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OTL United States and Ottomans as well? The recent update was good, it is interesting to see how the great power relations in African colonies develop.
Ah, the Boer War. I take it there's no telegram from the Kaiser to the Boers this time? 
So the alignment of Austria with Russia, and possibly France later on, opens the door for the Anglo-German partnership. I can see an interesting WWI where Austria takes the role of revanchist France, and France takes the role of aloof Britain, reluctant to become entangled in a general European conflagration.
Anything could happen, of course, and I'm interested to see what changes might butterfly out of the Boer War.
Anything could happen, of course, and I'm interested to see what changes might butterfly out of the Boer War.
It sounds like the Boer War was bloody and hard in this timeline as well, but it is good to see that the Empire won in the end. I don’t think London will be very pleased to see the French aiding the Boers… but then again London might not want to be friends with the French at all…
:rofl:
Good to hear. I love how in depth your timelines are and was pleased to see it reborn.
Ending Isolation
Battle of Omdurman, Apex of Empire
In 1898 the last, most apocalyptic clash between the modern world and its medivael counterpart took part at a place called Omdurman. Fifty thousand Sudanese, members of the Khalifa's vast army – armed with spears and captured Martini-Henry rifles – faced a mixed force of Egyptian and British forces only half their size. Had one had the distinct pleasure of standing upon the field of battle that day they would have seen the last visage of a passing age. Late in the morning the Khalifa ordered his forces forward. Winston Churchill in person at the battle and to give it historic treatment in his subsequent book, The River War, took time to describe his astonishment at the sight of ”the whole black line, which seemed to be zareba, began to move. It was made of men not bushes. Behind it other immense masses and lines of men appeared over the crest, and while we watched, amazed by the wonder of the sight, the whole face of the slope became black with swarming savages.” Spread five miles across the Khalifa's host advanced, the sun glinting on over fourty thousand spear points which ”spread a sparkling cloud. It was, perhaps, the impression of a lifetime, nor do I expect ever again to see such an awe-inspiring and formidable sight.” No one can doubt the courage and bravery of those men who lined the slopes of Omdurman, but it was to be no avail against the seachange of modern weapons and modern means. Once again the young Churchill cut succinctly to the point relating to us that “...the Maxim guns had also come into action. A dozen Dervishes are standing on a sandy knoll. All in a moment the dust began to jump in front of them, and then the clump of horsemen melts into a jumble on the ground, and a couple of scared survivors scurry to cover.” Twice the tide of Dervishes came on and twice they were thrust back, both times with a hideous cost in human carnage. By the end of the day Kitchener and his staff officers were to ride into Omdurman. Once there the tomb of the Madhi was desecrated with a zeal of tyrannical zealots from a past age. Modernism had conquered.
News of the victory was greeted with rapture at home. In Trafalgar Square a bust of Chinese Gordon was erected, with ”the significant, the sinister, yet the somehow satisfactory word, 'Avenged'” Within the House of Commons politicians from both the Conservative and Liberal parties spoke in glowing terms of Kitchener, the conduct of the battle, and in the words of Arthur Balfour the fact that ”the stain of the Soudan and its fanatical Mohammedanian votaries have been forever wiped from the flag.” Many among the English establishment liked to see the victory as the next-to-last step in British domination of the continent. The Times went so far as to suggest the Mahdist War as ”the most glorious, most consequential armed conflict of the last two decades.” This boast was, however, absolutely incorrect for while Omdurman and the British conquest of the Sudan was of the utmost consequence in matters of African colonialism and the longterm stability of British Egypt we must look elsewhere not only for the most significant conflict of the 1890s and for what was to become the source of the end of splendid isolation. To find that source we must look far to the east to China and Japan.
Kim Okgyun, Korean reformist and foe of Japanese colonialism
Long locked away in a precious isolation of its own Japan was in 1894 still considered a weak Asian state, mattering little when it came to international politics. Though Japan had modernized quickly in the wake of its forced realization of its troubling position in world affairs after the Meiji Restoration it was still at best a minor regional power, dwarfed by its larger continental Chinese cousin. As the pace of moderization quickened this could not last though, and as the years slipped many amongst Japan's ruling class began to look to Korea, and its continued dominance by the Qing Dynasty as a ”dagger pointed at the heart of Japan.” It was assumed that with Qing vulnerability being shown at every step, dating back to as each as the Opium Wars, that any number of colonial powers – such as Russia, Germany, or France – could eventually take over the region and pose a threat to Japanese sovereignty in due time. Furthermore those in the now budding zaibatsu class clammered for access to resources that Korea could offer in abundance such as iron and coal. Over the course of nearly two decades a slow simmering affair followed whereby the Japanese began develop their own brand of colonialism beginning with the Treaty of Ganghwa, which granted the Japanese trade rights in Korea and set Japan on a collision course with the Qing over who would retain control over the area. Within Korea opinion split between conservatives – who wished to see renewed ties to China and the traditional axis of relations between the two powers – and liberal supporters who agitated for moderization on the lines of what was ongoing in Japan. Briefly on several occassions these arguements flared up into open violence such as in 1884 when members of the Enlightenment Party, led by Kim Okgyun, initiated a brief coup d'état against the conservative government of Empress Myeongseong. For three days Seoul was crippled as liberals attempted to forcibly remove the government until a force of Chinese suppressed the revolt. Okgyun was forced to flee to the waiting safety of a Japanese vessel, only to find his a decade later in Shanghai – his body returned to Seoul was quartered and his head mounted in the center of the city, a grim bloody reminder of the chaos that was steadily making itself felt.
Though no true friend of Japan, the death of Okgyun and his showy murder was an affront to the Japanese with which they believed merited nothing but the most stern rebuttal. Oddly enough the genesis of just such a movement was begun by forces that sternly resented the imposition of Japanese colonialism on the Korean peninsula – the Donghak movement. The genesis of the Donghak movement can be found not solely with colonialism, most assuredly this was an issue, but to an overriding degree the Donghak movement was an internal matter in which resentment by the lower classes against the government and the Yangban ruling classes was transformed into open warfare by 1894. Presaging the coming guerilla warfare and communist ideology of Mao and others the Donghak rebellion began with the execution of landowners, the expropriation of ruling class property, and the land redistribution. Almost immediately the movement gained traction, not only amongst the landless and destitute but also among liberal yangban who looked to use the anti-Japanese feelings to plot a new course towards true Korean independence. Adding demands to ”drive out the Japanese and Western people and purify our sacred land” Donghak forces began marching towards Seoul, forcing the Joseon government to appeal to China for aid in quelling the rebellion. The Japanese government, seeing this as a means by which China could start to reassert its influence and concerned that the pace of Japanese colonial expansion could not afford to stall responded by landing its own expeditionary force at Jemulpo. Both nations now solidified their positions such that war was now inevitable, in the end being declared at the start of August.
Opinion from the European colonial powers was strongly in favour of a Chinese victory. Possessing an immense edge in manpower and by now profiting from a German military mission at Beiping which had almost brought a number of modern Krupp cannon the Chinese were thought to possess the superior army. Though quite smaller this was by no means an accurate assertion. In contrast to the Chinese, where corruption was rife and generals were often appointed by fiat due to court favoritism or bribery, Japan was a model of modernity. Aligned under the German model and tutored by British, French, and American staff officers in the decades before the First Sino-Japanese War the army had by now begun to churn out dedicated cadres of professional officers each year. With regards to weapondry the preponderence in favour of the Japanese was even more stunning. While the Chinese were to have a number of modern field pieces, such as the aforementioned Krupp guns, they had a dearth of trained artillerymen to man them which was to prevent the Chinese from exerting any expert handling of the guns throughout the conflict. The Imperial Japanese Army, though not having as many or as modern equipment when it came to artillery could however rely on a levy of French trained experts, which throughout the conflict and several sieges would prove vital. Lastly, the Japanese had by this period standardized their infantry weapons, giving each man the services of a modern Murata rifle where in contrast the average Chinese soldier was to deal with nearly half a dozen common firearms with all the complicated logisitical and training obstacles which were to come with such problems. Moreover massive amounts of embezzlement throughout the Chinese government had helped to forstall plans to construct railroads throughout the entirety of Manchuria such that it was during the early portions of the war that Chinese forces would find themselves frequently low on food, ammunition, and reinforcements and ultimately relying on supply from sea.
The Battle of Seonghwan would set the pace of the First Sino-Japanese War
Immediate efforts by both sides led to immense bloodshed in Korea, interspaced by the most violent portions of the now fully developed Korean civil war. The first clash occured at Seonghwan, less than two days march south of Seoul and near the vital port of Asan. Chinese forces around the port had been reinforced just a day earlier resulting when the Kaw-shing was able to manage to avoid a Japanese squadron of armoured cruisers, bringing 1,200 fresh soldiers to join the 3,500 already around the port. Now with a marked manpower advantage against the advancing Japanese forces moral was high within the Chinese lines until the two armies began stern fighting, ending in a total rout of the Chinese in two days fighting. Nevertheless the a sizeable Chinese force managed to evade the Japanese pursuit and moved north quickly to Pyongyang. There, joined by roughly 10,000 more men they entrenched around the city, emplacing several Krupp guns in rebouts spaced among the more imposing terrain features. They had more than a month to continue their work. The Japanese advance, far from being lightning was slow as more strength was gathered from the ports of Busan and Wonsan, allowing multiple columns of infantry to surround and invest the city by the middle of September. Once again the Japanese attacked, this time encountering more resistance and engaging in a week of brutal fighting before harried in their rear the garrison surrendered, though a large part of it managed to escape – fleeing back towards Dandong and the Yalu to fight a series of hardfought delaying battles from that river to as far back as the Liao throughout the rest of the war. At the sametime the Japanese, buoyed by quick naval victories after the victory at Pyongyang, used their new strategic advantage to strike at multiple points across the long Chinese coastline – landing on Taiwan, Peng-hu, and near Weihaiwei. The most decisive battle came in November however, at the Battle of Lushunkou. Well defended and protected from immediate attack by hilly terrain around the town, Lushunkou, known to westerners at the time as Port Arthur, had a garrison of 20,000 when it was invested late in the year. The garrisons commander, one of the few semi-competent Chinese commanders had taken the early measure to bring in as many cannon as possible to man the fortifications and had set about using as much local manpower as possible – drafting even women and children – to construct vast redoubts, small forts, and trench systems throughout the hills which protected the strategically positioned port town. Sadly for the defense little had been done to secure an adequate supply of ammunition and powder, a problem which was not noticed until the second week of the siege. To preserve as much as possible and to extend the siege as long as possible it was ordered that each round was to conserve as much powder as possible, leading to most of the Chinese volleys being fired far short of Japanese lines. However in one respect the Chinese faired much better than throughout the rest of the campaign, for the decision to rapidly entrench to a suficient degree largely negated the advantages of their enemy, who being forced to advance on secure enemies was given a bloody nose for the first time in the campaign, losing nearly five hundred men in one advance upon the most heavily fortified element of the Lushunkuo defenses. Sadly though the lack of ammunition, and the now brittle morale of the troops combined to force the surrender of the garrison by late December, thus surrendering the town and ending the last major element of the war.
The Siege of Lushunkuo would end the First Sino-Japanese War
Qing China had been humiliated in war and was to very soon be humiliated at the peace tables. The subsequent Treaty of Shimonoseki ably expressed the end of supposed Chinese dominance in the region. In the first article of the treaty China gave up all pretensions of authority in Korea. Furthermore the Chinese would give up Taiwan, Peng-hu, and the entirety of the Liaodong Peninsula. Finally China was to open its markets to the Japanese fully at Shashih, Chungking, Soochow, Hangchow, and throughout all of Manchuria. Thinking they had won a full diplomatic and military coup the Japanese were rightly proud of their advances but less than a week after the signing of the treaty a European response to the treaty – by Russia, Germany, and France – was sent out. In it the three powers demanded that Japan rescind its claims on the Liaodong Peninsula, remove its forces from Manchuria over the Yalu river, and cease its new trade preogitives in Manchuria. Buoyed as it was from its recent victory the Japanese had no illusion that they could possibly equal any of the three powers involved in the rebuttal and sensibly altered the treaty to conform to European demands. In this Russia strengthened its hand drastically, having already staked a claim in the region with the construction of the Trans-Siberian railroad. Germany, though notionally on bad terms with Russia, was persuaded to go along with the plan for the expressed support it would receive from both other powers over its interest in acquiring a Far East naval base astride the Shandong Peninsula, perhaps at Weihaiwei. The French likewise were to use the affair to strengthen their claims on several locations, including Hainan.
To the Japanese the humiliation of the Triple Intervention as it was to become known resulted in several things. First it renewed the idea within Japanese society that it would have to look to within to find the strength to modernize in the face of opposition from without, in part helping to spurn the growth of new ideas about the place of Japan in the world and her destiny as the supreme world power. More immediately it gave new credence to calls for new funding for more modern naval vessels and new arms for the Imperial Japanese Army and a more advanced draft law. Perhaps most importantly though it gave new resolve to several within the government such as Baron Tadasu Hayashi to the thought that Japan would need to seek allies if it was to preserve its new position in Asia and forstall any encroachment by Russia or Germany into its proclaimed sphere of influence. Almost naturally these meant approaching another European power. With Russia now the greatest concern in Tokyo, Japanese efforts at procuring an alliance with one of the great powers quickly became focused on Great Britain. To the sensible mind of the time a potential alliance between the two powers seemed a queer idea, seperated as they were by such large geographical spaces. Regardless of that fact Britain now needed an ally in the region to help forstall what was seen as a dangerous amount of Russian expansionism as the new century began. The Japanese, who were now gravely alarmed at the increasing extent in Russian expansion into Manchuria, through railroad construction, the lease of Port Arthur in 1900, and trade concessions by the Qing government, sent Baron Hayashi to London to meet with Lord Lansdowne – former Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India, and now Foreign Secretary in the last two years of Salisbury's final term as Prime Minister.
Lord Lansdowne, Salisbury's last Foreign Minister and architect of the Anglo-Japanese alliance
Hayashi arrived in July of 1901 and was met in his mission with support not only from the existing Japanese legation, but from the newspaper editors of The Times and The Telegraph, along with prominent men such as Edwin Arnold. In meeting with Lansdowne, Baron Hayashi offered his thanks for Britain taking no part in the Triple Intervention, its support of Japanese modernization and the recent shared efforts during the Boxer Rebellion, but once the initial platitudes were over it became rapidly clear that the basis of any alliance would rest solely on Russia and British attitudes towards its expansionary tendencies in the Far East. The Japanese positioned rested on the fact that it required British support to prevent any Russian takeover of Korea by the Russians. Very quickly Lansdowne conceeded the point that Britain ”would certainly fight to prevent” the region from coming under Russian control, however talks fairly quickly bogged down as it became clear that Lansdowne's initial comment was not entirely truthful. Matters also rested on how any such alliance would deal with the British position in India, as Lansdowne frankly suggested that any alliance would need to require a provision requiring Japan to assist Britain should Russia move into India proper, to which the Japanese were initially hesitant to agree too. Facing these problems Hayashi briefly left the table and the legation in St. Petersburg under Marquis Hirobumi Ito was sent to attempt to reconcile Japanese and Russian interests in the region – those these talks very quickly broke down. Lansdowne, hearing of these talks brought Hayashi back to the table and fairly soon thereafter a draft agreement was reached and soon ratified by both governments. The subsequent Anglo-Japanese Alliance was to be purely defensive in nature, neither party being bound to come to the others aid if the other acted offensively. Moreover, Japan was not to be initially compelled to come to Britain's aid in case of a Russian attack in India, but did agree to act within six months of any Russian declaration of war against Britain. In return the British would support the Japanese position in Korea and would guarentee support for any new trade concessions levied by Japan in China and the Japanese would likewise recompense any British moves.
Both sides could feel good about their successes, as both got what they needed. For Britain the Japanese counterweight against Russia was thought to be a strong potential counterweight against the Tsar, for if war broke out in Europe between in which Britain faced Russia and its Austrian allies terms of the alliance would force Russia to divide its attention to both ends of its vast Empire. Likewise should the two powers begin fighting in central Asia in due time the treaty would guarentee the same result – though not as quickly. Japan gained much more however. As it saw it British support now guarenteed continued domination of the Korean Peninsula against Russian encroachment and would allow them to take a much more forceful tone in any matters throughout the region, confident that they would be able to rely on the support of a great power. Sadly for His Majesty's government the renewel of Japanese confidence and the binding of Great Britain to the confident burgeoning Asian power was to do the opposite of settling the situation around Korea and Manchuria. As the new Balfour government was soon to discover it was to precipitate the first major political crisis of the twentieth century.
Yes, the United States and the Ottomans have essentially gone exactly the same as IRL. I don't have an intentions of changing up the United States for a long, long while, but the Ottomans sometime soon.
Wooo, that was an epic update. The Anglo-Jap Alliance seems to be a bit 'tighter' than OTL, it could be easier for Japan to drag Britain into the (probably) coming war with Russia, which would be very interesting for all involved.
Good update.
Good update.
Hmm, possible Russo-Japanese War might well take a wholy different course than in OTL. Great update once again.
This AAR is already a Zombie, started on the HOI2 board years ago. And everyone who has watched the Romero movies know that Zombies move slowly.