Colonial Days
British Zanzibar
What would the world be like if European empires were still at full size today (2010)?
If today, in 2010, European Empires were at full size and controlled Africa, Asia, West Indies, etc.? e.g. if the British Empire was at full size and owned Rhodesia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Borneo, Malaya, Trinidad, British Guiana, etc.
and if the French Empire were at full size and owned West Africa, West Indies, French Indochina, Lebanon, etc.?
and if the Dutch Empire were at full size and owned Dutch East Indies, Dutch Guiana, Dutch West Indies, etc.?
and if the Spanish Empire were at full size and owned most of South America, Central America, and Africa?
and if the Portuguese Empire were at full size and owned Brazil, Africa, Macau, Goa, etc.?
What would the world be like today? Who would be the main superpower, would the world be better?
I am speaking hypothetically, so don’t tell me that it’s impossible, because I already said “if”
Ok, lets imagine that everything went the way it did in real life until the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. In my alternative timeline, Britain, seeing the threat of a Prussian/German dominated European mainland, intervenes on the French side and the Prussians are defeated and the German Empire never forms and so there is no World War 1 or World War 2.
With no World War 1, the Russian Revolution never happens so the Soviet Union is never created. Communism is never a notable ideology, and so Fascism is never created as a right-wing reaction to communism.
As there is no World War 1 or 2 to weaken them, and no extreme ideologies like communism and nationalism to inspire the natives into resistance, the British and French Empires are not weakened and colonies do not gain independence.
The United States, without World War 2 or the Cold War to force it to become the “world’s policeman” is the worlds largest economy, but is isolationist and does not use its power.
Through much of the 20th century and beyond there was a Cold War between the British and Russian Empires, continuing from the “Great Game” as each try to achieve supremacy in Central Asia.
So, the order of most powerful countries in the world would be:
1. British Empire – Queen-Empress Elizabeth II rules as constitutional monarch over a quarter of the worlds population and Britain posesses the largest navy in the world, Britannia still rules the waves. Canada, Australia and New Zealand are virtually independent but it still rules huge swaves of Africa as well as the entire Indian subcontinent and the rest of its empire.
2. United States of America – world’s largest economy but very conservative and isolationist.
3. Russian Empire – without the upheavals of WW1, the revolutions, the Civil War, Stalin’s famines and purges & WW2, Russia has a bigger population that it does today, is more advanced and rich from its natural resources. The Tsar rules the entirety of the pre-WW1 Russian Empire but Russia is by now a Constitutional monarchy.
4. France – Like Britain it still rules its Empire but more directly than Britain does and its colonies have less independence.
5. Japanese Empire – In 1937 it invaded China, but did not attack Pearl Harbor or the British empire. Japan had full control of China by 1945 and today rules it.
6. Prussia – Kaiser rules Constitutional Monarchy. It is forbidden from uniting with smaller German states or Austria.
7. Ottoman Empire – It severely declined through much of the 20th century but kept control of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan and Arabia, but when oil is discovered in Middle East it enters a period of revival.
However, towards the end of the 20th century, radical Islamists took power in the Ottoman Empire, and seized control of the Suez Canal in neighbouring Egypt, a puppet of the British and French. In the 1990s, the British and French Empires then launched a full scale invasion of the entire Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans had huge funding from the Russians as well as oil money with which they were a fairly sophisticated fighting force. The war entered a stalemate with an insurgency claiming the lives of many British and French. The war was ended when the allies nuked Istanbul, the first ever use of nuclear weapons. The victorious British and French, split the Empire up between them with Arabia as independent puppet supplying them both with oil, Syria and Lebanon under French control and Iraq and Jordan under British control. Israel was granted independce in 2000. Tensions have risen between the Anglo-French alliance and Russia over this war, and the buffer state of Afghanistan between the British Empire in India and the Russian Empire was invaded by the British in 2001 in order to protect its empire from possible Russian invasion. A world war looks imminent in 2010.
The world population is larger than in real life as there wasn’t so many wars. Technology is not as advanced as in real life as it wasn’t accelerated by wars. There is no United Nations.
Jamie T – New England + British Inteligence (New Song) Zanzibar Liverpool 02/03/09
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1872 Hurricane Zanzibar British Consulate Livingstone $20.75 Full page from the Illustrated London News dated 1872, an illustrated weekly newspaper weeks date as shown on top of page, the size of each page is approximately 15.5 x 11 inches (395×280). All are genuine antique prints and not modern copies, the Illustrated London News is an illustrated magazine which was first printed in 1842 and is the finest pictorial example of a historic social record of Br… |
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1872 Hurricane Zanzibar British Consulate Storm Weather $47.50 Full Page From The Illustrated London News, An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper Weeks Date As Shown On Top Of Page, The Size Of Each Page Is Approximately 15.5 X 11 Inches (395X280). All Are Genuine Antique Prints And Not Modern Copies, The Illustrated London News Is An Illustrated Magazine Which Was First Printed In 1842 And Is The Finest Pictorial Example Of A Historic Social Record Of British And W… |
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1872 Hurricane Zanzibar Ship Wreck British Consulate $43.75 Old Antique Historical Victorian Prints Maps and Historic Fine Art ———-. 1872 Hurricane Zanzibar Ship Wreck British Consulate Full Page From The Illustrated London News Dated 1872, An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper Weeks Date As Shown On Top Of Page, The Size Of Each Page Is Approximately 15.5 X 11 Inches (395X280). All Are Genuine Antique Prints And Not Modern Copies, The Illustrated Londo… |
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