Recent content by Bry

I'm not sure a Britain aligned with the Central Powers would necessarily stop a war (though probably not the Great War) from breaking out. After all, on paper the Entente of rl was far superior in wealth, resources and manpower to the Alliance. This did not stop war, or indeed, Germany from only...

Well, in the universe in which we live, actually. It's fair to say that the official Tory line on Europe is not all that radical by British standards, but Cameron still openly works for the return of powers from the EU to national governments... Additionally, arguably the two most prominent...

In fact I think that was more the US's view of itself... It's hard to avoid the conclusion that throughout the 19th century, America was a startlingly arrogant and presumptuous country which, despite a tiny navy and army, maintained a persistent, bizarre, totally unrealistic, and as it turned...

I don't think simply making out that Italy is the aggrieved party in an Italo-Greek conflict would establish British neutrality. Greece was heavily allied with London for its strategic position, not for any great moral reason.

Lots of people admired Mussolini in the 20s and early-mid 30s- he was, in many ways, a competent leader who seemed to have averted the threat of communism and built a real sense of Italian greatness. Of course, he was not a democrat and in later conflicts (the Spanish Civil War and Ethiopia)...

If you had a determined British government in the 40s/50s and started at some form of joint military and free trade I don't suppose such a Commonwealth Federation is all that absurd. It would certainly be pro-American, but I suspect that a greater world role is more likely to lead to a lessening...

I don't know about civil war exactly, but there was certainly no love lost between Mussolini and Victor Emmanuel III. I believe the former rather resented his inferior rank vis a vis Hitler. I suppose it is not impossible that Benito would have declared a republic or even, in extreme...

Well, before the Great War it would theoretically have been possible for Britain to 'invade' the US (or more likely shell a series of coastal cities). The American army was pretty tiny, and the navy would not have the strength to repel a (for whatever reason) truly motivated Royal Navy. Of...

This is a POD which I think would have truly fascinating results... For starters, the 'UK' would probably be a republic with no state religion; perhaps lacking a Protestant Scotland whilst retaining a Catholic Ireland. Britain would probably also today be much more of an 'ordinary' European...

Leaving aside the unlikeliness of a Spanish colonisation of Australia, why would it lead to a greater level of industrialisation? Spain was, in modern history, after all a poorish nation with little ability to invest heavily in a distant and apparently barren land. There is no real prospect of...

You keep saying that, but I don't see why, in practice rather than abstract theory. It was 'damn near impossible', constitutionally, for those in D.C. ever to have the possibility of the vote, for female suffrage to become a reality, for abortion to be legalised. All of those things happened for...

Well, the Germans had no real bargaining position in 1919... Germany could conceivably have been completely demilitarised and broken down into something of a rump state (or even, as others have mentioned, divided completely)- with an independent Rhineland, Bavaria etc. and slightly greater...

Britain never saw anything but net emigration throughout the Industrial Revolution and near continuous 19th century growth... Much the same applies to most European countries (or the vast majority of Asian, African and South American ones today). Granted mass immigration can be a big boost to...

Well, Spain was a marginal power at the time. It certainly didn't have the strength to simply demand important British and French territories and expect anything but laughter in reply.

Well admittedly blacks would live in virtual serfdom well beyond the official banning of slavery, but really the latter system is not something which could survive for very long, whether the Confederacy wins or not. By the end of the 1880s (and with the decision of Brazil to abolish it) no...