AHC: No Monarchies by the present day

With a POD after January 1, 1900 is it possible for the world by the year 2018 to have no monarchies? And if so how can this be done?
 
Oswald Moseley wins against Neville Chamberlain earlier in the 1920s and British politics become more pro-German and anti-French. World War II becomes a fight with monarchs like that of Edward VIII as villains and subsequently the House of Windsor becomes just another set of powerful landlords with regal history. This starts a trend that, save for the Japanese emperor, sees all monarchs out of official title and most out of power by 1970 (two are ironically elected to office in the 1990s).
 
Last edited:
Just as Italy got rid of the monarchy in 1946 because it was tainted by its association with Mussolini, if the other countries that were occupied by Nazi had their own monarchs stayed instead of going in exile and were completely co-operative with the Nazis, then after the liberation of Europe they would have been disposed.
As for Great Britain, if King Edward VIII did not marry Wallis and thus did not have to abdicate, his potential conduct and his perceived sympathy for the Nazis would probably have led the Labour Government in 1945 to proclaim a republic.
As for Spain after the death of Franco if the public objected to Juan Carlos his hand picked successor then he would not have accepted the throne.
Japan would have to abolish the monarchy as a part of the demands the Allies made for unconditional surrender and Hirohito would be a defendant in the Tokyo War Crimes Trials.
As for other countries that have monarchies, things like the people objecting to the expense of the care and feeding of them, no longer being relevant to their own lives.
 
Just as Italy got rid of the monarchy in 1946 because it was tainted by its association with Mussolini, if the other countries that were occupied by Nazi had their own monarchs stayed instead of going in exile and were completely co-operative with the Nazis, then after the liberation of Europe they would have been disposed.
As for Great Britain, if King Edward VIII did not marry Wallis and thus did not have to abdicate, his potential conduct and his perceived sympathy for the Nazis would probably have led the Labour Government in 1945 to proclaim a republic.
As for Spain after the death of Franco if the public objected to Juan Carlos his hand picked successor then he would not have accepted the throne.
Japan would have to abolish the monarchy as a part of the demands the Allies made for unconditional surrender and Hirohito would be a defendant in the Tokyo War Crimes Trials.
As for other countries that have monarchies, things like the people objecting to the expense of the care and feeding of them, no longer being relevant to their own lives.

Too many PODs...
 
Too many PODs...
Not that many I think, it just that if you turned the question around and asked how to keep the monarchy going, you would basically state the opposite.
With only two exceptions I can think of, the monarchy in occupied countries went in to exile and raised funds to resist the Nazis, the Allies could have demanded that Japan abolish the monarchy but they didn't, Spain could have rejected the accession of Juan Carlos to the Spanish Thorne after the death of Franco, but Juan Carlos took the lead in democratizing Spain.
It was just that things went one way in preserving many of the monarchies instead the other way around and it was a near thing in many countries whether or not to keep the monarchy.
 
There is not way how you abolish all monarchies by 2018 with 1900 POD. You would need many things that you can abolish monarchy. And if you count pope as monarch, it would be impossible abolish papacy. In some countries monarchy is soo established with a nation that abolishment is impossible or very difrficult. Even Americans couldn't do that after WW2.
 
You'd need a more powerful republican movement globally, where monarchies are perceived as relics of the past no longer useful to hold on to. Left-wing movements like social democracy should wholeheartedly be in favour of abolishing monarchies, and even some right-wing movements should see a reason to abolish monarchies. Abolishing monarchies can make sense from either a left-wing or a right-wing (especially the sort of right-wing which gave rise to fascism) perspective.

With this in mind, all European monarchies can be abolished by mid-century, either peacefully or through the bloodshed of the World Wars. East Asia's are doomed as well by this, and decolonisation will destroy the traditional monarchies of India, Africa, etc. Speaking of decolonisation, the last push will be made in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where monarchies from the Gulf States to Thailand are abolished as obsolete, regressive aspects of society. Country-by-country, the circumstances will vary, but all it takes will be an unpopular monarch and a popular movement, as well as a common perception that republican government is the future. It isn't a wide leap from a constitutional monarchy to take. If the King (or whoever) has little to no power compared to Parliament (or whatever), then why can't Parliament vote on who the King should be? And in that case, why not replace the "King" with a "President" (or whatever) and assign a new role to this position?

Some states will be abolished as part of this. Vatican City will no longer exist, Monaco will be absorbed into France, Liechtenstein might become a Swiss canton or be absorbed into Austria or Germany, Brunei will be joined to Malaysia. The Gulf monarchies might also see some consolidation into some sort of Arab Gulf Republic.

Overall, no communist world revolution needed. Just a variety of trends in both the left and right to defeat monarchism as a force for good, and 1-2 World Wars to further enforce such trends.

There is not way how you abolish all monarchies by 2018 with 1900 POD. You would need many things that you can abolish monarchy. And if you count pope as monarch, it would be impossible abolish papacy. In some countries monarchy is soo established with a nation that abolishment is impossible or very difrficult. Even Americans couldn't do that after WW2.

The Pope could always remain "prisoner in the Vatican" and the Vatican have about as much status as the Knights of Malta have. There's no reason the Vatican needs to be an independent nation after all.
 
Everything goes to total shit in Europe from the Nazis and Soviets overrunning it. Say, Hitler never declares war on the US, Edward VIII doesn’t abdicate and attempts to align with the Nazis anyway, and the UK ends up too battered to intervene beyond France. When Europe rebuilds, it does so entirely as republics, and Parliament and the people abolish the royal family after Edward’s betrayal.

That’s one continent. The Americas and Australia would be republics after that. Then decolonization of Africa as all republics would take care of five.

Then America, when Japan asks for immunity for Hirohito, tells Japan to go fuck itself and establishes a republic everywhere Japan touched. No Kim dynasty in Korea and you take care of Asia.

Finally, all those pesky Emperor penguins in Antarctica are renamed “Republic penguins.”
 
The challenges, as I see it, are:

--The Nordic Countries & The Benelux (as well as Liechtenstein, Andorra, the Vatican). These monarchies are fairly parliamentarian and politically neutral--and well of economically for most of the 20th cent--so I don't see anything short of worldwide revolution toppling them.

--The Balkan Monarchies (Greece, Serbia/Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary). These were certainly unstable enough and some of them would easily fall, but again short of communist revolution I doubt that all of them would fail to consolidate power after the first one fell.

--Nepal, Bhutan, possibly Tibet, and maybe Siam: All of these are geographically isolated and probably wouldn't face any real political or social unrest. Again, as OTL, one might fall but I doubt all of them would.
 
Top