AHC: Extremely High Militaristic Tradition in USA

With a POD occurring after the start of the War of 1812, have the United States imbued with an extremely high militaristic tradition among the citizenry and army

(greater than that of the Prussians Junkers)

How would this then effect the age of Imperialism, and the US army's performance in all future wars.
 
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Maybe more successful/numerous filibusters? Somehow increase Southern land hunger and make joining in filibuster expeditions a viable prospect for jumping up in the social ladder?
 
Need a pre-1812 POD to pull this off. Given one of the sparks for the ARW was the quartering of British troops in civy homes, this might not be possible even then. Most countries with militaristic traditions evolved that way because of the presence of great powers near by. Who's an immediate threat to the US in 1820?
 
Need a pre-1812 POD to pull this off. Given one of the sparks for the ARW was the quartering of British troops in civy homes, this might not be possible even then. Most countries with militaristic traditions evolved that way because of the presence of great powers near by. Who's an immediate threat to the US in 1820?

Great Britain in Canada possibly? Maybe a War of 1812 that has the US lose at New Orleans, has the UK dictate some harsh terms on top of the continued impressing of American sailors.
 
Total Anglophobia

The burning of the Executive Mansion by Brit thugs results in the death of Dolly Madison. This outrages citizens so much, the USA is determined to exact revenge. All other considerations go by the wayside. Mexico gets eaten up and digested by US forces. No ACW, instead the invasion and conquest of Canada. Brits react, Yanks overreact, Brits invade US, US (having more natural resources) build a better navy and drive the Brits from the seas. :eek:
Pure ASB.
But... you asked... :cool:
 
With a POD occurring after the start of the War of 1812, have the United States imbued with an extremely high militaristic tradition among the citizenry and army.

Given that a militaristic tradition of sorts existed in the antebellum South (what with all the private military academies, Southern cavalry commanders and the high percentage of Southerners that fought in the ACW), maybe the solution is a stronger Northern landed gentry. Maybe Northern commerce gets completely strangled in the period immediately after the ACW with a comprehensive British blockade, and the entire US reverts to being a largely agricultural and plantation-based economy.

You'd probably see more filibusters, belligerent US policy vs. Mexico and Canada, and probably a much more insular US. US performance in wars will probably be worse, considering that such an economic structure means that whatever military machine it has will be ground down by European industrialization (assuming the war in question is important enough for said European coalition to devote so many resources into defeating the US).
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
I don't see it. A fear of standing armies was deeply rooted in the American psyche. The Revolution was fought as much out of a fear of standing armies as it was out of a fear of direct taxation without representation. If you create social conditions in which this fear is removed, you'd have to go so far back that the Revolution, and therefore the existence of the United States, is butterflied away entirely.
 
I don't see it. A fear of standing armies was deeply rooted in the American psyche. The Revolution was fought as much out of a fear of standing armies as it was out of a fear of direct taxation without representation. If you create social conditions in which this fear is removed, you'd have to go so far back that the Revolution, and therefore the existence of the United States, is butterflied away entirely.

Really?

I don't know, there were a few cataclysmic flash points that might have resulting in a pervasive demand for a proper standing army

I.E if the Whiskey rebellion was much much worse.

Or again if the War of 1812 saw the Brits burning major structures to the ground.

Maybe even a proper slave rebellion during the War of 1812 as well.

I'd argue their are definitely PODs that could occur after the ARW that may result in the need for a standing army.
 

TinyTartar

Banned
Doesn't one arguably exist in OTL now?

Not really, not anywhere near that of the Prussian Junkers as was the condition.

We do have a citizen army tradition but right now, it is a professional force disproportionately drawn from Midwestern and Southern states from the lower middle class in the case of the Army and a Coastal, more ethnically diverse professional force from the lower middle class in terms of the Navy.

The military is not seen as an exercise of those who have power like it was in Prussia.
 

Lateknight

Banned
Americas been at war in some way since it's existed so this is reality more so then Junkers even most of our wars were by the people not some elite class and they been far more successful being that Americas still around and is a miltary superpower and the Junkers are a fading memory.
 
In order for the United States to resemble a militaristic society, it would need for the military to not only become semi-independent of governmental affairs, but in many cases become the government itself, such as the case of the Roman Republic or Prussia.

Realistically, a form of required military service for all men 18-30 would be just the first step in creating such a society.
 

Zlorfik

Banned
French Calvinists fleeing religious persecution choose to settle in Louisiana en masse, gradually turning the mississippi valley into a francophone heartland.
Let's assume this doesn't cause too many butterflies in european affairs (shouldn't, really.)

Seven years' war rolls around, and French Louisiane has the sheer manpower to effectively defend itself from Anglo-Brit conquest.
Maybe another POD here involving the French thwarting British attempts at scaling the heights of Quebec.

The result is a strong, more or less self-sustaining French colonial presence in North America.

The Thirteen Colonies are turned into a highly militarized march by the British, and they gain plenty of experience fighting the French over the following decades.
Eventually the Anglo-Americans prevail and annex the French colonies. The colonials agitate for independence and put their well-honed martial skill to excellent use against the British, who are trained only for organized European warfare.

Et voilà
 
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