The Lion And The Eagle - Collaborative Map!
Hi all! This is a collaboration between myself and
Nicksplace27 - he produced the map and the TL concept and asked me to add country name annotations and flavour text to round it out a little. Nick probably has a better idea of his TL, but he's been incommunicado, and since the deadline's coming up I thought I'd better post it. So, here's my take on the background info he sent over:
The P.O.D. is a different Quebec Act of 1774 which fails to placate the French settlers (whilst still enraging the southern colonists as per OTL). The Province of Quebec supports Benedict Arnold and a more successful New Brunswick rising allows the United States of North America to assume control over much of British North America. The Treaty of Paris grants the fifteen United States all the land south of the Hudson River Basin and east of the Mississippi. Britain then has to figure out what to do with 100,000 loyalists, as Newfoundland and Rupertsland can't support the extra population. By 1786 most have been relocated to Australia.
An alternate French Revolution sees the USNA declare war on *Napoleonic France. South America rises against Spanish rule and Louisiana is annexed by the USNA. France invades the Netherlands, annexing the Austrian Netherlands and establishes the Batavian Republic, which declares war on Britain. Britain takes control of Gold Coast, the Cape, Ceylon and Indonesia. In Europe, France, Russia, and the Batavian Republic soundly defeat Austria, Prussia, and Spain. The *Continental System comprises the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Italy (later the Republic of Italy) and the Federation of German Nations.
However, after our Napoleon analogue's death, Europe is again plunged into war in the 1820s and 1870s, as the *Napoleonic constructs turn on France and attempt to reclaim historically German and Italian territory. Britain chooses to remain neutral, profiteering from the German, French, and Italian republics. Britain and Portugal are left the undisputed masters of the colonial world, and divide the spoils more or less amicably.
The Anglo-American wars in the 1850s see the British possessions in North America whittled down to just Newfoundland and the island protectorates. Britain's long-term ally in America, the Kingdom of Mexico, is defeated with the aid of the Central American Confederation and the Confederation of New Granada. The King of Mexico is put on trial and executed, and a USNA-friendly Mexican Republic established. The breakaway Republic of the Yucatan proves highly unstable, requiring USNA intervention. In the late 19th century Britain adopts a policy of containment, and expands into the Southern Cone to prevent further USNA influence.
By the 20th century Britain is suffering from severe overstretch - the four Kingdoms of Egypt, South Africa, Malaysia and Australia can be considered similar to OTL's Dominions, but do not have self-determination, and are considered separate Crowns (e.g. as if the Crown of Canada had been created in OTL). To complicate matters they have a shared parliament and are often referred to as the United Kingdom (officially they remain the United Kingdoms of the Hanoverian monarch). The Kingdoms have joint responsibility for administering the dominions of their Queen (though the Union of British Indian Dominions and Princely States remain a British preserve). Portugal has gone even further by granting full citizenship and the political franchise to all the peoples of its dependencies. This has allowed the colonial powers to resist USNA political and economic encroachment thus far - but for how much longer?