Impact of no world wars on colonial empires?

Imagine if Germany democratises early in the 20th century and manages to take up its position as a major power without a catastrophic war with France.

What would be the impact on the European colonial empires? Obviously the world wars were a huge catalyst for decolonisations, partly because the metropoles were bankrupted and partly because the impact of wars got subjugated populations more thinking about what they deserved. How much longer could they have lasted without these effects?
 
At the very least the establishment of a state of Israel is massively more complicated as the Haganah is not going to have a moral high ground of sorts when it starts pulling off its own revolt and a King David Hotel Bombing without a WWII will see the Brits do unto the Yishuv what they did unto the Palestinians.
 
In general they last much longer, India is going to be independent no matter what but maybe not until the 1950's it may also avoid partition. No WW1 means no USSR so you won't have them funding liberation movements to try and create a sphere of influence. Longer colonialism may mean that the colonial powers do more to prepare their colonies for independent and without the Cold War the process may go more smoothly.

There would still be close economic and trade links within the former empires, so instead of empires you will probably have hegemonies and trade blocs.
 
At the very least the establishment of a state of Israel is massively more complicated as the Haganah is not going to have a moral high ground of sorts when it starts pulling off its own revolt and a King David Hotel Bombing without a WWII will see the Brits do unto the Yishuv what they did unto the Palestinians.

what would the British have to do with that part of the world with out WWI? :confused:

any ways the Ottomans did favor Jewish Settlement (trying to have a loyalist group to keep the Arabs down) the Ottomans are doomed I think an Arab rising (or a few) are coming for them, maybe they can hold Minority areas do to their fear of the Arab Majority
 

Perkeo

Banned
You should first elaborate why WWI was avoided. Given the attude of ALL major powers towards war in this aera, it takes much more than "Germany democratizes".

Germany could easily have prevented THIS world war if they had a smarter (not necessarily more democratic) leadership. But some sort of industrial war with most of the major powers involved and millions of casualties was bound to happen no matter what Germany would have done. Whatever removes the World Wars COMPLETELY will influence the colonial empires at least as much as the absense of the World Wars itself.
 
what would the British have to do with that part of the world with out WWI? :confused:

any ways the Ottomans did favor Jewish Settlement (trying to have a loyalist group to keep the Arabs down) the Ottomans are doomed I think an Arab rising (or a few) are coming for them, maybe they can hold Minority areas do to their fear of the Arab Majority

They were sooner or later going to do *something* in Palestine to secure the Suez Canal, and the whole idea of the "inevitable fall of the Ottoman Empire" means that Palestine sooner or later *will* be nabbed by the British, who may in any event welcome Zionism regardless under the misperception that a Jewish state will be pro-British. The rise of Israel is one thing that is at least rather probable *without* the world wars as the Aliyahs were already rising in terms of scale and population before 1914.
 
They were sooner or later going to do *something* in Palestine to secure the Suez Canal, and the whole idea of the "inevitable fall of the Ottoman Empire" means that Palestine sooner or later *will* be nabbed by the British, who may in any event welcome Zionism regardless under the misperception that a Jewish state will be pro-British. The rise of Israel is one thing that is at least rather probable *without* the world wars as the Aliyahs were already rising in terms of scale and population before 1914.

One wonders though if the borders of such an alternate Israel might be rather different.
 
One wonders though if the borders of such an alternate Israel might be rather different.

Indeed. One also wonders how the alternate version of Palestinian nationalism winds up looking. One can hope that Hajj Amin Husseini and Yasser Arafat never get anywhere near it in the ATL......
 
You should first elaborate why WWI was avoided. Given the attude of ALL major powers towards war in this aera, it takes much more than "Germany democratizes".

Germany could easily have prevented THIS world war if they had a smarter (not necessarily more democratic) leadership. But some sort of industrial war with most of the major powers involved and millions of casualties was bound to happen no matter what Germany would have done. Whatever removes the World Wars COMPLETELY will influence the colonial empires at least as much as the absense of the World Wars itself.

I don't want to particularly cloud the issue with a POD, because I'm most interested in the impact of no wars rather than the POD. Do people think there would be another catalysing event, or would it just be a steady march?

If you really need a POD let's just go for an alternate German monarch who pushes to extend the franchise more. This means more social democrats in parliament prevent the Germans from pushing the Austrians to be so hardline on Serbia. Increasing democratisation going forward means there's more an anti-war lobby to prevent future European wars (although not necessarily colonial ones).
 
You should first elaborate why WWI was avoided. Given the attude of ALL major powers towards war in this aera, it takes much more than "Germany democratizes".

Germany could easily have prevented THIS world war if they had a smarter (not necessarily more democratic) leadership. But some sort of industrial war with most of the major powers involved and millions of casualties was bound to happen no matter what Germany would have done. Whatever removes the World Wars COMPLETELY will influence the colonial empires at least as much as the absense of the World Wars itself.
A war was hardly inevitable, and even if one did occur it may not be anywhere near as huge as the Great War or Second World War. Look at the 'Great Game', Anglo-Russian relations at an all time low for decades with one trying to dominate Asia, were there any wars between them? Only one in the 1850's, the Crimean War.

The Great War came about through the numerous military alliances in Europe and could've easily been averted as wars had done hundreds of times in the previous century.
 
If Britain continued on in splendid isolation then the fate of the colonies would be similar to the white settler colonies prior to the First World War. A growing independence (perhaps under some Imperial Federation, particularly if there ends up being a trade war with Germany / USA) but not full fledged independence.

Would this be enough in all areas - possibly not in India. ANZAC, SA and Canada would be looking for full independence some time but may not get it until the 1960's or 1970's. I'd expect African colonies to be a couple of decades behind (Fall of the British Empire in 1989 in place of the Fall of the Berlin Wall?)
 
By WWI the United Sates too had a small colonial empire. Without WWI to expand its horizons, Britain isn't the only one wallowing in its "splendid isolation." No WWI also has a dramatic effect on US-British relations. Also, without WWI the U.S. military remains small, ill-equipped, and under-trained as the confrontation with Japan approaches. Or is there a confrontation at all?
 
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