I have some really annoying world building questions, feel free to ignore me if you wish.
Have there been attempts by the USA to rig/influence elections in New England? Seems likely given their history in Central America.
Were there ever any efforts at reunion between the two?
There has been multiple and repeated attempts on the part of the United States to influence and even annex New England. The most prominent of these was former President William Seward who advocated for the annexation of Canada and New England. After the Civil War, there was an increase in annexationist sentiment as a part of manifest destiny and the slavery issue being settled, but New England resisted them throughout the years. During the Cold War the shift was away from annexation (after dealing with the Cubano Revolt 1900-1913, the United States lost it's appetite for annexing land) towards just influencing the election. The Administration of Earl Warren was paramount in this, as he was against John Kennedy and John Diefenbaker. The Warren Administration openly supported the Canadian Liberals (who were pro-United States) and supported members of both the New England Labour and Liberal parties, who were nominally pro-US, but the Liberals (who had no chance of winning) actually supported entering into NODO (Northern Oceans Defense Organisation), as well as allowing U.S. bases in New England. Kennedy and Diefenbaker were opposed to the United States interfering in both of their countries and was one of the impetuses for Kennedy and Diefenbaker to sign the St. Lawrence Accords, forming a single market and an open border between Canada and New England.
Even a couple members of a hypothetical 'Pan-American Party' winning MPships in Adirondack or Brooklyn or something? (Or a 'New England Party' winning a congressional district in Upstate NY?)
Have there been attempts by New England to purchase American or Canadian territory at any stage? Even a couple towns, or some 'Boston Corner'-type thing? Given that every edge of territory along the Great Lakes is highly important...
Yes. A pro-New England party has won several New York assembly seats (never federal seats) that nominally support entering into Adirondack, but in reality just want to make more noise so Poughkeepsie gives them more money.
Brooklyn has had a history of pro-U.S. parties, given its closeness to New York City, and lingering resentment with the American Revolution, farmers in western Long Island were screwed from independence, as they lost their full access to the New York market, and Brooklyn entered into a severe depression which lasted several decades before it found its own footing as a city. This resentment caused many pro-U.S. parties to win city council seats and Long Island General Assembly seats. Briefly, they were the opposition party around the turn of the century (1899-1902). They relevance faded once political power shifted to Brooklyn from Southampton (the provincial capital).
Massachusetts Bay attempted to sell Boston Corner to the State of New York, but the sale was not approved by the New England federal government. New England has also attempted to purchase land in southern Adirondack to make the border follow waterways (when marked, there are several places where the border juts due north of a river, giving New York land on the "New England" side of the river).
New England and the United States have attempted to purchase the City of Oswego from one another. It is two cities on either side of Oswego River, and both countries have attempted to unify it by simply buying the city limits from the other power, but it has never went any further than simple requests.
New England also attempted to purchase the Magdalen Islands from Quebec, but this advance was refused.
(Trasna go hEireann) Were the Troubles even worse in the North given the extra British territory there? Have there been any extra significant attempts to reunify? Has the Eighth been repealed?
The Troubles, in a sense, are still ongoing. Northern Ireland is highly segregated, and the United Kingdom had, in the 20s to about the 40s, simply deported Catholics to the Republic of Ireland, but many returned, not wanting to give the British a reason for "Irish Land" to fall into the hands of the "invaders." While in theory there is peace between all the sides, bombings are still unfortunately common. Northern Ireland does not have a devolved Parliament, if they did it is almost guaranteed it would produce a separatist majority. The majority of NI MPs are Sinn Féin as well.
Any significant attempts to reunify are foiled by the British, who refuse to budge more than giving back County Monaghan, and requiring Ireland to forever renounce any other claims on the other seven counties of Northern Ireland, something they refuse to do given the separatist majorities.
These military infoboxes have made me curious.
What are the names of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, including those of the other Commonwealth Realms?
United Kingdom:
Queen Elizabeth-class Aircraft Carriers (~65,000 GT, 35+ Aircraft, Steam Propulsion)
HMS
Queen Elizabeth
HMS
Prince of Wales
Horatio Nelson-class Aircraft Carriers (~85,000 GT, 45+ Aircraft, Nuclear & Steam Propulsion)
HMS
Horatio Nelson
HMS
Arthur Wellesley
HMS
Henry Conway
HMS
William Codrington
HMS
Edward Hawke
Benjamin Disraeli-class Aircraft Carriers (~95,000 GT, 50+ Aircraft, Nuclear Propulsion)
HMS
Clement Attlee
HMS
Benjamin Disraeli
HMS
Robert Peel
New England:
Cape Cod-class Aircraft Carriers (~65,000 GT, 40+ Aircraft, Steam Propulsion)
HMNES
Cape Cod
HMNES
Île-Royale
HMNES
Acadia
Australia:
Gallipoli-class Aircraft Carriers (~50,000 GT, 25+ Aircraft, Steam Propulsion)
HMAS
Gallipoli
Are any battleships still in use, or has that doctrine been as thoroughly invalidated as OTL?
After missiles entered the picture, everyone realised that Battleships are useless. This was also noticeable during the American-Japanese War, where air power decimated Japanese battleships.
To what extent is military equipment shared between Commonwealth Realms? Is there a common tradition of uniform and a shared pattern of camouflage?
Military equipment is mostly standard across Commonwealth realms. The United Kingdom subsidises arms manufacturing for rifles and other equipment for Commonwealth countries to purchase. Richer countries (Australia, New England, -at the time Canada) all developed their own native rifles and vehicles to reduce dependence on the United Kingdom, but still have the UK's equipment in their armouries.
The common traditional military uniform is the famous "Red Coats" of the British Empire, but otherwise their uniforms and camouflage are native to each country.
Are there any particularly famous military operations in public memory, on par with our D-Day or Market Garden?
Operation
Fallen Eagle is the most memorable for Canadians and New Englanders. During the German Civil War, communists had taken over all of East Prussia, and were poised to break through the final defenses of Königsberg in late 1949, which caused London to authorise the most dangerous mission of the war, to relieve the small German garrison in the city and to defend the borders of East Prussia from the Communists. German, Russian, and Polish communists were in the area, and East Prussia had been written off by the government in Karlsruhe (Berlin had fallen to the Communists).
The operation began on Christmas Day 1949, and it began with an attempt to land at Königsberg but unknown to the Empire forces, General Dietrich von Saucken surrendered to the Prussian Red Army, and the Canadians/New Englanders needed to siege the city from the sea, before engaging in street to street fighting against the Red Army. After capturing the city fully in mid January, they had to fight through the countryside against German, Polish, and Russian forces in brutal winter conditions and heavy opposition.
Operation
Fallen Eagle took the most lives of any one military campaign New England or Canada embarked upon, but the two countries liberated all of East Prussia, and is widely considered why the region remains in Germany today, the Prussian communists had prepared a statement to annex themselves as the Prussian SSR of the Soviet Union, signed by Stalin. The two countries maintained the border of East Prussia well into the 1950s, until the final withdrawal of the Commonwealth forces in 1958.
What is the common Commonwealth perspective on America, especially their financial support for rebels opposed to the Commonwealth-backed government in Burma?
The Commonwealth mostly views America as a country they can work with, and the economic ties between New England/Canada and the United States is massive, to say the least. The United States also benefits from the Commonwealth patrolling the seas, so they do not go out of their way to step on their toes. The Commonwealth was aligned with the United States during the Cold War, but they did deal with the Soviet Union on several occasions. American support for Burmese insurgents is a huge problem for relations between mostly the United Kingdom and the United States. So much so that the United Kingdom banned American-flag ships from docking in Bermuda (The Bahamas considered it, but cruise ships and just general supplies was so important, they relented). The issue is constantly brought up by the British, but the Americans retain their position.
What's the current state of affairs regarding Western Europe? Any tensions or are they roughly comparable to our own Oughts pre-Russian adventurism?
Western Europe is pretty stable and comparable to the 2000/2010s we know and love before Putin ruined it all. There is no European Union, instead free trade agreements dominate the continent between countries. The largest customs and trading Union is the modern Zollverein, which connects Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Czechia, and Liechtenstein. Other notable one is the Nordic Trade Union (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). Comecon is also very popular, but this is only in eastern Europe and Asia.
How come the U.S was very Pro-German before the British sunk that merchant ship? Was there more German ancestry in America then than in real life? Was it because New England didn't have the ethnic influence of power that it did in real life?
There was no "Old Stock" English in New England to counter the very German midwest, which dominated American politics in the era, given their economic and political pull. German never became taboo, and there are still many German town names in many parts of the Midwest that in our timeline were changed. The German language is still very big in the Midwest, in some states it's the second most popular language spoken at home, beating Spanish (which is the second biggest in all other U.S. states).
