MNN's MotF 1: The Golden Age

[MinnesotaNationalist]

The Golden Age

The Challenge
Make a map showing a country or civilization in a Golden Age.

The Restrictions
There are no restrictions on when your PoD or map may be set. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Future maps are allowed, but blatantly implausible (ASB) maps are not.

If you're unsure whether your idea meets the criteria of this challenge, please feel free to PM me.
Please try to keep images posted to this thread a reasonable size. If necessary, feel free to post a smaller version of your image and provide a link to a full-size version.

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The entry period for this round shall end when the voting thread is posted on June 11th June 18th.

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This Thread is for Entries Only

Any discussion must take place in the main thread. If you post anything besides a map entry (or an accompanying description) in this thread, then you will be asked to delete the post. If you refuse to delete the post, post something that is clearly disruptive or malicious, or post spam, you will be disqualified from entering this round of MotF and may be reported to a moderator.

Otherwise, let the games begin, and may a new *ahem* Golden Age shine on the Althistorian chapter of Map of the Fortnight!

[MinnesotaNationalist]

France, the Magnificent Empire in Western Europe, whom spends billions in Francs to fund its military, prop up their allies and puppets, and more famously, to build and create grand wonders across the world, from the Statues of Liberty in New York, USA, to the Napoleonshohe in Kassel, Germany. Indeed, it would take the forces of the whole world to take down the Magnificent Empire

[moxn]

After Muhammad Ali successfully drove the Ottomans out from Egypt, Arabia, and the Sudan, he attempted to take Constantinople itself. However, this attempt would ultimately fail and leave him to found the Alid empire. Ali and his successors implemented many reforms to try and strengthen the new empire's economy and military, but always with the goal of finishing the conquest of the Ottomans in mind. While they succeeded in that front, they completely failed to stomp down on growing dissent until it was too late.

Because of their own Albanian ancestry, the rulers of the empire (and even Muhammad Ali himself) looked down on their Arab subjects and denied them many government posts. To make matters worse, it was often the Arabic citizens who dealt with the worst side effects of early industrialization. This is why when a popular revolt broke out in the late 19th century, several important houses and clans quickly joined its cause. Among them were the House of Hashim, or Hashemites, who ruled the Emirate of Mecca.

Abdul Hussein, the head of the family, quickly took the lead of the new revolution. He had been educated in the West, and exposed to many of its nationalist ideals. Once it became clear the Alid dynasty would fall, Hussein wanted to do more than simply swap one imperial ruler with another. Instead, he envisioned the unification of all Arabic peoples under a single banner, just as the Germans, Italians, and Greeks had done or tried to do a generation before.

Because of this dream, the Hashemites focused on not on conquering Constantinople (which was under Russian occupation at the time), but on pushing out east and west to bring the other clans and nations to heel. Helping their cause was the establishment of a new Caliph, whose title had gone unclaimed since the collapse of the Ottomans. Although Hussein himself did not live to see it, his dynasty would eventually come to encompass nearly all of the Arabic world (with the major exception of large swaths of North Africa), and become the dominant power in the Islamic world.

In time, the nation would continue to grow in wealth and prestige. Their control of over 60% of the world's oil supply gave them the money needed for large scale projects, such as the new Qattara Sea, which in turn became large industrial centers. Ironically, while they exported so much oil, many of the new projects were focused on harnessing hydroelectric, and later solar, energy.

Today, the nation maintains a great deal of economic, geopolitical, and religious importance. While Arabs have much of the demographic and political power, there are also many ethnic and religious minorities in the nation, such as the Kurds, Assyrians, Dinka, Jews, Druze, Tigrinya, and more.

Attachments:

[kaiserjaeger]

The Golden Age Of America

[Krall]

The modern history of Korea begins with conflict between two cutural movements: Seohak and Donghak - Western Learning and Eastern Learning. The first contact Korea had with Western thought was in 1603 when a Korean diplomat returned from Beijing with several books on theology written by a Jesuit missionary to China. Over the next two hundred years Christianity faced persecution and oppression from the government and aristocracy as its adherents refused to partake in traditional ancestor worship, and through fear of the new faith overtaking the Confucianism on which the strict, hierarchical structure of Korean society was based.

Despite this Christianity endured in the shadows, and though the faith itself never gained much power it did inspire a revolution in Korean religion creating Sunjeonggyo - the Pure Faith. Taking inspiration from Christianity and Korean folk religion, Sunjeonggyo claimed to preach the distilled truth found in both, equating the legendary founder of Korea - Dangun - with Jesus Christ, his divine father - Hwanung - with God the Father, and his father - the supreme being and source of all creation Hwanin - with the Holy Spirit. Elements of Pure Land Buddhism fused with the Christian concept of salvation and heaven in Sunjeonggyo, which preached that all humans were equal before God, and leading a pious life and rejecting the lies of other faiths would allow one to ascend to the heavenly realm upon death. Sunjeonggyo found much more traction among Koreans and Sunjeonggyo adherents soon outnumbered Korean Christians, though the Confucian elite continued to view both as the same faith.

Those who stayed loyal to the traditional order were not idle during this period - as contact with European merchants began and foreign concepts began to infiltrate their society Donghak emerged, creating a reformed Neo-Confucian faith, even going as far as criticising the hereditary elements of traditional Confucianism and replacing them with meritocratic systems. Despite the attempt at reform, Donghak's days were numbered. A famine in the early 1800s brought peasants' concerns over land reform and criticisms of Neo-Confucianism's disconnect with the rapid technological and social changes going on in Korea to the fore, and a revolution installed a new, populist King as well as installing Sunjeonggyo as the guiding philosophy and state religion of Korea.

Under this new, pro-Western government Korea underwent vast and rapid change. The study of western sciences replaced the study of Chinese classics; Hangul - the native Korean alphabet, little used before due to the believed superiority of Chinese script - became standard at all levels of government and society; the military adopted western battledress and took up rifles; peasant farmers divised new crop rotation techniques, reclaimed land for agriculture, and boosted harvests with fertiliser. The first Korean railroad, connecting Hansong to Inchon, was built in the 1870s by American businessmen. It wasn't long until industry took off in Korea, taking native coal and iron ore and turning it into processed steel for export.

These changes did not go unnoticed - nor unpunished - by China, Korea's traditional overlord. Tensions over Western influence in Korea came to a head in 1882 when a drought ignited already tense social conflict, resulting in a mutiny by Korean soldiers and riots directed at Russian and Japanese legations in Hansong. Russia and Japan responded with troops and ships of war to bolster the pro-western government, China countered with a huge army and demands that they withdraw. Tensions escalated into warfare as the deadline the Chinese had set for the Russian and Japanese withdrawal passed. The resulting war was a formative event for Korean national identity, becoming known as the Korean War for Independence. China was hopelessly outmatched by the combined forces of Russia, Korea, and Japan, and ultimately conceded granting Korea its sovereignty, as well as vast tracts of Manchuria to Korea and Russia.

Despite this victory, Koreans quickly found themselves in the thrall of another empire - Japan. The newly formed Korean Empire initially collaborated with Japan as a fellow Eastern country looking to escape the influence of China and to embrace the changes brought about by contact with the West, but Japan soon began flexing its muscles, claiming Korea as part of its own sphere of influence and imposing treaties designed to reduce their control over their own foreign policy. War came to Korea again in 1904 when the Emperors of Korea and Japan signed a treaty formally making Korea a protectorate of Japan. Criticisms of the Imperial government exploded into outright rebellion. The Korean Emperor quickly claimed that they had been coerced into signing the treaty with Japan and claimed it was an immoral document with no legal standing, but it was already too late. The Korean army - a hotbed of political innovation and nationalist sentiments - mutinied en masse and overthrew the Korean monarchy, proclaiming a democratic republic - a government more in-line with the egalitarian and anti-hierarchical beliefs of Sunjeonggyo - in its place. Japan rushed to reinstall the Korean Emperor and thus their control over the peninsula, but they had badly underestimated their brother-nation. Korea's industrialisation had come far in the past decades, outpacing Japan's own. The Korean navy narrowly defeated Japanese attempts to seize Korean ports, and a blockade of Japan proved how greatly they had come to rely on Korean food exports. A landing in Kyushu managed to capture Nagasaki at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.

These initial defeats did not deter Japan, however. They began plotting a counterattack to reclaim Nagasaki and expanded their fleet with cutting-edge modern ship designs. Japan, they believed, had lost the battle but not the war. That changed when Russia, fearing an ascendant Japan would threaten their own gains in the East, joined the war against them. Seeing no way to combat both Japan capitulated, ceding Nagasaki and the Ryukyu Islands to the State of Korea.

By the 1940s Korea had become a real Great Power - a vibrant, industrial republic with powerful democratic and military traditions. Their victory over China accelerated their collapse, leading to a period of chaos and warlordism ended only by a radical Automandatist government. Japan languished in Korea's shadow, seeking alliances to balance out their power. Russia proved a valuable benefactor, funding the construction of Korean railroads and assisting in the modernisation of its military. Conflicts in Europe weakened the Western powers, whilst Korea thrived.

This map depicts the major industrial centres of Korea and its infrastructure in 1944, moments before the beginning of the Crucible War.