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What if there was an actual naval clash between British, US, and German Naval Forces during the first Samoan War in 1889?

This would be been a very "interesting" three-way war, as each nation was backing a separate Samoan faction to get control of the islands. Each of the powers may have taken the opportunity to attack the other's colonies. I suspect that Germany would gotten the worst of from England it in losing its colonies, especially in Africa, as its forces were more forward deployed in Africa to move against most of its German colonies, especially in southern Africa. It is also possible the the recently united Germany would have struck back by encouraging the Boer Republics in South Africa to move against the English colony in South Africa, in hopes of relieving pressure on their South African colonies.

We could have also seen an escalation of forces along the British and US borders, if the two English speaking nations decided that their differences were acute enough in Samoa to rule out the possibility of a temporary alliance against a common enemy in Germany. I think Great Britain would have received the worst of it along the Canadian front. Its forces would have been too stretched over its colonial holdings to have been able to mount an effective counter attack against the US Eastern Seaboard.

However, to my knowledge, Great Britain was more forward deployed in the Pacific at the time. The US could have done very little to push back British power in East Asia at the time. It is quite possible that The English would have attempted to gain control of Hawaii, knowing full well that the United States had been interested in the territory. It may have also made naval and land raids into Alaska (from Canada), which the United States probably would have had a very hard time defending. Alaska would have ended up being "recaptured".

The Germans would not have been able to hold onto to their Pacific holdings for long, but it is remotely possible that they could have attempted to stir up Moari nationalism in British New Zealand (not too far fetched, the Germans attempted to stir up old historical ghosts between Mexico and the United States in WWI). However, New Zealand would have been too remote for the Germans to have been able to do this effectively, if at all.

It is also quite possible that France, as an independent actor, would have tried to attack the western frontiers of Germany to regain Alsace and Lorraine, lost during the Franco-Prussian War. This would have been a risky move, as the bulk of Germany's forces were concentrated in Europe. England would have done nothing if the war went disastrously for France again. They would only care if recently united Germany made threatening moves into the Low Countries, which is what prompted British intervention in the actual First World War.

Please see:

https://books.google.com/books?id=l...britain&pg=PA47#v=onepage&q=bigger war&f=true

Of course, the mystical powers that be decided that now was not the time for a world war, and conveniently sent a powerful storm to seriously damage the fleets of all three potential aggressors.

Brian Ghilliotti

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"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" Mahatma Ghandi (attributed)
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