Miscellaneous <1900 (Alternate) History Thread

[Bytor]

In the Pacific North West, the Columbia District was a condominium between the UK and USA. Before the 1846 treaty finalised things there were several proposals from both sides, including both side suggesting some variation on the Columbia River.

If that had been the case, HBC's Fort Vancouver would certainly have become the capital of British Columbia, but then what happens to OTL Vancouver, BC after the Fraser Valley gold rush? How many would stick around and how major a population centre would result? Same as the Lower Mainland or smaller? How much smaller?

 

[Metempsychosis]

That's so unspecific that it's like saying nothing. What does "liberal" mean here to begin with? Because being a liberal in the 19th century and being a liberal in the 21st are completely different beasts.

As you specified, the 19th century liberal republicans who tried to give the Philippines some more representation at the Cortes and some autonomy would likely have helped. Also some purging of the ecclesiastic dead wood that had accumulated over the years to make the country into a frailocracy, getting native priests in on the administration of the Philippine Church, would have lifted some grievances.

 

[30PrincesAndAKing]

Question.Anyone knows what was the reason why nobiliary particle didn’t become a thing for English/British aristocrats except for some who were of French aristocratic extraction?

There are probably a few reasons for this, but the one that came to my mind was that the children of English nobles are not legally considered nobles themselves, but 'commoners' (of course in terms of status the children of the titled aristocracy were tremendously privileged and not at all like actual commoners, but we're talking about the legal distinction). In continental Europe, being a member of a noble family was enough to qualify for 'official' noble status, even if one was a seventh son or something.

In terms of why this came about, I can only assume it was because the Norman conquest turned England into a 'perfect' example of a feudal entity (with the king having far more control over his barons than elsewhere in Europe--at least at first). As for why the custom stayed even after the powers of the crown diminished, I imagine that it could be because being a 'commoner' meant that the sons and brothers of dukes and earls could be eligible to sit in the House of Commons, effectively giving them an easy avenue for political power without requiring they legally be considered 'nobility.'

But this is primarily speculation on my part, so perhaps someone knows about these things more in detail.

 

[Wendell]

Who cloud James Brooke have possibly married?

 

[Fabius Maximus]

Would it be possible to make a magazine rifle using paper cartridges? Historically all the examples I know of used metallic cartridges, but I was wondering whether that was just because metallic cartridges happened to be invented first, or whether the metallic cartridge was necessary to get a working magazine rifle.

 

[Mitridates the Great]

Would it be possible to make a magazine rifle using paper cartridges? Historically all the examples I know of used metallic cartridges, but I was wondering whether that was just because metallic cartridges happened to be invented first, or whether the metallic cartridge was necessary to get a working magazine rifle.

Apparently paper cartridges were invented first, they are the ones used with Minie bullets. It was later changed to metal cartridges for reasons of durability. Then the rifle magazine was invented. I think it had more to do with the fact that by the time rifle magazines were invented, metal cartridges had become standardized. So it was easier to continue making the usual bullets with metal cartridges than to open a production line for bullets with paper cartridges.

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

Paper cartridges probably don't keep well in muddy trench warfare.

 

[DocBen]

I am thinking about a concept, of a Sinoviet Empire occupying all of SouthEast Asia, and the South part of China, up to the Pearl River. This would be a fusion of Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Lao, Thai, and other SouthEast Asian cultures. The Sinoviet Empire would also be a very big maritime power, colonizing Taiwan, Hainan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.

Now my question is, how would the Sinoviet Empire be formed?

 

[Grey Wolf]

Who cloud James Brooke have possibly married?

I assume you want him to marry someone important not either of these situations

Although Brooke died unmarried, he did acknowledge a son to his family in 1858. Neither the identity of the son's mother nor his birth date is clear. This son was brought up as Reuben George Walker in the Brighton household of Frances Walker (1841 and 1851 census, apparently born ca. 1836). By 1858 he was aware of his Brooke connection and by 1871 he is on the census at the parish of Plumtree, Nottinghamshire as "George Brooke", age "40", birthplace "Sarawak, Borneo". He married Martha Elizabeth Mowbray on 10 July 1862, and had seven children, three of whom survived infancy; the oldest was called James.[citation needed] George died travelling to Australia, in the wreck of the SS British Admiral[23][24] on 23 May 1874. A memorial to this effect – giving a birthdate of 1834 – is in the churchyard at Plumtree.[25]

On 19 July 1915, it has also been mentioned by Francis William Douglas (1874–1953), the Acting Resident for Brunei and Labuan from November 1913 to January 1915 in his letter to the Foreign Office that he heard from the Bruneian woman Pengiran Anak Hashima that Brooke was married (by Muslim rites), to her aunt Pengiran Anak Fatima, the daughter of Pengiran Anak Abdul Kadir and also the granddaughter of Sultan Muhammad Kanzul Alam, the 21st Sultan of Brunei. This marriage would not be valid in Europe. They had a daughter, who was interviewed by the then British Consul in 1864. Douglas also mentioned about this daughter on the same letter after he met a physician Dr Ogilvie quite recently who told him that he had met Brooke's already married Bruneian daughter in 1866

The thing is, his position does not ennoble him, or make him even all that desirable a match. He tried to name his nephews as successors, but to no avail.

I would think his best bet to get a legitimate Christian succession would be to marry within the gentry. Of course, how he does that?

 

[Wendell]

I assume you want him to marry someone important not either of these situations



The thing is, his position does not ennoble him, or make him even all that desirable a match. He tried to name his nephews as successors, but to no avail.

I would think his best bet to get a legitimate Christian succession would be to marry within the gentry. Of course, how he does that?

I would settle for morganatic or illegitimate but acknowledged royal offspring, or the kin of a British or Dutch colonial official. Or a bride from an Asian monarchy.

 

[octoberman]

what if Ottomans conquered Austria and Bohemia. Will France win every balance of power war in the future because Austria was their biggest continental opponent in OTL?

 

[Arkenfolm]

I am thinking about a concept, of a Sinoviet Empire occupying all of SouthEast Asia, and the South part of China, up to the Pearl River. This would be a fusion of Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Lao, Thai, and other SouthEast Asian cultures. The Sinoviet Empire would also be a very big maritime power, colonizing Taiwan, Hainan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.

Now my question is, how would the Sinoviet Empire be formed?

That would be a Nanyue wank. I guess the problem would be how they can take over the rest of Southeast Asia given the very rough topography and huge number of hill tribes/nomads who would pose a serious problem to stability like the ancestral Thai.

 

[Grey Wolf]

what if Ottomans conquered Austria and Bohemia. Will France win every balance of power war in the future because Austria was their biggest continental opponent in OTL?

Who are they going to be fighting and why?

1. The Ottomans themselves are even more inserted into the balance of power considerations here

2. Spain, and the Spanish Netherlands, and Spanish Italy is always a consideration

3. Without Austria, what has happened to the HRE? Is Prussia going to rise, and rise further?

4. Poland, Russia, Sweden etc

5. Britain

 

[Mitridates the Great]

what if Ottomans conquered Austria and Bohemia. Will France win every balance of power war in the future because Austria was their biggest continental opponent in OTL?

1. There is no such thing as "balance of power wars".

2. Assuming they exist, the super-Ottoman practically sitting next to France is always a factor.

3. That Austria doesn't exist hasn't eliminated all of France's other rivals, as someone pointed out earlier.

 

[LAHistorian15]

what if Ottomans conquered Austria and Bohemia. Will France win every balance of power war in the future because Austria was their biggest continental opponent in OTL?

I don’t think the other major powers in Europe would ignore this. The Ottomans would definitely be seen as a threat to the balance of power. What remains as part of the HRE would erupt into chaos each trying to assert their power resulting in lots of bloody wars leaving Europe in shambles.

 

[Mitridates the Great]

I don’t think the other major powers in Europe would ignore this. The Ottomans would definitely be seen as a threat to the balance of power. What remains as part of the HRE would erupt into chaos each trying to assert their power resulting in lots of bloody wars leaving Europe in shambles.

Except historically they did when the Ottoman ate half of Hungary.

If there are wars against the Ottoman, it will be because they are perceived as a threat to the survival of their neighbors. Not because nobody cares about a mystical arcanum such as the "balance of power".

Those kinds of mysticisms are fine when you're not facing an existential threat, but in this case the Ottoman is.

 

[Grey Wolf]

Except historically they did when the Ottoman ate half of Hungary.

If there are wars against the Ottoman, it will be because they are perceived as a threat to the survival of their neighbors. Not because nobody cares about a mystical arcanum such as the "balance of power".

Those kinds of mysticisms are fine when you're not facing an existential threat, but in this case the Ottoman is.

One also has to factor in how this happens - presumably Vienna falls and in the next campaigning season Bohemia does, and then in subsequent campaigns the Ottomans defend and hold these gains?

This will certainly have broken Sobieksi and Poland (as they must be defeated for this to happen) and presumably the remnant Imperial forces, scratching armies together across Bavaria, Thuringia etc.

 

[mrmandias]

Would it make any difference if the Lytton report was never filed condemning the Japanese occupation of Manchuria?

Lytton Report - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I tend to think that Japan staying a little longer in the League wouldn't make any difference. But is there something I'm missing? Some kind of effect on internal Japanese politics?

 

[Mitridates the Great]

Would it make any difference if the Lytton report was never filed condemning the Japanese occupation of Manchuria?

Lytton Report - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I tend to think that Japan staying a little longer in the League wouldn't make any difference. But is there something I'm missing? Some kind of effect on internal Japanese politics?

Not much, since Japan had no intention of stopping, nor the League of Nations to do anything about it. At best, leaving Japan could have been postponed until such time as another guy proposed to "sanction" Japan for that reason. That is assuming, of course, that the imposition of "sanctions" were approved in the first place.

(With the USSR, it was only approved to sanction them for the simple reason that everyone hated them from the start, for being communists, but the ruling would undoubtedly have been very different if it had been any other nation).

 

[mrmandias]

I feel pretty sure that internationally it wouldn't make any difference. The only thing I didn't know was is there might have been an effect on internal Japanese politics.