CH: US Defeated

Stolengood

Banned
The USA is still bogged down having made little progress when the 1848 Presidential elections roll around; without any military heroes to draw on, the Whigs run the old warhorse Clay again, who wins easily with the Democrats looking like warmongers and idiots for promising people a short, victorious war.
...so, something like the last decade in Iraq, then? ;)
 
Hmm, what if the UK didn't have other engagements during the War of 1812?

Then impressment would never have been an issue as the UK would have had no wartime fleet for which it needed crews.

Clarification: No expanded wartime fleet. Of course it would still have had a navy.
 
There was apparently some sentiment in the USA for a war against Spain in the 1870s, as a result of the Virginius Affair.
IOTL one of the factors that averted a conflict was that a Spanish ironclad was on a visit to New York when the news broke and the Americans realised that their navy didn't have anything that could face such warships...
Have that ship not arrived yet, and an American declaration of war made. Any American attempt to take Cuba gets roughly handled, even though there's a small rebellion (by a group of pro-slavery landowners, with whom the USA would find it difficult to side openly, as it happens...) in progress on one end of the island, and the Spanish navy easily sinks whatever forces the USN tries to throw against it then blockades or even bombards American ports until the US government sues for peace.
Reparations for the initial American attacks would be required, I think, but presumably it would be too late for a restoration of Spanish rule over Florida.

Of course, this presumes that the USA can't talk the UK into an alliance for at least the duration of that war...
 
Why would the UK care? I mean, I don't think the US and the UK had exactly the best of relations at that point.
There were a few British sailors killed by the Spanish during that incident, as well as the more numerous American ones... and it would have been a good way to improve the relationship again, too, right?

(And I'm fairly sure that some people would have seen & liked the possibility of [USA + Cuba, Puerto Rico, San Domingo] / [UK + Philippines, Marianas, etc], too...)
 
What if Spain (in 1898) is less diplomatically isolated? If the Spanish can bring one of the two big European alliances in on their side (and keep the other one neutral), this could be too much even for the mighty USA.
 
What if Spain (in 1898) is less diplomatically isolated? If the Spanish can bring one of the two big European alliances in on their side (and keep the other one neutral), this could be too much even for the mighty USA.

I think someone actually wrote a TL featuring this. Some Prussian prince ends up on the Spanish throne. Couple of decades later, a stronger, stabler Spain, Germany, and I think Austria-Hungary team up and beat the tar out of the US.
 
I think someone actually wrote a TL featuring this. Some Prussian prince ends up on the Spanish throne. Couple of decades later, a stronger, stabler Spain, Germany, and I think Austria-Hungary team up and beat the tar out of the US.
Yep! Something like this. The key is to convince Britain to stay neutral.
 
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