Which would be bad considering Australia importance. Well maybe if these dominions didn't forget their own Identity they would still be pre-emptive even with American ivenstment and influence
WI: Colonies were given equal rights
- Thread starter LaSlavic86
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- colonialism
Saphroneth
Banned
But in a TL where Australia was more directly governed from Westminster you'd probably see an earlier training of Australian troops. It was to some extent the prewar Australian government which didn't really bother to take their own need for military buildup seriously.
British Republic
Banned
In the case of the French Empire, it might be possible for its Colonies to be given equal rights if the following happens:
- An Axis Victory occurs in which Metropolitan France falls to the Axis Powers but the rest of the French Colonial Empire in Africa (I presume Indochina falls to the Japanese and the American islands fall to the United States) remained unconqured by the Axis Powers.
- The resulting "French Republic" ends up being proped up by the United States in the same way Western Europe was after WW2 (Though the Marshall Plan) while the various Pro-Independence Movements against "French" Rule end up being associated with the Axis Powers (and thus the Americans end up supporting the French against them).
British Republic
Banned
I don't know about the others but from the British perspective (and someone who had Indian Ancestry) I can tell that the way I see it the only way you can have a Imperial Federation covering the whole of the British Empire without having the Indians dominating it is to prevent the loss of the 13 colonies (and thus preventing the formation of the United States) and maybe retaining the Dutch East Indies (rather than giving it back to the Dutch after the Napoleonic Wars).
That way the resulting Brirish Empire would be roughtly balanced (demographic wise) between the Indians of India, the various peoples of the East Indies and the various peoples of North America and force these various ethnic groups to share power. Otherwise it would ultimately result in an "Indian" British Empire.
Besides even if the 13 Colonies and the Dutch East Indies where retained, there is still the matter of giving at least the Anglophone Indians, Africans and other Non-Whites both the right to vote and a place on the table. Which is possible but rather difficult to achieve.
Unless you make a series of dominions only loosely linked to one another.
Then, of course, it's not really an empire.
Flocculencio
Donor
Yes but those troops would still be allocated to North Africa first of all. Whether properly trained troops would have made that much of a difference at Singapore is another question- Yamashita's troops were at the end of their logistical tether but the IJN still had naval supremacy and the defenders of Singapore would have been starved out rather than swiftly captured. Direct government from Westminster doesn't change the fact that 1930s Britain can't really afford a Far Eastern fleet that can credibly challenge Japan.
Still prime fodder for a "The Poms hung us out to dry" narrative.
Saphroneth
Banned
Well, they sort of can, the problem is being able to challenge Italy and Japan at the same time while also dealing with Germany. If there's no major threats elsewhere then the British fleet is essentially on par with the Japanese one even if you mark up the Japanese on a per-unit basis.
Take all the fears about immigration destroying western cultures, taking jobs and raping our cattle.
Now multiply that by integrating the whole population in your legal system.
I assume the ideal of the Commonwealth was to promote independence in local governance, a self-sustaining economy and affiliation between the center and its parts as well as between parts. It would depend upon the colonies getting investment as well as institutions, building trade links, infrastructure of interconnection as well as ties to the center. This ran face first into how the colonies were in fact treated and the vigorous pursuit of self-interest. London had no use for a closed trade system where it had wealth enough to buy as it pleased and the parts were slanted to buy from Britain, even that was not vital, only the use of Pounds truly held sway. By the time the center figured out that it needed the parts the parts had discovered they could live without London. You need to stretch back beyond 1900 and how the Empire itself evolved. You need more vision to build Dominions that have a local Parliament, speak the Queen's English and use Pounds to trade freely inside the Empire, skim off only the taxes for the common defense. Frankly you have to overcome the racism of white elites generally, then the superiority of British towards colonial specifically, then the snobbishness of English versus everyone else. Reciprocity is the goal, not equality, save before the law, but Empires are founded upon exploitation, why else conquer distant natives? At best you get a multi-ethnic federation, at worst you get a global community with freer trade and commonality. That said I think the British Commonwealth had more potential than it lived up to, but I think you need to at least butterfly the Second World War, then get the UK serious about becoming a trade alliance.
What if They just gave the Elites Equal Rights and the right to vote on issue of their Home Colony?
British Republic
Banned
As I stated in the first point, if such an Axis Victory occured it is very likely that the Japanese will take control of French Indochina. So it would be them and not the French which will have to deal with the Viet Minh.
Realistically it would make sense to grant voting rights (to elect MPs into the House of Commons) to those who meet certain educational and property qualifications (i.e. the Anglophone Indians) as well as those who have served in the armed forces. That would ease the process of intergrating the colonies into the mother country itself, likewise if representation means that the colonies are actually developed rather than looted (as was the case in OTL) then the Non-White Electorate would expand anyway until Universal Sufferage would be achieved.