For God, Crown, and Country: The Commonwealth of America.

[Nazi Space Spy]

Born from the nexus of history and philosophy, the Commonwealth of America is the foremost economic and military powerhouse on the North American continent and one of the most critical member states of the British Empire. Extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic sea with a population of just over 250 million citizens, the Commonwealth is the predominant English speaking nation on the North American continent. The capital is located in the city of Philadelphia, though other prominent cities include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Calgary, Caernarfon, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Halifax, Liverpool, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, New Orleans, New York, Pittsburgh, Quebec, Seattle, Toronto, and Winnipeg.

A highly developed nation, the Commonwealth boasts an abundance of natural resources and a long tradition of industry. With the highest GDP per capita and ranked first by the Human Development Index, the Commonwealth of America is both the foremost economic power of both North America and the broader British Empire. Its advanced economy, the fourth largest in the world, relies on well-developed trade networks, agricultural and industrial export, finance, technology, and tourism. America is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7 (formerly G8), the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The Commonwealth of America is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II reigning as head of state, though executive powers are wielded through the Governor-General, who is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister. The American Parliament is a bicameral legislative body, with the lower chamber, the House of Commons, allocating its seats in proportion to population whereas the Senate consists of only two members for each province. The Commonwealth is an autonomous realm within the British Empire, and is officially bilingual. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries.

Various indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now the American Commonwealth for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. What followed after was a period of unrest over taxation, colonial autonomy, and corruption led to the ultimate Confederation of Britain’s continental holdings. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and culminated in the British North America Act of 1981 which severed the last vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament, except for the power to amend its constitution.

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This timeline is directly inspired by Lord Caedus's American Commonwealth project as well as my own Yankee Dominion project.

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

The Ohio River Valley, once desolate and remote, would be by 1750 the latest region of North America to undergo rapid transformation. Largely untouched until this point besides the sparse presence of British and French trappers, the region was desired both by London and by Paris due to its strategic position, its natural wealth, and fertile farmland. On the surface, Britain had the advantage - the British colonies boasted a large population of 1.5 million, whereas the French population in the New World was considerably smaller, numbering only 75,000. As the British colonies continued to grow westward from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachian Mountains, the dispute over the Ohio River Valley’s ownership threatened to once again spark conflict. In preparation for such a war, the British over the years were keen on cultivating a friendly and steady relationship with the Iroquois Confederacy, the largest indigenous force in the region. Secure in their relationships with the native peoples of the region, the British government chartered the Ohio Company in 1749, giving them exclusive rights to settle the land and develop trade relations with the indigenous tribes living in the region.

This led to a slow but steady trickle of British fur traders and settlers crossing the Appalachians, settling in western Virginia and Pennsylvania to the alarm of French authorities in Quebec. In response, a series of French forts were constructed to buttress against the western boundaries of the thirteen British colonies. The Iroquois, angered by the French presence in the region, lobbied the colonial governments in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to act against the French. While the Governors in New York and Pennsylvania declined, fearing such actions would upset the peace in North America, the Governor of Virginia (who had a large investment in the Ohio Company and was threatened financially by French encroachment in the area) agreed to form a small party of men who were tasked with expelling the French from Fort Duquesne, a recently constructed military installation located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers.

Tasked with leading this small force was George Washington, then a Major in the colonial militia at just twenty two years of age. Setting out from Williamsburg in October, 1753 in the company of a few native allies, the force of a 150 men marched northwards through western Virginia towards the French fort at the “Ohio forks.” The French however were aware of Washington’s expedition through the reports of aligned Indian scouts, and sent a detachment of French troops under the command of a Captain Jumonville to engage Washington. However, it would be the British who first stumbled upon the French while they were camped near a glen named Great Meadows; Washington’s troops would ambush the enemy force, with Jumonville himself being killed by a tomahawk blow to head by one of the British’s Indian allies in the slaughter that followed. The French troops who managed to survive would flee into the woods, making their way back to Fort Duquesne, while Washington’s men retreated for the winter by constructing a stockade named Fort Necessity. This small skirmish would mark the beginning of a continental wide conflict, a smaller theater of a global conflict that would dramatic implications across the globe.

George Washington, of the Virginia militia.​

With the winter bringing a halt to warfare for the time being, the French authorities were outraged and immediately ordered a reprisal raid to remove Washington’s men from the area. This resulted in a French force encircling Fort Necessity in May of 1754, when weather conditions allowed the French army in the disputed Ohio River Valley the opportunity to at last move against the encroaching English; outnumbered and with no escape, the British force was forced to surrender and were allowed to withdraw from the area by the French, who were confident that they had dealt with the Virginian colonial militias incursion into the region. Back in his native Virginia, Washington resigned his commission temporarily rather than face demotion as news of the fighting trickled back across the Atlantic to London. The Duke of Newcastle, the de jure Prime Minister to King George II, responded by ordering Major General Edward Braddock to take command of an invasion force to secure the Ohio River Valley once and for all.

However, before Braddock could even martial the British army, news of the conflict in the Ohio River Valley had already reached Paris, where King Louis XIV had ordered the deployment of six regiments to New France. By the time the British navy was sent to block the Atlantic ports of France, the French fleet had already set out back across the Atlantic, racing towards key settlements such as New Orleans or Louisburg. As a British fleet hurriedly set out in pursuit of the French, the remaining British naval squadrons in the area began harassing French ships on the high seas, leading to a formal declaration of war between the two nations a short time later. This would draw Britain and France into the broader Seven Years War due to their respective alliances with Prussia and Austria, who were already locked in conflict over the disputed region of Silesia in central Europe. General Braddock’s arrival in the New World was too late, in the end. The French fleet had arrived with reinforcements, making the British mission to drive the French out of the Ohio River Valley an even harder accomplishment to achieve.

Yet Braddock insisted on marching on Fort Duquesne, even convincing Major Washington to reenlist as an aide. With 1,500 men, they set out on yet another grueling journey through the wilderness towards the French fortress, but this time, the enemy was waiting for them. In a dramatic and bloody ambush, French troops joined by Quebec militiamen and native allies emerged from the surrounding forest to ambush Braddock’s column of troops. Braddock himself was killed, and Major Washington was forced to organize a hasty retreat of the 500 or so survivors in the line of fire. As Braddock’s surviving men straggled through the wilderness back to Virginia, a second and more fruitful campaign was being planned against the French in Acadia and Quebec. Under the command of Sir William Johnson, the British general in charge of the fort at Crown Point in northern New York near Lake Champlain, a force of British troops, colonial militia, and assorted native allies planned to invade the underbelly of Quebec while a second British campaign would be launched out of Boston with the goal of splitting of what is now known as Nova Scotia from Acadia.

"Braddock's ambush" derailed the British campaign in the Ohio Country.
​

Johnson’s campaign proved to be unsuccessful; the French drove him from the shores of Lake Champlain, where he was forced to retreat to Albany. Meanwhile, the French began construction of a large stone fortress named Fort Carilon (now known as Fort Ticonderoga) in order to maintain their hold on present day northern New York and shore up the underbelly of Quebec. All the while, Colonel Robert Monckton led a successful amphibious attack on Fort Beausejour in present day New Brunswick. Setting out by sea from Boston, the British besieged and ultimately captured the strategic but lightly defended French fort on the isthmus of Chignecto. This solidified the British’s hold on Nova Scotia, and sealed off the only overland route between Acadia and the French settlers still left in the province; fearing that the Acadian population in the colony could revolt and threaten their newfound hold on Nova Scotia, the British military began to systematically round up Acadians for deportation to Quebec or to a lesser extent, their motherland itself.

But the fall of Fort Beausejour was not only vital for securing Nova Scotia; it also cut off the French fortress at Louisburg on Cape Breton Island from receiving overland reinforcements, making it vulnerable to siege. Louisburg’s strategic position make it the gatekeeper to the Saint Lawrence, and its fall was imperative to the British before any campaign could be launched against Quebec or Montreal. With winter setting in at the end of 1755, there was the expected lull in combat, though French irregulars and their Native allies continued to harass British outposts across the Ohio River Valley with low scale guerrilla warfare. Word of these attacks (as well as grossly exaggerated accounts of other atrocities) spread throughout the frontier of Britain's holdings, and sparked outrage amongst settlers who grew increasingly disenchanted with the government in London as being unable to defend them.

When King George II at last formally declared war and aligned Britain with Prussia against the Habsburgs, the Spanish, and the French, London finally took more notice of the strategic importance of securing the Ohio River Valley. With government in London at last taking a more active interest in the war in North America, a change of command was arranged for and a number of new officers were dispatched to their new posts in the colonies. This led to turmoil and confusion among the forces already stationed in the colonies, who were stalled for several months during this period before a clear chain of command could be established. During this time, the British remained in a largely defensive posture, and the French were quick to take advantage of it.

Marching from Montreal down the shores of Lake Ontario in northern New York, a French force surprised and overwhelmed the British garrison at Fort Oswego. Taking 121 cannon and 1,700 prisoners of war, the region was left practically defenseless. Setting his sights on Albany, the Marquis de Montcalm – the newly minted French commander in North America – marched his forces eastward along the river towards Fort Bull and his ultimate target - Albany. Successfully taking Fort Bull only weeks later, the Marquis was content to march into Albany but worried about his northern flank, which could be exposed. In order to secure this, he marched around Albany (which bought the town and its defenders time to construct adequate defenses and resupply) towards Fort William Henry at the bottom of Lake Champlain, a target he wanted to capture before moving on to Albany. The attack would prove to be a complete disaster; overstretching their supply lines and exhausted from weeks of marching through the wilderness, the French had underestimated the strength of the British garrison and were further surprised when British troops in Albany took a gamble and marched upwards to join the fight. Forced to retreat backwards to Fort Oswego, the French invasion of New York had failed, but the experience confirmed many of the colonists doubts, and further fueled questions about the colonies' collective defenses in its aftermath.

Fort Oswego would remain in French hands despite the failure of the campaign.​

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

Ben Franklin, a leading figure in colonial life.
​

Benjamin Franklin had a solution; perhaps one of the most widely known and universally respected figures in the entirety of the New World, Franklin was a true renaissance man, who had experience as a journalist, a philosopher, a satirist, a scientist, and a statesman. Franklin, who was the editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette and widely admired as the leading intellectual in the New World, led the drive for a colonial conference to coordinate the defenses of the British colonies in his publication as early as 1754, two years before the official onset of the war. The colonial legislatures of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Newfoundland, New Hampshire, New York, Nova Scotia, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island agreed to send delegations to a conference that would ultimately be held in Albany, New York. Delegations from the southern colonies were invited to attend, though the legislatures of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia all either rejected or ignored the solicitation.

Franklin’s proposal was met with initial skepticism both by the delegates and later, by the authorities in London. Calling for the economic and political union of the colonies in subservience to the broader British Empire and the crown, Franklin laid forth the case for the establishment of a pan-colonial assembly that would coordinate legislation and raise the funds necessary to sustain the war effort. Executive power would be invested in a “President-General” appointed by the Crown, while the government in London would maintain complete control of the armed forces spare for the individual colonial militias. Though the broader concept was widely praised by the attendees in Albany, there were many practicalities that had to be addressed. First and foremost was a sense of doubt about the viability of such a plan before parliament in London, who surely were not keen on having a competitive legislative body within the realms of the Empire.

Second, there were competing interests at hand. Only a few of the colonies had even sent delegates to the initial conference, and even they were skeptical of the scheme, which they feared would threaten their fragile autonomy. Charter colonies specifically worried about how such a union could negatively impact their economies, and more importantly, their investor’s bottom line. Other differences were political in nature; the northern colonies were threatened by neighboring French territories; the southern colonies, which did not bother to send delegates, were not. Considerably underdeveloped and agrarian in nature compared to the middle and northern colonies, they had no interest in diverting their treasuries to defend their wealthier neighbors.

Thomas Hutchison of Massachusetts.
​

Thomas Hutchison, a delegate from Massachusetts who served as a judge and previously had been elected to the colonial legislature, wrote strongly in defense of Franklin’s plan. Hutchison surmised “a Union of His Majesty's established governments on the continent, that so their councils, treasure, and strength may be employed in due proportion against their common enemy” was necessary for the defense of the colonies, and had some pull in both Boston and London. An enthusiastic backer of Franklin’s proposal, which had been published in advance in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Hutchison was excited by the opportunity presented by the Conference. Setting out from Boston in mid-May ahead of the scheduled first meeting in June, Hutchison’s travels were soon interrupted when he fell ill near Springfield, Massachusetts. His fever worsening, he was forced to withdraw back to Boston in order to recuperate. His return to Boston would deprive Franklin of one of his most influential allies.

Hutchison’s absence did not deter Franklin from presenting his proposal to the delegates, though it became apparent relatively early on into the conference that the attendees were overwhelmingly skeptical. The delegates noted that the proposal dramatically overstepped their initial charge – they were gathered to debate funding the impending war and formulating an approach to relations with the officially neutral Iroquois tribes. Franklin countered that the “Grand Council” he was arguing in favor of could be of greater influence in regards to the Iroquois, though he struggled to convince delegates that such a plan would not result in greater taxation. Though he insisted that his plan would provide for greater oversight of colonial finances, it was not enough to push it through. The “Albany Plan” as it became colloquially known, was not outright rejected however. Instead, the delegates voted to schedule a second conference the following year to better study the issue.

Despite the setbacks at Fort Necessity and Braddock’s Expedition, the British successes in Nova Scotia boosted morale both in the Americas and in Britain. With most of the colonial leadership – including many of the delegates themselves – actively engaged in the war effort in one way or another, the second planned conference in Albany was perpetually delayed much to Franklin’s annoyance throughout the duration of 1755. Franklin did not give in, and by the onset of 1756, there was rekindled interest in another conference, largely in part due to Franklin’s prodding in the widely read Pennsylvania Gazette. Invitations were again extended, and all the original participating colonies plus Virginia (which in 1754 had elected not to send a delegation) agreed to be represented.

In the summer of 1756, delegates returned to Albany. This time Hutchison, who had maintained a long correspondence with Franklin in the intervening year, was able to attend and contribute to the debates. Despite the conflict raging in the region, the city of Albany was once again selected as the host site due to its relative geographic proximity to all participants, and delegates began pouring into the city from across the region as the war raged on. Once more, Franklin found his proposals for a union of the colonies to be under fire. Opponents argued that such an agreement would only result in an unfair distribution of revenues collected, while others claimed that the war with France was going well under the status quo and there was no cause for concern in regards towards a French offensive. Yet, unknown to the delegates at the second Albany Conference was the looming twist of irony that was soon to confront them.

Just days after the initial meeting of the Conference, a French army set out of Montreal and crossed the Saint Lawrence, quickly taking Fort Ticonderoga and capturing over a hundred cannon and nearly two thousand redcoats in the process. Word reached Albany just days ahead of the French advance, and the conference was forced to adjourn as delegates fled south down the Hudson River towards New York, where they had agreed to reassemble. All the while, Virginia delegate George Washington offered his military expertise to the local militia, overseeing the rapid construction of earthworks around the city in anticipation of a French attack. The French attack, however, never came. Instead, they marched past Albany in order to attack Fort William Henry, an effort that was fruitless in the end and resulted in their retreat northwards. Though Albany had been spared certain destruction (the French intended to raze the city), the conference which bore its name would continue in New York.

The Battle of Fort William Henry.​

The near miss in Albany had a profound effect on the delegates. Franklin used the opportunity to argue that the French, should they have taken the city, would have marched down the Hudson and occupied New York in order to split off New England from the remainder of the colonies. Hutchison corralled the New England delegation as a result, arguing that the proposal would be more benevolent and decentralized in nature than the despised “Dominion of New England” that had briefly existed at the twilight of the 17th century. With their security endangered by another French advance, they reluctantly agreed to endorse Franklin’s proposal. This was a considerable surprise to the other delegates, many of whom believed New England would be the most adamantly opposed to such a union due to events in their recent past. This gave the proposal new momentum, and after a few weeks of debate, a compromise draft of the “Manhattan Declaration” was issued.

The resolution, which ultimately was unanimously adopted, declared the colonies “unyielding and unwavering devotion” to “his Majesty and his government” while formally laying out the case for the creation of a grand council to administrate the affairs of the colonies and coordinate their defenses. The conference voted to elect Franklin as “the Ambassador-General” of the colonies to the Court of King George II, and he immediately embarked for London to present the case for greater autonomy before the crown and parliament.

 

[haider najib]

nice eager to follow this

 

[jessicajsscjs]

How is the relationship between the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom?

It can't be like Canada and Britain, cuz the Commonwealth is leagues above the UK due to the fact of being a unified political entity, even in 1860 you would've a very strange independence process where the nation which is becoming independent is already as strong as the mother nation.

Is America the center of power of the British Empire? Who takes orders from whom? Why don't they have an Imperial parliament in the 21st century?

How can the US+ Canada by the FOURTH largest economy of the world and NOT the FIRST?

 

[Deleted member 147978]

Finally at last, loved and watched.

@Nazi Space Spy, I got to say that map of the Commonwealth in the wiki info-box looks different. I assume the Commonwealth had a war with Mexico this time.

 

[Faeelin]

Just wanna say, I love that this nation has the exact same southern border as the USA.

 

[Deleted member 147978]

Just wanna say, I love that this nation has the exact same southern border as the USA.

In the other version of the TL, Mexico still retains it's pre-Mexican American War border.

 

[Faeelin]

In the other version of the TL, Mexico still retains it's pre-Mexican American War border.

I mean, that seems odd too? San Francisco is so appealing for a maritime power...

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

In the other version of the TL, Mexico still retains it's pre-Mexican American War border.

This timeline isn't meant to be as in-depth as the previous version.

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

How is the relationship between the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom?

It can't be like Canada and Britain, cuz the Commonwealth is leagues above the UK due to the fact of being a unified political entity, even in 1860 you would've a very strange independence process where the nation which is becoming independent is already as strong as the mother nation.

Is America the center of power of the British Empire? Who takes orders from whom? Why don't they have an Imperial parliament in the 21st century?

How can the US+ Canada by the FOURTH largest economy of the world and NOT the FIRST?

1. Much like Australia or Canada. The process of Confederation and the reasoning for the country being merged together in the 1860s will be revealed as the project goes on.

2. America is the muscle of the Empire, yes. London is the boss. The Imperial Parliament concept has already been done by Leinad.

3. Good question, the infobox I used is from the original AC project. That was explained, but it's buried in the original thread. I could amend the infobox to reflect that, but it'd take some time.

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

​

King Frederick of Great Britain was, in many ways, as traditional a prince and King as his predecessors in spite of his legacy. Like his own father before him, he sparred with the King in his capacity as Prince of Wales, supported the political opposition, cultivated a close network of aligned courtiers, and in general did everything in his power to be a nuisance to his parents. Yet Frederick stands out in the annals of British history for his brief relatively brief progressive reign, a period in which both the enlightenment peaked in England while the tradition of constitutional monarchy was permanently enshrined, both at home in Britain and abroad in her domains beyond the sea.

He was born in Hanover in 1707, the grandson of Prince-Elector George and first child of Prince George, the heir to the throne of the German principality. Through his great-grandmother, the aging Dowager Duchess Sophia, the Hanoverian royal family were direct descendants of King James I of England and Scotland, the founder of the now exiled (and Catholic) Stuart dynasty. Shortly after Sofia died, her son George became the heir to the British throne by virtue of being the most senior protestant descendant of King James I. It was only a matter of months before Queen Anne had died, and the Elector had risen from being the ruler of a minor German principality to sitting on the throne of one of Europe’s most powerful Kingdoms.

A stranger in his own realm, George preferred to focus his energy towards the domestic matters of Hanover where he held absolute power while delegating responsibilities for English affairs to his Ministers, who defined the traditions that evolved into the widely used Westminster system. Robert Walpole, through his office as First Lord of the Treasury, became effectively the first British Prime Minister. George I was threatened by Jacobite rebellions during his reign, with the “Young Pretender” invading Scotland with French support. Claiming to be King James III, the "Young Pretender" (as the son of the exiled James II was known) was dispatched quickly as the first Jacobite rebellion was put down. A similar and slightly more threatening Jacobite rebellion in 1745 by his son, widely lampooned as “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” was similarly defeated. But it was not until 1727 when King George I died suddenly following a stroke while traveling in Hanover, resulting in his eldest son rising to the throne as George II. The new King had hated his father since his childhood due to the imprisonment of his mother for adultery, and was determined to undo his legacy. As a show of respect to his English countrymen, he even declined to travel to Hanover in order to attend the funeral of the late King.

King George II.​

The new King immediately faced obstacles and intrigue within his own household in the English tradition; his efforts to remove Sir Robert Walpole as Prime Minister and replace him with Sir Spencer Compton were thwarted by none other than his own wife, Queen Caroline, a charming and well educated Princess from Ansbach who held considerable sway over her husband. Walpole would dominate the first decade and a half of King George II’s reign as the leading political authority in England, and would be followed by a string of other Prime Ministers until the rise of William Pitt the Elder during the Seven Years War. King George II eventually grew to be content enough with Walpole to allow him and his parliamentary allies the right to govern the country, and this was partly due to the squabbling within the Royal household.

Frederick, the Prince of Wales, followed in the traditional Hanoverian footsteps and began quarreling with his father the King as he entered adulthood, not unlike his father before him. Prince Frederick had been primarily raised in Hanover, and did not see his parents at all between the ages of seven and fourteen, when his father had left Germany for a new life in London in his then capacity as Prince of Wales. This contributed to a great distance between them that would be the source of their mutual acrimony throughout their lives; the Prince did not move to Britain until he turned 21 in 1728, a year after the death of his grandfather George I, by which time he was known in Hanover for his fondness for women and wine. His behavior scandalized the court in London and caused great dismay for the King and Queen, who attempted to control their son’s behavior to the greatest extent possible.

Falling in with a crowd of artists and composers, Frederick irritated his conservative father with his lavish patronage of the arts. In 1731, to the King’s horror, the Prince even co-wrote and coproduced a musical at the Drury Lane Theater in London, which turned out to be a total flop and a major loss for investors. Five years later, with public opinion turning against him, it was decided he was to be married to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, aged sixteen. The marriage proved to be reasonably happy in spite of the Prince’s many marital indiscretions. Though he maintained a string of mistresses and had a suspicious relationship with Lord Harvey (a bisexual court gossip and diarist), the Prince still sired several children with his bride, the second of whom would ultimately succeed him as King of Great Britain and Ireland. But it was the birth of their first child, Princess Augusta (the future Duchess of Brunswick), that displayed the great domestic divide within the House of Hanover. When the Prince learned that his pregnant wife had gone into labor at Hampton Court Palace, he had her hurriedly snuck away in a carriage to Saint James Palace in order to ensure that the King and Queen would not be present at the birth of their grandchild. Enraged, the Queen, Lord Hervey, and two of the Prince’s sisters raced to Saint James, where the Queen was relieved to find the Princess of Wales had only given birth to, in the Queen's words, a “wretched little she-mouse.” The event was enough to create a permanent chasm between father and son, and soon Frederick was stripped of all official duties and banished from the royal court as the King weighed the possibility of disinheriting his son altogether in favor of his brother, the Duke of Cumberland. He established his own rival court in Leicester House, where a number of his father’s political opponents gathered around him.

Patronized by the Prince, cricket exploded in popularity as Britain's national sport.​

A man of leisure, the Prince had a fondness for the newly invented game of cricket, which was exploding in popularity in Britain and to a lesser extent in the Americas as well. The sport, which was largely dependent around gambling, naturally attracted the attention of the Prince, who soon became its leading patron. The Prince was also an active participant in the sport; the fact that in 1751 it almost took his life was no issue. Injured by an errant ball that caused several broken ribs followed by the onset of pneumonia, the Prince returned to the sport after over a year’s absence with even more passion than he had before, even with his greatly diminished physical capacity. Frederick loved his children almost as much as he loved cricket; the relationship between his wife and him was relatively strong despite his affairs, like that of his parents, which Princess Augusta like her mother-in-law tolerated. Siring nine children in total, the Prince’s domestic life was lively but pleasant. His eldest son, Prince George and his brother, Prince Edward, were educated by Francis Ayscough, and subjected to rigorous instructions in the manners of Kingship. But despite the Prince of Wale's support for reformist politicians and opposition to the King, the young Princes were raised in a very conservative manner. This was not on the orders of the King, but rather, the Prince of Wales himself, as his own personal alliance with the opposition was centered on convenience and financial necessity rather than true conviction.

Though the relationship between the Prince of Wales and the King remained frosty right until the end of George II’s life, there were periods of reconciliation. The first was due to public pressure following the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, but this was short lived. The second was in 1755, when fears of conflict with France began to circulate in London. It was important, the King’s Ministers argued, that the Royal Family display at the very least a façade of unity. Frederick quit patronizing the political opposition as a result, but was still privately detested by the King and loathed by the government. Left politically powerless as a result, for the duration of the early years of the conflict, he was largely confined to a quiet life of idol socializing in London. With no chance of gaining a political or military role in the conflict from his father, the Prince continued to patronize cricket games and the arts as he awaited to take the throne - assuming his father wouldn't outright remove him from the succession, a move which would require the support of parliament.

The 1756 Albany Conference, in which Ben Franklin’s proposed “Plan of Union” was adopted, gave the Prince of Wales an opportunity to display both to the public and parliament his readiness to take the throne. When Benjamin Franklin arrived in London to pitch the Albany plan to parliament, he was readily received by the Prince of Wales at his lodgings in Leicester House. The Prince, who held a wide array of academic, scientific, and philosophical interests, was greatly impressed by Franklin’s wit and wisdom, and agreed to take up the colonists cause. The reasoning for this was twofold; it would most certainly raise Frederick’s popularity and profile in the New World, a cornerstone of Britain’s growing economic power, as well as yet another opportunity to foil the Prime Minister and his father’s ambitions and reassert himself as a power broker in London.

The Prince of Wales used his stature to promote the plan, writing and publishing an open letter that was shared both in the London and American press that endorsed the proposal. The King was furious, but he had no means to express this publicly like Frederick had done, and worried that doing so would violate the constitutional traditions of the British monarch being “above” politics. As a result, in 1757 and 1758, a string of colonial legislatures adopted resolutions that embraced the Albany plan while the King and Prime Minister did their best to simply ignore the issue in favor of focusing on the more pressing challenges such as the war effort. The King thoroughly detested Frederick by this point to the extent that they were not on speaking terms at all, and continued to refuse to give him a military commission of any kind (which embarrassed the Prince, as his younger brother the Duke of Cumberland was leading the British armies in Hanover against the French), which had the unintended consequence of Frederick throwing himself even further into colonial affairs. Over the next three years, he maintained a lengthy correspondence with most colonial governors and several high ranking military officers. By 1760, the Prince was more up to date on the North American front than his father the King, and had his eyes on the future.

Then, on the morning of October 25th, 1760, a messenger breathlessly arrived at Leincester House with the news from Kensington Palace; the King had collapsed on his water closet, and the Prince was to come at once. By the time the Prince of Wales had arrived, it was too late. King George II had died at the age of 76 of an aortic aneurysm after a reign of thirty three years. Frederick, Prince of Wales had risen to the throne as King Frederick I of Great Britain. With the war raging in America and Europe, and with an Empire that stretched from Boston to Bombay, the awesome burden of responsibility fell on the shoulders of a man who would go on to be remembered as “Good King Freddie.”

---

Considering a reboot of this project now that I've worked out some of the kinks - stay tuned.

 

[haider najib]

Cool. So the king supports the plan? Any chance of royals visting the america?

Also is this second version of a timeline?

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

William Pitt the Elder.
​

Though the Albany Conference in 1756 produced a plan, it could not be enacted in a timely manner. The pressing concerns presented by the war in the Americas, Europe, and on the high seas dominated the attention of the King and his government in London, and it did not take long for the events of the Albany to become an afterthought despite the Prince of Wale's endorsement. But the delegates to the Albany Convention were determined to be heard - through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin, their Ambassador-General to London, they would find a more useful ally than the King's estranged heir in the form of William Pitt the Elder.

One of the most prominent political figures in London and a member of parliament since 1735, Pitt served first as the Paymaster of the Forces under a succession of Prime Ministers until 1755. Two years later, he was appointed Secretary of State of the Southern Department, a critical position with a broad portfolio that rendered him His Majesty's chief diplomat to the Catholic powers of Europe as well as the predominant minister with jurisdiction over the affairs of the American colonies. The position also gave Pitt a considerable degree of influence over domestic policy in England and Wales as well, which afforded him the opportunity to build a large network of supporters within and without parliament. Along with his colleague the Secretary of State of the Northern Department (who handled domestic Scottish affairs and relations with the Protestant nations of northern Europe), Pitt was both the de-facto Foreign Minister and Home Secretary throughout his tenure in this office. Through the skillful manipulation of his authority and the excessive exercise of his influence, he was within a years time basically in the position of de-facto Prime Minister, even if the incompetent Duke of Newcastle legally held the title of First Lord of the Treasury and thus officially headed the government.

With Pitt more or less taking the reins, the British performance in the war dramatically turned around. Until this point, the Duke of Newcastle was primarily concerned with the war in Europe, and had focused a great deal of his energy into ensuring the security of Hanover despite the assurances of allied Prussia’s King Frederick (“the Great”) that the European theater was largely under control. As a result, the colonial leadership was left to their own devices, and this in turn spurred on Franklin’s movement for greater autonomy and self-government. With Britain's military stretched globally to it's greatest extent since the War of Spanish Succession at the onset of the 18th century, Pitt saw the utility of establishing a more streamlined and efficient governance of Britain's colonies, even if he were somewhat troubled by Franklin's adamant urging that this proposed union be granted it's own legislative assembly and a greater degree of autonomy. Pitt argued privately to King George II that such a plan, in the aftermath of the war, could be more efficient in securing Britain's American possessions.

It was during this period that Pitt earned his reputation as a skilled and shrewd tactician; the British would continue to send large armies to Hanover, in order to distract the French in the hope of luring them into launching a full scale invasion of western Germany with the goal of tying down as many troops and resources as possible. All the while, Britain would make use of their naval supremacy by encircling and capturing as many loose French possessions as possible, with targets spread across the Caribbean and West Africa, as part of an effort to strangle French trade and supply lines and apply greater pressure on Paris.

In North America, a more ambitious plan was implemented. As the war in upper New York had been a stalemate, and with Montreal and Quebec being well defended from a land invasion from the south, it was decided the best route to securing New France would be down the Saint Lawrence. In order to do so, the French citadel at Louisburg would first have to be captured. Following the fall of Fort Beausejour and the capture of Nova Scotia, the fortress had been isolated from overland supply routes and relied on French ships for supplies and substance. Using their superior naval presence in the region to blockade the fortress on Cape Breton Island, an amphibious invasion force under the command of Jeffrey Amherst and his chief lieutenant James Wolfe landed unmolested and began constructing earthworks around the fortress on the eighth of June, 1758. The siege would continue for several months, though French morale slowly eroded as supplies dwindled. After a British “hot shot” (a heated cannonball) successfully started a fire that destroyed the fort’s headquarters building (which at that time was the largest building in all of North America), the French efforts collapsed. Three days later on July 26th, the garrison at Louisburg surrendered. The Saint Lawrence River’s mouth was now entirely open to British attack.

The siege of Louisburg.​

The winter thawed action on all fronts aside from the tropics, where the British enjoyed more successes. In India, the British held off a French attempt to break their hold on Madras while in Caribbean the British captured both Guadalupe and Martinique. By the spring of 1759, the British were truly ready for the fight. They were rested, well supplied by sea, and determined to bring the North American front of the Seven Years War to a final conclusion. The French meanwhile remained bunkered down in Quebec and Montreal with dwindling supplies and crumbling morale. The British advanced down the Saint Lawrence River towards Quebec under the command of Amherst and Wolfe, but the French put up fierce resistance and drove back their forces twice. Undeterred, the British decided to implement a more ambitious plan.

This time the British sailed downriver, arriving quickly and to the surprise of the French defenders. As the French hurried to coral their forces, the British redcoats made a successful amphibious landing just upriver, quickly scaling the heights of the hills to reach the Plains of Abraham. Though the French greatly outnumbered the British, they were undersupplied, exhausted, ill trained militia men who were no match for the better armed, better trained British regulars. The battle that unfolded due to this showdown was fierce and bloody, with Wolfe being injured early on by a musket ball to the wrist. Hours later, his wound wrapped, he was back on the field to command his men. However, he was not to see the victory that followed. While leading British calvary in a charge across the field, he was hit twice by two shots from a French volley, throwing him from his horse into the mixture of blood and mud below. “See how they run!” he cried as the French line retreated, “see how they run!” Those fateful words would be his last.

The death of General Wolfe.​

As the sun set over Quebec, British troops marched into the center of the city. Though Montreal remained in French hand, the Saint Lawrence River was now secured. It’d be only a matter of time before the whole of the Ohio Country and Canada would be completely under British occupation. There remained numerous obstacles in the path of continental domination, however. The war would continue to rage in Europe for years to come, and the French population in the newly conquered territories would have to be brought under thumb. The war had also had significant financial implications for the coastal colonies which would soon have to be dealt with. Yet, the significance of what had happened on the Plains of Abraham was enough to spark celebrations in London, complete with a public performance of Handel’s “Water Music” and a fireworks display. In some ways, those fireworks were an ominous sign of what was to come.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Very interesting TL so far. Watched.

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

The Acadians by the mid-18th century had long established themselves as a small and unique slice of the French colonial empire. Spread up and down the Saint Lawrence with large hubs in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and present day Maine, the Acadians were a French speaking, Catholic culture destined to buckle under British rule. The resistance to British control began early on, shortly after the capture of Louisburg from France, which was followed by Acadian militias doing their utmost to harass and distract British forces in the region. In order to curb a potential insurgency and clear space for English settlement, the British retaliated by seizing the property of Acadians and forcibly deporting them to the southern colonies. A few hundred or so were initially deported to Louisiana in the wake of the fall of Quebec, but as time passed the deportations would dramatically increase in frequency. Over the course of the following three years, over 10,000 Acadian settlers would be sent to other regions of the New World. The majority of them migrated northward to Quebec or Montreal, which while under British occupation was none the less granted a relative degree of autonomy (ie, the substantial existing Catholic population was simply too large and established to deport) whereas others found themselves packed off to Louisiana by way of New Orleans, where they would form the genesis of the modern day Cajun population and culture. Those who would arrive in the city of Mobile in present day Indiana would likewise be the fathers of that province, quickly establishing plantations in the coastal region and traveling upriver to engage in commerce with the indigenous peoples of the region.

Acadian deportees await transport away from Nova Scotia.​

Starting in 1759 and lasting for over a decade, Nova Scotia would see rapid growth in spite of the deportations. The Acadians who feared their farms would be lost to the encroaching wilderness instead would come to find English settlers, primarily from the increasingly overcrowded New England colonies, were residing on their former lands. Over the course of the decade, over 8,000 New Englanders would arrive in the colony, with the small port of Halifax swelling to become one of the main maritime hubs of North America in just two decades. The deportations upended the lives of thousands, and would have a profound impact on the demographical history of the Commonwealth of America. In the wake of the Acadian expulsions, the mad dash to settle the former Arcadian colonies brought a diverse variety of settlers to the region. Many would purchase the abandoned farms and homes of the Acadians, and former French settlements were renamed for locations in England as part of an effort to integrate the new British holdings into the already existing colonial framework.

The journey south for those who were deported was in itself a traumatic and dangerous experience; taking with them only the possessions which they could carry, the Acadians were crammed into ships and taken on a lengthy voyage to Georgia, Louisiana, or the Gulf Coast. Living off of salted pork, hardtack and beer, the unwilling migrants would endure harsh weather and cramped conditions before arriving after weeks at sea. In Louisiana, many of those who were deported arrived to a radically different reality. The once frozen winters would now give way to simmering summers, and a new host of tropical diseases such as smallpox killed scores of the Acadian arrivals within a relatively short amount of time. While some were transferred to Mobile, most Acadians who were moved southward were relocated to New Orleans and the surrounding parishes, a critical and steadily growing settlement along the Mississippi River. As was the case in all corners of New France, relations with the indigenous inhabitants of the region were largely peaceful, and they traded amicably amongst each other. It did not take long for plantations to develop in this areas, and the expansion of European settlement in the area necessitated the importation of African slaves, and these large scale cotton farms were built by wealthy families expanding outwards from the city of New Orleans.

New Orleans became an important French colonial outpost in the New World.​

The Acadian population in the region was simply too poor to purchase slaves, and largely focused themselves around subsistence farming. There were tensions between the indigenous inhabitants of the region (which included the Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee tribes) and the Francophone settlers who encroached on their lands as they moved upwards from the Mississippi River. The British would take advantage of the situation, selling muskets to the indigenous tribes of the region in the hopes that conflict would erupt. Though they mistrusted the French speaking emigres to the region, the relative lack of settlement in the lands west of Georgia and east of the Mississippi River ensured that there was plenty of room for both demographics for the time being.

Not all Acadians were expelled to Quebec or Louisiana; a small group of Acadians were expelled into the wilderness of what is now New Brunswick, where they formed a small community along the Memrancook River. Settlers from Pennsylvania would quickly join them, arriving and founding the city of Moncton, which would go on to become a rare haven of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence between Anglo and Francophone inhabitants. On Cape Breton Island, there was a major influx of settlers from Ireland in particular, who formed their own unique Gaelic culture on the island. As Catholics themselves, the Irish arrivals had no quarrel with the Acadians who left the Nova Scotian peninsula for Cape Breton, and like Moncton, there was largely little tension between the two communities. Whereas the Irish were attracted to Cape Breton Island for religious toleration, it was the economic opportunities offered by the amount of available farmland in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick which pulled English immigrants towards the Maritime provinces. But these instances of sectarian harmony were few and far between during the years of the French and Indian War; lingering resentments and sectarian tensions among the Catholic and French communities of British North America would continue to simmer for decades, with catastrophic consequences on more than a few occasions. In spite of the Acadian expulsions and the Treaty of Paris of 1763, the Francophone community in North America would continue to thrive and expand in other parts of the country, particularly in Quebec, where the Acadian refugees only reenforced the already existing Francophone majority.

 

[Johannes Parisiensis]

Interesting.