DBWI:Challenge:American Superpower

You challenge is to make the United States if America a world superpower. They must be both economically and militaryily powerful, and have them sustain this for at least 50 years. Bonus points if they manage to aquire lots of land, like 3rd or 4th in world land amount.
POD after 17776 independence, and before 1920.
 
You challenge is to make the United States if America a world superpower. They must be both economically and militaryily powerful, and have them sustain this for at least 50 years. Bonus points if they manage to aquire lots of land, like 3rd or 4th in world land amount.
POD after 17776 independence, and before 1920.

I suppose you need to butterfly away the Franco-American War of 1799, which would actually be rather easy by taking away a few naval incidents, like the Bonne boarding the USS Baltimore and taking the ambassador to France himself prisoner for a little bit. Without that war the lasting Franec-US animosity goes away and heck Nappy might even sell Louisiana to the US instead of the British capturing New Orleans during the Napoleonic wars and then taking that land for themselves. Without the British blocking them the US could maybe expand across the continent and its almost easy to see them as a superpower after that...
 
Yeah, I agree with Tejano Grande. You need to get the US access to the western Frontier, most definitely.

Another place to start would to limit the successes of the West Indian Confederacy and allow the US to keep most of its land west of the Appalachians. This is rather possible, without British ships and troops right up the Mississippi, it's much less likely that Tecumseh and the Prophet would have been able to unite so many of the tribes and win independence.
 
I know it is borderland ASB, but anyway to get secure borders?

Good relations with British Canada and/or Spanish Florida?

Without the constant war or threat of war in the early days you might see more immigration leading to higher population growth.
 

Glen

Moderator
I know it is borderland ASB, but anyway to get secure borders?

Good relations with British Canada and/or Spanish Florida?

Without the constant war or threat of war in the early days you might see more immigration leading to higher population growth.

Good relations with British Canada? Good luck!

Now then, instead of 'good' relations with Spanish Florida, how about having one of those hapless privateer attempts at conquering Florida in the name of the USA actually succeed! It's not quite as crazy as it sounds if it happened pre 1820, given how sparsely populated Florida was at the time. On the otherhand, that's not nearly enough to get to the point of this challenge....

Really, you'd need the British AND the Spanish Empires to essentially disintergrate, starting sometime before 1820! Again, good luck with that!
 

wormyguy

Banned
Come on, you've really got to stop making these challenges to make obscure former countries superpowers. Everyone knows that the idea that a short-lived nation, in America, no less, founded by some British who didn't like their tax rates, could never come close to being a superpower like Spain. Its like "AH Challenge: Boer Superpower."

Totally ASB.
 
These challenges need to stop. Challenges where the superpowers aren't Germany and China are simply implausible.
 
These challenges need to stop. Challenges where the superpowers aren't Germany and China are simply implausible.

You mean British China? China on its own would never have been successful had the royal family not fled to their strongest colony in Canton and Kowloon (OOC: now Hong Kong) after the fall of London.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain, China, and Ireland has never been stronger, but it's ASB to believe that any of the yellow races could have industrialized and become superpowers on their own.
 
Not only would you need the US to somehow become a lot bigger and greatly increase the population, you'd need something ASB, like all of the Great Powers save one or two ruining each other in some modern day repeat of either the Napoleonic Wars or the Thirty Years' War. Involving nuclear weapons or poison gas... With the United States somehow staying out of the fray until the whole thing was more or less over. And to get as far as say 1840, you'd have to keep your wanked out US from 'Yankeefying' into half a dozen squabbleing minor powers.

Your proposal is kind of wild even if it were to be placed over in ASB, let alone here in Pre-1900.
 
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