Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
Well their wealth and creation of pro ottoman lobbies is going to have positive impact on Ottomans.
It's the creation of pro ottoman lobbies in countries that have grudge with ottomans, may turn that country against the Jews.
In other words, beneficial for Germany and maybe Britain, Belgium and France, bad for Italy, the Balkans, Russia and maybe Austria-Hungary.
Dont discount the US as well, even if that would be mainly economic investment and ties that is still useful.
AH though is more concerned with Russian influence in the area so there is going to be more pro Ottoman leanings to keep the bigger threat of Russia in check
Chapter 10: Muslim Diplomacy
Chapter 10: Muslim Diplomacy
“I was a young teenager back then, and I did not fully comprehend the result of the war. But now the destiny of the sands has slipped into my hands.” – Sultan Saud bin Abd Al-Aziz of Rashidi Arabia.
“I was a young teenager back then, and I did not fully comprehend the result of the war. But now the destiny of the sands has slipped into my hands.” – Sultan Saud bin Abd Al-Aziz of Rashidi Arabia.
The Ottoman Empire and Arabia had an interesting history with one another throughout their shared history together. The Ottomans did not have a real interest in the sand filled interior and deserted Arabian sand dunes, and as such successive sultans only claimed suzerainty over the interior of the Arabian Peninsula however never actually took the lands for themselves. They controlled the coasts, the important coastal cities and the holy sites of Mecca and Medina. That was all that mattered for Constantinople in the end. This policy had its own drawbacks though. Interior tribes often rose up in defiance of the sultan and often tried to invade and attack the Ottoman Arabian lands, which were often poorly defended. Such occasions like the 1st and 2nd Saudi States are quite good examples of such problems. With the aid of Mohammad Ali’s burgeoning empire in Egypt, the Ottomans had defeated the Sauds in the early 1800s and had ended Saudi ambitions for well over a century.
However as technology advanced throughout the 19th century travelling big distances even through treacherous terrain became much easier for the people, and as this happened, the ottomans also started to take greater interest in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula. Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s policy in the Arabian interior was horrible however. The Ottomans had been involved in the 1902-07 Saudi-Rashidi War, and that war had ended in open disaster for the Ottomans and their small vassal state of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar, ruled by the House of Rashid. The Ottoman troops sent to the region were all third line troops, and were more interested in gallivanting who knows where and sight seeing the desert dunes than actually fighting. As such the Sauds, led by their audacious leader, Ibn Saud managed to defeat the Rashidis in 1907, and brought tentative peace in the region. However after Ottoman attention turned back to the Arabian interior in the aftermath of the Italo-Ottoman War, Revanchist feelings were used by the Ottomans to goad the Emirate of Jabal Shammar, ruled by its regent Fatima Al-Zamil.
With the Ottomans taking their Saudi opponent seriously this time, economically aiding the House of Rashid in their struggle, and sending actual troops to the region that saw action, the Saudis were caught completely by surprise. Worse yet, the Saudis had been quarreling with their tribal allies over the spoils of war from 1907, and many of Ibn Saud’s former allies became his enemy during the war.
The Rashids also had a new commander, a far better commander under their pay during the war that led to the victory for the House of Rashid. Sultan Ahmed Al-Otaibah was the leader of the Otaibah tribe, a tribe which had been aligned with the Saud’s, but later switched sides to the House of Rashid. He was a brilliant field commander and was responsible for many Saudi victories in 1907. Another factor working in his favor was that he knew how the Saudi Army was organized and he knew its weaknesses as well. After the Battle of Buraydah, he struck southeast and engaged in major combat with a Saudi Army at Az Zulfi and managed to defeat the Saudis in the Battle of Az Zulfi. He then divided his army into two and ordered his northern detachment, under the command of his son to continue marching to Riyadh. He himself marched south-west and defeated a gathering Saudi Army in the Battle of Al-Duwadimi. He then sent more detachments towards Riyadh and then marched south once again. He met the Saudi rearguard at the Battle of Afif and destroyed their capability of reinforcing Riyadh. Then he himself swung towards Riyadh. On February 26, 1913 he reached Riyadh and grouped up with the entire Rashidi Army. The capital city of Riyadh was then kept under siege. The city of the Saud’s surrendered one week later on March 5th when a breach in its defenses allowed Al-Otaibah to move into the city. The last remnants of Saudi forces tried to attack and retake the city however Al-Otaibah defeated the force at the Battle of Al-Kharj on March 8.
Al-Otaibah's campaign against the Saudis
Ibn Saud himself was caught in the crossfire of the battle, and was killed from his injuries. One week later, Fatima Al-Zamil and Emir Saud bin Abdulaziz-Rashid arrived in Riyadh where the rest of the Nejd government finally surrendered to the House of Rashid. Fatima Al-Zamil betrothed the younger spouses of Ibn Saud to the 15 year old emir, and the rest were married into the lesser Rashid lines. The Treaty of Riyadh was also signed which stipulated that the Emirate of Nejd was fully annexed by the Emirate of Jabal Shammar. The Saud Dynasty was scattered into the wind by this act and the interior of Arabia was united once and for all. With the blessings of Sultan Mehmed V, Fatima Al-Zamil declared the Emirate of Ha’il and Jabal Shammar to be no more on March 23rd, and declared the establishment of the Kingdom of Rashidi Arabia.
Rashidi Arabia was now a new kingdom in the region. Albeit it was still a vassal state and Tributary state to the Ottoman Empire. Emir Saud bin Abdulaziz-Rashid was declared the first Sultan of Rashidi Arabia as well. And with this act of war the ideology called Wahhabism also died out. It’s main ideological backers in the Saudi Dynasty had all been culled and disintegrated, ending the ideology for good. For the moment at least.
Excerpts from Ottoman Sand Wars
“We must have naval parity and peace. With one another and our population if nothing else.” – Greek Prime Minister Venizelos.
The fruits of the Ottoman-Greek treaty of 1911 was quite fruitful, so to speak. Both nations were reaping the benefits of the treaty to their full. The Greek merchant marine, an integral part of the Greek economy took full advantage of the free trade and shipping given to Greek ships in the Red Sea and Persian Sea to increase Greek trading activity in the region. This in turn of course led to a massive upturn in Greek trade which in turn led to a better Greek economy. For the first time in many years, the Ottomans were also allowed to invest in the Kingdom of Greece, and Ottoman companies began opening shops in Athens and Ottoman investors started to buy economic shares in multiple Greek companies as well. This was also beneficial to the Ottoman economy as well.
This upturn in economic activity with one another, indirectly also led to better relations between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. It helped that the Ottoman permission to annex Crete had allowed the Greeks to end a political crisis. And it also helped that Greek ports had been used by the Ottomans to flout the Italian blockade. This as stated earlier, led to better relations between the Ottoman and Greek state. As both were aligned to the British as well, the relations between the two were also starting to burgeon. Of course, the age old question of the Greeks living in Ottoman territory continued to gnaw at the politicians and people of Greece however the sentiment seemed to have dimmed slightly, as Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire received more opportunities in the empire than ever before.
The U-5 class submarine.
Nonetheless, tensions still arose when the Ottoman Empire received 8 new naval ships for its navy in the month of February. The 1st two of the 6 submarines ordered from Austria-Hungary was transferred to Constantinople. They would be classified as U-1 and U-2 in the Ottoman Navy. The U-1 and U-2 submarines were based on the Austrian U-5 class submarine and the basic features of this class of submarine were:-
Displacement: 240 tons surfaced and 273 tons submerged.
Length: 105 ft, 4 inches, (32.11 meters)
Beam: 13 ft, 9 inches (4.19 meters)
Draft: 12 ft, 10 inches (3.91 meters)
Propulsion: 2 shafts, 2 x 6 gasoline engines (370 kW total), 2 x 3 electric motors (170 kW total)
Speed: 10.75 knots surfaced, 8.5 knots submerged.
Range: 800 nautical miles surfaced, 60 nautical miles submerged.
Complement: 19
Armament: 2 x 45 cm (17.7 inch) topedo tubes, 7 torpedoes.
In early march, around 6 of the 10 armored destroyers ordered from Britain also arrived. Based on the Peyk-i-Sevket and Laforey classes, the ships were named Ibrahim Pasha, Gabriel Effendi, Rashid, Osman III, Erzurum, and Trebizond. The ships were then added to the main Ottoman fleet based in Constantinople. It’s basic features were:-
| Type: | Destroyer |
| Displacement: | 965–1,010 long tons (980–1,026 t) |
| Length: | 268 ft 10 in (81.94 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 27 ft 8 in (8.43 m) |
| Draught: | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 2 shafts; 2 steam turbines |
| Speed: | 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) |
| Range: | 1,720 nmi (3,190 km; 1,980 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement: | 74 |
| Armament: |
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The Ibrahim Pasha.
Of course this arrival upset the balance of naval power in the eastern Mediterranean in favor of the Ottomans, and many in the Greek government were pointing that out. Around 2/3 of the destroyers ordered from the US and UK had arrived to Greece, and the rest would take good amount of time to be fully constructed and reach Greece and the rest of the Ottoman naval buildup, including the submarines and cruisers would of course, disrupt the balance of naval power, and as such some ultranationalists were also calling for an all-out attack as well. Such an endeavor was out of the question. Greece could ill-afford any such kinds of war, and the current economic progress would have been all for nothing should Greece go to war. As such, Venizelos instead opened the parliament to a new path of questioning. He opened the notion of a naval treaty with the Ottoman Empire.
The notion was not a new one, not in its entirety however. The Ottomans and Greeks had brought up the topic during the 1911 negotiations however that had been shunted away for the time being, mainly due to the Ottoman burdens of war. Now during peacetime the question arose once again. As the Greek parliament started to debate on the issue, the Ottomans and the Greek delegations started their first earnest negotiation regarding the issue in March 26th, in Skopje.
Excerpts from ‘Greek History with the Ottoman Empire
“An Alliance with the Ottoman Empire is within the highest priority of His Majesty’s Government in London. See to it that we can reach a compromise regarding the Persian and Arabian Issue with His Sultan.” – Sir Edward Grey
The Ottoman Empire throughout the 19th century had turned to Britain to safeguard itself against Russia. And even though Russia and Britain were now allies against the rising Germans, elsewhere, the situation was very different. The Russians and British had very different interests in Arabia and the Middle East as well as the Balkans, and the Ottoman Empire knew this. The Ottoman Empire was now starting to gun in favor of an alliance with the British.
The Ottoman Ambassador to the UK, Resat Pasha, was one of the main advocators for a formal Ottoman-British alliance. Before 1912 however the British had been extremely unwilling to ally with the Turks, not wishing to alienate the Italians, whom they sought to win over. However with Italy burning out of the war, and its economic and political situation in constant instability, the British turned their eyes towards the Ottomans with a gleam.
Should a war start with the Germans, then the British were quite sure that having the Ottomans on their side would be good. Turkophiles in the British government pointed out that during a war, should an alliance with the Ottomans be made, the ships could pass through the Dardanelle Straits without taxation to supply Russia. And the Russians without the need to garrison the Caucasian border would be even more effective against Austria and Germany. They also argued that Ottomans could invade Bosnia to distract the Austrians, and with the aid of the Muslim Bosniaks, drive the Austrians out of Bosnia. Such a case was compelling. The Ottomans would have to only face enemy in the Balkans in such a scenario, with allies all around its borders, making it capable of shifting all of its might in the Balkans. These Turkphiles were quickly aided by the growing pro-Ottoman Jewish lobby in the British government.
A slight hitch had opened up in early 1912 when the British had reacted badly to the Ottoman’s proxy war in Arabia, however other than that, Grey and the British foreign ministry began looking into a formal alliance with the Ottoman Empire on a more level headed playing field. The first conference regarding the issue took place in Izmir/Smyrna in March 28th, 1913 when the first British delegation arrived to speak with the Ottoman Foreign Ministry. The Ottoman Foreign Minister Syrja Bey Vlora was involved in the first convention as well.
FM Vlora meeting the British delegation. (Right picture)>>>
Vlora was persistent in bringing up the Persian dispute regarding the Turkish and Russian sphere of influences overlapping with one another. The British government was quite unsure on how to respond to this fact, however in the end, Sir Edward Grey proposed that since Russia was also a British ally, Britain could not act against Russian interests. But if the British were to ally the Ottomans as well, then the British could not act against Ottoman interests either. Thus, he promised Constantinople for full British neutrality in the Northwestern Persian Issue.
In regards to Arabia, both the Ottoman Empire and the British brought up a proposal for a partition of southern Arabia, much of which were not inhabited by people. Whilst a formal map was not agreed upon during the first convention, the need for a partition to define spheres of influences was agreed upon by both Vlora and Sir Edward Grey.
As such the first diplomatic negotiations between the British and Ottomans started. The Ottomans and their proposal for a partition of Arabia gave vast swathes of southern Arabia (uninhabited, but still looks good on maps) to the British, and that would remain the basis for future negotiations with the British.
The Ottoman proposal for a partition of Arabia. Light Green is the Kingdom of Rashidi Arabia.
Excerpts from ‘A History of Ottoman Arabia’
“The Sultan is being offered to mediate in the conflict in Aceh. The Dutch have asked the Sultan to use his temporal authority of the Caliphate.” – Ali Kemal
The Netherlands and their subjugation of the East Indies is a fascinating tale, one that is pretty inspiring for small nations such as the Netherlands. However one nation in the East Indies refused to bow down to the Dutch. This nation was the Sultanate of Aceh. Once an Ottoman vassal during the Ottoman Empire’s high days in the Indian Ocean, the Acehnese had remained fierce and independent in their will. This of course drew ire from the Dutch government, who were intent on colonizing the East Indies, and using its vast resources for the benefit of the Netherlands.
Flag of the Sultanate of Aceh. The Ottoman inspiration to the flag is quite obvious.
A fierce conflict spanning generations started to take place as the Dutch slowly encroached on Acehnese territory and finally in 1904 the Dutch overthrew the Sultanate, placed the sultan under permanent house arrest alongside the rest of his dynasty and annexed the entirety of Acehnese territory directly into the Dutch East Indies and its colonial government. However this proved an uphill task. The Acehnese weren’t going to take the subjugation sitting down. They declared Parang-Sabil or a personal war or a personal Jihad against the Dutch, and suicide attacks in Aceh were becoming a norm in the Acehnese territory controlled by the Dutch. Often times guerilla bands operating in Aceh controlled the countryside whilst the Dutch only controlled the cities and roads connecting them.
Many individual ottoman private businessmen had also been involved in the Acehnese resistance, and many private businessmen from the Ottoman Empire who sympathized with the Acehnese and their fellow Muslims supported the Acehnese with private donations and aid. Of course nowhere near the amount needed to fend off the Dutch, but it was the thought that counted after all.
In the 1898 Moro Rebellion however, a similar rebellion but in the Philippines, the American government had asked Abdul Hamid II to intervene and use his temporal power as Caliph to stop the muslim Moros from rebellion. Abdul Hamid II, who had wished for better relations between the USA, and the Ottoman Empire, agreed to do so, and the Moros received a letter from Sultan Abdul Hamid II asking them to lay down their arms and peacefully resolve their conflict. The Muslim Moros subsequently stopped their participation in the rebellion.
American troops during the Moro rebellion.
The Dutch government began to negotiate with the Ottoman government for something similar, but with Aceh. The Ottoman government however did not wish to seem like they were throwing their old vassal under the bus (entirely) and for the sake of public relations, could not afford to look like that. Ali Kemal bluntly told his Dutch ambassador that such a thing would be impossible and more compromises would have to be found.
After hefty relations with one another, the Dutch and the Ottomans signed the Treaty of Beirut with one another on May 16th, 1913. The treaty stipulated the following points:-
- The Ottoman Sultan and Caliph, Caliph Mehmed V would speak out against the resistance and ask the Acehnese Ulema and the Acehnese people to put down their weapons.
- In return the Dutch would waive 8% of the debt that the Ottoman government owed to the Dutch government within the Ottoman Public Debt Administration OPDA)
- The Dutch would release Sultan Alaudin Muhammad Dau’d II Syah from captivity.
- The Sultanate of Aceh would be restored under Dau’d II as a ‘princely sultanate’ under the Dutch East Indies reminiscent of the Indian Princely States
Sultan Alaudin Muhammad Dau’d II Syah of Aceh.
The rebellion soon died down in Aceh as the news of their Caliph asking them to stop fighting came down. The Acehnese population, who had seen their Sultan as their figurehead for the resistance were happy to see the Sultan freed and their ‘freedom’ restored. Whilst foreign affairs were now handled exclusively by the Dutch government, it was still a diplomatic victory to regain their autonomy, at least in some form. The Ottomans would be credited for their fast diplomatic maneuvers in the issue, and it remains to this day, one of the Ottoman Empire’s biggest diplomatic victories.
Excerpts from ‘The Ottoman East Indies’
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Happy to see that Aceh didn’t get forgetter I always felt bad for them I was thinking that the date of the PoD wouldn’t allow ottoman help there but you still managed to do something out of it . It make me curious if in a independent Indonesia scenario if Aceh would remain in the country with important autonomy or be independent
Great TL. It still seems like the Ottos have more to gain from a German alliance than a British one. Egypt + Azerbaijan and more power in the Persian Gulf are more tempting than maybe Bosnia.
The Ottomans could no longer incorporate Egypt even if the British left, and the blood and treasure that would be needed to take Azerbaijan and the Gulf would be completely disproportionate to the gain.
If they get to make the choice, neutrality is, by some distance, the best course for a prosperous and democratic OE.
Hmm...
Interesting that you brought up Aceh but well deserved considering that this is a more powerful Ottoman Empire and the end results has real plausibility since the Dutch had effectively controlled the major areas of Aceh.
Interesting that you brought up Aceh but well deserved considering that this is a more powerful Ottoman Empire and the end results has real plausibility since the Dutch had effectively controlled the major areas of Aceh.
Great TL so far. Happy that the Sauds are no more (thus the Arabian peninsula would be relatively safe and peaceful, if the balance is being kept), the Greeks and Ottomans decided that a closer relationship will be beneficial for one another (though there'll be pebbles in the way), and of course a result slightly favourable to Aceh, yeay.
An autonomous Aceh is going to butterfly things for the independence movement in the archipelago and maybe the Malayan peninsula (since it's close geographically speaking) during and after WW2 (if there is going to be one). Though, ofc, with a surviving Ottoman things are going to get interesting across the Muslim world once a world war erupted and the Ottomans find themselves to be a participant (seeing that even the Muslims of southern Philippines, which afaik is not in the Ottoman's sphere of influence, listened to the caliph).
It's going to be different than otl that's for sure. If the Acehnese decided to join Indonesia (if it's not butterflied away) I'm sure the president (whoever it is, chances are it's going to be Soekarno but also there's a possibility it won't be him due to butterflies if those are going to affect the rest of the islands) wouldn't mind giving another area autonomy like what they did in Yogyakarta, especially if Aceh plays an important role in the independence movement. Unless......it's not what happened. An independent Aceh is not really out of the picture though.
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In my opinion Aceh could go either way but to have Aceh be part of Indonesia is first to have Sharia Law which during early independence was revoked and caused Aceh to rebel and second I agree the need for it to be like Yogya or otherwise hello independent Aceh
I think it's more like because they feel like betrayed by Jakarta that, for whatever reason, decided to put them under administration from Medan after they are being promised before during the War of Independence period to be given an autonomy (which includes the right to implement Sharia Law per se), if I'm not wrong. They've always wanted to be an independent, autonomous province, not being ruled as part of another region.
Of course, there is the Sultan right now, that'll make things more complicated in the future.
we will, territorially, Germany may have more to offer, monetarily, britain has more to offer
a maximum of Bosnia and Herzegovina i believe. Russia did offer Kars back in 1914 if the Turks joined the entente otl, but by then otl the offer came too late. So maybe Kars too.