The World in a New Century, Section V: Western Europe
Alright, I ended up getting distracted a lot and wasn't able to get the last section for the update finished tonight. So I'll post the two that I have done now and will add the other one tomorrow, as well as more footnotes.
The World in a New Century, Section V: Western Europe
Published by the McNally Corporation in Chicago, 1901.
British Isles:
As the political, economic, and industrial center of the largest empire in the world today, the British Isles play a very important role in world affairs. London is the most populous city on Earth and is the home of the British Parliament and the seat of the monarchy. While the monarchy does not hold much ultimate sway over affairs in Great Britain, neither is the British government very democratic. In order to have the right to vote, a British man must own property. As a result, the urban working classes and other poorer peoples cannot participate in government. Parliament also has an unelected body in the House of Lords, which is similar to our Senate but the lords are appointed by the monarch.
While London is the political center of the British Isles, its position on the islands away from the major coal and iron fields makes it a poor center for manufacturing. Instead, cities around the coal fields such as Manchester and Newcastle in England and Glasgow in Scotland became centers of British industrial growth. British ports also grew in order to accommodate the growth of the empire and the import and export of goods around the globe. Liverpool, Glasgow and Swansea are the largest ports on the western coast of Great Britain.
The cultural makeup of Great Britain has grown increasingly English over the past century. With measures taken by the British government, Gaels in Scotland and Ireland have been pushed out as the British government encouraged the Anglicization of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. Successive parliaments have passed various coercion acts after riots in Scottish and Irish cities over the absentee ownership of land in those two areas. The British government has also enacted laws against Catholics in Ireland, resulting in a further decline of the local Irish population. Many of the people who left Ireland in the 19th century have come to the United States, giving many American cities prominent Irish minorities.
France:
France is one of the four great powers on the European continent. Its central position has given France a good strategic position that has allowed the country to rise as a power over the past two centuries. Now, over a century after the revolution that first overthrew the French monarchy, France has become one of the most republican governments in Europe. The French voting franchise has been extended to all males in the past decades through several acts[1], the last being passed in 1890. The French legislature is bicameral similar to our own Congress, with the French Senate as the upper house and the Chamber of Deputies as the lower house. The Prime Minister heads the legislature while a directly elected president holds most of the power within the executive branch.
The government of France has been largely dominated by the legacy of the French Revolution and the Bonaparte dynasty. Not only has a party dedicated to the ideals of Bonapartism become one of the major parties in France, but in the century since the First Napoleonic War, France has been headed by no less than three members of the Bonaparte family. The first, of course, was Napoleon during the First Napoleonic War. The second member of the Bonaparte family to lead France was Louis Napoleon, who became President of France after the Mid-century Revolutions ousted the Orleanist monarchy. The third Bonaparte to lead France is Charles Joseph Bonaparte[2], a grand-nephew of Emperor Napoleon.
During the past century, France has become one of the largest nations in the world and has gained extensive colonies on the African continent. The most prosperous of these has been the Algerian coast, which has grown much over the decades of French ownership. There have been some movements to create full departments out of the Algerian coast and bring the region under complete French administration, but many of the local Mohammedan population has opposed such measures despite the clear benefits. The newfound French dominance of the Mediterranean has also revived France as one of the leading naval powers in the world, rivaling that of Great Britain. Because of this, the friendship between the United states and France has become one of the closest foreign ties the United States has made, and has been a great boon to American trade and influence.
Iberia:
The nations of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain and Portugal, were once great colonial empires but have now become relative backwaters after their American colonies gained independence and in the intervening century. Spain is a monarchy ruled by the Bourbon dynasty, currently headed by Alfonso XII. Alfonso has greatly improved the country in the last decades, delegating some of his responsibilities to the Cortes Generales, the Spanish parliament. Spain has also developed some manufacturing centers with much assistance by the royal crown, mostly based around the country's two major cities: the capital city of Madrid and Barcelona in the northeast.
Because of the federal structure of the Spanish state, the country has become one of the most successful centers of the growing labor movement in Europe. Because many factories were financed by King Alfonso and the Spanish crown, a lot of the factories in Spain are owned and managed by the state. This has led to a large growth in socialism in the urban centers of Spain, with branches both supporting and opposing royal ownership of factories. In Andalucia, there is also small areas of support for cantonalism[3]. Cantonalism is a Spanish variety of anarchism which would create a larger number of smaller federal regions within the Spanish state. While cantonalism and some socialists support abolishing the monarchy, the people of Spain still have much support for the king.
To the west of Spain lies the small country of Portugal on the Atlantic coast. Portugal also possesses a monarchical form of government, but it is more backward than that of Spain and the Portuguese king attempts to keep more powers in his grasp rather than delegating it to the people. For this reason, there is a larger republican movement in Portugal than there is in Spain. Portugal also has not developed any centers of manufacturing leading it to rely on imports from other countries for manufactured goods. Aside from Portugal, two other countries control territory in Iberia. The United Kingdom controls the small peninsula of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, and France controls the island of Minorca in the Balearic island chain.
Spain and Portugal both possess several colonies which will be more deeply discussed in other sections. Spain has the colony of Porto Rico in North America, and in Africa they possess the Canary Islands, a portion of southern Morocco known as Rio de Oro, and the small territory of Camaroon in central Africa. Spain's most prized overseas possession, however, are the Philippine Islands in east Asia. Portugal's colonial empire is mostly in Africa. Portugal controls Cabo Verde, a portion of the Guinea coast, the islands of Sao Tome, and the two large southern African colonies of Angola and Mozambique. Portugal also possesses the island of Timor in the East Indies and the city of Goa on the Indian subcontinent.
[1] France had universal male suffrage in OTL by 1892 from what I've found. With a stronger republican tradition in the country, this would probably come earlier.
[2] After the Mid-century Revolutions, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte I goes back to France and Charles Joseph Bonaparte is born in France. The Bonapartes are kind of becoming the Kennedys of 19th century France.
[3] An interesting variant of anarchism that existed in OTL Spain. Here's the wiki entry
The World in a New Century, Section V: Western Europe
Published by the McNally Corporation in Chicago, 1901.
British Isles:
As the political, economic, and industrial center of the largest empire in the world today, the British Isles play a very important role in world affairs. London is the most populous city on Earth and is the home of the British Parliament and the seat of the monarchy. While the monarchy does not hold much ultimate sway over affairs in Great Britain, neither is the British government very democratic. In order to have the right to vote, a British man must own property. As a result, the urban working classes and other poorer peoples cannot participate in government. Parliament also has an unelected body in the House of Lords, which is similar to our Senate but the lords are appointed by the monarch.
While London is the political center of the British Isles, its position on the islands away from the major coal and iron fields makes it a poor center for manufacturing. Instead, cities around the coal fields such as Manchester and Newcastle in England and Glasgow in Scotland became centers of British industrial growth. British ports also grew in order to accommodate the growth of the empire and the import and export of goods around the globe. Liverpool, Glasgow and Swansea are the largest ports on the western coast of Great Britain.
The cultural makeup of Great Britain has grown increasingly English over the past century. With measures taken by the British government, Gaels in Scotland and Ireland have been pushed out as the British government encouraged the Anglicization of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. Successive parliaments have passed various coercion acts after riots in Scottish and Irish cities over the absentee ownership of land in those two areas. The British government has also enacted laws against Catholics in Ireland, resulting in a further decline of the local Irish population. Many of the people who left Ireland in the 19th century have come to the United States, giving many American cities prominent Irish minorities.
France:
France is one of the four great powers on the European continent. Its central position has given France a good strategic position that has allowed the country to rise as a power over the past two centuries. Now, over a century after the revolution that first overthrew the French monarchy, France has become one of the most republican governments in Europe. The French voting franchise has been extended to all males in the past decades through several acts[1], the last being passed in 1890. The French legislature is bicameral similar to our own Congress, with the French Senate as the upper house and the Chamber of Deputies as the lower house. The Prime Minister heads the legislature while a directly elected president holds most of the power within the executive branch.
The government of France has been largely dominated by the legacy of the French Revolution and the Bonaparte dynasty. Not only has a party dedicated to the ideals of Bonapartism become one of the major parties in France, but in the century since the First Napoleonic War, France has been headed by no less than three members of the Bonaparte family. The first, of course, was Napoleon during the First Napoleonic War. The second member of the Bonaparte family to lead France was Louis Napoleon, who became President of France after the Mid-century Revolutions ousted the Orleanist monarchy. The third Bonaparte to lead France is Charles Joseph Bonaparte[2], a grand-nephew of Emperor Napoleon.
During the past century, France has become one of the largest nations in the world and has gained extensive colonies on the African continent. The most prosperous of these has been the Algerian coast, which has grown much over the decades of French ownership. There have been some movements to create full departments out of the Algerian coast and bring the region under complete French administration, but many of the local Mohammedan population has opposed such measures despite the clear benefits. The newfound French dominance of the Mediterranean has also revived France as one of the leading naval powers in the world, rivaling that of Great Britain. Because of this, the friendship between the United states and France has become one of the closest foreign ties the United States has made, and has been a great boon to American trade and influence.
Iberia:
The nations of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain and Portugal, were once great colonial empires but have now become relative backwaters after their American colonies gained independence and in the intervening century. Spain is a monarchy ruled by the Bourbon dynasty, currently headed by Alfonso XII. Alfonso has greatly improved the country in the last decades, delegating some of his responsibilities to the Cortes Generales, the Spanish parliament. Spain has also developed some manufacturing centers with much assistance by the royal crown, mostly based around the country's two major cities: the capital city of Madrid and Barcelona in the northeast.
Because of the federal structure of the Spanish state, the country has become one of the most successful centers of the growing labor movement in Europe. Because many factories were financed by King Alfonso and the Spanish crown, a lot of the factories in Spain are owned and managed by the state. This has led to a large growth in socialism in the urban centers of Spain, with branches both supporting and opposing royal ownership of factories. In Andalucia, there is also small areas of support for cantonalism[3]. Cantonalism is a Spanish variety of anarchism which would create a larger number of smaller federal regions within the Spanish state. While cantonalism and some socialists support abolishing the monarchy, the people of Spain still have much support for the king.
To the west of Spain lies the small country of Portugal on the Atlantic coast. Portugal also possesses a monarchical form of government, but it is more backward than that of Spain and the Portuguese king attempts to keep more powers in his grasp rather than delegating it to the people. For this reason, there is a larger republican movement in Portugal than there is in Spain. Portugal also has not developed any centers of manufacturing leading it to rely on imports from other countries for manufactured goods. Aside from Portugal, two other countries control territory in Iberia. The United Kingdom controls the small peninsula of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, and France controls the island of Minorca in the Balearic island chain.
Spain and Portugal both possess several colonies which will be more deeply discussed in other sections. Spain has the colony of Porto Rico in North America, and in Africa they possess the Canary Islands, a portion of southern Morocco known as Rio de Oro, and the small territory of Camaroon in central Africa. Spain's most prized overseas possession, however, are the Philippine Islands in east Asia. Portugal's colonial empire is mostly in Africa. Portugal controls Cabo Verde, a portion of the Guinea coast, the islands of Sao Tome, and the two large southern African colonies of Angola and Mozambique. Portugal also possesses the island of Timor in the East Indies and the city of Goa on the Indian subcontinent.
[1] France had universal male suffrage in OTL by 1892 from what I've found. With a stronger republican tradition in the country, this would probably come earlier.
[2] After the Mid-century Revolutions, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte I goes back to France and Charles Joseph Bonaparte is born in France. The Bonapartes are kind of becoming the Kennedys of 19th century France.
[3] An interesting variant of anarchism that existed in OTL Spain. Here's the wiki entry
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