Independent Friesland

Caligo

Banned
This Alternate Timeline takes a look at if Friesland became an independent state following WWII. In this timeline all history is pretty much the same until the end of the Second World War. Somewhere among the American Diplomats & Generals is the idea of breaking a united Friesland off of Germany & The Netherlands. Keep in mind that German occupied Netherlands fought the Allies to the bitter end. Perhaps American leadership feels that the Dutch were a little more than collaborators. Another ulterior motive for the United States weakening the Dutch would be a desire to wrestle some Dutch Caribbean Islands away from the Dutch and tacking them onto the US Virgin Islands. The Americans understanding that Friesland to a certain extent would be a contrived state would understand the certain institutions needed to be built first. The Americans would find a cadet branch of the House of Orange-Nassau from Friesland. The Kingdom of Friesland would declare its independence in May 1945. The Kingdom of Friesland would comprise of North Frisia & East Frisia from Germany and the province of Friesland from the Netherlands. The United Kingdom would take Heligoland as a protectorate directly after the war. Then in 1949 Heligoland would be ceded to Friesland. Friesland joins the EU as a founding member in 1957. The population of Friesland today is 1,276,018 and the official language is Frisian. Friesland would be considered part of the Benelux Union making it "Beneluf."

320px-Frisian_flag.svg.png

[Flag of the Kingdom of Friesland]

Kingdom of Friesland.png
[Flag of Modern Day Northwest Europe]
 

Zen9

Banned
Of course it could choose a certain Elizabeth for monarch and join the UK. .....
But even independent, if it's formalising an official version of Frisian. Then this is closest to English.
 
It's an interesting idea, but I think you'd need an earlier, and more open, Dutch-German collaboration with Germany in order for the allies to start lopping off chunks of a nominally Allied country. The planning stages of this are going to cause the French to begin panicking as they've got plenty of areas that could be spun off into client states of the major victors of the war. Of course, such an earlier collaboration probably results in some bigger changes, including the Japanese being able to buy oil from Axis friendly Dutch Indies.
 
You know, I took out my phone and went to Google Maps to type in Friesland. I got results for Germany and the Netherlands. I went to each one and I saw that it's in Northern Netherlands and Northwestern Germany on the Dutch border. Then I concluded, "oh, it would probably be here." I then scrolled down and saw that you already provided a map. LOL! :D

I like this idea a lot, but only as long as you keep it out of the Eurozone and keep the value of the Frisian Guilder low. I live in Poland and I'm always up for somewhere cheaper in Western Europe to visit.
 
[QUOTE="MarieAntoinette, post: 18414505, member: 15634"I live in Poland and I'm always up for somewhere cheaper in Western Europe to visit.[/QUOTE]
There is a small island somewhere in the North Atlantic called Britain which should be quite cheap fairly soon.........
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
Well that country seems like a recipe for disaster. It makes Frisians a minority in their own country. And that's not even talking about the percentage of actual cultural Frisians.

Edit: Given the severe lack of issue of sons of William II and William III, is there even a cadet branch of Oranje-Nassau? Though there is probably someone to be found given the fact the Luxembourgians managed as well after the death of William III.
 

Ramontxo

Donor
Or go the Comonthwealth way and have the two countrys (the Netherlands and Frieseland) with the same Queen
 

Caligo

Banned
@HJ Tulp So I did the math. The regions that comprise Friesland today have a population of 1,276,018. There are roughly 760,000 people in these areas that consider themselves ethnically Frisian today. Roughly 500,000 use Frisian are their native language. This means about 60% of the population would be ethnically Frisian. Sure only 40% of "Frieslanders" speak Frisian but we know Frisian revivalism starting in the 1940s could mean that Frisian would be much more prolific in this TL. It must be pointed out that many of the Germans & Dutch that live in Friesland are in fact frisians but they have been assimulated into their host nations respectively. The patralinial line of my own family came to America from Aurich, Ostfriesland. They spoken German but when I got DNA tested an equal percentage of my DNA that aligns with what percentage Frisian I would be came back as Scandinavian. Even if look at Luxembourg, Luxembourgish only make up 51% of the population.
 
A while back (years, please don't make me look!) someone did a scenario where the Soviets were able to legitimately claim the lion's share of Germany after WWII. But they were amenable to, and in fact encouraged the Western Allies to pick off bits of the carcass (just as they were doing on behalf of Poland) and creating new buffer states. Saarland, Rhineland, and border adjustments favorable to several countries were made. I think there was even kind of a rump Swabia in there (just because that was land they were sitting on when the music stopped). An independent Friesland could fit into a scenario like this. I don't know about taking Dutch territory, but I'll leave that for others.
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
@HJ Tulp So I did the math. The regions that comprise Friesland today have a population of 1,276,018. There are roughly 760,000 people in these areas that consider themselves ethnically Frisian today. Roughly 500,000 use Frisian are their native language. This means about 60% of the population would be ethnically Frisian. Sure only 40% of "Frieslanders" speak Frisian but we know Frisian revivalism starting in the 1940s could mean that Frisian would be much more prolific in this TL. It must be pointed out that many of the Germans & Dutch that live in Friesland are in fact frisians but they have been assimulated into their host nations respectively. The patralinial line of my own family came to America from Aurich, Ostfriesland. They spoken German but when I got DNA tested an equal percentage of my DNA that aligns with what percentage Frisian I would be came back as Scandinavian. Even if look at Luxembourg, Luxembourgish only make up 51% of the population.

Interesting, I came with some different numbers :)

Population of ATL Friesland:

Ost-Friesland: 465,000
Groningen: 582,000
Friesland: 646,000
West-Friesland: 386,000

Total 2.079.000

Now your numbers for the amount of people that consider themselves Frisian could very well be correct but that would be a lot less than 50% I'm afraid. Especially looking at the number of native speakers of Frisian, which wikipedia puts at 400,000 but could very well be quite a few more as you say.

The major problem (besides the POD but that's only for purists :)) is that this alt-Friesland has a few important components that might have been considered (and considered themselves) as Frisian in the past but have stopped considering themselves as such for centuries at least. I'm looking at West-Friesland (which has been firmly in the sphere of influence of the County or State of Holland) and Groningen.
 
Keep in mind that German occupied Netherlands fought the Allies to the bitter end. Perhaps American leadership feels that the Dutch were a little more than collaborators. Another ulterior motive for the United States weakening the Dutch would be a desire to wrestle some Dutch Caribbean Islands away from the Dutch and tacking them onto the US Virgin Islands.
Sorry, but these two reasonings i consider totally ASB.
 
This Alternate Timeline takes a look at if Friesland became an independent state following WWII. In this timeline all history is pretty much the same until the end of the Second World War. Somewhere among the American Diplomats & Generals is the idea of breaking a united Friesland off of Germany & The Netherlands. Keep in mind that German occupied Netherlands fought the Allies to the bitter end. Perhaps American leadership feels that the Dutch were a little more than collaborators. Another ulterior motive for the United States weakening the Dutch would be a desire to wrestle some Dutch Caribbean Islands away from the Dutch and tacking them onto the US Virgin Islands. The Americans understanding that Friesland to a certain extent would be a contrived state would understand the certain institutions needed to be built first. The Americans would find a cadet branch of the House of Orange-Nassau from Friesland. The Kingdom of Friesland would declare its independence in May 1945. The Kingdom of Friesland would comprise of North Frisia & East Frisia from Germany and the province of Friesland from the Netherlands. The United Kingdom would take Heligoland as a protectorate directly after the war. Then in 1949 Heligoland would be ceded to Friesland. Friesland joins the EU as a founding member in 1957. The population of Friesland today is 1,276,018 and the official language is Frisian. Friesland would be considered part of the Benelux Union making it "Beneluf."

View attachment 438337
[Flag of the Kingdom of Friesland]

View attachment 438336 [Flag of Modern Day Northwest Europe]
If It isn' t annexed by Netherlands than it would become most likely a Republic.
 
Friesland and Groningen, two of the poorer parts of the Netherlands independent, combined with East-Frisia, one of the poorer parts of Germany, just because the Western Allies want to be a bunch @#$%? That is a recipe for disaster.

Also a good way to alienate the Netherlands from the allies. Currently the Netherlands is one of the most loyal allies of the USA and the UK. If this happens, they will be at best neutral towards them, probably quite hostile. It seems like a stupid idea for absolutely no good reason.

Especialy considering there is no national Frisian identity. A regional Frisian identity? Most certainly (although not shared with the people from Groningen or even West-Frisia). But no national identity. The Frisian national party wants more autonomy, but certainly not independence.
 
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