While Southern-Less USA 2.0 isn’t dead, this would be primarily alternating with La Caroline if you’re interested in the Huguenots and alternate colonialism.
Galloway and the Plan of Union: A Saga of a British America
- Thread starter PGSBHurricane
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Oh and I have a question for you guys. Do the events of TTL seem too similar to OTL? And also I’m not great at central and eastern European history and that will be something of a focus point for next chapter so if there are any implausibilities with it, please tell me.
I'm sure you'll get a variety of opinions, but I am quite enjoying it. Unless change for the sake of change is what you're going for, I've always been of the belief that there should be a darn good reason for something to change from OTL. It allows you to really comprehend the differences that a few changes would make.
Of course, this is just my opinion. But my vote is that I quite like what you've accomplished so far, it certainly feels different enough to be a worthwhile read while similar enough to still follow
Thank you. I appreciate it and makes me feel somewhat more confident in my writing ability. I am now almost two-thirds of the way done with the next chapter for this TL. In the meantime, I started a new fun side project yesterday called The Shuffled Disneyverse: An Alt Disney Timeline.I'm sure you'll get a variety of opinions, but I am quite enjoying it. Unless change for the sake of change is what you're going for, I've always been of the belief that there should be a darn good reason for something to change from OTL. It allows you to really comprehend the differences that a few changes would make.
Of course, this is just my opinion. But my vote is that I quite like what you've accomplished so far, it certainly feels different enough to be a worthwhile read while similar enough to still follow
I originally asked because the progression of the world outside the Americas seemed a little too much like OTL, and without the French Revolution I wonder if the industrial revolution were to have occurred at all despite what this has implied.
I feel like it would because it started in Britain for the most part.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: More Reforms Across Europe
Chapter Twenty-Nine: More Reforms Across Europe
The 1820s and 1830s were a beginning of a large wave of possible change throughout Europe. Some efforts were clearly more successful than others, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. In Sweden, between 1815 and 1850, proto-industries developed into larger, more regionally specialized industries, including mining in Bergslagen, textile mills in Sjuhäradsbygden, and forestry in Norrland. This was caused by important institutional changes such as free and mandatory public schools in 1842, abolishing a national monopoly on the handicrafts trade in 1846, and the implementation of a stock company law in 1848. Much of this took place after Gustav VI ascended to the Swedish throne in 1837. Economic reform took place in other parts of Scandinavia as well. As far back as the 1750s, major agricultural reforms took place that entailed large structural changes. As the population grew, tenet labor was replaced with normal day labor. It helped that the crown desired tax land as a tax base and wanted to enhance the efficiency of peasant farming while reducing the dependence on landlords. This helped lead to a modest rise in production per capita before the 1830s and a bigger one after that when a better allocation of labor and land was introduced. Mercantilism took off in 1797 with the liberalization of tariffs. Soon, with monetary reform, national accounting data was traced back to as early as 1820. Industrialization, while not in full swing until the 1870s, did start to take off there.
Then there was the Germansosphere, dominated by the Confederation of the Rhine, Prussia, and the Austrian Empire. The Confederation of the Rhine was notoriously fragile with the risk of dissolution high. Several states were not thrilled with how things were run. Some wanted greater reform, others wanted independence or even gravitation towards Prussia. Everything began to crumble in 1826 when Mecklenburg-Schwerin left the Confederation and entered a customs Union with Prussia. Then, 1828 came along. The Grand Duchy of Hesse then moved and entered Prussian Union on February 14. This occurred a month after Bavaria and Württemberg form their own Union. Finally, the Treaty of Kassel signed that September allowed for the creation of a loose Confederation called the Central German Union from various central and northern German states. This included Bemen, Brunswick, Frankfurt, Hanover, Hesse-Homburg, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Oldenburg, Reuss-Gera, Reuss-Greiz, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Weimar, Saxony, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. Initially, Saxony was the de facto leader of this new Confederation but it, under King Anthony, decided it would be better off gravitating towards Prussia instead so it declared its independence from the Central German Union in 1831. This allowed Hanover, to play a significantly bigger role, especially after 1837 when the personal union with Great Britain ended.
Russia, to the east, had its own unique set of problems waiting for it at the time. Domestically, unlike everyone else in Europe, its size was absolutely massive with a large minority population, and wanted to expand its domain with even more of them, namely the Poles. The Duchy of Warsaw was created at the end of the Ten Years' War but Russia was not satisfied. The empire had long wanted Poland for itself but a neutral Duchy of Warsaw set this back. This changed in 1825 after the December Revolt which had enchanted Poles through its support for liberalism. For the last time in its history, Austria would defend the Duchy of Warsaw and hundreds were killed in the process. The future of Poland would not be secure for long. Konstantin firmly wanted Poland under Russian control and would vow to achieve this through any means. With multiple attempts, his luck came to its height in November 1830. Up to that point, Russia had circumvented Polish sovereignty by effectively puppeting it in the late 1820s. Anger boiled into an armed struggle led by a small group of Warsaw conspirators who then raided the Belweder Palace. The rebels soon turned to the main city arsenal in Warsaw, leading to an uprising and a war against Russia. Despite their initial momentum, the Poles were ultimately defeated in October 1831 and they laid down their arms. Russia announced a joint Prussian and (reluctantly) Austrian-backed partition going into effect in 1832 under the Organic Statute.
Finally, there was the Austrian Empire. Under the rule of Metternich as the Austrian foreign minister, he had arranged for several Congresses between European powers when they needed to resolve most foreign inter-European issues. The general goal was to uphold a balance of power, something that also appealed to the British. The sole exception was the dissolution of Poland in 1831 and 1832. After Russia had emerged victorious in its battle for full control of Poland, it ultimately received the lion’s share of the territory held by the Duchy of Warsaw with Prussia receiving the next largest share. In response and in order to avert a total upset of the balance of power, Austria demanded and received Galicia. Under the leadership of Metternich, Austria attempted to crush any nationalist fervor in Austrian northern Italy (Tyrol) and in the German states too, even funding opposition to consolidation movements there. Liberalism was widely opposed at this time and censorship was widely employed in education, the process, and speech, hence there was no real reform during this period. Still, urban expansion occurred and the population of the capital city of Vienna was able to reach 400,000 people and also maintain a stable economy with a nearly balanced budget. This internal stability came at the expense of political turmoil and instability in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, though. Under the Metternich-organized Holy Alliance, Austria invaded the Kingdom, causing King Ferdinand to cancel the national constitution.
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Here's a map I made of the world in 1832, just after the Third Patition of Poland.
Is it just a coincidence that the Third Partition of Poland happened to follow more or less the post Congress of Vienna borders?
It's definitely a coincidence given I couldn't think of much better myself, so that one's on me.
I would definitely change Mexico's color to whatever color Spain is since it hasn't really gotten it's independence yet. Same with the other quasi-independent kingdoms. Also, I modeled Australia like this, courtesy of @iPolytheistic_tsar
Also, thank you for making the map for me @TheBeanieBaron. I certainly know I could not have done a better job myself.
Thank you so much! I’ll edit the borders of Australia to make it more accurate to the image above.
In retrospect, I'm kind of starting to have doubts if the Galloway Plan passing would realistically prevent the thirteen colonies from declaring independence. Perhaps a more realistic point of divergence would be France winning the Seven Year's War in North America? Not really sure, just something to think about.
I mean the colonies were loyal to Britain and it took a bit to push them into independence. Galloway basically gave em the Dominion status they wanted.
That being said France winning the Seven Years War is the most effective way to keep the colonies loyal to Britain
A PoD at the 7 Years' War would definitely do it. However, I do think that the Galloway had potential. I don't think it would completely forgo a revolutionary war, but, assuming the British accept the Galloway Plan, it might see the Revolution be more of a civil war type conflict in the colonies as some colonies unite under the British endorsed plan while others stick to demanding complete independence.
That just my 2 cents on the topic.
I mean you are both kind of right. It's honestly more of a personal preference as to which path I want to go down. Galloway is certainly an interesting idea. It just might be that my other TL has kind of taken over the spark this TL had when I began it. I am in the process of planning another chapter for this though, so there's that.