das
Regeneration In Process
Elsewhere in the modern world, other momentous events occured. For instance, in America, after a two-term presidency of William Howard Taft which saw American economical expansion in the Carribean and the Pacific (and subjugation of several out-of-line Carribean states), Woodrow Wilson came to power, despite Theodore Roosevelt's last-moment attempt to retake the Presidency; Wilson's victory meant partial reversion to isolationism after a short-lived American awakening; for one thing, he made no real effort to end the unprofitable bloodshed in China, for another, he mostly ignored the events in Mexico (well, as much as one can ignore events next door), where the local revolution was rather more succesful than the Chinese one, but where it nonetheless degenerated into warlordism and civil war. In Portugal there also was a revolution - the old parliamentary monarchy was overthrown and replaced by a radical republic on the 5th of October 1910, which however was chronically unstable, the triumphant Portuguese Republican Party immediately fragmented into a myriad of parties all over the political specter, with several governments replacing each other every year and the military leaders along with manipulative politicians all moving in to try and take power for all it was worth there.
Meanwhile, the Second Balkan War took place, in 1914. Long story cut short, soon after the Treaty of Edirne Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic and his supporters formed the Serbian ultranationalist "Black Hand" organization, which exercized great influence over the weak, ailing King Petar I. Spreading an expansionist, nationalist agenda at home, Dragutin Dimitrijevic's agents also worked hard in Serbian-populated Austrian, Albanian and Bulgarian territories, destabilizing the area and inciting rebellions, and also organizing terrorist acts, like the 1913 attempt on the life of Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand. Though that one was unsuccesful, the Serbs did manage to get away with several other acts and even organized a minor, but annoying rebellion in Herzegovina. However, one could only push his luck this far; when the Black Hand attempted to incite a rebellion in western Bulgarian lands, the Bulgarians caught some of their agents in the act and finally attained evidence of Serbian involvement in the recent destabilizing activities in Bulgaria. Ferdinand I secretly contacted the Austro-Hungarians and the Albanians, working to organize an anti-Serbian coalition. Bulgaria then presented an ultimatum to the Serbian government, demanding, among other things, that the Black Hand be disbanded and its leaders be brought to justice. Dragutin Dimitrijevic managed to overthrow the conciliatory Prime Minister Nikola Pasic who had intended to turn him over in order to avoid a war; now that the hated terrorist leader was in power, Bulgaria felt that nothing held it back and made its moves, invading Serbian Macedonia. However, this provoked a Montenegrin declaration of war on Bulgaria, King Nikola I being a fanatical Serbophile. This inspired Dragutic Dimitrijevic to contact Greece and Romania; though both weren't fond of Dimitrijevic, they were even less fond of Ferdinand I, and feared what might happen is Bulgaria were to defeat Serbia. Greece nonetheless remained neutral at first, quite wisely, while Romania declared war on Bulgaria and attacked across the Danube, distracting the Bulgarians. At this point, however, Albania and Austria-Hungary both jumped into the war on the Bulgarian side, while the Russian government wanted to hear nothing of Dragutin Dimitrijevic, having, after much heartsearching, decided to reconcile with Bulgaria instead of needlessly antagonizing Austria-Hungary by supporting Serbia; though Russia remained neutral in the war itself, calling for peace and reconciliation, it were the Russians that "persuaded" Romania to back out of the war as well. As Serbia crumbled, Belgrade itself having been besieged by Austro-Hungarians, Dragutin Dimitrijevic was betrayed and assassinated by one of his past retainers; Belgrade soon surrendered and Serbia collapsed, Montenegro still fought on but was soon overwhelmed as well. In the eventual peace conference in Sarajevo, it was decided that Serbia should be partitioned (that was going a bit too far for the Russian government, but only a bit so it didn't really interfere in this); however, the Hungarian parliament, fearing that with the annexation of parts of Serbia the South Slavs would get too numerous and their influence would increase accordingly, and so limited Austrian territorial gains to Novi Pazar and pre-1910 Montenegro (Albania got back the lands it lost to the Montenegrins by the Treaty of Edirne), though in the rump surviving Serbia (in the 1877 borders) an Austrian puppet regime was imposed, complete with the restoration of the Obrenovices under the last king's illegitimate offspring, Prince George. Lastly, Nish and all of Serbian Macedonia went to Bulgaria as well, which, as was long feared, increasingly became all too strong for Greece to potentially cope with it. The Greeks were scared enough to reconcile with the Ottomans, if temporarily, signing a defensive alliance with them.
In the greater colonial world, this was a time of further acquisition and conquest. While the Germans were preoccupied with their work in China, France and Spain finished off Morocco, Spain getting the Rif mountains and surrounding area, and the rest, obviously, becoming a French protectorate. Meanwhile, Italy worked hard to strenghthen its colonial empire, not only crushing native resistance and expanding inlands in Libya, but also getting a revanche against Abyssinia. The new Prime Minister, Antonio Salandra, was generally more imperialistic than his predecessor Giovanni Giolotti. Much to the annoyance of London and Paris, he played the usual Italian card, that of promising future assistance in spite of Italy's present diplomatic alignment in exchange for getting a free hand here or there; this time the Italians wanted a free hand in Abyssinia, in 1916, just as that country entered its civil war between the legal, but insane (or at least eccentric) and (allegedly) Muslim (but definitely and vociferously anti-Christian) Emperor Iyasu V and his devotedly-Christian aunt Zauditu. While Iyasu V was away in Harer, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had him excommunicated and the conservative nobility declared him deposed and replaced by Empress Zauditu. Though the core Ethiopian population was definitely on Zauditu's side, the more barbaric Gallas and Wollos, and generally the Ethiopian Muslims were supportive of Iyasu V; from amongst them, he and his allies raised an army, but it was decisively defeated at Segale to the north from Addis Abeba, and Iyasu V was virtually defeated; however, at this point the Italians interferred in the civil war on his side, despite not having even contacted him before, and, cooperating with Ogaden's Muslims, quickly overran the eastern half of Abyssinia. After attacking from Eritrea and defeating the Ethiopian army at Mek'ele, the Italian commander, Pietro Badoglio, ran into Iyasu V, who was hiding near the Eritrean border ever since Segale. After some difficult negotiations, he agreed to accept an Italian protectorate in exchange for the Italian support for his recovery of the throne. As of early 1917, the Italians and their allies were in control of Ogaden and northernmost Abyssinia, but elsewhere, in the Ethiopian Plateau, the Ethiopians were recovering from the initial shock and preparing for a defensive war.
As Russia grew ever more assertive, imperialistic and expansionist since its conquest of Manchuria, it renewed the Great Game by intervenning in Persia, where the Qajars, whom the Russians had finally won over to their side, were forced by local nationalists to grant more power to the Persian parliament (Majles). In 1907, Mohammad Ali Shah ascended to power and immediately begun to work to eliminate the liberal Persian constitution and its supporters; his plans were sped up by the 1908 attempt on his life. After that he invited more Russian troops into the country, and in June begun his crackdown, first inviting and arresting most of the Constitutionalist leaders in his gardens, and then dismissing (and partially arresting) the Majles themselves. By this moment the Qajars were unpopular enough and the social tensions got far enough for a general rebellion - the Constitutionalist Revolution - to commence, with violent riots in the key southern cities of Persia resulting in the collapse of the Shah's authority there. Riots also occured in the north, but there, they were put down by Russian forces, except in the province of Gilan where it took several months of counter-insurgency operations to finally defeat Mirza Kuchak Khan's Constitutionalists. Although the north was more-or-less secure, in the southwest the Bakhtyari tribe leaders now moved to the forefront of the Constitutionalist movement and were only barely stopped in 1909 in the Battle at Qom. By this point, however, the British - who at first also supported the Shah against the nationalist Constitutionalists that worked against both the Russians and the British - begun to grow alarmed about the extent of Russian military presence. Striking a deal with the more moderate and/or Anglophilic of the southern Persian leaders, the British invaded southern Persia in 1911 under the pretext of assisting the Shah but with the secondary goal of preventing the Russians from reaching the Persian Gulf. Long story cut short (I hate using that expression, but have no better ones), the Russians occupied the north, the British occupied the south, and both sides demanded that the other withdraw, whilst hunting for the Constitutionalist rebels that retreated into the mountains and completely ignoring the Shah who now became a Russian puppet. Though withdrawal from Persia was delayed continuosly under the pretext of having to hunt down the surviving rebels, both sides now increasingly begun to skirmish with each other as the tensions grew.
And lastly, as China's civil war continued, the various nearby great powers raced to secure their spheres of influence. Though no de jure annexations were made - apart from the announcement of Russian protectorates over Sinkiang and Outer Mongolia, and, to counter that, the British military protectorate over Tibet - de facto as the Imperial authority was shaken or collapsed and the Republican one had hard time being established properly, and as, in anticipation of the conflict spiralling out of control, the Great Powers deployed more troops to China, authority passed to them in some of their influence zones. Germany, for instance, set up control over Shantung, all but annexing it directly after a failed rebellion there. Britain secured regions around Canton and Hong Kong, and also deployed troops to defend Shanghai, though unlike in the Guangdong province it set up no protectorates, formal or informal, over there, as to avoid antagonizing the American businessmen (who had an ever stronger control over their nation's policies). French troops frequented southern Yunnan, carefully avoiding actually clashing with the Republicans there, and set up an informal protectorate over the Guangxi Jang province. Even Japan which, though still liberal, had largely gotten over its initial bout of idealism and altruism and deployed forces to occupy the Fujian province, ostensibly to help defend China. However, the Republicans were led to understand that all these measures were merely temporary, and couldn't really have done anything about it if they weren't (except perhaps just surrender to the Qing). As for Yuan Shikei, he knew that these were no temporary measures, but also knew that he should do things one at the time. First internal pacification, then external aggression...
Things were clearly moving towards a bigger war. Already, tariff wars between Britain and Germany intensified, as did the naval arms races, Germany having recently renewed its naval buildup. Patrols frequently exchanged shots and even skirmished with each other on the Franco-German, Graeco-Bulgarian and Russo-Turkish borders. Every week some spy was caught or some conspiracy was revealed. While the German companies mostly expelled the French ones from Russia, the French grew ever more influential in the Ottoman Empire, displacing the Germans there. Irredentist riots struck Italy. And all over the greater colonial world, border clashes grew very frequent, as did accidents at sea, and ofcourse both sides worked to underhandedly sabotage the other's colonial empire by inciting natives to rebel (and as these did occasionally rebel, the paranoia that sat in on both sides seemed even more well-founded). Russian and British troops were only waiting for the other to make the first move in Persia, the tensions and mutual suspicion having built up for both armies by now. And China? China was the polygon of great powers, where, acting through whatever side happened to be more friendly, new weapons and tactics were tried out, and the valuable experiences were absorbed, at least, when there was actualy some fighting.
Already in 1916, some begun to claim that an undeclared global war was going on. In 1917, the declaration was sent and received, and a real war begun - spreading from a comparatively small theatre of war in East Asia to eventually put aflame if not the entire globe, then at least the entire Eastern Hemisphere, with battlefields from Lorraine to the Yangtze, from Arkhangelsk to Dar-as-Salaam.
Meanwhile, the Second Balkan War took place, in 1914. Long story cut short, soon after the Treaty of Edirne Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic and his supporters formed the Serbian ultranationalist "Black Hand" organization, which exercized great influence over the weak, ailing King Petar I. Spreading an expansionist, nationalist agenda at home, Dragutin Dimitrijevic's agents also worked hard in Serbian-populated Austrian, Albanian and Bulgarian territories, destabilizing the area and inciting rebellions, and also organizing terrorist acts, like the 1913 attempt on the life of Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand. Though that one was unsuccesful, the Serbs did manage to get away with several other acts and even organized a minor, but annoying rebellion in Herzegovina. However, one could only push his luck this far; when the Black Hand attempted to incite a rebellion in western Bulgarian lands, the Bulgarians caught some of their agents in the act and finally attained evidence of Serbian involvement in the recent destabilizing activities in Bulgaria. Ferdinand I secretly contacted the Austro-Hungarians and the Albanians, working to organize an anti-Serbian coalition. Bulgaria then presented an ultimatum to the Serbian government, demanding, among other things, that the Black Hand be disbanded and its leaders be brought to justice. Dragutin Dimitrijevic managed to overthrow the conciliatory Prime Minister Nikola Pasic who had intended to turn him over in order to avoid a war; now that the hated terrorist leader was in power, Bulgaria felt that nothing held it back and made its moves, invading Serbian Macedonia. However, this provoked a Montenegrin declaration of war on Bulgaria, King Nikola I being a fanatical Serbophile. This inspired Dragutic Dimitrijevic to contact Greece and Romania; though both weren't fond of Dimitrijevic, they were even less fond of Ferdinand I, and feared what might happen is Bulgaria were to defeat Serbia. Greece nonetheless remained neutral at first, quite wisely, while Romania declared war on Bulgaria and attacked across the Danube, distracting the Bulgarians. At this point, however, Albania and Austria-Hungary both jumped into the war on the Bulgarian side, while the Russian government wanted to hear nothing of Dragutin Dimitrijevic, having, after much heartsearching, decided to reconcile with Bulgaria instead of needlessly antagonizing Austria-Hungary by supporting Serbia; though Russia remained neutral in the war itself, calling for peace and reconciliation, it were the Russians that "persuaded" Romania to back out of the war as well. As Serbia crumbled, Belgrade itself having been besieged by Austro-Hungarians, Dragutin Dimitrijevic was betrayed and assassinated by one of his past retainers; Belgrade soon surrendered and Serbia collapsed, Montenegro still fought on but was soon overwhelmed as well. In the eventual peace conference in Sarajevo, it was decided that Serbia should be partitioned (that was going a bit too far for the Russian government, but only a bit so it didn't really interfere in this); however, the Hungarian parliament, fearing that with the annexation of parts of Serbia the South Slavs would get too numerous and their influence would increase accordingly, and so limited Austrian territorial gains to Novi Pazar and pre-1910 Montenegro (Albania got back the lands it lost to the Montenegrins by the Treaty of Edirne), though in the rump surviving Serbia (in the 1877 borders) an Austrian puppet regime was imposed, complete with the restoration of the Obrenovices under the last king's illegitimate offspring, Prince George. Lastly, Nish and all of Serbian Macedonia went to Bulgaria as well, which, as was long feared, increasingly became all too strong for Greece to potentially cope with it. The Greeks were scared enough to reconcile with the Ottomans, if temporarily, signing a defensive alliance with them.
In the greater colonial world, this was a time of further acquisition and conquest. While the Germans were preoccupied with their work in China, France and Spain finished off Morocco, Spain getting the Rif mountains and surrounding area, and the rest, obviously, becoming a French protectorate. Meanwhile, Italy worked hard to strenghthen its colonial empire, not only crushing native resistance and expanding inlands in Libya, but also getting a revanche against Abyssinia. The new Prime Minister, Antonio Salandra, was generally more imperialistic than his predecessor Giovanni Giolotti. Much to the annoyance of London and Paris, he played the usual Italian card, that of promising future assistance in spite of Italy's present diplomatic alignment in exchange for getting a free hand here or there; this time the Italians wanted a free hand in Abyssinia, in 1916, just as that country entered its civil war between the legal, but insane (or at least eccentric) and (allegedly) Muslim (but definitely and vociferously anti-Christian) Emperor Iyasu V and his devotedly-Christian aunt Zauditu. While Iyasu V was away in Harer, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had him excommunicated and the conservative nobility declared him deposed and replaced by Empress Zauditu. Though the core Ethiopian population was definitely on Zauditu's side, the more barbaric Gallas and Wollos, and generally the Ethiopian Muslims were supportive of Iyasu V; from amongst them, he and his allies raised an army, but it was decisively defeated at Segale to the north from Addis Abeba, and Iyasu V was virtually defeated; however, at this point the Italians interferred in the civil war on his side, despite not having even contacted him before, and, cooperating with Ogaden's Muslims, quickly overran the eastern half of Abyssinia. After attacking from Eritrea and defeating the Ethiopian army at Mek'ele, the Italian commander, Pietro Badoglio, ran into Iyasu V, who was hiding near the Eritrean border ever since Segale. After some difficult negotiations, he agreed to accept an Italian protectorate in exchange for the Italian support for his recovery of the throne. As of early 1917, the Italians and their allies were in control of Ogaden and northernmost Abyssinia, but elsewhere, in the Ethiopian Plateau, the Ethiopians were recovering from the initial shock and preparing for a defensive war.
As Russia grew ever more assertive, imperialistic and expansionist since its conquest of Manchuria, it renewed the Great Game by intervenning in Persia, where the Qajars, whom the Russians had finally won over to their side, were forced by local nationalists to grant more power to the Persian parliament (Majles). In 1907, Mohammad Ali Shah ascended to power and immediately begun to work to eliminate the liberal Persian constitution and its supporters; his plans were sped up by the 1908 attempt on his life. After that he invited more Russian troops into the country, and in June begun his crackdown, first inviting and arresting most of the Constitutionalist leaders in his gardens, and then dismissing (and partially arresting) the Majles themselves. By this moment the Qajars were unpopular enough and the social tensions got far enough for a general rebellion - the Constitutionalist Revolution - to commence, with violent riots in the key southern cities of Persia resulting in the collapse of the Shah's authority there. Riots also occured in the north, but there, they were put down by Russian forces, except in the province of Gilan where it took several months of counter-insurgency operations to finally defeat Mirza Kuchak Khan's Constitutionalists. Although the north was more-or-less secure, in the southwest the Bakhtyari tribe leaders now moved to the forefront of the Constitutionalist movement and were only barely stopped in 1909 in the Battle at Qom. By this point, however, the British - who at first also supported the Shah against the nationalist Constitutionalists that worked against both the Russians and the British - begun to grow alarmed about the extent of Russian military presence. Striking a deal with the more moderate and/or Anglophilic of the southern Persian leaders, the British invaded southern Persia in 1911 under the pretext of assisting the Shah but with the secondary goal of preventing the Russians from reaching the Persian Gulf. Long story cut short (I hate using that expression, but have no better ones), the Russians occupied the north, the British occupied the south, and both sides demanded that the other withdraw, whilst hunting for the Constitutionalist rebels that retreated into the mountains and completely ignoring the Shah who now became a Russian puppet. Though withdrawal from Persia was delayed continuosly under the pretext of having to hunt down the surviving rebels, both sides now increasingly begun to skirmish with each other as the tensions grew.
And lastly, as China's civil war continued, the various nearby great powers raced to secure their spheres of influence. Though no de jure annexations were made - apart from the announcement of Russian protectorates over Sinkiang and Outer Mongolia, and, to counter that, the British military protectorate over Tibet - de facto as the Imperial authority was shaken or collapsed and the Republican one had hard time being established properly, and as, in anticipation of the conflict spiralling out of control, the Great Powers deployed more troops to China, authority passed to them in some of their influence zones. Germany, for instance, set up control over Shantung, all but annexing it directly after a failed rebellion there. Britain secured regions around Canton and Hong Kong, and also deployed troops to defend Shanghai, though unlike in the Guangdong province it set up no protectorates, formal or informal, over there, as to avoid antagonizing the American businessmen (who had an ever stronger control over their nation's policies). French troops frequented southern Yunnan, carefully avoiding actually clashing with the Republicans there, and set up an informal protectorate over the Guangxi Jang province. Even Japan which, though still liberal, had largely gotten over its initial bout of idealism and altruism and deployed forces to occupy the Fujian province, ostensibly to help defend China. However, the Republicans were led to understand that all these measures were merely temporary, and couldn't really have done anything about it if they weren't (except perhaps just surrender to the Qing). As for Yuan Shikei, he knew that these were no temporary measures, but also knew that he should do things one at the time. First internal pacification, then external aggression...
Things were clearly moving towards a bigger war. Already, tariff wars between Britain and Germany intensified, as did the naval arms races, Germany having recently renewed its naval buildup. Patrols frequently exchanged shots and even skirmished with each other on the Franco-German, Graeco-Bulgarian and Russo-Turkish borders. Every week some spy was caught or some conspiracy was revealed. While the German companies mostly expelled the French ones from Russia, the French grew ever more influential in the Ottoman Empire, displacing the Germans there. Irredentist riots struck Italy. And all over the greater colonial world, border clashes grew very frequent, as did accidents at sea, and ofcourse both sides worked to underhandedly sabotage the other's colonial empire by inciting natives to rebel (and as these did occasionally rebel, the paranoia that sat in on both sides seemed even more well-founded). Russian and British troops were only waiting for the other to make the first move in Persia, the tensions and mutual suspicion having built up for both armies by now. And China? China was the polygon of great powers, where, acting through whatever side happened to be more friendly, new weapons and tactics were tried out, and the valuable experiences were absorbed, at least, when there was actualy some fighting.
Already in 1916, some begun to claim that an undeclared global war was going on. In 1917, the declaration was sent and received, and a real war begun - spreading from a comparatively small theatre of war in East Asia to eventually put aflame if not the entire globe, then at least the entire Eastern Hemisphere, with battlefields from Lorraine to the Yangtze, from Arkhangelsk to Dar-as-Salaam.
