DBWI: What if the American Revolution had not been stopped at Lexington?

Oweno

Banned
We all no the pathetic Attempt by the Ragtag Americans was stopped dead in its Tracks after a Crushing defeat at Lexington but what if the American Attack on Lexington and Concord had suceeded? What could have happened?
 

NomadicSky

Banned
I don't want to think about it I'm very proud to live in the Empire. I don't see any way the American colonies could be near the nation we have today. There's no way it could cover 70% of the Earth. The colonies probably would have splintered into independent nations after the revolution the only thing holding them together was the revolution once thats gone poof. And think of all the wars we'd have had on the continent even as part of the Empire provinces disputed borders with eachother untill the late 19th century.
With all the wars and the small size of the nations that would have been formed from the American rebellion the standard of living on the continent would be very low.
 
We all no the pathetic Attempt by the Ragtag Americans was stopped dead in its Tracks after a Crushing defeat at Lexington but what if the American Attack on Lexington and Concord had suceeded? What could have happened?

Well, the American Empire would certainly haven't been formed, as the colonial leaders had quite a Republican lean to them at this point, before the excesses of the French and Spanish revolutions made them think otherwise.

I don't want to think about it I'm very proud to live in the Empire. I don't see any way the American colonies could be near the nation we have today. There's no way it could cover 70% of the Earth.

Although technically nearly 70% of the earth is covered by water, I agree that America (of course, Britain and America before 1955) is simply the greatest nation to ever exist, no matter what the Romans say about their empire: draining the Mediterranean and turning it into an ecological disaster and building two-mile skyscrapers hardly makes you great if only 1% of your constantly-bred people own automobiles, and you can't build a modern monoplane fighter. Frankly, I'm just glad they haven't got their hands on radiological weapons yet.

Technically, if you add up the areas under direct rule of the Empire: Home Provinces (NA and old UK), South American Provinces, African Provinces, Australian Provinces, and the Antarctic Preserve, you get something like 64% of the world's surface area, but I digress. ;)

The colonies probably would have splintered into independent nations after the revolution the only thing holding them together was the revolution once thats gone poof. And think of all the wars we'd have had on the continent even as part of the Empire provinces disputed borders with each other untill the late 19th century.

Indeed. Something horrific and nasty like the New Roman Empire might have arisen instead our free and loyal provinces.

With all the wars and the small size of the nations that would have been formed from the American rebellion the standard of living on the continent would be very low.

Which continent? :p
 
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There is a very good reason why the American Empire is very wealthly - sheer land , most stable insitutions and an abundance of Natural resources.

Secondly , has anyone heard of the Terrain Imperial Factor ? Though China is the most oft quote example of that , the US coastline makes it likely for a nation to eventually control at least everything from the Appalachains to the Atlantic , and later on , everything from the Rockies to the Atlantics , or even from Pacific to Atlantic , assuming that railroads and motorized transport gains predominance .

Remember , previous empires have colapse largely due to over extention ( Rome's long frontier , the Mongols through infighting and difficulty of centralisation , Napeleon's due to the sheer difficulty of holding on the highly populous and advanced Europe etc....) until the invention of distance reducers like Railroads , Telegraphs and Telespeakers and the Telenet etc etc...
 
Are we supposing that the attempted American Secession of 1812 and 1865 wouldn't have taken place? Just remember the frightening display of hubris by the American leader Jefferson Davis, in his supposition that the American colonies should have been exempt from the decrees against slavery in 1853.

Also, would the Louisiana Territorial Wars of 1806 until 1812 have taken place as well? Just remember that Louisiana Grand Marshal Napoleon Bonaparte's brilliant tactics and the guerilla warfare manuevers of Tecumseh nearly forced the collapse of Michigan, until the Battle of Detroit...

As for the formation of the American Empire, many people forget that the model came from Simon Bolivar who formed the nations of Greater Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia (1821-1826).
 
I wonder, do you think they could have actually put their lofty ideals of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" into practice? Really though, IMO those rebels were nothing but pesky mosquitos to Britain. Their revolution certainly would have petered out by 1776 or 77 at the latest. Look how quickly they abandoned their cause and how tepid the overall embrace of it was!
 
Considering how profitable southern cottin was, what we would have seen emerge is something like Russia. I could see it now, Plantation owners dividing the prarie regions up into fiefdoms populated by Slaves and and gradually enserfed White Population. I could easily see them desiring to expand over mexico, bolstering their ranks. What a moster it would be when ten million american conscripts lead by their plantation owner masters move to conquer the world in an idea of "Manifest Destiny" or something like that.

Zor
 

Oweno

Banned
In my mind if these Rebels had suceeded, New england and many of the other Colonies could have United as some Loose Confederation.
 
even if the rebels hadn't been crushed at Lexington, isn't it likely they'd be crushed somewhere else later on? Really, would you expect ill-trained militia to stand against British regulars?

And even if you go so far as to predict a win by the rebels, I don't foresee a happy end for the new nation.... competing religions would soon make a mockery of the place... Protestants, Catholics, Quakers... yeesh, can you imagine this bunch trying to live together without the might of England forcing them to behave?
 
An American Revolution to succeed would have made the Royal Throne just bleed! Don't you remind how King Albert was to flee to Philadelphia after a short-lived revoluted to rescue his head?
 
The revoloutionaries would have dominated the empire and even disbanded it if they had the chance. I'm proud to live in the empire and the fact that we even have an empire is more then enough to honour those Imperial soilders that dies on that day.
 
The revoloutionaries would have dominated the empire and even disbanded it if they had the chance. I'm proud to live in the empire and the fact that we even have an empire is more then enough to honour those Imperial soilders that dies on that day.
That is extremely doubtful in my honest opinion, especially considering the great deal of inter-colonial violence that marked the 19th century. It seems almost ASB-ish to imagine an empire that could successfully unite the nations of the New England Confederation, Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Deseret, California, et al. into a continent-spanning nation. If that were possible, why didn't we see the formation of a Pan-African Union in the 1950s-1960s?
 

NomadicSky

Banned
The capital of the British Empire still in London rather than New York.
I guess the British Empire would still exist in a traditional way or maybe other colonies would have broken away.
India comes to mind.
 
OOC: revolution refers to a successful revolt. The term that we should be using in the title is rebellion.
 
The capital of the British Empire still in London rather than New York.
I guess the British Empire would still exist in a traditional way or maybe other colonies would have broken away.
India comes to mind.
But I have to consider that the Empire almost collapsed 3 times since 1775. Just consider the 1888 Congolese Plague which caused the capital of the Empire to be moved to Philadephia, just 23 years after the Virginia Rebellion. Then there is the 1918 Spanish influenza outbreak that forced the moving of the capital and the Royal Family to Manhattan. In both cases, it would seem that infectious disease had more to do with the change in imperial affairs than any political manuevers.....
 
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