AHC/PC/WI: Country Spanning Most of West Africa

Is it possible that with the right PODs that most if not all of West Africa can be united under a single nation? Is it possible to be held together and what could it be and what could be its effects?

I was considering putting this in the Before 1900s section because I know that one colonial power would need to control a vast majority of the region if something like this can have a chance of going somewhere. But I put it here because the people in the other section might not get what I'm saying.
 
Germany wins WWI, takes Guinea, Cote d'ivore and Burkina faso from France

in the 1970s Germany creates a puppet kingdom of West afrika that control all these regions plus togo
 

ben0628

Banned
Have France set up French West Africa as one giant, centralized colony. Improve education during colonial era so more people speak French instead of native language, and have first leaders of the independent movement believe in pan Africanism. Once it becomes independent, it will probably face a series of civil wars or other problems and would probably fall apart unless you have a brutal one party state or a federal government. British Gambia would eventually join as well since it's surrounded by Senegal.

This situation is highly unlikely, but it's the best chance you got.

Either that or get some large anti French Islamic movement or something. Problem with that is that the gold coast part of West Africa (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, etc.) Doesn't have large Muslim populations
 
Would require a pan-Africanism wank and possibly much more infrastructure in the region. Very, very hard.

Alternatively, in the future, maybe get some sort of federalised West Africa going on, but since the comparatively much simpler East African Federation has run into such issues, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Germany wins WWI, takes Guinea, Cote d'ivore and Burkina faso from France

in the 1970s Germany creates a puppet kingdom of West afrika that control all these regions plus togo

And said puppet state disintegrates either peacefully or in a civil war. Looking how Nigeria and Congo-Kinshasa OTL are pushing the boundaries of how big a multiethnic African state can be, I think giant post-colonial African states can probably be filed in the cabinet of "slightly more plausible than Sea Lion but still very very close to ASB". It's a pretty irksome AH cliche.
 
France sets up a federation upon independence, and perhaps a few other states join. Ghana would be interested, but I doubt Nkrumah would want to give up power.

There could be a couple of rationales for France to do this—perhaps it evolves from a more integrated French community, or perhaps France is more paranoid about the potential for foreign meddling in many smaller states. But it's usually easier to divide and conquer, so France would have to be a bit creative—perhaps an effort to mold Pan-Africanism under French influence, or instead of a Fifth Republic there's a Carnation Revolution of sorts.
 
Have France set up French West Africa as one giant, centralized colony. Improve education during colonial era so more people speak French instead of native language, and have first leaders of the independent movement believe in pan Africanism. Once it becomes independent, it will probably face a series of civil wars or other problems and would probably fall apart unless you have a brutal one party state or a federal government. British Gambia would eventually join as well since it's surrounded by Senegal.

This situation is highly unlikely, but it's the best chance you got.
Would it have stood more chance of survival with a better transport infrastructure? In particular a more extensive railway network on the web of steel and railways build nations theories? If it survived to 1975 might West Africa try to beat Morocco into invading the Western Sahara and take Guinea-Bissau as soon as the Portuguese pulled out, like the Indonesians did with East Timor?
 
Would it have stood more chance of survival with a better transport infrastructure? In particular a more extensive railway network on the web of steel and railways build nations theories? If it survived to 1975 might West Africa try to beat Morocco into invading the Western Sahara and take Guinea-Bissau as soon as the Portuguese pulled out, like the Indonesians did with East Timor?

A West African Federation is probably going to remain a close client of France after independence in much the same way that the OTL states of West Africa are closely linked to French influence even now. So the question becomes: Would France back such activities? If so, then they could happen. If not, then it still might, but it's a lot less likely.

In any case, the WAF would probably have too many internal problems and divisions to embrace an actively expansionist policy; and a diplomatic approach toward newly-independent states joining the Federation would be better-supported internationally. If managed right, the WAF could have both France and the US supporting it as a bulwark against Soviet influence in Africa, and an example of Pan-Africanism that isn't automatically communist or socialist aligned.
 
A West African Federation is probably going to remain a close client of France after independence in much the same way that the OTL states of West Africa are closely linked to French influence even now. So the question becomes: Would France back such activities? If so, then they could happen. If not, then it still might, but it's a lot less likely.

In any case, the WAF would probably have too many internal problems and divisions to embrace an actively expansionist policy; and a diplomatic approach toward newly-independent states joining the Federation would be better-supported internationally. If managed right, the WAF could have both France and the US supporting it as a bulwark against Soviet influence in Africa, and an example of Pan-Africanism that isn't automatically communist or socialist aligned.
There's also the possibility that the Western Sahara and Guinea-Bissau might choose to join West Africa. This could be because of cultural ties, because the guerrillas fighting the Portuguese and Spanish were based in West African territory and/or the new governments might simply think it was a good thing to do. Furthermore the Western Saharans might think it was preferable to being conquered by Morocco.
 
There's also the possibility that the Western Sahara and Guinea-Bissau might choose to join West Africa. This could be because of cultural ties, because the guerrillas fighting the Portuguese and Spanish were based in West African territory and/or the new governments might simply think it was a good thing to do. Furthermore the Western Saharans might think it was preferable to being conquered by Morocco.

What about Nigeria?
 
Would require a pan-Africanism wank and possibly much more infrastructure in the region. Very, very hard.
On the web of steel and railways build nations theories, would a more extensive railway network be enough extra infrastructure? That is, the railway that starts in Senegal goes all the way to Chad (in French Equatorial Africa) and the railways in the other French West African colonies extended to meet it by 1960.
 
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