Chapter 13: The new government and the Empire.
The new government was lead by the most unexpected candidate: Winston Churchill. Even more surprising, the government was possible because of an unlikely coalition made up by Churchill's own party, the Liberal Republicans Party; MacDonald's Labourist, Bissett's Republican Radicals and Chambrelain's Liberal Democrats. Out in the wilderness remained an outraged and isolated Oswald Mosley.
Up to this, the reaction of the rest of the world had been a mixture of feelings. From the mockery of the Commune de France, that summarized the British "revolution" as a "simple change of masks between the capitalist opressors"; to the amused indifference of the German Empire, that turned into a visible anxiety when new government, too full of Leftish politicians that may feel some kind of sympathy for the Revolutionary France, was formed, even with Churchill leading it. Russia, which had its own problems and was still recovering from the Civil War, did not to bother at all about antyhing that took placed to the west of Brest-Litovsk. Or, at least Moscow pretended to do so.
The United States and the Empire were the most anxious about the events unfolding in the Home Islands. Since 1925 the United States was almost completely dependent on trade with Britain and Canada, as trade with Mexico had ceased after the victory of Emiliano Zapata, and the 'Open Door' with China was shut due to Japan's aggresive foreign policy. Though badly shaken, the New York Stock Exchange limped on, and the American economy slipped still further into recession. Thus, the US economy was fully depending on the trade with Britain and Canada.
The Empire was shaken, full stop. The abdication and flight of George V had caused a strong shock all around the world and the Empire was not an exception. However, as Britain did not fall into some kind of Red Terror and bussiness went on more or less as usual, calm returned. Just a few Britons went to exile, frightened by the prospect of radical purges and violence like in France; however, as nothing of that took place, most of them returned to the Home Islands in the following months.
The Canadian Prime Minister, R. B. Bennet, who was under fire for his failed reforms and was to loose the October 1935 general elections to Mackenzie King's Liberals, was appalled by the British "revolution" and took a hard stance against the new Republic, which only helped to further deteriorate his public image (And would play a great role in the decimation of the Tories in the mentioned general elecdtions), that would be reversed by the new Liberal Prime Minister as soon as he replaced Bennet.
Australia, still suffering from the post-war crisis and the unrest caused by it, as we can see in the 1923 Victoria police strike, was horrified by the events in the Home Islands. Depending on the British men, money and markets, Australia kept its breath... until bussiness went as usual. The promise of a revision of the status of Canada and Australia by the new British government helped to bring new life to the nationalist feelings in both Dominions.
The Raj was still suffering from the postwar crisis, which led to food riots in Bombay, Madras, and Bengal provinces and was made only worse by the failure of the 1918–19 monsoon, and an ongoing turmoil since the coup d'etat in 1925. Thus, London rushed to promise, in the aftermath of the elections, that constitutional reforms were to be implemented in India, following the recomendations of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, that had been utterly ignored by Haig, which only helped to fuel the demands for
swaraj, or self-rule, and, as a show of good will, replaced the the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, who hadoutlawed the National Congress in 1932 and arrested Ghandi and 80,000 Indian activists. Gandhi remained in prison until 1933, when he was freed by the new Republican government
In opposition to all this chaos and turmoil. South Africa remained eerily peaceful on the surface. General Smuts, who had been its prime minister since 1919, was able to defeat another former Boer general, James Hertzog, the leader of the National Party. The 1933 events, however, were to create an internal crisis in South Africa when Herzog began to push the development of the Afrikaner culture and was determined to protect the Afrikaner from British influence, something that threatened not only the relations of South Africa with the British Union, but also the internal order of the country.