Leopold I king of Greece - Greek Congo

Are you kidding; there are far to many butterflies with such a POD for "Greece to get the Congo"; and if Belgium didn't acquire the Congo as it did in our timeline, we would probably see it split between the great powers in the area (Portugal, Britain, and possibly France).
 
Greece wouldn't simply get the Congo because they'd be ruled by the father of the guy that ended up with it IOTL. Leopold I got the offer regarding the Greek throne five years before Leopold II was even born. In this ATL, Leopold II will be a different guy (literally; the chances of the same sperm cell fertilizing the same egg are about zero, so Leopold II - if he has that name - will be someone different).

TTL's Leopold II of Greece may not even be interested in colonies. If he is, he may try to push for Greek control over Cyrenaica, over which Greece held some sway in ancient times. But the Congo is very unlikely to be the object of his ambitions.
 

Skallagrim

Banned
If Leopold becoimes king of Greece... who rules Belgium? That influences wether Belgium gets any colonies later on. (Britain and France might both still think it a good idea to grant the Congo to a smaller nation like Belgium, te prevenmt the other from getting it.)

Greek Cyrenaica seems like a cool idea. It's just across the Med for them. Greek Congo makes no sense at all, no matter who's king.
 
yeah ... no matter who's at the head of Greece, any colonial efforts are either going to be channeled towards Cyrenaica, and/or conquering and resettling westernmost Anatolia and all of the Balkan parts of Ottomans
 
"Belgium" stays in the United Netherlands in the first place: Leopold accepts Greece for want of that preferable alternative.

Why it would? Independent Belgium not be impossible without Leopold. There would be just some another house on Belgian throne.
 
I think Greece's ambitions were historically focused on obtaining historically Greek areas rather than a colonial empire.

Interestingly though, Greeks were important as small traders, merchants and farmers in many parts of Eastern Africa. In Egypt, they formed the largest European community before 1952 and were important in cotton farming. They were also important in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. In German East Africa and later British Tanganyika they were the main sisal farmers and controlled much of the coffee growing. In the Belgian Congo they formed the third largest European community after Belgians and Portuguese and they were especially present in the Eastern half of the country and the Katanga. The largest Greek communities South of the Sahara were traditionally in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia though.

Greece had a fairly large merchant marine (think Aristotle Onassis), and had a large number pool of poor people who could be willing to take their chances in Africa (much like the Portuguese and Syrians and Lebanese). Also, there were Greeks skilled in tobacco and cotton farming (Greeks from Anatolia). However, I think any colony would be a burden for the Greek state and be seen as distracting the country from its main goals in the Mediterranean. As mentioned previously, Cyrenaica would probably be doable.
 
Why it would? Independent Belgium not be impossible without Leopold. There would be just some another house on Belgian throne.
Not having the English prefered candidate on the Belgian throne, could lead to a different diplomatic standpoint of Britain, since it could mean a French candidate. This could lead to a different political situation in the Netherlands. Mind you, no Belgium is not the most likely outcome. Not that it realy matters for the POD. There are enough possibilities for Leopold to become king of Greece instead of Belgium (different king for Belgium, no belgian revolution, defeated belgian revolution, France anexes or devides Belgium, Belgium becomes a republic, Belgium turns out to be made up by an English crime novelist).

The thing is could Greece get the Congo? Well belgium (or the Belgian king actualy) got the Congo because it was a non threatening country, which actualy wanted it and was relatively pro-Britain. Greece would also fit that profile, so it is not completely out of the question. That said, Greece is not in a particulairly good position to colonise anything not bordering the mediterranean. More likely Congo would go to Portugal, the main candidate before the Belgian king accepted it.
 

Skallagrim

Banned
There are enough possibilities for Leopold to become king of Greece instead of Belgium (different king for Belgium, no belgian revolution, defeated belgian revolution, France anexes or devides Belgium, Belgium becomes a republic, Belgium turns out to be made up by an English crime novelist).

This discussion board is for alternate history, sir. That bolded part is OTL, and has no place here. :p
 
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