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I'm not sure which I'm more impressed by, tunisia's progress, or your use of call-out lenses in your map :)
 
Very nice! I love how you screwed over the Russians like the AI probably would lol. That been said Russian Oregon is a bit of a blight. Stepping in for Cyprus looked like fun too. Now Tunis is boldly printed on half of Africa. Its funny how small the origional Tunisian land looks. Since you have been able to project your power on a number of countries is France perhaps in the crosshairs? Because taking the Algerian coast would make your Algerian lands not look like food in the French maw. I must say I am very impressed by Tunisian industry. Makes me jealous as Abu Dhabi (played to 1906 so far) goes almost without.

Edit: Oh and how can I forget Tunisians finding the South Pole first.. I found that hilarious!
 
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You've done amazingly well with little Tunis, it's a new Carthaginian empire for sure! And 1.2 seems a lot more fun, with GPs finally eager to intervene in wars and the AI more willing to give military access.
 
You need to annex Egypt, Ethiopia, and the rest of Ottoman Africa to really make the map look good, but an impressive feat nonetheless!

I second this, To Cairo! It will never be a truly contiguous empire without Dumyat connected to the rest of Tunisian Egypt.
 
I'm not sure which I'm more impressed by, tunisia's progress, or your use of call-out lenses in your map :)

I am stunned by both. This AAR shows amazing progress for Tunis and is very nice to read.

Is there any chance of a pie chart to show how much of your population is Tunisian, Spanish (sorry, Neo-Carthaginian), etc?
 
Great progress since I last checked in! European revolutions and wars are certainly to Tunis' advantage, it seems! And finally, Tripoli is in your hands! It'll be wonderful to see if you can stretch your empire across the Mediterranean from Carthage to Tyre! Nice work!
 
That jutting-out bit of French territory is quite the eyesore. How strong are you relative to France now? I'd say it's time to make that border a little neater. :p
 
Thanks everyone! :) I'll try to do something about Egypt, although in the next update I will be focusing more on industrial advancement. I'll be sure to include pie charts at the end of the next chapter. France does concern me, in the sense that it makes the map of Africa look more ugly, but it would be very dangerous to pick a fight with them, due to their large navy (with dreadnoughts) and sphere of influence. Our relations are steady at 180-200 (they drop a little whenever I ban their ambassadors from Madagascar).

The Tunisians' desert experience must have trained them well for Antarctica. Sahara, Antarctica, both deserts, right? :p
 
Chapter XIII – Brutality and Progress

Peace did not last for long in the Middle East. Just a month after the end of the Nine Months’ War, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Egypt, drawing in Austria and the Netherlands (the latter as war leader, surprisingly). While the Ottoman Armies proved unable to even reach Sidi Barrani, which was their object for the war, the Dutch overran most of Egypt, forcing it to cede two regions to them. The Ottomans got nothing.

Possibly in hopes of reclaiming some prestige, the Ottoman Empire attempted a second war against Cyprus in November 1914. This time the island was allied to Tunis and in the latter’s sphere of influence, so Tunisian involvement was immediate.



The war lasted until August 1915, with the Ottomans never setting foot on Cyprus. After being repeatedly defeated in Syria, they requested a white peace, which Tunis agreed to.



That peace treaty could not have been more opportune. A few months later, Tunis experienced the biggest revolution in its history, when 3 million communists took up arms, fighting for trinket minimum wage!



The situation seemed daunting, and the sultan and his cabinet seriously considered fleeing to France and leaving the country to the angry crowd. But once the immediate threat to the capital was averted and the Levant was pacified, the reactionary Nationalist Faction was sworn into office, with the stated goal of crushing the communist infestation. Plans were drawn up for operations in central Africa, Somaliland and the Algerian hinterland, where the rebels roamed unchecked, while troops from Lebanon were ferried to Crete and Valencia, where the rebel forces were placing immense pressure on the loyalist troops.

After almost a year of bloody war, the revolution was put down. Millions died across the Tunisian Empire, but the survivors learned to fear the sultan’s army, and militancy went down for all strata of the population. The Russian Empire was less swift in dealing with its own insurrections, and Armenia broke free in January 1917.



For the next year, Tunis was calm. The reactionaries of the Nationalist faction espoused the interventionist school of economic development, and capitalists were given freer reign to manage the nation’s industry. Technological development led to two revolutionary inventions, practically simultaneously, in 1918:



Seeing the communist threat die down and the new opportunities for directed industrial expansion, the sultan replaced the Nationalist Faction with the conservative Royal Faction and proceeded to grant statehood to three central African regions. There, and almost everywhere else, automobile and airplane factories would spring up in rapid succession.

As Tunis’ industry and sphere of influence expanded, neighbouring Spain joined the ranks of proletarian dictatorships in late 1918. Half a year later, Tunisian scientists developed new and horrible weapons that would ensure the sultan’s army’s supremacy in any future conflicts.



In 1920 the first automobile and airplane factories started to become operational, and they proved immensely profitable.



Meanwhile, Madagascar, having won its independence from France and having found safety in Tunis’ sphere of influence, became the third ‘uncivilized’ nation to westernize, thanks to its large population and army.



Madagascar would prove invaluable as a source of coal for Tunisian industry, since no coal was extracted anywhere within the Tunisian Empire.

In January 1921, after some years of peaceful development, Tunis surpassed France in the world rankings, becoming fourth in the world. Optimistic analysts maintained that it was not unthinkable that it could rise to second within the next fifteen years. The sultan was skeptical but pleased.



As a gesture of the Tunisian Empire’s status as a new land of opportunity, sultan Muhammad V made a pompous declaration, inviting Jews from all over the world to return to Palestine, where they could have a future free of European prejudices.



At the same time, Palestine was granted statehood, along with Darfur and Massenya Region. But while Tunis prospered, the Ottoman Empire too had been building up strength, putting into effect a vast military restructuring program. The army was expanded by an order of magnitude, local revolts were squashed, and by 1922 it was feeling confident enough to once again take on Egypt, this time without calling its untrustworthy allies.



The Tunisian government treated that event as unimportant, and instead focused on setting up the sultan’s Secret Police, an ambitious project aimed at nipping any new rebellious sentiments in the bud.



That was to be Muhammad V’s last official act. He died on 10 July 1922, and was succeeded by his cousin, Muhammad VI al-Habib. Although the sultanate was set up under the reign of Muhammad IV, Muhammad V would be remembered as the leader under whose reign Tunis really flourished as a great power.

 
Interlude – A look at the Population in the New Century

By the end of 1922, Tunisia’s population has become increasingly urban, although the colonies still account for a large percentage of farmers, which outnumber all other population types. In the old states, though, craftsmen are the dominant population type, exceeding 65% in Crete and 60% in Constantine.



The Maghrebi culture remains a majority, with the second largest cultural group being ‘other’, an amalgamation of all the immigrants and petty African tribes in the Tunisian Empire. The Spanish come third (actually second) at 7.6% of the population, which is predominantly located in Valencia and the Balearic Islands.

If we take a closer look at Valencia,



we see that even there the Spanish have just recently been surpassed in population by Maghrebis. Also, in spite of the best efforts of the Tunisian educational system, their literacy remains quite low, compared to the Maghrebis.

In Tunisia itself, the demographic situation is rather strange.



Besides the large population of craftsmen, a large population of clergymen (over 300,000 POPs) has taken root. Soldiers make up the fourth largest population type, and they make up a large percentage of the Tunisian Army (about half of all brigades, I think).

Moving on to issues, trinket minimum wage is still at the top of the agenda but weighted universal voting is second, and at the top of political issues. The new sultan will have to tackle at least one of them to avoid a new mass-scale uprising in the future. Also of note is the increased support for the Fascist Faction, which is about equal to that for the liberals, reactionaries and communists. The Royal faction, however, remains the most popular and most people are still conservative.
 
My God... what an ugly map of Africa and the Middle East, Dutch, British, French, Italians all over the place.

I'm rather disappointed that despite a war with the Ottomans, Ottoman North Africa still exists, hopefully you can take it next war.
 
My God... what an ugly map of Africa and the Middle East, Dutch, British, French, Italians all over the place.

I'm rather disappointed that despite a war with the Ottomans, Ottoman North Africa still exists, hopefully you can take it next war.
I am rather vexed myself. I'll try to make that Ottoman Africa disappear. Dutch Egypt was more disappointing, since there was nothing I could do to prevent that disfigurment of Egypt. Now I face a dilemma. I can either wait for someone else to take a province from Egypt so that I can use the 'establish protectorate' wargoal to take the rest in one fell swoop (if I can somehow prevent the Americans from intervening), or I can rake up my infamy by taking it in two or more wars. A third option is leaving Egypt as it is and expanding elsewhere.
 
4th place for Tunisia is an amazing achievement - congratulations!
And check out that funky dutch flag - fascist?
 
4th place for Tunisia is an amazing achievement - congratulations!
And check out that funky dutch flag - fascist?
Communist. I wonder if it would have been nicer for them to change their name to something like 'United Soviet Socialist Provinces'; or would that be too big for the interface?

Fourth place is just the beginning! Unless Germany, the USA and/or France have an amazing industry boom in the last 15 years, with my new automobile and airplane industries I might be able to become #2 by 1936... In fact, I'll make that my new official goal! :p
 
Is Muhammad VI going to go one better than his uncle and proclaim himself Caliph? Surely the weakling in Constantinople has no claim to that title now?
 
Is Muhammad VI going to go one better than his uncle and proclaim himself Caliph? Surely the weakling in Constantinople has no claim to that title now?

Not until The Turk is kicked out of North Africa, only then can Tunis claim that right!
 
Melrick: Thank you! :) It brought me much satisfaction when I surpassed France, as you may imagine...

AllmyJames: You will find that Muhammad VI will be more liberal-minded than his predecessors, so he will not claim that title during his reign. His successor, though, might think differently...

Tanzhang (譚張): That's still a national goal, but also as tricky as ever, due to alliances and friendly relations with the UK...

Kaltorak: Health Care has done wonders for Tunis! There are still many colonial regions, most of which haven't been turned into states because they'd lower my overall literacy. They are gradually granted statehoods, though.
 
Chapter XIV – Politics in Motion

The new sultan was of a peaceful and, some would say, compassionate temperament. Having witnessed the revolutions of the previous years, he had resolved to change the Tunisian political system to one more adaptable to the people’s needs. But old interests had become entrenched and old traditions had entwined themselves to the national myth. Still, for all the conservatism and bloodshed, there was one particular vocal element of the population which would not be silenced, and which could succeed in swaying the rest of the population. It was women demanding the right to vote. So, when in July a Study Circle was formed in Tunis by the Suffragettes, the sultan endorsed their activity. When, in September, they marched through mud in the streets of Tunis, the sultan expressed his understanding and support. When in January of 1923 Suffragettes made a scene at the World Anti-Slavery Convention, the sultan decried the discrimination against them as silly. His words carried the weight of a ruling dynasty into every Tunisian household, and with Tunisian women becoming more assertive with this royal backing, the men had to play along.

So, by January 1924, the largest voting bloc in the upper house was the Liberals, and they succeeded in giving the vote to the poor, under a weighted system, as a first step.



The sultan, seeing the Liberal Faction come into prominence, and curious to see how they would do things differently in running the country, appointed them in the lower house in December of that same year. They immediately pursued a laissez faire economic policy, which increased the nation’s revenue while allowing for lower taxes, at a cost of marginally higher unemployment and the shutting down of a few dye factories. In January 1925 the Suffragettes redoubled their efforts, and the increased militancy helped the new government pass an amendment which gave equal voting rights to all men – not yet women, since they lacked the required majority to pass such a resolution by the slimmest possible margin.



There was still some way to go, but Tunis was visibly making progress, at least politically. The social situation, which was the people’s greatest concern, came to a crisis in July, when under special circumstances an acceptable minimum wage reform was passed summarily by the upper house.



The lack of minimum wage was the great rallying cry among communists and other anti-establishment groups, and now their greatest demand was granted, more generously than they could hope to have achieved in any other way. The sultan and his cabinet hoped that this would have been enough. A show of good will, radical political and social reforms happening in rapid succession, proof that Tunis was changing. But people’s perceptions carry much inertia, and the leaders of the crowds that had until so very recently called for armed struggle weren’t about to be sidelined so easily. Even after the law was passed, nothing appeared to have changed.



In early September, Tunisian brigades infiltrated by communist instructors rebelled against their commands and had to be disarmed by force, sometimes in battles that lasted for many days. It was a prelude to revolution, for a couple of weeks later, the great masses of the people followed.



Less than two weeks after that, the Reactionaries rose up in arms as well. Much weaker than the Communists, they nevertheless joined the latter in Turning the Tunisian Empire into a bloody battleground once more. The sultan sulked, after giving his army the authorization to quell the uprisings, killing anyone who put up a resistance. The Civil War of 1925 was less bloody than the Revolution of 1915, and didn’t last as long, but it would be remembered as the last great uprising in modern Tunisian history, a cleansing by fire of fanatical elements on both sides of the political spectrum. In January 1926, women’s suffrage was made a reality by the liberal majority in the upper house and a month later the sultan appointed the Royal Faction back at the lower house to restore some balance and help with the healing of the social fabric.



The return to state capitalism saw a small drop in unemployment, though Tunis’ short laissez faire stage was not particularly disruptive. Industry continued to bloom regardless of whether the state or the capitalists were making the decisions and so it was that in June 1926 Tunis became ranked 2nd in the world, surpassing the United States of America.



It was a proud moment, the culmination of decades of struggle and the highest pinnacle of glory Tunis could hope to achieve in this half-century. Most of the credit went to the hordes of Tunisian craftsmen who supplied the world with the majority of its fuel, airplanes, automobiles and electric gear, and much of its telephones.



Small bands of anarcho-liberals tried to ruin the festivities by staging an uprising a week after the announcement, but they were too few and too weak to be anything other than a mild annoyance. The militant anarcho-liberal movement was effectively ended.


By 1927, Tunis was once again politically stable and could afford to look outwards with little risk of uprisings. Muhhamad VI’s earlier peaceful temperament had been shocked to numbness by the revolutions, and he was willing to entertain plans laid out by his cabinet for the expansion of Tunisian power in Africa. When a casus belli presented itself against the Netherlands he was unwilling to stand up to a parliament urging for military action, and so war was declared on 23 February 1927, claiming Halaib Region (the big one just south of Egypt).



Prussia and the Ottoman Empire came to the Netherlands’ assistance, clearly outnumbering the Tunisian army on paper: 327 brigades in the Dutch army plus 237 brigades in the Ottoman army plus 64 brigades in the Prussian army against 146 brigades in the Tunisian army. But the Tunisian brigades were armed with chemical weapons, while the navy, equipped with cruisers, could ensure that the enemy were blockaded and unable to transfer new armies to Africa or the Middle East (with the exception of the Ottoman Empire).

For the first few months, the Tunisian armies acted mostly defensively, absorbing the shock of the Dutch African armies before counterattacking, while also trying to set up a front in Syria.



After half a year of operations, the Dutch armies had been eliminated in all African theatres and the Ottomans were almost expelled from Libya. However, Ottoman pressure in Lebanon was great and at one point even Beirut fell to an enemy army before being retaken days later. There was talk of adding the Libyan Coast to the wargoals in the cabinet but the United Kingdom was friendly to the Ottoman Empire and made it tacitly clear that it would intervene if the latter’s territorial integrity was threatened. So a white peace was made with the Ottomans in October, returning to them the Libyan Coast and occupied Antioch.



Next in line were the Prussians, who were fighting the war at sea. Tunisian cruisers had steamed up to the Netherlands early in the war, to blockade the enemy ports, and since then saw constant action against masses of antiquated enemy ships. Realizing that the only way to hurt Prussia would be through a blockade, the Tunisian fleet fought its way east, eventually being relieved by a second cruiser fleet when its ships had taken too much damage. The second fleet made it to the Southern Baltic in December, blockading all but one of Prussia’s ports and causing the latter to immediately accept a white peace.



After that, it was simply a matter of occupying all of the Netherlands’ fortified African provinces while blockading their home ports. The liberation of Assyut Region to Egypt had been added as a wargoal, since it would have looked bad for Tunis to take a second state from a fellow great power.

Egypt, on the other hand, would raise fewer eyebrows if it were to lose a region or two. For years, Tunisian diplomats had been working on pulling that country from the American sphere of influence, after seeing how zealously the latter defended it in the recent past. By 1928 that goal had been well and truly attained, and so it was recommended that the sultan authorize the country’s invasion with haste. As the nation was caught up in war fever, Muhammad acquiesced, and a declaration was delivered in February.



One month later, Italy decided to join in, claiming Sidi Barrani Region. That was a worrying prospect to Tunis, but Tunisian armies were better positioned to occupy Egypt before the Italians could enforce their terms.

The Egyptian army was no match for the Tunisian veterans, and their country was occupied within a few months. In September, the Netherlands agreed to Tunis’ terms, and in October Egypt did likewise. The map of Africa was redrawn, with a land link between Tunisia and the Levant.



The new borders still left in place the Italian claim in Sidi Barrani. Italy had never threatened Tunis since its unification, and relations were perfect, but Tunisians were still uneasy about Italians conquering land in Africa. It had been hoped that the Italians would drop out of the war while Sidi Barrani was occupied by Tunis, but the latter could not put off the end of its war for as long as that might have taken. It was running a tight race with the USA in industrial output and needed the peace to make up for lost momentum. However, there was still one way of preventing the Italians from taking Sidi Barrani. It meant intervening on the side of Egypt and throwing the Italians back to the sea by force of arms. Muhammad VI was reluctant to take that step, although some members of his cabinet were arguing vividly in its favour. He remained undecided to his death-day, on 11 February 1929, a circumstance that many found strangely convenient for the jingoists in the cabinet. Those people were careful not to speak their theories aloud.

Muhammad VI was succeeded by Ahmad II, son of Ali III, first Sultan of Tunis. On receiving the news of his cousin’s death, he was immediately set upon by the War Office and the Foreign Office, who requested authorization for a war with Italy. The new sultan had to make up his mind fast. But he took some hours to ponder the question before reaching his conclusion.

 
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