In about a week or two. I got some more stuff to set up, but it won't take much longer than that.
Will do!
For those of you not on IRC, the queue for country profiles is:
Spain
UK
Manchuria
France
Brazil
Then map, then stats, then go time!
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In about a week or two. I got some more stuff to set up, but it won't take much longer than that.
Will do!
For those of you not on IRC, the queue for country profiles is:
Spain
UK
Manchuria
France
Brazil
Then map, then stats, then go time!
OSS WORLD FACTBOOK
COUNTRY PROFILE: SPANISH STATE
COUNTRY PROFILE: SPANISH STATE
Official Name: Estado Español
Short Form: Spain
Capital: Madrid
Caudillo: Torcuato Fernandez-Miranda
Government: Single-party fascist state under the Spanish Falange (de jure), military dictatorship (de facto)
The origins of modern Spain can be traced to the Spanish Civil War of 1936, when nationalist generals under Francisco Franco revolted against the Republican government. While the Axis powers sent aid to the Nationalist government, Germany was most interested in testing prototype weaponry that would later go on to cement its advantage in the early stages of the war. While the more advanced and far-out wunderwaffen were held back, basic German Wulf-class tower mecha were deployed in the siege of Zaragoza, helping to cause the surrender of the Republican garrison. Franco was eventually proclaimed Chief of State of Spain, Prime Minister and a host of other titles when the last of the Republican forces surrendered in 1939. Considering his precarious international position, and taking heed of Hitler’s use of Mussolini as a proxy for German interests, Franco attempted to tread a path of careful neutrality. Spain would only formally join the Axis powers in 1942, a full year after the occupation of France.
The ceasefire and subsequent German Civil War were a godsend for Franco, as it relieved his regime of a need to toe the line between Axis Europe and Free Europe. The new Germany was more concerned with managing its Eastern European conquests than enforcing fascist orthodoxy across Europe, and Franco willingly traded German naval bases for a degree of foreign policy independence from Berlin. Spain would focus its development efforts on its Moroccan protectorate, clinging to propaganda that “the Spanish Empire is far from dead.” While fascist on paper, Spain quickly began to resemble a standard nationalist autocracy, as a Falange ever more viciously divided between monarchists and republicans forced Franco to increasingly rule by decree and force of the Spanish army. Spain’s nadir would come in 1955, when the French withdrew from their portions of Morocco, and the Spanish organized a “Kingdom of Morocco” that was de jure independent but de facto remained a Spanish protectorate, with Spain retaining generous concessions around Melila and the Strait of Gibraltar. Franco and the Falange had dreams of using their now-assured control of the gates of the Mediterranean to make a fortune on shipping, along with using allegedly independent Morocco to create a real Spanish sphere of influence and end Spain’s dependence on the Italians and Germans. The promised fortune never came, but the future looked bright.
The bright future may have blinded many elements in the Spanish military, because in 1959 the Spanish government began to make noises about retaking Gibraltar from British control. Long a blemish on the supposedly beaming face of Spanish nationalism, Franco believed a show of force could force the British to relent. He was sure Italian support would be forthcoming, and massed troops around the Rock in September 1959, giving the British garrison 72 hours to surrender and turn the land over to Spain. Franco assumed that his bluster would give him a leg up. He was wrong. British naval assets in Malta rushed to break the Spanish blockade of the Rock. For a while, an exchange of shots seemed inevitable, but eventually the Spanish backed down when a British super-heavy battleship appeared, the HMS Winston Churchill, to threaten to send the entire Spanish squadron to the bottom of the sea. The British, already on a war footing to sustain operations in Argentina, were in no mood to have any more pieces of the Empire wrested from them. The year passed without war, but Franco’s gaffe cost the Falange a great deal of public credibility.
Throughout the fall and winter of 1960, the floundering of the government over the Gibraltar issue prompted many to question the Francoist regime. Spontaneous liberal demonstrations cropped up in Barcelona and Salamanca, among other cities, aided my monarchist groups demanding Franco surrender his position as Chief of State to an actual monarch. While the UN contemplated intervening in support of the riots, Germany reacted faster, mobilizing its void bomb-equipped air force and airdropping mecha in to aid the Francoist regime. The so-called “Madrid Spring” was crushed by German arms almost as quickly as it began, and the Falange was kept in power - at the cost of wiping out many potential foreign investors and sending Spain into the beginning of an increasingly repressive decline from which it would never truly recover.
The 60s and early 70s were characterized by two things: economic decline and a crisis of confidence. The Franco regime wasn’t loved by anybody, but nobody could come up with a better alternative. The monarchists disliked his unwillingness to anger the republicans by restoring the Kingdom, while the republicans disliked his humoring of the monarchists by adopting “Regent for the Spanish Throne” as one of his titles. The Falange demanded he raise the party supreme over the army, while the military demanded the opposite. Franco had cleverly balanced these opposing forces to stay in power, which truthfully was the best accomplishment he could put to his name. He passed away in 1974, having left behind a collapsing economy, frail military and unresolved constitutional issues.
The next Chief of State, Luis Carrero Blanco, was less adept at riding the fence than Franco, and was forced to pick a benefactor. As in Germany decades earlier, Blanco would side with the military over the party, reserving a quarter of the Cortes for military officers and significantly curbing the powers of the Falange in deciding policy. In 1978, the Spanish army would defend the puppet Sultan from an ultranationalist coup, which would boost national pride. Even so, Spain was already being called “the sick man of Europe.” Its economy was in shambles, having little foreign investment it desperately needed and having what major businesses it did have undercut by German and Italian firms. Blanco and Franco, both autarkists at heart, did little to try and solve the problem. Spain was quickly becoming the poorest country in Europe west of Poland, as the Caudillos seemed unable to provide relief.
Spain’s third Caudillo, Torcuato Fernandez-Miranda, is presiding over a decaying state. Spain has a massive youth unemployment rate, a GDP per capita barely higher than Brazil’s, and little in the way of new ideas to combat them. The only reason that the unrest in Italy has not spread to Spain yet is that the Spanish population, frankly, lacks hope. Things have been bad for years, and there is little hope for the sleepy near-military dictatorship to change. Yet despite its sleepy reputation, monarchists and militarists argue over the country’s future. Change may yet be in the air in Iberia...
((Hey, for all of you interested, this is still on! I've just had some IRL stuff to sort out, but the last four country profiles are back on track. We should be able to do sign-ups by midway through next week. Thanks for all your patience!))
((As thanks, I've linked all the country profiles into the main page, as I had been requested to do.))
((As thanks, I've linked all the country profiles into the main page, as I had been requested to do.))
((While you guys are waiting on the UK, have a preliminary map!))
Of note:
- US territory of Greenland, potentially the 53rd state
- Britain has managed to keep some parts of the empire ruled from Westminster, notably Malta, Guyana, the Bahamas, Belize and Newfoundland/Labrador
- They miss the Falklands, though; damn Americans couldn't stop the Peronistas
- Greater Germany, perhaps a bit overstretched
- The Polish National Republic: the armpit of Eastern Europe, and that's saying a lot
- Very marginally less nasty German protectorates throughout Eastern Europe, and Italian ones in the Balkans
- Mussolini gobbled up quite a bit of the Adriatic coast, didn't he?
- Spain's "concession" around Melila
- Italian Libya, the "world's last colony" (the Belize Independence Party would disagree, but they're taken about as seriously as the Parti Quebecois)
- Israel will give Egypt the Sinai back from its cold, dead hands
- Germany: No, we have no idea how all those assault destroyers ended up in South Africa's hands, that's a stupid question, go away
- USSR: Missing a few pieces, but still kicking
- India: Large and in charge. Sure would like Sri Lanka, though
- Thailand: Yeah, nationalism sure is great! Please point the tanks somewhere else, Netaji
- Mongolia: The USSR's lackeys...er, I mean fraternal socialist brethren, yeah, that's it
- Manchuria: The feudal bleeding sore of East Asia
- Korea: The Manchurians may be crazy, but at least dumb American tourists aren't getting blown up at the 38th parallel
- Japan: Pacifist, prosperous, and we swear if China demands one more referendum on Taiwan we're going to write them a strongly worded letter
- Australia: The Belize Independence Party has nothing on the Free New Guinea Movement. Sydney's procrastinating on that referendum is kind of embarrassing the UN
To do:
- Add in the Free State of Antioquia in Colombia: think Rapture run by Pablo Escobar
- Clean up African borders to reduce resemblance to OTL
- Edit the Middle East, potentially adding a United Arab Republic somewhere
- Probably reduce Italy's Adriatic holdings
- Clean up eastern Europe, mainly making a prettier German border and shrinking / splitting Ukraine and Romania
- Suggestions from you guys
Of note:
- US territory of Greenland, potentially the 53rd state
- Britain has managed to keep some parts of the empire ruled from Westminster, notably Malta, Guyana, the Bahamas, Belize and Newfoundland/Labrador
- They miss the Falklands, though; damn Americans couldn't stop the Peronistas
- Greater Germany, perhaps a bit overstretched
- The Polish National Republic: the armpit of Eastern Europe, and that's saying a lot
- Very marginally less nasty German protectorates throughout Eastern Europe, and Italian ones in the Balkans
- Mussolini gobbled up quite a bit of the Adriatic coast, didn't he?
- Spain's "concession" around Melila
- Italian Libya, the "world's last colony" (the Belize Independence Party would disagree, but they're taken about as seriously as the Parti Quebecois)
- Israel will give Egypt the Sinai back from its cold, dead hands
- Germany: No, we have no idea how all those assault destroyers ended up in South Africa's hands, that's a stupid question, go away
- USSR: Missing a few pieces, but still kicking
- India: Large and in charge. Sure would like Sri Lanka, though
- Thailand: Yeah, nationalism sure is great! Please point the tanks somewhere else, Netaji
- Mongolia: The USSR's lackeys...er, I mean fraternal socialist brethren, yeah, that's it
- Manchuria: The feudal bleeding sore of East Asia
- Korea: The Manchurians may be crazy, but at least dumb American tourists aren't getting blown up at the 38th parallel
- Japan: Pacifist, prosperous, and we swear if China demands one more referendum on Taiwan we're going to write them a strongly worded letter
- Australia: The Belize Independence Party has nothing on the Free New Guinea Movement. Sydney's procrastinating on that referendum is kind of embarrassing the UN
To do:
- Add in the Free State of Antioquia in Colombia: think Rapture run by Pablo Escobar
- Clean up African borders to reduce resemblance to OTL
- Edit the Middle East, potentially adding a United Arab Republic somewhere
- Probably reduce Italy's Adriatic holdings
- Clean up eastern Europe, mainly making a prettier German border and shrinking / splitting Ukraine and Romania
- Suggestions from you guys
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For making Africa less like otl, you could glom Sudan onto fascist Egypt. Then the south could be in a perpetual state of unrest as per otl. Rwanda and Burundi maybe get bundled together and have a slightly less sad history?
DRoCongo could be split up, as nearly happened iirc, and Nigeria as well. Megasouthafrica could have steamrolled mineral rich Botswana, if the UN didn't strongly step in. To make the map look even less like ours, and reduce the number of countries you need to keep track of, you could have the British and French each clumping into federations.
Depending on the backstory, Jordan could be part of Arabia or Iraq or even Syria, if the Hashemites wound up keeping any of the respective crowns. Since I've been told Egypt is fascist having one of Syria, Iraq, and Arabia be democratic, one socialist, and one 'other' (theocracy, anarcho-syndicatialist commune, what have you) could create a fun! dynamic.
DRoCongo could be split up, as nearly happened iirc, and Nigeria as well. Megasouthafrica could have steamrolled mineral rich Botswana, if the UN didn't strongly step in. To make the map look even less like ours, and reduce the number of countries you need to keep track of, you could have the British and French each clumping into federations.
Depending on the backstory, Jordan could be part of Arabia or Iraq or even Syria, if the Hashemites wound up keeping any of the respective crowns. Since I've been told Egypt is fascist having one of Syria, Iraq, and Arabia be democratic, one socialist, and one 'other' (theocracy, anarcho-syndicatialist commune, what have you) could create a fun! dynamic.
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How does the British Commonwealth look ? What countries still maintain Elisabeth II as a crowned head ? Does Canada have the Maple leaf or the old dominion flag ?
What about a union of Somalia and Ethiopia? That would be a fun balance to fascist Egypt. Not to mention that if Egypt holds christian South Sudan, while Ethiopia holds Muslim Somalia, it creates a tinderbox in the region! How exciting!
Oh, and I would create a Central American Union of some sort, as well as maybe fold a few of the Gulf states into Saudi Arabia?
Oh, and I would create a Central American Union of some sort, as well as maybe fold a few of the Gulf states into Saudi Arabia?
I'm thinking I'm going to use some of this. I thought about split Nigeria, but decided a united one would be a more interesting player in the Non-Aligned Movement (which is almost entirely an African thing TTL; Indonesia, New Zealand and a lot of smaller Caribbean and Latin American countries are either members or pay it lip service.) I thought of a few more changes myself.
I may split the Congo if I can find a good map.
South Africa does own Botswana, and the occupation of it isn't pretty. South Africa isn't directly in the Axis, but they still keep the UN out of the region and that's good enough for the Germans. Angola, Rhodesia and Mozambique are all very, very nasty apartheid states that are about as progressive on race as Germany, if not worse, and South Africa uses them to bully countries it doesn't want to be caught interfering with itself. Zambia, under the rule of a nationalist but pragmatic President-for-life, plays along with the South African gang to avoid getting trodden on. Malawi is a very, very, very paranoid country, but they haven't been conquered yet, so they must be doing something right.
Tanzania broke back up after a few years, and Zanzibar is both pretty prosperous and one of the few genuine democracies in Africa.
The Federal Republic of Senegambia is a thing and is doing just fine, thank you.
The Central African Empire is run by Bokassa I, who is getting on years, but has a lot more military success to back up his claim to being Napoleon's successor. He was armed by the British and French early on as one of the few African rulers willing to take an explicitly anti-Axis line in the mid-70s, but lately has tried to strengthen the Non-Aligned Movement. He managed to conquer Chad and later Cameroon as they fell into civil war, and is getting ready to pass the throne to his son. Central Africa is pretty well developed, considering, and is the biggest sub-Saharan African power after South Africa and Ethiopia.
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Each Middle East / North African state from Morocco to Iraq is under its own kind of nationalist government, all in the Axis but all pretty opposed to each other and willing to fight:
- Morocco is a Spanish puppet whose Sultan spends as much time in Madrid as he does in Rabat, and he even has his own Moroccan Falange.
- Algeria is an orthodox fascist state with an utter hatred of the French. Very enthusiastic German allies, and have nasty race laws against the Tuareg population.
- Tunisia's "nationalist" government is a joke, with its Presidents willingly selling out their country to Italian interests for a hefty sum. Basically an appendage of the Italian empire.
- Egypt's authoritarian but pro-UN monarchy was deposed just before the Suez Crisis. The local fascists are Egyptian nationalists, not pan-Arabists, which infuriates the Syrians.
- Israel and Lebanon are very paranoid but free UN-aligned democracies. Considering the Egyptian government, they won't give up the Sinai in a million years.
- The Kingdom of Arabia is an absolute monarchy, like OTL Saudi Arabia but less aggressively religious. They don't like the Germans, but they pay better.
- Yemen and Oman are dictatorships without much in the way of ideology that have bounced around between the UN and Axis camps over the decades.
- Syria...er, excuse me, the United Arab Republic, owns Jordan. The Arab pan-nationalists in the Arab Party are frustrated with the rest of the region's hesitance to get on board, but anyone seeing how the Syrians run Jordan wouldn't be very enthusiastic.
- Iraq is run by the Ba'athist Party, also Arab pan-national fascists but with some quasi-socialist tinges; the Strasser to Syria's Hitler. Mainly, they just think they should lead the Arab project instead of the Syrians. They fight constantly, and Syria usually wins.
I don't have a complete list of Commonwealth countries, but Newfoundland, Belize, the Bahamas and Malta all have devolved parliaments on the Northern Irish model. Other than OTL, Sri Lanka and Malaysia are Commonwealth realms. Canada flies the Maple Leaf, and since the British worked pretty hard at keeping Newfoundland are actually less friendly with them than OTL. They aren't a republic (yet), but republicans have been getting farther and farther in the Liberal Party.
Here's a (mostly) final map. This is still subject to change but should be pretty close.
New features:
- British Guyana isn't a thing anymore. That was just too much
- The Free State of Antioquia, where everything has a price, including you. And cocaine. Especially cocaine
- The Baltic Union State, spun off by the Germans in 1958 when Germanization policies were becoming too costly and it was realized a land border with the USSR wasn't a good thing
- Albania, a peculiar sort of puppet state. The King of Italy is also King of Albania, but the country is run by its own domestic fascist party and military. Still kowtows to Rome.
- Romania's Iron Guard made noises in 1971 about leaving the Axis. Big mistake. Germany and Hungary rolled in the tanks, and Hungary took the rest of Transylvania for its trouble.
- Serbia was given what was called "Slavic Macedonia" in the postwar era for being a good Italian toady.
- The Ukranians actually were somewhat thankful to be free of Russian rule, and while the Nazis did them no favors the military government let them have more control over their own economy than any of the other Slavic puppets. Still a lousy place to be, but any Ruthenian would give their left leg for a chance to escape to Ukraine.
- The United Arab Republic, aka Syria and the Southern Provinces.
- Fascist Egypt has given new meaning to "Upper and Lower Egypt."
- Spain got a pretty good settlement out of their Moroccan puppet sultan.
- Senegambia, not only democratic but maybe 20 years away from the First World.
- Kneel before the Napoleon of Africa, Jean-Bedel Bokassa!
- The (actually) Democratic Republic of the Congo has had a run of bad luck. First the South Africans armed Katangan rebels, then South Kasai went as well. Poor, but a big part of the Non-Aligned Movement.
- Rwanda-Urundi is a stable dictatorship, and 100% genocide-free.
- Zanzibar, along with Senegambia, Malawi, Gabon, Liberia and the DRC are Africa's only real democracies.
- Singapore has a less British color now.
- The Free State of West Paupa is famous for its legendary brawls in the House of Representatives.
New features:
- British Guyana isn't a thing anymore. That was just too much
- The Free State of Antioquia, where everything has a price, including you. And cocaine. Especially cocaine
- The Baltic Union State, spun off by the Germans in 1958 when Germanization policies were becoming too costly and it was realized a land border with the USSR wasn't a good thing
- Albania, a peculiar sort of puppet state. The King of Italy is also King of Albania, but the country is run by its own domestic fascist party and military. Still kowtows to Rome.
- Romania's Iron Guard made noises in 1971 about leaving the Axis. Big mistake. Germany and Hungary rolled in the tanks, and Hungary took the rest of Transylvania for its trouble.
- Serbia was given what was called "Slavic Macedonia" in the postwar era for being a good Italian toady.
- The Ukranians actually were somewhat thankful to be free of Russian rule, and while the Nazis did them no favors the military government let them have more control over their own economy than any of the other Slavic puppets. Still a lousy place to be, but any Ruthenian would give their left leg for a chance to escape to Ukraine.
- The United Arab Republic, aka Syria and the Southern Provinces.
- Fascist Egypt has given new meaning to "Upper and Lower Egypt."
- Spain got a pretty good settlement out of their Moroccan puppet sultan.
- Senegambia, not only democratic but maybe 20 years away from the First World.
- Kneel before the Napoleon of Africa, Jean-Bedel Bokassa!
- The (actually) Democratic Republic of the Congo has had a run of bad luck. First the South Africans armed Katangan rebels, then South Kasai went as well. Poor, but a big part of the Non-Aligned Movement.
- Rwanda-Urundi is a stable dictatorship, and 100% genocide-free.
- Zanzibar, along with Senegambia, Malawi, Gabon, Liberia and the DRC are Africa's only real democracies.
- Singapore has a less British color now.
- The Free State of West Paupa is famous for its legendary brawls in the House of Representatives.
Opposite, IMHO, the Ogaden region should go to Somalia.
http://www.sudantribune.com/local/cache-vignettes/L342xH291/ogaden_region_map-253bc.jpg
Historically, the British wanted this region to be part of Somalia post WWII, and offered to buy out Ethiopia's rights to the territory, but Selassie insisted and it stayed attached. In this time line, rather than be liberated and occupied by the British it would have been wrested away from Italians by local rebels, who wouldn't have cared about treaties between the Emperor and the UK from before the war. Extra fun if the Somali rebels were more Russian-backed and thus not amenable to Monarchy.
On that note, could I put forward some suggestions regarding Ethiopia? It'd be a bit meta, but most of these don't directly help in game terms.
*It's a federalized, constitutional monarchy. The Emperor was obliged to give up most of his power (something the historical HS wouldn't have done, but another few decades of exile might have made him more open to the idea), but is still at least nominal Commander in Chief (soldiers and civil servants swear allegiance to the Empire though), has control over a substantial amount of money in the 'crown charities', including most of the social safety net, and has the authority to appoint and dismiss judges and other high level civil servants (subject to vetos by 2/3rds of the assembly). There's an upper house body of the titled aristocracy, but its authority is limited to that sphere. Succession laws, for example. There's been massive land reform (thanks to periods of Imperial Socialist Party success at the polls) and these days the upper class has transformed. Much of the economy is now dominated by quasi-feudal corporate conglomerates, much like the old japanese Zaibatsu
Ah, but what if instead, HS becomes a unifying factor for the region, bringing the area together under the shared cause of liberation from Italy? Pan-Arabism is a more influential ideology in this timeline, so in a way it makes sense that Pan-Africanism would be used to counter it.
Historically, Italy propped up the myriad of Muslim ethnic groups who had been subjected to slavery under the Amhara Orthodox. These groups got more autonomy and what not, and Italy had the backing of Somali and Eritrean groups when they invaded Ethiopia, alongside some other internal Muslim groups who defected early.
If Italy were to hold this land for much longer, I could see these groups becoming accustomed to being in charge of their regions and to the Amhara being kicked out of power, not to mention that Italy would have probably earned the loyalty of various chiefs and strongmen.
This could make a restored Ethiopia have very interesting dynamics.
If Italy were to hold this land for much longer, I could see these groups becoming accustomed to being in charge of their regions and to the Amhara being kicked out of power, not to mention that Italy would have probably earned the loyalty of various chiefs and strongmen.
This could make a restored Ethiopia have very interesting dynamics.
oh joy
OK, here's what I'ma say about Ethiopia:
- The Emperor has a lot of power, but he is closer to a 19th-century German Kaiser than a genuine absolute monarch. He has more power than Deagh has described, including a veto that is practically impossible to override, but it's pretty hard for him to actually get much done without cooperating with the Parliament. Interestingly, supposedly to appease his Muslim subjects, the House of Lords (which includes both Muslim and Christian nobility) also has a lot of power compared to its English equivalent, whereas the (Christian-dominated) House of Commons can be and is quite frequently overridden.
- There have been token attempts at land reform and federalism, but the Christians say it's too much and the Muslims say it's not enough. The Muslim nobility is pretty happy, but the man on the street is definitely not. They definitely are not nostalgic for Italy, but increasingly Selassie is seen to many of them as not so different. Riots and protests are commonplace, and even the Emperor is pondering making some tough decisions. Brewing Eritrian nationalism isn't helping, either.
- The idea of Ethiopian zaibatsu is pretty lulzy / awesome, so I'm gonna say that's canon. Addis Ababa has some gorgeous Deco skyscrapers from which the businessmen plot and scheme.
And on (sub-Saharan) Africa as a whole:
- Its overall fate is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's generally a lot more stable, and has at least three economies that are close to First World status in Senegambia, Ethiopia and South Africa. (Central Africa and Zanzibar aren't quite there yet, but they're much better off than OTL.) On the other, that stability comes at the price of a larger number of autocratic regimes and a few truly nasty ones (Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia, and yes, South Africa. Central Africa is pretty nasty in its own right, but the Emperor is usually too busy reveling in military glory or being insane to focus on doing anything really evil most of the time. He's the subject of a lot of the same kind of "loony enough to do anything" humor that the Kim family provides OTL, but in fairness, Bokasa actually *did* have his uncle executed by dogs TTL.) It depends on where exactly you live, overall.
- Ethiopia annexing Somalia and Pan-Africanism overall: Nobody in Addis Ababa wants a few hundred thousand more Muslim subjects when they can barely handle the ones they've got. Pan-Africanism has its proponents, particularly in the DR Congo, but as OTL it is more a vague idea than a genuine political force. It's true Pan-Arabism is a real thing here, but that's because a) the Middle East has a lot of genuinely fascist governments that would endorse that kind of thing, whereas Africa has a lot more of various stripes of nationalists and b) Arabs are much closer to being a united cultural and ethnic group than Africans as a whole are. There's a Congress for African Unity, a multinational body similar to our African Union but with less power, that pretty much overlaps with the Non-Aligned Movement and thus doesn't get a whole lot done. The Non-Aligned Movement counts almost all of non-apartheid sub-Saharan Africa as members, but bickers too much amongst itself and the rest of the world to get much of value done in the economic or security realms. The most powerful supernational African organization in terms of hard power is actually La Francophonie, which is a talking club for France and its former colonies. With the Congress for African Unity being pretty toothless and the Non-Aligned Movement not being very into the peacekeeping business, France and the more powerful countries in the Francophonie (Senegambia, the Congos, Cote d'Ivorie, etc) have stepped up in that regard.
- Before you ask, yes, there are Commonwealth members in Africa too. They aren't a big player in Africa, and in fact the British got out as fast as they could after the fall of India so they could focus on securing what they had and making it their own. The most significant non-OTL members are Malaysia and Sri Lanka, both Dominions if pretty shakily loyal ones. (Singapore had similar issues with the Dominion of Malaya as OTL and is an independent republic.)
- On a more meta level, I didn't want to encourage giant meaningless blobs, which happens depressingly often in AH in general and to Africa in particular. Africa isn't a single country, and I wanted to reflect that. Super Bokassa is pushing it as is. (That said, he could be a fun guy to play as if you want action.)
I'm going to close lore questions for a little bit so I can actually write the UK. After that is France, then Brazil, then stat formulas and GP stats. Once all that's done, I'll open signups, make stats for the minor powers I select, and we'll get started!
OK, here's what I'ma say about Ethiopia:
- The Emperor has a lot of power, but he is closer to a 19th-century German Kaiser than a genuine absolute monarch. He has more power than Deagh has described, including a veto that is practically impossible to override, but it's pretty hard for him to actually get much done without cooperating with the Parliament. Interestingly, supposedly to appease his Muslim subjects, the House of Lords (which includes both Muslim and Christian nobility) also has a lot of power compared to its English equivalent, whereas the (Christian-dominated) House of Commons can be and is quite frequently overridden.
- There have been token attempts at land reform and federalism, but the Christians say it's too much and the Muslims say it's not enough. The Muslim nobility is pretty happy, but the man on the street is definitely not. They definitely are not nostalgic for Italy, but increasingly Selassie is seen to many of them as not so different. Riots and protests are commonplace, and even the Emperor is pondering making some tough decisions. Brewing Eritrian nationalism isn't helping, either.
- The idea of Ethiopian zaibatsu is pretty lulzy / awesome, so I'm gonna say that's canon. Addis Ababa has some gorgeous Deco skyscrapers from which the businessmen plot and scheme.
And on (sub-Saharan) Africa as a whole:
- Its overall fate is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's generally a lot more stable, and has at least three economies that are close to First World status in Senegambia, Ethiopia and South Africa. (Central Africa and Zanzibar aren't quite there yet, but they're much better off than OTL.) On the other, that stability comes at the price of a larger number of autocratic regimes and a few truly nasty ones (Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia, and yes, South Africa. Central Africa is pretty nasty in its own right, but the Emperor is usually too busy reveling in military glory or being insane to focus on doing anything really evil most of the time. He's the subject of a lot of the same kind of "loony enough to do anything" humor that the Kim family provides OTL, but in fairness, Bokasa actually *did* have his uncle executed by dogs TTL.) It depends on where exactly you live, overall.
- Ethiopia annexing Somalia and Pan-Africanism overall: Nobody in Addis Ababa wants a few hundred thousand more Muslim subjects when they can barely handle the ones they've got. Pan-Africanism has its proponents, particularly in the DR Congo, but as OTL it is more a vague idea than a genuine political force. It's true Pan-Arabism is a real thing here, but that's because a) the Middle East has a lot of genuinely fascist governments that would endorse that kind of thing, whereas Africa has a lot more of various stripes of nationalists and b) Arabs are much closer to being a united cultural and ethnic group than Africans as a whole are. There's a Congress for African Unity, a multinational body similar to our African Union but with less power, that pretty much overlaps with the Non-Aligned Movement and thus doesn't get a whole lot done. The Non-Aligned Movement counts almost all of non-apartheid sub-Saharan Africa as members, but bickers too much amongst itself and the rest of the world to get much of value done in the economic or security realms. The most powerful supernational African organization in terms of hard power is actually La Francophonie, which is a talking club for France and its former colonies. With the Congress for African Unity being pretty toothless and the Non-Aligned Movement not being very into the peacekeeping business, France and the more powerful countries in the Francophonie (Senegambia, the Congos, Cote d'Ivorie, etc) have stepped up in that regard.
- Before you ask, yes, there are Commonwealth members in Africa too. They aren't a big player in Africa, and in fact the British got out as fast as they could after the fall of India so they could focus on securing what they had and making it their own. The most significant non-OTL members are Malaysia and Sri Lanka, both Dominions if pretty shakily loyal ones. (Singapore had similar issues with the Dominion of Malaya as OTL and is an independent republic.)
- On a more meta level, I didn't want to encourage giant meaningless blobs, which happens depressingly often in AH in general and to Africa in particular. Africa isn't a single country, and I wanted to reflect that. Super Bokassa is pushing it as is. (That said, he could be a fun guy to play as if you want action.)
I'm going to close lore questions for a little bit so I can actually write the UK. After that is France, then Brazil, then stat formulas and GP stats. Once all that's done, I'll open signups, make stats for the minor powers I select, and we'll get started!
Re: Italian East Africa, the official doctrine of the Italians was that the British were insane to use natives as anything but disposable grunts and manual laborers. Even comparative liberals like the Duke of Aosta advocated limiting education to agriculture and an extremely limited pool of translators, taken from 'reliable' prominent families. The idea was that the Ethiopians would think of government and industry as something magical that only white people can do.
IRL this policy was violated from the word go, due to the sheer impracticality and frankly sheer stupidity. However, given a couple of decades to pursue it, and given Mussolini's personality, I can totally see him trying to make it a reality. This would fatally alienate those native aristocrats who joined his side, and would have expected a share in the ruling of the colony. This would explain why Italy lost Eritrea and Somalia as well. Increasingly heavy handed and incompetent viceroys destroyed the local power base, and the whole rotten edifice came tumbling down.
As for land reform, my thinking is that most of the landowners either joined the Italian regime or spent decades in exile. The former would likely have much of their property sized by the new regime, the latter almost certainly would have theirs stolen by the Italians. In any case, a return to pre-war status quo wouldn't be possible in a country which had just come out of a broad based guerilla war, since it'doesn't be damn hard to convince the guys who spent years or even decades fighting to meekly lay down arms and go back to a serf-like dependancy. That's not even accounting for the influence of western and socialist ideas from exiles and foreign advisors.
IRL this policy was violated from the word go, due to the sheer impracticality and frankly sheer stupidity. However, given a couple of decades to pursue it, and given Mussolini's personality, I can totally see him trying to make it a reality. This would fatally alienate those native aristocrats who joined his side, and would have expected a share in the ruling of the colony. This would explain why Italy lost Eritrea and Somalia as well. Increasingly heavy handed and incompetent viceroys destroyed the local power base, and the whole rotten edifice came tumbling down.
As for land reform, my thinking is that most of the landowners either joined the Italian regime or spent decades in exile. The former would likely have much of their property sized by the new regime, the latter almost certainly would have theirs stolen by the Italians. In any case, a return to pre-war status quo wouldn't be possible in a country which had just come out of a broad based guerilla war, since it'doesn't be damn hard to convince the guys who spent years or even decades fighting to meekly lay down arms and go back to a serf-like dependancy. That's not even accounting for the influence of western and socialist ideas from exiles and foreign advisors.
