1905: Uchronia » major events

1917-1921: The Great Muslim Uprising

1917:

Upon British withdrawel from the Middle East region, the Chinese/Russian alliance saw its chance to conquer most of the British their colonial possessions there. With Chinese support from their southern Omen colony, the Russian infantery launched an invasion of Arabia from their Persian colony. A long, hard battle follows for the city of Mecca, which degenerates into house-to-house fighting. The Russians manage to repel the British, but in the process the most holy sites in Islam are destroyed.

As news of this spreads, Muslims across the world rise up against both the British and Russian Empires, causing huge civil disorder in many places. The prosecution of the war quickly grinds to a halt as each side attempts to deal with this domestic unrest.

China, which although allied with Russia had nothing to do with the attack on Mecca suffers least from this Muslim unrest. The Ottoman Empire, which gave permission for Britain to occupy Mecca in the first place, is wracked with unrest.

A hastily convened conference in Kingston, Canada, brings the war between the Great Powers to an end, so that Britain and Russia can concentrate on quelling Muslim unrest.

1918:

A coup overthrows Sultan Abd al-Hamid and government of the Ottoman Empire, killing thousands including the Sultan and most of his family. The new government, under a very religious cousin of the Sultan, Mehmet al-Haroun, and going largely in the face of military reality, declares war on both the British and Russian Empires. Many westerners in the Ottoman Empire are impaled in mob violence; a smaller number of more fortunate individuals are merely lynched.

1919:

A Muslim uprising in Jerusalem leads to a British bombardment of parts of the city away from the holy sites. Unfortunately, the fires caused by this bombardment spread and grow into a firestorm which levels the city, destroying many holy sites of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. There is a huge outcry against this desecration, and the people of many nations call for war against Britain because of it; many in Britain itself agree with the idea. However, the problems facing the Muslim terrorists, and the fact that all British forces are still very much on a war footing, lead to these protests remaining verbal in nature. However, many demonstrations against the attack take place, in Britain and across the world.

As Muslim uprisings continue around the world, both Britain and Russia begin to suffer a manpower shortage as the traditional rulers and workers are killed off or needed in the fighting and more and more people are drained into the War. To combat this people who formerly would not have been considered for certain jobs, such as non-whites, women, people from the lower classes and so on find themselves allowed to take up any job for which they are qualified, gradually chipping away at racism, sexism and classism as the necessity to have someone to do the essential jobs becomes more and more apparent.

The first Jewish terrorists, seeking revenge for what the British did to Jerusalem, appear when they unsuccessfully attack the Houses of Parliament in London.

The British and Russians, so recently fighting one another, become allies in the fight to suppress Muslim uprisings around the world.

Following the assassination of Kurdish leader Amuhl Takanth, the majority of the Kurdish rebellion factions has announced to no further support to Muslim uprising against the British and Russian Empires. An outclash from the core rebellion against the Kurdish has resulted in a civil war between the both factions. Weakened border defenses of Ottoman territory allowed Russian forced to advance to the north. In a combined British-Russian attack, with Russian infantery advancing from the north and British naval forced blockading the Bosporus, thereby not allowing the rebels to reinforce, the Ottoman capital of Constantinople was taken on the Muslim rebels.

Sultan Mehmet al-Haroun, however, unable to escape, was unfortunately murdered by one of his loyal followers, before the Russian infantery was able to capture him. Although the intention of the allies, many civilians lost their lives in the harsh battle to retake the city. Muslim rebellion is now centred in the Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina.

1920:

As their forces were drained by losses in the recent war, both Britain and Russia begin to use poison gas against rebelling Muslims. British jet-propelled fighters and bombers prove particularly effective in delivering attacks against the rebels. Although all this proves highly effective at quelling uprisings, it does not make either side more friends in the Muslim world.

A joint British-Russian force invades the Ottoman Empire, and the usurper Sultan Mehmet al-Haroun is removed from power. Although the invaders attempt to take him prisoner, he dies in combat with invading troops. He is replaced on the throne by someone more acceptable to the other powers, Adnan al-Hamid, the younger brother of Abd al-Hamid, who was at university in Vienna when the coup occurred. Although he tries to be an effective Sultan, he is essentially a puppet of Britain and Russia, and the people know it. The Ottoman Empire continues to be wracked with unrest.

As the Muslim uprisings continue, both sides become more and more vicious. Terrorism begins to occur quite often inside the Empires themselves, as well as suicide bombings. The British and Russians respond with more and more heavy-handed retaliation

1921

The War begins to sink into a stalemate. Uprisings are near-constant, but the British and Russians have the weapons and will to crush them, and do so, only to see new uprisings spring up elsewhere.

The Kingston Conference officially ends the Second World War of the Greater Powers. A second Kingston Conference later that year brings the Chinese, British, Russians, NEU and moderate Muslim leaders together in an attempt to stop the war and the bloodshed. The conference is a long and hard one. It ends with agreement between all present that the war must be stopped before the world as it stands is destroyed. Although it goes utterly against tradition, the only way forward is seen to be a public apology to the entire Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths by King Jonathan of Hanover and Tsarina Catherine III, and a promise to completely restore both Mecca and Jerusalem (the British doing the vast majority of the latter), with both cities and an area around each to be made Free States [Similar to the Vatican in the real world]. Christian missionaries will also be removed from all Muslim lands. With this agreed to, the two monarchs make their public apology, and work begins on rebuilding the cities of Mecca and Jerusalem. This mollifies the majority of the world's Muslims, but not all of them, by any means, and there is continuing Muslim terrorism as parts of the Muslim world still simmer...

And so the war ends. But it is something of a Pyrrhic victory. Roughly one hundred million people are estimated to have died in the war, from its direct and indirect effects.