Altered maps VIII: World borders just got garbage-dayed

[mythmonster2]

Why's the Indian border so... straight? Just looks odd. Maybe divide it among states or whatever they have there? Heck, why's Britain even keeping half of it? Why not make a bunch of puppet states or even add it it to the Empire outright?

 

[sophie]

wt-f?

My attempt at reading it:

Lan-fair-pooll-gwooungy-gerychoo-urndrob-olanti-silio-gogogogogoch.

How to really say it
Link to video.

A truly cool name.

 

[bombshoo]

A WWI Central Power Victory

So the Germans gave back Alsace-Lorraine and also lost Tsingtao?

That seems unlikely...

 

[W|M]

(about Welsh above)

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, a railway station on the island of Anglesey in Wales, is the longest place name in the Welsh language. 51 letters long in the Welsh alphabet, the name can be translated as "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave". However, it was artificially contrived in the 1860s as a publicity stunt, to give the station the longest name of any railway station in the United Kingdom.

Hungarian beats Welsh:

Spoiler :

összetettszóhosszúságvilágrekorddöntéskényszerneurózistünetegyüttes-megnyilvánulásfejleszthetőségvizsgálatszervezésellenőrzésiügyosztály-létszámleépítésellenesakciócsoporttagságiigazolványmegújításikérelem-elutasítóhatározatgyűjteményértékesítőnagyvállalatátalakításutó-finanszírozáspályázatelbírálóalapítványkuratóriumelnökhelyettesellenes-merényletkivizsgálóbizottságiüléselnapolásiindítványbenyújtásiforma-nyomtatványkitöltögetésellenőrizhetőség-próba

(medical terms don't count, by the way, and there are German words which could theoretically go on forever!)

EDIT: Biggest chemical word: (WARNING: insane amount of letters). http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061113221628AAxlNn5 (Stupid limit of 30000 characters to a post.)

 

[choxorn]

A WWI Central Power Victory

Why does Austria-Hungary have Switzerland? They were neutral.

Why do the Ottomans have Iran? They, like Switzerland, were neutral. And having Half of Cyprus, that much of Russia, and Sri Lanka doesn't make sense either.

For that matter, why didn't they collapse? They were too weak by this point to hold together well. There's certainly no way they could possibly get to the size shown on this map. Similarly, why does Austria-Hungary still exist, and how did they get Belize, Somalia, Eritrea, and Cambodia?

Why does France have Alsace-Lorraine?

Why does Germany have Belgium? Germany just wanted to get through them on the way to Paris, they weren't going to annex the country. They also didn't invade Luxembourg. And how did they possibly get that much of France and Britain's African and Asian Empires, and Korea and Manchuria?

Why is Central Asia independent from Russia, but Tibet not independent from China?

How the hell did Mexico get half of the US? They quickly decided upon receiving the Zimmerman telegram that that was not desirable, or remotely feasible. Or possible, for that matter. Besides, it only promised them Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, not everything they lost in 1848. It certainly didn't say anything about Hawaii or the Pacific Northwest.

Why was Bessarbia divided between Germany and Austria-Hungary? That didn't happen until Stalin decided to move a bunch of people and borders around in Eastern Europe, and doesn't make the slightest bit of sense in World War I.

Why are you too lazy to fill in some of the random gray spots and islands?

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

heres another map, theres been a few small wars afer WWI also, and Ottomans are a German Puppet state, and China conquered Tibet, Russia is in total Anarchy, those nations have broken away, and Ethiopia will go Fascist soon

 

[ZeletDude]

Why does Austria-Hungary have Switzerland? They were neutral.

Why do the Ottomans have Iran? They, like Switzerland, were neutral. And having Half of Cyprus, that much of Russia, and Sri Lanka doesn't make sense either.

For that matter, why didn't they collapse? They were too weak by this point to hold together well. There's certainly no way they could possibly get to the size shown on this map. Similarly, why does Austria-Hungary still exist, and how did they get Belize, Somalia, Eritrea, and Cambodia?

Why does France have Alsace-Lorraine?

Why does Germany have Belgium? Germany just wanted to get through them on the way to Paris, they weren't going to annex the country. They also didn't invade Luxembourg. And how did they possibly get that much of France and Britain's African and Asian Empires, and Korea and Manchuria?

Why is Central Asia independent from Russia, but Tibet not independent from China?

How the hell did Mexico get half of the US? They quickly decided upon receiving the Zimmerman telegram that that was not desirable, or remotely feasible. Or possible, for that matter. Besides, it only promised them Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, not everything they lost in 1848. It certainly didn't say anything about Hawaii or the Pacific Northwest.

Why was Bessarbia divided between Germany and Austria-Hungary? That didn't happen until Stalin decided to move a bunch of people and borders around in Eastern Europe, and doesn't make the slightest bit of sense in World War I.

Why are you too lazy to fill in some of the random gray spots and islands?

THIS ALL OF THIS.
But Germany did occupy Luxembourg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Luxembourg_in_World_War_I

 

[say1988]

Not to mention the Mexican gains a) exceed the territory ceded following the Mexican American War, b) suddenly end at the Canada/US border, and c) let the US take Vancouver Island from Canada.
The map simply seems like random borders with big Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman Empire.

 

[say1988]

Not to mention the Mexican gains a) exceed the territory ceded following the Mexican American War, b) suddenly end at the Canada/US border, and c) let the US take Vancouver Island from Canada.
The map simply seems like random borders with big Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman Empire.

 

[Gruekiller]

I'm... not sure that a Central Powers victory would lead to the world looking anything like that.

 

[choxorn]

Oh yeah, and Mexicon has Vancouver Island, didn't notice that. How does that make sense?

There's just no way Mexico could have beaten America in a war at that point. Or at, well, any point in the past 200 years.

 

[bombshoo]

My thoughts:

Germany might annex the German speaking part of Belgium and Luxembourg, they would probably set up some puppet governments in Poland, Finland, the Baltic States and possibly Ukraine if they managed a big enough win in the East somehow (though I don't see how this is possible, with the Civil War in Russia. The situation would be so messy that they probably would want nothing to do with it after just having fought a long war). The situation with the Bolsheviks makes this very difficult. If Germany were very strong after the war I suppose they could halt any attempted Soviet advance on Europe, though its also possible that winning this big would mean they were completely drained and unable to fight off the Soviets if they attempted an attack.

As far as colonies go, the British already had basically planned to just pawn off the Portuguese colonies to the Germans and basically keep their empire in tact in the event of a terrible loss. In all likelihood though, since the Germans really did not have a good way to damage Britain, the pre-war status would mostly remain. Britain going into a civil war is probably the only semi-plausible way that they would give into any large German demands. I suppose if the Germans were much more successful at sowing a rebellion in India and Britain did go into a civil war, India achieving Independence as one or more countries could happen. I doubt the Germans would gain any territory, though they may have enough sway over new governments there to get some treaty ports or something. In South Africa, the Boers might be able to get a state back if they are lucky.

I am not sure what the Germans would take from France in Europe, if anything at all. Completely Francophone lands would not really be worth the trouble. They would probably just try to weaken any future military build ups by them, enforce some heavy reparations and take some colonies as well.

Austria-Hungary falling apart is not inevitable, though any major expansion by them would be stupid. If they had some major victories somehow, they might be able to ride a wave of patriotism long enough to redraw themselves into a federal state or something. I doubt they'd take Romania, but they might set up a friendly government there. They might possibly annex Serbia, but probably later if they actually managed to make a Slavic state or kingdom within the Empire (if all the Serbs were in a unified state, there isn't really a need for Serbian irrendentism). Austria-Hungary never wanted to really fight Italy in the first place, so while they may put some heavy reparations on them, I doubt they'd annex anything.

The Ottoman Empire is essentially screwed no matter what. If they won, they may get some token areas like Kuwait and some Greek Islands back but the other Central Powers were not particularly concerned with awarding it with anything considering it could barely hold onto what it had. Even if they won, I doubt they'd stay intact for too much longer. The Arabs would almost certainly continue their revolt at one point or another and a civil war to overthrow the monarchy is still possible.

Bulgaria could get part of Thrace, Macedonia and possibly Dobruja in it's entirety if they are lucky. Most likely they would be awarded something, though it almost certainly would not be anything terribly valuable.

In the far East, Germany would certainly be in a stronger position, but not nearly enough to take Manchuria even if they had interests there. They never had more than a few brigades there and I think they were actually naval infantry, not armies equipped to go on inland campaigns. They would probably end up with the Russian and Belgian concessions in Tianjin. Austria-Hungary would probably get the Italian concessions there. Not really many changes otherwise. Trying any major offensives against Japan would not be worthwhile and a white peace would probably be acceptable to both sides.


Mind you that all this is extremely unlikely and would require some major victories by the Central Powers. In my opinion this really shows the stupidity of the war. Even if the Central Powers had won big, their overall gains would be comparatively minor and unimportant in the scheme of things.

Something resembling this quick rough sketch is probably about the best the Central Powers could do imo.

 

[ZeletDude]

I actually belive that map. It's plausible compared to the other one...

 

[bombshoo]

I actually belive that map. It's plausible compared to the other one...

I'm sure Dachs or someone will tear up that map and everything I had to say later.

 

[Karalysia]

The Ottoman Empire is essentially screwed no matter what. If they won, they may get some token areas like Kuwait and some Greek Islands back but the other Central Powers were particularly concerned with awarding it with anything considering it could barely hold onto what it had. Even if they won, I doubt they'd stay intact for too much longer. The Arabs would almost certainly keep up their revolt and a civil war to overthrow the monarchy is still possible

The Arab Revolt never stood a serious chance of toppling the Ottoman Empire without British assistance. Assuming British defeat, and the end of that support it would be crushed in short order.

 

[bombshoo]

The Arab Revolt never stood a serious chance of toppling the Ottoman Empire without British assistance. Assuming British defeat, and the end of that support it would be crushed in short order.

Though how long before it starts up again? All it would take is some instability in Anatolia for the Arabs to start rising up again. I agree with you they could put it down, but I don't think for any significant period of time.

 

[choxorn]

I actually belive that map. It's plausible compared to the other one...

Yeah, although I wonder why Britain doesn't seem to have control of Northern Ireland, the Boer part of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, why Russia doesn't own Central Asia, and why the borders in Eastern Europe look so weird.

The Arab Revolt never stood a serious chance of toppling the Ottoman Empire without British assistance. Assuming British defeat, and the end of that support it would be crushed in short order.

Regardless, the Ottoman Empire was living on borrowed time long before that point. Their end was inevitable.

 

[Chieftess]

The evolution of languages in the Iberian peninsula and just outside of it:

Spoiler :

P.S.: Not long ago they have opened Basque schools in France (funded by the Basque government).

I've seen something like that. I always liked how there's these 5 bands going south, until Castille has to hog all of the land, then push the other dialects out.

What would be interesting to see would be a map of possible future evolution of English and Spanish (and other minor languages) outside of Europe.

The dialect map of Spain kind of reminds me of accents (they need another 250 years to be true dialects) of the US going east to west to the Rockies.

 

[Karalysia]

Though how long before it starts up again? All it would take is some instability in Anatolia for the Arabs to start rising up again.

False. Pan-Arab and Arab nationalist sentiment were weak at best. Even at the so-called height of Pan-Arab sentiment the United Arab Republic fell to pieces, when it comes down to it everyone is after their parochial interests. Do you want to know who the leaders of the Arab movement in Iraq were? Defected soldiers from the Ottoman Empire, and the ruling elite were Ottoman educated ruling based on Ottoman institutions and traditions. There was no grassroots Arab nationalist movement. Without the Ottoman distraction against the British and Russians combined with the lack of British support such a movement would fall to pieces.

Regardless, the Ottoman Empire was living on borrowed time long before that point. Their end was inevitable.

False. Your determinism is foolish and misplaced. The Ottoman Empire at this point in time was more modern and centralized than it had been for over 200 years. For the first time the state exerted strong control on society, with an ability to shape it and see that it's laws were enforced. The Ottoman government had more control over its provinces in 1914 than it did in 1714. The reforms of the CUP were reaping results and it is not difficult to envision that the Ottoman Empire would continue to last for a long time to come.

 

[bombshoo]

False. Pan-Arab and Arab nationalist sentiment were weak at best. Even at the so-called height of Pan-Arab sentiment the United Arab Republic fell to pieces, when it comes down to it everyone is after their parochial interests. Do you want to know who the leaders of the Arab movement in Iraq were? Defected soldiers from the Ottoman Empire, and the ruling elite were Ottoman educated ruling based on Ottoman institutions and traditions. There was no grassroots Arab nationalist movement. Without the Ottoman distraction against the British and Russians combined with the lack of British support such a movement would fall to pieces.

False. Your determinism is foolish and misplaced. The Ottoman Empire at this point in time was more modern and centralized than it had been for over 200 years. For the first time the state exerted strong control on society, with an ability to shape it and see that it's laws were enforced. The Ottoman government had more control over its provinces in 1914 than it did in 1714. The reforms of the CUP were reaping results and it is not difficult to envision that the Ottoman Empire would continue to last for a long time to come.

I'll concede you know more on the topic (The Ottoman Empire is an area I'm pretty vague on to be honest). Do you know the possibility of a civil war to overthrow the monarchy had they not lost in WWI?

Yeah, although I wonder why Britain doesn't seem to have control of Northern Ireland, the Boer part of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, why Russia doesn't own Central Asia, and why the borders in Eastern Europe look so weird.

As stated it was a quick sketch. I did it in literally 5 minutes. I completely forgot about Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and as for Central Asia and South Africa, the reason that these are independent is because I stated this was an absolute best case scenario for the Central Powers, meaning their enemies were the weakest they could be. The Russians/Soviets (whichever it is in this pseudo-alternate time line) either have lost or not yet regained control of Central Asia and a Boer revolt in South Africa was successful when the Germans were in a better position. The borders in Central Europe were just done with a pen tool in paint because I was too lazy to check provincial borders or geographic features for better placement. The map was more meant as a rough idea of what I can see as plausible rather than being perfect.