Yeah thats what I meant a super Opec. Britians one of the greatpowers anyway but with all that oil, they would be super rich! A point of divergence could be invading Persia maybe, but my thought is if they recognised that in half a century oil will be the most valuable commodditty and concentrated on holding it they would be the most powerful on Earth. Though I do realise that it is very, very, very unlikely.
Surviving British Empire?
- Thread starter Basileus Giorgios
- Start date
HueyLong
Banned
And pretty hard to hold on to! It could become a mess as bad as French Algeria, but everywhere.....
Is it at all possible that Britain holds onto a few strategic areas? Maybe Kuweit, the Suez Canal, Hong Kong, establish and maintain a few puppets in areas like Nigeria, and keep the Common Wealth very close?
They would probably still be a step below the US or SU, and wouldn't be as powerful as they used to be, but they would remain the 3rd strongest country in the world until the Soviet Union collaspes.
They would probably still be a step below the US or SU, and wouldn't be as powerful as they used to be, but they would remain the 3rd strongest country in the world until the Soviet Union collaspes.
That was, prior to Suez, the original plan. Malaya, Aden, Guyana, Cyprus, and a few others were to remain part of Britain, and eventually join the Union, with the natives as full British citizens, while in the rest of the empire, decolonization would proceed at a leisurely pace, with all colonies independent by around 1980. I feel if the British had won a conclusive victory at Suez, this may have increased British morale and prestige enough to preserve an "Empire-lite" any thoughts?
Forgive my ignorance but what plan was this? Who initiated it and when was it codified?
Not sure... if it was devised in the early 1950's I imagine Churchill. Though I'm no expert on the subject...
Why on earth would they want to keep Guyana? Didn't Malaysia gain independence in '48?
Search me... Bulwark against Latin American Communism. Naval base in Western Atlantic? Would have come in handy during Falklands War that's for sure...
And no. Malaya became independent in 1957 after a Communist uprising the British were able to defeat, almost the last hurrah of empire. Burma became independent in 1948 if that's what you're thinking of?
In terms of Suez it might be doable to hold the canal zone if they teamed up with the Israelis who would get Sinai. But I'm not sure both countries could get really close after what happened at Israel's conception. And it would have made the British more vulnerable to Soviet-backed attacks in the Middle East at large. But I think they could win that and hold on to key positions.
Even more interesting would be if the French and the British would team up for other jobs than Suez alone. That might make the whole idea quite feasible and have a big impact on Europe and the cold war.
I can't help but be reminded of that 1940 idea of Britain and France merging into one country, and what relevance the idea might have here...
The problem being the failure of Suez really highlighted just how far the Empire had fallen. Handwaving a victory there (Ike is in a good mood that day) won't really fix anything unless you address the underlying issues, such as nationalism and superpower politics