My almost done WIP, just need to add the legends. I'm quite satisfied with the colors overall.
I will write a more detailed description later. But the basic idea is that the British managed to seize Alaska during the Crimean War, which led to their more aggressive expansion policy in North America and ultimately, the intervention in the War of Southern Secession. Meanwhile, a badly humiliated Russia industrialized quickly and more thoroughly, then later allied with Egypt to get rid of the Ottoman in the 1870s. Despite the initial alliance systems, the world soon turned 180 and was divided into 2 blocks: the Anglo-Egyptian Malta Pact and the Russo-Japanese Grand Alliance, with Brazil being the big neutral guy.
Some notable points:
- Maximilian's Mexico
- Napoleonic France
- Greater Belgium
- NGC Prussia
- Neutral Bavaria
- Subservient Habsburgs
- Imperial Brazil with colonies
- Colonially active Spain
- Indian Ocean-focused Portugal
- Semi-federated Britain
- Ottoman Empire (ruled from Cairo)
- Re-emerging Mughals
- Smaller China without warlords
- Saner Japan
View attachment 535316
I had a change of heart regarding the situation in India after a successful Sepoy Rebellion so the map is updated with the legend added.
1. The allied force that failed to hunt down the Russian flotilla at Kamchatka headed to Alaska instead. In the peace that followed after, the colony was handed to Britain. The gold rushed happened earlier and provided Britain with lots of cash.
2. With the British having more leverage in North America, they were more aggressive in the Oregon boundary dispute. Finally, Britain took advantage of the War of Southern Independence to settle it once and for all.
3. The Secession Conspiracy received more support from California's governing top. Since then, it remained a loyal regional trading partner of Britain.
4. With French support, Maximilian grabbed some of former Mexican land and his popularity suddenly skyrocketed. The House of Habsburg-Iturbide detested the Russians for what they did to their brethren during the Great European War.
5. A much warmer relationship with France and an adjusted border with the US enabled to British to choose Trois-Rivières as the capital for Canada.
6. Despite the Hartford movement already dying out a generation ago, the New Englanders were quick to contend with their new situation as British spoils of war. Boosted Canada's demographic growth greatly.
7. Washington was very pissed off by the fact that not only they lost New England and Minnesota, they also had to agree to form a demilitarized zone with the rump CSA. With their current position, no round 2 would be within sight.
8. Losing half of Virginia was a great blow to the young industry of the CSA. They had to move their capital to Atlanta, though this decision would later turn out to be a good move. Currently in a rather bad shape due to their crops being devastated by the boll weevils, luckily aids from Britain and Brazil did help a great deal.
9. This territory slipped off the hands of the US in the aftermath of the War of Southern Independence. It became a haven for native American tribes.
10. Happily selling oil to everyone.
11. Spain's successful reconquest of the Dominican Republic improved the reputation of the monarchy and stabilized the country. Since then, Madrid became active again in the world stage.
12. Britain was planning to build a canal here.
13. The Panamanian separatists were all rooted out, though it did not really benefit Columbia that much without a trans-oceanic canal.
14. British Guyana was in charge of all British Caribbean colonies, they were advocating for Dominion status.
15. Got a better deal than OTL thanks to joining the right side in the ATL War of the Triple Alliance, which pitted Brazil, Columbia and Ecuador against Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. Only Chile stayed out of this conflict while Uruguay was swallowed whole by Brazil at the end.
16. Despite losing, still had sea access, which spelled success.
17. Replaced Argentina as Britain's most loyal partner in the region.
18. The monarchy still held strong. In the aftermath of the republican revolution in Portugal, the surviving royal members fled to Brazil.
19. Argentina refused to accept the peace treaty unless a demilitarized zone would be formed. They got what they asked for, felt a bit safer with the capital so close to the border like this.
20. Argentine claim on Falkland was much fiercer due to their non-existing partnership with Britain nowadays.
21. Got home rule, Dominion status and a rock. Neat!
22. It was nightmarish to re-organize the Empire at first. London could finally sigh in relief now that their sole focus was all about India and Russia.
23. Sweden gave back Norway to Denmark sans Finmark in exchange for the later participating in the Great European War against Prussia and Russia.
24. It was not like the Norwegians immediately fell into the arms of Dernmark voluntarily, they were not the same as in 1814. The Danes had to give them lots of privileges, but having more ships was definitely better.
25. Thanks to the BEF, Denmark held its line against Prussia and even took back Schleswig.
26. During the opening days of the Great European War, Schlieffen was authorized by Waldersee to invade France through Belgium and the Netherlands. The planning was incomplete, which pushed the 2 countries into Britain and France's camp. The Dutch got a slight border adjustment at the peace talk.
27. Belgium and France were the main winners whose new borders almost reached the Rhine. France also made a useful ally out of the South German states.
28. France returned the Duchy of Savoy back to Italy in exchange for an agreement regarding the territories of the Papal States.
29. After being forced to sell Mozambique to Britain, a public outrage overthrew the monarchy and the royal house fled to Brazil. The new republican government held a grudge against Britain at first but later realized that sucking up to them was the fastest way to recover.
30. Despite being neutral in the Great European War, Bavaria was fortifying their borders, hoping that the next war over the Rhine would not be on their soils.
31. The Pope still ruled over a large swath of land, some limited reforms did help to improve the living standards and the faith.
32. Bismarck was assassinated in 1866, which meant no Austro-Prussian War, no Franco-Prussian War. Roon replaced him as Chancellor, Moltke being Minister of War and Waldersee being Chief of Staff. When the Russians declared war on Turkey and Austria in the late 1870s, Roon supported the Tsar in hope of taking this chance to create a Greater Prussia.
33. Still lamenting that they should had offered help to the Russians during the Crimean War instead of forming an alliance with the Ottomans to counter Russian aggression in the Balkan. With a great territorial reduce and bigger ethnic issues, the empire reformed itself into a federation. Still a Russian client nowadays.
34. The modernizing efforts under Alexander II paid off during the Great European War which saw the Russian Army making short work of their 2 major rivals and turned the whole Balkan into their backyard.
35. Still oppressed but bigger.
36. The current Tsar wondered why his grandfather didn't disregard the alliance with Egypt and took Constantinople as well. This became a sore spot in the Russo-Egyptian relationship, which ultimately pushed Cairo into Britain's arms.
37. The Ottoman Sultan still had some ceremonial authority and power claims within Rumelia and Anatolia...
38. except Pontus, Russia was sending Greek settlers to fill out the region.
39. The ever-lasting sea boundary dispute between Greece and Egypt. It was fortunate that Cairo had more urgent stuff to deal with instead of escalating the conflict.
40. Left alone by Russia thanks to the Khedive insisting on his ancestral land's neutral status.
41. The Spanish was starting to get used to Moroccan guerrilla tactics.
42. On the way to being an official part of France. The relationship with the Arabs was pretty mild thanks to Napoleon III's efforts.
43. Tunisia was also part of the deal for Italy to leave the Papal States alone.
44. While this new Islamic empire was still named after the Ottomans, the Sultan was actually confined in his own palace in Constantinople. The de facto executive capital was Cairo with all the power effectively resting in the hands of the Khedive.
45. Despite losing the War, the US still kept up with the trend of sending freed slaves to Liberia. The country already had a sizable New World population.
46. Brutal but efficient, such was the Prussian way in handling colonial matters.
47. Leopold II drank himself to death when celebrating the victory against Prussia so the colony was under the direct control of the government. Not a paradise but much better than OTL.
48. After grabbing Angola from the new Portuguese government under the pretext of securing it for the Braganzas, Rio decided to incorporate Angola into the empire with full citizenship granted, a popular move among the people, except the Portuguese aristocracy, not that they had any say in the matter.
49. Having no access to Egypt in TTL, Britain forcefully took over Portuguese colonies to secure the Mozambique Channel.
50. Republican Portugal was allowed to colonized Madagascar to make up for it losses though.
51. Fearing an increasingly powerful Oman, Britain backed the division of the empire despite their traditional alliance.
52. Ethiopia was not happy, being surrounded by states they had territorial disputes with. They were especially serious when it comes to Somalia though.
53. Being propped up by Britain initially to be a counterweight against Egypt, their value ran out when Egypt switched side. Brazil became a better choice as a long time partner.
54. Kurdistan, a loyal Russian vassal.
55. The Russians were over-enthusiastic when trying to redraw the borders of the Middle East.
56. Tehran wished they had nothing to do with the whole anti-Britain stuff. If anything, they preferred the British.
57. Got back the territories they had leased to Oman before.
58. De jure a Russian client state, de facto independent in a messy way.
59. Receiving aids from Russia, the Sikhs rose up against the British during the Sepoy Rebellion. Russia's most important ally in South Asia.
60. The Mughal Emperor was believed to be assassinated by an Anglo-Indian spy amidst the chaos, which fanned the flame for other princely states to rise up. In the aftermath, his sons were awarded a personal fiefdom with the capital being OTL Chandigarh. Delhi, possessing a great symbolic status, was incorporated into Marathi India, per the agreement between the Sikhs and the Marathi chiefs.
61. Kingdom of Rajputana, independent but closely tied to Marathi India.
62. Jalgaon was the new capital for Marathi India.
63. The Portuguese took advantage of the post-rebellion situation in the British Raj to lobby for more trading outposts.
64. The British invested a lot into Ceylon as an evacuation haven for its white population in case of another rebellion.
65. Bengal was granted a near-Dominion status nowadays, the administration of Assam was even assigned to them.
66. Burma finally had the breathing room they deserved to modernize the country.
67. The Dutch had no time to deal with Aceh due to the situation in Europe.
68. An emerging Siam was expanding its influence quite comfortable since it only had to deal with the French.
69. The Uyghurs had more autonomy under the Russians than they ever did under the Chinese.
70. Same for the Mongolians.
71. The North of Inner Manchuria was ceded to Russia following the stalemate of the Russo-Japanese War.
72. Jointly administered Sakhalin, a symbol of the newly formed Russo-Japanese alliance.
73. Tokyo was initially patronized by the British to counter Russia in the Far East, but realized warming up to the Tsar was more beneficial.
74. Remained a puppet instead of being fully assimilated part of Japan.
75. Manchuria under the House of Aisin Gioro started to turn into a better multi-ethnic empire than it was OTL.
76. The new Empire of China was a constitutional monarchy with its ceremonial head being the Duke of Yansheng. The Empire was fueled by Han Chinese nationalism so it disregarded the losses of Xinjiang, Mongolia & Manchuria and focused solely on China Proper, especially Shandong. Their current capital was Kaifeng.
77. There was no Spanish-American War in TTL, instead the Japanese waged war against Spain to take the Philippines and its Pacific holdings.
78. Guam, called Omiyato in TTL, was the largest naval base of Japan with a sizable Japanese population in the Pacific Ocean.
79. French Tonkin housed the largest naval squadron outside of France's home waters.
80. There were talks about granting Dominion status to Singapore in London these days.
81. A bigger Portuguese East Timor. Well, they had to make up for the losses with everything they could.
82. The Prussian Junkers felt the need to gain a colonial empire for prestige while waiting for round 2 in Europe.
83. Administering these scattering Pacific islands in Britain's stead.
84. Same as above.
85. The British vassalized Hawaii to prevent it from falling into Japan's sphere of influence.
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