Maldives

Flag of the Maldives

The **Maldives,** officially the **Sultanate of the Maldives** is a sovereign nation in South Asia. It is a Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy with the House of Huraa currently in charge of the Sultanate. The Maldives were "freed" from the German Empire in 1943 after Japan landed on the islands and a provisional government was made with the sultan still in power. The Sultanate of the Maldives has technically been around since 1153 however it has been thrown around by much larger powers recently and has only in the last year been an actual independent nation. The Maldives being occupied by Japan during the Second Weltkrieg has struck many as a waste of resources mostly as the islands contained little of value aside from a medium sized naval base. The Maldives are an observer in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and it doesn't seem to add little value materially. However Tourism may become a new industry for the nation now that the waters are safe.

## History

In 1936 the Maldives was a protectorate of the German Empire as part of its administration in it and neighboring Ceylon in the aftermath of the collapse of the British Empire. The Maldives gave very little to the German Empire and took very little as well and when the Black Monday Crisis occurred the Maldives went along and while the decrease in living standards were noticeable on the islands it was clear that the peoples lives weren't going to be effected much. This was until the Germans in an idea to try and alleviate some of their economic woes began formulating an idea to sell the islands along with Ceylon to the Princely Federation. But as the Maldives held strategic importance and Ceylon began becoming profitable it was decided to keep the islands despite the quick fix they could have provided. The Maldives would continue along on its trajectory until the start of the Second Weltkrieg in witch the people of the Maldives suddenly found out that their Sultan was essentially to become little more than a figure head given Germany's attempts to bring their colonies in line as to not worry about rebellion. The Maldives like Ceylon had been transferred to the German East Asia administration and thus had heard about the insurgencies but it was very clear that the Maldives where too small to sustain one. When news came of the Japanese Raid on Singapore the people of the Maldives decided to stay loyal to the empire given the massive fleet that was stationed in their capital. However only a year later the Japanese would begin a plan to seize the islands of Ceylon and the Maldives for the war effort. After some major naval battles over at Columbo the Maldives would fall after a similar Battle at Mahé and the rapid Japanese takeover of the Island. The Japanese decided to replace the old sultan with his son Abdul Majeed Didi as he was more amicable to Japanese plans for a state in the Maldives. The Maldives would not see much more action for the rest of the war as the naval front mostly occurred between it and the Seychelles. In 1947 as part of the Treaty of Singapore the Maldives where to be fully released from Japanese control and given full independence. However the Sultan knew the vulnerable situation that the Maldives was in given its lack of a significant army force and so he immediately applied for membership in the G.E.A.C.P.S and signed defensive pacts with Ceylon, Travancore, Mysore, and Madras. While this gives support to the Maldives it has done little for the other members of the pact aside from bring in a little more cash. The future of the Maldives is linked to the future of its neighbors and the ambitions of the powers of the Indian Ocean. If the Maldives can weather the storm for the next few years it may come out a rich and strong nation. Or it could fall and sink beneath the waves of obscurity as a footnote in history. However as the people look towards space for a new frontier, the Maldives position near but not on the equator may present a good launch position along with Ceylon for the G.E.A.C.P.S, due to the waters of Insulindia being too densely populated with islands to reliably splashdown for the foreseeable future.

## Military

The Military of the Maldives mostly exists on paper as a glorified bodyguard for the Sultan. The Army is less than a thousand men strong and almost all of it is stationed at the palace in Malé to protect the sultan in case of war or assassination attempts. The Maldives has a few patrol boats for a navy but nothing significant to be able to rely on in modern warfare. The Maldives will have to rely on Ceylon for aerial protection.