Also alt-H.G. Wells as Socialist PM... Sweet!
How the hell did I miss that?
Also alt-H.G. Wells as Socialist PM... Sweet!
How the hell did I miss that?
Same here! OMG, that's awesome.
Of course, in OTL he had rather nasty eugenics beliefs, which I hope have been butterflied.
A Dominion of Ulster in retrospect might end up being some kind of Protestant Theodemocratic S***hole.
Now the Coaster's custom's union looks really fascinating, and I wonder, if it happens, what it will look like; and will Canada get in on it with their connections through the descendents of the Black Loyalist communities in Nova Scotia?
And will the Malê retain a separate ethnic identity in the future?
Though a Republican Britain is seldom explored, IMHO, the empire would rally better around a figurehead monarch rather than a president. I've heard such things echoed in OTL. The House of Lords looks even more interesting; but how does this compare to OTL, a bit hazy on the details of that House?
Ireland seems like a good compromise for now, and looks like it's avoided OTL's Troubles. That little quip at the end about the opposing factions of Ulster being neighbors down under sounds like it's going to work out in the end for at least some folks getting past their differences, at least that's what I'm hoping.
So Northern Ireland by different means. Interesting.
Glad to see Northern Ireland ended well-ish.
On another note, glad to see the Northern Ireland question settled in a more moderate way, though the term "moderate" might not be the correct term for the events there.
A Dominion of Ulster in retrospect might end up being some kind of Protestant Theodemocratic S***hole.
One tiny nitpick regarding the very fascinating Britain update: Looking on maps showing the Irish counties, the Dominion of Ulster would only cover 4 (Londonderry, Antrim, Armagh and Down) instead of 5 counties. Unless of course Belfast is the implied fifth county as a county borough (which it historically was together with Derry and some other non-Northern Irish cities).
A Jamaican adventure...I'm hoping this doesn't resemble a certain adventure in OTL's Iraq. Just saying.
I wonder what the Caribbean Adventure could entail? The RN has naval superiority, the Afro-Jamaicans would be on side... I'm missing something, aren't I?
I'm guessing that with London and the Dominions being busy cleaning up Northern Ireland, the Jamaican planter class have turned the island into a Natal-lite state or at least created from of heavy-discriminatory governance there.
Also alt-H.G. Wells as Socialist PM... Sweet! Let's see how he handles the troublesome situation on Jamaica.
How the hell did I miss that?
Same here! OMG, that's awesome.
Of course, in OTL he had rather nasty eugenics beliefs, which I hope have been butterflied.
...It will be more a political problem than a military one. The adventure will be somewhere else, but it won't resemble Iraq - think 1982, but a lot farther north....
The last clause alone implies someone outside the British system decides the time is ripe, either because Britain looks weak or because of purely domestic considerations, to seize a long-standing claim of British territory.
I thought it might be a crisis between the Central American federation and the Miskito Coast, but both it and Belize seem to have "vanished softly and silently away" on the latest map we have that includes the Americas. The next suspect, now that the British have long ago sold the Bahamas to the USA, would be in the Lesser Antilles--Trinidad & Tobago, being claim-jumped by Venezuela. Or Guyana being grabbed--by whom though?
Venezuela. Both ITTL and IOTL they have a long-standing, bitterly argued for claim over Guayana Essequiba that is, the vast majority of present-day Guyana's territory. The origin of the dispute is pre-POD, and I seem to remember that it emerged as a minor issue in the Great War ITTL.
I can totally see the area turning unstable again with the current Venezuelan govt., which IIRC is quite big on nationalist lunacy.
Venezuela. Both ITTL and IOTL they have a long-standing, bitterly argued for claim over Guayana Essequiba that is, the vast majority of present-day Guyana's territory. The origin of the dispute is pre-POD, and I seem to remember that it emerged as a minor issue in the Great War ITTL.
I can totally see the area turning unstable again with the current Venezuelan govt., which IIRC is quite big on nationalist lunacy.
Awesome update, Nanwe. Seems like Spain's problems aren't over yet.
How developed is Basque nationalism at this point? They seem to have been quiet so far, despite the events in the rest of the country.
Interesting on Ulster - how does Monaghan end up in the North TTL when it's in the Republic OTL?
And I see that TTL's Parliament Act is now in place as well, somewhat later than OTL. Will OTL's subsequent reduction from three sessions to two follow in due course?
Not much. Without the cataclysm of 1898, it will be difficult for such a racialist movement as OTL's PNV to get a hold of the Basque bourgeoisie. One of the most important things to remember about the Basque country is that its upper middle and upper classes were always very conservative and religious (in fact, even today a 'pure' Basques are statistically more likely to go to church than a son of second or even third generation immigrants even if of similar social class and economic resources). But without the disenchantment, the Bilbao and San Sebatián's powerful will remain staunchly Spanish, somewhere in between Carlism and favourable to TTL's National Government. On the other hand, the urban proletariat is mostly born outside of the Basque Country plus left-wing, so don't expect much from them. They aren't (like OTL mostly) going to support a movement both conservative and so opposed to their own identity.
So basically, if Basque nationalism takes hold (and it's doubtful), it will only expand across the rural world, and Basque will remain a rural language without any prestige in the cities. Its future is not bright. Especially is Carlism goes through a revival phase.
Nanwe, the situation in Spain sounds very interesting. I really liked the details you gave us there.
One thing that's caught my attention is the weird relationship they have developed with democracy and representative organizations. On the one hand, they suspend the Cortes, but praise local-level democracy and catholic and socialist labor unions as organic voices of the people. Are these unions in the form of a typical labor union, or does it follow more of the Franquista management-ran "unions"? If the former, the government's ideas are still illiberal, but it doesn't fit into the mold of any OTL Spanish intellectual movements I can think of(well, the eclectic mix vaguely reminds me of Franco's mix of justifications for personal power, but I can't really call Franquismo a real ideology). I'm curious, is it inspired or modeled off of something from OTL or more of a whole-cloth invention for TTL?
It sounds like the military government is on increasingly tenuous footing as well. I wonder how long it can realistically last ITTL Spain.
Interesting. The way you put it, the social base of the left-wing Basque nationalism IOTL (such as what used to be Batasuna) is essentially made of people who have little direct ancestry in the Basque Country? This would be fascinating.*
* I personally know people in a similar situation in Catalonia, so I would not be surprised. Of course, I understand that Basque and Catalonian nationalisms are very different beasts.
So, it's not coherent, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. But of course it's difficult to write about a Primo-like regime without someone as charismatic as Primo de Rivera, who as a foreign journalist put it: "[he was] the kind of Spanish aristocrat who goes, with equal conviction, to the brothel Saturday night and to mass Sunday morning with his wife".