That is ok. I'm still, thinking about the alliance chain I would like to see, but I do see France either in charge or one of the leaders of one of the sides.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Well I fixed that map now. Also France will definitely be leading the revolutionary side.
I'd think it would be something like this:
International Liberal and Revolutionary Union (ILRU): France, Italy, Navarra, Portugal, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Canada, Australia, Greece*, California, Alaska, Antilles, Morocco*, Manchu* (*=Affiliated but not members)
Confederation of Independent States (CISS): Soviet Russia, Romania, Cree, Spain, Romania, Louisiana Socialist Federation (Mexican rebels), Kongo, Belarussian Seperatists in Lithuania, Germany*
Celestial Union (CU): Ming, Japan, Korea
League of South American Nations (LSAN): All South American States, UPCA*
The ILRU may be a bit too strong, so perhaps a Communist revolution here or there should occur.
Whatever the case, it should be a tough war for all sides, but at least at the start the French should have the upper hand.
The war could start over a dispute over Constantinople between Greece and Romania, the Soviets intervene to support Romania, France and Italy declare support for Greece, bascially like a Vicky 2 Crisis, before escalating into war as alliance chains are called in. Fighting primarily around Anatolia and Romania at start, Scandinavia move in to northern Soviet territories, before war spreads across the world as opportunistic states like Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Ming and Mexico declare their own wars.
Either all of the above or just any crisis really.
Personalities of states:
Soviet Russia: Propagandists' dream, hordes of fairly well-trained and loyal troops, defence of borders but also of world proletariat priority so will go on offensive when possible.
Romania: Expansionist and fearful of neighbours.
France: Level-headed, supporter of allies and maintainer of world balance.
Mexico: Opportunistic, seeking to fulfill Manifest Destiny
Great Scotland: Isolationist at first, intervenes to secure holdings and to try and find peace
Japan and Ming: Really want to take out Manchu and Soviets
Cree: Cree wants to kick the Europeans out of North America and to unite all of the surviving Native American states
International Liberal and Revolutionary Union (ILRU): France, Italy, Navarra, Portugal, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Canada, Australia, Greece*, California, Alaska, Antilles, Morocco*, Manchu* (*=Affiliated but not members)
Confederation of Independent States (CISS): Soviet Russia, Romania, Cree, Spain, Romania, Louisiana Socialist Federation (Mexican rebels), Kongo, Belarussian Seperatists in Lithuania, Germany*
Celestial Union (CU): Ming, Japan, Korea
League of South American Nations (LSAN): All South American States, UPCA*
The ILRU may be a bit too strong, so perhaps a Communist revolution here or there should occur.
Whatever the case, it should be a tough war for all sides, but at least at the start the French should have the upper hand.
The war could start over a dispute over Constantinople between Greece and Romania, the Soviets intervene to support Romania, France and Italy declare support for Greece, bascially like a Vicky 2 Crisis, before escalating into war as alliance chains are called in. Fighting primarily around Anatolia and Romania at start, Scandinavia move in to northern Soviet territories, before war spreads across the world as opportunistic states like Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Ming and Mexico declare their own wars.
Either all of the above or just any crisis really.
Personalities of states:
Soviet Russia: Propagandists' dream, hordes of fairly well-trained and loyal troops, defence of borders but also of world proletariat priority so will go on offensive when possible.
Romania: Expansionist and fearful of neighbours.
France: Level-headed, supporter of allies and maintainer of world balance.
Mexico: Opportunistic, seeking to fulfill Manifest Destiny
Great Scotland: Isolationist at first, intervenes to secure holdings and to try and find peace
Japan and Ming: Really want to take out Manchu and Soviets
Cree: Cree wants to kick the Europeans out of North America and to unite all of the surviving Native American states
- 1
I've actually already figured out the WWI and have been working on the maps already. I appreciate the suggestions though, although I don't see some of them fitting. Italy would never side with Greece over anything, since they broke free from their land. Soviet Russia is currently pacifist and won't be joining any wars at the moment. The idea of Germany, the most counter-revolutionary nation of them all, siding with communists is quite amusing.
Well at least you got the personality of Mexico, Great Scotland, and Cree down to a tee. Their participation in the conflict will certainly fit what you've written. 
And we've finally reached 1900. I don't have any more updates like this planned, but I will do a set-up for WWI at some point. It's not finished yet, so the daily updates are over for now. Hopefully I'll have it up within a week. I just need to figure out the sides still. For now, let me leave you with a map of the world in 1900 until WWI. I'm just pretending nothing major happens in those years. The calm before the storm, if you please.
I collect alternate history maps (found some very awesome ones on DeviantART for instance) and I'll be glad to add this one
. It's a pretty realistic and good-looking 1900 world you've got here."The calm before the storm"... Just worried about how WWI will mess up all those clean borders again, after you've spent one century or so to shape them... just like it did in OTL
Last edited:
I collect alternate history maps (found some very awesome ones on DeviantART for instance) and I'll be glad to add this one
"The calm before the storm"... Just worried about how WWI will mess up all those clean borders again, after you've spent one century or so to shape them... just like it did in OTL
Well I'll be posting an updated map soon where I filled in all the gaps. It didn't make sense for all that land to be unoccupied in the 1900s.
Of course WWI will cause a mess. We'll probably need a WWII to fix it all.
World War I
The Balkans was always a region known for conflict, and the battleground for many wars. The Italians had once controlled nearly the entire region, as had the Ottomans before them. Italy held only a small piece now, with the rest under the control of Serbia, Greece, and Romania. There were those who wished for Italy to reclaim the Balkans, but not everyone. The consul of Italy, and the man who held the position for over three decades, former king Umberto Emmanuel di Habsburg, fell under the latter category. For three decades he fought against his jingoist opponent in politics, Giuseppe Settimo, to keep Italy from starting a war over the Balkans. The two had gone head to head in numerous elections, with Umberto coming out first every time, even if only by a slim margin. The former Italian king refused to retire until he was certain that Italy was safe from the revanchism of Giuseppe and his cronies. For Umberto, a war over the Balkans would surely drag Italy into a conflict that it could not win without great difficulty. The times of the Revolutionary Wars were over. It was time to move on and seek peace with Italy’s neighbours.
During a political rally in Italy’s Balkan provinces for the upcoming 1914 election, Umberto Emmanuel di Habsburg met a most unfortunate fate. While giving a speech before a large crowd of supporters, a Serbian assassin fired several shots from the front of the crowd, fatally wounding the Consul. Umberto died a few minutes later before he could receive medical attention. The assassin was captured by a local police force as he tried to escape in the ensuing chaos. Interrogation revealed that he was a Serbian nationalist named Avgustin Princip bent on seeing Italy’s Balkan provinces join their ethnically similar neighbour of Serbia. They wanted Italy out of the region, and the death of Umberto was the first strike.
The assassination of Umberto Emmanuel di Habsburg soon had major consequences. With his primary rival dead and the entire country outraged by what they saw as a Serbian attack on their Consul, Giuseppe Settimo achieved an easy victory in the 1914 elections. His campaigns for revanchism and Balkan expansion had more appeal than ever now that the Italian people had witnessed a blatant show of Serbian aggression. Links had been found tying the assassin Avgustin Princip to the Serbian government, so they knew who to blame. Italy would get revenge for the death of their late consul, and perhaps reclaim their lost land in the process. On 28 July 1914, Italy issued Serbia a declaration of war. This was the spark for the biggest conflict the world had seen since the Revolutionary Wars. World War I had begun.
Italy’s declaration of war upon Serbia forced Greece into action. Greece had been guaranteeing the independence of Serbia ever since the Grand Coalition War where the two had firmly established that Italy no longer had a claim on the Balkans. They would not allow Italy to annex their neighbour without a fight.
When Italy declared war, it called up its ally France and its fellow revolutionary nations. The war was considered to be a simple affair with Serbia just being the target and Greece the only other belligerent. France joined a few days after the declaration was sent, followed shortly by the Netherlands, Trier, Hungary, and Poland. All the revolutionary nations of Europe had banded together for one war.
The sudden aggressive action taken by the revolutionary nations greatly worried Germany. If they were not stopped this time, the entire Balkans would be claimed by Italy, giving the revolutionary nations a major advantage in Europe. Germany, as the bastion of counter-revolutionary thought, could not allow this. With France seen as the leader of the group, Germany declared war on them and marched over the border. Lithuania joined Germany, wanting to get revenge on Poland. The attack of Germany on France drew in their New World allies. La Plata, Nova Hispania, and Canada all came to France’s defence, as well as all of France’s former colonial nations, expanding the war to another continent.
Romania was greatly disturbed by the outbreak of war. If the Revolutionaries, as they were calling their alliance, won the war, Italy would most likely annex Serbia and take a large chunk out of Greece. This would threaten Romania’s position in the Balkans. Not wanting that to happen, they declared war on Italy. Prussia, a strong proponent of counter-revolutionary thought, joined the war as their ally.
The conflict escalated further when yet another revolution broke out in Spain. The restored Bourgogne monarchy was unable to restore Spain and was mostly seen as a Portuguese puppet. The people rose up and executed the king. The new revolutionary government, knowing that its existence would only last as long as Portugal did not intervene, pledged to join France in its war if they supported the new government. Many feared that France would abandon them again, but to their surprise they were met with a positive response. France pledged to protect the new government from any aggression if Spain joined their war, which the Spanish promptly did.
The Portuguese were not deterred by France’s promise to protect Spain. Believing that the French were too preoccupied to intervene, they declared war on Spain. This drew them into the conflict as well, along with their vassal Navarra, their allies Inca and Morocco (with Granada Al-Jadida alongside them), and their former colonial nations Alaska and Portuguese Australia. This had the unfortunate consequence of forcing multiple members of the League of South American Nations to go to war. Neither side was willing to back down, wanting to support their European ally even if that meant war with their fellow members. Brazil, seeing the Revolutionaries and thus La Plata and Nova Hispania as aggressors, stated that it would come to Inca’s defence. Haiti, who was not a member of LSAN but an ally of Brazil, backed them up. Colombia refused to join either side, attempting to be a mediator the whole time without success. The League had failed.
Portugal, seeing that the Revolutionaries had them cut off from their allies and had Germany almost completely surrounded, attempted to find new allies outside Europe to tip the odds. Much of Asia was still resentful towards the Europeans after the Indonesian Conference. Portugal reached out to Ming first, offering to return the land they had taken from Ming under the Unequal Treaty in exchange for their assistance against Spain’s and France’s colonies in Asia. They also promised to ensure that the rest of the land taken by the other powers under the Unequal Treaty was returned too. Portugal also approached Japan with promises of giving them Taiwan for their help. Both Asian nations agreed.
The agreement between Portugal and Ming soon led to some unintended problems. Ming believed the agreement applied to all land taken from them by the Europeans, which included that held by Great Scotland. They attacked Scottish Macau and Hong Kong, which sparked an international incident. Great Scotland had been warily watching the events unfold on the continent, unwilling to get involved on either side. The brazen attack by Ming on their colony was attributed to Portuguese actions soon after. Portugal refused to do anything about it, since it was Ming taking action against Great Scotland. In response, Great Scotland declared war on Portugal, drawing them into the war they had been avoiding on the side of the Revolutionaries. Alongside them came their allies Scandinavia and Colombia. Colombia had been trying to mediate the conflict in South America without success, so in exasperation they joined their ally and the Revolutionaries. Australia soon joined in alongside their former overlord, but Mexico stayed aloof. Mexico did not care if California and Alaska fought it out, and it didn’t see any potential conflicts between Canada and Haiti as a threat to North American security. Also, with the war in Asia ramping up, Majapahit pledged its support for Great Scotland, Spain, and France.
The sudden involvement of Great Scotland for the Revolutionaries put the Counter-revolutionaries at a disadvantage, especially in the New World. Portugal wanted to help offset this. They sought out Cree, an old ally of Spain. The alliance between the two had been shattered with the multiple Spanish revolutions, so there was no worry of them joining Spain. Portugal instead wanted to get them on board for a potential distraction for Canada. Cree eagerly accepted the offer for a chance to crush Canada. They even convinced the other native nations in North America that it was in their best interest to take advantage of both Canada and California while the rest of the world was embroiled in war. Thus Cree, Potawatomi, Illiniwek, Assiniboine, and Shoshone banded together to reclaim North America.
These sudden aggressive actions of the native nations against Canada and California caught Mexico’s attention. It was clear now that the peace could not be maintained in North America. In an attempt to restore order, Mexico sided with its former overlord and the Revolutionaries. Now the entire New World, excluding the UPCA, was involved in the war.
There were a few latecomers to the war who joined due to either shared interests with one side or for personal gain. Georgia, reduced to almost nothing by Romania, eagerly joined the Revolutionaries in the hopes that they’d be able to reclaim their land during the war. The remaining German states had a much more difficult dilemma. Bavaria, Tirol, and Switzerland had been adopting a policy of neutrality, but it was not working so well with this war. They had avoided joining the Counter-revolutionaries due to not wanting to fall back under Saxon dominance, yet they held no love for the Revolutionaries either who had them surrounded. Ultimately a shared culture and ethnicity tied them closer to Germany and they felt that they could not let the nation be surrounded and overwhelmed by these Revolutionaries who threatened the German people. Thus Bavaria, Tirol, and Switzerland all joined the Counter-revolutionaries.
Great Scotland, in an attempt to find allies capable of helping defend their colonies and attack the enemy, convinced Mali, Hausa, and Manchu that it was in their best interests to join the Revolutionaries. Their participation would help tip the balance in Africa and Asia. Also, with the importance of the Suez Canal in reaching their Asian colonies, both sides sought out Egypt’s cooperation. Egypt intended to keep the Canal open as neutral territory, but threatened to close it to anyone who threatened its security. They did their best to not get drawn into the war, but it was inevitable with them controlling such an important waterway. France, Great Scotland, Spain, and Portugal all used the Suez Canal, and soon enough Portugal and the other three were attacking each other’s shipping. Unable to maintain neutrality or enforce their demands on the belligerents, they were forced to pick a side. They went with the Revolutionaries, simply because they had the most ships going through the Canal and could best defend it against Portugal. Siding with Portugal and the Counter-revolutionaries would have caused more of a threat to Egypt. Thus yet another nation was drawn in the war.
There were some notable absences from this war. Soviet Russia had no intention of getting involved in the war started by the corrupt nobility and devious bourgeoisie where the proletariat would suffer the most. Their own government had been formed on the basis of putting an end to the numerous wars that the old regime had started. Now Soviet Russia could enjoy some peace while the rest of the world tore itself apart. Most of the Middle East also remained out of the war. Their ties to Europe were minimal. India also avoided the war. They had resisted European influences until now and would certainly not join a European-started war. World War I would progress without all these powers.
((Now for a very bad image of the sides in WWI. The French blue countries are the Revolutionaries and the German bluish-grey ones are the Counter-Revolutionaries. I realize that a lot of islands were not coloured in to the proper side. Ain't nobody got time for that!
))
Looks like it's going to be a bloodbath. A really, really, big and long bloodbath.
- 1
Well only 4 years, roughly. I'm using the actual dates of WWI since I have no intention of writing out the campaigns for this entire war. You'll only see the following peaces and aftermath.
This seems a little one sided. The revolutionaries seem like they'd dominate every front except maybe Asia.
- 1
It was quite frankly difficult to evenly distribute the sides based each country's history. I tried to avoid lumping countries into alliances they would never support, although Spain was a bit of a push. At least it doesn't matter because I'm making victory outcomes for both sides so they'll both win and lose.
WWI Revolutionary Victory
On 11 November 1918, the deadliest conflict the world had ever seen came to an end. After years of gruelling trench warfare and high casualty rates, the Counter-Revolutionaries cracked and the Revolutionaries forced a victory. The Germans, after fighting off enemies on four separate fronts, collapsed from within as the people overthrew their government. The monarchy was abolished and a republic established, although one might not consider it revolutionary. The new government sought out a peace with the Revolutionaries on behalf of the Counter-Revolutionaries, who were all in terrible shape and unable to continue fighting any longer. Peace had to be established. What that peace would be would not be favourable for the Counter-Revolutionaries.
The war had been started over the Balkans and that was the first issue dealt with. Italy demanded the annexation of Serbia and Greece, with Romania giving up all their land in the Balkans and Anatolia. Egypt and Georgia argued against this, since Italy had never held most of Anatolia and Italy’s presence there threatened their interests. Suggestions were made to divide the region, but no agreement could be made. France had to intervene, convincing the three powers to only take the border provinces and for a puppet regime to control most of Anatolia. The Ottomans were to be revived under the guidance of Italy and Egypt. Serbia and Greece, completely at Italy’s mercy, had no say in the matter. Italy reclaimed the Balkans as planned, restoring their country to its former glory.
Germany was perhaps the most pressing problem. Despite being completely surrounded by enemies, they had not gone down without a fight. France feared their strength being used against the Revolutionaries again in the future. Unlike the Balkans, Germany could not be subdued so easily. Instead, they would have to weaken Germany and its neighbours as much as possible. First off, Trier expanded its eastern border into German land. France then created a buffer between them and Germany by taking parts of Switzerland, who they annexed, and western Bavaria and Germany to form the buffer state of Baden. This revived nation answered only to France, much as the Netherlands did. Western Tirol was given to Italy to weaken that nation and Scandinavia received Holstein. But France was not done yet. To further weaken Germany, France forced them to agree to the independence of Bohemia and Magdeburg. The people of Bohemia were quite eager for independence, since they had been forcefully subjugated by the Saxons decades before. The people of Magdeburg were more reluctant. They were forever tied with Saxony, or rather Germany now, so their independence was mostly forced. It was simply a way to weaken Germany further. Germany was now reduced to a minor landlocked nation, just as France wanted. They could not dispute French hegemony in Europe again.
In Iberia, Spain was finally given the opportunity to exact revenge on Portugal. Navarra was completely annexed, returning Spain’s land in the process. Portugal then had its colonies systematically divided amongst the winners. Spain took all of Portugal’s island provinces in the Atlantic and their West African province, with the exception of Bermuda which Mexico demanded as a naval base to protect its eastern seaboard. France and Great Scotland divided their possessions in the Indian Ocean, while all their Pacific possessions went to France, with the exception of the Galapagos that were claimed by Colombia. Taiwan went to Great Scotland and Majapahit claimed the Portuguese island near Sumatra. Great Scotland also took over possession of Portugal’s land taken from Ming. Nova Hispania took all of Portuguese South Africa. To make things worse, California annexed Alaska and Australia annexed Portuguese Australia. Portugal’s empire had been dismantled, reducing them to a solely European power.
Eastern Europe was also dramatically reshaped. Prussia, after holding out for so long, was eventually overrun by a combined Polish-Scandinavian offensive. After centuries of back-and-forth struggle, Poland wiped their nemesis off the map. Poland annexed Prussia, although their provinces in Estonia and Latvia were given to Scandinavia. Prussia’s attempt to reform militarily to ensure survival had failed.
Poland also had a chance to renew ties with Lithuania. Like Germany, the Lithuanian government collapsed near the end of the war. A pro-Polish government came to power, one that wanted a union with the other nation to end the bloody war. With the war finally at an end, the union could commence. Poland and Lithuania were unified, renamed the Commonwealth.
Romania was beaten bloody in this war. They had never truly recovered from the Romanian Revolution, and were thus not in the best shape during this war. They also found themselves beset from all sides. With Italy and Egypt rampaging through Anatolia, Hungary in the west, and Georgia in the east, they could not last. The occupying powers greedily divided their land up. Anatolia was of course given to the puppet Ottomans, as well as some pieces for Georgia and Egypt. Italy took the great city of Constantinople and some Balkan territory. Hungary, who had owned Romania’s heartland before Romania had even existed, retook its old land, forcing the Romanians to move their capital northeast. Georgia, who had been reduced to a rump state by Romania, finally took its revenge by extending its territory. Now Romania was the rump state.
Other than the annexation of Portuguese colonies in Africa, the Revolutionaries expanded there too. Brazil and Haiti both lost their colonies there, with Great Scotland taking the coastline and Mali and Hausa taking the interior. Mali also took a large chunk out of southern Morocco while Spain expanded its territory in North Africa. The war was proving to be a good excuse for a colony grab.
Over in Asia, Ming and Japan paid the price for backing the losing side. Not only did Spain and Great Scotland maintain their territory in China, but they expanded it. Spain claimed part of the mainland near Hainan, while Great Scotland extended what they had and took Portugal’s old territory. Great Scotland also took two small islands south of Japan to use as naval bases and to keep an eye on Japan. Manchu also got its revenge. All of Japan’s mainland provinces and all of Korea were conquered, while Manchu claimed all of Ming’s land north of the Yellow River. Those two Asian nations would take time to spring back.
In North America, the native nations found themselves completely overrun. California had already been given Alaska, but they also took a small piece of Shoshone. It would be Mexico and Canada who benefited the most. Canada annexed the northern portions of all the native nations, greatly extending its southern and western borders. Mexico had made a push for the coastline and expanded mostly eastwards and a bit to the north. Haiti lost their provinces in Florida to Mexico, as well as the Bahamas. Speaking of Haiti, Antilles weakened their presence in the Caribbean by laying claim to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the Turks and Caicos. Out of all the victorious nations in North America, Mexico and Canada made the most gains and wiped out the final native holdouts.
South America also experienced border changes, despite the peaceful relations that had existed before. Inca, Brazil, and Granada Al-Jadida were declared responsible for disrupting the League and thus had to pay the price. Western Brazil was carved up by Colombia and Nova Hispania. Nova Hispania and La Plata took a small piece of Inca as well. Granada Al-Jadida faced the worst fate. The Muslim experiment in South America was over as Cosmopolitaine Brazil and Nova Hispania split their territory. Now the nations of South America would have to pick up the pieces and see if they could re-establish trust again.
World War I was over and at a great cost. So many nations lay in ruin or had ceased to exist. The Revolutionaries had won and established dominance in the world, but they were just as weak from the fight. The question was not if the Counter-Revolutionaries would seek revenge, but rather when. The First World War had only created new grudges without providing an avenue for peaceful reconciliation. There would be conflict in the future. World War II was inevitable.
* * * * *
For those who favoured the Counter-Revolutionaries, do not despair. I'm going to write up a victory update for them too. Everyone wins!
- 1
This ending could only be better if poor Romania wouldn't be on the loosing side. Viva la Revolution!
I really like the borders in Africa, and I can't complain about the Borders in South America. There is something that I don't like about the borders of Mexico, other than that it looks good.
I really like the borders in Africa, and I can't complain about the Borders in South America. There is something that I don't like about the borders of Mexico, other than that it looks good.
- 1
Yeah, I felt bad beating up Romania like that. They deserve so much better.
Is the Mexican border annoying because it doesn't follow state lines? I tried to do it best I could, but it's really hard to find where the borders are by comparing maps. I gave up with the western half.
I feel this ending is bitter sweet. I like that the North American natives are gone, they've always been a bit unrealistic. I do wish that Inca remained unharmed, but at least they got off easy. As for Romania, I wish they would've kept their west and instead been force to release Ukraine, but that might just be me being biased.
Mexico's borders are not so good. What I would've done for Mexico's north is Start the border at the IRL Delaware/Pennsylvania border, and go west to the Ohio River. From there, I'd follow the river to the Mississippi. Next, I'd draw a straight line all the way to the Pacific that is at about the same latitude as the northern border of Oklahoma. Of course, I doubt California would like that much.
All in all, I think this outcome was well thought out, and I can't wait for the other.
Mexico's borders are not so good. What I would've done for Mexico's north is Start the border at the IRL Delaware/Pennsylvania border, and go west to the Ohio River. From there, I'd follow the river to the Mississippi. Next, I'd draw a straight line all the way to the Pacific that is at about the same latitude as the northern border of Oklahoma. Of course, I doubt California would like that much.
All in all, I think this outcome was well thought out, and I can't wait for the other.
- 1
Romania was a tough decision. Hungary technically did have cores on that land and owned most of it beforehand, so it made sense for them to reclaim it, despite it being Romania proper.
It's impossible to make a completely straight border based on where the provinces are. I tried to do the best I could without it being too jagged, but alas that was impossible.
Yeah, the provinces in North America are very awkwardly done. It's almost as if Paradox made them randomly. With what you had to work with, it looks good.
- 1
It didn't help that the map I had showing the states wasn't very good and I could barely tell where the state lines were. I could have gone for the traditional border, but Canada deserves better.
Straight lines as borders only make for arbitrary divisions anyway. Save for North America and Africa, there are very good reasons not to have straight lines as borders. These borders look much less artificial, although with the natives being carved up it would have made sense in some way.
Vive la révolution!
Vive la révolution!
- 1
And as we have seen with the Middle East, sometimes it's not a good idea to carve up territory at random to create new nations.