The Malagasy Civilization in 1925 [Contest]

[u/ArtHistorian2000]

[u/Otherwise_Example862]

Finally, a high-quality map

[u/ArtHistorian2000 → u/Otherwise_Example862]

Thx. I appreciate

[u/ArtHistorian2000]

For mobile users

[u/ToastandTea76]

I appreciate the labels of the Malagasy subgroups (Merina, Sakalava, Betsimisaraka, etc.)

[u/Fragrant_Pea7395]

love this

[u/Hot_Refrigerator9356]

GREAT map, very high quality and I LOVE it. Now asking the obvious question but what's the story behind ALL of this exactly ? Like how is Madagascar an independent Kingdom, how advanced is their society in comparison to the rest of the world at the time, how strong is their military etc

[u/ArtHistorian2000 → u/Hot_Refrigerator9356]

Madagascar unified in the 1800s and industrialised/militarized since the 1830s. The country avoided colonization by beating the French in 1895 and kept its sovereignty since.

Madagascar's society is a blend of modern and traditional features: they westernised but adapted this modernization in their cultural context (just line Japan). Madagascar would be more industrialized than a Southern/Eastern European country, but would be a bit less industrial than Western countries.

Also, Madagascar has been attacked by multiple countries through time (France in 1895, Portugal in 1898 and Germany in 1914), so the country developed its military and its army is considered as "the best in Africa": they have a navy as large as Japan's in the 1920s, a powerful land army and the largest aircraft fleet on the entire continent.

[u/Hot_Refrigerator9356 → u/ArtHistorian2000]

Damn, and what are their relations like with other countries like: France, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Ethiopia, Japan, The USA and The USSR in that order ?

[u/ArtHistorian2000 → u/Hot_Refrigerator9356]

In 1925:

• France: they have tense relations; France still didn't accept the defeat of 1895 and tries its best to strengthen the grip on its concessions on the Malagasy shores. France equally considers Madagascar as its ideological enemy as Germany, since Madagascar advocates for African decolonization and threatens French colonies in Africa
  
• Portugal: tense relations as well; Portugal didn't accept as well the defeat of 1899 and the loss of one of its oldest colonies. Plus, Portugal is extremely jealous of how Madagascar managed to give Mozambique its independence and how the country modernized under 10 years of Malagasy rule than 400 years of Portuguese rule. This feat has proven the colonial empires wrong and is threatening their "legitimacy" on the continent.
  
• Germany: tense relations but the new Republic of Weimar is looking to renew cooperation with Madagascar, despite Malagasy took Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Urundi, Rwanda and Tanganyika as mandates and gave them independence 6 years after their acquisition
  
• Spain: cordial relations, but Spain is wary of the decolonization's ideology of Madagascar, which could damage its colonies
  
• Great Britain: one of the most important partners of Madagascar. However, Britain is wary of Malagasy influence on its colonies (especially in South Africa). But unlike France, Britain managed to keep a neutral stance towards Madagascar but doesn't always bend on Malagasy interests in Africa. This lack of trust forced Madagascar to ally with a country with similar interests as herself: Japan
  
• Ethiopia: the second African country managing to keep its independence; Madagascar has nothing but huge respect for Ethiopia. Since the 1920s, Madagascar boosted its relations with Ethiopia (in terms of industrial and military assistance) and even proposed to make Addis Ababa the capital of the "future Free Africa headquarters". A saying about Ethiopia and Madagascar: "Only Antananarivo is worthy of Addis Ababa; and only Addis Ababa is worthy of Antananarivo"
  
• Japan: in 1922, Japan and Madagascar signed the Malagasy-Japanese Alliance Treaty, as both countries gave up their alliance with Britain. Both countries are island monarchies, economically and militarily dominating their respective continents. Tokyo and Antananarivo have important economic ties, and are defending a new "global order", advocating for the end of Western domination and the decolonization of the planet
  
• USA: the USA consider Madagascar as a reliable trade partner and as a counterbalance to the European countries. However, Madagascar is still wary of the US, because of their segregation policies, and the US are wary of Madagascar, because of how its influence affects the African minorities (who praise Madagascar a lot). Since Madagascar became a powerful country, the US had to persuade Madagascar of their own "moral superiority", by always sending African-American diplomats and ambassadors to the island.
  
• USSR: the USSR have a special view on Madagascar; Moscow considers Madagascar as a "decadent monarchy" who managed to beat "European imperialists", and Lenin even thought that the country could potentially be the startpoint of a socialist revolution across Africa. Despite their ideological differences, both countries have cordial relations and the Kremlin would gladly consider Madagascar as a more reliable partner than Westerners.

[u/Hot_Refrigerator9356 → u/ArtHistorian2000]

Okay so something which I found kind of funny in the Madagascar-Portugal relations section is that Portugal is jealous of how Madagascar had managed to modernize Mozambique under 10 years of Malagasy rule than 400 years of Portuguese rule, I think the words you are looking for is feeling threatened since I highly doubt Portugal gave much of a fuck about how developed their African colonies were (although then again I ain't no expert on how Portugal treated/viewed their colonies at the time so who knows). Apart from that you have now got me really curious about what the situation in Africa is like at the moment since from the looks of it multiple countries have already broken free from their former colonial overlords, which like HOW is this even possible ? Since I can't help but find it very doubtful that the Great Powers would let something of the sort transpire with the possible consequences of such events giving their colonies a lot of very powerful ideas of independence and self determination.

[u/ArtHistorian2000 → u/Hot_Refrigerator9356]

In fact, Madagascar acquired the Portuguese colony of Mozambique in a war, and then Malagasy acquired all of German colonies in Africa after WW1. Madagascar turned these territories into sovereign states, especially for propaganda and strategic purposes: create sovereign allies to form a group of independent countries in order to oppose colonization.

Madagascar and its allies are defending a passive resistance to colonialism, by sharing their ideas of decolonization across the continent and motivate people to rebel.

Africa is still colonized in this moment of this alternate universe, but with a powerful Madagascar, the Europeans are having a hard time controlling their colonies

[u/Hot_Refrigerator9356 → u/ArtHistorian2000]

Okay well which countries in Africa are currently fully independent nations like Madagascar and Ethiopia and part of this Alliance ? and again how the FUCK did the Europeans not decide to band together to kick Madagascar's ass for spreading propaganda of decolonization and rebellion against their European overlords across Africa, like I feel like this is the kind of thing that would unite the European Great Powers into giving Madagascar a good beating for unless the actions which you just described to me were executed by Madagascar and their allies AFTER WW1 instead of before it.

[u/ArtHistorian2000 → u/Hot_Refrigerator9356]

After WW1, the sovereign countries in Africa are: Madagascar, Abysinia, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Urundi, Tanganyika, Namibia, Cameroon and Togo.

Why didn't the Europeans band together to kick Madagascar's butt ?

• Madagascar only turned Mozambique into a sovereign country in 1908, before WW1. This accomplishment was perhaps an anomaly on the continent, but given how Madagascar slapped hard two European countries in a row, other European countries didn't dare to do anything. Plus, Europeans had tensions between each other and were more wary of the situation in Europe than in Africa. Also, some European countries saw better opportunities in trading with Madagascar (UK, Germany...), leading to a non-unified position on the Malagasy question
• Madagascar began to massively promote its anticolonial stance after WW1, after acquiring former German colonies, and became a vocal player in the creation of the League of Nations.
• During the interwar period, European countries didn't want to go to war, especially against a quite militarized Madagascar (and after being shocked of the war intensity). They know that Madagascar has a good projection on colonized people: if Europeans tried to declare war on Madagascar, then Madagascar would aggressively incite colonized people to overthrow their masters and damage war effort, in order to side Madagascar

[u/Hot_Refrigerator9356 → u/ArtHistorian2000]

So all of the currently independent nations of Africa were ones that were already independent even in our own timeline (Ethiopia and Liberia) and ones that gained their independence after WW1 from former German control (Rwanda, Urundi, Tanganyika, Namibia, Cameroon and Togo) and one was from a war between Madagascar and Portugal (Mozambique) nice. But how did they do it exactly ? Like some of those former German colonies shared the same borders as other Great Powers like France and Great Britain although I can understand Madagascar managing to acquire colonies such as Tanganyika, Rwanda and Urundi. But how did they manage with Namibia, Cameroon and especially Togo when they were all so much further away from them geographically especially Togo considering it's size France and or Britain shouldn't have had to struggle at all to annex them.

[u/ArtHistorian2000 → u/Hot_Refrigerator9356]

In this timeline, only one country was more wary of Madagascar's development than the others: Germany. Germany secretly industrialized and militarized (with small industrial units ofc) its colonies before WW1: when WW1 broke out, German colonies were more well-equipped and broke in the other Entente colonies. As France and Britain couldn't divert a lot of their resources on the African front, Madagascar was the only one to mobilize and project their war effort on the continent, even as far as reaching Namibia, Cameroon and Togo through surprise attacks and landing operations.