The Ottoman Empire is a nation in the world of Leviathans.
History[]
While long a major power in the eastern Mediterranean, the dawn of the twentieth century saw the Empire in decline.
In 1890, the Empire claimed to have a leviathan program of its own under development, though no proof was evident of this.[1]
The Young Turks forced reforms in 1908, and deposed the Sultan in 1909.[2]
At first, all Ottoman leviathans were of British construction, with no leviathan yards of their own. As of 1910, the Ottoman Air Service had two British-built cruisers protecting the Bosphorus and two massive battleships under construction in British yards.[3][3][4]
These ships were of little use in the two-month Otto-Italian War of 1912, when Italian leviathans carpet-bombed Ottoman forces, leaving the Empire no choice but to sue for peace. In the aftermath, several Ottoman holdings in the Balkan Peninsula declared independence, despite the Empire's promise of swift reprisal.[5][6] This led to the First Balkan War, in which a Bulgarian leviathan bombarded Istanbul. For the second time that year, the Ottomans knew defeat.[7]
When the Great War broke out, the ships under construction by British firms were commandeered by the Royal Sky Fleet. The Ottomans sought aid from the French Republic, who aided the Ottomans in constructing their own destroyers as part of a campaign to hopefully convince the Ottomans to enter the war against the British. [8]
Notes[]
In Last Flight of the Swan of the East, it is stated that the Ottomans began the war allied to the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[9] This has been rendered apocryphal by Leviathans Core Rulebook, p. 141, a more recent and authoritative source.
Only one reference is made to "Istanbul", on page 74 of the Leviathans Core Rulebook. This could be an anachronistic official name, or common-but-incorrect usage by the in-universe author. Last Flight of the Swan of the East uses "Constantinople", which was historically correct but rendered uncertain by the information in the Rulebook.
Historical Notes[]
During the Great War, the Ottoman Empire fought both the British and the Russians. With the British being nominally on the same side in Leviathans, this leaves their situation unclear.
References[]
- ↑ Grand Revelation of Leviathans at the Great Exhibition!
- ↑ Leviathans Gazetteer, p. 21
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Leviathans Gazetteer, p. 86
- ↑ Leviathans Core Rulebook, p. 73
- ↑ Balkan Breakaway!
- ↑ Leviathans Core Rulebook, p. 101
- ↑ Leviathans Core Rulebook
- ↑ Leviathans Core Rulebook, p. 141
- ↑ Last Flight of the Swan of the East