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These are kind of 2 seprate questions that need not be answered in the same scenerio (but they certainly can be), but l find both interesting.

1. With any pod after 1900, have the Ottoman empire become a fully developed, "1st world" industrialized country. This means a mostly urban population, low birth rates, more than 90% literacy, strong sense of national identity, high standards of medical care, immediate access to new technological advances, destination rather than source of migrant labor, and a strong military that easily matches European ones. Not strictly nessecary, but being a Democracy is preferable as well.

2. Japan ends up a poor, unstable, conflict ridden "third world" country not worthy of any respect from the European powers. These include poorly maintained infrastructure, use of outdated technology, high rates of illiteracy, high birth rates, high levels of emigration, source of migrant labor, despotic government and highly corrupt government and military.

Some things to note here.

- The Ottoman collapse was far from inevitable. Even as late as ww1, in a central powers victory France and Russia would both be beaten up by Germany and hence in no position to take anything from the Ottoman empire. Britain would be harder to deal with, but the Ottomans can certainly improve their military with assistance and training from Germany, especially if stuff like the Berlin Baghdad railway comes to fruition. The Ottomans where not even as unstable as people thought. The majority of Arabs and Turks where loyal til the bitter end. The Arab revolt could easily have been stopped if they did not have extensive British support. Maybe the Arab revolt doesn't even happen. Say the people of Hejaz find out the truth that the British would never keep their promise of a unified Arab kingdom. There might still be some internal unrest among Christians, but should the empire democratize, integration of them will become easier.

- Likewise, Japan's rise to power is also not inevitable. Granted, this I am less educated on, so I'll need you guys to help me here. But what if Japan looses the Russo Japanese war? Or maybe some extremely self destructive Mubutu style regime comes to power.

What do you all think?
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