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

[ahmedali]

Yemen revolts as the occupation of Germany ends! Thoughts?

I am Yemeni and your schedule is beautiful and I am happy that Yemen is developing and becoming a modern country

The result is that the Ottomans might win if the British helped them, they could use planes to intimidate the Yemenis

The imam must be eliminated, because the imam was the reason for delaying Yemen. Make Yemen under the control of the Sharif of Hejaz, or make it under direct Ottoman rule.

I feel that the Danubians will ally with Britain, France and the Ottomans against the Russians, because the Russians are sure to start World War II.

From the title of the book The Fall of the German Republicans: Germany will restore the monarchy

Could the Ottoman Empire regain the borders of 1878 or is it not possible?

 

[Lord Khuzdul]

Could the Ottoman Empire regain the borders of 1878 or is it not possible?

Yeah, that's not going to happen. Egypt not interested, Balkan countries definitely not interested.

To be fair, they would probably get those borders (and possibly more) unofficially, because with oil money and their past, if they play their cards somewhat smartly Ottoman Empire is headed straight to being at least a regional power, if not an outright superpower. In that case, Egypt, Balkans, Greece, and possibly a few more around the region (like the Gulf, Iran, etc.) might be in Empire's orbit as part of its power bloc (think NATO and Warsaw Pact, but a bit more loose).

 

[ahmedali]

Yeah, that's not going to happen. Egypt not interested, Balkan countries definitely not interested.

To be fair, they would probably get those borders (and possibly more) unofficially, because with oil money and their past, if they play their cards somewhat smartly Ottoman Empire is headed straight to being at least a regional power, if not an outright superpower. In that case, Egypt, Balkans, Greece, and possibly a few more around the region (like the Gulf, Iran, etc.) might be in Empire's orbit as part of its power bloc (think NATO and Warsaw Pact, but a bit more loose).

Egypt can be regained is to make them join the wrong side of the next war and join the Ottomans (King Farouk sided and cooperated with the Axis during World War II)

Bosnia and Sanzac are very possible if Danubia collapses or is replaced by another land

It is possible that Bulgaria and Serbia have a vengeful faction for their defeat in the Balkan War

 

[Herohunter]

Egypt can be regained is to make them join the wrong side of the next war and join the Ottomans (King Farouk sided and cooperated with the Axis during World War II)

the British would have to do something very stupid (something like giving away a massive and strategically important part of Egypt to a bunch of belligerent zionist)
to get Egypt to side with the future and nebulous axis, an axis that will be attacking the caliphate and will probably have communist Italy in its ranks.

 

[ahmedali]

the British would have to do something very stupid (something like giving away a massive and strategically important part of Egypt to a bunch of belligerent zionist)
to get Egypt to side with the future and nebulous axis, an axis that will be attacking the caliphate and will probably have communist Italy in its ranks.

The one who caused the Second World War could offer the Egyptians the lands of the Ottomans in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula and the location of the caliphate in return for their standing by their side and the agreement with the Egyptians.


If the Axis loses, Britain will give the Ottomans the green light to reintegrate Egypt


Italy, I feel, will restore its monarchy, but in the form of a fascist country



The pivot as the writer alludes to it will be Russia, because it seems that it will turn to fascism because of Nicholas II.


Bulgaria could offer Bulgaria a map of San Stefano in exchange for its alignment with the Axis, and Serbia would also offer the liberation of the Ottoman Slavs in exchange for its alignment with the Axis.


And if the Axis loses, the Ottomans will re-integrate Bulgaria and Serbia by dividing them with Romania (the Ottomans' ally in this alternate reality).


And the Ottomans could expand the Algerian war of liberation and make it the Ottoman-French war and return Algeria and Tunisia with the option of making Morocco a big country but a puppet or annexing Morocco in order to obtain an Atlantic port.

 

[Qastiel]

I don’t see the Ottomans taking any substantial territory from any Balkan nation except maybe Bosnia from Danubia if a Great War happens with them being on opposite sides. The Ottomans had an opportunity to annex a fair bit of land from Bulgaria during the Balkans War that happened during WW1 but chose not to and I think Bulgaria will probably remain in a friendly relationship with the Turks.

The Ottomans flat out won’t want any more Serbians so I don’t see them annexing any land of them.

Maybe the Ottomans could take the Montenegrin Coast like they planned in their war against them before but who knows.

And yeah, Egypt is definitely too large to be annexed into the Ottoman Empire formally but as a Khedivate, perhaps it can end up in a form of Supranational Union with the Ottoman Empire with the Ottoman Caliph/Sultan being heads of states with significant powers in both nations and a limited degree of shared administration.

As for the update, things with Italy are interesting. I wonder how the Pro-Natalist Policy will affect Italy’s demographics and whether it will actually rise long term or if it’ll just result in a civil war devastating them. Prussia being deindustralised by the Russians is an interesting turn of events, I guess the Rhine becomes even more integral for the future German war machine.

India is going in fun directions too. I enjoyed the update quite a bit!

 

[Gokbay]

East Prussia wasn't really an industrial center. So probably not that big of an impact.

 

[Gman]

How does South Africa turn out in this timeline (is Apartheid averted)?

 

[boredviewer1234]

Yes. To the point it is said that the only thing not taxed under Dogra's was air. (death, marriage, even the taxes themselves)


2/5th of Kashmiris died under their reign.

the reason why I am saying I have a hard time seeing them continue being rulers of Kashmir even as a figurehead.

I would rather have democracy.

That's just insane, that's close to the numbers of death at hellish colonies like the Belgian Congo than just cruel monarchy.

 

[Johnharry]

I am Yemeni and your schedule is beautiful and I am happy that Yemen is developing and becoming a modern country

The result is that the Ottomans might win if the British helped them, they could use planes to intimidate the Yemenis

The imam must be eliminated, because the imam was the reason for delaying Yemen. Make Yemen under the control of the Sharif of Hejaz, or make it under direct Ottoman rule.

I feel that the Danubians will ally with Britain, France and the Ottomans against the Russians, because the Russians are sure to start World War II.

From the title of the book The Fall of the German Republicans: Germany will restore the monarchy

Could the Ottoman Empire regain the borders of 1878 or is it not possible?

Yeah I agree the Imamate either needs to go or be "neutered" through some serious reforms. I think a lot of the Shaafi Ashari ulema in Yemen would support this, especially given a lot of them were very Sufi influenced (and the Ottoman Caliphate was quite literally a sufi domianted caliphate) so Shaafi institutions would see the Ottomans as very feasible way to get rid of the yolk of the Imamates basically both religous and tribal aparthied.

That being said, after ousting the Imamate it is good to be reconciling with the Zaidis as well so they dont revolt, and the nice thing with Zaidis is they can more easily be intergated into Ottoman society that the already integrated Iraqi twelver TTL (especially given the local governance.)

 

[ahmedali]

Yeah I agree the Imamate either needs to go or be "neutered" through some serious reforms. I think a lot of the Shaafi Ashari ulema in Yemen would support this, especially given a lot of them were very Sufi influenced (and the Ottoman Caliphate was quite literally a sufi domianted caliphate) so Shaafi institutions would see the Ottomans as very feasible way to get rid of the yolk of the Imamates basically both religous and tribal aparthied.

That being said, after ousting the Imamate it is good to be reconciling with the Zaidis as well so they dont revolt, and the nice thing with Zaidis is they can more easily be intergated into Ottoman society that the already integrated Iraqi twelver TTL (especially given the local governance.)

And do not forget that the Yemenis were historically Shafi’is and not Zaidis. The Zaidi Shiites were only in Sa’ada, Sana’a and Amran, while most of North Yemen was a Sunni majority.

It is also preferable to put the Yemenis under the control of the Sharif of Mecca, because he can control the Yemenis

 

[Johnharry]

And do not forget that the Yemenis were historically Shafi’is and not Zaidis. The Zaidi Shiites were only in Sa’ada, Sana’a and Amran, while most of North Yemen was a Sunni majority.

It is also preferable to put the Yemenis under the control of the Sharif of Mecca, because he can control the Yemenis

Even many Zaidis also opposed the Imamate so that is another reason to remove it.

Yeah the Shafi’i Ashari majority well welcome such an Ottoman intervention.

Yemen has mineral wealth to modernize and industrialize but i also suggest port development in the South and western coasts too.

 

[ahmedali]

And do not forget that the Yemenis were historically Shafi’is and not Zaidis. The Zaidi Shiites were only in Sa’ada, Sana’a and Amran, while most of North Yemen was a Sunni majority.

It is also preferable to put the Yemenis under the control of the Sharif of Mecca, because he can control the Yemenis

Exactly so it is entirely possible for Yemen to become a wealthy region

 

[TimTurner]

Exactly so it is entirely possible for Yemen to become a wealthy region

That would be nice.

 

[htgriffin]

Exactly so it is entirely possible for Yemen to become a wealthy region

That would be nice.

All the moreso if it were a High Median Income place rather than a High Mean Income (few have loads, most are SOL) place. BTW: Are the petrol reserves by the Gulf getting 'properly' up to speed in this TL yet?

 

[Sarthak]

Chapter 58: Origins of Radicalism

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Excerpts from The Zaidi Revolt: Ottoman Yemen Explodes by Thomas Frederick Townsend.

“……..The explosion of Zaidi Revolt dealt an immediate blow to the Ottoman political class. The Ottoman Empire was riding on a massive high after the political and military successes of the 1910s and the early 1920s, and the idea of a new revolt had become quite foreign to the ruling political class within the Ottoman Empire after said victories. Immediately fury enveloped Constantinople as various politicians leveled various allegations and accusations at one another. Indeed, the entire revolt forced the resignation of Emmanuil Emmanuilidis, the Ottoman Minister of the Interior quite unfairly. All told, the man had been trying to prevent such a revolt from happening and he was unfairly blamed by most for the Zaidi Revolt.

Emmanuil Emmanuilidis, the Ottoman Minister of the Interior was forced to resign. ​

He was replaced by another Ottoman Greek, Anastas Mihailidis, who had a different approach to the issue in Yemen. Mihailidis was of the opinion that the Imamate itself that ruled Yemen in the name of the Ottoman Empire was flawed and that the previous clemency that had been granted by Constantinople to the Imamate had been an inherently flawed political strategy. Mihailidis instead advocated for the Imamate to be removed as a pillar of Yemeni society and to instead relegate it to a purely religious stature instead. Even among the conservative Islamic class of the Ottoman Empire, this idea gained traction, as the Zaidis weren’t well-liked in the Ottoman Empire outside of Yemen even among the Islamic population.

​

The revolt also allowed the opposition parties within the Ottoman Empire to smell weakness in the previously infallible Liberal Union. Kozmidi Effendi, the leader of the Ottoman Democratic Party denounced the revolt and the policies of the government which had led to it, and publically cut off Ottoman Democratic supply and confidence to the government, which made the situation of the Liberal Union much more tenuous within the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies. The CUP immediately conducted a new election regarding their leadership and elected Pancho Dorev to the post of Leader of the CUP after the caretaker leader Rahmi Effendi decided to retire and allow a new face to take power. Pancho Dorev was the first Slavic leader of a mainstream Ottoman Party, being a Macedonian/Bulgarian himself. Dorev had once been a pro-Ottoman Bulgarian, but the Islamic policies of Abdulhamid II had angered him and he had joined the IMRO during the 1903 Revolt. After 1911 he reconciled with the Committee of Union and Progress and joined the party. His rise to power was a dark horse rise, for everyone had expected respected politician, Deputy and writer Huseyin Cahit Yalcin to become the next leader. Indeed, during the initial polls of the leadership elections, he was the favorite to win, but Ahmet Riza and Ismail Hakki Pasha, both prominent former CUP leaders, endorsed Dorev at the last minute, swinging the vote to a decisive Dorev victory in a major upset. Why Ismail Hakki endorsed Dorev remains a mystery to this day, but Ahmet Riza believed that Dorev’s lawyer and jurist origins would allow for greater diversification of the CUP’s occupational political agenda.

The Ottoman Socialist Party also capitalized on the revolt. Sefik Husni who was set to retire within a few days, also spoke out in favor of reform of the Vilayets to pre-empt a Yemenite situation in the other Vilayets for the future. But it was not him, but his successor who was the absolute game-changer for the Ottoman Socialist Party. Gregorios Anagnost, was an Ottoman Greek Democratic Socialist who managed to take the leadership almost unopposed after Husni, and this was the man who would later on become the first Ottoman Socialist Grand Vizier. He had once been a member of the leftist wing of the Committee of Union and Progress but had joined the Socialist Party in 1913 over fundamental ideological disagreements. Anagnost introduced a full bill in the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies on the 12th of August, 1924 proposing a full reform of the Vilayet system, and a radical supervision of the powers that were distributed to each Vilayet. Supporting the temporary (or even permanent) nationalization of the Yemeni Coffee industry during the time of revolt, he garnered much support from the Ottoman Labour Unions throughout the country. In short the man was a radical, but in the most positive sense of the word, for he was not a revolutionary like his opponents claimed, but whatever he proposed, he proposed with the utmost sincerity that it would be beneficial to the empire somehow.

Gregorios Anagnost​

Both the Socialist Party and the CUP began to lobby in the Chamber of Deputies for a vote of no confidence against Mustafa Kemal Pasha, whom they viewed with suspicion. Though his welfare and educational reforms were well received, the man himself remained bombarded by sceptics from throughout the empire. Nationalists denounced his marriage to a Bulgarian every week or so, much to the ire of the Slavic populace of the Empire who turned out to be Kemal’s staunch allies in the Ottoman Balkans, and Radicals believed that Kemal was not going far enough with his one step at a time policy regarding welfare capitalism. Conservatives hated the very idea of welfare capitalism. Kemal remained aware of the fact that a vote of no confidence was upon him, and deciding that it was now or never, he decided to reconcile the differing caucuses of the Liberal Union in the 1924 Liberal Union Party meeting.

The meeting was fractious at first. A growing opposition to Kemal was forming within the Liberal Union under the banner of Albanian leader Mufid Libohova, who wanted to turn the liberalist center-left party into a firm centrist party. This view was shared by some disillusioned Liberal Unionists as well. Krikor Zohrab, and David-Ben Gurion ironically became the largest and firmest supporters of Mustafa Kemal Pasha as Kemal and Libohova battled it out with words during the meeting. Libohova wanted to see more center policies, as he believed leaning too much to the left or right would harm the party. This was opposed by Kemal, who remained stubborn on his center-left policy, but in the end it was the meditation conducted by Omer Feyzi Effendi, who conducted a masterstroke of negotiations. In the end it was agreed that Libohova would become the new Minister of Social Security and Labour, as Lufti Fikri Bey was extremely sick, and was caught with fever. With the two factions within the Liberal Union reconciled for the time being, the party faced the political challenge within the Chamber of Deputies - a vote of no confidence.

Led by the CUP and the Ottoman Nationalist Party, a vote of no confidence was conducted in the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies on the 19th of August, 1924. In what was considered at the time to be one of the closer votes in Ottoman history, Mustafa Kemal Pasha kept his position as Grand Vizier by 150 – 138 in the Chamber of Deputies, thereby maintaining political stability within the Ottoman Empire and stopping a snap election from happening.

The political situation in Yemen changed as the military situation changed as well. When the critical junction of Amran fell to the Zaidi troops in Yemen, Mustafa Kemal Pasha temporarily suspended the electoral system of the Vilayet of Yemen declaring partial martial law. The well-meaning but ineffective governor of Yemen, Akdilek Mahmud Pasha was discharged from his duties, and David-Ben Gurion, one of Kemal’s closest allies was charged with becoming the wartime Governor, thereby starting David-Ben Gurion’s true rise to power.

Militarily, the Ottomans quickly realized that while they controlled the major highways and railways and cities and towns, virtually everything else fell under the command and control of the Zaidis and Imam Yahya. In Rada’a he proclaimed himself King of Yemen, and declared the Ottoman rule of Yemen illegitimate, and this time personally catered to the ideology of Yemeni nationalism. This bad news was further compounded by the fact that the key Ottoman stronghold city of Taiz was surrounded by the Zaidis and cut off from Ottoman supply lines. The 900-man garrison of Taiz under the command of Major General Fahreddin Pasha was surrounded by around 8,000 tribal warriors and the city of Taiz was besieged starting the 2 year long epic Siege of Taiz.

Fahreddin Pasha and the Ottoman troops in Taiz would be stuck in a perpetual siege for 2 years. ​

It was an embarrassing situation for the Ottoman Empire. Yemen was the most underdeveloped region of the Ottoman Empire, and it was showing as the Ottomans struggled to maintain logistics in the region. Aid came in the form of Greece and the Republic of Arabia, both of which came as massive surprises. Greece had a major stake in the Yemeni Coffee Industry and it could not afford to lose its position as the distributor of Yemeni Coffee in the Mediterranean. Whilst Abdullah Al-Saeed was also an enemy of the Ottomans, Imam Yahya’s explicit Greater Yemen ideology also claimed vast swathes of southern Arabia which Al-Saeed would not and could not allow. Aided by loaned Greek ships and Arabian traders and caravans through the inner deserts the Ottomans would slowly devise a strategy to take back the rebellious Yemenites…….”

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Excerpts from The Descent: Origins of the Second Great War by Max Hastings

“……..Spain in 1924 was a changing nation. Throughout 1910 – 1924, it had achieved the most rapid expansion of urban population and industrial labor force in the entire history of Spain at the time. Industrial employment had doubled from 13.2% to 26.9% and though agriculture remained the most abundant sector of the economy, the growing industrial sector meant that Spain’s economic future seemed extremely healthy. It was no wonder that Eduardo Dato, the Prime Minister of Spain, remained the most powerful man in the country and virtually beloved by most of the populace of Spain. He had served as Prime Minister for 11 years, and had accumulated most of the political capital of the nation.

Eduarto Dato​

Yet at the same time, history loves its own little games of irony and turnarounds. When Dato was assassinated on the 2nd of July, 1924 leaving a theatre in Madrid in one of his rare self-appointed holidays, by a Catalonian Nationalist, not only Spain, but the entire world was shocked. Spain had proven itself to be a stable secondary power within its own right during the Great War, and no one had anticipated an assassination of such character. But at the same time, it should not have come as a surprise. Dato had continued previous Spanish policies since the fall of the Spanish First Republic of suppressing regional minorities within Spain like the Catalans, Basques and Galicians. But such suppression had become so normal for the Spanish people in the past 50 years, it was a surprise that it reared its ugly head for them.

Dato’s assassination proved to be the catalyst of political downturn in Spain. Hidden problems created by rapid growth, suppression of regional identities, and the income inequality trap caused by rapid expansion of the Spanish economy, and the rising influence of the autocratic aristocracy all exploded throughout the Kingdom of Spain. As Jose Sanchez Guerra y Martinez succeeded Dato as the Prime Minister of Spain, at the same time, King Alfonso XIII and the Prince of Asturias were killed in Cordoba by a group of Moroccan Nationalists led by Abd El-Kerim.

Jaime I of Spain​

Within weeks, what was a stable nation was turned upside down. The deaf Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia was forced to become King Jaime I of Spain at the age of 16. The situation in Spain, which seemed to have been a stable country only a few weeks’ prior, was ripe for instability, assassination and political intrigue. Almost immediately, opposition leaders through Spain began to coalesce around messy politics that almost entirely led the country into political ruin and collapse in 1931.

Francesc Cambo, the leader of the Lliga Regionalista, an autonomist Catalan Party, the representative of the Catalan nationalists in the Spanish government, quickly recognized that the political vacuum made by the assassination of Dato, and the two royals could be used in favor of Catalonia, and he immediately presented a list of many demands, increasing the autonomy of Catalonia by a very significant margin. The Cambo List as it became known was released to the public on the 21st of August, 1924 and garnered significant support as Catalans dropped into the streets of Barcelona demanding the list to be implemented. Opposing the idea of an expanded Catalan autonomy was Manuel Garcia Prieto, who was the leader of the Liberal Party and eager to expand his party’s base in the country as well in the resulting political vacuum. Prieto denounced the Cambo List and called upon Martinez to reject the Cambo list in the Spanish Cortes – which he did later on. Pablo Iglesias Posse, the leader of the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party supported the Cambo List and Alejandro Lerroux, the leader of the Radical Republican Party denounced the Cambo List. What started out as a political move by Francesc to take advantage of the situation had devolved into a major political upheaval throughout Spain.

The situation was turned dangerous by the fact that Abd Al-Kerim and his band of Moroccan Nationalists revolted in Spanish Morocco and declared the Republic of Northern Morocco and had started a massive guerilla campaign against the Spanish. The entire Cortes was now stuck on what they could do, and unlike Alfonso XIII who was knowledgeable in the art of politics and country running, trying to gain advice from Jaime I was a fool’s endeavor. National unity was quickly falling apart as central authority from Madrid waned. Spanish generals were already empowered by the end of the Great War, gaining significant autonomy from Madrid during the war, but with the rise of political instability throughout Spain, Madrid also started to lose their grip on their military as well.

Jose Sanjuro in particular, leading the Spanish troops in Morocco essentially fought the war on his own, leading troops loyal to him, and defeating troops on his timetable and not the one issued by Madrid. Brutal massacres of Moroccans conducted under his watch garnered international condemnation, and Madrid could do nothing but weakly protest the actions of their commander. Madrid not trying to put down Sanjuro would turn out to be a grave mistake in the future, as the man was heavily influenced by Guildism and during his time Morocco during the Second Rif War, he officially jointed the small yet growing Spanish Guildist Party.

Politics turned out to become a very dangerous occupation for Spaniards as well, as the political situation degraded, political assassinations became increasingly the norm, and Martinez could do little but look on in despair as he hurriedly tried to find a proper solution to the political crisis that was enveloping Spain.

Several problems were enveloping Spain. The surge of industry and the growth of the population transformed the old-fashioned medieval cityscape that many Spanish cities had still maintained at the end of the nineteenth century. Imbalances in this growth were reflected in the social division of the cities. The new suburbs, built to control chaotic growth in the inner cities, were where the middle and business classes, traders, industrialists and well-to-do professional people were concentrated. On the outskirts, around the factories, were the working-class slums, and it was in these very districts and rundown areas that diseases and epidemics originated. This was because this urban growth also spawned speculation and get-rich-quick building schemes, with no thought for social justice or shared interests. This urban explosion, and its accompanying social disparities, also saw the slow spread of republicanism, Guildism, anarchism and socialism, ideologies that had been slowly spreading in the last third of the nineteenth century. They germinated in response to the solid dominant social block, which was made up of the heirs of the old privileged classes, the aristocracy and the Catholic Church, as well as the rural and the Basque and Catalan industrial oligarchy. From this block came most of those who governed in the corrupt pseudo-parliamentary system that had held sway in Spain from 1875, this system that had excluded, either through restricted suffrage or electoral fraud, what began to be called ‘the pueblo’, the urban proletariat, craftsmen, small industrialists and traders, and the middle classes, which many people termed ‘the bourgeoisie’, but who in fact earned their living from their professions, independently of the capitalist business concerns. Many of these professionals soon became thorns in the sides of the Spanish government as they agitated for reform. [1]

Spanish Colonial Troops during the Rif War​

Nevertheless, whilst Martinez has been criticized today for his inaction, he did manage to somewhat cobble together a proper government that continued in its governance as it tried to tackle the Second Rif War. Yet this government and the growing sudden instability throughout the Spanish Kingdom would lay the foundation of the Spanish State…….”

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Excerpts from The Central Asian Dream: The Revolt of 1924 by Alexander Morrison

“……In 1924, many of the privileges of the Central Asian peoples of the Russian Empire were revoked by Imperial Decree under Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The idea of revoking the Central Asian privileges had been brewing on in the region for years, since Alexander III in fact, but after the German Crisis had ended, Nicholas II decided that it was finally time to commit himself to the act. The situation was much nuanced however, as the Central Asian region was rife with republicanism and anti-Empire propaganda, and from Nicholas II’s own perspective, stamping down on such regions would have been a smart move. How he went about that, soured the future stability of Russia and directly laid the foundations of the Russian Civil War.

Russian Central Asia​

Kazakh and Kyrgyz dissatisfaction over the illegal seizure of their land to be handed over to Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian settlers in Northern Central Asia had led to anger fermenting in the region for a long time, and furthermore, Russian suppression of the nomadic system from 1917, after the end of the Great War had garnered much anger from the local Central Asian nomads, who made the nomadic style of living their very basis of living. With expulsions of ethic Central Asians from their lands for Governmental agenda, over 500,000 Central Asians were landless in 1924. The Imperial Edict simply became the last straw for the vast majority of the Central Asians. The greatest part of the Imperial Edict of 1924 was the fact that it removed the privilege given to them that they would not be conscripted into the Russian Army and that only volunteers from Central Asia would be forced to take up arms. This privilege was stripped and repealed and conscription from the European parts of the Empire was extended towards Central Asia as well. Most Central Asians deemed this a breakage of the promise that was made when they were annexed into Russia wherein they wouldn’t be conscripted for the empire in return for loyalty to the state. Discrimination by the Russian officials, who called the Central Asians ‘Fanatic’, ‘Unreliable’, ‘Lowest of the Low’, ‘Heretical Idiots’ also played a crucial underlying factor in provoking the Central Asians into fighting.

The first signs of the revolt started on 9th July, three days after the Imperial Edict, when an enraged mob of Kazakhs assaulted Russian officials in Akhmola (Astana), and the crowd was then dispersed by the Russian government opening fire on the mob. The civil unrest continued, and spread throughout Central Asia, and into the Russian protectorates of Khiva and Kokand as well.

On the 20th of July, 1924, Russian Duma members from Turkestan, nearly all of them in the pocket of Nicholas II, were gathering in front of Tashkent to discuss the lists of people to be conscripted, and the revocation of the other Central Asian privileges. A massive crowd developed outside of the Tashkent Hall, with the people demanding transparency as to how the people to be conscripted would be chosen, and that the other privileges be retained. The demands were not radical, and even sensible demands, but the massive crowd and the memory of the 9th of July which had devolved into a massive shooting event spooked the minds of the Russian guards, and instead of allowing the protestors into the hall for negotiations, the guards opened fire, killing over 90 protestors during what became known as the Tashkent Murders.

The people had enough. On the 4th of August, 1924, Amengledy Imanov, Miryaqub Dulatov, Makush, Sami Bek, Shabdun Batyr, Alibi Dzhangildin, Ibrahim Tulayaf, and Kannat Abukin, all prominent leaders within Central Asia, of Kazakh, Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Turkmen origins met with one another in what became known as the Samarkand Congress as the Central Asians debated with one another regarding future courses of actions. At first, the Congress of Samarkand was reconciliatory with the Russians, and sent a letter to Nicholas II calling him ‘our imperial grace and majesty, the ruler of all Central Asians’, and asked for:-

• Details as to how the conscription of the central Asians into the army would take place.
• Complete transparency during the conscription process.
• The protection and respect of the nomadic system.
• The controlled immigration of Slavic peoples.
• The stoppage of forced land seizures and expulsions.
• The return of land to those Central Asian tenants who had their lands seized from them most illegally.
• A new joint committee to discuss the other revoked privileges.

By all rights, this was a very moderate list, and the list when read out to the Russian Duma garnered a great deal of support as well. But the Struve Government and Nicholas II of Russia were unwilling to negotiate. They had been forced to negotiate with Germany over the occupation, and had (in their view) been humiliated by their withdrawal from Prussia. The growing autonomy of Poland also put fears into the minds of the Russian government that if Central Asia followed suit, then a cascade effect of Finland, Ukraine, Moldova, the Caucasian Countries would soon follow, which they could absolutely not allow. The list was rejected and Prime Minister Struve reiterated his commitment to the Imperial Edict and that it would be implemented in its full entirety.

When this response was received in Samarkand, most of the Central Asian delegates still wanted to create a peaceful solution to the brewing problem, but the work of Imanov forced the hand of the Central Asians as Imanov decided to attack preemptively and raised around 2000 Kazakh feudal bandits under his control and started to raid Russian settlements and destroy Russian governmental buildings. Following Imanov’s attacks, the Russian government sent 5,000 Cossacks under the command of General Mikhail Folbaum to suppress any revolt. This threatened the integrity of the Samarkand Congress, and the delegates finally voted to go into open rebellion on the 26th of August.

Imanov​

Throughout Central Asia - whilst numbers are never exact – it is estimated that over 150,000 Central Asians, around 1.5% of the entire population of Central Asia, rose up in revolt against the Russian Empire, as years of problems boiled into the surface, thus beginning the Central Asian Rebellion.

Central Asian Rebels​

The religious element of the conflict cannot and should not be ignored. In Zaamin, Imam Kasim-Khoja declared a Jihad against the Russian infidels and sent words to Constantinople regarding the declaration. The Ottomans, whilst sympathetic to the Central Asian plight, had their own problems in Yemen to worry about, and they did not wish to spark a war with Russia. As such the Ottoman government informed Russian Ambassador, Nikolay Charykov that the Ottomans would not support the Jihad declaration and that they would not support the rebellion either. The British looked favorably on the response of the Ottomans, as they too did not wish to spark a general war with the Russians, and knew that the Central Asian chaos would entire Iran, and Afghanistan soon enough, and through them, British India. British Indian Troops were already being sent to the Iranian and Afghan border as a result. Despite the Caliphate’s explicit rejection of the so called Jihad, many Central Asians continued to peddle the Jihad message and declared their attack on the Russians to be a holy war, ordained and ordered by Allah himself, increasing the fanaticism of the Central Asian rebels. Soon the Russian government ordered 20,000 troops of the Steppe Department to put the rebellion down, and the Central Asian Revolt grew in scope, thus laying down the foundations of the Russian Civil War of 1930 – 1936…….”

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Footnotes:-

[1] – Quoted from The Spanish Republic and the Civil War by Julian Casanova

 

[Sarthak]

And heavy politicking in this chapter! Thoughts?

 

[haider najib]

And heavy politicking in this chapter! Thoughts?

its cool you included Fahreddin Pasha in the story is this the end of him in it or will we see him again?

So which party do the more religious minded muslims now vote for?

 

[Sarthak]

its cool you included Fahreddin Pasha in the story is this the end of him in it or will we see him again?

Thanks! He will play a good role in the yemeni revolt

So which party do the more religious minded muslims now vote for?

CUP, ODP, OSP, or ONP

 

[Sarthak]

any predictions?