SPOILERS!!!
I'm awaiting the France/France Abroad update more readily.
I'm going to try and update certain parts of the war before getting into the detail of Britain's colonial wars in Asia. It won't be in the too-distant future now.
There were
thousands of Civil War vets still alive in the late 1930s and people whose parents and grandparents fought the Indians.
(There's a line in the movie "Codetalkers" in which a belligerent Texan ponders how his grandfather said there were bounties for Comanche like they were "gophers" and that's several years later.)
The Manifest Destiny might not be quite dead, especially since there's no Filipino War in TTL to leave a sour taste in the public's mouth for overt imperialism.
Cuba would like to have a word with you...
Cuba has indeed done much to besmirch the name of Imperialism within the United States, as has the growing popularity of socialism in the states as well. Although there is a growing movement of those wanting the US to throw its weight around more seriously on the international stage, they are not important enough in policy for the time being.
If Britain goes straight-up fascist and Australia declares independence, I could imagine Americans opposed to fascistic Britain (in TTL the US will probably be more anti-British, since there's no shared struggle in WWI, and that's WITHOUT the fascism) and desirous of overseas adventurism and even colonial expansion seeking to come to Australia's aid.
(Not suggesting Australians would want to become Americans, but a closer relationship between the two--mostly--white and Christian peoples seems doable. And if it gives the US the chance to take British colonies in the Pacific, even better. Does the US have Hawaii in TTL?)
And Australians fearing the wrath of the Royal Navy and Black and Tans coming to Australia might encourage this to protect themselves if nothing else. "Better red, white, and blue than dead."
The Americans, whatever route they go down, are unlikely to be keen on the British, and may likely see parallels between the ARW and the war in India. Ties between the Americans and Australia aren't too strong for the time being (with the Americans having less of a presence in Asia) and so American-Australian relations largely depend on how the '30s and '40s pan out.
I don't see real British action against Australia as likely, even if there is a full-on diplomatic break off. The British already have more than enough on their plate, and the last thing that they need is more enemies. The US does have Hawaii in TTL, but they were never had the opportunity to take bases like Guam, which are now in German hands following a purchase from the Spanish.
The war propaganda for fighting Britain in Australia's defense just writes itself. Lots of references to 1776, replace King George III with this King Henry, perhaps throw in a reference to the US then and Australia now being a reference from Europe's wars and conscription, etc.
Heck, wasn't Churchill a US citizen? If the US ever gets its hands on him, he could be tried for treason.
Support Australia - America 2.0? Something along these lines perhaps. Certainly, the propaganda writes itself. America has to actually get into such a war in the first place though.
So the *Depression era has started and the British empire is under immense pressure, possibly about to break apart.
Can't wait to see how this unfolds.
This time though, the British Empire isn't going down without a fight. No winds of change recognition here.
Many thanks!
Where did most of Australia's population live at this point in history? In the present day, Australia is one of the most urbanized societies on Earth.
The British could try to bring them to heel by shelling Sydney a la the Germans forcing the Dutch to surrender by bombing Rotterdam.
If my mental book of stereotypes is any indication, a good number of Australians still lived in rural areas at this point, though there's a good number of urban dwellers too.
Thing was, that was what they did exactly. They claimed to have fought for Cuban Independence, only to out right annex the island when the war was over. Amusingly, the Philippines remained Spanish after the war, and won independence around the turn of the 20th century.
The Americans broke Spanish power in the Spanish-American war but wasn't able to reap the full rewards as she did OTL (the Spanish in OTL's war actually proved themselves to have a qualitative advantage over the Americans, and this screwed her over in the Philippines TTL).
The British empire is doomed but at least it's fall will be an interesting one to watch. Armies defeated in Central Asia to the descendant of the Khans, whole divisions wiped out in ambushes in Afghanistan, India a bloody massacre, the Dominions hating the Britush more and, more, Asia ready to throw out the British forever. The British home islands rife with Labor riots, Liberals and Irish nationalists. Lol this is like the Fall of Rome except ppl from New York to Istanbul can pay a dime for a coke and go watch the news reels in the movie theaters of what's happening(with bias of course)
Istanbul reel: Proud Muslims, and Turkmen fight against the British hoard
London reel: Brave boys defend against the godless savages
Lol maybe the resurgence could attack the Ottomans, Aceh, Zanzibar, and Sokota? I mean the grasp on reality doesn't seem to exsist in them(when has it ever in fascists besides Franco?) I could totally see bs justifications too like "we can't rule the Moslems of our empire as long as they look to these nations for authority".
Although the eventual outcome of the war shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone, I'm going to try and make the downfall of the British Empire one hell of a ride. Britain's position will be more or less doomed when the Indians can secure enough territory and enough arms to start mounting a conventional war against the British, but they're a long way away from that yet. The contacts that the Indians have built across Asia will be instrumental in securing their eventual independence.
The shared struggle (and the aid given to Muslim countries in winning India's independence) will do much to take the edge off of Hindu nationalism in this India. The spirit of hatred and mistrust that led to partition, the Indo-Pakistani wars and the numerous pogroms that followed these are likely to be absent. There will still be religious tension, though it is unlikely that these will end as catastrophically as they did OTL.
The resurgents may well attack Muslim countries they identify as being supporters, following in a proud fascist tradition of ill-advised adventures on spurious casus belli.
I'm sorry, but Red France has absolutely no reason to fall so soon (or, indeed, even at all), barring an outright invasion (which, for those same reasons, would be essentially doomed to fail in at most a few years).
Also, could we please have the British invasion of Central Asia fail so spectacularly as to make 1842 look tame by comparison? The total or near-total destruction of the British Army as a fighting force could be in the cards, and all the captured equipment would be a huge boon to the Central Asian khanates.
Nassir has already hinted in the agricultural update that Red France won't last long. Maybe there's some kind of leadership dispute that turns into a circular firing squad--whoever survives the purges is too weak to hold onto power and there's a negotiated reunion of Metropolitan France and France Abroad.
(I'm thinking something analogous to the Restoration in England.)
Red France isn't going to be collapsing from the inside. I won't spoil too much, though it will be a coalition that brings down Red France in the end, as well as its own internal instability.
Britain's expedition into Central Asia certainly isn't going to be pretty. They underestimate the general hatred that the Afghans still hold for them, the competence of Khiva's army and the difficulties that maintaining a force over hundreds of miles of hostile territory actually entails. Be fair warned Britwankers.
