Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]

[Rajveer Naha]

I was wondering if a parliamentary body exists for Northern Ireland as one was established in 1921 OTL?

Why did the Weimar people turn the 1848 German flag on its side? I genuinely mistook it for the Belgian flag for a moment.

A minor nitpick in the same Reichstag Election wikibox you have mentioned it to be the Bavarian Landtag. I hope it wasn't and Easter egg😛.

The research provided in support of a female Calipha is brilliant. But why Durrusehvar isn't installed in the twenties and who is this guy Osman IV?

I do find that the football teams being concentrated across the Empire to be odd as the popularity and the development must vary and teams could be from across the empire but concentrated in pockets wher it is most popular.

 

[Johnharry]

With both Turkish Dondurma and Syrian Booza, to foreigners the Ottoman Empire TTL will end up known for stretchy ice cream.

 

[Sarthak]

Chapter 41: Politicking is boring.

***

“After 1915, the Kingdom of Bulgaria was left as a shell of what it once was. Once, called the fastest industrializing powerhouse in the Balkans, Bulgaria’s economy was decimated, and the population of the country was culled in a massive war that had seen hundreds of thousands killed, either through Ottoman shells and guns, or due to their own internal civil strife, between communist and royalist sympathizers throughout the Bulgarian state. The Ottoman occupation of Rumelia hadn’t exactly been clean either, and though Riza was keen on making the troops stay in line, a good amount of Ottoman troops, angered by the deaths of their fellow comrades at the hands of Bulgarian guns, committed some atrocities on the Bulgarian civilian authorities. Most of the time, the Ottoman army punished those who had acted in such a manner, but many a times, these cases fell through slippery fingers and never found their way into Ottoman military court, leaving many to remain scot free. The Ottomans stripped Rumelia of all its economic and industrial output until they retreated after the occupation time period was over as per the Treaties that were signed after the end of the Balkan War.

Nikola Mushanov​

In this dire situation one will have to say quite frankly that the situation Bulgaria was in was dire. Thankfully political stability, which was much needed was found, and the three biggest Bulgarian political parties – The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, Bulgarian Democratic Party and the Bulgarian Social Democrats – had banded together in what is called today as the Bulgarian National Recovery Coalition Alliance. From this coalition, Nikola Mushanov of the Democratic Party rose to power as the first post-war Bulgarian Prime Minister with the approval of Tsar Boris III. Born in 1872, he entered Bulgarian politics in 1902 after he became a member of the Bulgarian National Assembly for the constituency of Sabranie. From then on, he had a meteoritic rise to power, and by 1910, he was the leader of the Democratic Party in Bulgaria and despite his economic nationalism and his slight rightist tendencies, he remained a moderate, and he reverently opposed war with the Ottoman Empire, declaring that the Bulgarian nation would be destroyed in such a war. And he was right. To many in the Bulgarian nation, this gave him credence and the right to rise through the ranks, and in 1915 he became Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

Immediately, Mushanov began to normalize relations with the Ottoman Empire, and sent the first post-war military attaché from Bulgaria into the Ottoman Empire the next year in 1916. He wasn’t above from begging when it could be used to aid the nation either, and he virtually begged the Ottoman Ambassador to Bulgaria, Resad Pasha to give Bulgaria interest free loans to startup the Bulgarian economy after the war. The Ottomans, eager to include Bulgaria within its own sphere of influence and out of the Austrian and Russian hands, agreed, and several loans with little to no interest were given to the Bulgarian government. Mushanov used these loans to build up new coal mines, new industrial estates and had the demobilized troops become engaged in these new occupations to meet their demands of a proper job and stabilizing their standard of living.

Mushanov was also brutal, as was typical of nationalists. Mushanov knew acutely that the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), the organization that wanted Macedonia and Thrace to be unified with Bulgaria had been the one to spark the flames of war within the Bulgarian government, by radicalizing its officer class. Mushanov decided that he would deal with this threat in a fast and swift manner. IMRO buildings were shut down throughout Bulgaria, and with the aid of Ottoman intelligence, the Bulgarians began to raid the homes and shelters of major IMRO heads and figures, taking them into custody and exiling them into life imprisonment, or sometimes, even executing them. This culling of the IMRO also included the officer class within the Bulgarian Military, many of whom had links with the IMRO, and this saw pro-IMRO officers slowly and gradually becoming replaced with pro-governmental officers, as the IMRO’s influence continued to wane under the hard and harsh leadership of Mushanov.

This sparked of a wave of fear within the Bulgarian army and many were now even thinking about committing themselves to a coup to get rid of the Bulgarian Prime Minister if he acted without caution and without credence. On the 8th of July 1918, the Bulgarian Prime Minister opened negotiations with the Ottoman Empire about the reconstruction of Burgas, which was still in bad shape after the war, with Ottoman investment thrown in in return for the Ottoman navy gaining a shipping duty in the port and basing rights. This was the last straw, and one man, Ivan Valkov decided to act. Valkov had been a Bulgarian General during the Balkan War and he was extremely patriotic about the Bulgarian nation state and he was angry that the government, in his view was kowtowing the Ottomans. He led a general insurrection with support from some regiments of the military and began to incite major rebellion throughout the Bulgarian Kingdom.

Rebels being arrested at Vratsa​

Unfortunately for Valkov, Mushanov acted fast and quick, gaining the support of Boris III and Mushanov had loyalist regiments of the Bulgarian army surround the insurrectionists in and around of Vratsa, where they were massacred by the government. Around 300 insurrectionist soldiers were killed, Valkov among them. This quick and decisive action by Mushanov only increased his popularity throughout the Kingdom, as the insurrection hadn’t been quite popular with the people as it was.

With all of this going on, and as the Bulgarian economy recovered, Bulgaria was going to go to Polls on the 27th of February, 1920. The coalition consisting of the Agrarian National Union, the Democratic Party and the Social Democrats created political pacts with one another, and they managed to stave off a probable discontinuation of the coalition. By the end of the elections, the coalition had managed to win 176 of the 236 seats up for election in the Bulgarian National Assembly, which continued the premiership of Mushanov, who was widely becoming popular. King Boris III renewed his premiership on the 1st of March, and he continued to govern of Bulgaria.

​

Mushanov immediately began to reopen negotiations with the Ottoman government regarding a new economic trade deal with Constantinople, and after several years of negotiations, and recovery the Bulgarian economy was in a proper state to be able to negotiate on somewhat equal terms. It would be the beginning of the Bulgarian Golden Era.” Boris III and his Political Acumen © 2016.

***

“In 1920, the Irish Home Rule Government would have to go polls again according to the Irish Home Rule Act which guaranteed the right to vote every five years in a general elections and determined the length of government to be 5 years each. In 1918, the death of Redmond had given pause to the Irish government, however the quick ascension of William O’Brien had staved off a possible crisis. The elections of 1920 would prove to be an interesting one.

Ireland was rife with division. One section of Irish society, the society that lived on the eastern coast, and the major cities all didn’t have much separatism present, however the rural society of Irish society were extremely separatist and mostly republican in nature. This all boils down to economics, by and large. Despite the hostility even many ambivalent Irishmen had to the English and Scots, the economic power of the United Kingdom, which was still by far the largest economy on the planet, was just too much to lose for the money minded, and the economic independence that had been given to the Irish after the Home Rule Bill allowed the Irish to benefit their own society allaying some fears in Irish society. A sense of comradely also developed in Ireland over the Great War and Home Rule Passage within the coastal Irishmen and many British men. The idea of being Western British in Ireland was becoming strong, at least within the eastern coast of Ireland. In the rural areas however, Irish separatism remained powerful and a driving force in politics. There, the lack of proper investment naturally made many people look for independence, and the usual catholic and protestant divide only furthered this deep hole further. Soon enough, an urban and rural divide in Ireland would start to form as the urban society of Ireland shunned full independence from Britain whilst the rural society demanded it.

The question of Northern Ireland remained too. The Northern Irish remained out of the Home Rule Area, and they had voted against joining the Home Rule area as well, which made any claims that the Irish had on rejoining Northern Ireland into Ireland an impossibility as they would show their opponents in Westminster that they would flout democracy if needed to meet their own goals, which O’Brien was not willing to do at all. The Ulstermen of the Northern Irish were actively opposing union with the Home Rule area of Ireland and remained under the direct control of Westminster, without any sort of devolution, barring some extra powers given to the counties and shires. Many Irish nationalists saw this as a slight and wanted to reunify Ireland, only to be met with resistance from not only the Ulstermen but also from the government, with O’Brien famously stating in January 3, 1920 that ‘Ulster will join the rest of us of their own free will. If we are to remain a democratic society then their decision to remain out will be respected and adhered to.’

Of course, this sentiment was not shared by many Irish nationalists. Nonetheless, despite this atmosphere, O’Brien had walked forward looking past these, and continued the implement economic reforms, which proved themselves to be popular among the common Irish person. The Cottage Construction Act of 1919 had provided thousands of homeless men and women with homes throughout Ireland, and the railroad and road construction schemes made by O’Brien increased railroad coverage in Ireland and increase transportation links throughout Irish society as new highways were constructed within Ireland. Galway saw a massive upswing in governmental intervention as the city was industrialized to come onto the same level as Cork and Dublin. Veteran’s Welfare Act was also passed by the man which gave a series of health insurances and welfare exemptions to Irish veterans of the Great War. All of these economic policies made O’Brien personally extremely popular within Irish society.

Cottages like these were built under the Cottages Act for the common Irish folk. ​

Meanwhile the Irish Unionist Party was formed in 1919 as an official party within Ireland rather than the disparate branch of Irish unionists going on the same ticket as the Irish Unionist League. Viscount Midleton, to say the least, was not a charismatic speaker, however the party in and of itself was capable of utilizing and exploiting the increased feeling of solidarity between Ireland and Britain due to the Great War, and it sort of became Ireland’s branch of the Conservative Party from mainland Britain. Irish Unionists scoured the countryside in the runnup to the 1920 Elections, and began to use propaganda reels to increase their attraction and rather than just running on the platform of unionism as was usual for them before 1920, they began to form proper and coherent economic and political policies to increase their political legitimacy in Irish society. These actions would prove to be useful and would increase their share of seats in the Irish Commons. Meanwhile, as the Unionists did their thing, Irish Labour wanted to exploit the increase of the suffrage and targeted Irish Trade Unions and Worker Councils to gain more votes. They wanted to at least gain representation in the irish Commons, and increase their voting share. Cork and Dublin voting largely in favor of the Labourites during the 1918 General Elections had been a good sign for them. Johnson would lead the party through with the 1920 convention on the 7th of January, 1920 which would see the party adopt an official social democratic ideology and policy, in line with the mainland Labour party. The Liberals largely had an ambivalent and centrist policy of campaigning within Ireland and didn’t do much all things considered. However Sinn Fein lead by Arthur Griffith showed itself as the new Irish separatist party and campaigned on a policy of economic nationalism and pro-dominionship, and they advocated that Ireland ought to be a Dominion, with a free legislature and economy free from British control, but still within the British Empire as a whole. This was the moderate position for many nationalists, and it did attract a good amount of votes during the elections.

​

As the country went to polls on the 8th of February, 1920, the IPP retained their large share of the seats in government, though the Irish Unionists increased their share of the seats in government. Labour made important ground within the Irish trade unions and managed to gain several key votes within Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Galway, which allowed the party to become the third largest party within the Commons. The Liberals gained 10 seats, and Sinn Fein managed to win 8 seats, mostly rural constituencies. 8 independents were elected, out of which 7 were independent nationalists, again, mostly from rural constituencies. O’Brien formed a new minority government and retained the position of First Minister of Ireland within the United Kingdom.

With the mandate that he needed, O’Brien began to conduct several new economic reforms, with the man intent on bringing Ireland on the level of industrialization as that of Northern Ireland, which was at least around 40% more industrialized on a per capita basis than the rest of Ireland. O’Brien’s policy of economic building and increasing the manufacturing capability of Ireland would prove to have dividends down the line, long after he had passed way.” Irish Home Rule: A History 1915 – present. © 2018.

***

“The implementation of the Railway Act of 1919 was controversial, as the Russians began to growl from across the border, as the Ottomans started to construct the new railroads planned by the government. The Russians did not like the idea of the Ottomans improving their infrastructure in the eastern tracts of Anatolia, especially as the Turks living within Kars were already restless under Russian rule and were looking back at the Ottoman Empire with what can be categorized as some nostalgia. The Russian Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Alexander Sidorov handed over several letters of protest to the Ottoman government demanding that the ‘provocative’ actions of the Ottoman government cease. The Ottomans, who knew the Russians would not seek war over the construction of a railroad line within their own territory, promptly ignored the small warnings and continued on, laying the foundations of the Trabzon railway, which would increase transportation and movement between inner and outer Anatolia.

Russo-Ottoman relations during this time were complex, and not at all straightforward. With issues such as the above, many come to the silly conclusion that relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire were bad. They would be partially correct and otherwise wrong. Despite several incidents such as the above, the Russians and Ottomans were rather cordial with one another during this time. Nicholas II had revived the policy of friendly relationship with the Ottoman Empire that his father, Alexander III had maintained in the late 19th century. Nicholas II himself had been an adherent of this policy in the early 20th century but had abandoned it after the Russo-Japanese War to compensate losses in the Far East in the Balkans. The Russian government allowed several Ottoman nobility from minor houses to marry into the Central Asian noble houses that had been denied to them since 1828, and the Russians and Ottomans signed several trading agreements with one another. Ottoman gems, and airplanes were increasingly becoming a lucrative industry for the Russians and they wanted in inside of this industrial section of the economy whilst the Ottomans, who before their discovery of the massive amounts of oil and natural gas beneath their territory, was reliant on Russia for oil and natural gas. As such a cordial trading and economic relation between Constantinople and St. Petersburg developed.

The Russian embassy in Constantinople. ​

At the same time, Ottoman foreign relations became more and friendlier with the Greeks, as the Greco-Ottoman rapprochement continued. Of course, the Ottomans and Greeks still had their fair share of rabid nationalists who would love to attack the other, but the Greeks knew they couldn’t defeat the Ottomans and the Ottomans knew that attacking the Greeks would draw Russia and the British into a fight that they would love to fight. As such a pragmatic relationship between the Ottomans and the Greeks continued to develop. The rights given to Greek merchants on Ottoman soil, within Hejaz and Najd was being used by the Greeks to the best of their ability exploiting it with all they had, to bring in more economic dividends for the Greek state. The Greeks and the Ottomans also began to engage in more and more trade with one another. During the Balkan War, as the Ottomans went on war footing to fight off the Balkan Threat, the Greeks had benefitted immensely as they filled in the hole that the Ottoman industries couldn’t when civilian industries were transferred to become war industries. Civilian goods from the Greek Kingdom flooded into the Ottoman Empire substituting normal Ottoman goods and trade between Greece and the Ottoman Empire continued to prosper as the two entered the ‘Era of Prosperous Relations’. The Era of Prosperous Relations would be the name given to the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Greece from 1911-1941 before the Second Great War which forced the two to become outright allies with one another.

Turkish Cypriots in the Ottoman Empire. ​

Nonetheless tensions between the Ottoman Empire and Greece existed. The turnover of Cyprus from Britain to Greece had nearly exploded into a conflict between Greece and the Ottomans and the Ottomans were not amused that a so called ‘friendly power’ had gone behind their backs to negotiate with the British for their nominal territory. Of course the Ottoman Sultan remained Suzerain of Cyprus but that was a small consolation and several thousand Turkish Cypriots flooded into the Ottoman Empire, as they were unwilling to live into a Greek dominated state which would, unconsciously or not, favor Greek Cypriots over Turkish Cypriots. Nonetheless, due to force of necessity of retaining good relations with their neighbor, the Ottomans did not pursue a revanchist policy with Greece and retained their good relations with them.” Osman and the World Around the Empire © 2020

***

“The Ottoman Economy beginning in 1920 was extraordinarily different from the economy that the empire had in 1910. In the beginning of 1910, the Ottoman economy was weighed at around $23,794.588 million (inflation added for adjust, 1990 value), whilst by the starting of 1920, the Ottoman economy had grown over two times the size, with a total weightage of around $53,829.455 million (inflation added for adjust, 1990 value). The decade had been an extremely good decade for Ottoman economics and the Ottoman Empire wished to retain that level of growth within the empire. Because despite the astounding growth of the Ottoman economy in the past decade, the Ottoman economy still paled in the face of the economies of perhaps, countries like Great Britain and the United States. The United Kingdom at the beginning of 1920 had an economy the size of $356,073.3336 million (adjusted for inflation, 1990 value) whilst the United States had an economy that weighed in $639,640.788 million (adjusted for inflation, 1990 value). Of course, if we take the British empire into account, the British would have a weighted value of $727,871.692 million, both which are massive amounts of revenue and gross national products. [1]

Ottoman GDP Growth Rate 1890-1919 *
* - OTL growth rate applied here until 1910. ​

The Ottoman’s economy paled in comparison to the British and the American economy. As you can see, the Ottoman economy represented only 14% of the British economy and 8% of the American economy. Despite the fact that the Ottoman economy had improved and had overtaken several countries such as Italy and Spain in Europe and had become the richest country in Asia barring Japan, the Ottoman economy still had a lot of ways to go. Many of the economic developments during the past decade were long term projects and long term investments and they didn’t show themselves in the numbers in the short term, as the agricultural investments would take generations to truly come out, and the development of the service sector took a lot of time to complete.

In particular, Riza wanted the economy to become more dynamic and more powerful if he wanted to make sure that the economy could grow at a more unprecedented rate of growth. On the 7th of January, 1920, he withdrew the Ottoman Lira from the fixed exchange rate system entirely and allowed the Lira to become a floating currency, to allow true growth to occur in the Ottoman Empire.

Of course, this immediately allowed the Ottomans to print more money, but on a sustainable level to fund more economic projects throughout the empire. To the naked eye however the most striking difference between the Ottomans and the British and American Empires was the fact that despite the treasure trove of minerals and natural resources beneath Ottoman soils, the Ottomans could not exploit them for a quite bit of time, and on the other hand, the vast expanse of North America and the British Empire gave Washington and London the command over vast amounts of natural resources that were easily extractable and exploitable. Though Britain proved to be the exception, at the start of 1920, virtually every European country still had a large portion of their manpower working in the agricultural sector, and the Ottomans were no different. 39% of their entire workforce was involved in agriculture according to the 1919 census with 7.62 million people in the Empire involved in the agrarian sector.

The Ottomans under Ahmet Riza decided that they would focus on food development and agricultural development to make the Ottoman economy far more powerful. Despite the popular myth that agrarian economies present a backward economy, some of the most powerful and strong economies in the planet have always been agrarian economies, due to the powerful independence that having a stable supply of food gave to these countries. Countries such as France, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark were largely food independent and the Ottomans wished to imitate them.

Despite the rapid progress made by the Ottomans, for all but the privileged class of the Ottoman agricultural society in the rural countryside of the Empire, agrarian life remained hard for many. On peasant farms in particular, extra yields depended on extraordinarily long hours, in excess of 9 to 12 hours at times, and six days per week for the ordinary rural farmer. Farms below 20 hectares were usually always in loss. As such the Ottomans had a dilemma on their hands. What to do? The obvious solution was that the Ottomans conduct a land redistribution program which would incentivize more agricultural yields in the small amount of lands that normal rural peasants had to make the agricultural industry more productive and profiting by granting the massive tracts of untouched arable lands to the needy peasants. However the Ottoman Empire was not going to commit the mistake that the Germans had in the 1880s when they conducted their own redistribution process which saw Germany become agriculturally cramped by the 1920s. A month long survey was conducted throughout the Ottoman Empire, and data was compiled by the empire’s agricultural ministry before being handed over to the cabinet.

In the file, the government was told with the best possible areas of the Ottoman Empire that could be given to farmers in need, whilst it also outlined other arable but untouched lands that would have to be kept by the government as a reserve for further agricultural expansion in the future. As a result, nearly 933,000 hectares of land were distributed by the Ottoman government to private ownership to the peasants for great agricultural use whilst the Ottomans held onto the other territories. Tax exemptions for large quantities of surplus yields were announced as well which encouraged the population to grow more in their new farmlands.

The Ottoman Empire also used the aid of skilled manpower to grow their economic and agricultural output. In particular one Nikolay Stoyanov was crucial in this endeavor. Stoyanov was a Russian born Bulgarian who taught at the University of Sofia from 1913 to 1915 as a professor. During the Balkan War he fled to the Ottoman Empire during the aborted republic, and stayed in the Ottoman Empire after that taking up a residential status. Stoyanov was a well-known botanist, and he was recruited by the government almost immediately. He managed to classify more than 2,936 species of plants and plant organisms within the Ottoman Balkans and these classifications were used to great effect by the Ottomans to choose proper geobotany and paleobotany areas to cultivate within the Empire. His research of acclimation of crops and plants as well as their floristics, and morphology also gave the Ottomans greater insight in proper Crop behavior which allowed them properly coordinate agricultural experiments.

Distribution of Wealth in the Ottoman Empire.
​

Coupled with these agricultural advancements, one of Riza’s greatest achievements can be stated through the 1920 Debt Reduction Plan. Of course Riza gets most of the credit, but credit largely is deserved by the entire cabinet, all of whom were present and made the act themselves together. The plan proposed that farmers in the Ottoman Empire assume collective responsibility for each other’s debts. The debts of all of the farmers, estimated to be nearly 9 million pounds, were to be transferred to the Smyrna National Bank (SNB), a state owned mortgage bank. The SNB would then repay the original creditors at an interest of around 2 to 4% depended on the security of the original loan granted to them. For their part, each farmer would provide 1.5% of the value of their farm in monetary assets to the Financial Ministry. For their taking on of this debt, most farmers who were saddled with this program would get vouchers that granted tax exemptions in other areas such as electricity and income tax. This was a radical plan, and more importantly of all, it worked. By 1922, the year when Riza was ousted from power during the 1922 Ottoman General Elections, the debt had been halved already with the Farming debt standing at around 4.2 million pounds.

The agricultural developments that were implemented in early 1920 would have a profound effect on Ottoman agriculture throughout the future, and would lay the foundation for future Ottoman food security.” A History of Ottoman Agriculture and Its Economy. © 2009.

***

“Literally speaking, Ra’y in Islam means opinion and judgment. But the Arabs had used it for several centuries before Islam itself to denote well-considered opinions and skills in affairs. A person having mental perception and sound knowledge was known as Dhu Al-Ra’y by the Arabians and was adopted by the Turks soon after. The opposite of the given word was Mufannad which was meant to denote a man who was weak in his judgment and unsound in mind. The epithet is reported have been applied to man alone and not to a woman, because according to the Arabs, the woman who was the mother, taught Ra’y to young children and thus could not be devoid of it. Ra’y also implied intellectual perfection and maturity in judgment and has since its creation as a concept been a criterion of greatness. The Quran itself time and again exhorts to deep thinking and meditation over its verses. The Prophet Muhammad himself set examples by accepting the opinion of his companions in matters that he was directed to by his revelation. On the occasion of the Badr, for example, Muhammad chose a particular place for the encampment of his troops. A companion of his, Hubab al-Mundhir asked him whether he had chosen the place of his own wisdom or from advice from God. Muhammad told al-Mundhir that he had done so out of his own judgment and wisdom. When al-Mundhir pointed out that the place was easily detectable to enemies, the Prophet replied that ‘You have made a sound decision’ and he moved his troops to the place that al-Mundhir pointed out was a better resting spot.

During the lifetime of Muhammad, Ra’y remained a powerful doctrine, but after his death, the doctrine of the Hadith began to overtake Ra’y and while it remained a part of the Hanafi school doctrine of Islam, it remained so as a very minor point and was largely forgotten in Islamic theology. [2]

It is perhaps so surprising that on the 21st of February, 1920, Abdulmejid II, a deeply religious Sultan and Caliph called a theological meeting between priests and clergymen from throughout the Empire to discuss new theological matters and to debate on new theological topics, which Abdulmejid II himself enjoyed a lot. Ra’y as a doctrine had enjoyed a small comeback as progressive muslims in the empire looked at it as a progressive ideal and doctrine.

Abdulmejid II and fellow theologians after the 1920 Theological Debate ​

Abdulmejid II agreed. He certainly liked the theoretical portions of the doctrine, and asked the Ulema if the Ra’y doctrine could be emphasized in Islamic teaching throughout the Ottoman Empire. The Ulema, many of whom had been replaced by the ever-growing progressive class of theologians in the Ottoman Empire after 1908, were mostly in agreement. Even conservative Ulema’s weren’t really opposed to it, as for them, it was bringing out a doctrine that had been long forgotten, and would be good for preserving more doctrines of the Islamic faith. It was agreed on this meeting that the Ra’y doctrine would receive more emphasis in Ottoman Islamic Classes. Despite the growing secularism of the empire, due to the emphasis in modernity, Islamic students of the empire had to compulsorily attend Islamic theology classes (and still do) just as Christian and Jewish students had to attend Christian and Jewish theological classes (and still do) from grades 3 to 8. In this syllabus, the Caliph, and Sultan had a full say, despite being Constitutional Monarch, and Abdulmejid II had the doctrine of Ra’y to become included and particularly emphasized in Islamic studies in the Ottoman Empire. Ra’y would after a few generations, prove to become one of the cornerstones of modern Ottoman Islamism.” Evolution of Islam in the Ottoman Empire 1397 – present. © 2017.

***

***

[1] – numbers taken and adjusted for TL from Contours of the World Economy 1- 2030 by Angus Madison

[2] – Previous two paragraphs are mostly cited from Earl Modes of the Ijtihad: Ra’y, Qiyas, and Istihsan by Ahmad Hasan

 

[Sarthak]

Thoughts?

 

[Protess]

Thoughts?

Valkov had been a Bulgarian General during the Balkan War and he was crazy patriotic about the Bulgarian nation state and he was angry that the government, in his view was kowtowing the Ottomans.

the way this is being said seems weird. Crazy patriotic. I don't it doesn't seem to match the tone of the rest of the timeline so far. But all together a fine update.

 

[Windows95]

Interesting. Would this mean that agricultural policy is copied from the Japanese and Central Europeans in how they reform and reorganize their agriculture (plant breeding, smallholding), would it mean peasant proprietorship in Palestine (instead of Syrian, Egyptian, Jordanian and Ottoman landlords with documentation) and mitigation of fellahin displacement, and specialization/division of labour in the economy where the baker, butcher, blacksmith come into being?

See here as reference: https://www.historyandpolicy.org/po...and-history-lessons-from-the-green-revolution

Is the shift away from Hadith/Orthodox approach to Islam mean the comeback of the Mu'tazila?

 

[Windows95]

Plus, what is going on in Egypt?

 

[Sarthak]

the way this is being said seems weird. Crazy patriotic. I don't it doesn't seem to match the tone of the rest of the timeline so far. But all together a fine update.

Valkov was a crazy patriotic man who didn't seem to have common sense otl as well.

 

[Sarthak]

Interesting. Would this mean that agricultural policy is copied from the Japanese and Central Europeans in how they reform and reorganize their agriculture (plant breeding, smallholding), would it mean peasant proprietorship in Palestine (instead of Syrian, Egyptian, Jordanian and Ottoman landlords with documentation) and mitigation of fellahin displacement, and specialization/division of labour in the economy where the baker, butcher, blacksmith come into being?

See here as reference: https://www.historyandpolicy.org/po...and-history-lessons-from-the-green-revolution

Is the shift away from Hadith/Orthodox approach to Islam mean the comeback of the Mu'tazila?

Something like the Mutazilla doctrine may form soon enough. It was heavily influenced by greco-roman philosophy.

 

[Sarthak]

Plus, what is going on in Egypt?

That will be covered in the next chapter.

 

[Protess]

Valkov was a crazy patriotic man who didn't seem to have common sense otl as well.

yeah I get that. It's just the wording strikes me as odd for some reason. Like if it was insanely patriotic, or madly patriotic I don't think it would strike as odd. Crazy patriotic just sounds.... weird. Like something a high schooler in Miami would say. I don't know. English is weird.

 

[haider najib]

what happened to Serbian revanchism?

Why does Baghdad have high income never thought it would be that rich?

will the jewish soldier living in Libya appear again?

 

[Sarthak]

yeah I get that. It's just the wording strikes me as odd for some reason. Like if it was insanely patriotic, or madly patriotic I don't think it would strike as odd. Crazy patriotic just sounds.... weird. Like something a high schooler in Miami would say. I don't know. English is weird.

True will change the wording.

 

[Sarthak]

what happened to Serbian revanchism?

Why does Baghdad have high income never thought it would be that rich?

will the jewish soldier living in Libya appear again?

Serbian revanchist will be covered don't worry.
The distribution of westlh means comparative wealth of the areas compared to other areas of the country. Baghdad was the richest city in Ottoman Arabia as well.
We'll see. Probably a vignette will come.

 

[haider najib]

What is the state of ottoman Tanks?
Does the ottomans have a mountain infantry or something?
Also what does fortitifications on the russian border look like and is their alot of them?

 

[Herohunter]

Plus, what is going on in Egypt?

Egypt is ruled by the Muhammad Ali dynasty and is officially an Ottoman vassal that recognizes the sultan's religious authority.

unofficially it's a British puppet with London holding a number of special rights along with influence over the economy, military, diplomacy, and political aspects of the Egyptian state. The British also "share" territory in Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) London also pressured Egypt to accept zionist settlers and allow them to form a semi-autonomous zone.

 

[Windows95]

What is the market socialism of Ottoman Empire? Who are they, and where did they get their ideology from? How did it existed in real life in Turkey?

 

[Sarthak]

What is the state of ottoman Tanks?
Does the ottomans have a mountain infantry or something?
Also what does fortitifications on the russian border look like and is their alot of them?

The previously mentioned tanks are being produced and entered into service. Yes mountaineer divisions are present in the ottoman army. There are individual forts along the Russian border but not a lot of them to not provoke the Russians.

 

[Sarthak]

Egypt is ruled by the Muhammad Ali dynasty and is officially an Ottoman vassal that recognizes the sultan's religious authority.

unofficially it's a British puppet with London holding a number of special rights along with influence over the economy, military, diplomacy, and political aspects of the Egyptian state. The British also "share" territory in Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) London also pressured Egypt to accept zionist settlers and allow them to form a semi-autonomous zone.

Yeah more or less

 

[Sarthak]

What is the market socialism of Ottoman Empire? Who are they, and where did they get their ideology from? How did it existed in real life in Turkey?

The Ottoman Socialist Party is an otl party. They were culled and destroyed by the young turk triumvirate otl due to their popular support being a threat to them.