those lost lands and throw the Spanish back into the sea. For the time being, however, we trade with them, getting some of their inventions in exchange for the silver and gold they seem so attached to. They leave Tumpis to go onto Guayaquil, and from there to Panama and Spain.

The war might have ended, but we remember the end of days. We are still not as many as we were before the pestilence, and it remains quite deadly, killing many of our people each year. We are still rebuilding our cities and refurnishing our temples from the wars and sacks and depredations suffered upon it by the Spanish. The world ended, night fell upon our mountains but, as always, Inti rose once more, to embrace us with power to fight back. And fight back we will. We know quite well that there is not a ounce of good in Spanish hearts and that we either slay them or they will slay us, when given the chance.

And it seems we might have found an ally in our struggle - ships have come, similar to the Spanish ones, but with a different flag, of even whiter men, who say they are from the land of 'England', and avowed enemies of the Spanish. They say they come not to conquer, but to help us rid ourselves of the Spanish, and promise us weapons and secrets in exchange for the precious metals we dig from the bowels of the Earth. They tell us stories of the lands to the east, what they call 'Europe', and even of a land across the ocean, to where the Spanish send our silver to be exchanged for gifts, a land called 'Qin'. At the moment, they are hosted in Cusco, as guests of the Inca, as he reflects upon the meaning of all of this. Whatever is decided, one thing is certain - the war is not over, and it will never be over until the cursed Spanish are expelled from our lands, and from all places under the Sun. Their presence is intolerable and forever a danger.

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I don't know how coherent that text was, but you get the point. Manco Inca wins his rebellion and kicks out the Conquistadores, ending up with a restored Inca Empire that adapts rather well to the new inventions of warfare (apparently, the Neo-Inca State did very well in this regard, so I imagine what they could do with the full might of the Incas behind them)

I hope this is a large enough scale to fit the rules of the contest. It is certainly a major conflict in Incan perspective - it'd be an equivalent to an apocalyptical conflict, literally, for us. And the Inca Empire is in a decently good position to become a great power in South America here.

Overall, this map was really fun to do, because I got to experiment a lot with the textures, I got to put up roads, mountains and cities, and the frame just looks great. I sure do hope everyone likes it!

 

[Jajax]

In the tower room, surrounded by murals and silk, Alexander rests his head in his hands. His thick, silver hair--he has not gone bald, at least--falls over his eyes, blocking Alexandria from sight. It is not much more than a blur, anyway, these days. The Alexandrine Code, in twenty-seven thick upright scrolls, stands to his left. Bits of the planned Life and Deeds of Alexander III, King of Macedon lie on the scribe’s table, and others in a heap of papyrus and wax tablets to his right. His Commentaries on Achilles, Craft of Ares & Athena, Alexander’s Geography, and Lyrics of Alexander are stowed in great chests beneath, alongside the annotated Iliad he once carried across the Indus. Old age has made him literary. How long has it been since the real fires blazed in his heart? Encased in a sarcophagus of government ever since Sinope, he had almost forgotten glory, laid aside the need for vengeance. Only now, when the chance is past, do the embers flare up again. There will never be that last readjudication--it had seemed vaguely fated, however distant--of the Hydaspes. King Porus, called “Great,” is dead.

He is thinking of Odysseus with the oar now. The sword of battle, carried so deep among the palace’s curtains that it has been mistaken for a scepter. But he will not return to his home country, where the eastern sun beats down, the smells of dust and sweat rise all round, the dying scream, and the tips of sarissas flash. Here let him make an offering to his old persecutor. Alexander smiles. Yes, there’s a poem in that….

***

The POD is at the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC. IOTL Alexander the Great defeated a renowned soldier-king named Porus, but his men quailed at the might of the Nanda Empire beyond, thus setting the limit on his conquests. ITTL, Porus is the victor. Seeing how easily his retreating enemy won an empire, Porus recruits local rulers and ambitious military men to replicate the feat. He pursues Alexander's exhausted troops, conquering all the way to the shores of the Mediterranean, and picking up the valuable Cassander son of Antipater, a Macedonian commander hostile to Alexander, along the way. In the end, after suffering a defeat at Tarsus and achieving a final victory in Assyria, Porus agrees to a rather awkward Euphrates border in the West.

In the East, the estranged Nanda prince Pabbata commands Porus’ troops on the Indus, conquering cities from his father Dhana Nanda and the smaller kingdoms on the imperial frontier. His lieutenant and sometime rival is one Chandragupta Maurya (Hellenized “Andrakotta”). Pabbata turns west to aid Porus, but Chandragupta goes east. As IOTL, the details of his campaign against the Nanda Empire are unknown, early Indian historiography being sparse and inexact, but in a few years he has expanded the territories subservient to Porus all the way to the Bay of Bengal. After the final treaty with Alexander, the empire is divided into semi-autonomous three “portions.” Porus directly rules the central and largest one, while Cassander takes the West and Chandragupta the East.

The empire will fight a series of wars in central India with modest success. The records of these campaigns brought back by Greek mercenaries serving in the imperial forces will become key texts for historians of ancient India, and are responsible for the highly Hellenized names of Indian cities on the map (e.g. Podanapura-->Potamopolis). Another war with Alexander brings Pontus and some nearby states under Porus’ protection, extending his power to the Black Sea.

This will prove the height of the empire: as its leading figures die off, it will become increasingly difficult to hold such a large territory together. The West will split off in a few decades, taking a chunk of the center with it, but Porid kings will continue to rule in India and central Asia for a couple of centuries longer. Buddhism will find its way to the Mediterranean and the Jaxartes. Of the many Indian settlements in the western regions, those in our Oman and Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan will prove especially permanent. As for Alexander, he will live to put his Macedonian Empire on good footing, establishing laws, fathering sons, and keeping the rising powers to his west in check--but disappointment will haunt him to the end of his illustrious days.

***

This map was a bit of an ordeal, really, and I rushed it at the end, but I’m 90% pleased with how it came out. I’ve had the idea of an Indian Alexander in the back of my head for years, and it was good to finally do something with it. I wish I’d had time to include more details: names and rulers of satrapies, sites of Greek and Indian colonies, the dispersal of Buddhism and Jainism, etc.

(Also, I wish I’d come up with a good alternative to BCE dating, which feels a little off in a map with a pre-Christian POD--though no more so than using English, I suppose.)