Why the Chinese play cricket (an Imperial Federation timeline)

Asides from the Canadians!

Yeah Canada OTL had that idiot running the defence and the milita for the longest time introducing fault uniform and webbing, the shield shovel along with the Ross Rifle and the colt machine gun.

The Ross is more of a finely tuned hunting rifle than a military one and you can tell the board was filled with their cronies to get it accepted. So the asshole in question eating a Boer Snipers bullet would not be a great loss for Canada.
The Ross rifle was nobbled way back in the 1880s ITTL when the British subsidised Canada setting up domestic production of the LE. Ross is going to be pushing it up hill to get his pet pop gun into service
Hmmm @Miss Construction idea here given the effectiveness of the Boer marksmen aside from the focus on marksman ship for the British Army could this see an earlier introduction of a sniper school to the British Army?
Mmmm interesting thought.
 
yeah. Watch this space for the big Nap IV Vs the French military hierarchy throw down coming up. He is going to want an army sort of like the British, heavy focus on musketry, dedication to fire and movement, trust the man on the spot, cavalry as mounted infantry. The generals will not go down without a fight.
That is going to be a bloody fight given how hide bound a lot of French officers are more so than British, Belgium or German.

Heck getting them to drop the Tin belly cavalry and change to a saner rifle will be even harder than the uniform fight as well as suggesting doing anything the British Way.
Ross rifle was nobbled way back in the 1880s ITTL when the British subsidised Canada setting up domestic production of the LE. Ross is going to be pushing it up hill to get his pet pop gun into service
I guess that means that unmitigated idiot and bastard Sam Hughes will not be geting the post for Minister of Defence and Miltia in Canada? Man pushed so much crap onto the Canadians and was a piss poor officer and organiser with a massive chip on his shoulder to boot.
 
I could definitely see the Chinese Civil War playing into the Russo Japanese War, which would be very interesting. It would also give Japan a much more reliable casus belli for intervention into China for influence in the name of "stability" and supporting their favored faction (in return for some favors, of course).
 
That is going to be a bloody fight given how hide bound a lot of French officers are more so than British, Belgium or German.

Heck getting them to drop the Tin belly cavalry and change to a saner rifle will be even harder than the uniform fight as well as suggesting doing anything the British Way.

I guess that means that unmitigated idiot and bastard Sam Hughes will not be geting the post for Minister of Defence and Miltia in Canada? Man pushed so much crap onto the Canadians and was a piss poor officer and organiser with a massive chip on his shoulder to boot.
Well the thing is, ITTL the French Army has actively tried to overthrow the government twice and is generally held responsible for the chaos of the Dreyfuss Affair. Plus the Emperor's restoration is generally believed responsible for ending that chaos. So has a lot of public good will and political capital to spend. But he definitely is going to have to be spending it.
 
I could definitely see the Chinese Civil War playing into the Russo Japanese War, which would be very interesting. It would also give Japan a much more reliable casus belli for intervention into China for influence in the name of "stability" and supporting their favored faction (in return for some favors, of course).
They already have overlapped. The Southern Dynasty signed the Boxer Protocol which demands the Russian leave by April 1902, a date which has already passed. However the Russians claim the North Dynasty signed off on them staying in return for guns. But yes the two will overlap and effect each other, impossible for them not too.
 
I guess that means that unmitigated idiot and bastard Sam Hughes will not be geting the post for Minister of Defence and Miltia in Canada? Man pushed so much crap onto the Canadians and was a piss poor officer and organiser with a massive chip on his shoulder to boot.
Opps, forgot. Yes Hughes has well and truly been nobbled ITTL. Actually hog tied and strung up like a Christmas ham. The whole Imperial security integration thing has been HEVILY pushed since the mid 1880s. To all intents and purposes ITTL there is just one tightly bound Imperial army and navy. Yes the Dominion forces are theoretically independent, but no there not, not even as independent as the Bavarian army was in 1914. Not sure if it has already happened under the Elgin Report, or comes in shortly due to the Esher report, but by their either already is or is about be a single common officer pool. Someone who enlists in the Canadian army will theoretically be able to work their way up to Chief of Imperial General Staff.
 
They already have overlapped. The Southern Dynasty signed the Boxer Protocol which demands the Russian leave by April 1902, a date which has already passed. However the Russians claim the North Dynasty signed off on them staying in return for guns. But yes the two will overlap and effect each other, impossible for them not too.
Ok then that could mean a Japanese invasion of Manchuria to "support" the Southern Dynasty, which would have interesting consequences. Don't need a reply, mostly thinking out loud.
 
The Ross rifle was nobbled way back in the 1880s ITTL when the British subsidised Canada setting up domestic production of the LE. Ross is going to be pushing it up hill to get his pet pop gun into service
That's actually more than what was needed. In OTL the Ross was selected because the Brits refused to license the SMLE for production in Canada and Ross offered to finance a factory. Just allowing the license would probably have been enough but adding a subsidy cements the deal. In OTL by the time the UK wanted Canada to standardise on the SMLE it had become a political issue about domestic production.

It didn't help that Hughes stacked the trials board (and included himself) which should have found the rifles faults and overseen fixes.
 
Mmmm interesting thought
Aye it just occurred to me watching a video about snipers in WW1 which talks about the British Sniper school which talks about Major Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Pritchard problem is he doesn’t enlist until WW1 but I think there are more than a few hunters amongst the Dominion troops and British troops so they may pick u[ on it.
 
Ok then that could mean a Japanese invasion of Manchuria to "support" the Southern Dynasty, which would have interesting consequences. Don't need a reply, mostly thinking out loud.
Bugger a factor I hadn't taken into account. Sigh may have to back and see if anything needs changing because of it.
 
That's actually more than what was needed. In OTL the Ross was selected because the Brits refused to license the SMLE for production in Canada and Ross offered to finance a factory. Just allowing the license would probably have been enough but adding a subsidy cements the deal. In OTL by the time the UK wanted Canada to standardise on the SMLE it had become a political issue about domestic production.

It didn't help that Hughes stacked the trials board (and included himself) which should have found the rifles faults and overseen fixes.
There have been some big changes in Canadian politics ITTL. When Johnson died in 1894, Tupper became Premier rather than Borden and he was able to defeat Laurier in 1896. Laurier and the liberals don't win until 1900. This has pushed Canada away from the US and toward the empire.

When it comes to rifles, the British actually are the ones who pushed the Canadians onto domestic production. It was part of a policy of encouraging the development of strategic industry in the Dominions to deliberately avoid them all being concentrated in Britain. The Canadians first domestically produced military rifle was actually the Lee-Metford in 1890 I think.

If you look at September 1889, under the imperial forces act, small arms factories were established in Australia, Canada and India. So by this point, Canada has been making it's own small arms for over ten years.
 
Aye it just occurred to me watching a video about snipers in WW1 which talks about the British Sniper school which talks about Major Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Pritchard problem is he doesn’t enlist until WW1 but I think there are more than a few hunters amongst the Dominion troops and British troops so they may pick u[ on it.
Sounds like a case for the traditional eccentric British upper class loonie to go forcing good ideas on the army establishment. Mmm, I already have the Chinese running round with special forces units, yep a few sinophile British upper class loonies with a couple of Indian army big game hunter loonies could fit right in.
 
Sounds like a case for the traditional eccentric British upper class loonie to go forcing good ideas on the army establishment. Mmm, I already have the Chinese running round with special forces units, yep a few sinophile British upper class loonies with a couple of Indian army big game hunter loonies could fit right in.
A good place to look for candidates would probably be thr Dunster Forcd aka the Hush Hush Army.

Don't know how many were in the service at this point in time but could be a useful source.
 
ITTL, the period from1901 to 1905 result in a massive shift away from the OTL, with most of the 'action' occurring in the three years from 1903 to 1905. Over the last five or six weeks I've been franticly editing this period, I've lost track of how many major revisions I've made. It's close to several total rewrites. I've done this mostly to incorporate ideas and feedback I've received here. I think this has vastly improved the TL. So I'd like to pause and say thank you to all, please keep up the constructive criticism, I love it.

Sadly this means I've not really been able to push the TL forward. I like to be about five years ahead, it allows me to retroactively change the TL as I develop it, often events will require some alterations or addition to previous events. But this massive rewrite means I'm down to just three years ahead. So might have to slow posting to allow me to catch up. But again thank you all.
 
Did the United States annex Hawaii?
Yes, fairly early, 1888 under the infamous President Blaine. Cleveland however nearly gave it back. It was only the death of the last Hawai'ian king, who's name I won't even try to butcher, about a year after the annexation pretty much killed all effective agitation for a restoration of independence.
 
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