AH challenge: Halve the number of nations on earth.

There are, as of today, 195 sovereign nations on earth. Your challenge should you choice to except it, is to lower that number to either 97, or 98. Some would be easy, (Czech republic plus Slovakia equals Czechoslovakia, N Korea plus S Korea equals Korea, etc.) Some would be more difficult. Good luck. :D
 
Ahen...America takes over the New World, Nazi Germany, and Soviet Union. There, like, 100 countries gone.
 
But that's not half.

I guess you could work it out where World War One ends in a ceasefire, thereby keeping the number of countries in the world around 30. Then have colonialism end like it did, but encompassing more territory. IE, a united India, South East Asia, etc.
 
Did a map along these lines a while ago...

Bruce

FewerPowers2.png
 
Okay. Simple. Post 1945-
The Soviet Union doesn't break up (waves hands furiously)- 14 less.
Yugoslavia doesn't break up- 7 less
Czechoslovakia doesn't break up- 1 less
West Indies Federation survives. 9 less.
The French don't split up French West Africa and French Central Africa (which, ITTL, includes Cameroon). 7 less for West, 4 less for Central.
French Indochina stays together- 2 less
British India does not get partitioned (again, waving hands furiously) and includes Nepal and Bhutan- 6 less

That's 50 less already.

Now, it gets harder. Fewer federations to use.
British Empire in Africa: Sudafrika keeps SW Africa, and Swaziland, Lesotho are under its control- 3 less.
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Central African Federation) sticks together- 2 less
Kenya-Uganda sticks together- 1 less
Also in Africa: Eritrea never leaves Ethiopia- 1 less
Zaire, Burundi, and Rwanda stick together- 2 less
And in Asia:
United Korea- 1 less
The various Arab federations: stick together- 5 less (and we'll throw North Yemen in there, too, to help out a little later- they joined one of these in OTL, but it didn't work out too well)
The Pacific:
The British leave the colonies under a more united Oceanic Commonwealth, consisting of Australia, NZ, and the various British island territories (again, I must wave my hands furiously, but it's possible)- 10 less
Similarly, the US Trust Territories are never granted independence, and the Philippines remains American- 4 less

Let's see where we are now. 79 less? Most of the way done already. Good.

Now, I've tried to avoid keeping colonial empires together in most cases, but it seems to be required now. Let's see what we can do with a more open hand.

Iceland stays under Danish rule- 1 less
Malta and Cyprus stay British- 2 less
The British territories in Arabia (Aden, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain) (see why I separated North Yemen earlier?) get released as one unit instead of 6)-5 less
The British and French islands in the Indian Ocean (Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius) stay part of their mother nations- 3 less
Did I really forget this? East Timor stays in Indonesia- 1 less
You remember the West Indies Federation earlier? Well, let's expand it a little: add in Guyana, Belize, and do like one of the ideas was: annex it all to Canada. 3 less.
Cape Verde goes back to Spain- 1 less
Cuba is annexed by America instead of being let go (easier earlier, but possible after '45)- 1 less
And you know what? Let's go back to Africa. It wouldn't be too hard to do a bit of funkiness in the west and have the British colonies (Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana) and Togo join up with West Africa- the Gambia formed Senegambia in OTL, and one of those West African common markets includes them. So, let's say that circumstances like a bad economic situation or something force them to join. That's 4 less right there.

94, without any sort of conquest! Very good! (I also didn't even knock off four or five of the European inland microstates, though I could easily do so.)

But now, we're getting desperate, and we're close to the mark. So, let's do a bit of destruction, shall we?

Mongolia, between two belligerent great powers who have gone to war several times, by all rights should not exitst anymore. So, once upon a war... 1 less.
Djibouti and Somalia could easily become the newest extension of Ethiopia, especially if they decide to do ATL what seems to be happening in OTL with that border disoute- 1 less.
Palestine never gets recognized as a state because of Israel- 1 less

If I've done my adding right (which, given how much is going on here, is an entirely real concern), that's 97. That is enough to drop the current 195 down to 98, as per the OP.

Some sort of European Union (especially if the USSR releases her satellite states, and they join Westernized Europe) that later federalizes brings the number down far more, as qould any other sort of continental union.


Now, with a far earlier POD (say, 1900 on the nose), we could make imperial federations popular, and if we throw in a few bush wars and annexations with the remaining independent nations, there's fewer than fifty by about 1980.

Edit: Holy crap I screwed up simple addition. Will fix. Edit again: now it should be right.
 
Australia could do it's bit; have New Zealand and Fiji participate in Federation in 1908 and have PNG join instead of becoming independent in 1975 and maybe a few microstates in the region. That would make 5 or 6 into 1.
 
Okay. Simple. Post 1945-
The Soviet Union doesn't break up (waves hands furiously)- 14 less.
Yugoslavia doesn't break up- 7 less
Czechoslovakia doesn't break up- 1 less
West Indies Federation survives. 9 less.
The French don't split up French West Africa and French Central Africa (which, ITTL, includes Cameroon). 7 less for West, 4 less for Central.
French Indochina stays together- 2 less
British India does not get partitioned (again, waving hands furiously) and includes Nepal and Bhutan- 6 less

That's 50 less already.

Now, it gets harder. Fewer federations to use.
British Empire in Africa: Sudafrika keeps SW Africa, and Swaziland, Lesotho are under its control- 3 less.
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Central African Federation) sticks together- 2 less
Kenya-Uganda sticks together- 1 less
Also in Africa: Eritrea never leaves Ethiopia- 1 less
Zaire, Burundi, and Rwanda stick together- 2 less
And in Asia:
United Korea- 1 less
The various Arab federations: stick together- 5 less (and we'll throw North Yemen in there, too, to help out a little later- they joined one of these in OTL, but it didn't work out too well)
The Pacific:
The British leave the colonies under a more united Oceanic Commonwealth, consisting of Australia, NZ, and the various British island territories (again, I must wave my hands furiously, but it's possible)- 10 less
Similarly, the US Trust Territories are never granted independence, and the Philippines remains American- 4 less

Let's see where we are now. 79 less? Most of the way done already. Good.

Now, I've tried to avoid keeping colonial empires together in most cases, but it seems to be required now. Let's see what we can do with a more open hand.

Iceland stays under Danish rule- 1 less
Malta and Cyprus stay British- 2 less
The British territories in Arabia (Aden, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain) (see why I separated North Yemen earlier?) get released as one unit instead of 6)-5 less
The British and French islands in the Indian Ocean (Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius) stay part of their mother nations- 3 less
Did I really forget this? East Timor stays in Indonesia- 1 less
You remember the West Indies Federation earlier? Well, let's expand it a little: add in Guyana, Belize, and do like one of the ideas was: annex it all to Canada. 3 less.
Cape Verde goes back to Spain- 1 less
Cuba is annexed by America instead of being let go (easier earlier, but possible after '45)- 1 less
And you know what? Let's go back to Africa. It wouldn't be too hard to do a bit of funkiness in the west and have the British colonies (Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana) and Togo join up with West Africa- the Gambia formed Senegambia in OTL, and one of those West African common markets includes them. So, let's say that circumstances like a bad economic situation or something force them to join. That's 4 less right there.

94, without any sort of conquest! Very good! (I also didn't even knock off four or five of the European inland microstates, though I could easily do so.)

But now, we're getting desperate, and we're close to the mark. So, let's do a bit of destruction, shall we?

Mongolia, between two belligerent great powers who have gone to war several times, by all rights should not exitst anymore. So, once upon a war... 1 less.
Djibouti and Somalia could easily become the newest extension of Ethiopia, especially if they decide to do ATL what seems to be happening in OTL with that border disoute- 1 less.
Palestine never gets recognized as a state because of Israel- 1 less

If I've done my adding right (which, given how much is going on here, is an entirely real concern), that's 97. That is enough to drop the current 195 down to 98, as per the OP.

Some sort of European Union (especially if the USSR releases her satellite states, and they join Westernized Europe) that later federalizes brings the number down far more, as qould any other sort of continental union.


Now, with a far earlier POD (say, 1900 on the nose), we could make imperial federations popular, and if we throw in a few bush wars and annexations with the remaining independent nations, there's fewer than fifty by about 1980.

Edit: Holy crap I screwed up simple addition. Will fix. Edit again: now it should be right.
you. are. a. GOD!
 
Top