What would be the latest PoD that could see India becoming a Superpower?
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HistoricalArthropod
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Why not? The island of Sri Lanka is a natural extension of the Indian subcontinent, and Sinhalese are an indo aryan people. If politics had played out differently, Sinhalese could well fall under the banner of Indian "Peoples", no different than the Bengalis, Punjabis, Assamese, and countless others.
1. Avoid the partition, bring (United Indo-Pak) into the Western sphere, have them veer into a Non-Aligned nation direction later with Yugoslavia, ideally with a common market involving Bhutan, Nepal, Burma, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, perhaps Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and/or Indonesia/Philippines. Ideally make (United Indo-Pak) the preferred business partner for much of Africa and South Asia - not a colonial power but in fact has felt its sting and sequelae. Grow the economy while continuing a focus on education, keep the Muslim population high enough to check the Hindu ultra-nationalists, and see if the end of the Cold war doesn't make them a potential rival to the US.
2. Change the fourth British-Mysore War with Wellington dying early in the conflict. No British general steps up to take his place and Mysore wins this war while France keeps the UK so busy that they are unable to stop Mysore from overrunning first southern India and by 1815 most of the subcontinent. Using their influence and increasingly capable army, Mysore leads a 'federation' composing most of what would become the OTL Raj with very different states than OTL. By century's end it forms alliances with many of the region's independent power including Kokand, Khiva, Bukhara, Tibet, Afghanistan, Persia, Thailand, Burma, Oman, and the British remain at Sri Lanka. Russia threatens this new South Asian coalition but war only happens by proxy with various factions trying to overrun individual members, the support of the nascent Siberian state by Japan and United India after the Russian Civil War is reportedly the reason why the Urals remain an international border to this day. By 2020 the alliance remains not only intact but Hindi has become a global trade language alongside English, Spanish, and German. Africa, inspired by Mysore's example, now had a strong United States of Southern Africa and 'Mittelafrika' whose name betrays a somewhat surprisingly effective coalition running from the Zambezi to Mogadishu and Luanda to Accra.
2. Change the fourth British-Mysore War with Wellington dying early in the conflict. No British general steps up to take his place and Mysore wins this war while France keeps the UK so busy that they are unable to stop Mysore from overrunning first southern India and by 1815 most of the subcontinent. Using their influence and increasingly capable army, Mysore leads a 'federation' composing most of what would become the OTL Raj with very different states than OTL. By century's end it forms alliances with many of the region's independent power including Kokand, Khiva, Bukhara, Tibet, Afghanistan, Persia, Thailand, Burma, Oman, and the British remain at Sri Lanka. Russia threatens this new South Asian coalition but war only happens by proxy with various factions trying to overrun individual members, the support of the nascent Siberian state by Japan and United India after the Russian Civil War is reportedly the reason why the Urals remain an international border to this day. By 2020 the alliance remains not only intact but Hindi has become a global trade language alongside English, Spanish, and German. Africa, inspired by Mysore's example, now had a strong United States of Southern Africa and 'Mittelafrika' whose name betrays a somewhat surprisingly effective coalition running from the Zambezi to Mogadishu and Luanda to Accra.
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Mmh, the term superpower India reminds me of Augenis TL The Silver Knight wherein the Mughals end up conquering all of India however end up overthrown by Unionist rebels during the equivalent of WWI. The Unionists end up embarking on a program of Stalin-style forced industrialization and begin *WWII by nuking China only to end up being defeated by a coalition of most of Asia and Europe.
Maybe something like that would work.
Maybe something like that would work.
You are dismissing the fact that Sinhalese hate India with a passion. Sinhalese identify India with chola invasions to this date. And it is a sore point since Chola invasions caused massive destruction to Buddhism in the country. Important thing about Sinhalese and Buddhism are, they are one and the same. Monks hold so much power over the local sentiments, and they control history. Every Sri Lankan source available is written by them. So I don’t see Sinhalese willingly join India in a federation in any PoD bar full on invasion. And that is plausible but not realistic. Too costly for so little gain.
another major race you have to take in to account is Sri Lankan Tamils. They are one people only for the most ignorant. The divide between the northern tamil, Colombo Tamil and ‘estate Tamil’ (those who were brought by british to work in plantations) are very clear to anyone who lived there. In this case, Northern Tamils will never be willing to be absorbed in to Tamil Nadu. Estate Tamils won’t care. Colombo Tamils may be willing but they are the smallest group.
These are my observations. Then there is the next minority group, Sri Lankan muslims. They are the smallest group discussed here but hold a lot of influence. They might not be willing to become an even smaller minority in a state of Sri Lanka of a union of India.
That can be applicable to every part of India which has been invaded by other parts of India, if they are treated as one colony by British Raj, their independence struggle would integrate and become one
There are many ways Indian Subcontinent could have ended up a Superpower -
- Mauryan Empire has left a Legacy of being united subcontinent like Qin and Han dynasty as such India keeps uniting after periods of chaos and will naturally be a superpower due to its size, resources and population, This will be the most powerful version of any India
- Gupta Empire does the same but only in North India with South India having smaller squabbling kingdoms periodically fighting Guptas in North and Guptas slowly pushing south, this India will be more of a Great power than a Superpower
- Mughals are able to be united after Alamgir's death and they are able to keep India united and industrialize, though somewhat slowly and as such they are able to be Superpower mostly limited in Indian Ocean due to its size and position, but religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims will be dangerous and inevitable
- Another possibility is that India is conquered and converted by Muslims, especially by Delhi Sultanate but with a Catch, these Muslims are much more Indianized similar Malay Archipelago and they are able to be united after repeated Muslim conquests, leading to India being powerful by 20th and 21st century
- Marathas are able to conquer the subcontinent but they are much more decentralized and unite only due to foreign threats, as such this India will have the economy and riches of a superpower but will lack the military power projection
- India being divided by Native powers, Like Mysore, Punjab, Bengal with weaker states like Rajputana, Nepal etc all existing, many of the powers will have the capability of a great power, but will be too focused on each other to really do anything
- India is not Partitioned as such it has much more focus on global affairs and more resources due to lack of wars, but conflict between Hindus and Muslims will make any true progress useless
- India does not embrace license raj but free market economy as such is much richer, still a but below China but catching up more quickly, this India will be a superpower or atleast a great power by early 21st century
- India goes under a communist dictatorship under Bose and turns out like China, a Dictatorial State Capitalist society, This India also has the most potential for being a superpower
HistoricalArthropod
Banned
The only reason Sri Lanka isnt part of India is because it wasnt part of the British Raj. If the British attached it to the raj it would probably have become indian.
Plus, there are Buddhist majority areas of India that do fine.
I didn’t imply that India would do anything to the Buddhist. It is the Sri Lankan Buddhists who I’ll have an issue. Keeping in mind a lot of Sri Lankan despised being free from Britain in the first place, I don’t see what use joining back willingly with 1930s- 1940s India would bring Sri Lanka.
HistoricalArthropod
Banned
I'm not saying itll be good or bad for Sri Lanka compared to otl. I'm just saying if it was adminsitratively added to the Raj it would most likely become part of an independent India as well.
If it was part of India before british took over, then maybe. But you are forgetting the fact why Kandy kingdom surrendered to the British in the first place.
Sri Lankan kings had a strange custom. Kings more often than not, married a princess from indian. Over time, kings were barely Sinhalese. Only reason they remained in power was they officially accepted Buddhism as state religion and paid lip service. The last king of Sri Lanka went a step too far and openly supported Hinduism and Indian people of the court, over the traditionally Kandiyan Sinhalese chiefs. These chiefs handed over the kingdom to british on a platter, choosing distant british king over that of attachments to India.
there was a reason why british never ruled Sri Lanka together with India as a single unit, even if that choice would make administrative and economical sense for a large empire. The reason is, Sri Lankan’s will break in to revolt after revolt if they did so.
when they finally gained freedom, the driving force behind those Politicians were Buddhist monks. The reason that government not lasting a single decade was the fact they weren’t pro Buddhist, anti Tamil enough. They brought Bandaranayaka to power and that guy in his idiocy made sinhala the only language acting the devoted Buddhist. But he wasn’t Buddhist enough, and was killed by a Buddhist monk.
If one looks at the Sri Lankan history from the inside, joining with India in any capacity apart from a economical Union such as EU is evident. Also, India at the point of gaining freedom from british had no reason to want Sri Lanka. Even to this day, economically, socially or militarily, Sri Lanka isn’t that important. Why would india need Sri Lanka and to go through constant Rebellion. it doesn’t make sense.
@Vidura1707 @HistoricalArthropod
There is possiblity of Sri Lanka being part of India, and that being it joined with British Raj and ruled alongside other Indian regions like Bengal, Punjab etc and Buddhist Sites in India become much more developed due Sri Lankan Buddhists and as such there is much less reason for them to leave due to being integrated Culturally, Economically and Politically
And like said before, is Sri Lanka become a part of British Raj, it becomes part of Independent India
There is possiblity of Sri Lanka being part of India, and that being it joined with British Raj and ruled alongside other Indian regions like Bengal, Punjab etc and Buddhist Sites in India become much more developed due Sri Lankan Buddhists and as such there is much less reason for them to leave due to being integrated Culturally, Economically and Politically
And like said before, is Sri Lanka become a part of British Raj, it becomes part of Independent India
Don’t get me wrong. Sri Lanka will gain a lot by joining India. A merger between india and Sri Lanka even today, will be a win for Sri Lanka. And it will be good for Buddhism as well. However, that is if those in power socially and politically, had any sense , which is sorely lacking since Sri Lankan history was written down. They will always attempt to hold on to power using their selectively written history and the basic ignorance of your average local.
That is true, but again as I said before, that could be said for literally every Indian region