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Here it is... the second version of the Anglo-Hanoverian TL. This is basically a repost of the initial pre-WWI stuff, editted for clarity, spelling and so on. This stuff is mostly the same, and the First World War and North American War stuff will also largely be the same. Major changes to the initial TLwill only begin to manifest after the conclusion of the First World War...
Here's a map:
POD: Queen Victoria born a boy - King Alexander (as her name was Alexandra, changed because it was felt that it was not an appropriate name for an English Queen - thanks for that information, Thande) rules with all of her ability, but has one great advantage - because he was a boy, Hanover passed to him instead of being lost to England. This would, of course, interfere greatly with Bismarck’s plans for a united Germany...
A rough TL starting at the POD would be (historical events in bold)
This time, American and European events are all listed together:
1819 - King Alexander is born 1821 - American Colonization Society founds Liberia as a place to send freed slaves. 1823 - Monroe Doctrine Passed 1825 - Erie Canal built, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
1826 - First photograph taken by Joseph Nicophore Niepce
1829 - Catholic Emancipation ends most restrictions on English Catholics
1832 - Reform Act passed
1834 - Slavery banned in English Colonies
1837 - King Alexander succeeds King William the Fourth at age 18 Hanover remains English. 1840 - King Alexander marries a Dutch princess.
1844 - Irish potato famine begins.
1845 - S.S. Great Britain, the first propeller steam ship, built.
1846 - Corn Laws repealed
1848 - First telegraph laid across the English Channel (historically, this happened in 1951. However, increased English ties to the continent led to this development occurring earlier than historically.)
1851 - Reports show that half of the English population lives in urban areas.
1853 - Crimean War begins. Due to the presence of additional troops from Hanover, England does slightly better than historically.
1855 - The Crimean War ends a year early, with terms slightly less favorable to Russia.
1856 - Invention of blast furnace.
1857 - First trans-Atlantic telegraph cable 1861-1865 - American Civil War. The only difference here is that the Anglo-Hanoverian Empire comes closer to providing aid to the Confederacy than OTL England did. Only a little, though. Still, it is enough to mildly sour American relations with England.
1866 - Austro-Prussian War - results were much the same as they were historically. Prussia claimed Schleswig-Holstein. However, Prussian expansion is sharply curtailed by the fact that England holds Hanover. The Prussian government begins nationalistic saber-rattling - the Anglo-Hanoverian government sees the writing on the wall and builds up a continental army to hold onto Hanover. 1867 - America purchases Alaska from Russia.
1869 - First transcontinental railroad in North America. 1870 - Anglo-Prussian War. In spite of the advantages the Prussian needle-gun offered, the English win, largely due to an advantage in artillery. Soldiers from England reinforced the Hanoverian units, leading to feelings of unity as they turn back the Prussians. The Anglo-Prussian War lasts for three months, and results in a larger Hanover and a bitter Prussia on Hanover's eastern border, one that longs for revenge...
1872 - Nervous about Anglo-Hanoverian victories, Emperor Napoleon III of France begins to worry about possible Anglo-Hanoverian territorial interest in Belgium, Luxemburg or Alsace-Loraine. As such, he begins to attempt to establish friendly diplomatic ties with Prussia. This is largely unsuccessful - Prussia is too wrapped up in domestic trouble and problems with Russia to agree to any alliance in the immediate future. However, this does provoke concern among the officers of the English army, who worry about encirclement in Europe...
1873 - Largely over a pretext, the Anglo-French war begins. The French Army crosses the Rhine, and is slaughtered by a combination of superior Anglo-Hanoverian artillery and superior Anglo-Hanoverian guns, which were based off of captured samples of the Prussian needle-gun. Emperor Napoleon himself is captured, and the Anglo-Hanoverian army invades France itself, landing a small force near Cherbourg under the guns of the Royal Navy. Panic ensues, Paris revolts... France is, in the end, forced to sign a treaty under the terms of which the Anglo-Hanoverian Empire adds Alsace, but not Loraine, to its territorial claims in Europe. Hanover is officially made part of the Empire, over the complaints of some conservative elements in Parliament. Emperor Napoleon doesn't spend his last days in England after he loses power in the Anglo-French War, as he did OTLy after the Franco-Prussian War. Instead, he ends up living in Vienna in Austria-Hungary.
1878 - Two years later than historically, due to European concerns, King Alexander is named Emperor of India.
1885 - First automobile invented by Karl Benz 1898 - Spanish-American War. The war went fairly similarly to how it went OTLy... except, Theodore Roosevelt took a Spanish bullet at San Juan Hill, and the American government was more interested in Cuba than in the Philippines. Spain was allowed to keep the Philippines - America kept Cuba. The reasons behind this were simple - America was worried about the increasing Anglo-Hanoverian presence in the Caribbean, and wanted a base from which to counter them.
1904 - Death of King Alexander to a heart condition.
Something to note:
Throughout the later parts of the 19th century, Anglo-Hanoverian interests in the Caribbean and Latin America were on the increase. In 1897, the Empire bought Puerto Rico from Spain, annoying the Americans to no end. This was one of the main causes of the Spanish American War. (Although the Maine disaster also occurred.)
Sorry for not noting this.
As for why this purchase occurred, in this TL the Boer Wars and a variety of other setbacks in Africa (Note that I'm not saying that England lost the Boer Wars, merely that the Wars cost them) led to a shift in focus towards the acquisition of islands for use as fueling stations by the Royal Navy and the Merchant Marine. These acquisitions were largely pointless, but they spread the English colors on the map and did prove mildly useful for their intended purpose. The fact that the acquisition of Puerto Rico pissed off the Americans was largely unintentional... and anyways, the Americans wouldn't dare to go up against the Royal Navy...
The long-term effects of this souring of America's relations with England would remain to be seen...
More:
1903 - First aircraft flies at Kitty Hawk 1904 - King Alexander the 2nd ascends to the Anglo-Hanoverian throne (he's the older son of King Alexander, and shares his father's passion for expansion in Europe)
1904 - The Treaty of London allows the Prussians to claim some colonies in Africa. Prussia buys a portion of the Portuguese colonies on the western coast, and claims some southern territory. In return for the right to colonize, they agree to renounce their claims on Bavaria (which had almost led to a second Austro-Prussian War, which the Anglo-Hanoverians wanted to avoid for economic reasons, when the Prussians looked for another area into which they could expand and the Austrians wanting to hold onto what influence in Germany they still possessed. After this Treaty, relations improve.)
1904 - Russo-Japanese War. This conflict went fairly similarly to how it went OTLy, except that the Russians were in even worse shape than historically, so Japan suffered lighter losses both economically and to its fleet. Japan gets roughly what it received OTLy.
1905 - The Eastern War - Prussia, Bavaria, Austria-Hungary and The Ottoman Empire attack Russia while it is still reeling from losses in Siberia, and claim some territories. Largely due to the incompetence of senior Russian military officers, Russian losses are heavy, invader losses light. (Except for the Ottomans, who get bogged down in the mountains and take quite serious losses.)
1905 - Russian Revolution of 1905. Since Russia was doing much worse than OTLy, this revolt was more serious.
1905 - Spanish Colonial War, Japan takes The Philippines in a war with Spain, which was already on the verge of abandoning The Philippines due to large scale insurrection on the part of the locals.
1906 - San Francisco earthquake 1908 - Ford introduces Model T Ford 1910 - American isolationism begins to fade in the face of continued Anglo-Hanoverian interference in the Caribbean. The Anglo-Hanoverians begin building a canal through Panama (no French effort there was made due to concerns in Europe and Algeria, America didn't try earlier due to loss of Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill). President William Jennings Bryant (a more militant version of that OTL character. Link to wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan) warns the Anglo-Hanoverians that continued interference in Latin America will not be tolerated. The English ambassador laughs, and comments on the Royal Navy. Furious, President Bryant puts through congress a bill to increase funding for the United States Navy. 1913 - Henry Ford creates assembly line (due to increasing American militarism, it is applied to naval warships and military gear almost immediately. The Anglo-Hanoverians and Prussians copy it as well.) 1913 - American Department of Defense begins looking into the possibility of some sort of "land ironclad".
1914 - Second Eastern War: Prussia claims Estonia, which Russia objects to. War ensues, with Prussia, Bavaria, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire all fighting against Russia. The Anglo-Hanoverian Empire remains neutral, but begins massive military buildups, worried by what they see as endless Prussia aggression. The 1914 war basically followed the same pattern as the 1905 one, with Russian military blunders leading to some Prussian victories. Additionally, via Bavaria, Lenin is smuggled into Russia to cause trouble. In the end, the Civil War breaks out, and is stopped only when Prussia, Bavaria and Austria-Hungary (who by now have signed the Berlin Compact, and become the Triple Alliance) send troops into Russia to support the Czar. In the end, Lenin and Trotsky are killed, but Stalin still fights on in the back country, and the majority of the commoners hate the Czar and his foreign supporters. The Reds fight on, while the Whites steadily lose popularity. Basically, the situation is such that as soon as the Alliance troops withdraw, the Czar's government would fall, and even with those troops the Whites can only really claim control to the key cities, and even there they have to worry constantly about spies and saboteurs.
1914 - Secret American agreement with Prussia - in the event of war, America will provide coal and supplies for any Prussian ships that dock in American ports.
1915 - France signs the Berlin Accord, and becomes the fourth member of the Alliance. The Ottoman Empire, bitter about its loss of Egypt to the Anglo-Hanoverians, expresses interest in the Accord as well, but due to domestic problems as a result of heavy losses in the two Eastern Wars, does not sign. In response to these events, the Anglo-Hanoverians approach Italy and Japan. Italy agrees to become part of the Anglo-Hanoverian Entente, while Japan voices interest, but remains neutral.
Later that year, when Prussia announces plans to annex further Russian territory, war breaks out. America remains technically neutral… but for how long?