Post by jjohnson on Jul 19, 2022 3:43:20 GMT
This will be an alternate history of Germany, focused more on the European side of things, but I will add in a bit of background from outside of Europe to explain changes I made to the timeline.
Chapter 1: Preface
The German Empire began in 1871 with the crowning of Wilhelm I as the Kaiser in the halls of Versailles. The far-off events of the American War that started a decade before didn't concern the Kaiser at the time but the split of the southern States did worry the upper classes and the Prussians who wanted a united Germany under Prussia. But they got their wish in 1871, when the Empire was declared and founded.
Wilhelm was unable to change his ways much but his successor, Frederick III, gained the imperial throne in 1878, and reigned for a single decade before cancer claimed his life. Alsace-Lorraine became a state, rather than an imperial territory, and good-will was gained between the Germans and British. The Kulturkampf in the east was difficult to endure for the Polish-speakers, and the imperial territories in Africa gained many colonists, mostly in Namibia, where they believed they would find gold and diamonds like in the British South Africa.
The British took the lesson that they needed to make more settler colonies to keep them culturally in the empire and thus maintain the empire and prevent a split like in the Americas. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were settler colonies, majority ethnic British, and thus were more successful than the recently partitioned African colonies.
The English resolved the Irish question with a Home Rule bill of 1882, with a revision in 1886. The first bill created an Irish Assembly of two chambers; the constituencies would be drawn within each county by the Irish Council. The lower chamber had 172 representatives and the upper chamber had 64 peers (2 per county) plus 2 per province (8 total), all of whom were required to be Irish to join the legislature. Once the legislature was started by 1888, all Irish MPs in London would no longer be allowed to vote on legislation pertaining to England and Wales or Scotland. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland would be the executive authority but (per the 1886 bill) could be removed from office by a vote of no confidence by the Irish Assembly. The lower chamber required each county to have at least 1 representative, where the larger counties such as Dublin (14), Cork (17), and Antrim (15) having larger numbers of representatives. Issues of language, education, transportation, internal improvements, and religion would be resolved solely by Ireland, while foreign trade, defense, and international relations would be handled from London, with any other matters to be devolved to Ireland over time. The Irish Assembly first met in 1888, and selected for itself a cabinet and prime minister on June 27 of that year.
This resolution with limited Irish devolution defused a lot of the Irish independence movement, allowing the British to focus more on their colonies, bringing more settlers into South Africa, Rhodesia, British East Africa while also conducting 'clearances' of the natives into other territories, mostly Belgian Congo, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia, Botswana and Mozambique, and Burkina Faso. The unfortunate treatment of natives was not seen as controversial for a long time, but was seen within the UK as 'spreading civilization.' Roads, rail, electric, and settlers came into those territories much faster than otherwise, grabbing land long held by natives.
Germany's colonies were settled more, though mostly Namibia and Tanzania, which gained a German majority, though their clearances were no less offensive by late 20th century standards. Namibia gained a German majority by 1910, and Tanzania by 1915.
The unfortunate fate of Germany began with the coming of Wilhelm II as their Kaiser, a much more belligerent person, compensating for his own self-deficiencies in international belligerence, which served only to isolate Germany away from their potential ally, the British. For several years prior, the French sent tanks and railroad construction equipment to the Russian Empire to enable them to provide a viable war effort.
By 1914, the European alliances were much like our own, and with the loss of Franz Ferdinand in the middle of the year, the powers of Europe cascaded into war.
Chapter 1: Preface
The German Empire began in 1871 with the crowning of Wilhelm I as the Kaiser in the halls of Versailles. The far-off events of the American War that started a decade before didn't concern the Kaiser at the time but the split of the southern States did worry the upper classes and the Prussians who wanted a united Germany under Prussia. But they got their wish in 1871, when the Empire was declared and founded.
Wilhelm was unable to change his ways much but his successor, Frederick III, gained the imperial throne in 1878, and reigned for a single decade before cancer claimed his life. Alsace-Lorraine became a state, rather than an imperial territory, and good-will was gained between the Germans and British. The Kulturkampf in the east was difficult to endure for the Polish-speakers, and the imperial territories in Africa gained many colonists, mostly in Namibia, where they believed they would find gold and diamonds like in the British South Africa.
The British took the lesson that they needed to make more settler colonies to keep them culturally in the empire and thus maintain the empire and prevent a split like in the Americas. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were settler colonies, majority ethnic British, and thus were more successful than the recently partitioned African colonies.
The English resolved the Irish question with a Home Rule bill of 1882, with a revision in 1886. The first bill created an Irish Assembly of two chambers; the constituencies would be drawn within each county by the Irish Council. The lower chamber had 172 representatives and the upper chamber had 64 peers (2 per county) plus 2 per province (8 total), all of whom were required to be Irish to join the legislature. Once the legislature was started by 1888, all Irish MPs in London would no longer be allowed to vote on legislation pertaining to England and Wales or Scotland. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland would be the executive authority but (per the 1886 bill) could be removed from office by a vote of no confidence by the Irish Assembly. The lower chamber required each county to have at least 1 representative, where the larger counties such as Dublin (14), Cork (17), and Antrim (15) having larger numbers of representatives. Issues of language, education, transportation, internal improvements, and religion would be resolved solely by Ireland, while foreign trade, defense, and international relations would be handled from London, with any other matters to be devolved to Ireland over time. The Irish Assembly first met in 1888, and selected for itself a cabinet and prime minister on June 27 of that year.
This resolution with limited Irish devolution defused a lot of the Irish independence movement, allowing the British to focus more on their colonies, bringing more settlers into South Africa, Rhodesia, British East Africa while also conducting 'clearances' of the natives into other territories, mostly Belgian Congo, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia, Botswana and Mozambique, and Burkina Faso. The unfortunate treatment of natives was not seen as controversial for a long time, but was seen within the UK as 'spreading civilization.' Roads, rail, electric, and settlers came into those territories much faster than otherwise, grabbing land long held by natives.
Germany's colonies were settled more, though mostly Namibia and Tanzania, which gained a German majority, though their clearances were no less offensive by late 20th century standards. Namibia gained a German majority by 1910, and Tanzania by 1915.
The unfortunate fate of Germany began with the coming of Wilhelm II as their Kaiser, a much more belligerent person, compensating for his own self-deficiencies in international belligerence, which served only to isolate Germany away from their potential ally, the British. For several years prior, the French sent tanks and railroad construction equipment to the Russian Empire to enable them to provide a viable war effort.
By 1914, the European alliances were much like our own, and with the loss of Franz Ferdinand in the middle of the year, the powers of Europe cascaded into war.
