United Arab nation and its demographics

[HistoricalArthropod]

If we go the socialist route, can we maybe pull the super lightspeed industrialization that China and the USSR did? This may also break down the tribal identities, as many people will be moving to the cities.

Also, how big could it get. If we assume the natural starting country is Hejaz and the fertile crescent, could it take the rest of Arabia? Hell, could it even take the Trucial states in the gulf, like how India took Goa? If it can, it can use all that oil revenue to fund industry.

 

[Socrates]

If we go the socialist route, can we maybe pull the super lightspeed industrialization that China and the USSR did? This may also break down the tribal identities, as many people will be moving to the cities.

Also, how big could it get. If we assume the natural starting country is Hejaz and the fertile crescent, could it take the rest of Arabia? Hell, could it even take the Trucial states in the gulf, like how India took Goa? If it can, it can use all that oil revenue to fund industry.

All of Arabia, Mesopotamia and greater Syria are all doable. I think Egypt is the bridge too far.

 

[Socrates]

There was no sense of Nationalism in the Arab World. Tribalism paved the way back then. You need a PoD in the 1750s at least with the Arab World remaining in touch with Europe as much as possible to exchange ideas.

Otherwise the sense of nationalism won't become common until the mid 19th century while taking another few decades to actually pull off a rebellion.

I wonder if the best approach here is some sort of dynastic extinction of the Ottomans and some Arab family, perhaps the Sharifs of Mecca, are chosen by the ulema to replace them. If they then move their capital to Mecca, Damascus or Baghdad, when the age of nationalism hits, it is just the Turks and Balkans peeling off, leaving the Arab core.

 

[HistoricalArthropod]

How would secular Arab state handle Mecca and Medina?

 

[Koprulu Mustafa Pasha]

I wonder if the best approach here is some sort of dynastic extinction of the Ottomans and some Arab family, perhaps the Sharifs of Mecca, are chosen by the ulema to replace them. If they then move their capital to Mecca, Damascus or Baghdad, when the age of nationalism hits, it is just the Turks and Balkans peeling off, leaving the Arab core.

Leaving Istanbul is unacceptable for the military, merchants and the ruling elite. Osman II was murdered for this (one of the reasons.) The Sharifs getting chosen isn't that far off. They are likely to be chosen. But relocation is a tough choice. It may make the Military favor the Giray dynastyn

 

[Koprulu Mustafa Pasha]

How would secular Arab state handle Mecca and Medina?

Different rules for those two cities. Muslim only. Maybe... just maybe a small quota of non-Muslims are accepted.

 

[HistoricalArthropod]

Different rules for those two cities. Muslim only. Maybe... just maybe a small quota of non-Muslims are accepted.

Maybe they can be like autonomous micro-theocracies. Like, the state would still be responsible for things like defense, but laws relating to religion and civic life would differ vastly from the rest of the country.

 

[Koprulu Mustafa Pasha]

Maybe they can be like autonomous micro-theocracies. Like, the state would still be responsible for things like defense, but laws relating to religion and civic life would differ vastly from the rest of the country.

Well... possibly. It may be more like Mount Athos or the Vatican but within the theoretical Arab State.

 

[Socrates]

Leaving Istanbul is unacceptable for the military, merchants and the ruling elite. Osman II was murdered for this (one of the reasons.) The Sharifs getting chosen isn't that far off. They are likely to be chosen. But relocation is a tough choice. It may make the Military favor the Giray dynastyn

Have it done by force then: the Russians take Constantinople.

 

[HistoricalArthropod]

What would the subdivisions look like? The fertile crescent will likely have a lot of provinces, either anchored to a major city or centered around a religious minority group like the Druze. Maybe Egypt can also be split into upper and lower Egypt.