Sweet ghost of Lenin, that's some serious rebel problems the Ottos are facing. However, the collapse of the Caliphate's army will open up a path for Italian strikes into Russia by the Caucasus. Soon Tsaritsyn shall be draped in red banners.
The New York Liberator said:Italy’s Director-General for Foreign Affairs Pietro Nenni visited New York City today as the beginning of his week long diplomatic mission to the Combined Syndicates on behalf of the Italian People’s Republic. Nenni was met by People’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Floyd Olson who showcased the reconstruction of New York City under the provisions set out in the Combined Syndicate’s first Five-Year Plan. Nenni remarked that he was pleased to see the ‘rebirth’ of New York City, moving away from its past as the symbol of capitalism to something even greater.
Nenni was also shown plans for the creation of a memorial to commemorate the Battle of New York, a major turning point in the Second American Revolution, in which the International Brigades, a sizable contingent of which were from the then Socialist Republic of Italy in the south of the Peninsula, played a key role in fighting MacArthur’s advances.
Nenni expressed that like the Combined Syndicates, Italy too had an interest in the yet uncaptured leaders of the MacArthur junta and the Long dictatorship, in particular the leader of the papal divisions that volunteered on the side of the America First and cooperated closely with the mafia. Nenni also met with a delegation of Italian-Americans led by Representatives Vito Marcantonio and La Guardia to express solidarity with the war effort of the Italians in Europe and the Middle-East.
The diplomatic trip by the Italian will see visits through different parts of the Atlantic seaboard and a trip to Chicago to address a meeting of the Continental Chamber of Syndicates. A scientific delegation led by Enrico Fermi, Emilio Segrè, and Rita Levi-Montalcini will also visit various institutions in the United States to exchange information and set up study abroad programs between the two nations.
While to the public the diplomatic mission seems to be another routine one, it is undoubtedly related to the International’s desire to have the Combined Syndicates join the war effort against the Russian Empire, which threatens the gains they have made from the wreckage of the German Empire and her clients. Such a request was raised even at the beginning of the war, even as the Combined Syndicates entered into hostilities with the British monarchists during the war against the Pacific States bourgeoisie. The Combined Syndicates has been at war, in some form, since its chaotic birth in 1936, fending off one threat after another to the safety of the revolution, creating reluctance on the part of Americans to join the war effort.
However, with increasing intrigue from the MacArthur Junta, now joining the America First in Cuba, in communities along the Gulf Coast, the Combined Syndicates may not be able to stay free of the World War for too long.
Damn the Russians are going to be quite a pain of ass to deal with specially with your low manpower. Hopefully the CSA will send their division your rescue.
Also you have some repeated pictures.
I'm really liking how this AAR has kept developing. Do you plan on continuing play even if peace comes? You seem to be setting it up somewhat with all the powerplay stories within the International. A couple of requests:
It seems that you're troops are not participating in too many battles, but could you still include some more in depth battle play by plays with soldiers and generals, like from the Austrian campaign. Those were some of my favorite updates. Don't drop any of the grand strategy and big picture stuff, but don't let the personal portions die either.
Could you post a world map or short update on the various non European theatres? The short segues help, but a picture would be great.
Thanks for a great AAR.
But I see the partisans attacking the Hashemites, right?
King Christian is probably still there because he was beloved by the Danish people at the time and was a very liberal thinker.
If King Christian can be tolerated why not make some grand bargain with the Greeks Serbs and Romanians. The Serbian and Greek Kings keep their thrones but without power in exchange for unified leftist states. Serbia-Yugoslavia and a Greater Greece. It might seem harsh from their point of view, but maybe they'd go along if it looks like Russia may lose the war. It would save a lot of bloodshed and so long as the rest of the class system is dismantled, let the people have their figurehead kings until they are voted out of existence in some near future, or through some soon to come coup. As for the Romanians, as quasi-fascist and unified they might not go along, but one enemy is better than three. The Bulgarians could be set up as a more completely Communist or Syndicalist state to keep neighbors honest. Perhaps you should wait till the occupation ends before moving.
L’Unita January 15th 1945 Special Feature: Syndicalism in the Middle-East said:As the forces of the Italian People’s Army march through the ancient lands of the Middle-East, attention naturally turns towards the future of this region. Even in earlier Congresses of the Greater Italian Union tentative plans had been laid out when the question of aiding Kurdish revolutionaries came to the floor. Now along with the largely French-backed Arab rebellions, Kurds and Arab groups are now in a position to establish newly formed members of the Third International in the region.
The region is admittedly unfamiliar to the planners in the republic, who had to gather what limited sources they had on the region to understand the major players, along with interviews of the exiles residing in Italy undergoing political and military training. It was apparent however that even with recent reforms by the Ottoman Empire, many regions of empire still relied on a tribal or tribal-like system. This would greatly complicate any sort of land reform in the immediate collapse of the Ottoman Empire by the Kurds or Arabs, attempting to break up the influence of both tribal leaders and religious figures- often intertwined with one another- as influence begins to be applied outside the cities.
It is for this reason the Italian socialists took such a keen interest in the region, seeing some parallels between their own consolidation of the revolution in the Italian peninsula and that in the Middle-East, with feudal-like land holdings and the influence of established religious institutions. In one of Nenni’s addresses to the press in the last major summit of the International in Chicago, Nenni saw that like the Italians destroyed the power of the pope from the old Federation, so too would the people of the Middle-East overthrow the Sultan and with it the self-appointed title of the Caliph.
It is of course easier said than done. Even commanders within the Popular Army have been given instructions and warnings of a potential backlash once the first actions to dismantle the role of the Caliphate became implemented. The Commune of France, despite having extensively (and even insisted upon) training Arab rebels has largely passed the role of the Middle-East to the Italian People’s Republic. Officially this is because the Commune feels Italy is in the position to handle the ‘sensitive’ region, pointing out Italy’s own experience with the Latifundia and the Church. However Director-General of Railroads and leader of the National-Syndicalists Mussolini, known for their fierce opposition to the anarchists in France, point out the Commune of France is assigning a complicated task to the republic.
While the particulars of the agreement were never released publically, it is believed that Italy and France had agreed ahead of time in the London, Rome, and Chicago Congresses, with the French taking responsibility of Arab areas, believed to be more ‘developed’, and the Italians getting the more rural and undeveloped Kurdish areas. It now seems though that the Italians will have to carry the whole region on their backs, and with it the question of what to do with not just the Kurdish regions, but the Arab ones now too that they had no prior chance to build up information or ties with.
It will indeed be a daunting task to the Greater Italian Union- not only in the sense that they now must aid the construction of socialism in a region that had long been under the boot of an oppressive empire, but overcome the substantial issues between different groups in the region along with a potential front being opened with the Russian Empire in the Caucasus.
In a way, fighting our way into Beirut was easier than what we were asked to do later. The initial landings up and down the coastline were not difficult- trying to convince the people we weren’t here to stay was another thing all together.
If I may go into a tangent, I want to say how I’m still surprised by how crude the defenses were along the coast were. I’m not sure if this was because much of their forces were tied up fighting the Russians or guarding coastlines closer to their administrative centers. Beirut however was an important city in its own right- I’m simply not sure how we were able to take it as easily as we did.
Early on I was not pursuing my duties with much energy, since I felt the ‘real war’ was occurring against the reactionaries of the Russian Empire. I did not see the value in what we were doing in the Middle-East and I was not the only one shocked when we were told to return back to Italy and prepare to board transports leaving Taranto for the Middle-East. In hindsight though, I feel this prevented many of us from dying a brutal death trying to break Russian lines in Riga, Moscow, or St. Petersburg as was the fate of many brave workers of the International.
Beirut was a lovely city – it fit nicely in to the ‘Mediterranean’ niche that I grew up with in southern Italy. The problem with the city was in the way it reeked bourgeois influences. From what I was told Beirut was one of the more “open” cities in the area, having been exposed to influences from Europe that embraced concepts of its culture and mannerisms, much like the Imperial capital in Istanbul (or ‘Constantinople’ that the European aristocracy always referred to it by). With that of course was the concept of business and finance had taken root, and as such not everyone would welcome the red flag with joy.
Beirut in the early 1940s
We had been told ahead of time of the religious differences in the city- given a few lessons on how to deal with both the various Muslim, Christian, and smaller groups like Jews and Druze that we come into contact with and how to avoid angering them. Despite that a few of us seemed to miss the point entirely and caused friction between the locals and the army when we made missteps in our conduct towards the populace.
We had an odd assortment of people come about a week later once the front lines pushed towards the Kurds holed up in Arbil. On one end we had political specialists from the France and Italy giving training and overseeing the establishment of councils as well as land reform and expropriation of nobility, and through those partners they found a way to communicate to the Muslim clerics. On the other end there some Italian priests- the government finally finding a role for them to do- used them as a way to connect to the Christian clergy in the city. Knowledge of Arabic was not strong in our group beyond a few specialists in the whole city- we relied on whatever French and Italian was known. Our lessons with the Arabs here helped with our operations in Damascus, Jaffa, and Jerusalem later on.
I did not stay the whole time- I eventually left with the rest of the troop convoys moving towards the Mosul Vilayet. We did however establish promising foundations for workers’ councils that we hoped to replicate elsewhere. The people interestingly had no problem with the values and ideas we were encouraging- but simply put years of attacks on ‘socialism’ from both the government and religious sources resulted in such a smearing of the concept that some thought what we were doing as nothing less than a betrayal to humanity.
The soldiers ahead of us had already managed to cross the Euphrates at Deir ez Zor and smashed through the light defenses at Mosul and secured the crossing over the Tigris there as well as blocking the stretch of the railroad that linked the empire to Baghdad [1] - it was a clear road east to our destination. I had originally been tabled to join forces proceeding north from Deir ez Zor across the plains to Anatolia proper, the heart of the empire, but was recalled with forces moving to Arbil.
…
When we finally broke the siege in Arbil it finally let us link up with the Kurdish forces that had waited for our arrival when they launched their rebellion. Arbil itself was a smaller city than Beirut, but still sizable in its own right. Like many of the cities in the Empire it was ethnically mixed, hosting Kurds, Turkmen, and Christians in appreciable numbers. The city’s most defining feature was its ancient citadel perched on top of a hill, which had shown signs of damage from both disrepair and artillery from the recent siege.
The Kurdish population had been ‘instructed’ by the agitators sent out in advance that we were ‘allies’ and they welcomed us accordingly. There was less of a barrier of mistrust to get over with them than what we experienced on the Mediterranean coast, and we saw that they had already gotten to work establishing a system of governance- albeit crude- that closely resembled what we had in Italy. Like in the Arab areas, there were problems though with some of the tribal leaders throwing their lot in with the Empire, rallied to arms to ‘defend the Caliph against the invaders’. But for the most part our contacts enabled us to have the advantage in getting support from many elements of the population who have chafed under the Empire’s centralization drives and corruption. Still, it was a problem that would plague us in the aftermath of the war once our goals became apparent.
The camp of the Kurdish rebels was in fact further north, tucked away in the mountains and valleys north of Arbil, eventually heading close to the Iranian border where Rawanduz, untouched by the Ottoman advance, was located. It was to here I was sent along with a small squad to escort an operative from the Foreign Affairs Commissariat to the camp of the rebels. There we met the self-appointed general of the Kurdish forces, Mustafa Barzani, and ‘our man’, Qazi Muhammad [2]. They had apparently decided to switch appearances- The former was an established rebel though from a strong tribal family in the area, and chose to wear the traditional Kurdish clothing in the area ordinarily. The latter was among those who was trained in Italy and wore clothing not at all dissimilar to what President Togliatti or Chairman Bordiga wore in Italy carrying out their duties. Now, Qazi was wearing a more traditional garb while Barzani had taken advantage of the more 'European' uniforms from the People's Army. It was a bit odd, to say the least.
Qazi also served as our interpreter, carrying out apparently the directives given to our Commissar which essentially consisted of them agreeing to move along with the Italian forces into Anatolia, but setting a western boundary a little beyond “Diyarbakir” and a northern one at Van where they were ordered to set up defensive lines and hold down the fort. This was both so as to not antagonize potential Turkish allies. The Commissar also attempted to ascertain as to what extent both men were familiar with socialism. Barzani seemed to be of a more conservative populist type and not much into socialism, while Qazi, despite being educated in Italy, still seemed to our Commissar ‘tainted’ with social democracy which he blamed on ‘social-reformist’ domination of the education system in Italy.
Qazi Muhammad (L) and Mustafa Barzani (R)
Mustafa Barzani seemed to agree with this and we left without incident. However our Commissar seemed to be worried about what would occur afterwards. Barzani, like much of the landscape in Kurdistan, was from a tribal background. The resulting Kurdish state would be leaned upon by the Internationale to implement land reform that would essentially undercut and destroy the tribal structure and disrupt its religious framework. Our Commissar felt that despite Barzani’s lack of commitment to socialism he could be pacified with a position in the Kurdish military and not resist in the aftermath. It was the multitude of other tribes however that would present a problem, but our Commissar merely shrugged and said history was on our side.
…
For the most part, our entrance into the heart of the Ottoman Empire was without incident. Kurdish rebels followed our directives and no longer travelled with us once we captured Diyarbakir, though with a considerable amount of difficulty. The garrison that had been driven out of the southern vilayets had attempted to rally outside the old walls of that city, but they melted away in face of armor and artillery. I remained two days in Diyarbakir helping set up revolutionary councils as we did in Erbil, and then followed along with the convoys which had started along on the roads to Ankara.
….
The Ottoman preference for its Turkish population became more apparent as we moved westwards towards the Imperial capital. Provinces began to show better infrastructure and industry, allowing us to move much more quickly in those regions than we had been able to before in the largely underdeveloped Arab interior and mountainous Kurdish regions. Indeed much of Germany’s aid to the Ottomans seemed to have been invested in this area and maintaining the railroad that ran down to Baghdad.
Ankara was probably the most difficult battle until then. The Ottomans hoped to halt our advance there and give themselves time to regroup. Much of the military command was there, attempting to assure the Sultan in Istanbul they would not abandon the city without a fight. They held true to that promise, but there was simply too much momentum on our end for them to overcome. The defeat of the Ottomans was now only a matter of time. Our naval forces maintained a strong blockade in the Aegean Sea to prevent escape from the doomed empire, as well as what little supplies the Ottomans were trying to get from the outside. I later learned this served another purpose all together- the Greeks had apparently attempted to capitalize on the imminent collapse of the empire by seizing control of certain coastal provinces which it claimed rightfully belonged to Greece [3] and already we had a near declaration of war when we fired on a flotilla attempting to run the blockade.
…
The final battle took place at Bursa, right outside the road to the Imperial Capital. It was an odd path I had taken so far from Beirut seemingly looping around the empire to this destination, but it was to be expected. Landings on western coastlines closer to the imperial capital had been attempted for a few times in the weeks before, and it ended in failure every time.
The Imperial forces deployed new weapons against us that we had not seen before, more than likely German armaments that had been sent to the Ottomans in the end of the war on the continent. It mainly consisted of armor and certain field pieces that were much more modern than what the majority of the military was equipped with. We had complete dominance in the air- a very welcoming reprieve for us from the difficulties we experienced against the German and Austrian air forces in the early years of the war. This allowed us to outmaneuver the Imperial Army and take advantage of their disorganization and morale collapse, despite their greater numbers.
The conclusion to the battle resulted in the military breaking apart completely. The conscripts melted away, presumably back to their homes to protect their communities from the chaos as the centuries old order was nearing its end. The path to Istanbul lay clear to us and the war’s end was imminent.
…
Istanbul in the 1940s
Istanbul, the Constantinople of old, Rome’s sister city of the east, was occupied by the Syndintern without incident on April 10th. Much of the city that remained hid indoors, only a few venturing to crack their windows open slightly to see us go around the city on our patrols. The normally bustling bazaars were eerily quiet; the only sounds I heard came from our footsteps and those of the sea and birds. Our diplomats were at Dolmabahçe Palace, negotiating the surrender and final end of the old empire. Sultan Ahmed IV was among the few who had remained behind with a few of his trusted ministers- much of the nobility had simply disappeared in the chaos after the defeat of the Imperial army at Bursa. The popular speculation was that they had boarded boats to the Crimea and hoped to put themselves at the mercy of the Tsar, hoping to get appointments to rule the Empire’s Muslim-speaking territories in Central Asia and her future ambitions in Turkestan. Others went to Turkestan itself, hoping to get appointments to the newly annexed territories of the Persian Empire, while others chose to flee to Egypt and Hashemite Arabia desiring the same. The surrender to Italy was almost immediately after we entered the ancient capital.
This agreement was to acknowledge the end of the Ottoman Empire and for the remaining nobility to agree to the first wave of land reforms that would create a common law between the masses and the ruling class. All titles of nobility were immediately abolished in exchange for guarantees of their safe being. The terrain was also set up to gradually decentralize the monolithic religious structure, starting with the end of the Sultan’s claim to the title of Caliph, closely based off the struggle against the Roman Catholic Church in Italy [4]. The main debates over the future of the region itself would be decided at the Damascus Conference being held in the ‘liberated’ zone.
I don’t do enough justice I think in showing just how difficult a terrain new had to work with. Religion was a powerful force in this part of the world- regardless if you were looking at the Muslim, Christian, or other groups- and the removal of a large polity that had been a fixture for years would no doubt bring to the surface tensions that had been simmering for centuries. Thankfully, the common threat in the form of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus served as a common pole for all parties involved to work with one another.