WesWorld

October 11th 1937-

Viscount Halifax entered the room and spoke to Singh, “Very well, Mr. Prime Minister, I have received the response from London. They have agreed to include the territorial changes from the now null Karachi Agreement in the Entente. But we also have a request for you, Mr. Prime Minister.” Singh nodded for the British Foreign Minister to continue, “We request your nation to allow the assurances given in Karachi in regard to Malaya to also be included in the Entente. This will, I think, go a long way in showing the good faith of the Bharati Government towards Great Britain, especially in these times.”

Singh noted the way he was paraphrased by the British Foreign Minister and smiled. He was prepared to do so anyway. “Of course, Lord Halifax. Malaya is of no concern to us. It must be included, just to show our intent of lasting peace with your nation.”

“Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. With these small details out of the way we can discuss the matter that brought us here. What do you make of the way Persia is hastily pulling away from Baluchistan? We for one are delighted; we can get Jinnah what he wants with almost no cost to us. Naturally, we wish to complete this process as quickly as possible, both for their sake and for ours.”

Singh fought to keep from choking; the British had to be insane to be already talking about toppling the fledging government of a nation that doesn’t exist yet. This could get interesting indeed. I wonder if being here is a mistake. Probably not , thought Singh before beginning the discussions.

Shucks, I beginning to blush! Are we Brits really so nefarious?

You see Britain and India can work well together, we can all make the little sacrifices that oil the bigger wheels in motion.

Let no-one be mis-understood about Halifax. He is perhaps the most talented British politican, he quickly rose up the political ranks of the Conservative Party and held some big jobs. He has poltical acumen and a desire to succeed. He can be blinkered and is slightly "old-world view" but he is a principled man (also anti-semitic and prone to belittling small races etc but that stems from good breeding and English public education!) and not someone overly pragmatic.

Quietly in London in the Commons tea room his name gets bandied around as Chambelain's successor. He has the stature for it but perhaps not the political insightiveness for that role. Chamberlain too seems to be going from strength to strength with a strong economy, industrial modernisation, foreign deals with Germany, Nordmark, France, Netherlands, Russia, Commonwealth, NATO, India, Persia, Egypt and Iraq. He is perhaps the next Disreali of the Conservative Party?
Even so those pesky Labour MPs whine on about the workers, poor welfare, unemployment and gross inequalities between the classes.

So the race for the 1940 election begins...

It is the hope of Azerbaijan that another secular republic will soon be birthed in Western Asia: not a power driven by religion, ethnic pride, or imperial ambitions ((the Azeri diplomat coughs in a way that sounds like "Persia")). Azerbaijan believes the British recognize this necessity and hopes the Indian government does as well.

Chile, Ireland, and Bulgaria make no comments at this time.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
Shucks, I beginning to blush! Are we Brits really so nefarious?

Well, you built and maintained the largest and most influential empire in the history of the world. I presume it's not, to crib a famous Briton, because you're all made of sugar candy.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine


Chile, Ireland, and Bulgaria make no comments at this time.

As it should. All this is still secret IC so no reason for them to comment IC.

Quoted

Originally posted by perdedor99

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine


Chile, Ireland, and Bulgaria make no comments at this time.

As it should. All this is still secret IC so no reason for them to comment IC.

This morning's secret negotiations are the front-page news of the evening papers.

Quoted

He is perhaps the next Disreali of the Conservative Party?

The present caricature of Chamberlain as weak hand hiding behind an umbrella is way off. He was an incredibly strong-willed man who dominated the Cabinet while he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, to say nothing of how he did as PM.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
It's interesting. I figured the Anglo-Indian treaty would open up a big can of worms somehow or another... most of our treaties do. But this whole Pakistan business was not something I foresaw coming down the pike.

Nice write-up.

The Dutch understood the strategic drivers, but thought the Brits were nuts, in no small part because it would be much harder to recoup the pre-treaty stances if a party reneged, and there was little to keep a party from doing just that. The other part is the standard Dutch opinion regarding trusting Bahrat. As it happens, it looks like the UK will salve something from this.

Oct 14th 1937-

“Mr. Prime Minister, so you consider the situation in Baluchistan after the Persian withdraws would be stable? We consider the Khan of Kalat no more than a Persian mouthpiece that would rig the elections by allowing a victory that would result in the region going back to Persia. We are shocked that you actually consider this man to be palatable to your sensibilities.” Singh was surprised by Lord Halifax’s statement. The Khan of Kalat has run the region under the British and now under the Persians; so why not being given a chance to run the place on his own? But of course the British statement made a little bit of sense. What if this was a ploy? Meanwhile Lord Halifax has continued to speak. “…As a nation that has so many interests in the Indian Ocean and the Middle East regions it should be paramount to ensure the stability of these parts of the World, owing so much to the labors of the Bharati men who came to help build your nation to what is now today, a regional power on their own to be reckon with in. If you found any kind of intervention distasteful at least allow Mr. Jinnah to travel to Baluchistan to as we said, to try to keep the game clean.”

Singh pondered for a moment a response. The British pretty much was accepting no direct intervention into the region but it wasn’t backing down from his stance in support for their man Jinnah. I guess I better give a tic for a tac. “If Mr. Jinnah travels in an unofficial capacity thru Bharat and enters Baluchistan, who are we to stop him?”

Oct 17th 1937-

“Are we all agreed then, Prime Minister? That the parts of the Karachi Agreement that pertaining our nation’s relationship will be included in the Entente? That further cooperation could be forthcoming in the future?” Lord Halifax sounded relieved that the meeting has gone so well. This would help to channel the British energies , Singh thought, and he knew that tight cooperation could cement the relationship for a long time. He looked from across the table, and nodded.

“Well, then, Prime Minister, unless there is other business, I think we have done very well during this week and we should go our respective homes.” Said Halifax while Singh nodded and smiled, standing from the table. He convinced the British not to directly intervene in the future of Baluchistan but he knew Jinnah was trouble, but it was for the good of Bharat. He took some comfort in that thought while thinking of the future.

November 14th 1937- In a short communique today the Foreign Ministry stated the situation in the region of Eastern Baluchistan to be "serious indeed. " The Foreign Ministry ask the government of the region to show restraint and "to please allow a peaceful process to proceed if necessary."

Excerpts from "The 20th Century" by Imperial Publications, Mumbai, July 1991

Bharat's war plans before 1935 had always been predicated on the assumption that they would fight the European nations alone, with sacrifices being made to achieve a collective victory with the Satsuma nations. With this considered they had made serious efforts toward upgrading their infrastructure to allow for a counteroffensive after the initial Europeans blows had been absorbed. And paramount to Bharat was the oil production and delivery of that vital fuel to their growing industries to support that counteroffensive.

Bharati plans assumed that eventually the Europeans would be defeated by their allies further East, and their own forces together with their Satsuma allies and infrastructure built up sufficiently, that a series of counterattacks could be made, focused on the Middle East, which would eventually allow the Satsuma nations to drive the European powers back to Suez in what would be a protracted and costly struggle. Though this was the view in the late 1920’s to early 1930’s the new men moving into the positions of power of the Bharati political and military leadership recognized the folly of these dreams. War plans from the middle 1930s determined the damage to Bharat would be extensive indeed in the scenario being played, with the victory of their allies further east not being a certain event. Two decisions were made during this period; to acquire the needed resources to maintain the continued expansion of the Empire’s infrastructure by diplomatic means and to leave the Satsuma alliance at the earliest possible time. And Bharat found a willing partner in the British Empire.

Great Britain recognized the Empire of Bharat to be a bully; a nation yelling to the World of how powerful they were but knowing full well they will get hurt if they play against the big boys. Of course the British also recognized they weren’t stupid. As such the British Empire embarked themselves on the task to play the weakness of Bharat’s national pride with a dual purpose; to weaken the Satsuma alliance and to ensure their continued control of a large part of the World’s oil production. The Karachi Agreement gave the Empire of Bharat territorial expansion while costing almost nothing to Great Britain. But more important for Bharat was that finally a direct land route existed between their Empire and the resources needed to fuel their industrialization. This agreement started the basis of the more extensive Anglo-Bharati Entente; of course the Bharati pride and their mishandling of the political sensitivities of the nations in the region was one of the main causes of the political problems of the region for the rest of the decade.

Hyderabad, Prime Minister Office, December 15th 1937-

Prime Minister Singh read the reports and shook his head. Trouble is on the way, was his thought while scanning the papers. Then he stopped and stared deep and long into a small communique. He began to scribble an answer in a blank piece of paper. "We will not support any action but will not stand in the way."

There, he thought,Their actions are too dangerous. Better to sit and wait to see where their actions take everyone.

He folded the paper, put it on an envelope and sighted.

December 17th 1937- A short communique released today the Foreign Ministry stated "the growing unrest in Eastern Baluchistan is reaching very dangerous levels". The Foreign Ministry indicated they will discuss the situation with other nations in the region to try to reach a "peaceful conclusion to the events unfolding."

Hyderabad, Prime Minister Office, 11:27hrs December 31st 1937-

Prime Minister Singh read the report from the ambassador in Persia and shook his head in disbelief. So the Majlis has followed the succesion wishes of the deceased Shah? (1) I can imagine the reaction of the different factions in Persia and let's not talk about the other nations with interest in the region. But his first duty was to go to the Royal Palace to tell the news to His Imperial Highness that now he sits alos on the Peacock Throne.

(1) OOC: read Persia thread 1936 or 1935. Can't recall which year.

The Azeri ambassador offers the Democratic Republic's consolation to the Raj.

Armenia says nothing, suspecting a nefarious plot.

Chile accidentally sends their message of congratulations to the Chinese emperor.

Tsar Boris sends the Raj some cigars he rolled himself (Bulgarian tobacco - best in Europe?)

Ireland sends the Raj some whiskey "to help sleep after dealing with your new subjects".