AH Challenge: British Empire expands to Arctic

Make following areas to part of British Empire in some phase of history

- Greenland
- Iceland
- Northern Norway, Sweden and Finland
- Northern Russia, e.g. Murmansk and Arkhangelsk areas
 

archaeogeek

Banned
Someone has been playing EU3, amirite (fucking AI asking for half of Norway instead of grabbing Orkney it was fighting for)...

Likely not possible unless you either get a personnal union of Great Britain and Denmark-Norway or somehow the "Varangian" norse and the Danish empire manage to unite which for the period borders on ASB.
 
Make following areas to part of British Empire in some phase of history

- Greenland
- Iceland
- Northern Norway, Sweden and Finland
- Northern Russia, e.g. Murmansk and Arkhangelsk areas

Give us time. We are still busy readsorbing the USA at the moment.
 
Well Ivan the Terrible did want to may Elizabeth I at some point, though the match was neither desirable for Liz (consider Ivan's slightly homicidal repuatation, not to mention that he wasn't a protestant), nor practical in that particular time period (Charles V had enough logistical problems with only Fance in the way, imagine trying to effectively govern England from Russia).
 
Make following areas to part of British Empire in some phase of history

- Greenland
- Iceland
- Northern Norway, Sweden and Finland
- Northern Russia, e.g. Murmansk and Arkhangelsk areas
What's wrong with Canada? The British Empire ALREADY had much of the Arctic (including part of the North Pole).
 
Greenland/iceland could easily be grabbed just after napoleon.
Denmark is worth basically 0 and had been a bit pro-Nappy, thus nobody would oject it being chastized.

Presence in northern Karelia could derive from 1919 expedition against bolshevicks.
 
Not to mention technically the British Empire had Greenland and Iceland for awhile during World War II. They occupied the islands after Denmark surrendered.
 

archaeogeek

Banned
Greenland/iceland could easily be grabbed just after napoleon.
Denmark is worth basically 0 and had been a bit pro-Nappy, thus nobody would oject it being chastized.

Presence in northern Karelia could derive from 1919 expedition against bolshevicks.

Also the king of Denmark was a liberal and the crown prince, when made king of Norway, basically showed himself to be one too; they were pariahs of european courts of the time and it's been suspected they mostly toed the conservative line after 1815 out of self-preservation.

However Iceland would have gone with Norway to Sweden; I don't think Britain would see any worth to it.
 
Not to mention technically the British Empire had Greenland and Iceland for awhile during World War II. They occupied the islands after Denmark surrendered.

Actually just Iceland. Greenland was given to the USA in a you-take-half split.

To answer the OP with a question, why would the UK want any of these territories? They are economically pointless. Parliament would be doing its level best to get rid of them if it ever picked them up.
 
Actually just Iceland. Greenland was given to the USA in a you-take-half split.

To answer the OP with a question, why would the UK want any of these territories? They are economically pointless. Parliament would be doing its level best to get rid of them if it ever picked them up.

I thought they took both, then handed them over to the US to free up the occupying force. Anyways..

Well they'd be strategicly valuable for other European nations as a naval base, so Britain's interest would mainly be in denying them to any potential foe. As it stands Denmark was perfect to keep them since they never could threaten Britain in anyway. If France of Prussia somehow layed claim to them, you'd see some intervention I'm sure.
 
Maybe avoid battle of Copenhagen and French privateers set up bases in Greenland and Iceland. Then the British occupy them and decide to keep them after the war for whatever reason.
 
I thought they took both, then handed them over to the US to free up the occupying force. Anyways..

Well they'd be strategicly valuable for other European nations as a naval base, so Britain's interest would mainly be in denying them to any potential foe. As it stands Denmark was perfect to keep them since they never could threaten Britain in anyway. If France of Prussia somehow layed claim to them, you'd see some intervention I'm sure.

Only Iceland surely. And even then, Iceland is too far from France or Prussia. The UK would be laughing if either of them ever claimed Iceland - they have the navy to just totally cut off the island and starve it to death, and rather than becoming an asset for the enemies of Britain, it would be the deaths of anyone sent there. The others have a terrible habit of freezing over for large parts of the year and thus are unusable. Also the very idea of using Lapland as a military base to strike at the UK is a bit farcical, and the very idea of taking northern Russia for strategic purposes is just crazy.
 
I thought they took both, then handed them over to the US to free up the occupying force. Anyways..

Well they'd be strategicly valuable for other European nations as a naval base, so Britain's interest would mainly be in denying them to any potential foe. As it stands Denmark was perfect to keep them since they never could threaten Britain in anyway. If France of Prussia somehow layed claim to them, you'd see some intervention I'm sure.

Only Iceland surely. The others have a terrible habit of freezing over for large parts of the year and thus are unusable. Also the very idea of using Lapland as a military base to strike at the UK is a bit farcical.
 
Greenland could easily be claimed as British as part of Canada. It wasn't until the 18th century Denmark really got around to re-occupying it. And even when it did its claim to the whole of the island was disputed even in the 20th century with Norway's brief spell of occupation. It's not too hard to assume a scenario where northern Greenland at least is part of Canada.
The thing is though- there's no point. Not much to gain in having Greenland.

Northern Russia...again no point. You need to get a bit ASB and make the north east passage doable. Then Russia may not be alone in colonising its otl coast...

Northern Scandinavia- Again why?
Its picking a fight with the Scandinavian nations for no gain.

Iceland- I suppose this one could pass into British hands at many points. It does have a bit of a use with helping to control the north sea.
Denmark is more of a pain in the arse in the Napoleonic wars, maybe devestation of Iceland with its natural disasters is worse.
I guess Greenland could come at this time too.
 
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