Gothic Raj

Thanks for all the help with my other timeline. I appreciate all the help :)

Putting together a new timeline. Could we ever see a situation where instead of India being given independence when Britain pulls out, it is instead taken over by the other great powers? Could we then see the subcontinent united under one of those great powers?

In my current draft when Britain pulls out the Raj attempts to function independently. They are so weak without Britain that they are taken over by a variety of powers. The subcontinent is eventually united under the rule of German colonists (no WW1 yet) but the nation is short lived. The bloated morass known as the Gothic Raj is torn apart by disunity among the governors and rebellions by the Native population.
 
When do you want tostar the timeline, because for if youstart after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 for example you have to somehow get Germany to unite earlier, because the German empire did not unite as a nation until after the war of 1870/71. And if germany was to take over parts of the Indian subcontinent, they would have a big incentive to get abigger stake in the suez canal.
 
With an 1857 POD, I can see Russia conquer the Pashtun areas as well as Kashmir and Punjab if they’re very lucky, but not much more than that. In all likelihood, Britain would just retake much of India while some rump states continue to exist.

Germany is certainly impossible (excluding the Nicobar Islands, of course).
 
Thanks for the interest guys.

Perhaps we'll relax the requirements a bit. How about India being taken over by any group of people from central Europe? If that's still too unlikely I could go for any European state taking over the entire British Raj. Bonus points if you can somehow get British provincial governors to become governors under the new administration. Perhaps they betrayed Britain in order to retain power?

I'll accept PODs that push the foundation of the British Raj further into the past.
 
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