[Forum Game] World in Revolution: 1894

[Nax24]

The Ethiopian government wishes to express the desire to keep peaceful relations between Italy and Ethiopia. With the recent buildup of Italian settlers and soldiers in Ogaden, the Ethiopian government has grown concerned that hostilities are growing. Emperor Menelik II wishes for peace to exist in the region, and does not wish to see the two countries go back to war. The Emperor also wishes to proclaim that all rebels in Sudan fighting against the British, should they flee into Ethiopia, shall be arrested and extradited to Egypt to face British courts in deciding their fate. We do not wish to harbor rebels, a stance that would sour relations between Ethiopia and the British

 

[LatinKaiser]

((Unfortunately, I will have to resign due to a lack of interest in this game.))

 

[bakerydog]

((I'm sorry to announce so late but I must resign, I have also lost interest in the game.))

 

[Harpsichord]

((I'm happy to say I haven't lost interest in this game, and I look forward to leading Bulgaria its inevitable future.))

 

[Scrapknight]

((The future will be better tomorrow, as they say.))

 

[Bonecracker(NL)]

The Russian Empire (henceforth; Russia) and the Sublime State of Persia(Henceforth; Persia) (In combination; the parties), equally desirous to see one another’s domains on amicable terms, and the latter’s domains stable and peaceful, so that it may develop into a prosperous state for mutual benefit, have agreed as follows.

Article I: The Parties mutually reaffirm the borders that were established by previous agreements and shall make no effort to alter it without mutual agreement.

Article II: Persia acknowledges the special economic interests of Russian actors in Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan, and thus acknowledges these regions to constitute a Russian Sphere of Influence in which all Russian nationals shall be subjected to Russian law, and designated Russian companies and other economic units shall be subjected to lower rates of taxation and decreased regulation than non-designated companies and other economic units are. Furthermore, three-fifths of the taxes collected in the area is to go to the Russian treasury.

Article III: Persia concedes to Russia the right to build roads, telegraph lines, and all other modes of communication and infrastructure between the Russian frontier and a line starting from Qasr-e Shirin, passing through Isfahan, Yezd (Yazd), Kakhk, and ending at a point on the Persian frontier at the intersection of the Russian and Afghan frontiers.

Article IV: Persia acknowledges the sole right of the Russia to maintain a military naval presence on the Caspian Sea. In turn, Russia pledges to not use unlawful measures to obstruct in any way, any economical or otherwise civilian and peaceful activity on the Caspian Sea originating in Persia.

Article V: Russia shall subsidise the export of basic foodstuffs to Persia so that Persia’s costs of importing these shall not be prohibitive.

Article VI: Russia shall assist Persia in creating a new army and gendarmerie of 10,000 through training and instruction. It shall dispatch officers to assist in the command, control, and oversight of this force. Russia shall furthermore undertake to train Persian officers to assume the duties presently being carried out by Russian officers.

[X] Kimon E. Argyropoulo, Ambassador of the Russian Empire to Persia.
[ ] Representative of Mozafareddin Shah.

 

[Ranger900]

We hope that with the signing of this document, Persia can return to stability and focus toward the future once again.

[x] Mirza Mohsen Khan Moshir od-Dowleh Foreign Affairs Minister

 

[Scrapknight]

Empire of the Great Qing
Statement to the Empire of Japan on the Treaty of Shimonoseki
​

To: 伊藤博文、日本の首相と伊藤の候　(Ito Hirobumi, Prime Minister of Japan and Marquis Ito)

To the honorable Marquis Ito,

We understand that there has been concern from the Empire of Japan regarding the payment of indemnities as per the Treaty of Shimonoseki. We write to assure you that the We intend to abide by the terms of the treaty; however, as you can surely understand, domestic conditions and riots at home have made full repayment somewhat difficult. We have done Our best to send as much of the proscribed payment as is currently feasible, and will provide the remainder over the course of the coming years. We understand that this is a time of great change for the Japanese nation as well as Our own, and hope that this will mark the beginnings of a new era of brotherhood for Our two nations.

With kindest regards,

慈禧太后
Empress Cixi of the Qing Empire

 

[Mathrim]

Final Stages of the Balkan War​

Foreign debts were piling up, creditors showed their discontent and feared defaults, soldiers and urban citizens were barely fed; but statesmen and monarchs in Constantinople, Burgas, Athens and Belgrade all believed that victory was within grasp. The plight of the lower classes remained thus ignored and as spring came to the Balkans peninsula, military staffs drafted plans and men to beat the enemy once and for all.

Bankers from all major financial centres were approached by the belligerents, as they all needed funds to purchase weapons and growing amounts of food. The 1897 harvests had been bad for the coalized Balkans powers and the prospects for the 1898 ones didn’t look bright, as farmers had been conscripted. All were forced to accept high interests on their new loans; but this wasn’t considered a problem as with victory, reparations would come. All diplomatic overtures had been fruitless and the Powers of Europe didn’t seem highly by the situation in the Balkans. The war thus continued.

Over one hundred thousand Turks had been drafted from Anatolia and brought to European Turkey to protect the Sultan’s capital. The Slavs and Hellens couldn’t afford to draft more men, but the last reserves they had left behind were brought to the frontlines during winter. Skirmishes had taken place near Xanthi during the cold months but a larger battle started as soon as the weather allowed it. Turkish reserves had been brought to the area, reinforced by troops from Edirne but they hadn’t had the time to set up defences such as the ones that had made the siege of Salonika last so long. The Serbs and Greeks had learned from their mistakes and didn’t want to let the Turks focus on getting Bulgaria out of the war.

The first line of defences couldn’t withstand the Greco-Serbian assault, and the defenders of Xanthi came under attack before they could set up proper defenses. The Turks were outnumbered and perhaps for the first time since the start of the war, outgunned. They managed to keep the Serbs and Greeks at bay for six days but soon their trenches had been seized by the enemy. The town was lost and the Ottomans had to fall back towards Thrace. The Serbs and Greeks had finally reached the Thracian plains.

The Turkish attack on Burgas was proceeding well, and the Bulgarians defenders were buried under shells coming from the Ottoman artillery and their fleet. The docks were ruined and came under control of the Turks. The battered Bulgarian forces were forced to give up on the city and to retreat to their ever-shrinking territory. Varna was the next city they had to defend, and even if morale was low, there was still hope for the the Bulgarians. The Turkish supply lines were strained and the Ottoman offensive was sluggish.

The Bulgarian Prince wanted go help the poor and his people during this time of need. His presence did much to maintain the cohesion of the Bulgarian army through the various retreats​

The Turks thus found themselves in the middle of enemy territory when they learned about the Christian victory in Macedonia. The planned attack on Plovdiv had to be shelved, as the Serbian army was crossing the Rhodopes just like the Turks themselves had done one year earlier.

The Romanians, who had mobilized parts of their reserves, saw the Bulgarian defeats as both an opportunity and a risk. They sought to crossed the Danube near Silistra and to seize Southern Dobrudja, while keeping the Turks at bay. The local Bulgarian garrison was told the Romanians had come to fight the Turks on behalf of the coalition and were taking control of the region. The Bulgarians had been able to maintain order over this part of their country, and orders came from Sofia not give up on Bulgarian Dobrudja. The Romanians hadn’t expected to face resistance and when a company crossed the border and tried to enter the city, they were fired upon by the Bulgarians. After losing nearly twenty men, the Romanians fell back, not willing to go to war with Bulgaria. The Bulgarians even counter-attacked, but when they learned the Romanians didn’t mean to fight them, they halted. A dozen Romanian villages on the Bulgarian bank of the Danube had come under control of the Bulgarians to keep the Romanians from crossing the river effortlessly; but the Slavs didn’t go further than the ruins of Sacidava. The Romanians were torn, as some wanted to fight for Dobrudja, others refused to side with the heathen Turks but all viewed the Silistra incident as a shame for the country.

The army that was supposed to strike at Plovdiv instead prepared to meet the Serbians near Haskovo. They were facing difficult odds, but the Turks had managed to repel the coalition on many occasions and if they couldn’t be stopped in Haskovo, then Bulgaria would be a lost battle. The Ottomans steeled themselves and fought bitterly to protect the land they had painfully conquerred. The Serbians were told that this victory would pave the way for peace, and that the last Turkish hopes of victory had to be squashed to bring them to negotiate and acknowledge their losses.

On both sides, shells were harder to come by, and staffs instead tried to overcome their opponents through manoeuvre. For two day the Turks held before they were forced to give up the city. The battle could have been won had they enjoyed the same artillery domination as in the early days of the war but much of their heavy guns had been lost at Saloniki and there was little they could do to prevail over the Serbians, who had such a large numerical superiority. The bulk of the Turkish gains had to be abandoned now that the had been broken, and the Bulgarian army was able to take back most of their homeland. Parts of the country were freed by the Serbians and they were generally welcomed, but a few incidents broke out between soldiers and Bulgarian nationalists. Some Bulgarians were angry at the Serbians and Greeks who had let them fight alone for over a year and the treatment of Bulgarians in Serbian-occupied Macedonia made relations even more tense with the population.

Serbian soldiers after the battle of Haskovo​

The Serbian army had just entered Bulgaria that it was followed by droves of Bulgarians who had been forced to flee Macedonia by the Serbians. Bulgarian priests formed the bulk of the expellees as the Belgrade Metropolitan was replacing them with Serbians. The few BMRO members who had tried to cooperate with the Serbians were sent to Bulgaria as well. The ones who had refused to get disarmed took advantage of the fact that the Serbian troops had been sent east to relaunch their actions against the Serbian occupiers. They gained popularity among the people, who were outraged by the expulsion of their priests. Slavs who identified as Serbians were the primary target of the BMRO and one small village was torched to the ground by the Bulgarian revolutionaries. Several newly appointed priests were shot as well, but the BMRO failed to take proper control of cities, as they had retained garrisons. Pacifying the region would be difficult for the Serbians but unless they were directly helped by the Bulgarians, the BMRO members would struggle to truly challenge Serbian rule of the region.

Right as the Turks were departing from Bulgaria, the Greeks launched an attack against Adrianople, the last Turkish line of defence before Constantinople. Their offensive ran out of steam after mere days and they were even pushed back by a daring Turkish counter-attack. One year after the beginning of the war, the Ottomans had been pushed out of most of European Turkey, but their defences hadn’t been fully broken. They would have to come to terms, for the war was far too costly for them and had been an undeniable loss. But perhaps skillful diplomacy would help them keep pieces of their empire, and the rifts between the coalition members would probably serve them.

The Greek failure at Adrianople also spelled the doom of the coalition hopes that a crushing victory could be attained. They war was won for sure, but Bulgaria laid in ruins, and from Burgas to Alexandropouli the Turks still held their positions. In Macedonia and Albania, Greeks and Serbians were targeted by the locals and the fragile economies of the region might collapse if they had to shoulder another year of struggle. The time to negotiate had come.


Troops

Greece: 164.000 Total losses: 17k
Serbia: 144000 Salonika Total losses: 11k
Bulgaria: 82.000 Total losses: 9k
Turkey: 239.000 Total losses: 36k

 

[DeMarchese]

((Good Lord... this is a massacre))

 

[AzagalTheGreat]

((Good Lord... this is a massacre))

((War, War Never Changes...It will always be this bloody.))

 

[Bonecracker(NL)]

​

The Imperial Russian Government is extremely perturbed by the scale of the continued violence on the Balkans and calls for a ceasefire in the region. It also finds that it is the Christian duty of the Empire to facilitate peace talks, or at least assist in setting these up. As such, we offer to host peace talks between the warring parties and to mediate between them. We hope for a positive response, even if our offers are rejected.

----

Armenian Regiment receives standard
Independent regiment, stationed in Kars oblast, to be focused on maintaining public order and logistical duties​

His Imperial Majesty the Tsar will today present the standard of the 704th regiment in Yerevan in a short ceremony. The independent regiment was born out of suggestions to experiment with a homogenous unit to improve cohesiveness in units stationed in peripheral parts of the empire. As there naturally are risks involved in stationing homogenous units in their native areas, the 704th is not a combat regiment, instead tasked with managing, overseeing, and guarding the logistical operations in the South-West of the Caucasus Military District.

 

[Arrowfiend]

Spoiler: Private Communique to U.S. President William McKinley from Peru-Bolivian President Andrés Avelino Cáceres

I would like to thank you for your aid to my country. We surely would perish soon had you not generously given the supplies to us. However, as you are well aware, an American merchant liner was destroyed outside the port of Talara. I am sure that your people are outraged, and I urge you to ask your Congress to declare war on Chile and Argentina. They have breached the Confederation's national sovereignty and seek to partition us like carrion to vultures. Brazil does likewise, even though they have not formally declared war on us. At this moment, we are unable to do anything as going to war with Brazil would open an entire new front that we would inevitably lose. Instead, I ask that you call upon the international community to denounce Brazil's actions. While I will most definitely do so myself, you and your great country's words will have far power and influence than mine. In the meantime, I have dispatched Vice-President Mariano Baptista Caserta as well as an escort of diplomats to Washington D.C. to aid in any further negotiations between our two countries.

 

[Noco19]

​

Kingdom of Serbia​

Kraljevina Srbija​

​

With the cooperation of our Balkan allies, the Turk is crippled, just as we knew it would under our righteous cause. But now the time for war is over; it is time for the Ottoman Sultan to recognize the realities of this conflict and sit down with representatives from Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece to rectify the issues that began this struggle. From the very beginning, Serbia welcomed peace, but only proper peace, peace which resolves the legitimate grieviances levied against the Ottoman Empire and betters the political shape of the Balkans. We refused peace only when the Sublime Porte made clear that only their terms would be enforced, and the oppressed peoples within their rule would continue to suffer if not actively freed.

Thus, the Kingdom of Serbia accepts the generosity of Russia, and calls upon its allies and the Ottoman Empire to initiate talks of peace and settlement while also declaring a joint ceasefire.

- King Aleksandr of Serbia

 

[Revan529]

دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه
دولت ابد مدت
Hamidiye Marşı​

His Imperial Majesty rejects this notion from the Serbian “King” that the Sublime Porte is crippled or in any way incapable of maintaining the war effort; however, this was not a war of the Porte’s choosing, and throughout this heinous ordeal, the Porte has opted only to maintain control over its rightful territories, as is right and proper for all great nations and powers – as the opportunity for a ceasefire and the end of this needless war arises, His Imperial Majesty hopes greatly that peace will be made. However, the Porte has not lost this war, nor will any treaty be made wherein the key point is such be made. To this end, His Imperial Majesty rejects this proposal from the Russian Empire, as they have proven time and time again to be an opponent of the Porte and her Interests – to that end, we ask the neutral powers of the West, the Republic of France and the United Kingdom, to be the key brokers of any such peace agreement.

Furthermore, this notion that the subject peoples of the Porte are unfree, or would perhaps be freer under a Serbian banner, or a Greek, or a Bulgarian, or what have you, is simple foolishness.

Lastly, this conflict is placed not from “legitimate raised” by these small powers against the Porte, for they are, on a whole, without legitimacy – they are simply petty justifications for the belligerency and expansionism prevalent amongst these states, as well as an undue hatred for the Porte.

His Imperial will however accept a ceasefire with any and all belligerent powers, and will maintain this position until such a time that proper accords can be made to end this conflict, brought about by the ambitious Balkan Powers, is had.

​

His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful

 

[Harpsichord]

Knyaz Ferdinand calls upon the leading powers of Europe to come together and establish a proper framework for the development of the Balkan people. This silence by the greater powers can go on no longer. Bulgaria and its people did not seek war, but were driven to it by the muteness of the Porte; Bulgaria could not sit idly by while its countrymen were abused by the Turk. Sadly it is clear that conflict has solved nothing. The people of Macedonia are as enslaved as ever, and thus I insist that the minister of Europe come together to establish a proper and fair settlement. Here I refer to the fact that while Bulgaria marched to war to support the autonomy of its fellow Slavs, it's co-combatants have rather sought to emulate the abuses of the Porte than to solve them. While my people bled holding back the Turkish armies, supposed friends have illegally expelled local priests and notables in areas under their occupation; the comparison with the previous actions of the Porte should be self-evident.

I can not sit idly by and see one tyranny replaced with another. As I always have and always will, I call for the Slavic people of Macedonia to be given their autonomy, and the opportunity to choose their own destiny.

 

[Noco19]

Kingdom of Serbia​

Kraljevina Srbija​

Knyaz Ferdinand would be wise to remember that it was Bulgarians AND Serbians who freed the Bulgarian homeland from the Turkish aggressors. Sending the vast bulk of the Serbian Army to help defend Bulgarian lives and lands, many Serbs died to help restore what was occupied by the Turk, and to forget this does a great disservice to the Slavic heroes of this war.

While the Turkish offensive into Bulgaria, and the damage brought by it, is tragic, to cast blame and insults at the Serbian Kingdom is crass, especially when we should act as brothers during this time, not as enemies. To think that Serbia allowed Bulgarian pain is ridiculous. In the opening of hostilities, it was Serbian forces who attempted to cooperate with Bulgarians in removing the Turks from Macedonia. And while the Turk fought in Bulgaria, Serbia was forced to aid our Greek allies in opening the heart of the Ottomans to better assist the defeat of the Turk and force them to abandon their attacks in Bulgaria. However, the Turkish ferocity and single-mindedness towards Bulgarian destruction was not anticipated, but Serbia nonetheless responded as swiftly as possible in aiding our Bulgarian allies.

Such facts are apparently forgotten, instead replaced by fantastical tales laid over the truth, both regarding the war and regarding the safeguarding of the Macedonian region from Turkish action and internal terror acts. Still, I continue to hold the Bulgarians in high esteem for their bravery and fighting spirit, and I do not hold Ferdinand's misguided words against this noble nation.

May our relations improve as we work together in the coming days for peace talks.

Regarding other matters, the Serbian Kingdom holds that peace must be found, somehow through some arbitrating Power. Beyond Russia, very little has indeed been heard by the European Powers, which must change. Furthermore, should all involved nations accept, Serbia shall follow a ceasefire to promote peace.

- King Aleksandr of Serbia