British Corsica, Menorca, and Algeria

Britain occupied Corsica in 1790 but left in 1796. They could have feasibly just stayed (there was a significant pro-British faction on the island) and by 1814/1815 at the Congress of Vienna just pushed to keep the island. It'd be a super-malta, except the British would have Malta as well.

Meanwhile the British handed only finally returned Menorca to Spain in 1808 during the horse trading of the Napoleonic Wars.

Let's say Britain keeps both of these territories. The British military and economc presence in the Mediterranean is more sizable, resulting in the British butting heads with the North Africa Barbary States. TTL, Britain ends up grabbing Algeria rather than France.

Below is Britain's Mediterranean realm following the annexation of Algeria.
  • Anglo-Corsican Kingdom
  • Menorca
  • Gibraltar
  • Malta
  • Kingdom of Algeria (the Dey is now the Baron of Algiers, with the British Monarch as King/Queen)
  • United States of the Ionian Islands (Protectorate)

upload_2019-4-17_13-44-41.png


I imagine there'd be considerable migration to Algeria. Perhaps the British use it as a penal colony in place of Australia? Maltese, Majorcan, Corsican, Greek, and other immigration is likely. Indian, English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish immigration will likely occur.

I wonder if the British could use Algeria as a relatively nearby release valve for the Irish when the famine occurs.

How would Algeria be different administratively? Would the situation for the average Algerian be better, worse, or about the same?
 
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Schnozzberry

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Well that should be 1794-96. Also, they didn't just randomly leave, they were facing an uprising combined with a French invasion, and needed to reinforce Gibraltar.

That's a good point about the dates, didn't even register for me.

As for the invasion, Spain joining France a large part of the reason it was able to be launched. At minimum, Spain would have to stay neutral for Britain to keep control of Corsica
 
They left corsica and didn't conquer the med for the simple reason that they were already overextended.

If the British take and keep every extra territory they have the opportunity to take, the empire gets quickly ground down into insolvency, callapsing under the weight of its own overburdened military and administration.

France, Russia, USA, and other powers swoop in to pick up the pieces. Like Spain and Portugal, Great Britain remains a broken husk of its former glory.
 
Britain occupied Corsica in 1790 but left in 1796. They could have feasibly just stayed (there was a significant pro-British faction on the island) and by 1814/1815 at the Congress of Vienna just pushed to keep the island. It'd be a super-malta, except the British would have Malta as well.

Meanwhile the British handed only finally returned Menorca to Spain in 1808 during the horse trading of the Napoleonic Wars.

Let's say Britain keeps both of these territories. The British military and economc presence in the Mediterranean is more sizable, resulting in the British butting heads with the North Africa Barbary States. TTL, Britain ends up grabbing Algeria rather than France.

Below is Britain's Mediterranean realm following the annexation of Algeria.
  • Anglo-Corsican Kingdom
  • Menorca
  • Gibraltar
  • Malta
  • Kingdom of Algeria (the Dey is now the Baron of Algiers, with the British Monarch as King/Queen)
  • United States of the Ionian Islands (Protectorate)

View attachment 453941

I imagine there'd be considerable migration to Algeria. Perhaps the British use it as a penal colony in place of Australia? Maltese, Majorcan, Corsican, Greek, and other immigration is likely. Indian, English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish immigration will likely occur.

I wonder if the British could use Algeria as a relatively nearby release valve for the Irish when the famine occurs.

How would Algeria be different administratively? Would the situation for the average Algerian be better, worse, or about the same?

I'm not sure. The French invaded Algeria in 1830 when the Ottomans were wrecked heavily in Navarino by a Coalition fleet. Until then, it was only in name Ottoman while being largely independent. Although any invasion before 1830 and after 1815 would not matter as the Ottomans are not in position to prevent such conquest.

If the British invade it between 1816-1830, I guess it is possible. Even more when they let the Dey rule it as an autononous vassal of the United Kingdom. If it is autonomous then migration of British will be very low in comparison to the French. France is closer and the British were already migrating to the United States and other colonies.

The situation of the Algerians might not be too different but as an autonomous ruler for the British, corruption might be worse of a problem. The upside is no large scale conscription of Algerians in foreign legions of the French, assuming native autonomous rule.

With Menorca and Corsica added, the Western Mediterranean becomes British dominated. This might save Charles X his throne in 1830 with no Algiers campaign.
 
That's a good point about the dates, didn't even register for me.

As for the invasion, Spain joining France a large part of the reason it was able to be launched. At minimum, Spain would have to stay neutral for Britain to keep control of Corsica

A neutral Spain helps them, but they probably still need to send reinforcements. Their regime was popular until it tried to actually govern and institute new taxes. If the UK decides Corsica is worth the military commitment to keep, that may create butterflies elsewhere.

I made a typo. I'll be sure to fix it.

The British were there two years, not six. You're painting a very rosy view of the Anglo-Corsican regime in the OP - it had a shaky control over much of the island by the end. Corsican politics in the 1790s were messy. (Maybe not just in the 1790s...)
 
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They definitely wouldn't use Algeria as a penal colony in place of Australia. New South Wales had already been established in 1788 and its main attraction as a penal colony was that it waas on the other side of the world and basically impossivle to escape from. Plus, it served the useful strategic purpose of denying an entire continent to any potential rivals, and being a base from which the British could dominate the South Pacific.
 
They left corsica and didn't conquer the med for the simple reason that they were already overextended.


And because Corsica was a bit too near France.

Even Minorca, which is further away, was lost in the 7YW and again in the ARW. Corsica would have been even harder to hold. Malta was just as good a base and easier to defend.
 
Britain occupied Corsica in 1790 but left in 1796. They could have feasibly just stayed (there was a significant pro-British faction on the island) and by 1814/1815 at the Congress of Vienna just pushed to keep the island. It'd be a super-malta, except the British would have Malta as well.

Meanwhile the British handed only finally returned Menorca to Spain in 1808 during the horse trading of the Napoleonic Wars.

Let's say Britain keeps both of these territories. The British military and economc presence in the Mediterranean is more sizable, resulting in the British butting heads with the North Africa Barbary States. TTL, Britain ends up grabbing Algeria rather than France.

Below is Britain's Mediterranean realm following the annexation of Algeria.
  • Anglo-Corsican Kingdom
  • Menorca
  • Gibraltar
  • Malta
  • Kingdom of Algeria (the Dey is now the Baron of Algiers, with the British Monarch as King/Queen)
  • United States of the Ionian Islands (Protectorate)

View attachment 453941

I imagine there'd be considerable migration to Algeria. Perhaps the British use it as a penal colony in place of Australia? Maltese, Majorcan, Corsican, Greek, and other immigration is likely. Indian, English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish immigration will likely occur.

I wonder if the British could use Algeria as a relatively nearby release valve for the Irish when the famine occurs.

How would Algeria be different administratively? Would the situation for the average Algerian be better, worse, or about the same?
Maybe there could be a Britisch preventive conquest of Knight-Order Malta before the French do so.
 
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