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Revitalising A Nation

Field Marshall Farouk Salah al-Din is currently doing a review of some of the military during a training session outside of Aleppo, needless to say he isn't impressed.
Farouk Salah al-Din was formerly a commander in the Ottoman Empire before turning sides and assisting Mashriq in her call for independence. He was a key figure during the Second Battle of Damascus leading the defense of the city against the much better disciplined and equipped French Army, halting the French occupation of Syria. Since then he has been promoted to the rank of Field Marshall and is now in charge of much of the nation’s training programs in the attempt to establish a professional army for Mashriq. During his inspection he has decided his best course of action would be to write a letter of demands to the head of state expressing his concerns…

“I am ashamed to say that our military in the current state of hands is in a sorry state to say the least. The men being trained before me are no older than boys, they are no more fit to defend a flock of sheep from wolves than to defend our nation from hostile powers. Furthermore the discipline of these boys is something you would see of a street gang… Many are from small tribes and villages, having no sense of respect for their commanding officers. A serious crack down is needed to ensure they follow further orders of which I plan to institute in the near future. Going off that the current NCOs and Officers in charge of these units lack the skills needed for decent leaders. They don't understand the art of war and how modern warfare should be treated, they rely on their mountain style of combat versus leading a central organized unit that is crucial in our time and age. These are only the problems we see on the surface... Our supply is atrocious. Our forces are armed from anything from British weapons, French weapons, and German-Turkish weapons; there is no sense of a unified armory that our nation can continue production of. We can keep production of turkish weapons; however, it will take more time than we would like to restock our military. I watched today as a unit practiced on the range, they were only allowed to fire three shots before passing the rifle to the next person in line. I even witnessed units armed with nothing besides muzzleloaders and swords/other hand to hand weapons. In terms of machines of war we have next to nothing… I have toured other nations in this past year seeing even the smallest of Balkan states maintaining a fleet of armored cars, aircraft, and some with even tanks. Our machines of war numbers with an armored train, a few dozen captured armored cars (many of which are in need of upkeep), a handful of French aircraft, and only several French Renault Light Tanks and British Mark Tanks.
To the outside world we may not be seen as an easy target or a nation to be feared militarily, it has only been two years since our victory over not only the Ottoman Empire, but the much better British and French armies. However, as I look on our army today I can only thank Allah for his gifts of two years ago on us. I plead with you, nay I beg you to further support our army…”

If our nation is going to have a future education of our masses. In 1901, the establishment of the Office of the School of Medicine in Damascus was approved and in 1903 this school, which is the nucleus of the University, opened. The school included branches in medicine and pharmacy, and the language of instruction was Turkish, which would be changed to Arabic in 1918. In 1913, a Law School opened in Beirut, in which most of the teachers were Arabs and the language of instruction was Arabic. Then this school was transferred to Damascus in 1914 just as the School of Medicine moved to Beirut. Then in the last years of the First World War the Law School returned to Beirut. Following the establishment of Mashriq the Institute of Medicine and the School of Law opened in Damascus, the former at the beginning of January in 1919 and the latter in September of the same year. Since then the School of Law was named the Institute of Law and this institute was linked together with the Institute of Medicine, the Arab Society, and the Center of Arabic Heritage in organization under the name of the Syrian University. In this past year, the School of Higher Literary Studies was established. The University of Damascus is proving to be a vital part of the nation’s education and being the only Arabic university in the Middle East is bringing in hundreds of others to the nation for our education.

The industry of Mashriq is a curious one to say the least, it has great potential; however, lacks the modernization required to harvest all of the resources in their territory. Mashriq mainly sees itself as an agricultural and oil producing nation. Agriculture has always been a tradition in this region. Mashriq holds the most farm and livestock friendly lands in the Middle East (minus that of Anatolia), and through generations the population of the nation has kept it alive and the region fed easily. Through European and Ottoman industry in the area, oil has been shown in great amounts and has allowed it to be collected just as easily. Mashriq and her industry oil will be the life blood of the nation in the future, producing more than the nation itself is using. Even still many engineers in the nation believe there are still oil pockets that are yet to even be discovered within the nation, further development of industry will allow us to reach these untapped pockets. Which may come as a surprise to many nations outside the Middle East is that Mashriq holds some other large mineral rich areas. Mashriq holds the only source of phosphates in the Middle East which allows the nation to produce chemicals like pyrophosphates, the same chemical used to kill and mane so many soldiers in Europe during the Great War. But on a commercial side allows the fast progression of industry when used correctly. Coal, coal was the starter of any industrial empire. Coal mines are spread across the nation and like the use of phosphates can be used for a fast progression of industrialization. In all senses Mashriq is a fairly rich nation and has great potential if given the chance to rival even the larger more developed European and American nations if given the ability to do so...

The Lands of Pharaohs, Prophets, and Palestine

The Arabs are one of the largest cultural groups in the world and at times have created some of the largest empires in the world. Even between the slight cultural differences and swabbles the Arabs have a deep sense of brotherhood to one another, unlike most European and Asian countries. With the sudden withdrawal of European powers in the region, a vacuum pocket has been created leaving several areas without a form of government or a weak one at that. Regions like Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, and Hajez. After the victory of Mashriq independence against European overlords they have reminded a symbol of Arab nationalism to many of these states.
Palestine and Iraq in general have been large supporters of joining with Mashriq since its formation and was only stopped by European powers from doing so. However, without those powers to stop them now they have been flocking to Mashriq for support, and finally Mashriq feels like it can integrate these areas freely without the overlooking eyes of predator nations. After two years Palestine and Iraq have been welcomed into the fold of the nation as long lost brothers and sisters of Allah.
Egypt and Hajez have been another couple that have been eying for Mashriq support. Like Mashriq, Hajez won its independence against the Ottomans; however, they lost it to British shortly after. This did nothing but draw Hajez closer to Mashriq as the two states saw each other as comrades of the Islamic faith and being that the two nations have a closer connection of transportation from Damascus to Mecca. Hajez hasn't had the time like Mashriq to form a stable government and has been more and more looking to Mashriq for support. Eventually a deal was reached between the two Arab states, with northern Hajez agreeing to be integrated into Mashriq along with the southern areas at a later date with the promise of further Mashriq support.
That brings us to the topic of Egypt, they have heavily relied on European support to keep the region running and with their sudden withdrawal has left the region in a very heavy vacuum of power. With the small urban north versus the large rural south. Egypt has also held the mantle of being the state that supported the creation of the larger Arabian State, being the capital of which several times throughout history. With the promising support of Mashriq, Northern Egypt agreed to allow a Mashriq governing body over the region to help further solve the vacuum problem in the region today…
Mashriq has shown the world the victory through peace and understanding can be just as powerful as victory through the sword.

~“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you – when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers.” Ayat 103~