AH Challenge: American posession in Europe

What about the Ionian Islands off of Greece which would serve as an American base to aid the Greeks during their 1820s War for Greek Independence?

In OTL, Americans were very sympathetic towards the Greeks, who were also Christians, rising up to fight for their independence against the Musllim Turks. A chance to see another republic in the world, especially a revival in Greece, the very birthplace of democracy, would have been very compelling to Americans.

I suggest that, rather than the Monroe Doctrine in December 1823, that instead the United States agree to the proposal of Canning (the British Foreign Minister) made in August 1823 of a joint Anglo-American statement which warned the Quadruple Alliance(Russia, Prussia, Austria and France) to stay out of the Americas.

England, of course, had acquired a vast Latin American market for her exports once Spain was expelled. A return of Spain or another European power would take these valuable markets away from England.

In the ATL, this agreement between England and America would be expanded to enable the Americans to aid the Greeks. England would cede the Ionian Islands (in her possession since the Treaty of Paris in December 1815) to the United States, giving the US a base to both tackle the Barbary Pirates and to render aid to the beleaguered Greeks.

The upside for England would be that the United States would be unable to concentrate totally upon Canada and would be England's de facto ally in dealing with the Greek imbroglio.

In OTL, England ceded the Ionian Islands to an independent Greece in 1864. In this ATL, the United States would hold onto these islands.
 
What about something like Svalbard? Butterflying some event where the US buys the claims to in a fit of imperialism. Since only about 2,000 people live there today, the US can probably get it and keep it.
 
How about the USA buys Corsica from Louis XVIII after 1815 ( for some reasons, the late Bourbons were not tghat found of corsicans :D)
 
Perhaps once the US gets its foot in the door, the European Great Powers get together and hammer out an anti-Monroe Doctrine, to keep the US out of the Old World. Over time, this could frost relations until a cross-Atlantic cold war forms.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
What about the Ionian Islands off of Greece which would serve as an American base to aid the Greeks during their 1820s War for Greek Independence?

In OTL, Americans were very sympathetic towards the Greeks, who were also Christians, rising up to fight for their independence against the Musllim Turks. A chance to see another republic in the world, especially a revival in Greece, the very birthplace of democracy, would have been very compelling to Americans.

I suggest that, rather than the Monroe Doctrine in December 1823, that instead the United States agree to the proposal of Canning (the British Foreign Minister) made in August 1823 of a joint Anglo-American statement which warned the Quadruple Alliance(Russia, Prussia, Austria and France) to stay out of the Americas.

England, of course, had acquired a vast Latin American market for her exports once Spain was expelled. A return of Spain or another European power would take these valuable markets away from England.

In the ATL, this agreement between England and America would be expanded to enable the Americans to aid the Greeks. England would cede the Ionian Islands (in her possession since the Treaty of Paris in December 1815) to the United States, giving the US a base to both tackle the Barbary Pirates and to render aid to the beleaguered Greeks.

The upside for England would be that the United States would be unable to concentrate totally upon Canada and would be England's de facto ally in dealing with the Greek imbroglio.

In OTL, England ceded the Ionian Islands to an independent Greece in 1864. In this ATL, the United States would hold onto these islands.

You would have to have a major POD to get the Americans to abandon their strictly-held neutrality and desire to remain isolated from European affairs. Yes, the Americans were sympathetic to the Greeks, but the idea that they would actively support their independence movement strikes me as extremely unlikely.
 
What about something like Svalbard? Butterflying some event where the US buys the claims to in a fit of imperialism. Since only about 2,000 people live there today, the US can probably get it and keep it.

Getting islands off of Sweden or Norway sounds difficult... But, perhaps William Seward plays hardball with the Russian's over the purchase of Alaska, so St Petersburg throw into the deal parts of the Western Russian Arctic Islands as a sweetener.

(Maybe Americans obsessed with the Northwest Passage in this TL are equally crazy about a Northeast Passage, so Seward and the Russkies takes that into consideration when buying/selling Alaska.)

I think technically these islands are all European.
 
I think it would have been hard for the US to get an island or land base in europe. Malta would have been perfect but it was under UK. control.

US might have taken Alboran Island in the Alboran Sea. It probably could have been made into a small naval base. But they would have needed to import water.

To those who do not know where the Alboran Sea is:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alboran_Sea

Info. and photos of Island: http://confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=7257

Location of Alboran Island:
2259245807_bfe7854810.jpg


Found this story on Alboran Island:
Owing to its strategic value, in about 1960 a few supposed fishing vessels from the Soviet Union tried to install a stable base on the island. For this reason the Spanish army established a settlement on Alborán for its control and protection.
Morocco could have been taken over by the US due to the following incident:
In May,1904, about two months before the Republican convention, a man named Ion Perdicaris, an American living in Tangiers, and an Englishman , Cromwell Varley, were kidnapped in Morocco. The kidnapper, a known bandit named Mulay Hamid El Raisuli (Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers), was demanding ransom and President Roosevelt expected the Moroccan government to intervene.

When the government response was found lacking, Roosevelt ordered a military presence to the area, sending his beloved Navy off the coast of Tangier to make a statement. The potential threat of an American landing worked and the Moroccan Sultan used his influence/power with the kidnapper to force a release of Perdicaris and Varley. The marines never landed ashore and never fired a shot.
 
Britain for the 51st (although it couldn't be 51st due to the time frame) State FFS. :)

The Irish Patriots turn violent and join the Colonial revolt? But then theres 'Popery' in Ireland, the founding fathers would probably never want it in the Union it.

The thing is, you really need somewhere that ticks enough boxes to make it genuinely legitimate for it to be in the US in this time frame -

- Protestant (Any kind of Protestant)
- Northern European (incl. France)
- Easily Accesible via Sea
- Some kind of connection to the US in trade
- People who have a genuine desire to live under a democracy (how democratic depends on the time)
- Links via Immigration (this is mainly covered by 'Northern Europe' but just incase)
 
Falastur

Problem is this is after WWII, which is to late for the OP conditions.

There is one possible option that sticks out. I think there was a suggestion that America was offered a LoN mandate for Armenia. If it has accepted that then presuming the normal modern definition of Europe as reaching to the Caucasus Mts the condition is met. Going to be an award mandate, with Turkey on one side and the Soviet Union on the other however.

Steve

Oops. Didn't spot that. My bad.
 
I think it would have been hard for the US to get an island or land base in europe. Malta would have been perfect but it was under UK. control.

US might have taken Alboran Island in the Alboran Sea. It probably could have been made into a small naval base. But they would have needed to import water.

To those who do not know where the Alboran Sea is:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alboran_Sea

Info. and photos of Island: http://confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=7257

Location of Alboran Island:
2259245807_bfe7854810.jpg


Found this story on Alboran Island: Morocco could have been taken over by the US due to the following incident:

It would probably come with Melilla if the US annexed it after the Spanish-American War.

I can almost see "Spanish Morocco" simply becoming "American Morocco" as part of the terms for the end of the war, though I don't know how that would have happened, as the US Navy wasn't in a position to start a war in Europe at that time.
 
Top