Largest possible British Empire?

There was a period in the early 18thC when the future Frederick the Great was something like 2nd in line to the British throne. There have been TLs that ran with this and ended with most of the world being British (or at least Anglo-Prussian) by the present day.
 
What would be the largest possible extent of the British Empire? POD is during the Hundred Years War

Well, the obvious answer would be to keep the Thirteen Colonies British, in which case the Empire might well end up controlling the land of OTL's USA. Then again, this might lead them to focus less on colonising Africa, India and Australia, so the British Empire might not end up much bigger in such a scenario.
 
Taking over Japan in the early 19th Century, while not doing much on terms of supplying resources, would block the rise of another imperial power and truly secure the Far East as British territory, poised to take over Korea and carve up China and Far East Russia.
 
step 1.
take/buy Louisiana & Florida from Spain

step 2.
Get into war with the US that distracts from Napoleon; make sure not to lose New Orleans or Canada

step 3.
be victorious in the invasion of Spanish Argentina; make sure future immigrants there learn English

step 4.
Butterfly Napoleon's invasion of Spain

step 5.
Occupy Caribbean sugar islands; profit

step 6.
Help independence movements throughout Spain's American holdings (delayed due to no Napoleonic invasion); make them protectorates, controlling their trade, once the loyalists there are defeated; profit

step 7.
Have Nappy still running around Europe, on account of Britain being too busy defending Louisiana to tip the scales against the Corsican Ogre decisively

step 8.
Occupy Dutch colonies - South Africa (OTL) and East Indies (ATL); profit

step 9.
Direct immigration to New Orleans, push forwards from there west and north

step 10.
Keep Europe too busy fighting French hegemony; take good parts of Africa while they're not looking

step 11.
Support the Confederates to keep the Americans divided

step 12.
Buy Alaska from Russia when the time comes

upload_2016-11-13_19-54-55.png

Pink: Direct and indirect British possession
Yellow: Independent states more or less dependent on Britain for trade
 
Well, actually I'd probably not like the world Magnum's skeleton TL and map imply. But I do like the internal logic and Machiavellian strategy it suggests. (un?)Fortunately the actual OTL British Empire was acquired "in a fit of absent-mindedness" and not planned by a dynasty of strategic geniuses.

:cool:
 
step 1.
take/buy Louisiana & Florida from Spain

step 2.
Get into war with the US that distracts from Napoleon; make sure not to lose New Orleans or Canada

step 3.
be victorious in the invasion of Spanish Argentina; make sure future immigrants there learn English

step 4.
Butterfly Napoleon's invasion of Spain

step 5.
Occupy Caribbean sugar islands; profit

step 6.
Help independence movements throughout Spain's American holdings (delayed due to no Napoleonic invasion); make them protectorates, controlling their trade, once the loyalists there are defeated; profit

step 7.
Have Nappy still running around Europe, on account of Britain being too busy defending Louisiana to tip the scales against the Corsican Ogre decisively

step 8.
Occupy Dutch colonies - South Africa (OTL) and East Indies (ATL); profit

step 9.
Direct immigration to New Orleans, push forwards from there west and north

step 10.
Keep Europe too busy fighting French hegemony; take good parts of Africa while they're not looking

step 11.
Support the Confederates to keep the Americans divided

step 12.
Buy Alaska from Russia when the time comes

View attachment 295427
Pink: Direct and indirect British possession
Yellow: Independent states more or less dependent on Britain for trade

Good ideas; I don't know if they would actually get done. This would require a series of expansionist and skilled leaders-- my only problem is that the Russians would never have sold Alaska to the British. One of the reasons they sold it to the Americans in the first place was because they did not want the British themselves to end up with the territory.

Also, considering the Opium war(Or TTL equivalent) if the British played their cards right you might be able to consider the Qing dynasty an "Independent state more or less dependent on Great Britain for Trade".
 
How about Christopher Columbus sailing for King Henry first instead of Spain ? The King's wooed by the alleged riches of India and funds him off two ships, Saint Mary and something else. Columbus bounces off the Canaries to go south for India, but instead lands of Hispaniola, or Queskeya, or something. Whilst there ain't riches, the fact that he made it to India baffles Henry and funds a second and third voyage. A combination of diseases and civil wars in the Incas would allow England to take OTL Latin America. Using those riches, the Tudors would then use it to either invest in the empire building, or beat France like hell and take, say, Aquitaine, Normandie, Breizh, etc.
 
step 1.
take/buy Louisiana & Florida from Spain

step 2.
Get into war with the US that distracts from Napoleon; make sure not to lose New Orleans or Canada

step 3.
be victorious in the invasion of Spanish Argentina; make sure future immigrants there learn English

step 4.
Butterfly Napoleon's invasion of Spain

step 5.
Occupy Caribbean sugar islands; profit

step 6.
Help independence movements throughout Spain's American holdings (delayed due to no Napoleonic invasion); make them protectorates, controlling their trade, once the loyalists there are defeated; profit

step 7.
Have Nappy still running around Europe, on account of Britain being too busy defending Louisiana to tip the scales against the Corsican Ogre decisively

step 8.
Occupy Dutch colonies - South Africa (OTL) and East Indies (ATL); profit

step 9.
Direct immigration to New Orleans, push forwards from there west and north

step 10.
Keep Europe too busy fighting French hegemony; take good parts of Africa while they're not looking

step 11.
Support the Confederates to keep the Americans divided

step 12.
Buy Alaska from Russia when the time comes

View attachment 295427
Pink: Direct and indirect British possession
Yellow: Independent states more or less dependent on Britain for trade

No, no, you're thinking too small.

"To think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex the planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far." -- Cecil Rhodes
 
step 1.
take/buy Louisiana & Florida from Spain

step 2.
Get into war with the US that distracts from Napoleon; make sure not to lose New Orleans or Canada

step 3.
be victorious in the invasion of Spanish Argentina; make sure future immigrants there learn English

step 4.
Butterfly Napoleon's invasion of Spain

step 5.
Occupy Caribbean sugar islands; profit

step 6.
Help independence movements throughout Spain's American holdings (delayed due to no Napoleonic invasion); make them protectorates, controlling their trade, once the loyalists there are defeated; profit

step 7.
Have Nappy still running around Europe, on account of Britain being too busy defending Louisiana to tip the scales against the Corsican Ogre decisively

step 8.
Occupy Dutch colonies - South Africa (OTL) and East Indies (ATL); profit

step 9.
Direct immigration to New Orleans, push forwards from there west and north

step 10.
Keep Europe too busy fighting French hegemony; take good parts of Africa while they're not looking

step 11.
Support the Confederates to keep the Americans divided

step 12.
Buy Alaska from Russia when the time comes

View attachment 295427
Pink: Direct and indirect British possession
Yellow: Independent states more or less dependent on Britain for trade

Oh, come on. We can do better than that -

Step 13.

Instead of believing himself to be the younger brother of Christ after a vision fuelled by the 19thC equivalent of Chick tracts, Hong Xiuquan's exposure to Christianity comes in the form of a rigorously orthodox Anglican missionary. When he revolts after failing the Civil Service entrance exams one time too many he offers the Mandate of Heaven to Queen Victoria in return for British support and the combined armies of the British Empire and Heavenly Kingdom sweep the Qing away. Hong is frustrated though when the British adopt the basics of the Imperial exam system as part of a series of reforms to the governance of the Empire and he fails the exam again.
 
How about Christopher Columbus sailing for King Henry first instead of Spain ? The King's wooed by the alleged riches of India and funds him off two ships, Saint Mary and something else. Columbus bounces off the Canaries to go south for India, but instead lands of Hispaniola, or Queskeya, or something. Whilst there ain't riches, the fact that he made it to India baffles Henry and funds a second and third voyage. A combination of diseases and civil wars in the Incas would allow England to take OTL Latin America. Using those riches, the Tudors would then use it to either invest in the empire building, or beat France like hell and take, say, Aquitaine, Normandie, Breizh, etc.
The British Canary Islands. Interesting...
  • Nelson doesn't loose his arm or was it his eye in the attack on Tenerife if he exists in TTL.
  • British invisible earnings might be a lot better after the Islands become a tourist destination.
  • San Augustin becomes Saint Augustine and would Playa del Ingles be Beach of the Spanish ITTL?
 
The British Canary Islands. Interesting...
  • Nelson doesn't loose his arm or was it his eye in the attack on Tenerife if he exists in TTL.
  • British invisible earnings might be a lot better after the Islands become a tourist destination.
  • San Augustin becomes Saint Augustine and would Playa del Ingles be Beach of the Spanish ITTL?
It was his right arm on Tenerife, vision in his right eye on Corsica.
 
There was a period in the early 18thC when the future Frederick the Great was something like 2nd in line to the British throne. There have been TLs that ran with this and ended with most of the world being British (or at least Anglo-Prussian) by the present day.

Similarly Wilhelm II was Queen Victoria's Grandson, and was at her bedside when she passed.
Given the rampant mortality of Royal Princes its not completely implausible to create a more recent Anglo-German Empire TL.
 
The British Canary Islands. Interesting...
  • Nelson doesn't loose his arm or was it his eye in the attack on Tenerife if he exists in TTL.
  • British invisible earnings might be a lot better after the Islands become a tourist destination.
  • San Augustin becomes Saint Augustine and would Playa del Ingles be Beach of the Spanish ITTL?
It would not have happened anyway with that POD because the Castilian conquest of the Canary Islands had been in progress since 1402. It's probably so implausible to be ASB, but what if some of the English troop ships on their way to take part in the 3rd Crusade were blown way off course into the Atlantic, but fortuitously found the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries beginning 800 years of British settlement?
 
Occupy Dutch colonies - South Africa (OTL) and East Indies (ATL); profit
IIRC the Dutch East Indies were occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, but were given back twice. Among the reasons why were that the UK could still trade with them, but the Dutch would have to pay the administration and defence costs. So ITTL keeping them might mean less profit.
 
IIRC the Dutch East Indies were occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, but were given back twice. Among the reasons why were that the UK could still trade with them, but the Dutch would have to pay the administration and defence costs. So ITTL keeping them might mean less profit.

But wouldn't they get to own and/or tax most of the plantations there and whatnot, more than offsetting the cost?

Also, here's a nicer map:
upload_2016-11-15_13-38-29.png

British Empire at the beginning of the 20th Century

some ideas:
- there's a war with Mexico at some point due to the pressure of immigrants coming in via New Orleans, resulting in the loss of its northern territories and the Yucatan peninsula (which was pretty hostile to the central government in Mexico City OTL)
- there's a Crimea War analogue that sees Alaska and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (and the entire peninsula with it) lost by Russia. (given their remoteness, the only way to effectively reach them is by sea anyway). the new lands get populated by Canadians interested in the fur trade, whaling and mineral extraction
- China is fractured enough that the British can afford to make Tibet a protectorate
- British economic interests dominate Latin America even more than the US did OTL
- Barbary Coast and Libya are taken before Europe gets its act together
- there is a partition of the Ottoman Empire, with Britain getting the Arab bits
- a lot of Africa is a lot more loosely controlled than OTL, with subservient native states playing a much bigger role
 
Top