Update 3: January 1, 1893 - June 30, 1893
Anatolia
Spoiler :
Fast-developing territory with booming labor market, strong mining and agricultural production, and up-and-coming industry.
Twenty classes
Q1-Q2 1893: In full reflection of the greater liberal, meritocratic trend sweeping through the Sublime Porte’s administration, the “Twenty Classes” program was deemed an unacceptable forwardness. Careful to not lose face and not anger the entire generation of old-school administrators, the Grand Divan dispatched a commission that put plenty of pressure on the Trebizond Vilayet wali, encouraging him to quietly roll back the most unacceptable of the program’s policies, letting him clear his name of any charges of wrongdoing by following that instruction. Meanwhile, the “assistant engineering” battalions were reformed, with their soldiers being congratulated (and at times even awarded for the good work). Some of the Pontic Greek conscripts were sent home with awards (and some with disability pensions), while others were assigned to different, mixed garrison units, where they formed tight ethnic subgroups, but showed no other signs of open discontent. The handling of the issue helped Pontic Greeks regain a small degree of political influence in the region, boosting their participation in labor, administration, and economic activities. (Regional quest completed with success, region Anatolia +15 HC, +5 IC, +10 EC Regional Growth Fluctuation +0.5%, Sublime Porte losses: -2.48 HC, -4.02 IC, -5.68 EC, -1.49 MC)
Schooling for the old men
Q1-Q2 1893: Technocratic reforms of the Sublime Porte’s administration have succeeded at bringing a new generation of well-educated, ambitious intellectuals, bureaucrats, and meritocratic officers to power across the empire. However, most of the top positions in the apparatus of the state are still being held by pashas of the “old order,” staunch traditionalists, used to relying on a network of informal agreements and intuitive political decisions in their work. A few obvious cases of corruption and mismanagement were easily found exposed, and their actors were demoted, but a large number of ill-educated, but capable and law-abiding administrators and generals remain highly influential in the government. According to the new regulations, now all of these men (some of them in their seventies) have to now “brush off” their skills and educations, which for many of them by now constitutes a humiliating and, often times, an impossible task. Now it remains to be seen how principled the young Sultan and his grand vizier would want to be at cutting ties with the very generation of Janissary pashas that has brought the Sublime Porte to its today’s heights.
Shady enosis
Q1-Q2 1893: As little as that issue looked on the grand scheme of things, Ottoman authorities chose to send a good portion of its administrative, cultural, and economic actors to address it, perhaps spooked by the Italian takeover of Greek politics in 1891. A major anti-criminal and pro-Ottoman propaganda campaign was activated, daming Italian criminal influence in Greece and showcasing the most recent education reform as a gift from the Sublime Porte to its subjects (something that the younger generation of Greek Cypriots indeed could appreciate). At the same time, major public works started across the island, particularly targeting Greek workers and mostly concentrated on establishing academic facilities and infrastructure in its poorest, Greek-populated areas. The effort was massive and is considered by official advisers to be an overkill, but it did increase Greek Cypriots’ community’s participation in the national economy and culture and helped to dissuade many Cypriots from immigrating to Mexico and Gran Paraguay. (Regional quest completed with success, regiona Anatolia gains +5 HC, +5 IC, +5 EC, +5 MC, Sublime Porte gains +2% Regional Influence, Mexico loses -1% Regional Influence, Gran Paraguay loses -1% Regional Influence, Sublime Porte losses: -0.96 HC, -1.09 IC, -2.23 EC, -0.95 MC)
Smyrna of the infidels
Q1-Q2 1893: Elimination of the “Twenty Classes” program and large investments into Greek Cypriot communities were huge victories for Greek subjects of the Sultan. However, while the Ottoman Greeks celebrate, their opponents from fundamental Muslim and Turkish nationalist circles (primarily, rural landowners, as well as prominent muftis (religious legalists) and imams (preachers)) are being greatly disturbed by this new trend. Nowhere is this discontent more obvious than in the city of Izmir (Smyrna), which Ionian Greek diaspora is so big and prominent that the city is informally known among Turks as Gavur Izmir (“Smyrna of the infidels”). Out of the 391 factories and guilds existing there, 322 belong to local Greeks, while 3 out of the 9 banks are backed by Greek capital. Education in Izmir is also dominated by the local Greek communities with 67 male and 4 female schools in total, including a famous Evangelical School. The tension is growing all across Ionia, and especially in Izmir itself, where one may find it dangerous to travel from the upper (Turkish) part of the city to the lower (Greek) part and back.
Turkish Cilicia? Armenian Cilicia!
Q1-Q2 1893: Trying to accommodate everyone in its highly liberal new policies, the Sublime Porte dedicated a lot of efforts of its administration to erasing the sharp edges between the Turkish and Armenian communities in Cilicia. This included economic preferences for businessmen of both communities wishing to collaborate (which were few in numbers and market share), as well as a cultural and propaganda campaign encouraging unity and joint work toward prosperity. Small economic efforts were also put toward trying to integrate the region into the greater Anatolian market, which also produced mixed results. On the one hand, some economic boost was indeed achieved, but on the other hand, a growing underclass of disaffected Turkish commoners is growing in Anatolia, uncompetitive, reactionary, and feeling left behind in the wave of social changes that are impacting the society. As a result, some number of rural Turkish businessmen prefer to deal with Maghrebi and Egyptian importers rather than “fellow” Anatolian Armenians and Greeks, and some number of mavericks even emigrate to “purer” places, such as the Basmachi State in Central Asia. (Regional quest completed with mixed results, region Anatolia gains +5 IC, +10 MC, +5 MC, Regional Growth Fluctuation +0.25, Maghreb gains +1% Regional Influence, Egypt gains +1% Regional Influence, Basmachi State gains +0.25% Regional Influence, Sublime Porte loses -2.25% Regional Influence, Sublime Porte losses: -3.01 HC, -3.94 IC, -6.94 EC, -2.56 MC)
What makes us one
Q1-Q2 1893: Liberal reforms in the Sublime Porte have changed life, nobody can argue with that. On the one hand, the notion of ethnic and religious communal autonomy, the ancient millet system, is still being preserved. On the other hand, the government continues pushing for greater cooperation between communities and ethnic entities that don’t necessarily wish to collaborate and simply want to be left to their old ways. This forced communion, while allowing the state to advance a great deal in its development, is raising a lot of uncomfortable questions. What, except being a formal subject of the same Sultan, brings together a Wahhabi Arab, a Druze, an Anatolian Greek, a Slav, and a Turk? What idea brings them together. The Ottoman Empire seems to be stuck in a paradoxical clash of old, pre-nationalist traditions that helped it to expand and stay stable three centuries ago, on one side, and progressive, assimilatory ideas of nationalistic progressivism of modern Europe, on the other.
Pocket battleship
Q1-Q2 1893: Failures of the previous years had almost cost the Sublime Porte’s Kapudan Pasha (naval minister) his entire career. To his relief, this year he managed to secure enough industrial capacities for his “pocket battleship” brainchild project and finally had some significant results to show. While the Ottoman industry remains to be obsolete in its construction methods, it did manage to pass some important milestones this spring, and chances are that the Kapudan Pasha is going to see his “naval toy” before the end of the year after all. (Technology quest progress: 63.74%, Sublime Porte losses: -3.23 HC, -0.79 IC, -7.66 EC, -5.5 MC)
Meteorological balloons and weather forecasting
Q1-Q2 1893: Konstantiniyye and its Anatolian inlet of Galata became a scene of peculiar scientific experiments, with high-altitude, lead-covered helium-filled balloons being launched into the air, and various wind speed- and air pressure-measuring devices being brought for public display, along with difference engines built to analyze all data compiled into punchcard feeds. Financed personally by the young Sultan, the project is looking to develop and put to use modern and scientifically advanced methods of understanding and predicting climate and weather changes, both short- and long-term. The project is far from completion, but royal protection ensures it will not suffer from lack of funding. (Technology quest progress: 31.14%, Sublime Porte losses: -1.86 HC, -3.02 IC, -4.26 EC, -1.12 MC)
Twenty classes
Spoiler :
1892: Pontic Greeks are sizeable and proud minority in the Turkish Black Sea shore, and they were never particularly liked by the Ottoman authorities. Until recently, however, they were let be, as long as they didn’t claim much power and paid their taxes. All of it has now changed because of the problem of Greek Aegean piracy, combined with the growing movement that demanded greater Pontic Greek representation in the Janissary corps and thus in the Grand Divan. Highly patriotic (and a bit too fervorous) wali (“governor”) of the Trebizond Vilayet chose to solve the problem through a ruse. A forced conscription program officially named “Soldiers for Public works by drawing of twenty lots” (nicknamed “the Twenty Classes”) started to round up Pontic Greek males of all ages and assign them to “asistant engineering” battalions that, coincidentally, wear no military uniform, do not get issued any weapons, and have no Turkish (or generally Muslim) soldiers assigned to them. These “battalions” then are designated to perform excruciatingly heavy labor in horrible conditions, “allowing” the Pontic Greeks to prove their value to the military and thus, maybe, eventually, produce some outstanding officers that could claim the position of a pasha, someday. Needless to say, the Pontic Greeks and even Turkish intellectuals see the “Twenty Classes” as an appalling ridicule mixed with all signs of forced labor.
Q1-Q2 1893: In full reflection of the greater liberal, meritocratic trend sweeping through the Sublime Porte’s administration, the “Twenty Classes” program was deemed an unacceptable forwardness. Careful to not lose face and not anger the entire generation of old-school administrators, the Grand Divan dispatched a commission that put plenty of pressure on the Trebizond Vilayet wali, encouraging him to quietly roll back the most unacceptable of the program’s policies, letting him clear his name of any charges of wrongdoing by following that instruction. Meanwhile, the “assistant engineering” battalions were reformed, with their soldiers being congratulated (and at times even awarded for the good work). Some of the Pontic Greek conscripts were sent home with awards (and some with disability pensions), while others were assigned to different, mixed garrison units, where they formed tight ethnic subgroups, but showed no other signs of open discontent. The handling of the issue helped Pontic Greeks regain a small degree of political influence in the region, boosting their participation in labor, administration, and economic activities. (Regional quest completed with success, region Anatolia +15 HC, +5 IC, +10 EC Regional Growth Fluctuation +0.5%, Sublime Porte losses: -2.48 HC, -4.02 IC, -5.68 EC, -1.49 MC)
Schooling for the old men
Q1-Q2 1893: Technocratic reforms of the Sublime Porte’s administration have succeeded at bringing a new generation of well-educated, ambitious intellectuals, bureaucrats, and meritocratic officers to power across the empire. However, most of the top positions in the apparatus of the state are still being held by pashas of the “old order,” staunch traditionalists, used to relying on a network of informal agreements and intuitive political decisions in their work. A few obvious cases of corruption and mismanagement were easily found exposed, and their actors were demoted, but a large number of ill-educated, but capable and law-abiding administrators and generals remain highly influential in the government. According to the new regulations, now all of these men (some of them in their seventies) have to now “brush off” their skills and educations, which for many of them by now constitutes a humiliating and, often times, an impossible task. Now it remains to be seen how principled the young Sultan and his grand vizier would want to be at cutting ties with the very generation of Janissary pashas that has brought the Sublime Porte to its today’s heights.
Shady enosis
Spoiler :
1892: The Greek word “enosis” means “union,” and for the Cypriot Greeks it emphasizes their desire to reunite with the free state of Greece. For years, non-Turkish population of the island has been kept largely illiterate, meaning that their role in the local economy was of manual workers or subsistence farmers, incapable of effectively putting together an organized reunification movement. In the last year, however, it seems like the Cypriot Greek diaspora has received plenty of funds, and Ottoman agents suspect that this wealth comes from dealing with Italian-backed Balkan Greek syndicates of rather questionable business nature. Now it’s up to the Sublime Porte (or a foreign player) to decide how to deal with it.
Q1-Q2 1893: As little as that issue looked on the grand scheme of things, Ottoman authorities chose to send a good portion of its administrative, cultural, and economic actors to address it, perhaps spooked by the Italian takeover of Greek politics in 1891. A major anti-criminal and pro-Ottoman propaganda campaign was activated, daming Italian criminal influence in Greece and showcasing the most recent education reform as a gift from the Sublime Porte to its subjects (something that the younger generation of Greek Cypriots indeed could appreciate). At the same time, major public works started across the island, particularly targeting Greek workers and mostly concentrated on establishing academic facilities and infrastructure in its poorest, Greek-populated areas. The effort was massive and is considered by official advisers to be an overkill, but it did increase Greek Cypriots’ community’s participation in the national economy and culture and helped to dissuade many Cypriots from immigrating to Mexico and Gran Paraguay. (Regional quest completed with success, regiona Anatolia gains +5 HC, +5 IC, +5 EC, +5 MC, Sublime Porte gains +2% Regional Influence, Mexico loses -1% Regional Influence, Gran Paraguay loses -1% Regional Influence, Sublime Porte losses: -0.96 HC, -1.09 IC, -2.23 EC, -0.95 MC)
Smyrna of the infidels
Q1-Q2 1893: Elimination of the “Twenty Classes” program and large investments into Greek Cypriot communities were huge victories for Greek subjects of the Sultan. However, while the Ottoman Greeks celebrate, their opponents from fundamental Muslim and Turkish nationalist circles (primarily, rural landowners, as well as prominent muftis (religious legalists) and imams (preachers)) are being greatly disturbed by this new trend. Nowhere is this discontent more obvious than in the city of Izmir (Smyrna), which Ionian Greek diaspora is so big and prominent that the city is informally known among Turks as Gavur Izmir (“Smyrna of the infidels”). Out of the 391 factories and guilds existing there, 322 belong to local Greeks, while 3 out of the 9 banks are backed by Greek capital. Education in Izmir is also dominated by the local Greek communities with 67 male and 4 female schools in total, including a famous Evangelical School. The tension is growing all across Ionia, and especially in Izmir itself, where one may find it dangerous to travel from the upper (Turkish) part of the city to the lower (Greek) part and back.
Turkish Cilicia? Armenian Cilicia!
Spoiler :
1892: Armenian population of Cilicia is enjoying a massive demographic boom that drives more and more hillside villagers of Armenian descent to the Adana plain. Not only are they starting to outnumber Turkish residents of that region, important both in terms of naval commerce and pharmaceutical industry, but they also tend to dominate the job market thanks to a better average level of education (an area in which Anatolian Turks won’t be able to outcompete the Armenians until a new generation of school students joins the job market) and an extreme sense of communal solidarity. This, of course, gives birth to a lot of ethnic tensions and economic anxiety, with some hotheads even proposing extreme measures, such as ethnic cleansings and pogroms.
Q1-Q2 1893: Trying to accommodate everyone in its highly liberal new policies, the Sublime Porte dedicated a lot of efforts of its administration to erasing the sharp edges between the Turkish and Armenian communities in Cilicia. This included economic preferences for businessmen of both communities wishing to collaborate (which were few in numbers and market share), as well as a cultural and propaganda campaign encouraging unity and joint work toward prosperity. Small economic efforts were also put toward trying to integrate the region into the greater Anatolian market, which also produced mixed results. On the one hand, some economic boost was indeed achieved, but on the other hand, a growing underclass of disaffected Turkish commoners is growing in Anatolia, uncompetitive, reactionary, and feeling left behind in the wave of social changes that are impacting the society. As a result, some number of rural Turkish businessmen prefer to deal with Maghrebi and Egyptian importers rather than “fellow” Anatolian Armenians and Greeks, and some number of mavericks even emigrate to “purer” places, such as the Basmachi State in Central Asia. (Regional quest completed with mixed results, region Anatolia gains +5 IC, +10 MC, +5 MC, Regional Growth Fluctuation +0.25, Maghreb gains +1% Regional Influence, Egypt gains +1% Regional Influence, Basmachi State gains +0.25% Regional Influence, Sublime Porte loses -2.25% Regional Influence, Sublime Porte losses: -3.01 HC, -3.94 IC, -6.94 EC, -2.56 MC)
What makes us one
Q1-Q2 1893: Liberal reforms in the Sublime Porte have changed life, nobody can argue with that. On the one hand, the notion of ethnic and religious communal autonomy, the ancient millet system, is still being preserved. On the other hand, the government continues pushing for greater cooperation between communities and ethnic entities that don’t necessarily wish to collaborate and simply want to be left to their old ways. This forced communion, while allowing the state to advance a great deal in its development, is raising a lot of uncomfortable questions. What, except being a formal subject of the same Sultan, brings together a Wahhabi Arab, a Druze, an Anatolian Greek, a Slav, and a Turk? What idea brings them together. The Ottoman Empire seems to be stuck in a paradoxical clash of old, pre-nationalist traditions that helped it to expand and stay stable three centuries ago, on one side, and progressive, assimilatory ideas of nationalistic progressivism of modern Europe, on the other.
Pocket battleship
Spoiler :
1891: Smyrna warfs are rumored to be working on a brand new type of a ship that doesn’t revolutionize any concepts of naval warfare, but combines existing armament, engine, and hull technologies to produce powerful, short-range warships capable of shore protection. Unfortunately, the single warf assigned to work on the new project proved to be lacking some critical knowledge and capacity to work on an experimental project of that scope, resulting in a series of accidents and a needless loss of materiel. It seems like more state-sponsored efforts need to put to into this project for it to produce a presentable result. (Technology quest progress: -3.21%, Sublime Porte losses: -1.37 HC, -0.34 IC, -3.20 EC, -2.34 MC)
1892: After the last year’s embarrassment, the Admiralty threw more resources into the ambitious new project, this time fixing the damage done and achieving humble, but visible progress. However, at this rate it seems like the ambitious “pocket battleship” project could turn into a decade-long Odyssey of questionable value. Western-European shipbuilding experts point out that the problems that plague Turkish shipbuilders boil down to two factors: backwardness of technology and lack of an amassed, concentrated effort of the Turkish industry on the complex task at hand. (Technology quest progress: 6.62%, Sublime Porte losses: -2.72 HC, -0.67 IC, -6.33 IC, -4.63 MC)
1892: After the last year’s embarrassment, the Admiralty threw more resources into the ambitious new project, this time fixing the damage done and achieving humble, but visible progress. However, at this rate it seems like the ambitious “pocket battleship” project could turn into a decade-long Odyssey of questionable value. Western-European shipbuilding experts point out that the problems that plague Turkish shipbuilders boil down to two factors: backwardness of technology and lack of an amassed, concentrated effort of the Turkish industry on the complex task at hand. (Technology quest progress: 6.62%, Sublime Porte losses: -2.72 HC, -0.67 IC, -6.33 IC, -4.63 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: Failures of the previous years had almost cost the Sublime Porte’s Kapudan Pasha (naval minister) his entire career. To his relief, this year he managed to secure enough industrial capacities for his “pocket battleship” brainchild project and finally had some significant results to show. While the Ottoman industry remains to be obsolete in its construction methods, it did manage to pass some important milestones this spring, and chances are that the Kapudan Pasha is going to see his “naval toy” before the end of the year after all. (Technology quest progress: 63.74%, Sublime Porte losses: -3.23 HC, -0.79 IC, -7.66 EC, -5.5 MC)
Meteorological balloons and weather forecasting
Q1-Q2 1893: Konstantiniyye and its Anatolian inlet of Galata became a scene of peculiar scientific experiments, with high-altitude, lead-covered helium-filled balloons being launched into the air, and various wind speed- and air pressure-measuring devices being brought for public display, along with difference engines built to analyze all data compiled into punchcard feeds. Financed personally by the young Sultan, the project is looking to develop and put to use modern and scientifically advanced methods of understanding and predicting climate and weather changes, both short- and long-term. The project is far from completion, but royal protection ensures it will not suffer from lack of funding. (Technology quest progress: 31.14%, Sublime Porte losses: -1.86 HC, -3.02 IC, -4.26 EC, -1.12 MC)
Near East
Spoiler :
Fast-developing, but extremely ethnically and religiously complex region with mediocre economy, but big symbolic value.
Druzes and Maronites
Greater Kurdistan
Not So Fertile Crescent
Druzes and Maronites
Spoiler :
1891: Druze and Maronite (Antioch Christian) communities of Lebanon are at it again! Their intercommunal warfare of 1860 was put down not without French colonial assistance, and it seems like both of the communities are trying to settle ancient land disputes through fighting once again. Both of these ethno-religious minorities are disenfranchised in the Sublime Porte’s state apparatus and both have little influence in the province of Palestine and Lebanon. Some advisors welcome this conflict as a part of a larger “divide and conquer” strategy, but others point out that conflicts like that siphon a lot of energy from the empire, wasting it on local squabbles.
Greater Kurdistan
Spoiler :
1892: Recent reforms of the lifestyle of Ottoman Kurds have created a phenomenon of growing national consciousness among them. No longer were they a conglomerate of semi-nomadic hillman tribes, but a multifaceted and multireligious ethnicity, prosperous and loyal to the Sublime Porte. The informal borders of Greater Kurdistan are, however, not limited to the lands of Turkish Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Northern Syria. A sizeable Kurdish minority lives in Persian Khorasan and Hamadan, and some enclaves could be found even in Georgia and the Caucasian Imamate. A vocal group of Kurdish national thinkers is starting to make its voice known to the Sultan and the Great Divan, arguing that Kurdistan should be reunited once again, either under the benevolent rule of the Sublime Porte, or (should it fail to act upon it) as an independent state.
Not So Fertile Crescent
Spoiler :
1890: The lands of Mesopotamia and Syria that used to be known as a part of the ancient Fertile Crescent are experiencing a serious agricultural demise. Perhaps, caused by a combination of growing population, a series of droughts, and often obsolete agricultural techniques, these lands are impacted by severe exhaustion of soil. Some territories on the edge of the Crescent have already been consumed by the desert, and agricultural output keeps falling. That, in turn, pushes many poor peasants into cities, where they join the local underclass.
Central Asia
Spoiler :
Slowly-developing region suffering from drawbacks of fast-paced modernization followed by reactionary rollback.
Retreating seas
The White Sun of the Desert
The New Method
Retreating seas
Spoiler :
1890: The Caspian and the Aral seas used to be two major sources of agricultural activity in Central Asia. However, these seas (or, rather, giant lakes) are starting to show signs of drying up. With them, local agriculture starts shrinking, and Caspian trade is seriously impacted both by the retreat of the sea from several small Khivan ports (that literally have turned into inland cities by now). To make matters worse, the population of the Caspian sturgeon has diminished, hitting hard the caviar business that’s been keeping quite a few fishing communities very rich.
The White Sun of the Desert
Spoiler :
1890: Military modernization of Khiva has brought the khanate on the peak of its imperial power in recent years, but now it seems like the nation is being torn by contradictions. Turkmen locals, in their majority, are nomadic or semi-nomadic peoples, who don’t mind having oil rigs built in their lands by Russian businesses, as long as it generates some wealth for them, but they’re not very welcoming of changes to their own lifestyle. And changes is exactly what modernization of the Khivan economy brings. At the same time, the Uzbek population of Bukhara and the rich Ferghana valley (both conquered a few decades ago) are quite acceptive of the Western (primarily Russian) technologies and traditions. That puts the Khan in a strange situation, when the most loyal part of his society is the least excited about the course of his policies.
The New Method
Spoiler :
1890: Now that the amalgam of popular rebellions led by the Basmachi movement has achieved its purpose of freeing the peoples of East Central Asia from aristocratic exploitation, it is time for them to come together and form a united state entity. So far, the only source of central authority in the state is the Shura-i Islam (Islamic Council) composed of muftis (Islamic scholars and interpreters of the Shariah law). That, naturally, creates quite a reactionary lean to otherwise socially progressive policies of the Basmachi. However, a new faction is getting a lot of weight in this rudimentary state apparatus. Calling themselves Taraqqiparvarlar (“progressives”), they advocate usul ul-jadid (“the new method”) in the approach to state policies. In short, it may be summarized as modernization of all spheres of life akin to the reforms of the Egyptian state. However, more reactionary factions of the Islamic Council (supported by the rural underclass) view this as a betrayal of the original, Luddite nature of the movement. For now, disagreements between the proponents of both factions have been rather civil and took place primarily in madrasa schools, but it seems like the tensions are about to escalate soon if no faction claims victory.
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