AHC: USA acquire lands of OTL Canada

As most Americawanks seem to have a POD before the Anglo-American Convention in 1818, I present you a challenge:

Challenge: With a POD between January 30th, 1819 and July 1st, 1867, have the USA acquire all of OTL's Canada.
 
Spitballing here, but maybe Britain and the US have a falling out sometime after the ACW (whether it's the Fenian's gaining more clout, the Venezuela Crisis goes bad, whatever), things escalate, the US and the UK go to war, with Canada as the main battleground. Somehow the US pulls off a win, gains Canada after the war.
 
Spitballing here, but maybe Britain and the US have a falling out sometime after the ACW (whether it's the Fenian's gaining more clout, the Venezuela Crisis goes bad, whatever), things escalate, the US and the UK go to war, with Canada as the main battleground. Somehow the US pulls off a win, gains Canada after the war.

The Fenians and the Venezuela Crisis are both not within the POD date range. As the limit stands, Canada doesn't exist yet.
 
Have the Upper Canadian Rebellion lead to the creation of the short lived Republic of Canada in modern day southern Ontario. The support from Americans nearby acting outside of their Government (who remained neutral) left them in good relations, and many Americans moved there after they successfully gained their Independence, only to lead to an annexation movement a decade or two later.

Without the large Anglo population of southern Ontario to balance things in the favor of English speakers, the Maritimes are hesitant about joining French speaking Canada in a Confederation. At the same time the US is expanding their rail network, and British Columbia decides that the trans-Canada railway isn't happening any time soon, so for economic reasons they join the US in exhange for a rail line to be built to the new State.

At some point you'd need the US to purchase Rupert's land, but would the British allow it here? What are the relations between them and the US ITTL?

Eventually the US controls most of the area that would have been Canada, with Quebec and the Maritimes as holdouts. Maybe you can have them move toward statehood due to an ever closer economic relationship. But I don't know if you could have all that happen by the end date you listed.
 
That’s the POD range. There is no end date.

Oh, I misread it. Then that's the way I'd go about it. Have the Republic of Canada win its Independence by the early 1840's, and make its annexation play a part in the slave/free state debate during the run-up to the Civil War. They are admitted near the end of the war or just after it ends. British Columbia (needs a new name) joins in the 1880's when their economy is losing out on having a rail connection to the east. The purchase of Rupert's land happens shortly after that. Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI come a bit later as they grow closer and closer to the US economy. New Foundland comes after this timelines WWII when the British Empire is dissolved.
 
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TFSmith121

Banned
There are more PODs in heaven and earth than are dreamt of

There are more PODs in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, John A....

Please see Burnished Rows of Steel, although I am not poromising anything - there's a lot to work out yet.

Best,
 
As most Americawanks seem to have a POD before the Anglo-American Convention in 1818, I present you a challenge:

Challenge: With a POD between January 30th, 1819 and July 1st, 1867, have the USA acquire all of OTL's Canada.


Pussy Americawanks acquire Canada. Real Ameriwanks acquire Siberia and Brazil.
 
St. Albans' Raid in 1864 leads to war between Great Britain and the United States at a time fully advantageous to the latter. Freedmen are promised land in return for service in the U.S. army.
 
Basically, it's not going to happen.

In the War of 1812, if things had gone just right the Brits could have taken the Louisiana purchase; or alternately the US could have taken Upper Canada. Even that late, the US taking Lower Canada (Quebec) or Britain taking Ohio would have been practically impossible.

After the War of 1812, Anglo Canada was pretty much defined as being loyal British and anti-American.

Seriously, youd pretty much need Britain to be conquered, leaving the Dominions to look for a new partner against the European hegemon, likely zimperial or Nazi Germany, or Imperial or Soviet Russia.

Getting Anglo Canada in bits and pieces over half a century if Quebec succeeded at seceding in the '60s, might be possible, but then theyd never get Quebec.

So... its really, really tough.
 
I think the key to taking Canada would probably require a similar chain of events leading to the UK losing the US: an overwhelming coalition that the Brits couldn't possibly defeat, leading to them having to make 'tough choices' as to which colonies they preserve. Canada is never going to achieve independence on its own, and neither will the US conquer it without any outside help.

1. 1836. Rebellion in Upper Canada is imminent. London bows completely to the ultraconservatives, instituting harsh and repressive measures against the Canadians that squash rebellion for the time being, but generate intense long-term resentment of British rule. Such repressive measures include stopping immigration from the UK/Canada to the USA.

2. Great Irish Famine. Irish people emigrate en masse away from Europe. Owing to the ban on immigration to the US, the top destination for Irishmen becomes Canada. Upper and Lower Canada become populated by people who have long-term grievances against the British.

3. 1st Anglo-Sikh War. Civil War breaks out in the Sikh Empire after the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839. The East India Company sees an opportunity, and war breaks out in 1840 (5 years before OTL). With 5 less years of internecine bloodshed for the Sikhs, they manage to hold out for some time against the British, collapsing in 1844. This war shows to the Indian rulers and sepoys that the British armies are not invincible. Additionally, the failure to end the Sikh War promptly costs Lord Hardinge his post as Governor-General of India and Dalhousie takes his place in 1842 (6 years before OTL).

4. Dalhousie immediately puts into action his "Doctrine of Lapse", annexing aggressively Indian principalities with no legitimate male heirs. Indian princes now begin to question whether it is worth living under British protection. Resentment among the Indian elite builds up for a few more years longer than OTL.

5. Great Indian Mutiny (perhaps a few years earlier than OTL). Indian troops revolt in force across India (and not just the Gangetic plain as in OTL). Princely kingdoms rise up against their colonial masters. British rule collapses entirely and is confined to a few areas around Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

6. Desperate to protect its 'jewel in the crown', British forces are withdrawn from all corners of the globe in order to crush the rebellion, Canada being one of them. Irish nationalists take the chance to revolt across Canada, some openly discussing Union with the USA.

7. The world watches the British Empire totter. Russia sees a unique chance to destroy the power blocking it from attaining a port on the Indian Ocean. France under newly-crowned Emperor Napoleon III sees a chance to bolster his regime, as well as to avenge his uncle. The US, fresh from their trouncing of Mexico, begins to call for war once again, southerners reasoning that the incorporation of Canada will give them reason to throw off the Compromise of 1850.

8. USA declares war on the UK. American troops march into Canada and occupy it with little resistance. The UK institutes a blockade of the US but can do very little on land, its armies still fully concentrated on subduing India.

9. Russia and France call a conference to deal with India, much to the UK's chagrin. The British Empire can ill afford another war with two European powers, however, and so it agrees to negotiate.

10. France is worried that the end of British power in India will lead to a massive surge in Russian power as it finally obtains its warm-water port. It is also keenly aware that Russia will be a future enemy, as it is now making demands on the Ottoman Empire regarding Orthodox Christians (the Crimean War doesn't happen in the 1850s OTL).

11. Conference of Paris. In return for a 'free hand' in India, the UK concedes spheres of influences in Persia and Central Asia, also ceding Canada to the USA. Secretly, in return for recognizing its Canadian gains (and also a guarantee of neutrality in the upcoming war for Cuba, as Southerners are now demanding after their 2 victories), the US gives its tacit approval for France to intervene in Mexico.

BTW, this scenario is probably not Americawank. Despite controlling Canada in addition to the Southwest, the USA is now in the thrall of jingoistic Southerners demanding constant expansion in line with so-called 'Manifest Destiny'. Eventually they will either collide with entrenched European interests, or rip themselves apart in an even bloodier Civil War.
 
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I think the key to taking Canada would probably require a similar chain of events leading to the UK losing the US: an overwhelming coalition that the Brits couldn’t possibly defeat, leading to them having to make ‘tough choices’ as to which colonies they preserve.

As first posts go, this is certainly nowhere near a worst. Hopefully you’re not a sockpuppet; welcome to the site.

Somewhere in here, would the British be so occupied that the whole of Oregon Country could go to the US virtually uncontested? That bit, more easily, could make the rest easier, as well.
 
Thanks. Work's a bit of a bore sometimes and luckily forums aren't banned here... at least not this one :p

I assume the Oregon country goes as normal in the 1840s, since British rule is relatively unaffected during that time. It's the 1850s where everything goes wrong, and a detachment of US cavalry from Portland/San Francisco can probably capture Vancouver with ease.
 
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