Nation Name(full and short): al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah; The United Arab Republic; Arabia; Egypt
Capital: Damascus
Head of State: President Saddam Hussein
Head of Government: President Saddam Hussein
Picture of HoS & HoG:
Flag:
Population: 130 Million People
Territorial Possessions:
(Full Yellow is current possessions; Partial Yellow is land claimed)GDP (nominal): ~$960 Billion
Currency: The Arabic Pound
Major Trading Partners: USSR, France, Libya
Major Imports: Arms, Technology
Major Exports: Oil, Natural Gas, Tourism
Total Military Size: 1,200,000 Active
Army Breakdown: The Revolutionary Army (RAA) is the standard military force of Arabia. The RAA is lead by the President of the Republic, who delegates his power to top generals to oversee the combat. The RAA has been very active; in the past 10 years it has completed its annexation of Yemen, fought the Arabian-Iran War, and invaded Kuwait before being pushed out in the intense Persian Gulf War. The RAA is currently fighting guerilla forces within its forces, but is overwhelmingly winning them. The RAA is also known for using Chemical Weapons against its foes, which has drawn heavy criticism from the world. The RAA also has ~8,000 Tanks, ~6,000 Artillery Units and ~2,000 Armored Vehicles.
Navy Breakdown: The Revolutionary Navy (RNA) is the standard naval force of Arabia. Due to the loss of the Suez Canal and the lack of recognition of the State of Israel, the Navy is locked purely in the Mediterranean, and has not been used since the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The Navy has ~130 aging battle ships, and lacks carriers and submarines. Hussein has been looking into expanding the Navy, with eyes on looking to take over the Suez.
Air Force Breakdown: The Revolutionary Air Force (RAFA) is the standard air force of Arabia. The RAFA has over 1,000 Military Air Craft and around 400 Military Helicopters. The use of the RAFA was vital to the Republics Eastern Campaigns due to the RNA being locked to the Mediterranean.
Other Military Information: The entire Military is Gender Neutral, and all forces have many Female service members and Female commanders. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) resides in the Golan Heights, and has become an extension of the Republic.
Religious Breakdown: Islam is the largest Religion in the Republic and the Official Religion of the Country, with ~88% of all Arabians being Muslims. 75% of Muslims follow Sunni Islam, 20% of Muslims are Shi'ites (Zayidis and Alawites), and 5% belonging to other groups (Universalists, Quranists, Ibadis and Wahhabis). Sunni Muslims are found through out the Republic, while Shi'ites are mostly found in Northern Yemen and at the Border of Iraq and Syria. ~10% of Arabians are Christians. 80% of these Christians belong to the Catholic Church, and are located mostly in Lebanon. 20% of these Christians belong to the Coptic Church and are found mostly in central Egypt. The last 2% belong to minor Religious groups. In Northern Iraq and Syria, there are small populations of Yazidis and Zoroastrians; both groups, however, are heavily prosecuted. In Southern Lebanon and Syria, small communities of Druze remain, but are also heavily prosecuted. Judaism, while legal in Arabia, no longer exists as all Jewish people have been expelled from their lands. Lastly, Hindu, Sikh, Ahmadi and Buddhist workers from India can be found all through out Arabia.
Political Breakdown: The United Arab Republic is a Federalized Single-Party Socialist Republican State. Officially, 9 States are recognized in the Republic; Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Khuzistan. Only one Political Party is acknowledged in the Republic; the Ba'athist Party of Arabia (BPA). The Federal Government is run by the President of the Republic, who since 1977 has been Saddam Hussein, the head of the BPA. The Legislature of the Republic is known as the Republican Revolutionary Council (RCC), ran by the most influential BPA members, though normally acting as a rubber stamp to the President. Each of the recognized States has a Governor and their own State Revolutionary Councils (SRC), but they can not supersede the President or the RCC, and all had to belong to the BPA. The Judiciary is nothing more then an extension of the BPA; only Civil Courts can be a part of the States, and all Criminal Courts are a part of the Federal Government, as is the Supreme Court of the Republic. The BPA is also in control of the Economy through the RCC; controlling 90% of the Economy, especially its most important and largest Commodity, Oil. By most Human Rights Organizations, Arabia ranks low on almost all Freedoms; Media is controlled by the state, speech is heavily monitored, only state-sanctioned assemblies are allowed, political freedoms are non-existent, and most criminal trials result in convictions and heavy sentences. Islam is the official Religion of Arabia, although the Country since its founding has been heavily secularized with conservativism and religiousness being frowned upon. All States recognize Islam as their Official Religion as well, except for Lebanon which declares Islam and Christianity its State Religions. The President of the Republic must be a Sunni, Zayidi or Alawite Muslim.
Organization Membership Breakdown: The UAR is one of the most hated members of the UN, having officially been sanctioned for its invasion of Kuwait and use of chemical warfare through out the 80's and now. The UAR is also a member of OPEC. The UAR has a defensive alliance with Libya and Algeria, though neither nation honored the pact when the UN states launched the Gulf War. The UAR, like most Muslim Majority states, does not recognize Israel.
History: In the 1950's, the Arab world was finally turning around. After years of being conquered and colonized by European powers, the Arabic Countries were finally gaining their freedom. The strongest country to gain its independence was Egypt. While Egypt had always had greater independence then its colonial neighbors, it was finally in the 1950's that the last European influences left, allowing King Farouk, King of Egypt and Sudan, to rule his land from the Lower to the Upper Nile. His independent rule, however, was short lived, as in 1952 Farouk was overthrown by the Free Military Officers, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein. Inspired by Ba'athism, a Revolutionary Political Ideology founded in the 30's, Nasser and the Free Officers founded the Republican Revolutionary Council, and after a coup d'etat of fellow Officer Mohamed Naguib, Nasser began to lead Egypt to greatness. In 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, at then property of Great Britain, but with the support of both the United States and the Soviet Union, Nasser and Egypt successfully took the Canal for themselves.
With Egypt's success in the Suez, other Arab States looked to Egypt and Nasser for their own success, especially against their greatest enemy; the newly established Israel. Syria, an independent state since 1950 and fearful of a Communist takeover, joined Nasser and Egypt in 1958, and officially the United Arab Republic was born. Iraq and Jordan, two monarchies that had formed their own union to compete with the UAR, had their own Ba'athist Revolts and both would join the UAR in 1958 and 1959, respectively. The United States, fearing the UAR's massive expansion through out the Middle East, sent troops to protect the Kingdom of Libya and the Republic of Lebanon. The Palestinian Liberation Organization was also recognized as a legitimate force in the UAR, and the State of Palestine was established exclusively in the West Bank.
At first, Egypt ruled over all the other parts of the Republic, but this was problematic almost immediately. By 1960 the Non-Egyptian States were growing increasingly frustrated at the Egyptian focus of the Republic. After a failed Coup in 1961, the UAR reformed from a strongly centralized state to a federalized one to accommodate the other states. The Capitol of the UAR was also moved from Cairo to Damascus, and Nasser established a new Presidential Palace there. In 1960 and 1962, Turkey and North Yemen both had Ba'athist Revolutions and joined the UAR as its 6th and 7th States, respectively. Over the course of 5 years, with the aid of Soviet specialists, the Economy of the UAR was mostly nationalized and proved quite effective.
However, peace in the UAR wouldn't last. Egypt was receiving word from the Soviet Union that Israel was preparing an attack on the UAR. Fearing the Israeli attack, the UAR closed the Suez to Israeli ships, and Israel, in retaliation, attacked the UAR's western air forces. The 10-Day War was a major defeat for the Republic, as Israel steamrolled through the West Bank and Jordan, the Gaza strip and Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. Nasser accepted complete responsibility for the failure of the war and resigned, but the Revolutionary Council convinced him to return to the Presidency. The Council also recognized Palestinians and Jordanians as 'stateless states', allowing them to retain their leadership even as their people were spread through out the UAR and the rest of the Middle East. Jewish and Druze citizens of the UAR were kicked out of the Country, mostly by mob violence but with hidden or known Governmental support.
Nasser died in 1970, and Vice President Anwar Sadat became President. Sadat quickly consolidated power, creating a 'corrective revolution' that removed many of Nasser's strongest allies and kicking the Soviet aides out of the Country. Sadat also relaxed the Country's liberal and nationalist policies, allowing for Islamism to flourish and for Private businesses to exist. This proved popular with the people, but wasn't popular with some of the other Ba'athists.
In 1973, the UAR launched an invasion of Israel. Though the Western assault ultimately proved to be a failure, the Eastern assault was a massive success, as most of Jordan and the Golan Heights were reclaimed successfully from Israel; Jordan was re-established as a State with the Jordanians no longer being a Stateless people, though the Palestinians remained so. The Yom Kippur War was hailed through out the Middle East, and is still viewed as Sadat's greatest achievement. However, Sadat followed the Yom Kippur War with Lebanon; the Christians, fearing a collapse of their Country by Islamists and an assault from Israel, negotiated its entrance into the UAR on the condition that Lebanon would be a Christian State, which Sadat and the RCC accepted. The Palestinians and Muslim Lebanese did not want to leave Lebanon, resulting in a crises that Sadat never solved. Lebanon, however, became the UAR's 8th State in 1975.
Lebanon wasn't the only crises point in the Republic, however; the economic liberalization had resulted in prices rising on simple goods, Islamism and Islamic terrorism was on the rise, and corruption was running rampant. The Ba'athist Party and Military commanders were getting worried about Sadat's inability to solve these worsening problems. On top of that, word had reached members of the Inner Party that Sadat was planning on making peace with Israel, which was the final straw to many Ba'athists. In 1977, riots broke out through out Arabia about the price of bread and other goods. Although Sadat ordered the army to put these protests down, the Military instead staged a coup, ousting Sadat from power and putting in a young man named Saddam Hussein.
Hussein, one of the top Military Generals and a major force in Ba'athism in Iraq, quickly purged the party of many of Sadat's allies, as well as re-established Nationalization on many industries, especially Oil. Hussein also began to crack down on Islamists and Mosques all through out the country, replacing it with a Cult of Personality centered around him and the Ideology of Ba'athism. Hussein also cracked down on the Palestinians whom he viewed as rogues in his Country; forcing as many Palestinians as he could to live in the Golan Heights, massacring many more, and causing a new diaspora through out the Middle East. His solution to the Lebanese Crises was to massacre as many Shi'ites, Druze and Palestinian Lebanese in Lebanon while leaving the Christian and Sunni Lebanese alone. He also re-established strong ties with the Soviet Union, and the Nationalization of the Industries helped the people live their daily lives.
Militarily, however, no one could argue that Saddam knew how to fight. In 1978, South Yemen declared war on the UAR with the intent of taking over North Yemen; Hussein easily crushed and conquered the country, reuniting Yemen into one state. In 1979, Iran had a revolution that overthrew its King by Shi'ite Islamists under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. With Khomeini calling for an Islamic Revolution in Arabia, and Hussein believing that the Arabs of Iran would side with him over the Ayatollah, the Iran-Iraq War began. The fighting was fierce, and the Republic resorted to Chemical Warfare for the first time in its lifetime, but after 3 years of fighting the overwhelming force and military expertise of Arabia overwhelmed Iran; Iraq took Khuzistan and Iranian Kurdistan (which was given to the State of Iraq), forced Iran to pay them and made Ayatollah Khomeini abdicate his role in the Iranian Government. These military victories helped improve Ba'athism in the Islamic World over Islamism, though the two ideologies continue to fight to this day. Khuzistan became the 9th State of Arabia, although many Western Nations didn't recognize this claim.
Though the UAR had become a powerhouse militarily, economically it began to suffer in the late 80's due to massive oil exports from the Arabian Kingdoms. Hussein specifically pointed at Kuwait as the worst offender, and had gotten it into his head that Kuwait was rightful Iraqi (and therefor Arabian) territory. Attempts to negotiate lowering oil exports, as well as water negotiations, failed, and in 1989 Arabia invaded Kuwait and annexed it. This was too much for the international community, and they sent Hussein an ultimatum; leave Kuwait or there would be war. This resulted in the Gulf War, where the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, and a number of UN states, went to Kuwait to liberate it from Arabia. The war was blistering, lasting over a year due to Arabia putting as many resources as it could in fighting the combined force. In the end, Hussein was forced to withdraw from Kuwait, but the forces attempts to push into Arabia were failures, and thus peace was reached between Arabia and the UN forces, as was the Republic's rule over Khuzistan.
The War, however, caused problems at home. Islamists in Egypt led by an Egyptian Pilot, Omar Al-Bashir, and a Saudi billionaire, Osama Bin Laden, caused chaos in the State; Kurds in Iraq and Syria tried to revolt out of Arabia, Palestinians began the First Arabian Intifada, and Liberal Youths protested for Political freedoms that the Ba'athists and Hussein were denying them. Hussein immediately dealt with the Islamic Assault, and although it was put down, Bashir and Bin Laden escaped to an unknown location, possibly Afghanistan. His next major focus was on the Kurds, whom he has almost defeated after 2 years of fighting. The Intifada and Liberal agitators are still going, but Hussein doesn't view them as serious threats, simply slaughtering and arresting as many of these two as he can. The combination of both the Gulf War and the atrocities of Arabia afterwards has caused the UN to put the UAR in isolation, making it a no-fly zone and sanctioning it as much as it can, though this hasn't stopped it from trading with its Arabic neighbors and the Soviet Union.
Hussein, however, is still viewed very positively in his country despite the bloodshed; his victory in the Middle East and ability to fight the west makes him a hero to many. However, his paranoia and viciousness also scare many, so who knows how many actively view him positively or only do so out of necessity. Hussein has recently been having a crises of faith; not against Islam, but for it, viewing his survival after the Gulf War as a blessing of Allah. The secular Ba'athists would never allow him to openly embrace Islamism to any extent, as his successor Sadat tried, but he's been secretly embracing the faith more and more, going so far as to commission a Quran made out of his own blood. Only time will tell if Hussein can keep a hold on Arabia, or if the Ba'athists will turn on him the minute they think they can...
Roleplay Example(can be link or a quick mini-post): Alt-History Napoleonic War
Do Not Remove-NoSurrenderRP
