State of the Dominican Republic?
- Thread starter vultan
- Start date
I agree, but the strenghtening would need time, and the tensions with Spain would start as soon as the republic entered the union, either as a state or a territory. Probably Spain would increase her forces in the caribbean, too.
There would be concessions, but never on the scale of OTL. And Sapin would fight nail and theeth against territorial cessions, since Cuba and Puerto Rico were not "colonies" on the english meaning, but part of the spanish kingdom, and Cuba, unlike Florida, was the jewell of the spanish crown. The result would probably be on the lines of military bases like Guantanamo, and some pacific islands like Guam.
Remember than the Civil war ended in 1865, and the POD is on 1869. The US has more important thing to spend the money right now. That's why the spanish-american war was delayed till 1898, and, by then, this US would provably be far stronger than ours. But can a war be avoided till then?
What would be interesting is to have Dominican Volunteer regiments/militias forming up and trying to take Puerto Rico if hostilities do flare up between Spain and the US. A fear of being taken over by Spain is most likely still rampant and a strike a spain early may be in many Dominican's mind. Would the US governement feel obligated to support these militias.
That woudl be funny. The US has no intention to make war. Spain is not worried or scared about the union (they had already lost the DR). Tehre is no tension between the nations. And suddenly they must go to war before either nation is ready, because the militias has just invadd Spain.
And that may not be a bad thing for the future relationship of the nations, actually. A short, somewhat hesitant war, and a peace teatry than leaves things mostly as they were, the republic recogninced as an US state, Cuba and Puerto Rico as Spanish states, perharps one or two pacific islands and a base on the carribean as "war reparations", both nations wondering what the hell has happened, and less bitterness all around.
This would also lead them to take a more direct approach on the caribean, and shorten the leash on their islands -they have already caused a war, let's not allow a second!
But would this also lead to the US to shorten the leash on the different National Guards? Specially on the frontier ones -"We had a war against Spain, we cannot risk a war with England because some nuts in Montana decide to invade!"
It could make the US change how militias work. Sure each state can form militias, but they can only be deployed within their own state. When the Federal Government needs them though, they take orders from DC. This way the militias will be for state defense and control for the most part.
This may mean the militias are formed into National Guard like units earlier in TTL. So basically when you sign up for your state's National Guard, you have signed up for the US Army also.
It would be a serious wake up call. I think they have 17 frontier states (and about 20 coastal ones), and suddenly Washington has realized than they can find thenselves in a war if they have a moron/madman as gobernor. And this is mid-19th century, they certainly are not a superpower yet, there are many nations far more powerful than Spain ou there -lke the British Empire, just to the north.
History would go more or less as OTL. Eventually, the state would become prosperous, with a large tourism industry (even moreso than right now) and a testbed for all sorts of biofuel experiments, like Brazil. Haiti would probably be incorporated into the mix, due to the fact that the US has already invaded it twice-expect the entire island to be flying under the stars and bars before the 20th century.
I can't see history going to similar to OTL.
Unlike Hawaii, which was seen as a beautiful paradise with exotic peoples, even in the 1860. Dominica is still going to be seen as an island mostly full of black people. The sugarcane industry and potential to further influence the rest of the Americas are good incentives to claim it as a territory, but this power projection will change the way the government thinks in the future of TTL.
Yet, most of the people are going to eventually influence the civil rights of the rest of the nation. Dominica is just too large not to have an effective influence.
Global history in general-barring major butterflies-would still go mostly unchanged. Also, I can't see the Dominican Republic becoming anything more than a territory until at least after the ACW, because the Southern States will not want it to enlarge the Northern vote. And yes it will have agreater influence-there will be a much larger US influence in the Caribbean, in Central America, and in South America.
Nice point, there. I also suspect PR might have ended up seeking statehood more vigarously. IIRC, ther've been a few referendums on the subject, but none have come back positive. Might change with the state of Hispanola sitting in the same ocean.
I misread it as 1859. My bad.Porto Rico is not a territory -- It is a associated Commonwealth. I could See East Hispaniola, having the same kind of Commonwealth status.
?How would a majority Black State affect the Back to Africa Movement?
Given a developing EHispaniola , ?Would Haiti still go Bankrupt in 1911, and have the US move in to run the Country.?
The US occupied Haiti for close to 20 years. It is one of the few places the US occupied -Without leaving Native Baseball teams behind.
A US Run EHispaniola, would have Baseball, ?How would this affect the Black Leagues, and the eventual merging of the Black Leagues into the Majors.?
Given that whe now have Hispaniola to grow our Pineapples in, ?Would Whe still take over Hawaii? [Pineapples come from the Caribbean, originally]
?How would a majority Black State affect the Back to Africa Movement?
Given a developing EHispaniola , ?Would Haiti still go Bankrupt in 1911, and have the US move in to run the Country.?
The US occupied Haiti for close to 20 years. It is one of the few places the US occupied -Without leaving Native Baseball teams behind.
A US Run EHispaniola, would have Baseball, ?How would this affect the Black Leagues, and the eventual merging of the Black Leagues into the Majors.?
Given that whe now have Hispaniola to grow our Pineapples in, ?Would Whe still take over Hawaii? [Pineapples come from the Caribbean, originally]
How would the cost of pineapples affect US territorial expansion? Hawaii served as a good forward naval base, a center for shipping, and a source for cash crops. The US would not avoid it just because they had more pinapples.
An if the spanish-american war comes sooner, the US may have several possesions on the pacific, like Guam, a permanent base like Guantanamo on the philippines, or, depending on how big a victory, the whole of the philippines. Even Pearl is not imprescindible.
I
The Revolt ended when Spain promised a package of Reform.
The 1890's Revolt was over Spain having Failed to follow thru with these Reforms.
With The US moving in next door, It is more likely that Spain would institute the Reforms. [Slow and Grudgingly Maybe] As Such no 1890's revolt. No SAW.
In the 1870's the Natives in Cuba revolted due to unequal treatment between the Spanish Born and the Native born.
The Revolt ended when Spain promised a package of Reform.
The 1890's Revolt was over Spain having Failed to follow thru with these Reforms.
With The US moving in next door, It is more likely that Spain would institute the Reforms. [Slow and Grudgingly Maybe] As Such no 1890's revolt. No SAW.
Or they might clamp down even more-increased military buildup, etc. It could go either way-they could have easily crushed the rebelion had it not been for the US, and since I don't think Spain would change it's domestic policies based on a hostile US media, then I still see a Spanish American War when either side does find a suitable Casus Belli.
I've always kind of hoped that a U.S. state in Hispanola would be called Overture, after the Anglicized version of the surname of Toussaint Louverture.