*sees balkans*
*Happy Yugoslavist noises*

The fact that the Kingdom of Croatia was mostly an Italian occupational regime and the Serbian liberation of their Slav brothers helped to cement a good narrative for the foundation of Yugoslavia. Despite the transition to democracy, there are issues still unresolved, like the widespread viw that Bosniaks aren't truly Yugoslavs, the apartheid Albano-Kosovans live under or the tension the country mantains with Italy over the Illyrian Coast.

Also, who's that in Sicily?

If you mean the dark blue, Sicilians are considered a nationality within the broader Italian nation, with many Sicilians even declaring that they are a distinct people from Italians (something similar happens with Venetians, Friulians, Sardinians and Savoyards). If you mean the red little dots that are also in Southern Italy, it's the Arbëreshë people and other Albanians settled in the peninsula.
 
However, why is such an attitude in Iran? What factors influenced this?
I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's something to do with Shi'a Islam which is in general much more individualistic than Sunni and places a stronger emphasis on the personal faith of the Muslim. Because of this more individual approach (mainly based on the Qur'an alone) to Islam the Muftis of Iran may have determined that a gay Muslim out of devotion to Allah may aim to become as much of a woman as he can so as to live with Allah's will.

Sunni Muslims follow a much more traditional form of Islam (based strongly on the Sunnah) and so use the additional teachings of Muhammed, Caliphs and the traditions of the Islamic leaders which assert that the will of Allah far out weighs any choice - thus it's no use trying to change sex to become straight because one: Allah intended you to be male, and two: you're just trying to justify your sin with a lesser sin.
 
I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's something to do with Shi'a Islam which is in general much more individualistic than Sunni and places a stronger emphasis on the personal faith of the Muslim. Because of this more individual approach (mainly based on the Qur'an alone) to Islam the Muftis of Iran may have determined that a gay Muslim out of devotion to Allah may aim to become as much of a woman as he can so as to live with Allah's will.

Sunni Muslims follow a much more traditional form of Islam (based strongly on the Sunnah) and so use the additional teachings of Muhammed, Caliphs and the traditions of the Islamic leaders which assert that the will of Allah far out weighs any choice - thus it's no use trying to change sex to become straight because one: Allah intended you to be male, and two: you're just trying to justify your sin with a lesser sin.
This is somewhat doubtful - Protestant denominations are more individual than official churches. However, there are many who deny both homosexuality and transgenderism.
 
The fact that the Kingdom of Croatia was mostly an Italian occupational regime and the Serbian liberation of their Slav brothers helped to cement a good narrative for the foundation of Yugoslavia. Despite the transition to democracy, there are issues still unresolved, like the widespread viw that Bosniaks aren't truly Yugoslavs, the apartheid Albano-Kosovans live under or the tension the country mantains with Italy over the Illyrian Coast.



If you mean the dark blue, Sicilians are considered a nationality within the broader Italian nation, with many Sicilians even declaring that they are a distinct people from Italians (something similar happens with Venetians, Friulians, Sardinians and Savoyards). If you mean the red little dots that are also in Southern Italy, it's the Arbëreshë people and other Albanians settled in the peninsula.

The situation in Yugoslavia sounds pretty bad, of course it wouldn't make sense for everything to be sunshine and rainbows especially not in the Balkans. I was asking about the Sicilians but all the information is very interesting.
 
Italy
Tomorrow there's a general election in Spain, as I have teased, but I haven't given it much scope because I prefer the lore to be more established before centering more in the 'nowadays' aspect of the TL. I should have done something along the lines of a news article for today at least explaining the immediate background, but I had already nearly finished Italy so I have chosen to make the update about it instead; if I can, there may be another small news update today, and posibly a full-fledged election update tomorrow. In the next updates I plan to cover post-schismatic Spain (mainly the construction of the liberal state in the early 19th century, I know it doesn't sound much exciting) and then return to Italy (the Triennio Rosso and squadrantist and fascist clashes, and the rise of Il Vate; which I hope is more entertaining).

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Interesting! How is the Arab population in Italy being treated?

Thanks! Unlike in Algeria, the North African native Arab population has full rights and citizenship, they are legally equal to ethnic Italians, and while they suffer discrimination from some Italians (especially mainlanders who settle in the Quarta Sponda mora than from Italo-Tunisians or Italo-Libyans) relations are generally good and the widespread view is that Arabs (and Albanians) are "Muslim-Italians".

And what is the Italian mainland attitude torwards their African holdings.

There are mixed attitudes. The official stance is that since 1938, when the colonies of Italian North Africa were reorganized into the provinces of Libya and Tunisia, the Quarta Sponda is an integral part of Italy and its population Italian no matter its creed. During the Transizione, it was recognized the right of certain regions to inner self-determination in the form of autonomous republics, mainly because of the lobbying of Venetians but also as a measure to solve the Tunisian Question, that is, how to deal with Tunisia taking into account that around 20% of its population was ethnically Italian and most had been already born there. Libya was easier, since around 90% of its populationa at the time was ethnically Italian nobody disputed its status.

In the mainland, Northern Italians are more opposed to the concept of Quarta Sponda, especially nationalist Venetians and Savoyards, while Southern Italians are more favorable due to greater ties and more affinity. The main point of contention is Tunisia, instead of the oil-rich and Italian-majority Libya. In general, no mainstream party advocates abandoning them, and independentism is a fringe option among Arab-Tunisians as of 2019.
 
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Construction of the Liberal State (I)
A big update, I think it's been my most ambitious one yet, although I don't know if you will find it interesting. I have also updated the world map of the opening post, it's mostly a cosmetic change with minor costal and external or internal border adjustments in some countries, there's no retconing. Hope you like!

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Rise and Life of Il Vate
So, after this, guys, is there anything you would like to see? I may go back either to early Liberal Spain, Civil War Argentina or 1860s US, but if you have other suggestions I'm open, and as always questions are welcomed.

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The Argentine Civil War sounds cool!

Argentina will be then!

Is there any chance of Austria (and the German parts of Czechia) joining the German Empire?

Not really, there are quite some obstacules that prevent it, both in Austria-Bohemia and in Germany itself.

To begin with, the Confederal Constitution of the Empire of Austria and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown forbids any political party which has the implicit or explicit goal of extinguishing the sovereignity of the Dual-Monarchy, and it includes (or, more precisely, was redacted that way to prevent ) anschlussist parties. In Austria, the conservative electorate of the Socialchristians (Christlichsoziale Partei Österreichs, CPO) is heavily Catholic and spouses an Austrian nationalism fundamented on the loyalty to the Habsburg state and the idea of the Austrian as a "better German", they reject any kind of inclusion in a Protestant and Prussian-dominated Germany, even if such Grossdeutschland would be slightly majority Catholic. The austromarxist Social Democrats (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs) are ambivalent, they would not oppose the union on principle but they view Germany as it is a flawed state that is farther from a better democracy than Austria, so they do not push the issue to avoid legal problems. Austro-Slovenians are comfortable in current Austria and would prefer such a union not to happen.

In Bohemia, anschluss is a very delicate toppic that generally is considered tabu unless you are discussing with people you have a certain degree of closeness. German-Bohemians are unanimously in favor of it, because politics are highly sectional in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, but Czech-Bohemians would never accept either annexation nor partition, so the banning of such posibility saves both groups from unnecessary conflict. And there's also the issue of Austria being officially an Empire, so in the event of acceding to the German Empire they would have to voluntarily downgrade themselves, which for many Austrians would be a dishonor.

In Germany, Protestant Conservatives do not want to hear about it because they fear it would wield indefinite electoral victories to the Zentrum and the Social Democrats, and since it would need the approval of all constituents of the Empire it is almost impossible to achieve even if Austrians wanted to. Social Democrats and the Zentrum, as you can imagine, would welcome it but they do not campaign around the need of achieving ultimate unification, they generally content themselves to strenghten the Austro-German links within the frame of separate statehood.
 
Lmao at megalopotamia, i guess it is the megalopolis around the La plata river.
As an Argentinian, Megalopotamia is a term used to refer to the region between the Parana and the Uruguay rivers. It's kinda like Mesopotamia but since the rivers are way bigger than the Tigris and Eufrates, the term Megalopotamia (from Megalo, big) was coined. In general this term isn't as used as just "Mesopotamia Argentina", but in an alternate timeline it could be widespread.
 
Lmao at megalopotamia, i guess it is the megalopolis around the La plata river.
As an Argentinian, Megalopotamia is a term used to refer to the region between the Parana and the Uruguay rivers. It's kinda like Mesopotamia but since the rivers are way bigger than the Tigris and Eufrates, the term Megalopotamia (from Megalo, big) was coined. In general this term isn't as used as just "Mesopotamia Argentina", but in an alternate timeline it could be widespread.

I found that the area between the rivers could be (rarely) called Megapotamia, so Megalopotamia (from megalopolis+megapotamia) is ITTL the term used to designate the highly urbanized area on the mouth of the rivers and both sides of the Plata Estuary, from Greater Buenos Aires in the southern bank to *Sacramento (the Argentinian side of Colonia) in the northern bank, congregating nearly 20 million inhabitants.

Ashkenazum, how large is the Jewish community in Argentina

A couple million Argentines are of one of the various Jewish ethnic groups, most are Ashkenazi hailing from Eastern Europe.

What is/Where is Charcas?

It is OTL Bolivia, but TTL's Bolivar never got that far south.
 
1856 Whig National Convention
...Waaaaaait. Sorry for nitpicking, but weren't Fillmore and Seward from the same state and fierce political rivals?

I'm not American so it may be far from realistic, and in fact I didn't know that electors from one state can't vote for two people from said state for president and vicepresident, but I justify it ITL by an ackowledgement of both Whig wings that they cannot win if divided, so personal rivalries must be set apart for now...

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