The elephant, the lynx, the two wolves, the dragon, the eagle, the griffon vulture and the bull.

[Antonio Ferrari]

History is written by the victors. We all know that. In our world, WW1, at the time know as "The Great War" or "The war that would end all wars", was won by the Entente powers, composed by England, France, Italy, Portugal, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Serbia, Montenegro, the USA, and many others. This war changed the view of the world of many. Empires crumbled, new nations were born. And the humiliating peace terms imposed on the central powers, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman empire, would be one of the causes that would bring the world into another world war, even bigger than before.
But what if the central powers not only won WW1, but would also make some new "friends"?
Somewhere, in an alternative timeline, there's a japanese tale of recent times, that tell the stories of an elephant, a lynx, two wolves, one from the desert and the other from the mountains, a dragon, an eagle, a griffon vulture and a bull that set aside their difference, in order to defeat an evil lion, its coward royal advisor, a cock, and all of its slaves. Will they succed?


*Hello everybody! This is my first try to create an alternate timeline. I believe that I'm not the best writer around, but I think that I can bring some interesting ideas for a timeline. For the ones that don't understand the title, this animals are the national animals of the protagonist of this timeline (Siam, Romania, the Ottoman empire(I used Turkey national animal, the wolf), Italy, Japan(not sure if the dragon is Japan national animal), Germany, Austria-Hungary and Spain. Other protagonist are Albania and Bulgaria, to which I couldn't find their national animals. Hope you enjoy!

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

The world, 1890. The world has been basically split between basically all european powers. But a huge divergence happens around this time.
Spain had basically lost all of its power. Its glorious empire was now reduced to Cuba and Puerto Rico in the caraibbeans, and the Philippines and some islands in the pacific. It's colonies in Africa were small and not very profitable. In particular, the non-african colonies where in huge unrest. However, it was the decision of Alfonso XII, and the approval of the Cortes Generales, that would make the spanish situation much more bareable.
05/07/1890: Spanish, German and Americans representatives met at Madrid. In this meeting, Spain sell all of its not african colonies to Germany and America. America would buy Spanish possesions in the caraibbeans, while Germany would buy Spain pacific empire. Protest from both England and France would not be listened, as these nations didn't want to risk a war. Under Alfonso XII, with the monies gained from the selling of this territories and the ones avoided to suppress rebellions, Spain could finally get back on it's feet, and become an industrial country just like many others. No more would it be an incompetent, weak and poor agricultural nation. A spanish saying was then born:"If the cubans and the Philippinos don't like us, let's see if they like the Americans and the Germans better".
10/07/1890: In Milan, Austria-Hungary cedes several regions to Italy.
Map after what would become the famous "Meeting of Milan":

Area circled in black are the regions ceded to italy.

People danced and singed in the streets with happiness for an entire day. Italy was finally united! Because of this, 10/03 is celebrated as a national holiday in Italy. The reasons of this weird Austrian generosity, however, was not because of idealism or something, but it had in fact economical and political reasoning behind it:
1)Austria-Hungary was having several economical problems. Austria didn't cede these land to Italy. It sold them.
2)Too many ethniticies: If there was a possibility to gain money by eliminating a region with hight unrest, so be it. After all Trent was just a bunch of mountains. Well, they lost Fiume and Trieste, but hey! At least they still own Dalmatia!
3)Germany was pursuing Austria to gain Italy friendship in order to eliminate the possibility of Italy of joining France against them. I mean, it's not like Italy would ever backstab its allies, right?

Italy was finnaly united. Well, almost. Italy really didn't like Austria, but there was a certain someone that they hated too. Who sent an army to prevent Rome unification with Italy? Who backstabbed the italian people, by giving the hated Austria Venice? Who backstabbed the italian people with the treaty of Villafranca, abandoning them just when complete victory was near, but still decided to take rightful italian land? Who stole so much of magnificent arto from Italy? Who stole Tunisia and Algeria from Italy? The answer?

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

South east Asia in 1890:

Caraibbean in 1890:

 

[Thaiengle]

Saim

 

[Thaiengle]

Bump

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

The anger of the elephant

While in Europe several countries were celebrating, in Asia there was a certain someone who just couldn't take a break.
While Great Britain was focused on enslaving India, France was focusing on Indochina, which caused tension between the third republic and the Kingdom of Siam. Out of all the places in the world, Siam was one of the few places that wasn't colonized. That being said, they have been losing territories since 1860, and the situation wasn't getting better. Chulalongkorn had modernized the country, and managed to make sure that Siam would't become a colony. However many of the concession given to the french weren't well seen by the siameses: altought he was called by many Phra Piya Maharat (พระปิยมหาราช, the Great Beloved King), by some "radicals", he was called P̄hū̂ ch̀wyh̄elụ̄x plxm(ผู้ช่วยเหลือปลอม, the fake saviour). These were manly members of the army and the aristocracy, with many of the latter having iterest in the areas ceded to France. This people didn't want the king to be eliminated. Quite the countrary. He maybe have been a fake saviour, but at least the situation wasn't like their neighbour, India. Instead, they just preffered having the king being more aggressive in regarding their french neightbour. No plot was planned, but the aristocracy started to persuade Chulalongkorn to face the french menance, rather than just concede territories. Problem is, despite Chulalongkorn plan od modernization, Siam was STILL too much backward compare to France and, despite their rivality, Britain wasn't really interested to support Siam in a full-out war against the third republic. It seemed like nobody wanted to help little Siam in a war. No one. Or is it?

Germany position was extremely precarious at the moment: France still hasn't forget the Franco-Prussian war, and the sentiment of "revanche" was still strong. The emperor Wilhelm II knew that a war against France would mean having a 2 front war against Russia, to which France was getting closer to. At the same time, however, they couldn't count on Britain, because of Germany recent act of buying the Spanish east indies. Altho this meant that now Germany has a relatively strong position in the pacific, this also lead to competition between the UK for the control of Asia, leading also to a naval race between the two nations. He knew that he couldn't count on America, which bouth the spanish possessions in the carraibeans, because of their isolationalism. Wilhelm II created the "Triple alliance" between them, Austria-Hungary and Italy, but many were doubtful of the alliance. Not that he didn't trust his allies, but he didn't trust their capabilities. Italy still depended heavly on Britain for resources such as steel and coal, not only because of the lack of such resources in Italy and its colonies, but also because it was more of an agricultural nation, in contrast to Germany. The kaiser started several action to fuel the italian peninsula with these resources, and also sent many advisor to accellerante Italy industrialization. Another problem with Italy, however, is that it was still divided. Not as much as Austria-Hungary(we'll talk about them later), but still, there were cases where a Roman couldn't understand a Venetian, despite both being part of the same country. Unlike Germany, Italy still lacked a sense of complete national unity. But if you thought that Italy was having problem having the different people in its kingdom to coexist, at least they felt italian a bit. They weren't always rioting for independence, unlike a certain someone:

Austria. Oh god Austria.
In all of what once was one ,if not the, strongest empire in Europe there isn't a single regions without some kind of unrest. They barely managed to keep Hungary by giving them representation in the parlament, but all the other nationalities were pushing for independence. At least they managed to keep down the italians with the "Meeting of Milan" in 10/07/1890 AND they gained enought to upgrade their economy and their military, but when basically every regions in your empire is screaming for independence, there are going to be many problems anyway.
Feeling like no other nation in Europe seemed willing to join an alliance with Germany, the Kaiser started to increase the intersts for allies outside the continent. Siam probably wasn't in the shape of fighting off France by himself, but if they manage to distract the third republic from Europe by attacking Indochina, hell mabye even India in the insane possibility of a British intervention against them, Germany would still have a chance.
1890 was the beginning of a serie of buisy years for the Kaiser. The decision of sending advisor into the country would lead to a quicker industrialization of the country. It would be remember by many, even with the creation of a biographic novel in 1935, called "Der König und ich"(The king and I), written by Austro-Hungarian writer Stefan Zweig. Thanks to Germany strong position and defensive position toward Siam, the latter last concession would be the one of Laos toward France, and it wasn't really peaceful. The elephant has been mocked too much, and showed what he can do when angry. The Paknam incident would be remembered as one of the bloodiest incidents ever knew in the history of Thailand, so much that almost triggered a war. But that is another story.
This also started a period satirically called by many germans "Das Rennen für Verbündete"(The race for allies). During the years 1890-1914, the Kaiser would search for any opportunity to gain an alliance, which would be satirizite by many, but in the long run would allow the survival of the german people. They have gained the italian trust; they have helped the modernization of Siam; and who knows, maybe someone else is willing to join. You see, Siam isn't the only Asian country who remained independent against western imperialism.

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

So, what country you want to hear next?

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

Bump

I don't get it

 

[Thaiengle]

im bumping this TL so more people can see it

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

im bumping this TL so more people can see it

Thanks

 

[Kirook]

So, what country you want to hear next?

I’m interested in the US, China, Japan and Spain; not particularly picky about which of those is next.

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

I’m interested in the US, China, Japan and Spain; not particularly picky about which of those is next.

Thank you. But first I would like to talk about a little incident in Siam

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

So, up to now, what do you think of this timeline?

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

The Franco-Siamese war: the awakening of the elephant

The conflict started when Auguste Pavie was sent in Bangkok, to convince the king to cede Laos to France. The third french republic has always noticed Siam weakness, and believed that the king would accept the offer. Little they knew, Siam has been supported by Germany for around 3 years, and it was now a relatively modern nation, at least in the military. Because the king feared for the Laos region to fall under french rule, he encouraged a military corp, many made by Laos conscript. Most of them knew the territory well, to the opposite of many french generals and soldiers. But we'll talk about them later.
As a result the king, which was also was assumed that Germany would intervene in case the war would have become too much disastrous, rejected Auguste proposal, and prepared the troops for the defence of the country.
In April 1893, 3 French colonial columns started to march alongside the Mekong river. What confused the french generals is the fact that there wasn't much opposition to the march. Aside for a few ambushes, the french were advancing without too much opposition. That was until they reached the island of Khoung.
The difficult terrain was giving problems to the french, and the advance was going slowly. They have advanced from Cambodia and deached the 4000 islands regions, where they felt into one of what would be remembered as one of Siam greatest victory in the years 1800. At 07:38 a.m, a storm of steel felt against the fench garrinson, causing panic in the army. For around half an hour the Siamese bombed the enemies with several pieces of artillery, who were given to them by the German empire. After that, an army composed by infantry and elephant charged at the french army, not giving enought time to react. The elephants where armed with machine guns on the back, and some even had some degree of armour, enought to resist french bullets. Strangely enought, the elephant were sent first, in order to generate panik and confusion in the french army, causing heavy losses. The infantry arrived only to deal with little pockets of resistence. However they would not really be needed, as their opponent was retreating. The result of the battle were mixed: despite the elephant armour, some of them died in the battle. However, many more french died in the battle. Elephants weren't something new in the Siamese army, but these ones were equipped with modern equipment(for the time), even holding artillery on their back, but most of the time they holded machine guns. Both of these were given to them by Germany, but Siam was also starting to build its own equipment. On August 1893, a new corp was born, alongside a new Siamese military tecnique, which would help in the future against many opponents: the Khṇa cĥāng(คณะช้าง, Elephant corps in english), with the legendary Kh̀ā chı̂ c̀āy cāk phāyu cĥāng(ค่าใช้จ่ายจากพายุช้าง, or elephant storm charge, because of the noise that the elephant and the artillery would cause when charging resembled the sound of a thunder).

Siamese "Elephant corps" in the island of Khong

When retreating, the siamese had little to no mercy on the french opponent. While retreating to Cambodia, the french were tormented by the S̄eụ̄xdāw k̄hxng lāw(เสือดาวของลาว, Leopards of Laos), Laos conscript who knew the territory and caused several ambushes against the demoralized and injured soldiers. Never giving the french a rest, they would attack out of nowhere, only to disappear in the shadows seconds later.
Upon hearing what would be remember by France as "Le massacre de l'île de Khong", a huge anti-siamese sentiment was born, and the governament approved to send the navy alongside the Chao Phraya River. The sloop "Inconstant" and the gunboat "Comète" where sent after an ultimatum was sent to begin peace negotiation. If Siam would refuse, France would mobilize in a state of full war, and the peace condition would be harsher. However the king wasn't so sure of acepting peace so easily. And so, he ordered the army to give a suprise to the french.
July 1893: on the Chao Phraya River delta, the french gunboat and aviso are completely taken by suprise by heavy artillery fire by the Siamese army, and are both sunk. The survivors would be captured or killed by the siamese; the survivors, incuding Edgar Humann, were kept as hostages by the king. However, such violent ways would no be used to prevent France full mobilization.
July 30 1893: Just before the french republic start a full invasion of Siam, an ultimatum was send by Germany and Italy. If France would start a full mobilization against Siam, Germany and Italy would join the war on Siam side. Fearing a two front war(three if we consider Indochina), and knowing that Russia wouldn't support them yet, the french gave up the idea of an invasion. Peace talks begin in Bangkok on August 10 1893:
-Siam cedes some small border territory to France
-France cedes some land in Cambodia
-France pays war reparation
Map after the war:

This war would be remember as a disaster for France prestige, but would in turn would bring prestige to the king. After this war, no other territorial concession were given to any other nation in the world. Siam become a completely independent nation, and allied itself with Germany and Italy, transforming the triple alliance in the quadruple alliance. The years looks brighter for the kingdom of Siam, now that everybody knows the power of the elephant.

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

The Cuban revolution: the tocororo last stand

After the succesful "Spanish deal" of 1890, the americans started a policy of "Americanization" of the region. One of the first action was the disestablishment of the church and the redistribuition of the land. The land redistribution program was stipulated in at least three laws: the Cuban Organic Act, the Public Lands Act and the Friar Lands Act. However most of the land was handed over american colonialist. Despite USA decision of equal treatment of the cuban population, several programs were made to virtually transform a manly agrarian location into a more industrialized one, and in general the government tended to favour americans, to a point that Cuba still didn't have parliamental representation. Its nichel rich deposits could be used for the creation of bigger and stronger buildings in the US, alongside the possibility of trading. The mining sector also produced other minerals such as cement, feldspar, gypsum, iron ore, lime, asphalt, bentonite, zeolite, marble and steel, but were manly used by american owners. Gold, copper and zinc deposits were recently found in the central province of Villa Clara, but the government still gave the control of the area to American investors.
There was a strong american effort to replace the local spanish language, by instituting english as the main language in school. Local cuban journals would be banned while being replaced by american ones. Only an handful of them still used spanish.
These actions caused tensions with the locals and the colonist, with the latter being saw as a second spanish tyran, only more liberal, and who didn't know spanish. Many however wanted freedom, not only from Spain, but from any other nation in the world. Cuban revolutionaries become popular with the locals, and waited for the first opportunity for a revolt.
On February 01, 1891, that opportunity arrived: a small american police dispacment, at Ciego de Ávila, shot several rioting workers, who were asking for better treatment, alongside parliament representation. 30 of the 100 workers were injured by the local police, while 10 died. This caused the anger of the people, who started a massive rebellion in "Orient", the eastern section of Cuba. The uprisings in the central part of the island, such as Ibarra, Jagüey Grande, and Aguada, suffered from poor coordination and failed; the leaders were captured, some of them deported and some executed. Around that time, American forces in Cuba numbered about 80,000, of which 20,000 were regular troops and 60,000 were American and Cuban volunteer militia. However, that number would not last for long. Despite the failure in the centre of the island, the rebellion, with the command of Major General Antonio Maceo, they managed to take control of the majority of the region, thanks to the low ammount of soldier present in the area: the americans didn't have the time to positionate a strong military presence, being first more preoccupied in investing in the industry of the region.
By April 01-11, the Americans holded the west of the island.
However, the success of the revolutionaries would not last too long: unlike Spain, America is extremely close to Cuba, with Miami being only 367 km away. This meant that American reinforcement arrived quickly to help the local forces. The reinforcement under the command of William R. Shafter and Joseph Wheeler arrived at Havana on April 14. The americans quickly managed to regain ground, but met some difficulty in Camagüey, because the locals preferred guerrilla-like fights rather than full out engagements, even using cavalry charges with machetes. Most of their equipment came from raids against Americans. In American-controlled territory, guerrilla was even more extreme, and this caused problems for the american advance.
In order to reduce guerrilla warfare, several concentration camps were build in Cayo Hicacal, Cayo Iguana, Cayo Pajonal and on the Islas de Mangles. There rebel leaders, their families, prisoners of war or even just people who were suspected collaborating with the Cuban rebellion would suffer hunger, poor health conditions and horrible working hours. Nearly all of the people sent there would perish. Some of the survivors would live on to tell the tale.

Picture of a starving child, victim of malnutrition, on a concentration camp on the Islas de Mangles, April 27 1891.
Alongside concentrations camps, periodic executions, mass exile of residents and destruction of farms and crops were on the order of the day in American controlled zones. Thanks to this metods, nearly 10% of the local population died. By June 03 1891, the rebel army only helded the present day Holguín province, Granma province and Guantanamo province. The provisional capital of Cuba was on the latter, and Bartolomé de Jesús Masó Márquez was the president. Despite the Cuban bravery and the heavy guerrilla performed by them, the Americans easily win the battle of Bayamo, conquering the city and easily creating a safe road to Guantanamo.

The First Marine Battalion (United States), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Robert W. Huntington, reached the western side of Bayamo, June 15 1891. The next day, an American flag was hoisted in a nearby hill.

The battle of Guantanamo would be one of the bloodiest in the conflict: the people would face the americans with everything they had: they charged with guns, swords, machetes, knives and even their fists. The battle lasted for around 10 days, but ultimately would end in an american victory. Bartolomé de Jesús Masó Márquez was executed shortly after, and many members of the revolution would be exiled in several other locations.

The 7th Regular Infantry, charging through the fields at the north of Guantanamo, are cutting their way through the wire fence, July 01 1891. Major Corliss, who is prominent in the foreground of the picture, was at this time pierced through the shoulder by a Cuban rifle bullet.

Despite the american victory, conflicts and guerrilla warfare would keep going for around 2 months. Cuba would turn out to be one of the hardest colony to keep, because of the strong feeling of independence. It was obiouvs that a complete Americanization of the region would not be possible. Some of the rebel demands would be accepted, such as having parliamental representation and having the possibility of having an official spanish journal. Spanish would also become the second prominent language, with the first one being english. Another state would be created: the American East Indies(AEI). It was obiouvs that the old spanish colonies would not give a rest to its new overlords. Especially because America will not be the only one facing problems with their new colony:

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

The Philippines war: the showdown of the two eagles

While America was buisy facing the Cuban rebellion in the homonym island, Germany was facing rebellions in the Philippines. But first, we have to go back a little.
The Philippines were sold to Germany in 1890. Just like America, the germans too tried to force a "Germanization" of the region. However this process was even more violent that the American one. In some ways, the German controll of the region allowed for the creation of new public schools, transportation, reform system, boutiques, offices and civic buildings. However controll of all the most prestigious jobs was handed to German administers only, often treating the local population as slaves. And sometimes, for good reasons.
The region was rich in minerals and metals. An example was the rich abundance of Nickel, which was manly found in Surigao del Norte, Davao, Palawan, Romblon and Samar. Iron is found in Ilocos Norte, Nueva Ecija, Camarines Norte and Cotabato. Among non-metal deposits, the most abundant were cement, lime, and marble. Other non-metals include asbestos, clay, guano, asphalt, feldspar, sulfur, talc, silicon, phosphate, and marble. There were also large deposits of gold and chromium. The Philippines also helded fertile lands thanks to the volcanic soil, and its waters are rich in resources such as fishes, mollusks, crabs and even pearls, which were embroidered in Europe. When these resources were discovered by the germans, some of the advisors and colonists that decided to colonize the island gave birth to a motto: Die Philippinen waren eine Kolonie, die in Gold saß und vorgab, arm zu sein! (The Philippines was a colony sitting in gold, pretending to be poor!)
However while in what would be called "Deutsche Philippinen" there were plenty of resources for the German Empire, the local population was growing unhappy because of the many laws giving advantages to the german colonist. Support for the Katipunan—a revolutionary organization which aimed to gain independence from foreign colonial rule by armed revolt—was secretely growing. They had the support of the local population, and even received weapon by the Japanese, who feared German expansionism in the region. Despite all of this, revolutionary Andrés Bonifacio felt that it was not yet the time for a rebellion, as the organization was still weak, and the support, even if growing, was still low. However, with one decision by the Deutsche Philippinen colonial government, the table turned on favour of the secret organization, and started a massif rebellion in the region.

A 1891 photograph of Filipino Katipuneros
Beginning in 1891 the German colonial administration began land reforms and required newly created owners to perform 15 days of labor per year for public works in lieu of taxes. The local population already paid several taxes and was fed up by german oppressive rule.
On the evening of February 4, on Luzon, a massive revolt took controll of Manila, and managed to procede to conquer the island. The German forces in the region weren't many, and so Luzon was quickly captured by the Filippinos, who created a provisorial government, called "Philippine Republic", with Emilio Aguinaldo as president. As a response of the rebellion, on March 11 1891 the SMS Kaiser was sent to bombard the costal cities in the region. But a landing was not issued because of the lack of man power for such operation. After the capture of Luzon, the revolutionaries, with small support of the Japanese, quickly managed to conquer the majority of the colony. With Germany being so far away, it was almost impossible to send reinforcement in time. However, the fact that the Filipino forces were many using primitive weapons such as bow and arrows, bolos and spears, only occasionaly using captured rifles, allowed for a slower advance in the south of the colony.

Situation of the conflict on April 01 1891

On April 01 1891, German renforcement army leaded by Hermann Kersting, Waldemar Vollerthun and Karl Kammerich landed on Panglao and Dumaguete, quickly taking controll of Bohol and Visayas and, after heavy fighting, the German finally landed on Luzon.

German colonial troops on Dumaguete, April 01 1891

This conflict is remembered from both side as extremely bloody. Both the germans and the Filippinos commited tremendous atrocities in the controlled regions against their enemy. The Filippino massacred around 13% of all German colonist. Some of them were buried alive. Other would have their testicles aputated and stuffed in their mouth. The Germans, in order to counter-attack the guerrilla phase of the conflict would instead practice scoarched earth tecniques even on crops, leaving many starving. Concentrations camps would also be build, and public executions were common.
After the German landing on Luzon, the Philippine Republic suffered defeat after defeat, with the biggest one being on Naga, which left the Filippinos in a precarious position, unable to deal anymore damage to the Germans.

Filipino casualties after the battle of Naga, May 11 1891

On June 23 1891 General Hermann Kersting captured Aguinaldo on Manila with the help of the Macabeben Truppen, several Filippinos who decided to fight on the German side. On July 01 1891, the Philippine Republic officialy surrenders to the German Empire, however guerrilla warfare would continue for 2 months. Aguinaldo is exilied on Sokehs Island, while several other members of the republic would be either executed or imprisoned. The conflict caused the death of 4000-6000 Germans, and the colonization of the region would be slower than the Kaised would think.
While America and Germany, however, were dealing with the constant rebellions of their new colony, Spain just focuses on modernizing itself with the money gained from the Spanish Deal. A perfect representation of the situation for Germany, Spain and America is a political cartoon, showing a bald eagle(America) being tormented by a tocororo(Cuba), and a golden eagle(Germany) being fiercly attacked by a Philippine eagle(Philippine), while a bull(Spain) just takes a siesta, happy of not being involved with all the problems of the two eagles.

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

Siam industrialization: the growing in streinght of the elephant

After the Franco-Siamese war (April 01 1893-August 10 1893), Siam position had finally become firm. It was now safe from both French and British imperialism. A sparkle of nationalism was growing in the nation. The Phrrkh chāti thịy - s̄yām(พรรคชาติไทย - สยาม, or Siamese national-imperial group) was a group pf intellectual that wanted the return of ceded territory who were taken by both France and Britain, with the help of Germany and Italy, who were seen as liberators. But, deep inside, the King knew that it was thanks to the Kaiser and the king of Italy intervened against the french in order to stop a full-out invasion of the region, in exchange of an alliance and the possibility of free passages in Siameses ports. He knew that the eagle and the wolf couldn't always protect them. As a result, Chulalongkorn, who would be remember years later as P̄hū̂nả cĥāng thī̀ yìng h̄ıỵ̀(ผู้นำช้างที่ยิ่งใหญ่, or The great elephant leader), started a process of industrialization to compete with other nations. Despite their losses in the Laos regions, they also gained more land in Cambodia, and it was decided that a full-out industrialization attemp was needed for the country safety. One of the decision of the king regarding the military was the one that awarded his name. After seen the success of the elephant charges in the war, it was decided that the number of elephant that would be "Enlisted" in the army would grow, and armour would be put on all elephants. They would be the equivalent of tanks before the crude concept would be even born.

Map of Siam after the Franco Siamese war

The traditional feudalist structure based on personal domination and dependencies, whose peripheral areas were only indirectly bound to the central power (the King) was completely gone now. It has now, instead, changed to a centrally-governed national state with established borders and modern political institutions. Industrialization started to grow, to a point that it could comete against Japan itself, one of the first asian countries to modernize.The growing in streight of the country was seen with worry by both France and Britain. The Siamese national-imperial group was also seen with worry by the two superpowers, because of their growing influence over the King. Not wanting to risk a war against Germany and Italy, they limited themselves by supporting a second Haw rebellion against Siamese rule, but in vain. Despite the presence of independence movement in the Kingdom, the fear of French and British imperialism was enought to remain calm under the King, who was seen by all as a guardian. Little did Siam knew, however, is the fact that its fear for its neighbour would allow for the creation of better relations between another asian nation and their eagle guardian.

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

The sino-japanese war: the dragon reconsideration of the eagle

The German-Japanese awful relations were not something new to the world. Both had strong interest in Asia, with Japan itself being one, and Germany having massive possesions in the region thanks to the "Spanish Deal", not to count its possesions in China and in New Guinea. With such a large colonial empire right near their doorsteps, Japan was afraid of the German government, even thought the Kaiser seemed not interested in the region. As such, the Japanese tried to weakening German position in Asia by supporting rebellion in the Philippines, but without any success, as the German quickly restored order in the colony. However, while Germany wasn't well seen by the Japanese government, French, Russian and British expansionism in the area was feared too. In particular, the japanese feared for the kingdom of Siam, which was, alongside them, the only asian colony not colonized by foreign nations. Emperor Meiji believed that having Siam as an ally, a plan to counter western colonization of Asia would be limited, if not even stopped. The only thing that allow colonization itself was the weakness of the native countries themselves. However, Japan was far from weak, as the empire industrialized far before Siam, and started a serie of colonizations in Asia.
The Japanese government, as such, decided to give support to Siam, and started trading and sending advisor in the region. Just like Germany. While at first the Emperor believed that this would cause competition with Germany, he soon reconsidered after the Kaiser himself decided to visit Japan, and to meet him personally. Kaiser Whilhem II had started the so called "Das Rennen für Verbündete"(The race for allies), and thought that if the reich gained a strong ally in the east, it would mean a second front for Russia, alongside an annoyance for France and England. It would also mean protection for the German colonies in the pacific.
The meeting of Tokyo was arranged on December 10 1893, a few months after the Franco-Siamese war. In the conflict, both Japan and Germany had helped the Siameses, by sending weapons for free and giving other gears that could help them in the fight. As a result, the Emperor decided to temporanely forget the "Ajia no shitsumon(アジアの質問。, "Asian Question" in english). It was also decided that Germany would not intervene in case of a war against China, and Japan would not attack German possession in the area.
On July 25 1894, the Sino-Japanese War started, and ended as victory for the Japanese, who annexed Taiwan, Penghu, and the Liaodong Peninsula, but also put Korea on their sphere of influence. Russia and France, who had strong interests in China, intervened asking Japan to release the Liaodong Peninsula. However, to the suprise of many, Germany decided to back-up Japan, alongside Italy and Austria-Hungary. The "Dual intervention" of France and Russia was one of the hotspots of the 19th century. It is said to be one of the starting point of WW1, as it was during this time that many coutries who joined the counflict would either side for the Central power of the Entente. The only reason why war was avoided was the presence of British diplomats who proposed a meeting on Leicester on June 17 1895, where Japan would fully take controll of the areas claimed on the Sino-Japanese war, but would pay a small ammount of money to Great Britain, Russia and France.

Map of the region after the meeting of Leicester, June 17 1895

Shortly after the meeting, Russia invaded Manchuria to prevent further Japanese expansion in the region, but could not occupy Japanese lands after a German provocation of war. As the Japanese started to reconsider their real enemy in this situation, the Emperor started a serie of favourable laws to receive further help form the German reich, even proposing an alternate partition of Asia, where the Japanese would optain countroll over the west side, manly China and parts of Vietnam, while Germany could keep the south and expand in oceania and south east Asia. The plans would not be practiced, but would start the plans of friendship between the dragon and the eagle.

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

So, what do you guys think of this timeline? What shoul I improve?

 

[Redcoat]

So, what do you guys think of this timeline? What shoul I improve?

Make longer updates, maybe better map making, I can help on that front.