Where would a surviving British Empire/Imperial Federation's powerbase be?

Powerbase of a surviving British Empire/Imperial Federation

  • British Isles

    Votes: 24 49.0%

  • India

    Votes: 11 22.4%

  • US East Coast

    Votes: 14 28.6%
  • Total voters
    49

Erizium

Assuming that 1. British North America becomes content under the British Crown
2. British colonization of India goes pretty much the same
3. Industrialization still happens
4. The Empire stays together until the modern period.

What would be the most important areas in the British Empire in the economic, cultural, and political aspects? I assume the capital would still be London, and that colonial representation in a unified parliament is a necessity to keep this together, but what would be seen as the Empire's most important territories?

1. Great Britain- home of the Empire, seat of the government and monarchy, likely to be the starting point for industrialization, easily defensible, and initially larger population than everywhere else in the empire excluding India

2. India- massive amounts of resources, largest population on Earth, large manpower pool for armies, may be easy to keep internal groups divided to prevent unified opposition

3. OTL US East Coast- potential for a massive population boom, also has a lot of resources, multiple harbors allow for inter-colonial trade. In OTL, this area roughly has double the combined GDP of India and the United Kingdom.
 
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Analytical Engine

That very much depends on whether India is in this hypothetical federation.

If the answer is no, then it eventually ends up being (3). If the answer is yes, then it becomes (3) and later (2).
 
Mr_Fanboy

Mr_Fanboy

From any economic, political, social, or demographic standpoint, any timeline where the Thirteen Colonies never revolt will eventually see the British Empire turn into an American Empire, regardless of whether the monarchy is kept or the capitol remains in London.
 
AltoRegnant

AltoRegnant

It depends on a few things. India might wind up multiple colonies like the US, preventing an easy means of surpassing the isles- certainly how I would administer it given hindsight. Plus it would kinda be like all of the south being a single US state before the ACW

I also question how much the US of ttl would get immigration wise. It's not as much as a land of opportunity as otl given the loss of land and the fact that a lot of sources of immigration would likely be under the thumbs of other empires that prevent immigration.

So I'm going to tentatively say Britain
 
Mr_Fanboy

Mr_Fanboy

KingOnTheEdge said:
It depends on a few things. India might wind up multiple colonies like the US, preventing an easy means of surpassing the isles- certainly how I would administer it given hindsight. Plus it would kinda be like all of the south being a single US state before the ACW

I also question how much the US of ttl would get immigration wise. It's not as much as a land of opportunity as otl given the loss of land and the fact that a lot of sources of immigration would likely be under the thumbs of other empires that prevent immigration.

So I'm going to tentatively say Britain
Click to expand...

I mean, any British North America in such a scenario will likely include, at the very least, the land that constitutes the United States east of the Mississippi and and Eastern Canada IOTL. Depending on birth rates and immigration patterns, that is good for, what, two or three times the population of the British Isles, right? Plus, I find it very likely that the Anglo-American presence in the continent will eventually extend west into Louisiana, Texas, California, the Pacific Northwest, etc., as well as south into the Caribbean and Central America.

Furthermore, given that British dominions such as Canada received substantial immigration from places such as Germany and Ireland in our timeline, I see no reason why a British America that includes major urban areas such as Boston, New York City and Philadelphia would not be a magnet for immigrants as well.
 
The Professor

The Professor

It depends how together the Indian and American provinces are. If both are divided into individual and separate dominion-like entities then Britain likely remains the dominant political centre. Helped by being in the middle of all those imperial trade routes.
If both are controlled by a single local polity then the empire will get pulled both east and west before the strain causes one to part ways.
 

Dominic

Quite clearly North America. Without some rather... innovative developments, a united North America + UK is never going to accept leadership from anyone else, in particular people from such a different culture as India. Likewise, India would never accept the same but perhaps could be forced to if this surviving empire is willing to be particularly oppressive and keep India impoverished. Otherwise, of course, there's no keeping those two halves together, though smaller territories in Africa and elsewhere in Asia could perhaps be retained.
 

snerfuplz

I am very much of the opinion that had Britain retained North America it would eventually split into two. Empires historically have devolved to their regional areas after losing power. For example, look how the various Caliphates eventually split into Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt
 
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