How to get Japan controlling part of India before the 1930s?

Are these possible divergences?

  • Total voters
    18

Keenir

Banned
I finally figured out what my next Timeline will be: Great Britain either gives or sells part of the Indian Subcontinent (or Sri Lanka) to Japan.

My thought was that alone or cooperating with Britain, Japan crushes the Dutch in Indonesia, and gets to keep it*. (Britain still has Singapore and its traditional holdings)

...so that, even if things go sour for Japan and Britain, no shots will be fired because they'll both have a grip on one another's jugular. And Japan isn't in China.

In England, it's decided to give Japan a bit of India (maybe no bigger than Portugese Goa had been, maybe bigger), both to ensure Japan only does business with Britain, and to keep Japan from holing itself up in its corner of the Pacific.

Yes, I know that this is highly unlikely, even with the OTL friendship of the two nations. My question is not if this could happen, but when. I will try to keep it plausible.


Some possible divergences:
Boer Wars go bad. (this one is mostly to get the Dutch to lower their guard at a crucial moment)
Oceania erupts. (an uprising or something happens in New Zealand or Australia that requires troops from the Raj)
China gets strong. (the warlord period ends before Japan can get troops on the ground; whether a new dynasty, a republic, or something different)
World War One ends in Allied loss.
World War One ends in stalemate.

* = Keeping alive the Russo-Japanese War levels of conduct for which Japan was commended by the Red Cross and others.
 
Last edited:

Emperor-of-New-Zealand

Okay I'll play ball, but it would require a POD potentially as far back as the 1860s that would cause minimal butterflies to the rest of the world:


  • Let's propose that the NZ Wars in the 1860s ended in a much more decisive British victory, with harsh punishments inflicted on the native Maori who fought so valiantly to protect their home and culture from invasion. So we have a shattered pan-Maori movement that needs years to recover. The Kingitanga movement in the Waikato will go into hiding to recooperate and the Maori King will remain a myth for years to come, and history goes on.
  • Come the early 20th Century, the Kingitanga movement has slowly built up a larger support base that many young Maori, confused with their national and cultural identity due to being raised in a much whiter New Zealand, become a part of. So we now have this steadily growing but still secretive pan-Maori movement uniting the Chiefs under a common goal - expel the white devils.
  • Their first public appearance is when they refuse to go to war in WWI. The Maori battalion stays in NZ and become militant, teaching other Maori army training, etc (very possible - the Maori were very good at adapting to European ways, much moreso than, say, Australian Aborigines). After WWI, some Maori that did travel to Europe bring back stories of the war and the ideals of Karl Marx. Someone gets his hands on the Communist Manifesto and they liken it to tribal life among the Maori. Communism becomes a base for pan-Maoriism and the Kingitanga movement.
  • In the 1920s, while Europe is distracted with revolution and such, the Kingitanga revolts against the NZ government and British rule, forcing the British to look away from Europe and bring Indian and Australian troops into NZ to help put it down. But the Indians and Aussies, as with the British in the 1860s, do not know the land like the Maori. This guerilla campaign continues for a long time, and drains the British financially, only furthering the economic damage done in the Great Depression.
  • After all is said and done and Britain is a sitting duck in NZ (whose independence is now delayed even further due to the huge economic decline thanks to the revolution) and in need of money. Japan is willing to pay big bucks for a slice of the profit-house that is India (think: 1. Indian colony 2. ??? 3. Profit). Britain sells a couple of ports and Ceylon to Japan for a large sum of money, Japan starts incorporating Indian troops into its army, money starts to flow...
  • VOILA! By 1936 Japan is a struggling empire as it was iOTL, now with a chunk of India, and even more in need of natural resources. WWII comes along, Japan invades the Dutch East Indies, what have you.
Half-ass scenario, but there you go.
 

Wendell

The only way Japan is getting India is if things go absurdly well for the Axis or an analogue to them in the second world war. Even achieving that, however, is difficult.

Maybe having a Communist revolution in Britain following an early CP win and humilitaing peace could trigger a land grab, but such a possibility, again, is rather far-fetched.
 

Keenir

Banned
Emperor-of-New-Zealand said:
I don't think my idea was all that bad. POD in the 1860s mind, but still... I even managed to make the focul point New Zealand! :D:p
Click to expand...

yours may be what I use as the backdrop, if I may. I was going to give a longer praise, but I got called away in mid-typing, and my computer did its weekly reboot without saving my work.

thank you for your suggestion.
 

Grimm Reaper

No POD exists other than the implausible Japanese victory in WWII.

The British would never give or sell part of India willingly and Japan prior to the post-WWI period would never had a chance militarily.
 

Shogo

Maybe a pre-1900 PoD . . . Nobunaga Oda is never betrayed and goes on to unify Japan. Japan never goes isolationist.

Just a shot in the dark but an Oda Japan might someday be in a position where they have the power to do something like what you're suggesting.
 

david31

Allies lose WW1 - Communist revolution in Britain - Empire disintegrates - "white dominions" (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa) go their own way - African possessions seized by Germany - Raj splits from Mother Country, tries to maintain control of Indian sub continent but is forced to request aid from only ally in position to help, Japan.

By 1930 India plus Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and the other far eastern parts of the old British Empire will be Japanese protectorates. The Japanese army will be fighting in China supporting the Kuomintang against the communists supported by Soviet Russia.

There will be no attack on Pearl Harbour as the Japanese Empire is currently America's bulwark against Communism in Asia and it getting all the resources it needs from its possessions and protecorates anyway making economic sanctions - if the US was inclined to attempt them - pointless anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top