On October 23, 1642, at the initial set piece battle of the English Civil War, the Royalists win a decisive victory over the Parliamentarian army in southern Warwickshire near the hamlet of Edge Hill. The superior Royalist dragoons under Prince Rupert of the Rhine succeed in forcing the Parliamentarian forces on the flanks to retreat, and then rally, charging the enemy from the rear, leading to a general route. The commander of the Parliamentarian forces, the Earl of Essex, is killed.
Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax fill the political vacuum on the Parliamentarian side caused by Essex’s death, but they now command largely poor quality militia forces reluctant to travel beyond their local territories. Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Covenanters sever all ties between Scotland and England, hoping to continue to resist Charles’ aim to impose a uniform religious order upon them. Ironically, this serves to further dampen the already diminished morale of the Parliamentarian forces, which resign themselves to fighting futile defensive battles.
In the years that follow, Charles gradually restores absolute rule, depriving the Parliament of every right it had obtained since the 12th century, except to pass death sentences on John Hampden, Arthur Haselrig and other Parliamentarian leaders. He also reforms his military with the support of Prince Rupert, his nephew, and prohibits his nobles from employing troops of their own. He also incorporates Catholic soldiers from Ireland, much to the chagrin of the outraged Puritans. With an army now loyal to the throne alone, he sends Rupert to conquer Scotland and destroy the power of the Covenanters. Rupert does so, and Charles is finally able to implement religious changes that give him even more power.
Cromwell and Fairfax escape to the North American colonies where they join the Puritans in New England. Many other Puritans and other religious dissenters soon follow, fearing that the crown will officially embrace Catholicism and seek to suppress non-Catholics. This does not happen, but Puritan emigration continues to surge throughout the remaining 17th century.
In 1688, those who remain in England opposed to a Catholic king and an absolute monarchy cling to the hope that the crown will pass to the daughter of the current king, James II, who is a Protestant married to William of Orange, the Dutch statholder. This hope is dashed in June with the birth of the king’s son, Prince James. Fearing an Anglo-French alliance, William responds to the entreaties of English Protestants and invades England in November. Despite its limited wealth, England still possesses a formidable army, and after some hesitation, the ambitious Duke of Marlborough casts his lot with King James. The Williamite Uprising, as it comes to be known, is short-lived and is ultimately crushed.
James’ enemies do secure one important victory, however, as the Puritans in New England take advantage of the situation and declare their independence. Cotton Mather declares himself the head of a new theocratic government. Despite its military superiority, England lacks both the funds and inclination to fight a protracted foreign excursion to reclaim what essentially would be a population thoroughly hostile to monarchy.
In 1707, the Acts of Union create the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although the Church of England is the de jure official religion of the realm, religious liberty abounds, with Catholics, dissidents and other non-conformists enjoying unprecedented freedom. In political terms, however, all temporal authority is vested in the monarch, who relies on support from the nobility and an obedient peasant population. To restrict the power of the former and secure the support of the latter, several Stuart monarchs issue anti-enclosure edicts that preserve or restore common grazing lands. The British agricultural revolution does not take place and there is no turn toward commercial farming. Peasants remain in the countryside, meaning that when Britain starts to industrialize in the late 18th century, it does so very slowly. The British bourgeoisie, such as it is, remains weak and largely dependent on royal patronage. Additionally, since the monarch can raise or lower taxes as he or she pleases, there is little financial incentive for the nascent capitalist class regardless.
As his Protestant enemies fear, James III seals an Anglo-French alliance and Britain supports France in the Wars of Spanish and Austrian Succession as well as the Seven Years’ War. Due to its financial insecurity, however, it is essentially a junior partner to France. Britain is also forced to contend with intermittent revolts in Scotland and England ignited due to religious differences and widespread dissatisfaction with the demands required of keeping and maintaining a large standing army as well as a sizable navy. Having largely abandoned its colonies and concerned with maintaining the high costs of a fully repressive state apparatus, Britain is relatively poor.
The Anglo-French friendship is torn asunder by the French Revolution in 1789, as France also runs into financial problems, setting up a bourgeoisie insurrection that evolves into the bloody rise of Maximilien de Robespierre and the Jacobins. In response, King Henry IX institutes a policy of censorship and general repression that drives intellectual debates and dissent even further underground. Liberal thought survives, however, and becomes more radical in response to the king’s heavy-handed treatment.
The French Republic survives the British-led First and Second Coalitions but it does not endure the meteoric rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1803, Napoleon sells off French territory in North America to the Puritans and uses the money to finance an invasion of Britain, which is soon blockaded by British warships. The resulting loss in trade and resources leaves Britain crippled when French forces finally do land in Kent. The British sue for peace and Napoleon dethrones Henry IX, replacing him with his eldest brother, Joseph Bonaparte, who acts as a proxy for Napoleon. The French occupation is unpopular and widespread rebellion breaks out in 1805. French reprisals only galvanize more Britons to take up arms, resulting in a prolonged conflict that denies France essential manpower and resources. This “Little War” (as it becomes known) lasts until 1813 when, with Prussian assistance, the remnants of the British army under the Marquis of Wellington defeat the French at the Battle of Canterbury. On the Continent, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden defeat Napoleon after his failed invasion of Russia, sending him into exile.
In order to prevent another Anglo-French alliance, the Prussians place George William Frederick, the Duke of Hanover, on the English throne. The Duke of Hanover’s great-grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, had been the next non-Catholic in line to the throne following the death of Anne, the younger daughter of James II. Henry IX had died in exile in 1807 without leaving any issue of his own, and in fact the next Catholic heir in line is the King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy, Victor Emmanuel I, who has no interest in abdicating his native kingdom for another. If King George is willing, questions persist as to if he is capable; he suffers from illness and it is believed he is mad. Moreover, Catholics across Britain, especially in Ireland, reject him as a mere Prussian puppet. At any rate, in England the power of the monarch is no longer held as sacred.
True power is contested between the conservative Church of England and liberal officers in the powerful British military. In 1820, a group of generals attempt a coup, pressuring the mad king’s son and successor, King George IV, to assent to a constitution establishing universal male suffrage, freedom of the press, land reform and a constitutional monarchy. In 1823, a Prussian army, the self-styled “hundred thousand sons of Martin Luther,” intervenes to crush the coup and stop a repeat of the French Revolution. The conflict arises again in 1834, when a pretender to the throne calling himself “James IV” emerges in Ireland claiming to be descended from James II and asserts that he should be king, not the Hanoverian William IV. Many people, especially Irish and other Catholics, rally to his cause, while liberals and the army champion the reform-minded William. The so-called “Jacobite War” (named after the Latinized form of James) lasts until 1839, with the liberals victorious. In the peace treaty, Catholic politicians and generals receive greater influence in the government and military, respectively. Unfortunately, this is turn leads to the clash between conservatives and liberals being played out as a series of coup d’états by officers representing each party. These coups invariably feature proclamations wherein the officers claim to be “saving Britain.”
In 1868, the most notable of Britain’s liberal leaders, Gladstone, expels Queen Victoria, a morose woman who secludes herself to grieve incessantly for her dead husband. Her neglect of duties combines with the general ineffectiveness of her governments to achieve anything of note, wavering according to her own erratic whims. As such, exasperated moderates and radicals alike join the movement to topple the monarchy in what will later be called the “Glorious Revolution.”
In 1870, republicans succeed in founding the First British Republic, inspired by the rise of the Third Republic in France. The new British government is meant to be a federal system, in which the various provinces possess great autonomy. Of course, this instantly raises doubts that a central authority will be able to direct the country and, as expected, the country disintegrates when Jacobites in Ireland rise up behind the grandson of James IV, James VI (“Bonnie Prince Jimmy”) with support from Catholics and the Anglican Church. Meanwhile, parts of Scotland declare themselves independent. Eventually, the army seizes power to restore order and decides to bring back Queen Victoria to placate royalists.
With a complacent monarch, liberals are able to re-introduce the Constitution of 1820 and all its accompanying rights. Power is placed in the hands of Parliament, although elections to the House of Commons are hardly free and fair. Thanks to the “Peace Arrangement” made under the guidance of Benjamin Disraeli, the conservative Tories and their main opposition, the Liberals, alternate in power to ensure stability. The British people enjoy the peace, but feel excluded from decision-making.
One effect this has is to spread revolutionary ideas among the working class. The Trades Union Congress is founded in the 1860s and becomes a hotbed for anti-capitalist movements, ranging from peaceful democratic socialism to militant forms of Marxism. Although diverse in their thinking, the British working class comes to be united in hoping to use their new political rights to create a more educated and pacifistic Britain.
Yet the new republic will not last. One chief reason for its failure is the “Scottish Question.” Many Scots seek recognition of their distinct character separate from the rest of Britain. Scotland has long lived as a region of its own and tends to look to its own capital of Edinburgh rather than London for its leadership. The industrialization of cities such as Glasgow also leads the now wealthy Scots to look with annoyance at their poor, incompetent brethren in England. Scottish nationalism mixes with working class militarism on “Red Clydeside” to make Glasgow a dangerous place, the “city of bombs.” This has a trickle effect into the more peaceful parts of northern England, where a weak but growing bourgeoisie made rich off mining begins to develop a hostile attitude toward the south.
Another disastrous event that helps bring down the republic is Britain’s involvement in the Eight Nation Alliance sent to put down the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Intended as an inclusionary measure meant to enhance British prestige, it in fact serves to remind the British populace that they are not part of a “Great Power” and that British imperialism effectively ended when its last colonies broke free during Napoleon’s occupation. The Dutch Raj in India, France’s scramble for Africa and other imperial adventures only underscore the fact that Britain remains a junior partner to the European empires. Most Britons feel that Britain should be looking after its own rather than helping to fight battles for other countries.
From 25 July to 2 August 1900, a week of rioting occurs in Glasgow after Scottish reservists are called up to fight in China. A hodgepodge of socialists, communists and other radicals plan a general strike they hope will spark a national revolution. In reality, however, the “Week of Sorrows” mostly leads to senseless destruction as the rioters plunder and burn the property of the wealthy and the clergy. The army succeeds in restoring order, but only after 120 people die. Most of the dead are rioters. The long-lasting effect of the riots are to put into question whether a parliamentary democracy could truly take root in Britain, for if this was how the unruly masses behaved, true democracy would lead to disaster. Politicians put off general elections as long as possible, cobbling together coalitions to form fragile majorities.
In 1908, a radical reform-minded government under Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, leader of the nascent Liberal Party, does its best to suppress the triple-headed hydra of working class discontent, regional dissatisfaction and colonial inadequacy. It passes laws revising the tax system to make it more favorable for the poor, grants limited home rule to Scotland, and restricts the enlargement of religious orders save with official government sanction. It also curtails the power of the House of Lords through the 1911 Parliament Act, which prevents the Lords from blocking bills passed by the Commons. Finally, it ends the practice of the rich buying themselves out of military service. Asquith’s successful career is cut short, however, when a communist revolutionary assassinates him in 1912. His successors as Liberal leaders (Edward Grey and then Richard Burdon Haldane) lack both Asquith’s dynamism as well as his talents.
Britain remains neutral during World War I, with Catholics and left-wingers urging intervention on the side of France and the allies, while traditionalists and monarchists (including the technically German King George V) express sympathies with Germany. In the meantime, young officers in the military are angry about their low wages, especially in the face of rising inflation. Although, like most neutral countries, Britain profits in the wake of the war, fear of another military coup spreads throughout the country. For some reactionaries, including some leading businessmen and newspaper owners, the prospect is not all bad; they think that Britain under the right forceful leadership could be a good thing.
As right-wing leaders plot in the south, the north of Britain seeks to emulate the Bolsheviks in Russia. Communists and socialists from Scotland to Yorkshire abandon reformism and embrace radicalism and revolution. In 1916, they plan a general strike meant to topple the national government and implement their demands: abolishing the monarchy, instituting a 7-hour working day; replacing the standing military with a voluntary militia; an official separation of the government and the Anglican Church; and the seizure of land belonging to wealthy landowners and church officials.
The Conservative Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law, takes a hard line with the strikers. He declares the strike itself a threat to the welfare of the state and thus the people. He calls in the army to put it down. He is supported by the disaffected soldiers in the army, who for all their unhappiness wish to preserve the social order, and by the bourgeoisie, who want anything but a revolution from below. As with the Week of Sorrows, dozens are killed before order is restored.
Nevertheless, British democracy is living on borrowed time. Class warfare continues between 1917 and 1923 as employers clash with workers over whose interests will prevail. Despite his name, Prime Minister Law fails to keep the peace even within his own party. From Glasgow to Manchester, revolution is only kept at bay by the cruelty of the constabulary. With the political system bruised to death, it comes as no great shock when a military overthrows the parliamentary government in September, 1923. The leader of the coup, General Douglas Haig, names himself the new head of government; bitter over his rough treatment among the public, King George formally recognizes Haig as prime minister.
Haig is a dictator, but a relatively benevolent one. He aspires to be an enlightened despot, but in practice is really only the latter. He despises politics and sees himself as saving Britain from the politicians. Political parties are suppressed and any indications of revolution persecuted. The Trades Union Congress, rather than be disbanded, agrees to collaborate with the government, leading to a much more docile (if centralized) economic setting. Haig becomes acquainted with a young and ambitious man named Oswald Mosley, who details his plans for reinvigorating the moribund British industries. Haig names Mosley his Chancellor, and soon major public works programs are initiated. Soon, spending is so great that Britain begins running sizable deficits.
In the coming years, Haig alienates all his bases of support. He upsets the middle class when he “bends” the law to pardon a friend’s mistress, and then detains the critics who cry foul. Captains of industry scoff at Mosley’s plans to introduce an income tax and decry the monopolies he sets up to “streamline” industrial practice. Even the army balks when Haig seeks to amend the sensitive issue of how promotions are decided. Fearing a fascist takeover that will render him totally powerless, King George withdraws his support for Haig. The Great Depression of 1929 is the final straw and Haig decides to retire, all his backing evaporated. He leaves Britain and dies alone and unhappy in a Paris hotel.
King George hopes he will thrive where Haig failed but soon finds that he is about as popular as the pox. Most Britons want, at the very least, a return to a democratic republic. In August 1930, leaders from all the republican parties meet in Liverpool to form a provisional government consisting of “men from all parties.” This government includes Stanley Baldwin, the leader of the Tories, and Ramsay MacDonald, the leader of the Socialist Labour Party. The head of government is David Lloyd George, the experienced liberal politician. The “Liverpool Pact” becomes the cornerstone of the transition from a monarchy to a true republic. In the spring of 1931, anti-monarchist candidates sweep into power in municipal elections; days later, the provisional government declares the foundation of the Second British Republic under Prime Minister Lloyd George. King George flees into exile in Germany, taking up with cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II. In June, a new Parliament is elected with the mission of crafting a new constitution. The final product abolishes all titles of nobility as well as the House of Lords entirely; grants universal suffrage; and creates the office of President, who serves a six-year term as head of state with limited powers over Parliament. The socialists push for and receive legal means by which Parliament can nationalize public services, industries, banks and land. In addition, basic civil rights, such as freedom of the press and of assembly, are re-enshrined from 1820.
Controversially, the constitution is also anti-clerical, perhaps even hostile to religion. Religious education is ended and the property of the churches tightly regulated. The state and religion are made wholly separate, with all subsidies to churches and religious orders done away with. This angers many devout Catholics, Anglicans and others throughout the country. The Archbishop of Canterbury denounces the constitution as inimical to the rights of the religious. In response, radicals across the country burn churches of every denomination.
More symbolically, the government also changes numerous things: the new British flag is red, white and green with horizontal stripes, and “Land of Hope and Glory” replaces “God Save the King” as the national anthem. To resolve the regional question, all of Britain’s regions have the right to autonomy, although only Scotland and Ireland exercise this right in the immediate years ahead (Wales begins negotiations , but does not make it very far, as Welsh nationalism is muted to non-existent).
Lloyd George resigns as Prime Minister in the fall of 1931 in order to run for (and become) the first President of the British Republic. The Socialists and Liberals are in a shaky coalition where the Socialists provide the majority and the Liberals provide the leadership; William Beveridge succeeds Lloyd George as Prime Minister. He finds himself torn between the radicals in the Lib-Lab coalition who critique him for not going far enough with his reforms, while the Conservative Opposition attacks his government’s attempts at wealth redistribution and the creation of a cradle-to-the-grave welfare state. Gradually, the Lib-Lab coalition collapses and is dead by 1933. In that time, the Conservative Party has, by quietly embracing fascism, forged a unified front of disgruntled business owners, resentful landlords, rightist military officers and reactionary religious leaders.
President Lloyd George calls for elections in November 1933. As expected, the unified right-wing alliance – the Conservative Union – trounces the divided left. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin promises to roll back as many religious, social and economic reforms as possible. Absent from the polls are the truly radical left, the revolutionary Marxists led by the Communist Party of Great Britain. They argue that real change will only come with revolution, not reform, and promise to overthrow the government following the Conservative victory.
As promised, in October 1934 communist trade union officials lead a general strike across the country, while coal miners in northern England stage a proper uprising, killing government employees as well as clergymen. They burn churches, theaters and educational buildings. They even derail the Flying Scotsman, an express passenger train running between London and Edinburgh, near Newcastle. The British Republican Army and Navy crush the rebellion, while much of the British media condemns the revolt with racist language, claiming (with zero evidence) that “Jewish Bolsheviks” had financed the rebels.
The suspension of much of their reforms by Baldwin’s government and the failure of the miners’ revolt only leads those on the left to become more radical. The moderate Ramsay MacDonald is voted out of office as leader of the Socialists and replaced with the more Marxist-minded Stafford Cripps. Cripps supports a left revolution and promotes a popular front with the Socialists and communists. The communists themselves disagree about this, with some agreeing with it, while others take the lead from Moscow that any collaboration with democratic socialists, social democrats or any other “social fascists” betrays true Marxist orthodoxy.
The Conservative government suffers a major blow when it is revealed in 1935 that prominent members of the Cabinet have benefitted from insider information related to the government issuing lucrative contracts to private companies. The actual consequences are small, but the scandal nevertheless deepens the differences between the right and the left. The British electorate is extremely polarized.
In January 1936, the country holds new elections. Thanks largely to Cripps’ efforts, the Socialists lead the “Popular Front,” comprised of the Socialist Labour Party and a breakaway faction of the Liberals, the Social Liberal Party, including former Liberal PM Beveridge and a young MP named John Maynard Keynes. In response, the Tories form a “National Front” along with smaller monarchist, fascist and religious parties. Each front boasts several minor regional parties, with most of Scotland backing the Popular Front, while the National Front is popular with Irish Catholics. The surviving Liberals, led by Sir Herbert Samuel, find themselves the sole occupants of the political center – and very unpopular.
The general election is very close. Over 20 million Britons cast their votes, but the turnout rate is just 71% -- showing that many Britons are simply too jaded to care. In the end, the Popular Front triumphs. As per an earlier arrangement, Beveridge once again becomes Prime Minister and sets about reinstating the reforms the Tories had suspended or reversed. The forces of the right start to plan how they might take back power – though not strictly by peaceful means.
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To be continued...
I got the idea for the POD from http://www.changingthetimes.net/samples/britcivilwar/what_if_charles_i_had_won_the_en.htm
Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax fill the political vacuum on the Parliamentarian side caused by Essex’s death, but they now command largely poor quality militia forces reluctant to travel beyond their local territories. Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Covenanters sever all ties between Scotland and England, hoping to continue to resist Charles’ aim to impose a uniform religious order upon them. Ironically, this serves to further dampen the already diminished morale of the Parliamentarian forces, which resign themselves to fighting futile defensive battles.
In the years that follow, Charles gradually restores absolute rule, depriving the Parliament of every right it had obtained since the 12th century, except to pass death sentences on John Hampden, Arthur Haselrig and other Parliamentarian leaders. He also reforms his military with the support of Prince Rupert, his nephew, and prohibits his nobles from employing troops of their own. He also incorporates Catholic soldiers from Ireland, much to the chagrin of the outraged Puritans. With an army now loyal to the throne alone, he sends Rupert to conquer Scotland and destroy the power of the Covenanters. Rupert does so, and Charles is finally able to implement religious changes that give him even more power.
Cromwell and Fairfax escape to the North American colonies where they join the Puritans in New England. Many other Puritans and other religious dissenters soon follow, fearing that the crown will officially embrace Catholicism and seek to suppress non-Catholics. This does not happen, but Puritan emigration continues to surge throughout the remaining 17th century.
In 1688, those who remain in England opposed to a Catholic king and an absolute monarchy cling to the hope that the crown will pass to the daughter of the current king, James II, who is a Protestant married to William of Orange, the Dutch statholder. This hope is dashed in June with the birth of the king’s son, Prince James. Fearing an Anglo-French alliance, William responds to the entreaties of English Protestants and invades England in November. Despite its limited wealth, England still possesses a formidable army, and after some hesitation, the ambitious Duke of Marlborough casts his lot with King James. The Williamite Uprising, as it comes to be known, is short-lived and is ultimately crushed.
James’ enemies do secure one important victory, however, as the Puritans in New England take advantage of the situation and declare their independence. Cotton Mather declares himself the head of a new theocratic government. Despite its military superiority, England lacks both the funds and inclination to fight a protracted foreign excursion to reclaim what essentially would be a population thoroughly hostile to monarchy.
In 1707, the Acts of Union create the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although the Church of England is the de jure official religion of the realm, religious liberty abounds, with Catholics, dissidents and other non-conformists enjoying unprecedented freedom. In political terms, however, all temporal authority is vested in the monarch, who relies on support from the nobility and an obedient peasant population. To restrict the power of the former and secure the support of the latter, several Stuart monarchs issue anti-enclosure edicts that preserve or restore common grazing lands. The British agricultural revolution does not take place and there is no turn toward commercial farming. Peasants remain in the countryside, meaning that when Britain starts to industrialize in the late 18th century, it does so very slowly. The British bourgeoisie, such as it is, remains weak and largely dependent on royal patronage. Additionally, since the monarch can raise or lower taxes as he or she pleases, there is little financial incentive for the nascent capitalist class regardless.
As his Protestant enemies fear, James III seals an Anglo-French alliance and Britain supports France in the Wars of Spanish and Austrian Succession as well as the Seven Years’ War. Due to its financial insecurity, however, it is essentially a junior partner to France. Britain is also forced to contend with intermittent revolts in Scotland and England ignited due to religious differences and widespread dissatisfaction with the demands required of keeping and maintaining a large standing army as well as a sizable navy. Having largely abandoned its colonies and concerned with maintaining the high costs of a fully repressive state apparatus, Britain is relatively poor.
The Anglo-French friendship is torn asunder by the French Revolution in 1789, as France also runs into financial problems, setting up a bourgeoisie insurrection that evolves into the bloody rise of Maximilien de Robespierre and the Jacobins. In response, King Henry IX institutes a policy of censorship and general repression that drives intellectual debates and dissent even further underground. Liberal thought survives, however, and becomes more radical in response to the king’s heavy-handed treatment.
The French Republic survives the British-led First and Second Coalitions but it does not endure the meteoric rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1803, Napoleon sells off French territory in North America to the Puritans and uses the money to finance an invasion of Britain, which is soon blockaded by British warships. The resulting loss in trade and resources leaves Britain crippled when French forces finally do land in Kent. The British sue for peace and Napoleon dethrones Henry IX, replacing him with his eldest brother, Joseph Bonaparte, who acts as a proxy for Napoleon. The French occupation is unpopular and widespread rebellion breaks out in 1805. French reprisals only galvanize more Britons to take up arms, resulting in a prolonged conflict that denies France essential manpower and resources. This “Little War” (as it becomes known) lasts until 1813 when, with Prussian assistance, the remnants of the British army under the Marquis of Wellington defeat the French at the Battle of Canterbury. On the Continent, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden defeat Napoleon after his failed invasion of Russia, sending him into exile.
In order to prevent another Anglo-French alliance, the Prussians place George William Frederick, the Duke of Hanover, on the English throne. The Duke of Hanover’s great-grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, had been the next non-Catholic in line to the throne following the death of Anne, the younger daughter of James II. Henry IX had died in exile in 1807 without leaving any issue of his own, and in fact the next Catholic heir in line is the King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy, Victor Emmanuel I, who has no interest in abdicating his native kingdom for another. If King George is willing, questions persist as to if he is capable; he suffers from illness and it is believed he is mad. Moreover, Catholics across Britain, especially in Ireland, reject him as a mere Prussian puppet. At any rate, in England the power of the monarch is no longer held as sacred.
True power is contested between the conservative Church of England and liberal officers in the powerful British military. In 1820, a group of generals attempt a coup, pressuring the mad king’s son and successor, King George IV, to assent to a constitution establishing universal male suffrage, freedom of the press, land reform and a constitutional monarchy. In 1823, a Prussian army, the self-styled “hundred thousand sons of Martin Luther,” intervenes to crush the coup and stop a repeat of the French Revolution. The conflict arises again in 1834, when a pretender to the throne calling himself “James IV” emerges in Ireland claiming to be descended from James II and asserts that he should be king, not the Hanoverian William IV. Many people, especially Irish and other Catholics, rally to his cause, while liberals and the army champion the reform-minded William. The so-called “Jacobite War” (named after the Latinized form of James) lasts until 1839, with the liberals victorious. In the peace treaty, Catholic politicians and generals receive greater influence in the government and military, respectively. Unfortunately, this is turn leads to the clash between conservatives and liberals being played out as a series of coup d’états by officers representing each party. These coups invariably feature proclamations wherein the officers claim to be “saving Britain.”
In 1868, the most notable of Britain’s liberal leaders, Gladstone, expels Queen Victoria, a morose woman who secludes herself to grieve incessantly for her dead husband. Her neglect of duties combines with the general ineffectiveness of her governments to achieve anything of note, wavering according to her own erratic whims. As such, exasperated moderates and radicals alike join the movement to topple the monarchy in what will later be called the “Glorious Revolution.”
In 1870, republicans succeed in founding the First British Republic, inspired by the rise of the Third Republic in France. The new British government is meant to be a federal system, in which the various provinces possess great autonomy. Of course, this instantly raises doubts that a central authority will be able to direct the country and, as expected, the country disintegrates when Jacobites in Ireland rise up behind the grandson of James IV, James VI (“Bonnie Prince Jimmy”) with support from Catholics and the Anglican Church. Meanwhile, parts of Scotland declare themselves independent. Eventually, the army seizes power to restore order and decides to bring back Queen Victoria to placate royalists.
With a complacent monarch, liberals are able to re-introduce the Constitution of 1820 and all its accompanying rights. Power is placed in the hands of Parliament, although elections to the House of Commons are hardly free and fair. Thanks to the “Peace Arrangement” made under the guidance of Benjamin Disraeli, the conservative Tories and their main opposition, the Liberals, alternate in power to ensure stability. The British people enjoy the peace, but feel excluded from decision-making.
One effect this has is to spread revolutionary ideas among the working class. The Trades Union Congress is founded in the 1860s and becomes a hotbed for anti-capitalist movements, ranging from peaceful democratic socialism to militant forms of Marxism. Although diverse in their thinking, the British working class comes to be united in hoping to use their new political rights to create a more educated and pacifistic Britain.
Yet the new republic will not last. One chief reason for its failure is the “Scottish Question.” Many Scots seek recognition of their distinct character separate from the rest of Britain. Scotland has long lived as a region of its own and tends to look to its own capital of Edinburgh rather than London for its leadership. The industrialization of cities such as Glasgow also leads the now wealthy Scots to look with annoyance at their poor, incompetent brethren in England. Scottish nationalism mixes with working class militarism on “Red Clydeside” to make Glasgow a dangerous place, the “city of bombs.” This has a trickle effect into the more peaceful parts of northern England, where a weak but growing bourgeoisie made rich off mining begins to develop a hostile attitude toward the south.
Another disastrous event that helps bring down the republic is Britain’s involvement in the Eight Nation Alliance sent to put down the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Intended as an inclusionary measure meant to enhance British prestige, it in fact serves to remind the British populace that they are not part of a “Great Power” and that British imperialism effectively ended when its last colonies broke free during Napoleon’s occupation. The Dutch Raj in India, France’s scramble for Africa and other imperial adventures only underscore the fact that Britain remains a junior partner to the European empires. Most Britons feel that Britain should be looking after its own rather than helping to fight battles for other countries.
From 25 July to 2 August 1900, a week of rioting occurs in Glasgow after Scottish reservists are called up to fight in China. A hodgepodge of socialists, communists and other radicals plan a general strike they hope will spark a national revolution. In reality, however, the “Week of Sorrows” mostly leads to senseless destruction as the rioters plunder and burn the property of the wealthy and the clergy. The army succeeds in restoring order, but only after 120 people die. Most of the dead are rioters. The long-lasting effect of the riots are to put into question whether a parliamentary democracy could truly take root in Britain, for if this was how the unruly masses behaved, true democracy would lead to disaster. Politicians put off general elections as long as possible, cobbling together coalitions to form fragile majorities.
In 1908, a radical reform-minded government under Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, leader of the nascent Liberal Party, does its best to suppress the triple-headed hydra of working class discontent, regional dissatisfaction and colonial inadequacy. It passes laws revising the tax system to make it more favorable for the poor, grants limited home rule to Scotland, and restricts the enlargement of religious orders save with official government sanction. It also curtails the power of the House of Lords through the 1911 Parliament Act, which prevents the Lords from blocking bills passed by the Commons. Finally, it ends the practice of the rich buying themselves out of military service. Asquith’s successful career is cut short, however, when a communist revolutionary assassinates him in 1912. His successors as Liberal leaders (Edward Grey and then Richard Burdon Haldane) lack both Asquith’s dynamism as well as his talents.
Britain remains neutral during World War I, with Catholics and left-wingers urging intervention on the side of France and the allies, while traditionalists and monarchists (including the technically German King George V) express sympathies with Germany. In the meantime, young officers in the military are angry about their low wages, especially in the face of rising inflation. Although, like most neutral countries, Britain profits in the wake of the war, fear of another military coup spreads throughout the country. For some reactionaries, including some leading businessmen and newspaper owners, the prospect is not all bad; they think that Britain under the right forceful leadership could be a good thing.
As right-wing leaders plot in the south, the north of Britain seeks to emulate the Bolsheviks in Russia. Communists and socialists from Scotland to Yorkshire abandon reformism and embrace radicalism and revolution. In 1916, they plan a general strike meant to topple the national government and implement their demands: abolishing the monarchy, instituting a 7-hour working day; replacing the standing military with a voluntary militia; an official separation of the government and the Anglican Church; and the seizure of land belonging to wealthy landowners and church officials.
The Conservative Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law, takes a hard line with the strikers. He declares the strike itself a threat to the welfare of the state and thus the people. He calls in the army to put it down. He is supported by the disaffected soldiers in the army, who for all their unhappiness wish to preserve the social order, and by the bourgeoisie, who want anything but a revolution from below. As with the Week of Sorrows, dozens are killed before order is restored.
Nevertheless, British democracy is living on borrowed time. Class warfare continues between 1917 and 1923 as employers clash with workers over whose interests will prevail. Despite his name, Prime Minister Law fails to keep the peace even within his own party. From Glasgow to Manchester, revolution is only kept at bay by the cruelty of the constabulary. With the political system bruised to death, it comes as no great shock when a military overthrows the parliamentary government in September, 1923. The leader of the coup, General Douglas Haig, names himself the new head of government; bitter over his rough treatment among the public, King George formally recognizes Haig as prime minister.
Haig is a dictator, but a relatively benevolent one. He aspires to be an enlightened despot, but in practice is really only the latter. He despises politics and sees himself as saving Britain from the politicians. Political parties are suppressed and any indications of revolution persecuted. The Trades Union Congress, rather than be disbanded, agrees to collaborate with the government, leading to a much more docile (if centralized) economic setting. Haig becomes acquainted with a young and ambitious man named Oswald Mosley, who details his plans for reinvigorating the moribund British industries. Haig names Mosley his Chancellor, and soon major public works programs are initiated. Soon, spending is so great that Britain begins running sizable deficits.
In the coming years, Haig alienates all his bases of support. He upsets the middle class when he “bends” the law to pardon a friend’s mistress, and then detains the critics who cry foul. Captains of industry scoff at Mosley’s plans to introduce an income tax and decry the monopolies he sets up to “streamline” industrial practice. Even the army balks when Haig seeks to amend the sensitive issue of how promotions are decided. Fearing a fascist takeover that will render him totally powerless, King George withdraws his support for Haig. The Great Depression of 1929 is the final straw and Haig decides to retire, all his backing evaporated. He leaves Britain and dies alone and unhappy in a Paris hotel.
King George hopes he will thrive where Haig failed but soon finds that he is about as popular as the pox. Most Britons want, at the very least, a return to a democratic republic. In August 1930, leaders from all the republican parties meet in Liverpool to form a provisional government consisting of “men from all parties.” This government includes Stanley Baldwin, the leader of the Tories, and Ramsay MacDonald, the leader of the Socialist Labour Party. The head of government is David Lloyd George, the experienced liberal politician. The “Liverpool Pact” becomes the cornerstone of the transition from a monarchy to a true republic. In the spring of 1931, anti-monarchist candidates sweep into power in municipal elections; days later, the provisional government declares the foundation of the Second British Republic under Prime Minister Lloyd George. King George flees into exile in Germany, taking up with cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II. In June, a new Parliament is elected with the mission of crafting a new constitution. The final product abolishes all titles of nobility as well as the House of Lords entirely; grants universal suffrage; and creates the office of President, who serves a six-year term as head of state with limited powers over Parliament. The socialists push for and receive legal means by which Parliament can nationalize public services, industries, banks and land. In addition, basic civil rights, such as freedom of the press and of assembly, are re-enshrined from 1820.
Controversially, the constitution is also anti-clerical, perhaps even hostile to religion. Religious education is ended and the property of the churches tightly regulated. The state and religion are made wholly separate, with all subsidies to churches and religious orders done away with. This angers many devout Catholics, Anglicans and others throughout the country. The Archbishop of Canterbury denounces the constitution as inimical to the rights of the religious. In response, radicals across the country burn churches of every denomination.
More symbolically, the government also changes numerous things: the new British flag is red, white and green with horizontal stripes, and “Land of Hope and Glory” replaces “God Save the King” as the national anthem. To resolve the regional question, all of Britain’s regions have the right to autonomy, although only Scotland and Ireland exercise this right in the immediate years ahead (Wales begins negotiations , but does not make it very far, as Welsh nationalism is muted to non-existent).
Lloyd George resigns as Prime Minister in the fall of 1931 in order to run for (and become) the first President of the British Republic. The Socialists and Liberals are in a shaky coalition where the Socialists provide the majority and the Liberals provide the leadership; William Beveridge succeeds Lloyd George as Prime Minister. He finds himself torn between the radicals in the Lib-Lab coalition who critique him for not going far enough with his reforms, while the Conservative Opposition attacks his government’s attempts at wealth redistribution and the creation of a cradle-to-the-grave welfare state. Gradually, the Lib-Lab coalition collapses and is dead by 1933. In that time, the Conservative Party has, by quietly embracing fascism, forged a unified front of disgruntled business owners, resentful landlords, rightist military officers and reactionary religious leaders.
President Lloyd George calls for elections in November 1933. As expected, the unified right-wing alliance – the Conservative Union – trounces the divided left. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin promises to roll back as many religious, social and economic reforms as possible. Absent from the polls are the truly radical left, the revolutionary Marxists led by the Communist Party of Great Britain. They argue that real change will only come with revolution, not reform, and promise to overthrow the government following the Conservative victory.
As promised, in October 1934 communist trade union officials lead a general strike across the country, while coal miners in northern England stage a proper uprising, killing government employees as well as clergymen. They burn churches, theaters and educational buildings. They even derail the Flying Scotsman, an express passenger train running between London and Edinburgh, near Newcastle. The British Republican Army and Navy crush the rebellion, while much of the British media condemns the revolt with racist language, claiming (with zero evidence) that “Jewish Bolsheviks” had financed the rebels.
The suspension of much of their reforms by Baldwin’s government and the failure of the miners’ revolt only leads those on the left to become more radical. The moderate Ramsay MacDonald is voted out of office as leader of the Socialists and replaced with the more Marxist-minded Stafford Cripps. Cripps supports a left revolution and promotes a popular front with the Socialists and communists. The communists themselves disagree about this, with some agreeing with it, while others take the lead from Moscow that any collaboration with democratic socialists, social democrats or any other “social fascists” betrays true Marxist orthodoxy.
The Conservative government suffers a major blow when it is revealed in 1935 that prominent members of the Cabinet have benefitted from insider information related to the government issuing lucrative contracts to private companies. The actual consequences are small, but the scandal nevertheless deepens the differences between the right and the left. The British electorate is extremely polarized.
In January 1936, the country holds new elections. Thanks largely to Cripps’ efforts, the Socialists lead the “Popular Front,” comprised of the Socialist Labour Party and a breakaway faction of the Liberals, the Social Liberal Party, including former Liberal PM Beveridge and a young MP named John Maynard Keynes. In response, the Tories form a “National Front” along with smaller monarchist, fascist and religious parties. Each front boasts several minor regional parties, with most of Scotland backing the Popular Front, while the National Front is popular with Irish Catholics. The surviving Liberals, led by Sir Herbert Samuel, find themselves the sole occupants of the political center – and very unpopular.
The general election is very close. Over 20 million Britons cast their votes, but the turnout rate is just 71% -- showing that many Britons are simply too jaded to care. In the end, the Popular Front triumphs. As per an earlier arrangement, Beveridge once again becomes Prime Minister and sets about reinstating the reforms the Tories had suspended or reversed. The forces of the right start to plan how they might take back power – though not strictly by peaceful means.
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To be continued...
I got the idea for the POD from http://www.changingthetimes.net/samples/britcivilwar/what_if_charles_i_had_won_the_en.htm
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