2nd ARW causing revolution in Britain

After recent discussions we had on here about a failed American Revolution, most agreed that it would be likely there would be another uprising if Tories had regular periods in power in the 1780-1810 period, rather than the more liberal PMs we had in OTL. It occurred to me there was a lot of agitation in Britain in the latter part of this period, and this would have likely been worse with more Tory rule.

So what are the chances that a second rebellion could cause a similar uprisings in Britain and Ireland in this period? If the army was spread thin across the Atlantic, plus with war in Europe, it would surely have a good chance of succeeding. Could we have a revolutionary "United States of Britannia", allied with France?
 
So what are the chances that a second rebellion could cause a similar uprisings in Britain and Ireland in this period? If the army was spread thin across the Atlantic, plus with war in Europe, it would surely have a good chance of succeeding. Could we have a revolutionary "United States of Britannia", allied with France?

The chances are huge. In 1797 IIRC, England wanted to make a peace with the directory due to mutinies on RN ships. So we could clearly have a sort of revolutionnary Britain, but it could take several forms i think. Given the powers of the merchants it could go on some sort of Venician way of republic, it could have a Cromwell/Robespierre strongman, a Napoléon of the seas taking power. But the more important is the effect on Europe. If there isn't any bitchy move by someone like Napoléon (what he did to Venice always make me rage), France and Britain will be allied, when the two powers are in fact the two world powers. They could do anything...

EDIT : in fact, a Britain republic more or less allied with a French one are on my mind for some time, for a timeline dominated by republics to counter the more monarchy-loving trend of this forum.
 

Thande

Donor
It's not impossible, although the French Revolution would itself be rather different in character without the example of the USA.

I don't see it lasting either way. British revolutionaries have always fallen victim to "and then what?" syndrome.
 
After recent discussions we had on here about a failed American Revolution, most agreed that it would be likely there would be another uprising if Tories had regular periods in power in the 1780-1810 period, rather than the more liberal PMs we had in OTL. It occurred to me there was a lot of agitation in Britain in the latter part of this period, and this would have likely been worse with more Tory rule.

So what are the chances that a second rebellion could cause a similar uprisings in Britain and Ireland in this period? If the army was spread thin across the Atlantic, plus with war in Europe, it would surely have a good chance of succeeding. Could we have a revolutionary "United States of Britannia", allied with France?

Have you been reading the 'Lets make a Realistic Code Geass timeline?' because I made that suggestion a while ago in that trend.
Anyways..... I do remember something about parlimentary reforms sometime after the french revolution but I can't find any reference.
 
Your best bet is probably something along the lines of an earlier United Irishmen revolt, though there was also a lot of discontent in Scotland and even England itself.
 
I suspect Parliament and the gentry it more-or less spoke for would simply let N. America go its own way in such a scenario. If they sensed that their rule at home was threatened, then (some) colonies would be sacrificed to retain the metropolis.
 
I don't see it lasting either way. British revolutionaries have always fallen victim to "and then what?" syndrome.

What do you mean by this syndrome ?

I suspect Parliament and the gentry it more-or less spoke for would simply let N. America go its own way in such a scenario. If they sensed that their rule at home was threatened, then (some) colonies would be sacrificed to retain the metropolis.

We are not in EU3 where you can use your army to crush all the revolts. The problem of the monarchy in the French Revolution is that the army joined the people. In this case, calling back military units from NA will be useless and maybe even counterproductive if the units called back side with the revolutionnaries. Also, IIRC, the british army was smaller than the French army, so if the revolt is widespread as in the french revolution, there is little the army can do.
 
Have you been reading the 'Lets make a Realistic Code Geass timeline?' because I made that suggestion a while ago in that trend.
Anyways..... I do remember something about parlimentary reforms sometime after the french revolution but I can't find any reference.

I haven't read it. Would be very glad of the reference if you find it.

The chances are huge. In 1797 IIRC, England wanted to make a peace with the directory due to mutinies on RN ships. So we could clearly have a sort of revolutionnary Britain, but it could take several forms i think. Given the powers of the merchants it could go on some sort of Venician way of republic, it could have a Cromwell/Robespierre strongman, a Napoléon of the seas taking power. But the more important is the effect on Europe. If there isn't any bitchy move by someone like Napoléon (what he did to Venice always make me rage), France and Britain will be allied, when the two powers are in fact the two world powers. They could do anything...

I imagine a British Empire revolution would be more like the American revolution than the French one. Society had a much larger middle class, where the anger and radicalism of the French one was powered by an angry, hungry peasantry.

EDIT : in fact, a Britain republic more or less allied with a French one are on my mind for some time, for a timeline dominated by republics to counter the more monarchy-loving trend of this forum.

Certainly could be very interesting.
 
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