With a POD of anything after 1900, what is the biggest possible India that could have resulted? India + Pakistan + Bangladesh + Nepal + Bhutan + Sri Lanka + ... what else? Afghanistan or parts of it? The other Soviet 'stans? Parts of Tibet? Burma? The Maldives?
Maximum Indias
- Thread starter Strategos' Risk
- Start date
Hm. I'm not really that knowledgeable about it, but I suppose Burma might be possible to keep in India. More possible than getting Afghanistan, at least.
Faeelin
Banned
I can't see Burma in India; it was a seperate kingdom as late as the 1880s, after all.
Pakistan is trickier; it's theoretically possible, but you have to overcome Muslim-Hindu hardship.
Cook
Banned
The Raj of India included several large Kingdoms so including Burma is not impossible.
Religion would be the sticking point; Burma and Sri Lanka are Buddhist majority. But if Britain decided to dump the lot as a Lump Sum then India at Independence could have included what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma and the Maldives.
Perhaps a Post Independence India would be able it absorb Nepal and Bhutan by force, much as China did to Tibet. And they could be eyeing Mauritius too, making it truely the "Indian" Ocean.
Afghanistan wasn’t part of the British Raj and would never have submitted to a Hindu invasion.
And Independent Greater India would be struggling with a lot of ethnic difficulties. It could have lead to a more secular constitution and laws then it ended up with. Perhaps a Federation based on the Swiss model with a weak central government in Delhi dealing with foreign affairs only.
Religion would be the sticking point; Burma and Sri Lanka are Buddhist majority. But if Britain decided to dump the lot as a Lump Sum then India at Independence could have included what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma and the Maldives.
Perhaps a Post Independence India would be able it absorb Nepal and Bhutan by force, much as China did to Tibet. And they could be eyeing Mauritius too, making it truely the "Indian" Ocean.
Afghanistan wasn’t part of the British Raj and would never have submitted to a Hindu invasion.
And Independent Greater India would be struggling with a lot of ethnic difficulties. It could have lead to a more secular constitution and laws then it ended up with. Perhaps a Federation based on the Swiss model with a weak central government in Delhi dealing with foreign affairs only.
Old Airman
Banned
Soviet Central Asia is completely unrealistic. However, British colonies in Indian Ocean and East Africa might be considered. Seychelles, Zanzibar, that kind of things... And, while being almost ASB, Trucial Oman isn't completely impossible.
I remember that the British switched Burma back and forth a few times from separate colony to part of India. Have the latter stick, I'd say. Presumably, Tibet could be set up as a buffer state either by India itself or by the British if we can get a stronger China as an incentive. Nepal and Bhutan would then by surrounded. India might not absorb them, but turn them into puppet states. The same could happen to Bangladesh to keep its Muslim population out of India and saving New Delhi lots of trouble. Maybe India could set them up as its version of a EU, but with India as the clearly dominant power.
IMO, Pakistan is certainly possible-you need a few POD's in the 1930's to prevent the rift between the INC and the Muslim League. Sri Lanka is possible if the British include it in the Raj-Burma I'm not so sure about (it wasn't even part of India till the 1880's and had a well-developed national identity-if it does become part of an independent India, you can bet the place will be plagued with separtist movment(s) ). Anything beyond that is verging on ASB.
Greater India certainly would be interesting.
If they can stabilize things quick enough, but still go the same course as OTL, IE closing itself off economically for a few decades before
opening up in the late 70's-early 80's it could make China much worse off economically, and itself much better off.
As for how big it could've been, I'd say basically the Raj + Bhutan, Nepal Sri Lanka and the various Indian ocean islands.
While having Afghanistan part of it is'nt gonna happen, atleast not for a very long time (as in mid 21st century), I could see them puppeting
it along with Tibet and possibly Thailand.
Oh, and 'Indus Maximus' would've been a cooler title.
If they can stabilize things quick enough, but still go the same course as OTL, IE closing itself off economically for a few decades before
opening up in the late 70's-early 80's it could make China much worse off economically, and itself much better off.
As for how big it could've been, I'd say basically the Raj + Bhutan, Nepal Sri Lanka and the various Indian ocean islands.
While having Afghanistan part of it is'nt gonna happen, atleast not for a very long time (as in mid 21st century), I could see them puppeting
it along with Tibet and possibly Thailand.
Oh, and 'Indus Maximus' would've been a cooler title.
Flocculencio
Donor
India is already a secular republic.
IMO Burma is just about possible- if the Indian Independence movement actively includes Burma then a shared sense of nationalism can be built up. Afghanistan is totally out I think.
Sri Lanka and the Maldives would be fine.
It just may be possible to include Malaya though that's less likely.
Flocculencio
Donor
The concentration of Muslims in Bangladesh is a post-Independence feature. Before that Hindus and Muslims were mixed throughout Bengal (as they are in West Bengal today). The creation of a separate Bangladeshi state is merely a factor of Pakistan's mismanagement of half it's territory.