History of the Federated Islamic States
The Dark AgesSince the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate, the area known now as Sarmatia became a fractured melting pot of various Indo-European and Indo-Turkic tribes and cultures, the three most influential being the Pashtuns, the Balochis and the Khurasanis. After half a millenium of Islamic rule, these three large ethnic groups were united in matters of religion, but their political standpoints put each other at odds. The Pashtuns sought to build a new Indian state around the Indus valley and the Afghan foothills, believing themselves to be the rightful claimants to the land after centuries of opression from Islamic Turks. The Khurasanis, meanwhile, were a major power in Central Asia, using their alliance with the emerging Khwarazmian Empire to secure territory around the Caspian Sea. The Balochi nomads provided an important buffer between the two factions, allowing trade to continue across the region; for Arabic and European weapons to be imported east to the Pashtuns, and for surplus crops to be sold to the Khurasanis.
This arrangement proved very fruitful for those involved - The Khurasanis reconquered the old Abbasid territories in Persia, whilst the Pashtuns expanded along the Indus River, their agricultural production supplying both the Balochis and the Kurasani Emirate. However, when the Mongols conquered Khwarazm in 1256, the Kurasani Emirate refused to capitulate, and formed a mutual pact with the Balochis and the Pashtuns in an attempt to secure the Afghan foothills. In 1318, the Khurasani Sheikh, Jalan Hasar, married the Pashtun Princess Tahira and thus united the two nations. Hasar proclaimed himself in control of the new Iranian Caliphate before annexing the Balochi land and thus creating the first unified state in Samartia since the Umayyads. Accepted by many Samartian scholars to be the creation of the first itineration of the Samartian state, Hasar's and Tahira's marriage is now a public holiday, and the subject of arguably the most popular Samartian myth, 'The Princess and the Pashtun'.
Entitled 'The Princess' Procession', this early 20th century Walmingtonian painting of the story was bought by the Sheikh Mahdi in 1987, where it has since resided in the Sheikh's Palace. The story of 'The Princess and the Pashtun' is one of the longest and most famous epics of Samartian literature, a story recounting Hasar's early childhood, and how he, a distant relative of Muhammed and an ethnic Pashtun in Khurasan, eventually rose to become a Khurasani governor, and finally Sheikh. The story reaches a climax during the heavily romanticized, grandiose wedding ceremony which united the Pashtuns and the Khurasani, a moment which has lives on for hundreds of years through works of literature, plays and films.
The Eleventh KhanateHasar's decision to make his son heir to the throne and impose a monarchy proved to be the Caliphate's undoing, however, when his grandson refused to negotiate with the Grand Host, and angered Tamerlane by forbidding trade between the two nations. An unpopular ruler, Afzal Hasar raised taxes to modernize and standardize the Iranian military, and a mandatory grain tax to raise money via exports to Muslim Arabia created a huge famine during the 1360s. After a revolt in the Indus valley left Khurasani Iran starving, Afzal mustered the entirety of his 'model army' to supress the rebellion. With no logistical planning for a long-term conflict, however, the campaign was a failiure, and Afzal returned to Khurasan where he was forced by local governors to capitulate to the Grand Host and lower taxes.
Since the fall of the Iranian Caliphate, the area became the eleventh Khanate, the semi-autonomous Ilkhanate, a constitutional state ruled by the Khans from Afzhal's lineage, and the Council, made up by the Ilkhanate's citizenry. However, the Ilkhanate collapsed around the same time as the Depkazi Khanates, after Khan Salahuddin converted to Christianity after inviting a Shieldian missionary into his palace. Outraged by Salahuddin's choice to convert and then declare independence from the Grand Host as the first Christian Khanate, as well as doubtful of Salahuddin's claim to be a descendent of Muhammed (for it was revealed that he may have been a bastard child) the Council attempted to force Salahuddin to convert back, but with no support from the other Khanates, the Council was powerless to stop Salahuddin. In 1768, however, after Salahuddin converted the Mashhad mosque into the Khanate's first cathedral, widespread rioting forced Salahuddin to flee across the country to Karachi. Now in control of the Khanate's capital, the Council declared themselves provisional government of the Ilkhanate and put a bounty on the Khan's head. Upon arriving in Karachi, Salahuddin and his small contigent of missionaries were ambushed by bandits and massacred at the city gates. As Salahuddin's head was held aloft for all to see, the bandits chanted
"Free! We are free! The Khans are no more! Samartia is free!"Flag of the Christian Ilkhanate
Revolution and reformAs this message resounded around the now-independent nation, the provisional government took the old Hellenistic name of Samartia as the nation's new name. Despite the tensions that have always ran deep between the Khanates of Central Asia and the Christian Middle East, Samartia was chosen for its ethnic and cultural neutrality, as well as its lack of connotations with the old Iranian Caliphate. With no longer any bloodline that could claim itself descended from the Prophet, the provisional government decided to lay the foundations for the first Islamic Republic. Wealthy landowners and governors across Samartia now had the right to run for Chancellor, or vote for other candidates to be admitted into the government. Elections would be held every five years, after which the council would choose from who most popular ten candidates who would replace unpopular or ineffective Chancellors. The Sheikh would be chosen internally from the council and receive a lifetime position as the head and representative of the government.
The democratic but inflexible government proved to be very stable in Samartia's early years. The fifty-or-so Chancellors (the number would fluctuate as said Chancellors would see fit) were eager to build their own power and solidify the council's rule in the turbulent times following the Khan's overthrow, and only the most competent Chancellors would be able to serve life terms inside the council. However, the council was very Roman-esque, and almost all of the Chancellors were corrupt and elitist, forming power blocs who would force uncooperative Chancellors out during each election. The council had to effectively manage the emerging Samartia, however, to protect their interests, and through necessity modernized Samartian agriculture and infrastructure, as well as passing city planning regulations in the old urban centers of Mashhad, Kandahar, Karachi and Bandar Abbas.
The council also managed to bring Samartia out of decades of isolation, focusing on foreign policy, trade in the Indian Ocean and modernizing the army and navy. With only limited trade between Samartia and its Christian neighbours to the West, the Republic relied on trade with the European powers via Africa, as well as East African states themselves. Trade between the Republic and the remaining Depkazi states flourished as well, and through the Shield and Depkazia, Samartia managed to obtain designs for muskets and early rifles, which were used for the Reformed Infantry corps and the Mounted Sharpshooters corps respectively. In the setting of the Afghan and Khurasani foothills, the Mounted Sharpshooters proved to be extremely effective. The early effectiveness of the new army encouraged the Samartian Council to produce its own firearms through a string of semi-privatized workshops and early factories, which, at the turn of the 19th century, led to a huge industrial boon as coal reserves were found around Karachi and were used to power munitions (and later textiles) factories.
Military expansion and the first Gulf WarSamartia's new military and economic power was finally put to the test during the Gulf War of 1838, when a naval dispute between the Muslim Al Khalifa family of Bahrain and Qatar (the last small vestiges of the old Umayyad Caliphate) and the Christian Kingdom of Arabia sparked an intense conflict between the two states. Wishing to resolve the conflict as quickly as possible to revive trade in the Persian Gulf, Samartia supported the Al Khalifa family in return for a share in future trade tax profits. After a series of short skirmishes where the Samartian sharpshooters proved invaluable, the Republic signed a peace treaty with the Kingdom of Arabia, annexing the states of Bahrain and Qatar and creating the borders that last to this day. In an effort to cement the truce between Arabia and Samartia, as well as helping further Samartia's economic expansion, the Persian Gulf and the Straight of Hormuz became a free trade area, and thus, a prime economic center of the Middle East. The nation of Samartia and the nations of Bahrain and Qatar formally became the Union of Islamic States (the FIS) and Qatari and Bahraini ministers were incorporated into the Samartian government.
"It is unknown whether these Federated Islamic States will stand the test of time, or serve its purpose to protect and empower the Muslim citizenry of the world. What is known, however, is that the Federated Islamic States needs to."
- Sheikh Ārman Abḇazi, on the eve of the Gulf War
However, due to the huge funding the Council put in place to expand the Reformed Army in case of a full-out war with Arabia and the Christian Kingdom of Yemen, domestic economic growth was stymied, and the power divide between the members of the council and the middle class tradesmen hamstrung any entrepreneurial opportunity - All business was controlled by the various council members, and thus, business was tied in so closely with government the FIS more closely resembled a socialist instead of a capitalist state. Angered by the rise in taxes and inflation, tradesmen in Karachi and Bandar Abbas set up the Workers' Charter, a petition which called for the instatement of a freely elected chamber to handle domestic affairs, and to counter the corruption of the Council. Branches of the Chartist movement also included the famous Weaver's movement, some of the first feminists who campaigned against the old Shariah laws and for equal rights for women, including voting rites.
The Liberal Islamic StatesStill overcautious about the prospect of an Arab-FIS war, the government only redirected a small portion of its troops to quell protests in Bandar Abbas and Karachi. When police and military intervention only served to heighten the protests and spread further dissent, the Council quickly capitulated in fear of a rebellion. The government became bicameral, with the inclusion of the 'Free House', a 500-strong parliament made up of local representatives who were elected by all male and female citizens of the Republic. Not only did this empower the poorer parts of society, as well as women, but it also gave more remote regions of the large nation a voice in politics (members of the Council almost exlusively came from Mashhad and Karachi). The Weavers also managed to repeal many aspects of Shariah law, allowing women to travel in public in groups, desegregating the workplace, illegalizing polygamy and giving women equal rights in marriage, divorce and legal matters as men.
Members of the Council and key Chartist members celebrate the construction of the Free House in Mashhad. After the Free House's creation in 1859, the FIS underwent another rapid period of industrialization, now driven by new entrepreneurs from the middle classes rather than those involved in Council politics. Bandar Abbas and Karachi became major trade ports and Samartian textiles, crops and ores were exported around the world. Controversy arose in the late 19th century as prisoners and African slaves were used to mine salt in the Afghan foothills, which led to the banning of slavery in the FIS in 1923 after mechanized mining equipment became commonplace.
The Great War and the Omani WarThe FIS' part in the Great War was largely restricted due to its geopolitical location and extensive trade network. Despite allocating vast funds to keep the military well-equipped with imported and replicated European gear, the Council under Sheikh Zhubīn was still extremely cautious about angering the Aventines, and even though the Samartians openly traded with the Oakists, they also reasserted their neutrality by letting the Byzantines have free trade rights in FIS territory. The only major conflict the FIS was involved in was the Omani war of 1952 - After the discovery of oil in Northern Oman, the Christian Kingdom of Arabia occupied the region, and a bitter conflict between the Omani Emirate and the CKA ensued. With newfound confidence after remaining neutral and building its military up during the Great War, the FIS intervened in the conflict, occupying the coast around Muscat and Dubai.
Initial losses of the 1952 war were in the tens of thousands, almost crippling the military campaign - During the summer of that year the Samartian zone of control fell back to Abu Dhabi. It was only after supplying Omani rebel groups with arms and munitions that the Samartian military managed to claw back land in Southern Arabia, and after spending billions of
rial on expanding the air force in light of the prospect of a prolonged Arabian war the government gained the confidence to send more men into Oman. Army volunteer levels were at an all-time high as anti-Christian sentiment spread, and before long almost 250,000 men were stationed in the newly claimed 'South Arab Strip'. After signing a truce with the Christian Kingdom of Arabia, the FIS gained full administrative control over the former Emirate.
The People's Dictatorship
The late 50s and early 60s revolved around a period of nationalization and militarization. A military coup in 1955, led to the Sheikh Zhubīn's forced resignation, and the country was brought under the control of General Na'im Yāsir. A staunch Fascist, Nā'im Yāsir believed in radical reforms to centralize Samartia and increase its military presence in the Middle East. Initially very popular for his 'democratizing' of the Samartian government (the Head of State no longer became the Sheikh, but was now the President of the Free House, and the Council was dismantled and replaced with Nā'im's personal advisers), Yāsir was proclaimed to be a national hero, a grizzled veteran after the 1952 Omani war and a living archetype of the struggle for Jihad.
"What is the Islamic world without the Federated Islamic States? Nothing."
- Nā'im Yāsir during his famous speech at Palace Square, Mashhad, after his instatement as Grand President.
It was during the 60s that the FIS began to look West towards Europe, and in the name of 'promoting stability in the Middle East after the 1952 war', Yāsir imported thousands of arms from Geletia during a trade pact which fixed the price of imported Samartian oil at an all-time low. Soon after, the FIS began the production of its own weapons - Newly-privatized arms manufacturers were paid by the government to produce the ubiquitous weapon of the Samartian (and by extension, Omani) army, the
Hm̄lẖkwe-63 (HK-63), an almost exact copy of the Geletian's highly successful AKM. With the introduction of the
ZPJ (Armoured Formation) the Samartian military began to mass-produce armoured carriers that could quickly be deployed in Oman or Afghanistan should the need be.
Modernization of the navy was also a priority - The introduction of new aircraft carriers to service the large Samartian airforce was vital should the FIS ever fully defend the straight of Hormuz. By rigging
older battleships with flight decks the Samartian navy quickly gained a small fleet of carriers as support. However, given the limited maneuverability, poor structural design and small size the carriers were relegated to a supporting role, and a capitol carrier ship was only introduced in 1968 in the form of the
Yāsir-class carrier. The design specifications for the carrier were enormous, and at a cost of almost 450 million
rial per ship, the program had to be curbed to produce seven ships instead of the original twenty.
One of the first 'M̄rghan Zalẖ' (Bird's nest) carriers built at the military port of Muscat, 1965. This huge military program cost in excess of 400 billion
rial over a decade (6% of GDP) and saw the country almost hit bankruptcy in 1969. Oil prices and taxes sharply rose and a wave of recession swept over the country as luxury goods and foodstuffs were forcibly exported and the currency inflated. A mandatory draft was introduced in 1970 when military personnel wages had to be cut to subsistence level and volunteer numbers were at an all-time low. Yāsir had to resort to increasingly extreme Islamic ideals to keep his support, claiming that Samartia now had the power to retake the Arabian peninsula and start a new Jihad. This greatly aggravated Christian powers across the Middle East and Europe, and led to the invasion of the Dhofar strip by the Kingdom of Yemen.
The Invasion of YemenThe FIS' response was immediate and overwhelming - The numbers of the local Omani Guard swelled to almost 80,000 over the period of two weeks as draft figures soared, and an immediate reaction force of 50,000 men was sent to the Dhofar strip. The entire navy was launched and fleets sent to the Omani and Yemeni coast, as well as across the straight of Hormuz and the Eastern Indian Ocean, to secure Samartian naval waters and disrupt Yemeni shipping. Five of the seven supercarriers were based within range of the strip and Al Mukalla, which were both severely damaged by a series of air raids in early 1971. The city of Salalah was captured by the Samartian military in March that year after heavy ordinance and rocket artillery drove off the Yemeni Crusader forces.
Not content with its occupation of the Dhofar strip, the FIS military advanced along the coast, occupying local port towns and cities with the aid of the navy. Yāsir publicly promised that he would 'remove from the Christian Kingdom of Yemen any threat that it could pose', and that the FIS military would not stop advancing until Yemen was fully demilitarized. Yemen responded by arming thousands of citizens and paramilitaries, encouraging them to fight against 'Islamist oppressors'. This slowed down the Samartian advance considerably - The United Arab Front shifted little over the coming year as more troops were sent in to combat various paramilitary groups in Samartian-occupied territory.
FIS counter-paramilitaries, both hired locals, prepare for a morning shift at an observation post along the United Arab Front. Infuriated by the lack of progress made by the new FIS military, Yāsir diverted the Samartian special service branch (the Cẖāw Adre Sāmārt, or Samartian Affairs Bureau) to gain evidence for charging the most ineffective generals with treason, in the hopes that the rest of the army would fall into line and shift the front. Yemen, with support from Christian states all over the Middle East, was still logistically secure, even with imports from East Africa cut off, and Yāsir's advisers came to the consensus that unless Yemen was occupied by the end of the year (1972), estimated losses would be too high to justify continuing the conflict. To close the distance between the United Arab Front and Yemen's capital, St. Abraham, Yāsir funded the construction of the first of a dozen 'Area Denial Systems' around the Dhofar strip. These systems were automated and designed for defense against a concentrated invasion force - Each was loaded with hundreds or thousands of rockets and heavy mortars, some with ranges of up to 100-150 miles, all of which could be launched by a skeleton staff of a few dozen trained soldiers. The Area Denial Systems were irregular and secluded, however, and reliable figures are only named for one ADS outside Salalah, which had 3,700 rockets, 300 heavy mortar rounds and 74 full-time operators. Though, theoretically, the feat of firing off so much ammunition at a moment's notice was impressive, the tactility of the Area Denial Systems was very limited, and the threat of accidental threat detection was a major disincentive.
Collateral DamageNowhere was this more apparent than in the 1972 Al-Khatab incident, when an Arabic pirate radio ship sailed 20 miles off of the coast of the Dhofar strip. After failing to respond to radio identification requests and shutting its radio communications down, the operators of ADS-6 (based near Salalah) mistook it for a military submarine and targeted the radio ship, sinking it during the early hours of May 4th, two days after the ship first entered Samartian waters. All 44 civilians onboard the ship died at sea, and a protracted week-long rescue/salvage mission found no survivors. In a bid to halt any international repercussions, Yāsir imposed a media blackout, and details of the incident, including those involved, only surfaced a decade later.
"Al-Khatab was not a matter of national concern. It was an isolated incident and a matter of national security, and not in the public interest... The allegations of other attacks on civilians by the Area Denial Systems are ungrounded and a conspiracy by the former Yemeni government, and by extension the Christian world, planted into our nation to destabilize it from the inside."
- Na'im Yāsir during the Tyrant's Trial.
Similar media blackouts were also imposed on chemical gas attacks across the United Arab Front, both to keep army morale up and to keep support. The final death tolls of the Yemeni war were only released in August, 1972, after the Yemeni government surrendered in St. Abraham, a few hours after the king was killed by a missile strike on the Palace. Amongst the figures were over 30,000 unaccounted civilian deaths, mostly from the indiscriminate use of rockets, artillery and chemical weapons as the front pushed forward. This fact was quickly overlooked, however, as celebration of the victory boosted national spirits, and Samartian Nationalism reached an all-time high.
Samartian Engineers wait to advance from their dugouts during the siege of St. Abraham.
The Two-State SolutionIn a rare moment of diplomatic tact, Yāsir arranged for a formal meeting with the Arabian King Leopold IX where he discussed the possibility of a two-state solution. Unlike the State of Oman which was fully incorporated into the Federated Islamic States, the nation of Yemen was to be divided into two separate regions - The Territory of Yemen was to be run as a state of the FIS, and the Autonomous Territory of Yemen was to be run by its own transitional government, with limited devolution and military support from the FIS.
The two-state solution was beset by problems from its very conception - Almost three months were spent drawing the proposed borders of the state, and another two years were spent devolving the United Yemeni Transitional Council into the Yemeni Council and the Yemeni Transitional Government, the latter to be overseen by the Free House until 'the international community was prepared to give it full autonomy'. After the borders were drawn and the Yemeni Transitional Government was given control over the Autonomous State of Yemen in 1975. Almost immediately the Territory of Yemen destabilized, as many of the Christian majority undertook a mass exodus to leave for the Autonomous State. Towns were abandoned in the space of a few months as almost three million fled to the Autonomous State of Yemen or the Christian Kingdom of Arabia. Tensions grew as the Autonomous State called for their own National Guard, an offer which was repeatedly refused by the Free House and then by Yāsir himself.
DownfallWith the invasion of Yemen a success (at least, according to Yāsir and the Free House, less so for those living in the former nation), the military budget was expected to be cut, with Yāsir promising to further develop the FIS oil economy and welfare programs. Three years later, and no such cut came - The economy was stagnant and slow but steady inflation, and along with strict trade regulations for FIS ships across the Indian Ocean it impacted most prominently on the poor and the middle classes. Food rationing was mandatory in all areas by 1972, electicity was limited to a few hours a day, and the FIS was running a deficit trying to rebuild Yemen's infrastructure.
The situation in Yemen was becoming more dire, with the Allah Yad, a separatist Christian extremist group, gaining support amongst the Yemeni mainstream. With almost 15,000 members and supplied with firearms from the Christian Kingdom of Arabia, the Allah Yad raided FIS outposts and fringe towns, prompting harsh military crackdowns. With the threat of widespread dissent and outright rebellion emerging, Yāsir and the military chief Abdul Riaz drew up a plan to fight a 'War on Terror', isolating and removing separatist elements from mainstream society. This was in the guise of the use of the special service, the CAS, to form a new branch, the TWL (translated as the Anti-Terror League) to crack down on 'subversive activities', including the use of force against military police, smuggling goods into or out of the FIS or the protest of the established government. Within three months, almost 80,000 people were imprisoned, almost 98% of them for nonviolent crimes.
Yāsir also turned his attention to established separatist movements, such as the Islamic Democratic Government based in Afghanistan, increasingly recognized as the legitimate government of the FIS. Alongside the crackdowns in Yemen, 60,000 men were mobilized to secure regions of Afghanistan and Khurasan, echoing the conflicts in the 1960s between Yāsir's forces and those of the IDG. The dissent in Afghanistan proliferated across Samartia as protests to civilian executions and forced labor camps prompted a police crackdown - A slew of laws were enacted, from anti-drinking and anti-drugs laws to banning peaceful protests and imposing state-wide curfews. These laws were mainly targeted to certain demographics: In the face of the anti-drinking and anti-drugs laws, youths and Greek/Christian minorities were portrayed as criminals and recieved hugely disproportionate sentences.
"The War on Terror is not a war for the people of the Federated Islamic States. It is a war against the people of the Federated Islamic States - On those who want free speech, those who want devolution... The War on Terror was a propogation of the Fascist government intended to keep the peoples of the Federated Islamic States under their control, and exists today solely because of the fear the government has of its own people!"
- Emir Iqbal El-Amin, a popular anti-Fascist activist, during a rally in Palace Square, 1975.
The oft-overlooked and ostracized Greek minority proved to be the spark of the revolution, when on the 6th of March in Karachi, a city-wide national pride rally celebrating the 1955 coup, thousands of Greek families were kidnapped by the TWL and taken to a holding camp on the Qatari-CKA border, 800 miles away. Signs of the black police vans of the TWL sparked a protest during the rally, and fearing a military crackdown, protestors fled, spreading panic as rumors of a crackdown spread. With the city descending quickly into chaos, the order was sent to keep the city under martial law, but with a population of almost 9 million, it was impossible to keep the city back under control. Scattered incidents of violence quickly multiplied as stories of TWL shooting civilians spread. Over the coming weeks, as military forces were diverted to quelling dissent in Karachi, insurgent groups regained their footholds in Afghanistan and Yemen, and as conscription rates soared, more and more poorly-trained conscripts were defecting, leading to an organized resistance movement forming in the Karachi metro area.
Any hopes of winning the civil war was dashed in September of that year as the revolutionary forces in Karachi met with the Islamic Democratic Government, forming a front across Balochistan. Oman's local government threatened to pull out of the FIS as local citizens and the Omani National Guard called for those still loyal to Yāsir to be imprisoned as 'enemies of the people' and an Omani-backed military coup in Yemen unseated Yāsir's administration there. With revolutionary forces closing in slowly on Mashhad, and skirmishers pushing the dwindling loyalist military back to the city, Yāsir fled to Bahrain, the Bahraini Emir being the only governor loyal to him. As the revolutionary forces controlled the mainland FIS, the state of Bahrain became less stable as the neighboring Qatari Emirates attempted an invasion, and after months of besieging the island, the Bahrainis revolted against their Emir, taking him and Yāsir hostage.
The transitional government of the FIS was made up of the two major parties in the Free House - The Socialists, who controlled a large majority, and the Democrats. This government was responsible for the reinstatement of the Council (this time as a Federal Council) and the separation of powers (with the Federal Council acting as the executive, and the Federal Court acting as the grand judiciary). The council promised a new election when Yāsir was trialled for his 'crimes against the people' and in 1976, during the Tyrant's Trial, the former dictator was found guilty of 8,711 counts of murder (during the Civil War) and treason against the Federated Islamic States. He was sentenced to public execution by firing squad in Palace Square (now Revolution Square).