I think the Megali idea would be the best bet for an example of what can be legitimately done

I think the Megali idea would be the best bet for an example of what can be legitimately done

Yeah, and the ethnic make up of the west coast of Anatolia would make that a difficult long-term thing. Let alone it would be difficult to even start. Going for the whole of Anatolia would be immediately rejected by everyone.

Though with a filling Europe up there might be opportunity for them to appeal to Europe at large to make some consideration, especially if history is altered such that Ataturk doesn't really succeed and Turkey gets worse.

@Dinh AaronMk Drat. There goes my idea. (TwT)

@Dinh AaronMk My other ideas are (honestly in no particular order):

Finland (Finnish Civil War begins early, due to Russia's situation, and the White Finns win and form a constitutional Republic of sorts. Begins a program of buildup overall, seeking to bring the nation into a powerful position with a powerful military.)

***Brazil (Got triggered by Germans sinking their ships still, and basically took to assaulting the Germans at sea and building up some navally to do so. Capturing some ships, however, they also take these back home and ride out the rest of the war providing some support to the Entente before their diverging government decides to build up. With the USA not involved and a desire to become a world power, Brazil begins a campaign of internal unification and industrial/military buildup. Maybe triggers Argentina or such, etc. XD)

***Egypt (Egypt makes such a fuss with rebellion during WW1 that the taxed Ottomans to have to let them go, and they buck the British claim and efforts to make them a protectorate (in due time). Gets a constitutional Monarchy or a really good Wafd that forms around this, driving a sense of Egyptian nationality and civil rights and such yet seeking to modernize. Kinda like the Meiji Restoration in this sense, except Egypt not Japan.

Seeks to build up and industrialize, reinforcing its strength and seeking to take advantage of the Suez and trade to boot. Maybe took some British stuff during their resistance against them, resulting in a basis from which to make stuff like their own tanks and guns. Could engage in trade with others to try to bolster resources and position.)

***Netherlands (idk yet, heard someone claimed Netherlands from Yam so leaving this blank just in case)

Any of these viable for a nice alternate history twist?

Nation: The United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos)

Map:

History: The end of the Porfiriato was violent, as opposition forces challenged the succession of President Porfirio Díaz’s 31-year-long regime and revolted when the 1910 election yielded fraudulent results. A politically unstable alliance ousted the strongman ruler, but peace would not last. For the next five years, multiple leaders were elected and subsequently ousted from power until a civil war between the anti-Díaz opposition engulfed the turbulent country. Ultimately, a wealthy landowner from Coahuila by the name of Venustiano Carranza assembled an army seeking a return to constitutional rule in the country and gained the support of several talented military leaders. Despite their defeat of Federal forces led by Victoriano Huerta, the revolution was not unified and infighting began again between the Constitutionalists and the more radical generals.

Alongside Carranza, General Alvaro Obregón proved himself to be a talented and popular figure in the Constitutionalist forces. His understanding of the effects of modern weaponry and strategy was ahead of his time: when European militaries in the Great War were sending wave after wave of men to counter artillery and machinegun fire, Obregón utilized novel defensive techniques against the forces of Pancho Villa in the during the Battle of Celaya. Much like Napoleon at Waterloo, Pancho Villa’s forces were decimated. Obregón, however, was gravely wounded and lost his arm in an explosion during the battle. In debilitating pain, General Obregón pulled his sidearm from his holster and shot himself in the head. The battle would be won, and Obregón would become enshrined as a martyr for Carranza’s cause. Emiliano Zapata was similarly killed in a series of battles and raids by General Pablo González Garza’s army in 1917.

After the defeat of Villa and Zapata, Carranza’s consolidated the presidency in 1915. A new constitutional congress was assembled and the Constitution of 1917 was enacted after careful deliberation. Absent the more ardent supporters of more wide-reaching land reform and articles aimed at reducing the power of the Catholic Church, the Mexican Constitution compromised on many social reforms and enshrined a commitment to nationalism in the economy and military. While disappointing to many original supporters of the revolution, there was no significant force with the popularity and reach to oppose President Carranza and the Mexican Revolution was officially over as of February 5th, 1917.

Carranza would continue to serve in an interim role as president, knowing he was to hand over the presidency during elections scheduled for 1920. He spent the three years rebuilding what had been destroyed, mostly in the northern states, and further asserting his power. The military was restructured under lessons learned by the late Obregón as General González became the Secretary of War and established strict standards of organization, training, and officer education as the Mexican government carefully observed the still-ongoing Great War. Pancho Villa remained under arrest for several years until he was released to serve out the remainder of his life sentence under house arrest at his estate. The 1920 election soon arrived, which Carranza had repeatedly promised to be free and fair. Pablo González, carefully groomed under Carranzo’s administration for the post, was elected in large part due to his public appearance as a military hero of the revolution and legacy-bearer to the now-legendary Alvaro Obregón.

The last embers of the Mexican Revolution caught fire again in 1923, when a significant member of the initial revolution by the name of Adolfo de la Huerta attempted a military coup of the González administration. Because of González’s preference to establish a civilian president instead of a military general, de la Huerta and certain high ranking military officers believed that the government had been corrupted and were betraying the cause. Unfortunately for de la Huerta, the majority of the Army maintained their loyalty to González and troops were sent to the northern states to quell the rebellion. The Mexican Air Force was key to the swift victory over de la Huerta’s troops, proving themselves in their first combat deployment. Air power would quickly become a critical tool in the Mexican military’s planning factors, as a result of the intense focus on education and forward-thinking that the late General Obregón instilled in Mexican forces.

The González presidency was marked by reconstructive efforts similar to Carranza’s, yet troubles continued abroad. The United States had shown an increasing amount of hostility towards labor activists and organizations, oftentimes negatively affecting Hispanic communities of Mexican origin in the Southern United States as empowered members of the Silver Shirts militia and the Ku Klux Klan gained newfound confidence. Politicians on either side of the border were reluctant to normalize relations with each other, and a formal embassy was not to be established until the end of the decade in 1930. Even still, tensions routinely spiked over various incidents and diplomats were reluctant to open up truly open means of communication with each other. A carefully reserved Mexico watched the events of the 1930s unfold in the United States, internally developing contingencies for any number of courses of action that might emerge from the unpredictable and rapidly authoritarian-leaning American government.

After the violent American coup in 1939, Mexico all but stopped most official cross-border actions while Congress debated on recognizing the new government. The embassy was reestablished in 1940, but the damage had been done: the border, while not closed, was now as heavily restricted as ever. Incursions from bandits, militias, and even “lost” military patrols on either side were almost monthly occurrences that fueled a deepening divide and distrust. While nothing ever precipitated a full-blown conflict such as the Mexican-American War, it quickly became apparent in the depths of the Mexican military and intelligence community that the United States was the primary threat to direct most large-scale training and preparation for. An unspoken and unrecognized cold war continues to shadow over Mexican and American relations even if politicians pay lip service to continuing progress and normalization of ties.

Mexican economic growth, spurred on by the nationalist policies of Carranza and González, encouraged the development of local businesses and industrial capability. A base of roadways and railways were built upon to provide a framework that enabled the rapid transport of goods and people. Mexican industries remained in the hands of Mexican businessmen and investors despite pressure from American magnates, creating diverse economic sectors and industrial capabilities that both spurred economic growth locally and provided valuable tax revenue to the central Mexican government. Even though the policies of the American government continued to disadvantage and disenfranchise Hispanic workers, the northern states of Baja California, Sonora, and Chihuahua benefited from cross-border workers and remittances from family members tending the farms and factories in Texas or California.

Critical to the “Mexican miracle” of post Great War economic advances were foreign investors. Newly wealthy European nations such as Spain sought to establish relationships with Mexico through their shared culture and history: investments, diplomatic work, and military training were commonplace between the two countries. Although Mexican government officials were critical of European involvement in the Caribbean and South America, they welcomed the gestures from Spain and worked with them from a viewpoint of healthy skepticism. Similarly, Germany would expand its own investments to Central America after the Great War, with business branches in the automotive and heavy industrial sectors opening in Mexico to diversify and expand their own supply lines and factories. An expansion of banking and credit systems soon followed, bringing wealth to towns and states not previously able to begin their own cycles of economic growth. Mexico City in particular was on its way to becoming a cosmopolitan center of Latin American trade and business by the late 1940s.

The Mexican expansion in wealth and prestige was not unnoticed by other Latin American countries either. Many of them still under European colonial rule adopted Mexican-like political parties and newfound leaders drew on Mexican values to lead campaigns calling for decolonization or reform. Foreign policy to the rest of Central and South America emphasized a shared heritage and history, while Mexican and foreign businesses quickly intertwined into various pacts and international institutions. A regional economy, dominated at first by Mexico until other countries began developing their own centers of commerce and finance, sought to develop and utilize resources and labor that had previously been seen as untenable by others. The 1950s brought rumors of a formalization of these scattered trade pacts and agreements, but such a deal has not yet been agreed upon by the Mexican Congress.

By 1955, the solidified government of Mexico was a far cry from the failing state wracked by civil war during the Revolution. Troubles continue in the north, as the “Wild West” mentality still pervades along the American border states. Extremist political groups stir issues in the cities and towns of the west and south, and friction is ever-present with foreign actors such as the United States and the remnants of the European colonial powers. Wealth disparity is increasing at an alarming rate as the Mexican economy grows and evolves, seeking to unearth buried societal issues unresolved from the Porfiriato. Despite this, Mexico stands as a significant player in the Americas with stable, resolved government wielding unprecedented economic power and a well-trained and disciplined military. As the United States and Europe continue to change and adapt after the horrors of the Great War, Mexico will now need to play a greater role in the international scene than ever before.

***Brazil (Got triggered by Germans sinking their ships still, and basically took to assaulting the Germans at sea and building up some navally to do so. Capturing some ships, however, they also take these back home and ride out the rest of the war providing some support to the Entente before their diverging government decides to build up. With the USA not involved and a desire to become a world power, Brazil begins a campaign of internal unification and industrial/military buildup. Maybe triggers Argentina or such, etc. XD)

Shoot me a message on the discord my enthusiastic friend, we should talk.

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Nation: The Royal Dominion of Canada

History: The Great White North was one of the major players of the British Empire during the Great War. Dutifully they served throughout all thirteen years of warfare, and without question died for colonial masters who ruled from across an ocean. Their participation did not come without a price, however, as the Westminster Statute of 1924 forced the hands of the Crown, and Canada became in the terms of British Parliament, “separate and coequal”.

Canada came through the Great War as one of the most well-off Dominions. It had rapidly industrialized, and its standard of living became comparable to those in Britain itself pre-war. Squalor shrunk massively as factories opened their doors to produce war materiel. Being an ocean away from the fighting, no pillaging took place, and besides U-Boats sailing the North Atlantic, the homeland was spared.

All was not well as 1927 rolled around. Canada was now legally independent as a civilized nation, true. But it had come at great cost. 120,000 Canadians were casualties in some form throughout the war, dealing an extreme blow to the young male population. Maimed and shell-shocked soldiers returned home to a society which was increasingly moving away from agrarian pursuits in favor of industry. Farmers cursed the factories which their sons and daughters went to work for. Canada in 1929 was a perfect storm for disaster.

As the United States’ stock market took its dive, it sent the precarious Canadian economy into free-fall. The Dust Bowl moved north through the US plains and forced what few Canadian farmers remained in the prairies to flee or starve. While never in outright famine, for as long as the United States struggled, so too did its largest overland trade partner to the north.

In the midst of the crisis, Mackenzie King refused to resign his Liberal government as the Conservatives took the Parliamentary majority. Upon calling for a dissolving of the Parliament and a new general election by King (a precedent set in 1925, only granted due to the emergency war-time government), the affair spiraled into a crisis which only resolved when the British Crown threatened to exercise its power to change the Canadian Constitution itself. King stepped down without incident, and the Conservative government took power.

The Conservative government would receive a vote of no confidence in 1931 due to disastrous economic policy, including minimizing worker's rights in an emulation of the American system.. King attempted to claim his seat once again but was ousted by his party due to the crisis he’d caused only a year before. A young Liberal MP from British Columbia by the name of Lawrence Morriss had climbed through the ranks in the recent blunders, and achieved the station of party leader, being sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada in 1932.

His first experience in office was a coup in the United States. Morriss’s test of leadership had come in his first two months. People had not forgotten the Liberal party of Mackenzie, nor the Crisis of 1930. As American refugees flooded the border, he had to pick and choose his battles. As the people in his own borders suffered, he had to turn back at least half of all those seeking asylum due to protest by a growing Conservative minority. Canada would eventually recover, but as a changed nation.

With its new national identity and its economic integrity restored by 1940, Prime Minister Morriss saw his ninth year in office, until suddenly dying from a heart attack at the age of 45. His most trusted advisor, Lennox Dwight, was earmarked to take his post until a spat over the newest development in the American Great Cleansing saw the radically leftist Dwight removed in favor of a more moderate candidate, leaving neither Conservative nor the average Liberal worker in good standing with the sitting party.

It is now 1955. The Liberal party’s control wanes under ineffective leadership which neglects issues at home and abroad. The British-aligned Conservatives grow steadily under new leadership, and a coming general election threatens to oust the Liberal party from its twenty-year government. Quebec and the rest of French Canada prepare their referendums for a Conservative victory, and Canada itself is poised to return to the hole it had dug itself in 1917 during the conscription crisis as war looms.

República Democrática Reformada do Brasil

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Nation: The Reformed Democratic Republic of Brazil, aka “República Democrática Reformada do Brasil”

Map:



History: In November of 1917, large-scale riots of all political parties were in full swing across Brazil. Nationalists, socialists, and others railed against a government that, differing from popular opinion, had declared war on Germany on October 26th, 1917 to try to divert local attention from the government's own problems and failings and "fry a bigger fish". This ultimate failure of an attempt would, however, simply stoke the civil riots and anger against the government to even greater heights. As things only seemed to get worse for the next few months, the government's grasp on things would begin to wane...until finally in February 1918 a 'change' began. In the Rio Grande Do Sul, a Populist by the name of Rafael Faria-Jaeger led a famous speech where he gathered up support and convinced over 5000 soldiers alongside socialists, nationalists, and others to defect to his cause.

Expounding on the need for Brazil to "return to its own internal affairs" and make its people stronger by uniting them together, he captured the eye of the Brazilian people and began to exert a greater influences on the tenetes (basically a term for junior officers in the Brazilian Army) as he rallied them under his banner too. More and more as he went about giving speeches, forming great marches, and speaking to the ills suffered under the existing government as he kept his hotbed of a broad-band political party together through his direction towards solving Brazil's internal problems. Eventually this would lead him and his followers to snowball to the point they would seize power in May 1918, taking over control of the country from "those who sought to destroy our people" as he would put it in his inaugural speech.

Under Rafael, Brazil would begin a decades-long move to reform the government itself, look after its own internal matters, and develop/industrialize the nation both on the coast and in its interior. While naturally the coast had the most pronounced effects of these years of reform and industrialization, the furthering of development and education deeper within Brazil's interior had its own noticeable effects as mining and agriculture grew into various towns and areas that fueled the growing amount of jobs and improving conditions/wealth of the nation. Many a man could find "Honest work and a full stomach!", a motto the new government's reforms and development pushed out, and the emphasis on ensuring the well-being and prosperity of a united Brazilian people would ingrain a nationalistic sentiment into the public mindset as the years went by. Likewise the opportunity came early on to silently and softly nip the influence of the coffee magnates in Brazil when Rafael was in power, especially with them weakened in the wake of the Coffee Market Crash of 1917 after the UK banned the importation of coffee during the war.

By the time of the early to mid 1930's, President Victor Fidalgo would rise to power and ultimately take an interest in empowering the military of Brazil in particular. He had spent years before as a politician and before that a sailor, reflecting on the past issue of German Indiscriminate Submarine Warfare that had taken the life of his brother and father during the earliest years of The Great War. In this regard President Fidalgo had been haunted for years, until he came to office and resolved to reform the Brazilian Military and arms business as a whole. No longer would his people be so behind the likes of other nations, but would be prosperous and mighty to defend their own interests! The other nations could do so, so why couldn't they? In this he would build on existing reforms, expanding the Brazilian arms business and forming his own more powerful version of IMBEL tied to the Ministry of Defense.

His actions would push Brazilian weapons and ship development into new heights, as well as increase profit with new arms licensing agreements from overseas. Yet ultimately whilst President Fidalgo wouldn't transform Brazil into a militarized nation akin to a "North Korea", but his efforts in the long term would instead see the Brazilian "barco subaquático" (underwater boat; nicknamed "S-Boat") rise to prominence in the Brazilian Navy. Likewise his actions would create better ships, along with Brazilian-invented arms and licensed pieces making greater profits overseas (especially in Africa and Europe) and locally.

Now currently under President Gustav Corderio, who was only just elected to office back in November 1954, Brazil has by now been shaped into a nation that carries with it a sense of great national pride and unity throughout. It has retained a strong arms industry still to this day, among other profitable industries such as rubber/synthetic rubber and metals, though it has likewise become a more humane society than many other 'great nations' out there. Eschewing colonies and the adoption of any "racial theory", the nation's treatment, acceptance, and representation of all of its minorities and native tribes has been smoothed out over the decades with no small amount of effort. Brazilians take a point of moral pride that, unlike the decadent Europeans and Americans or even the Argentinians, Brazil has survived and thrived through the greater development of its coast, at least better and noticeably improved development of its interior, and its effective handling of all peoples.

Even so, with a distaste for the USA, the growing tensions, and witnessing the expansion of Argentina...even Brazil's people and their government have begun to play their cards more purposefully. Expansion nor alliances are not out of the question, nor is going to war if they felt they needed to for one reason or another. Only time will tell, however, if they will reach out into the world in one manner or another: Trade or tricks. Peace or war. Alliance or denouncement. Whatever it may be that they do, will the world be ready for it?

(Economic Note: Brazil's military production has also been selling guns to decolonizing peoples in Africa, and would prob sell to groups or mercs or the ilk under the table if it meant out-competing a rival or enemy nation. Sell to smaller nations to fuel their conflicts to the end that our interest are upheld, or simply to make a profit, sell to bigger nations who really need supplies and we have the production facilities to make those orders happen. Prob would sell to any 'friends' as well, in terms of international relations, to make bank and such as well.)

(Other Note: Maybe Brazil has become oddly obsessed with trying to turn every type of ship into a submarine-style submersible boat. Imagine the attempt at a submersible aircraft carrier or such things. XD)

I'm definitly interested, but I'm looking at such an open map! I could honestly play as any of the major Westerners, or as Japan.

I'm definitly interested, but I'm looking at such an open map! I could honestly play as any of the major Westerners, or as Japan.

If Japan you'll need to speak with Shyri/Feo, who's setting up as England and has some stuff going on with Japan already.

I would like to express interest.

I would like to express interest.

Excellent, I will await which ever choice you make.