raharris1973
Gone Fishin'
Here's a fairly random speculation- what if in the aftermath of the Spanish-American war, Italy, rather than Germany, purchased the bulk of the Spanish East Indies unclaimed by the U.S., ie the Marianas (minus Guam), the Palaus, and the Carolines? What would the longer-term consequences be?
The title is a variation on the Italian nickname for Libya, a "box of sand", and Italy's motive in acquiring the territory would be similar, essentially a vanity project. It could round out the Italian empire, which had no Asia-Pacific components in OTL. Conceivably, some follow-on effects might be greater Italian participation in the Boxer expedition, or success in obtaining a treaty port in China before the Boxer rebellion's outbreak. Other effects could be a postponement or cancellation of the Italo-Ottoman war of 1911. While purchasing a bunch of remote islands is not exactly "revenge for Adua" or a vindication of Italian arms, it does vastly expand Italy's empire on a map, and can be seen as a diplomatic coup.
Over the longer-longer term this could have interesting impacts on Italo-German, Italo-US, Italo-British Commonwealth, Italo-Chinese, and above all Italo-Japanese relations well into the 20th century. And that's aside from any direct effects on Italian or Micronesian cultures, cuisine and migration patterns.
A tricky part of course is getting to a position where the Germans do not outbid the Italians. Also, I'm unaware if the price that the Germans paid to Spain was affordable in the Italian budget of the late 1890s.
The title is a variation on the Italian nickname for Libya, a "box of sand", and Italy's motive in acquiring the territory would be similar, essentially a vanity project. It could round out the Italian empire, which had no Asia-Pacific components in OTL. Conceivably, some follow-on effects might be greater Italian participation in the Boxer expedition, or success in obtaining a treaty port in China before the Boxer rebellion's outbreak. Other effects could be a postponement or cancellation of the Italo-Ottoman war of 1911. While purchasing a bunch of remote islands is not exactly "revenge for Adua" or a vindication of Italian arms, it does vastly expand Italy's empire on a map, and can be seen as a diplomatic coup.
Over the longer-longer term this could have interesting impacts on Italo-German, Italo-US, Italo-British Commonwealth, Italo-Chinese, and above all Italo-Japanese relations well into the 20th century. And that's aside from any direct effects on Italian or Micronesian cultures, cuisine and migration patterns.
A tricky part of course is getting to a position where the Germans do not outbid the Italians. Also, I'm unaware if the price that the Germans paid to Spain was affordable in the Italian budget of the late 1890s.