DBWI: What if the American Revolution had Succeeded?

I'm sure you all know the story of the American Revolutionary War, how the band of traitors calling themselves the Continental Congress led a revolution in the British American Colonies, presumably for personal gain, though telling most everybody they met it was for the good of the American people. What happened is in every history book. The fighting went on for a while, but the Empire was inevitably victorious in the end, and in 1783, the Congress and several men in its employ were hanged, with a few exceptions, the most noteworthy being one Mr. George Washington, who escaped the King's Justice and fled the Empire's North American Colonies to places unknown.

My question is this: Had the rebels somehow managed to succeed in gaining independence, what would have happened? Would the newly independent America have eventually overshadowed Egland as the world's greatest nation? Would the Empire have eventually collapsed as news of the success of one revolt spawned dozens more worldwide? One supposes the possibilites are endless.
 

Xen

Banned
I guess the rebel leaders would be hailed as heroes. As it was the Crown couldnt very well hang Benjamin Franklin, there would have been an international outcry for slipping the noose around his chubby little neck. He didn't do much after the Revolution failed though, just stayed retired in Philadelphia until his death in 1787.

George Washington living might have been the key, what if he wasnt thrown off his horse at the Battle of Baltimore?

I guess there would be a tiny little American Republic at best along the Atlantic Coast, more than likely most would either come back to Britain or be swallowed up by France or Spain, possibly even Germania.

Plus could you imagine Victorian Philadelphia, Boston or New York not under the control of the Empire? And would losing the American colonies mean the British decide to occupy all of Australia?
 

sanusoi

Banned
I just wish that sometimes that the Aremicans had one, maybe there might have been an independent USA that streches from sea to sea.Imagine it, a USA where you have the right to be free... and to be amazing.

IN OTL the USA was never real.... I just wish that it was. We can all dream.
 
Slavery in the empire would have ended far earlier than 1916, that's for sure. Economic interests in the Cotton Belt, the richest part of the British Empire, definitely would have been much weaker if the mills of Britain weren't dependent on such an influential minority. Only the rise of mass machines capable of taking the jobs, as well as the need for new bodies in the trenches, were able to eject the slavecrats of Richmond.
 
I can't see it happening. After all the revolt was because they objected to contributing to garrisons for the defence of the colonies. If your not prepared to fund your own defence what sort of state can you organise? Also, even apart from the attacks on civilians the various rebel groups squabbled like infants. If somehow they had won, say with French support and significantly inferior British/loyalist leadership they would probably have just become a number of small quarrelling nations continually at war with each other until overtaken by someone else. Especially since I doubt if even the most extreme of them would have killed all the loyalists. Therefore Britain would have had some foothold, probably substantial, for them to live in. Similarly the native Americans would have been allies, given the attitude of the rebels to them.

For that matter I suspect the Cherokee or Creeks would probably have occupied even more territory that the two national homelands they occupy nowadays. Possibly linking up to drive most of the rebels out of the former southern colonies. Think how formidable they have been, along with the other N American components of the Federation. The performance of the Cherokee division in the defence of Malaysia during the initial Chinese invasion in 1928. Or the Swanee units who served on the Med front against the Catholic League. Great warrior peoples like those, even without support from Britain would have easily handled any disorganised rabble of parasitical rebels mobs.

Steve
 
We all know very well how brutal the terrorism and genocide was during the 24 years of the 1st French Republic. That's where the so called American revolution was headed. Thankfully that evil was rooted out before it matastisized.
 
Perhaps independent United States would have bought Louisiana. Spain was looking for someone to whom they could sell the place--being more trouble than it was worth at the time--and apart from Britain, there wasn't really anyone who could benefit from it OTL. An American nation could have wanted to buy it.
 
Perhaps independent United States would have bought Louisiana. Spain was looking for someone to whom they could sell the place--being more trouble than it was worth at the time--and apart from Britain, there wasn't really anyone who could benefit from it OTL. An American nation could have wanted to buy it.
Doubtful. At the time the French were interested in selling it, it was a big vast wasteland. I mean, look how long it took the Empire to Civilize it after taking it in the Treaty of Bangkok?
 
well the Continental congress would have most likely competed with the European empires to buy Louisana. The US general Horatio Gates would not have led a rebel force in Louisiana. We all would admit that it turned from a second struggle for North American independence into a social uprising of lower classes (including slaves).
 
Doubtful. At the time the French were interested in selling it, it was a big vast wasteland. I mean, look how long it took the Empire to Civilize it after taking it in the Treaty of Bangkok?

Why did the French have it? I thought they lost it in the Seven-Year War.
 
I just wish that sometimes that the Aremicans had one, maybe there might have been an independent USA that streches from sea to sea.Imagine it, a USA where you have the right to be free... and to be amazing.

IN OTL the USA was never real.... I just wish that it was. We can all dream.
What do you mean? We Brits are free. I mean the colonies just wanted the rights of the Englishmen such as representation for taxation. I don't think they would have gotten much farther than that even with a independent country. Unless you think they're gonna free their slaves or something right after their independnce.

And theres no way the US would have stretched from sea to sea. Thats a definite wank. You must be French or something. Go serve Louis XXXVII or whatever monarch you have now.
 

randomkeith

Banned
Well, i think the chances of a major European war in the early 20th century dramatically increase. We all know that the French were looking to expand into Africa. They might have pushed their claims a little further than they did if the British didn't included, the USA in the Commonwealth.
 
It was closer than some of you think. If Lord North hadn't been killed in that carriage accident Lord Howe might never have formed a coalition strong enough to force King George III into offering a compromise, let alone been able to present it to the North American Parliament(formerly the so-called Continental Congress).

As a result of Lord Howe's visions, combined with his defeat of the rebel army in New York and New Jersey by early 1777, the colonies yielded on the generous terms offered and the new 'dominion' status was introduced to the world.

The advantage to the English, of being able to raise up colonies as no other European power even considered doing, is obvious. After all, where would the world be in the face of the Tsarist threat without the Dominions of India, Australasia, North American and Africa?
 
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