The Worlds Powderkeg - An Alternate Middle East in World War 2
Hello everyone, and welcome to my third AAR. As is to be expected, everyone seems to be pumping out AARs for the major countries - USA, UK, Japan, France, USSR, and (of course) Germany. So I decided to do something different, which you usually don't see until a few years after release time
. I'm going to be playing the Middle East. At the end of World War 1, the UK and France demanded that the Ottoman Empire surrender its lands outside of Turkey to become new colonies for the victorious western powers. But what if, instead of seeking new colonies, the allies had demanded that new nations be carved out of the once mighty Ottoman Empire? What if Syria, Lebannon, Isreal, Palestine, and Jordan, had recieved independence in 1914? Thats what this AAR is about! Before we begin the festivities, I'm going to open with a vote for which country should be played. Before I can expect you to know, however, I shall present you with a history of the region, and the situation in 1914...
History of the Middle East, circa 1918-1935
In our lords year of 1918, the guns fell silent. French, British, and American troops stood triumphant over their German, Austio-Hungarian, and Turkish foes, winning victories both in the field of battle and on the bargening table. German power was curtailed in what France hoped to be a permanent solution, Austria-Hungary ceased to exist, instead being broken up into multiple smaller countries, a fate that had also befallen the Ottomans. Both England and France had been adamant about gaining more colonies, but the Americans, wishing to oppose imperialism, had stood firm in its position in demanding that the people there be given self goverment, and the English had givin in when the American diplomat promised to support his plan for Germany if the British supported Middle Eastern independence. While the region was givin independence, its history was distincly divided into two groups - the northern countries of Syria and Lebannon, and the southern countries of Isreal, the Palestine, and Jordan.
The French had been reluctant to give independence to the countries in the north - it had seeked to create colonies out of them. Faced in a situation void of blatent imperialism, economic imperialism was adopted instead, and soon the goverment was full of men in the pocket of the French. The people there were unhappy, but what did the French care?
On Febuary 4th, 1918, drawing inspiration from the successful revolution that transformed Russia into the Soviet Union, radical marxist groups rose up against the Syrian and Lebonese goverments. The goverment's troops were illequiped, and trained even worse, while the revolutionaries recieved guns smuggled in from the Soviets, and there were unconfirmed reports of Soviet aircraft attacking goverment troops, as well as tanks assaulting goverment strongholds. Within the space of four months, both regimes had been toppled, and replaced with communist goverments who remained close with Moscow, joining what people began to dub "the comitern".
The situation in the south went very differently. This area had been designed to fall under British control, but the British adopted a hands off policy, allowing the countries to develop as they may. The creation of Isreal, a Jewish state, had stunned the world, primarilly the Jewish and Arab communities. Many Jewish families decided to move to this new state, and felt gratitude towards the UK for creating it. The goverment there created close political ties with the London, and signed an agreement bringing it into an alliance consisting of England and France in 1934, hoping that that the risk of angering the larger nations would keep the arab nations down.
Where the Jewish communities were happy to hear of the creation of an independent Jewish state, the Arab community was enraged. The countries of Jordan and the Palestine formed a close alliance - while Isreal was stronger of either of them seperatly, they could take her if they stood together. They began building up their military, preparing to crush the new state and place Jerusalum under Palestinian control. Isreal managed to stop their plans when she was brought into an alliance with England and France - either one of these countries could deal with the Arabs without breaking a sweat. However, Germany was on the rise, and jumped at the chance to see the Jewish state destroyed, bringing the Palestine and Jordan into an alliance in 1935.
As the sun rises on 1936, the region is set to explode. Now that both sides in the south have a major Europeon ally, war seems inevitable. In the north, Lebannon and Syria stand ready to answer the call of Mother Russia and join whichever side of the conflict the Soviets decree is right, and could very well end up tipping the balance. To the east, independent Iraq is controlled by a tight monarchy, but propoganda brought in from Syria has begun to stir up the populace. To the south, Arabia stands wary of protecting her own oil supplies, while an ambitious Turkey in the north has begun to talk about restablishing her empire. The Middle East could very well be the powderkeg that sets off the greatest war the world has ever known...
Information on the AAR
Obviously, I'm going to be doing a bit of modding for this AAR. I'll be giving the Palestine cores on Israli provinces, as well as giving Turkey cores on all the nations down there. I'm also going to be upping the IC/manpower/army/etc. of all the new countries, to bring them more in line with other small powers and not be as newly released puppets with 1 manpower and minimal IC. I'm also going to be adding in a few events, but those are going to remain under wraps for now. I've got to have a few surprises in here, right?
Anyways, time for voting to begin. Any of the mid-east states are selectable, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Turkey. Or, as I like to call it, the countries that I obviously put effort into comming up with a new history for (except not Lebannon. If I wanted to play Luxemburg, I'd play Luxemburg. And besides, I'm thinking of puppeting them to Syria anyways.)
Isreal (Allies - Has the greatest IC and military of the region, but is presented with multiple fronts and has dissent problems) - 0
The Palestine (Axis - Smallest selectable country, and therefore smallest IC and military of the region. Their mainly there to keep the Israli's busy on another front, and will gain all of Isreal if the axis win) - 0
Jordan (Axis - The larger of the two axis in the region, and had a medium IC and military. Could not take on Isreal 1 vs. 1, and relies on its ally Palestine to keep them occupied so they can break through the lines.) - 0
Syria (Comitern - Has a slightly larger IC than Jordan, but less than Isreal, and has the largest army, though it's mainly in militia) - 0
Author's note: Lets keep the politics out of this. I realise that Isreal is an issue of debate today. I didn't put them in the Allies, and their foes in the Axis because I want to portray the arabs as evil, but lets face it, Isreal isn't going to be signing on with Germany in World War 2, and Syria/Lebannon are closer to the USSR. Also note the screenshot at the top of the page simply has all the countries released, it has none of the military changes completed yet.
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