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Here is a rough draft for my little nation:
the Yishuv: Jewish/Arab Palestine
In 1895, Theodore Herzl made his call for Jews to return to their homeland. Motivated by a uptick in anti-Semitism following the Dreyfus Affair, the call to 'aliyah' struck a chord with many Jews in Europe. While many of the European governments were friendly towards their Jewish communities, with policies ranging from 'merely tolerant' to 'encouraging' or even fully integrated, there were still, at times, anti-Semitic movements among groups of citizens.
Many Jews left to avoid increasing tensions, with the fears of a Russo-German war narrowly averted the most recent. Some wanted to relocate to a region that had seen few wars in recent times; however, many others (especially from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union) wanted to relocate under the banner of socialist pioneers to create a people's haven in the new-formed Kibbutz (collective farm) movement.
In the third Zionist Congress, the Congress was granted authority to oversee an autonomous region in the area of Palestine where Jews throughout the ages had traditionally maintained a prescence. The authorization came from a comment made by the Byzantine Emperor while at a conference in Cairo, discussing the status of Jerusalem. The "Cairo Declaration", as it came to be called, stated that the rulers of the Egypian Sultanate and the Byzantine Empire "view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".
Jerusalem became a shared city among Byzantine Christians, Egyptian Muslims, and the local Jews of the Yishuv. The Yishuv handles the administrative rulership and common civic needs, including police and defense with Arab Legion volunteers. Religious freedom and access to holy sites are guaranteed by the Mulsim waqf land-holding agreement, and access to the railway in the form of the Hedjaz Railroad is under Byzantine control.
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The Yishuv Military Forces: Army: Headquarters at "ha'Kirya" GHQ, Tel Aviv. 8 Infantry "Brigades" of about 5,000 troops each (50,000 troops total) 1 Pioneer (Engineer) "Brigade" of 4,000 troops.
Infantry is mostly equipped with the Gewehr-88. Some early models had flaws due to rushed ammunition production; anti-Semitic factions within the German press exploited the flaws citing a conspiracy between the rifle’s manufacturer, the Ludwig Loewe Company, and other Jewish owned manufactures, including the firm manufacturing the smokeless powder. Thus the rifle became known derisively as the Judenflinte ("Jews' Musket"). While this yellow journalist hate speech was investigated and quashed by the German government, some in the Army were all too eager to get rid of the Loewe Co. G-88s.
The Army also has a number of American 1903 Springfields and some British Enfields, but the G88 is the common service rifle.
Pistols: British Webley revolver and German C96 Mauser are about evenly divided among troops. Some 'elite' Haganah troops like the C96 Schnellfeuer.
Tanks: 1 Armored "Brigade" of 5,000 men (crews and support teams together) This "Brigade" is mostly spread out, with platoons or companies around the Yishuv accompanying various Infantry Brigades. The tanks stay close to the coastal cities; the armored cars are divided among Jerusalem, Haifa and the Negev Desert.
8 St. Chamond tanks bought by Poland in 1920 from French scrap dealers. Centered in Tel-Aviv. 8 Fiat 3000s, centered around the Tiveria/Tfat region. 28 FT-17s, centered around the Tel-Aviv/Jerusalem highway and Jaffa. 14 LK-II (Stridsvagn M/21), 30 Rolls-Royce Armored Cars, 1920 Pattern, with .303 Vickers Machineguns 21 Rolls-Royce Armored Cars, 1924 Pattern, with open turret with Boys anti-tank rifles and Lewis Guns
Artillery: 32 French 75s. 6 man crews per gun, + officers & support personnel, munitons handlers, etc make 1 "Brigade" of about 400 men.
Air Force: 6 squadrons of Bristol Type 14 F.2B Mk II. 6 Squadrons of Fokker E.III
Navy: German light cruiser Nurnberg German/Turkish Battlecruiser SMS Goeben "Turkish" torpedo boat/destroyer Muavenet-i Milliye "Turkish" minelayer Nusret
Note on the Navy: The navy, with two Cruisers, is really too big for the small Yishuv. The Goeben is operated jointly with the Byzantine Navy, which uses the Yishuv ownership of the Goeben as a means to get around an obscure treaty restriction about status of forces in the Mediterannean vis-a-vis the Black Sea, Russia, etc. The Goeben belongs to the Yishuv and is manned partially by Yishuv officers and men, but most of the highly technical and specialized parts of the ship are actually manned by Byzantine "observer/trainers". It will be some years before the Yishuv can actually operate a ship of that size on it's own.
The Nurnburg and the two smaller ships are wholly manned by the Yishuv, albeit inexpertly.
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Passenger Air Service: civil aircraft for mail & passengers to Europe, N Africa and near east. 6 Vickers Vimy run by "Air Palestine" 8 Handley-Page type-O bombers, converted to civil aircraft, run by "Israir"
I'll come up with different names for "Turkish" ships and the "Goeben", this is based as much off of historical stuff as I can find. For example, I only looked for ships that served in the Med Sea area and whose fates were accounted for up to the 1920's.
Something about Libertarianism always bothered me. Then one day, I realized what it was: Libertarian philosophy can be boiled down to the phrase, "Work Will Make You Free."In Libertarianism, there is no Government, so the Bosses are free to exploit the Workers. In Communism, there is no Government, so the Workers are free to exploit the Bosses. So in Libertarianism, man exploits man, but in Communism, its the other way around! If all you want to do is have some harmless, mindless fun, go H3RE INST3ADZ0RZ!!Grrr! Fight my Brute, you pansy!
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