Screw the English language as hard as possible

HistoricalArthropod

Banned
With any POD post 1800, screw English as much as possible. Of course, eliminating it entirely is ASB at this point, but we can do a lot to reduce its prestige and limit its use around the world I think. Like, maybe have some destructive world war with Britain as the "bad guy", they loose, they get pummled with unfair treaties and concessions and their whole colonial empire is ripped away. Combine that with an isolationist America, and you get a world where English is much less important than otl. What do you think?

EDIT: Judging from the comments, it seems my actual goal here is just a really intense Britscrew. Though weakening English is also welcomed. Yeah, I would like both.
 
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Darksider166

Not the most plausible but here:

America never expands past the Mississippi. Britain somehow loses the Napoleonic Wars and France becomes the new hegemony of the world. Britain ends up suffering economic turmoil and descends into civil war. The colonies in India declare independence with the East India Company taking over before being overthrown by either local Indian states propped up by France, Netherlands, or by themselves. Australia is taken by France. New Zealand to the Dutch.
 

HistoricalArthropod

Banned
Darksider166 said:
Not the most plausible but here:

America never expands past the Mississippi. Britain somehow loses the Napoleonic Wars and France becomes the new hegemony of the world. Britain ends up suffering economic turmoil and descends into civil war. The colonies in India declare independence with the East India Company taking over before being overthrown by either local Indian states propped up by France, Netherlands, or by themselves. Australia is taken by France. New Zealand to the Dutch.
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Hmm. Seems possible, but I wanted something more recent. How is my idea?
 

Max Sinister

Banned
I think this is way too late. Go one century back, before they took control of North America and India.

In my Chaos TL (which has a PoD in 1200, though), English is restricted to the British Isles, New Zealand, Canada (minus - wait for it - Ontario!), and the "Canadian Commonwealth" comprising most Pacific islands, the Philippines, Indochina and the Indies.
 

Socrates

Napoleon wins, America collapses into multiple states, Britain loses its navy and empire, France and Spain settle Western NA.
 
Demothenes

Demothenes

HistoricalArthropod said:
What would be needed for Britain to loose in such a way that its politicial and to an extent cultural influence comes crashing down in flames, kinda like Germany otl after ww2?
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Not to have an America. Awful mismanagement of its navy. It’s really hard for a country like Britain to have something like that happen to it, mostly because Post-Napoleonic wars, Europe is almost designed for that NOT to happen. Maybe an early dissolution of the acts of union, such that Scotland works as a way for the hypothetical enemy to get into England proper. Probably also an awful ideology, but again, Britain was always rather more conservative than Europe, unwilling to make great changes and finding revolutions abhorrent, so it seems like it would be difficult to get a Hitler the same power there.

Also, you probably should have just asked this question in the first place, seeing as its obviously the one you want people to answer.
 

funnyhat

Max Sinister said:
Yeah, but not easy. Ask Philip II of Spain, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Willy 2, Hitler...
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Louis XIV might have been able to invade England if he really wanted - France had a larger navy than England for part of his reign. But his main focus was elsewhere.

Have the Dutch alliance hold and then England may become the enemy in the 1670s.
 
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HistoricalArthropod

Banned
Demothenes said:
Not to have an America. Awful mismanagement of its navy. It’s really hard for a country like Britain to have something like that happen to it, mostly because Post-Napoleonic wars, Europe is almost designed for that NOT to happen. Maybe an early dissolution of the acts of union, such that Scotland works as a way for the hypothetical enemy to get into England proper. Probably also an awful ideology, but again, Britain was always rather more conservative than Europe, unwilling to make great changes and finding revolutions abhorrent, so it seems like it would be difficult to get a Hitler the same power there.

Also, you probably should have just asked this question in the first place, seeing as its obviously the one you want people to answer.
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I can see your point, but I think Britain can be prone to extreme government with enough internal chaos. Like, say Britain pulls a Portugal and starts getting into all of these colonial wars to keep the empire together. All the wars and rebellions start draining the metropole of money, resources, and manpower. Britain becomes thoroughly bankrupt, and internal strife cause everything to go down the gutter.
 

alex costa

The best way to screw the English language badly with a Pod post 1800 is to have Napoleon win the Continental War somehow. The US not expanding past the Mississippi also can help, along with a good collapse. For South Africa's minimal English preence you would need to have the Dutch somehow keep it. Australia and New Zealand are tough but in regards to the first maybe have the Dutch and perhaps even Portugal (via Timor) grab parts of it. For the latter you would probably need to find a way for the Maori to beat the British and keep them out of New Zealand.

For India, a devastating loss in Europe/collapse of the East India Company could probably embolden the Maratha for a comeback. Still possible in 1800.
 

Kerney

Additional screws not mentioned:

1) Have a Canada where French is dominant, perhaps be turned over in a Napoleonic era treaty.

2) An Ireland that rebels against a weakened Britian before Gaelic is totally screwed and it is revived.
 
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