Greater East Asia
Asia for the Asiatics! is the story of the rise of a independent, democratic Asia. Primarily, this timeline revolves around the evolution of a democratic PanAsianist Japan that leads the continent to a bright future.
The POD for the timeline is the survival of Itō Hirobumi after the assassination attempt on him in Manchuria on October 26, 1909 fails. As a result, Japan fails to develop into the militarist monarchy it became in the OTL. Instead, it becomes the largest supporter of PanAsianism and the Taisho Democracy era of the 1920s never ends.
Thanks to the Butterfly Effect, there are many secondary points of divergence in the timeline that cause other changes in this althist.
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Introduction[]
Itō Hirobumi was a major political figure in early post-Meiji Japanese history. After holding many lower posts, including Home Minister, he became Japan's first prime minister in 1885. During his previous years, he had observed Western institutions and implemented many of them back home in Japan. As a result of his efforts, Japan developed a modern political system. He remained a major political force in Japan until his death in 1909. The last position he held was Resident-General of Korea, a post that essentially oversaw the country while it was a Japanese protectorate. While he did push through the Japanese-Korean Annexation Treaty and other pro-annexation measures, he was personally against annexation. He saw Japan as being the leader of Asia. He believed they should bring Korea, and possibly other Asian territories, under its influence, but not annex them. His assassination ultimately accelerated the passage of the Annexation Treaty.
In this ATL, what if he had survived and managed to use his political influence, despite the opposition of the Imperial Japanese Army and others, to prevent Korea's annexation, or at least guide it in a new path? In this ATL, he lived and remained a powerful force in Japanese politics. While his opponents would turn out to be too powerful to completely prevent annexation, he would organize a different arrangement. He would create a dynastic union between Japan and Korea. The Emperor of Korea would retain his throne, but Korea would become a autonomous territory of Japan. Upon the death of Emperor Gojong, the Throne of Korea would be inherited by the Emperor of Japan. The Japanese and Korean military and foreign policy would be unified, but many internal powers would be kept by Korea. A union of this sort was a major idea of many PanAsianists at the time who believed a union of Japan, Korea, and China was the only way to oppose Western imperialism. The creation of this union would both achieve the result of annexation, while maintain nominal Korean independence and preventing the effects of the Japanese occupation. And most importantly, this would deprive the Imperial Japanese Army a major power base and political victory. As a result, the military would slowly slip out of Japanese politics and remain subservient to the elected Japanese government. This new democratic Japan would soon become determined to liberate Asia as its doctrine of PanAsianism spread.
Differences in ATL[]
In this ATL, Asia experienced a robust but democratic Japan exerting regional influence . After being liberated by Japan during WWII, democracies, crafted to local needs, were established across Asia, though many became somewhat authoritarian in nature. This government model became known as the Tokyo Model. Thanks to Japanese investment, a major economic boom began after the war enabling much of Asia to rapidly develop, compared to OTL. The main beneficiaries of this growth were China and India, which both became major regional powers. However, due to corrupt internal administration, massive economic inequality, and the unpopularity of the KMT regime, the Republic of China collapsed into civil war during the 1950s and 1960s, which resulted in the rise of the People's Republic of China. India remained stable and rose to become a powerful, nuclear-armed state in major competition with the new Communist China.
In Europe, very little changed until the 1990s. The United States and Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany and divided the continent the same as OTL. Due to the presence of a powerful Japan and strengthening Africa, tensions between the superpowers were more strenuous, but less resources and attention were devoted to each. The most significant difference with OTL occurred when the Soviet Union went through a crisis in 1991 and the Baltic and southern Caucasus states seceded from the USSR. The USSR continued to be considered a superpower, although a weakened one. Nonetheless, thanks to its transition to a more open and robust economy, the USSR experienced an economic boom that enabled them to regain much of their former strength as the world's third largest economy.
In Latin America, American investment money that, OTL, went to Asia enriched the local economies. Many local governments also gained Japanese economic and political support, which they used to limit American influence and gain additional independence in their political process. As a result, Argentina and Brazil emerged as major economic powers that gradually began to compete with the world's superpowers and suffered much less devastating economic downturns. Once the Union of South American Nations was founded in 2005, the united strength of South America was felt across the world as they slowly emerged as a major international force.
In Africa, fear of a division of the continent between the three superpowers and a growth of PanAfricanism in recent years resulted in the creation of the African Union, which was able to prevent the spread of foreign influence that devastated Africa OTL. Since unification, Africa has experienced massive growth that has enabled them to become the world's fourth largest economy in 2000. With the world's highest growth rates, it is expected that Africa will become the world's largest economy by 2035, and along with it one of the world's preeminent superpowers.
In the Middle East, competing African, Asian, Soviet, and American influences agitated the regional population. The result was a growth in PanArabism, similar to OTL. However, unlike OTL, PanArabism persisted in the Arab conscious and led to the creation of the United Arab Confederacy in 2005, made of the pseudo-republican Arab states, and the Arabian Union, a confederation of the states of the Arabian peninsula.
The fortunes of Israel experienced a reversal in 1967 when an attempt to destroy the Arab and Egyptian air forces failed, which was followed by the Arab-African invasion of Israel. Israel, after heavy casualties, experienced a collapse of its armed forces, which led to the African-Arab occupation of Israel and the creation of an independent Palestine. Also, with the decline of Anglo-American influence in Iran after World War II, Iran was able to depose its own monarchy in 1953 after the exposed failure of the CIA's Operation Ajax and became the Islamic Republic of Iran, a non-theocratic Islamic democracy. Finally, Afghanistan was also able to play the competing superpowers off one another to create a stable, and slightly more developed, nation, until a Soviet invasion in 1979 which started a civil war between the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the Kingdom of Afghanistan, and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Also, thanks to the larger number of developed nations, technological progress has occurred at a faster rate than OTL. The world of Asia for the Asiatics is about 5-10 years ahead of the modern world and had different priorities. For example, the first moon bases were built in the 1990s by the major superpowers and the Internet became widespread in the late 1980s, though overall it developed more slowly. In addition, the the propagation of different cultures thanks to the end of Western dominance in Asia and Africa has created a more multicultural world with cultural influences from every nation reaching every corner of the world after the dawn of the Information Age.
Author's Note[]
This is a semi-open timeline. Please do not make any unauthorized edits. This timeline has become somewhat of a side project for me, so additions will be infrequent. I am attempting to compile a comprehensive althist, including everything from the basic timeline to individual nation and people articles. Commentary and suggestions are welcome.
Since this is a semi-open timeline, contributions are possible. If you wish to contribute, please ask Caeruleus. If you are approved to contribute, you may write a proposal article which is subject to the review of the author of this timeline. Proposals will be identified by the {{AftAProp}} template. If it is approved, the article will identified as a part of this timeline's canon. Please keep in mind, this is a personal project. While I don't mind others assisting, I reserve full right to alter or reject any and all proposals for any reason.
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