British dominions

Mrstrategy

Banned
What if the British granted dominion to all their colonies prior to ww2 and divided Africa into colonies/dominions
 
Question is: Why?
You need serious investment in infrastructure an settlement. Maybe if Britain relied more on colonial manpower in WWI, and even then ...
 
My understanding is that there was a long term plan to do just this - but said Colony had to reach a self sufficient status before dominion status would be granted - UK war fatigue and UN interference sped this process up in the 50s and 60s and as a result many colonies were granted independence before they were ready - Somalia being a 'good' example of this.

Perhaps accelerate the process post Canada becoming a Dominion (that's pre-1900 though) through a more forward thinking Government (maybe the Liberals get in 20 years earlier???) and maybe have the de-colonisation process being a major mandate of the league of nations (and therefore driven by the principle member states - UK included)

From a evil money grabbing capitalist standpoint it was recognised during Victoria's reign that many of the Colonies were actually a drain on the Empire (many of the German Colonies gained after WW1 certainly were) - and from this standpoint a 'Whitehall' determined to cut away the 'poorer cuts' (Sorry doing my best to think like an evil money grabbing capitalist) we might see the process accelerated regardless of suitability for independence leaving fewer of the 'choice meats' to be focused on for serious dominionisation.
 
the main problem of decolonization is that colonial territorial boundaries were artificial cutting across tribal boundaries. The only process of imperial shrinkage that would work is a rationalization of borders along with a world Marshall plan type scheme. dominions for the colonies outside of NZ, AU, CA, SA would just be a paperwork exercise that would have no durability beyond whenever the UK did a bunk when they did not want to pay the bill anymore!
 
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