Challenge: Create a British Republic
- Thread starter Wat Tyler
- Start date
Done! Check history, there were an actual British Republic, under the name of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland in the 17th Century.
Ok more serious.
If Charles II had been openly Catholic there may have been a need to find a serious contender to follow Oliver.
Richard could have overseen parliment deciding how to create a stable line of sucession.
Eventually this would have lead to the election of a President.
If Charles II had been openly Catholic there may have been a need to find a serious contender to follow Oliver.
Richard could have overseen parliment deciding how to create a stable line of sucession.
Eventually this would have lead to the election of a President.
Well, the Commonwealth probably would have eventually evolved into a democratic government. The trick is getting the Commonwealth to survive. If Cromwell's son Oliver, a military officer and his heir apparent, had survived the case of dysentery that killed him, he would have inherited the Protectorate and probably would have been able to keep the Commonwealth going unlike his weak brother Richard in OTL.
HOw about if Henry would have become Lord-Protector?
He seems to have been a capable and moderate man.
I think he is the kind personality that would have been good for the country.
Have Cromwell live 10 years longer and make his son a more politically shrewd man. The British Commonwealth will survive.
It's not quite enough to be politically shrewd, once people realise that their source of behaviour and identity has been removed and that a revolution has taken place people tend to revolt against it by seeking to return to the older identity.
You would have to completely obliterate the memory of Royalty in Britain to really stand a chance of having Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth becoming the new default identity. Either that or it would have to resemble the Monarchy enough to be near identical, which rather defeats the purpose of a republic.
I think if no unsuitable candidate had been found to succeed Elizabeth I you might have found an Aristocratic Oligarchy being set up, though it's a bit of a long shot.
You would have to completely obliterate the memory of Royalty in Britain to really stand a chance of having Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth becoming the new default identity. Either that or it would have to resemble the Monarchy enough to be near identical, which rather defeats the purpose of a republic.
I think if no unsuitable candidate had been found to succeed Elizabeth I you might have found an Aristocratic Oligarchy being set up, though it's a bit of a long shot.
Henry, Oliver Cromwell's youngest son, would have been a better choice to succeed his father then Richard. He had a service record going back to the Civil War, was a major-general of the English forces in Ireland under Lord Deputy Charles Fleetwood, as well as a representative of the so-called Barebones Parliament. He would succeed Charles Fleetwood as Lord Deputy in 1657.
The English Jacobins doing better in the 1780s/90s with something like Napoleon not becoming Emperor and/or George III's porphyria kicking in at the exact wrong time is also an option. If memory serves, there was also a decent-to-good shot at something happening around 1818-20. Even if neither of those moments actually had a realistic chance of forming a British republic OTL, they're certainly things to work with.
I Blame Communism
Banned
Lots of good points raised here: not only is preserving the Commonwealth perfectly possible, but there were indeed several times during the Age of Revolution (clue's in the name...) where Britain was wobbly.
Of these, the best candidate in my opinion is the early 1830s, coinciding with the successful Belgian and French revolutions. In terms of results, indeed, 1832 was more-or-less the British Days of May by other means.
And it was a time of crisis: in politics, where the rising but young, insecure, and virile capitalist class seriously contemplated organising a run on the bank to sabotage any reactionary regime; in the cities, as Chartism began to stir; on the land, as England's labourers smashed the machines for a second time; in Ireland...
It took all the efforts of a moderate king and a subtle PM to keep it together. So I'd cross this over with Wolfpaw's suggestion and give us an anything-but-moderate king. It's as simple as shooting William IV when he's heir during the Napoleonic Wars. If the other brothers still predecease him, the thoroughly vile Earnest Augustus has a clear shot.
Of these, the best candidate in my opinion is the early 1830s, coinciding with the successful Belgian and French revolutions. In terms of results, indeed, 1832 was more-or-less the British Days of May by other means.
And it was a time of crisis: in politics, where the rising but young, insecure, and virile capitalist class seriously contemplated organising a run on the bank to sabotage any reactionary regime; in the cities, as Chartism began to stir; on the land, as England's labourers smashed the machines for a second time; in Ireland...
It took all the efforts of a moderate king and a subtle PM to keep it together. So I'd cross this over with Wolfpaw's suggestion and give us an anything-but-moderate king. It's as simple as shooting William IV when he's heir during the Napoleonic Wars. If the other brothers still predecease him, the thoroughly vile Earnest Augustus has a clear shot.
As in a genuine liberal republic, unlike the semi-dictatorial sham under Cromwell?
Perhaps a period of misrule under an Ernest Augustus or someone like him could do the trick in the 19th Century.
I Blame Communism
Banned
Britain was ruling undemocratically over millions of people after 1832 - when it presumably became a genuine liberal monarchy - and into the 20th C, so, well, um...
Morty Vicar
Banned
William III completely destroys the Tories as revenge for their support of the Jacobites, with the result that when William dies in Battle against France, the Whigs (who tended towards people power more than the Royalist Tories) are the vastly dominant power, and very quickly re-establish the Commonwealth under a new constitution.
I'm going to disagree with the majority here and say: take out Cromwell before he ever becomes Lord Protector. Allow a parliamentary faction in the New Model Army to sieze power instead, how radical it is is up to you. No crisis of leadership = no need to re-establish the monarchy.