English Canada/French Carolina: A Timeline

[Gabingston]

Part 113: Great Balkan War Aftermath​

While I’ve gotten through the Great Balkan War and the ensuing Treaty of Constantinople, I feel as though an update talking about the aftermath of the war and the treaty is necessary before I move on to other things. With such large changes in borders, there were bound to be profound changes in the demographics and politics of the entire region.
First on the chopping block are the massive demographic changes in the region, particularly the fate of the Balkan Turks. The Ottoman Empire had possessed territory in Europe for 600 years by the time they were ejected from the continent in 1946, and in that time the Turkish population in Europe had grown to number in the millions. Now, aside from the new Turkish state of Rumelia, these European Turks were effectively homeless, living in countries that viewed them with hostility. Meanwhile, there was still a large Greek population living in parts of Anatolia, and still Bulgarians and Dacians living in Rumelia. After years of war, these minorities were viewed as fifth columns at best. For example, Rumelia restricted citizenship to Muslims, disenfranchising the large Bulgarian (and smaller Greek and Dacian) minority in the country. This began a mass migration of Bulgarians out of Rumelia, and the Rumelian government invited Turks and Muslims from other countries in the area to replace them. In return, Bulgarians, Greeks and Dacians from the Ottoman Empire or Rumelia were given instant citizenship if they were to migrate to their respective ethnic nations, which scores of them did. The Ottoman Empire took in hundreds of thousands of Turks and other Balkan Muslims in the period after the war, many of them settling areas vacated by their previous Greek inhabitants. By 1960, much of the previously diverse Balkans and Anatolia had become much more homogenous (although not to the same extent as IOTL, as there was never any sort of official, mutually agreed upon policy of population swapping). The Greco-Anatolian population that once numbered well over a million was down to just a quarter of a million by 1960 (and still declining), while Greece, Bulgaria and Dacia were nearly devoid of Turks.
Speaking of the Turks, how were they doing after they lost? Well, they were down but not out. Yes, losing their territory in Europe (especially Constantinople) and in parts of the Middle East stung, they weren’t completely screwed. For one, while they’d lost a lot of Iraqi oil, they still had large oil deposits in Kuwait and Syria (and for that matter, Kuwait still gave them access to the Persian Gulf). They also maintained control of the Levantine Coast, and still had access to the Suez Canal and Red Sea. The Ottomans built new railways to reconnect Kuwait to the rest of the empire by rail, and began developing that area’s oil industry. When it comes to the relations the Ottos had with the Arab inhabitants of the area, it’s complicated. On one hand, in an attempt to secure the loyalty of Arabs living in the empire, Arabic was designated as a co-official language of the Ottoman Empire alongside Turkish. On the other hand, the Ottomans resettled a good chunk of the European Turkish migrants into the oil-producing or strategically located areas within the Arab parts of the empire, which rubbed a lot of said Arabs the wrong way.
The Great Balkan War had reshaped much of Southeastern Europe and the Near East, and had greatly weakened an empire that had been a great power for centuries. Populations shifted as the map was redrawn, and a new status quo in the Eastern Mediterranean was being formed. I’ve got to get this update in, so I’ll leave it there. Have a wonderful day, I’ll see you next time.

 

[SnolTwig]

@Gabingston what is the culture of the new Constantinople city state

 

[Gabingston]

@Gabingston what is the culture of the new Constantinople city state

You're about to find out right now.

Part 114: City Of The World’s Desire​

One thing I didn’t talk about in the last update was the new state formed out of the area around the Bosporus Strait, the State of Constantinople. Located at one of the most important geographic chokepoints in the world, Constantinople had long been a massive city with an extreme importance to whoever controlled it, whether it had been the Byzantines, Latins or Ottomans. After the conclusion of the Great Balkan War in 1946, it was decided that, rather than have the city stay under the control of the losing Ottomans or be taken by the victorious Greeks, Constantinople was to become an independent city-state spanning both sides of the Bosporus.
However, there was going to have to be some work done to make the independent city work, so let’s talk about that. Constantinople was not only a huge city in terms of population, but in the diversity of said inhabitants as well. The city was home to Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Slavs, Kurds and Albanians among others, and some of these groups didn’t have the best of relations. It was going to be a real balancing act to make sure that the different religious and ethnic groups within Constantinople got along and didn’t start attacking each other. As a result, the constitution of the State of Constantinople didn’t establish a state religion, provided freedom of religion for all faiths and made Turkish, Greek and Armenian (the three most spoken languages in the city) official languages. Meanwhile, the city could focus on being a hub for global trade, which made the city very rich and provided lots of job opportunities for its citizens. The jobs and wealth from the city began to draw migrants from across the region, both Christian and Muslim. Some of the migrants who originally intended to move from one country to another instead decided to go to Constantinople, settling in with whatever ethnic community they belonged to. Relations between the different ethnic groups (especially ones that belonged to different religions) could be quite chilly, but said ethnic tension didn’t often devolve into violence. Rather, interethnic politics played out in, well, the political sphere. The government of Constantinople was modeled in part off of the Roman Republic, with the Senate serving as the city’s legislative body, while the two Consuls (one Christian and one Muslim) served as the city’s dual heads of state. This attempt to balance both the Christian and Islamic origins of the city was reflected in the flag, which blended both Byzantine and Ottoman elements. Creating a stable, prosperous Constantinople was definitely going to be a challenge, but that’s what had to be done. I’ll get back to the story of The City of the World’s Desire in the future, but I’ve got other stuff to do for now, so I’ll see you guys next time.

 

[Gabingston]

Flag of Constantinople (source here)

Flag of Rumelia (source here)

 

[Gabingston]

I'm gonna provide the sources for each of my flags from now on, don't want to risk being accused of stealing or plagiarism.

 

[Gabingston]

My next update is going to be on Russia, so before I get too deep into the update, I'll give you guys the basic political situation in the country and hopefully you guys give me some ideas for where things should go in the country:

• Russia holds elections every four years (much like OTL's U.S.), with the last election being in 1928. The coming update will talk about the 1932 Russian election.
• The Radicals who'd won the 1928 election have made some broadly popular reforms regarding land redistribution (although a good chunk and industrialization, but they've also exhausted much of the public's good will by going after the Orthodox Church (which is still viewed positively by most Russians, especially outside of major cities) and religion more broadly.
• The Conservatives who could provide a challenge to the Radicals are largely still Czarist (the Romanovs are not dead, but rather in exile across Europe), which is a non starter in the republic's politics.
• The Liberals had lost to the Radicals in 1928, and were still severely weakened by the loss. While the may eventually provide a challenge, 1932 is not that time.

So, we essentially have a ruling party that could be defeated, but doesn't appear to have a worthy competitor. Do the Radicals continue their rule past 1932? Does someone rise up to challenge them (possibly by combining the Radicals' economic policy with a more accommodating stance towards religion and traditional culture)? How would the Radicals react if they lost? Is a Czarist restoration possible? Please leave suggestions.

 

[ClockworkDawn]

Perhaps we see an Orthodox populist party rise up? Could be the Liberals take a new tact, and that seems like a servicable approach. The Czarist restoration seems unlikely, given as the Republic seems to have been mostly successful at this point and the Conservatives seem like they'd be of a hardline absolutist bent. Just my two cents.

 

[Gabingston]

Part 115: Mother Russia​

After a lengthy absence, it is finally time to return to the land of bears and vodka, Russia. The Russian Republic was only a decade old at this point, and its rule was still rather tenuous and shaky. In 1928, the Radical faction in the Republic had won a narrow majority in the Council of the Republic, and had begun implementing their policies. Massive amounts of former noble land was seized and redistributed. Ostensibly, this was meant to go to landless peasants, and much of it did, but a sizable chunk of it was instead embezzled to party loyalists and cronies (not to mention the disruption to agriculture raising food prices across the country). The Radicals nationalized existing industries and created new state-run enterprises, which were a mixed bag, as once again corruption and nepotism ran rampant, with cronies who had no experience in business being put in charge of massive industrial conglomerates. Combine that corruption with their clampdown on religion (not just Christianity, but also Islam and Buddhism), and the Radicals were seen by many Russians as having overplayed their hand.
However, it’s not as if the Conservatives could provide any adequate competition. The strong majority of Russian Conservatives hadn’t reconciled with the republic, and thus weren’t politically relevant in said republic. After all, the Romanovs weren’t dead, but rather in exile eagerly awaiting an opportunity to reclaim their throne, and the Republic was by no means secure, so a Romanov restoration wasn’t out of the question. Meanwhile, the more moderate Liberals had lost the power struggle to the Radicals, and thus were too weak to provide an effective challenge. So, in effect, Russia had a ruling party that could be defeated, but didn’t have any rivals strong enough to do so.
However, just because they couldn’t be defeated doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be weakened. Their majority in the Council was slim, and a slight decrease in their proportion of the vote could lead to them becoming the plurality instead of the majority. As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened. The Revolutionary Republican Party (or RRP for short), the Radical party in Russia, went from 53% of the seats in 1928 to 42% of the seats in 1932, still being the plurality party but no longer an outright majority. While the Liberals and Conservatives did make some gains, it was the new Populist faction that saw the most growth. The Populists were an economically left/socially conservative and mainly Russian Orthodox party that basically represented your typical Russian peasant. The Russians peasants had a long standing collectivist streak and liked many of the RRP’s economic policies, but largely being devout Christians weren’t fans of the anticlericalism and secularism of the Radicals. Unlike most of the Conservatives who pined for the return of the Romanovs, the Populists had largely reconciled with the Republic and were willing to work within the system. Thus, many rural areas that had voted for the RRP in 1928 flipped to voting Populist in 1932, and that trend was likely to continue going forward.
With no majority in the Council of the Republic, Russian politics entered a long period of polarized equilibrium. While the Liberals and Populists largely disagreed, they both wanted to keep a check on the RRP who’d had full control for the past four years. Thus, there was a rough balance of power in the Council, and getting legislation passed took long, fierce negotiation. For example, the religion question was debated intensely within the Council. Between the ardently secular RRP and the staunchly Orthodox Populists and Conservatives, the status of religion (particularly the Orthodox Church) in the new Russia was still a hot-button issue to say the least. However, after months of negotiation, an agreement was eventually struck as to the status of the Orthodox Church. The Russian Republic was to remain a secular state with no official religion and the Orthodox Church wasn’t going to get any subsidies or perks, but it would have a lot of the restrictions placed upon it by the 1928-32 Radical government lifted (the same was true of other religions within the Republic). For example, religious organizations could now run schools and clergy could now comment of political issues during sermons. That being said, religion was still a major dividing line in Russia, especially between the increasingly secular major cities and the devoutly religious rural areas.
Now, how about we look outside of Russia for a bit? Between the Second Global War and the Russian Civil War, Russia had lost a sizable portion of its territory, notably Ukraine, The Baltics, The Caucasus, Central Asia and Sakhalin. While Russia did ultimately want to reacquire its old territory, it also realized that that was unfeasible. Ukraine, for example, had a defensive alliance with both the North and South German states, and even trying to reannex something like the Caucasus would ruffle too many feathers (the Ottomans would be upset at a reconquest of Azerbaijan, for example). Matter of fact, Russia was quite boxed in, with few friendly neighbors, especially for a country that spans an entire continent. The majority of its neighbors had gotten independence from Russia in the previous decades, and thus were weary of the bear, and the ones that weren’t were regions with other countries already influencing it, like Japan in Qing Manchuria and Korea and Ming China in Mongolia. With that said, Russia was able to begin to rebuild its influence in Turkestan (in part because of the sizable ethnic Russian population leftover from the days of the Russian Empire), as well as with Georgia and especially Armenia in the Caucasus. With the decline of anticlericalism, Russian influence in non-German-aligned Orthodox countries in Europe began to grow, especially in Greece due to their shared republicanism. When it came to international geopolitics, Russia did have one other card to play, that being natural resources. Being such a large country, Russia was abundant in natural resources, such as minerals, oil, gas and tons of fertile land. Thus, Russia could export food and oil/gas to both Europe and East Asia, influencing their politics via trade. State-controlled and partnered oil companies began to sell oil in exchange for not only money but Russian political influence, which did make some other countries a bit concerned, but it did bring money into Moscow’s coffers, which it in turn used to build up infrastructure and industry (and embezzle it to corrupt officials and cronies, but that comes with the territory of both Russia and state-owned companies).
After two decades of war, chaos and rapid change, Russia appeared to the rest of the world to finally be settling down, but whether that would turn out to be true is still yet to be seen. I’ll leave that for another day, because this update has taken long enough, so farewell from Mother Russia!

 

[Gabingston]

Hey guys, I'm brainstorming a few ideas for future updates and events in this timeline. I've got a couple that I'm looking at in particular:

1. A major war in East Asia between the revived Ming Dynasty one one hand and an alliance between Japan and the rump Qing dynasty in Manchuria on the other. This may end up involving other East Asian countries such as Korea, Mongolia, East Turkestan and Tibet.
2. Decolonization of India. While I think that Africa (at least the less populated areas) could be colonies for longer, I don't think that the British and French could hold onto India past the Mid 20th Century. I don't know whether the independence of India (British and/or French) would come through peaceful means or from a revolution.

Also, I'm reconsidering things like Mitteleuropa existing. I think Eastern Europe likely would be under Prussian and Austro-Bavarian influence, but I don't know if it'd be that formal. I might alter that once I get around to making a Maps & Graphics spinoff. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Now that the Olympics in Tokyo are underway, may I suggest some possible host cites for the games (summer and winter) beginning in 1932 since you have through 1930?

 

[Mister Mister]

Any update about La Floride?

 

[SnolTwig]

How are race relations in La Florida

 

[PGSBHurricane]

How are race relations in La Florida

Probably only slightly better than Jim Crow. If that. Keep in mind that the French racial system was closer to the multilayered one that the Spanish had than the one-drop rule that English colonists (and later white Americans) had.

 

[Gabingston]

Part 116: Planes, Trains and Automobiles​

Being in a bit of a roadblock when it comes to geopolitical topics, I’m gonna change it up a bit and talk about technology. More specifically, the advances in transportation heading into the Mid 20th Century. Travels or voyages that had previously taken weeks could now be done in just a couple of days, if that, and new advances were in the making that would cut that time even more.
I’ll start off with the Planes part of the equation. While humans had long tried to come up with flying machines, the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries had unprecedented innovations in the field of aeronautics. Various forms of flight began to take off during this era (see what I did there), from balloons and airships to the newly invented airplane. The Airplane in particular is a subject that I wanna touch on, as while they were first successfully flown around the turn of the century (insert some ATL Wright Brothers), their development was very fast, in large part as a result of the Second Global War only a decade or so after their invention. The militaries of both Alliance and Coalition countries looked to use this newfangled machine in new ways during the war, from bombings to supplies to battles up in the sky. Military pilots became celebrated war heroes on both sides, and various countries established new aeronautic forces in addition to their army and navy. Airplanes weren’t just limited to military uses, though, as new companies offering civilian use of airplanes began to pop up left and right across Europe and North America, and while this wouldn’t fully explode in popularity for a few decades, it did set the foundation for mass air travel.
However, people’s feet at this time were firmly planted on the ground, so trains were the dominant form of inter-regional transportation in the Early 20th Century. Trains were the lifeblood of both passenger and freight transport during this time period, with industrialized countries having extensive rail networks criss-crossing their countries. That didn’t mean that the development of rail travel was complete, however, as countries and companies alike were beginning to experiment with newer, faster forms of rail travel. Both rail electrification and diesel powered locomotives were in development, some of which could travel over 100 miles per hour, opening up the possibility of high speed rail travel, especially in densely populated urban corridors in Europe, Japan and parts of the Commonwealth.
That is, if rail could withstand its newfound competition. Yes, we are indeed talking about the automobile. While the automobile had been invented in the late 19th century, it remained a luxury item for the first few decades of its existence. By the 1920s, however, the assembly process for automobiles had become cheap enough and the middle class incomes had risen high enough that buying a car was now an option for the common man. City streets that were once abound with horses were now filled with cars, and the car also opened up new development opportunities away from the rail and streetcar lines. While these new suburbs in cities like New York, Mount Royal and Chicago were still pretty tightly packed, they were different in that they weren’t directly developed around public transit lines, often filling in the space in between the existing streetcar suburbs.
With the invention and popularization of the automobile came the opportunity for new activities involving said new invention. Families with cars and disposable income started traveling in their cars. For example, the Laurentian Mountains and Adirondacks became very popular travel destinations for Mount Royalers, and New Yorkers liked going to Atlantic City and The Poconos. Another thing that was happening with the automobile was that people liked racing them. Auto racing developed soon after the automobile was invented, and was mostly done by the very wealthy, who had the money to not only buy a car, but race it. They were also mostly held on public streets, since there would be very few other cars out there (lots of pedestrians and horses, I’m sure). Races from one city to another became nearly annual traditions around the turn of the 20th Century, such as the Paris to Rome race of 1898, Paris to Seville race of 1901 and the London to Edinburgh race of 1905. However, a mixture of driver deaths and the Second Global War put an end to this early era of automobile racing.
When auto racing resumed in the Late 1910s and Early 1920s, however, things changed. Cars were now more accessible to the general public, and racing on public streets was more difficult to organize than it’d been previously. With that, more permanent auto racing courses were being set up. These courses ranged from short ovals to long, winding circuits that mimicked the roads they used to race on. For example, the Sandusty Autodrome was opened in 1920 in the golden years following the Second Global War. Modeled off of Greek and Roman Hippodromes, the track was a state of the art 2.5 Mile oval with long straights and high banked turns, perfect for pushing cars to their absolute limits when it came to speed, which was most exemplified in the track’s main event, the Ohio 500 (the track and race are basically TTL’s analogue to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy 500 respectively). Meanwhile, 24 hour endurance races were popping up in both Europe and North America, meant to test the limits of the durability and longevity of both man and machine. With race cars going faster than ever (the fastest ones going up to 200mph by the 1930s), auto racing became even more dangerous than ever, with injuries and fatalities being unfortunately common. Still, drivers kept racing despite the risk, whether they capture glory or go out in a blaze of it, and fans kept flocking to the races. So, whether it be through practical changes in travel or new entertainment opportunities, the 20th Century was shaping up to be revolutionary for transportation. This update has taken long enough, so I’m gonna put it out and wish you all a good day.

 

[Gabingston]

Probably only slightly better than Jim Crow. If that. Keep in mind that the French racial system was closer to the multilayered one that the Spanish had than the one-drop rule that English colonists (and later white Americans) had.

I think that's a fair assessment.

 

[SnolTwig]

What does the culinary scene of La Florida and the Commonwealth look like

 

[SnolTwig]

Also great chapter as always

 

[Gabingston]

What does the culinary scene of La Florida and the Commonwealth look like

Floridian cuisine would probably be world class, and one of the most famous things about the country. Commonwealth cuisine would probably be more British than OTL's U.S., but still absorbing a lot of other influences (particularly German).

 

[SnolTwig]

Floridian cuisine would probably be world class, and one of the most famous things about the country. Commonwealth cuisine would probably be more British than OTL's U.S., but still absorbing a lot of other influences (particularly German).

What types of food would they be best known for, if you know

 

[Gabingston]

What types of food would they be best known for, if you know

Probably something similar to OTL's Louisiana cuisine.