Post by James G on Aug 7, 2019 21:49:11 GMT
Something I knocked up. It comes from this thread: alternate-timelines.proboards.com/thread/2806/russian-empire-sells-alaska-liechtenstein
I have taken the ideas presented by lordroel here and I thank him for the inspiration.
Caledonia Province, Canada
In 1867, the royal House of Liechtenstein, who had territorial holdings beyond the small principality over which they ruled, purchased the Russian territory of Alaski. Decried as a folly by many, the purchase from the Russian Empire gave Liechtenstein a gigantic piece of land far on the other side of the world that appeared impossible to govern. Why an earth would Liechtenstein want such a barren place? It was bought as an investment, something to be sold onwards later. America and the British Empire were both interested in Alaski too but now it was owned by a European power. With herculean effort, Liechtenstein took control of the territory. They had a lot of help to do this and then proceed to govern the place. This assistance came from paid allies across Europe. Regardless though, Alaski was just too much for Liechtenstein to hold on to for good. There was nothing there of value and Liechtenstein really didn’t want the place. Others were interested though in the potential of Alaski.
The territory was re-sold in 1873 to the House of Hohenzollern. A profit was made and the deal done quick at the insistence of the head of that larger princely family, the German Emperor himself. He was aware that others were casting their gaze upon Alaski. Fresh from victory over France, Emperor Wilhelm II was empire-building beyond Europe. The Americans and the British each were critical of the German arrival in North America and there were concerns in some quarters that German control of Alaski – they were now calling it Alaska and Aleut, seeking to govern it as two separate colonies – would bring about a war in the end with either the United States or Britain, maybe both. The Russian Empire wasn’t happy to see Germany end up in control here either.
For the next quarter of a century, Alaska and Aleut was a colonial backwater for Imperial Germany. Wilhelm II had other holdings in Africa and the Pacific which were more attractive than this barren place at the far end of the world. Colonisers didn’t want to settle there, there was no material value to the place and the position in military terms for the German armed forces was negligible too. Then gold was found. There had already been gold rushes in northwestern Canada, across the border from Alaska and Aleut, but this one was far bigger. From Berlin, the Germans were determined to control what happened with the gold coming out of their territorial holding. It wasn’t going to be a case of ‘finder’s keepers’. That gold belonged to the Imperial treasury. Men were needed to work the mines which sprung up and the colonies grew but it enriched Wilhelm II and Germany rather than prospectors. Those who came to Alaska and Aleut to try to make their own fortune, and get around German laws imposed here, found themselves out of luck.
By the summer of 1914, Alaska and Aleut had grown significantly. It was important to Germany in terms of what could be dug out of the ground. The Imperial Navy was using one of the Aleutian Islands for a naval base for the Pacific Squadron. War started in Europe though and in Alaska and Aleut, such as was the case elsewhere in the world where there were German colonial holdings, Germany was on the backfoot. The British Empire attacked the twin colonies. There were security fears and it was part of the wider war but one of the main factors was the desire to see all the wealth of Alaska and Aleut in British Empire hands. The Germans opposed the invasion. It was in the main Canadian forces which attacked them but there was wider Empire support too. The Germans stood no chance. By Christmas it was all over. Alaska and Aleut were garrisoned throughout the war and then afterwards, the colonies were removed from Germany when the Hohenzollerns fell. The Treaty of Versailles gave Alaska and Aleut to Canada as a League of Nations mandate just as other former German colonial holdings worldwide went to Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Japan and New Zealand.
During the fighting for Alaska and Aleut, many of the Canadian troops involved, especially the ones which had won the most important victories, had been Canadian Scottish units. During the war, there had been much attention focused on that. It was called by one Parliamentarian ‘Caledonia’ due to the garrison of Canadian Scottish soldiers. Following the global conflict, when under the mandate, Alaska and Aleut was renamed. The Canadians gave it the name ‘Pacific North America’. That was used officially. Unofficially, in Canada but also beyond, the name Caledonia was used more and more. Immigrants to Canada and Canadians alike who moved to the former Alaska and Aleut referred to it as Caledonia rather than Pacific North America. When new towns sprung up, they were given Scottish names. Dundee, Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling sprung up. Then of course, there was what would become Glasgow: a city in North America to rival in size through later years the one of the same name over in Britain.
Japan attacked Canada along with the Americans, the British Empire and the Dutch in December 1941. They brought their war to Caledonia the next year when the Canadian naval anchorage in the Aleutian Islands – once German – was attacked in co-ordination with a move against Midway in the middle of the ocean. The Japanese did much damage too but a feared invasion never came. The trusteeship that the Canadians had over Caledonia meant that it had other roles during the Second World War. There were transfers of aircraft to Soviet Russia where those machines from American factories went to fight the Nazis first though eventually the Japanese as well during the last month of that global conflict. Relations between the West and Stalin soured post-war and now Caledonia became important in a different way when it came to its physical closeness to the Soviet Union. NORAD installations were present as North America combined to defend itself should the next war come. The major military works, and supporting infrastructure, which began during the war against Japan yet expanded as the Cold War got going, brought in more people.
Caledonia’s population grew in the 1940s and beyond. Calls for the territory to be added to the confederation which was Canada had started during WW2 and increased afterwards. There was little mood to see Caledonia go independent. Canada didn’t want to administer it without democratic representation there as that population increased. Things moved speedily on this matter through the early 50s. Caledonia then became Canada’s eleventh province on July 3rd 1953. It entered under that name despite several efforts by some to possibly change it. The Scottish connections remained strong. By the 80s, oil was found. This was located on the North Slope, near the Arctic. The find was bigger than the earlier German gold finds. Canada would grow increasingly wealthy from this yet Caledonia would benefit the most from all of that oil.
I have taken the ideas presented by lordroel here and I thank him for the inspiration.
Caledonia Province, Canada
In 1867, the royal House of Liechtenstein, who had territorial holdings beyond the small principality over which they ruled, purchased the Russian territory of Alaski. Decried as a folly by many, the purchase from the Russian Empire gave Liechtenstein a gigantic piece of land far on the other side of the world that appeared impossible to govern. Why an earth would Liechtenstein want such a barren place? It was bought as an investment, something to be sold onwards later. America and the British Empire were both interested in Alaski too but now it was owned by a European power. With herculean effort, Liechtenstein took control of the territory. They had a lot of help to do this and then proceed to govern the place. This assistance came from paid allies across Europe. Regardless though, Alaski was just too much for Liechtenstein to hold on to for good. There was nothing there of value and Liechtenstein really didn’t want the place. Others were interested though in the potential of Alaski.
The territory was re-sold in 1873 to the House of Hohenzollern. A profit was made and the deal done quick at the insistence of the head of that larger princely family, the German Emperor himself. He was aware that others were casting their gaze upon Alaski. Fresh from victory over France, Emperor Wilhelm II was empire-building beyond Europe. The Americans and the British each were critical of the German arrival in North America and there were concerns in some quarters that German control of Alaski – they were now calling it Alaska and Aleut, seeking to govern it as two separate colonies – would bring about a war in the end with either the United States or Britain, maybe both. The Russian Empire wasn’t happy to see Germany end up in control here either.
For the next quarter of a century, Alaska and Aleut was a colonial backwater for Imperial Germany. Wilhelm II had other holdings in Africa and the Pacific which were more attractive than this barren place at the far end of the world. Colonisers didn’t want to settle there, there was no material value to the place and the position in military terms for the German armed forces was negligible too. Then gold was found. There had already been gold rushes in northwestern Canada, across the border from Alaska and Aleut, but this one was far bigger. From Berlin, the Germans were determined to control what happened with the gold coming out of their territorial holding. It wasn’t going to be a case of ‘finder’s keepers’. That gold belonged to the Imperial treasury. Men were needed to work the mines which sprung up and the colonies grew but it enriched Wilhelm II and Germany rather than prospectors. Those who came to Alaska and Aleut to try to make their own fortune, and get around German laws imposed here, found themselves out of luck.
By the summer of 1914, Alaska and Aleut had grown significantly. It was important to Germany in terms of what could be dug out of the ground. The Imperial Navy was using one of the Aleutian Islands for a naval base for the Pacific Squadron. War started in Europe though and in Alaska and Aleut, such as was the case elsewhere in the world where there were German colonial holdings, Germany was on the backfoot. The British Empire attacked the twin colonies. There were security fears and it was part of the wider war but one of the main factors was the desire to see all the wealth of Alaska and Aleut in British Empire hands. The Germans opposed the invasion. It was in the main Canadian forces which attacked them but there was wider Empire support too. The Germans stood no chance. By Christmas it was all over. Alaska and Aleut were garrisoned throughout the war and then afterwards, the colonies were removed from Germany when the Hohenzollerns fell. The Treaty of Versailles gave Alaska and Aleut to Canada as a League of Nations mandate just as other former German colonial holdings worldwide went to Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Japan and New Zealand.
During the fighting for Alaska and Aleut, many of the Canadian troops involved, especially the ones which had won the most important victories, had been Canadian Scottish units. During the war, there had been much attention focused on that. It was called by one Parliamentarian ‘Caledonia’ due to the garrison of Canadian Scottish soldiers. Following the global conflict, when under the mandate, Alaska and Aleut was renamed. The Canadians gave it the name ‘Pacific North America’. That was used officially. Unofficially, in Canada but also beyond, the name Caledonia was used more and more. Immigrants to Canada and Canadians alike who moved to the former Alaska and Aleut referred to it as Caledonia rather than Pacific North America. When new towns sprung up, they were given Scottish names. Dundee, Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling sprung up. Then of course, there was what would become Glasgow: a city in North America to rival in size through later years the one of the same name over in Britain.
Japan attacked Canada along with the Americans, the British Empire and the Dutch in December 1941. They brought their war to Caledonia the next year when the Canadian naval anchorage in the Aleutian Islands – once German – was attacked in co-ordination with a move against Midway in the middle of the ocean. The Japanese did much damage too but a feared invasion never came. The trusteeship that the Canadians had over Caledonia meant that it had other roles during the Second World War. There were transfers of aircraft to Soviet Russia where those machines from American factories went to fight the Nazis first though eventually the Japanese as well during the last month of that global conflict. Relations between the West and Stalin soured post-war and now Caledonia became important in a different way when it came to its physical closeness to the Soviet Union. NORAD installations were present as North America combined to defend itself should the next war come. The major military works, and supporting infrastructure, which began during the war against Japan yet expanded as the Cold War got going, brought in more people.
Caledonia’s population grew in the 1940s and beyond. Calls for the territory to be added to the confederation which was Canada had started during WW2 and increased afterwards. There was little mood to see Caledonia go independent. Canada didn’t want to administer it without democratic representation there as that population increased. Things moved speedily on this matter through the early 50s. Caledonia then became Canada’s eleventh province on July 3rd 1953. It entered under that name despite several efforts by some to possibly change it. The Scottish connections remained strong. By the 80s, oil was found. This was located on the North Slope, near the Arctic. The find was bigger than the earlier German gold finds. Canada would grow increasingly wealthy from this yet Caledonia would benefit the most from all of that oil.
Wilhelm II didn't become Kaiser until 1888 and his grandfather, the Kaiser at the time wasn't that interested in colonial possessions. Neither was Bismarck, although in the 80's he succumbed to pressure and no longer opposed Germany establishing colonies outside Europe. As such you really need to delay the German purchase for a decade or so.