The Sultan Turns to the Forge
War had proven his sword. Shadows had tested his resolve. Now came the true test — the one that would decide whether his empire would survive not for years, but for centuries.
Not with battles, not with conspiracies, but with factories.
For Abdulhamid knew from his gift of foresight that armies win battles, but industry wins empires. The 21st century had taught him: steel and steam would decide the fate of nations. Britain had conquered oceans with iron ships. Germany had risen with railroads and cannons. America had been forged in smokestacks and oil.
If the Ottoman Empire wished to survive, it must rise from plows and wooden wheels into an age of steel rails, iron rifles, and factories that breathed smoke like dragons.
Thus began the Sultan's most daring campaign: the Industrial Jihad.
The Palace Proclamation
In the great hall of Topkapi, nobles and ministers gathered. Abdulhamid rose, scroll in hand.
"Hear me, sons of the empire! Our armies have fought, our shadows have struck, our unity has begun. But this is not enough. Without factories, we are beggars to Europe. Without steel, we are clay before their cannons. That ends today. I proclaim the founding of the first Imperial Factories of the Ottoman State. Not private toys of greedy Pashas, but workshops of the nation, owned by the crown, serving the people!"
Gasps rippled through the hall. Some nobles shouted in protest.
"This will ruin us! We have no craftsmen!"
"We have no capital!"
"We will anger Europe!"
But Abdulhamid silenced them with a single, thundering reply:
"We have Allah's gift. We have Turkish hands. And we have my will. Industry will rise — or the empire will fall. Choose your side wisely."
The First Spark: The Arsenal of Istanbul
The first great project began on the shores of the Golden Horn: a weapons factory.
From memory, Abdulhamid drew schematics of rifled barrels, percussion cartridges, and even primitive machine guns decades ahead of their time. He guided blacksmiths and engineers step by step: how to build furnaces, how to shape steel, how to assemble precise parts.
The factory roared to life. Sparks flew, furnaces glowed red, and workers marveled at the machines.
The first batch of rifles rolled out — sleek, reliable, deadly. Not the clumsy muskets of the past, but weapons to rival any European army.
When Abdulhamid held the first rifle aloft, soldiers cheered.
"With this, we no longer beg from Europe. With this, we forge our own destiny!"
The Iron Road
Next came the railways. Abdulhamid summoned engineers, spreading maps across the palace floor.
"From Istanbul to Edirne. From Konya to Baghdad. Rails will bind our empire like veins carrying lifeblood. No army will march faster than ours, no merchant will carry goods cheaper than ours. Rails are not iron — they are empire itself."
Foreign bankers offered loans at crippling interest, hoping to shackle the project. Abdulhamid laughed coldly.
"I do not borrow chains. I forge my own steel."
So he ordered the new factories to produce rails and locomotives. He conscripted villagers not only for war, but for labor brigades to lay tracks. He offered land and coin to farmers along the routes, so they welcomed the steel roads instead of fearing them.
Soon, the first Ottoman-built locomotive hissed steam into the sky. Crowds gathered as it thundered forward. Men wept, women prayed, children chased the iron beast.
The empire had entered the age of steam.
Education of the New Age
Factories needed workers who could read blueprints, understand machines, calculate weights. Abdulhamid knew this well.
So he founded Imperial Technical Schools in Istanbul, Edirne, and Ankara. Not madrasas of only theology, but academies of mathematics, mechanics, chemistry.
Clerics resisted: "These teachings are foreign heresy!"
Abdulhamid's response was sharp:
"Did Allah not give us minds to understand His creation? Every formula of mathematics is a verse of order. Every law of physics is a revelation of His wisdom. To reject knowledge is to reject His gift."
One by one, resistance fell. Boys and even some girls entered classrooms, learning not only to read Qur'an, but to calculate steel tolerances and design engines.
Fire and Opposition
But industry was not born without blood.
Foreign merchants whose profits shrank began funding riots. Nobles whose estates lost power incited mobs. Factories were burned in the night. Strikes broke out, some genuine, some fueled by foreign gold.
One evening, flames consumed the new textile mill in Bursa. The city erupted in chaos.
Abdulhamid rode there himself, not sending ministers. He walked among the ashes, speaking to workers, promising protection, rebuilding. He declared:
"For every factory they burn, I will build three more. Fire cannot stop steel. Betrayal cannot stop destiny."
His words lit hearts. Workers volunteered to guard factories at night. Entire villages pledged to protect the "fire-breathing homes of the empire."
The Great Forging
Years condensed into months under Abdulhamid's relentless drive.
Weapons factories produced rifles, cannons, even crude repeating guns.Textile mills clothed the army and freed the empire from dependence on Manchester's cotton.Railways spread like veins, binding Anatolia tighter than ever.Coal mines and iron foundries sprang up, powered by forced efficiency and the Sultan's knowledge.Printing presses churned out technical manuals and patriotic newspapers, singing the glory of steel.
The empire, once mocked as "the sick man of Europe," now coughed black smoke into the sky like a beast awakening.
A New Empire Forged
On the balcony of his new Imperial Arsenal, Abdulhamid gazed upon the city. Smoke rose from chimneys, trains whistled across the horizon, and the rhythmic clang of hammers echoed like drums of war.
Selim approached quietly. "Majesty, we are no longer beggars. The empire breathes steam, its heart beats in steel."
Abdulhamid's eyes glowed.
"Yes, Selim. But this is only the beginning. Europe believes they hold the future in their hands. They are wrong. The future belongs to us. To the Turks. To the empire reborn."
He raised a steel rifle, gleaming in the sun.
"We have shed blood in the Balkans. We have defeated shadows in the palace. And now we forge steel for tomorrow. One people. One empire. One destiny."
The crowd below roared. Factories thundered. The empire had stepped into the industrial age.
And in the distance, across steppes and deserts, across mountains and plains, the Turks of Central Asia stirred, hearing whispers of a Sultan who built not only with swords, but with steel.
The dream of a Pan-Turkic Empire of industry and faith had begun.
End of Volume 1: The Gift of Allah