WI: Cecil Rhode's Africa goes independent

Crying

Crying

I know that your kneejerk reaction here will be to call it implausible, but hear me out; let's say that Cecil catches Malaria or something during his excursions into 'the dark continent' and, while he survives it, he goes more than a little bit kooky because of it. The obvious answer is that he'd get withdrawn from power, but say that either doesn't happen or the next part happens in reaction to finding out about it.

Due to his madness, he ends up declaring the territory controlled by him/the British South African Company an independent, sovereign state with him as its leader. How do things go down?

  1. Would the people administrating said territory along with him be loyal enough to side with him, or would they react by 'deposing him' and bringing the territory back into the British fold?
  2. Assuming he doesn't just get overthrown basically as soon as he declares it, would his little empire be able to stay independent or would it get steamrolled by Britain? How much of a fight would it be capable of putting up?
  3. How would the other European/colonial powers react to this? Which would take advantage of the situation and which would remain uninvolved? Would any try to support Rhodes to weaken the Brits? Would some support Britian in bringing it back under control, to either win favour with Britain, not have it serve as an troublesome example to their own colonies or both?
  4. What about the Boers, how would they react to this? Take advantage of the situation to try to split off from both 'powers'? Side with Rhodes because they think he'd be a better option than Britain? Side with Britain because they think that would be a better option than Rhodes? Stay neutral, because they don't like either side enough to fight for/with them?
  5. Would such an act, assuming its at least somewhat successful, spark similar movements or ideas in others?
  6. As unlikely as it is to affect anything, given their position in society at the time, what would the reaction of the native Africans be?
 

DocJamore

If Rhodes caught malaria, smallpox, or any other disease, I doubt he would have survived it. He was a sickly guy and his health in general was awful. He even couldn't visit England for very long since he would get sick.
 
Atterdag

Atterdag

He would undoubtly be removed, or if he by some miracle manages to gather some supporters in government this new state is crushed.

What's interesting is how this affects Rhodes legacy. He was long seen as a great british hero, almost the posterchild of british imperialism. But if he dies as a filthy rebel, well who knows, they might try to remove him from history alltogether.
 

stevej713

Crying said:
  1. Would the people administrating said territory along with him be loyal enough to side with him, or would they react by 'deposing him' and bringing the territory back into the British fold?
  2. Assuming he doesn't just get overthrown basically as soon as he declares it, would his little empire be able to stay independent or would it get steamrolled by Britain? How much of a fight would it be capable of putting up?
  3. How would the other European/colonial powers react to this? Which would take advantage of the situation and which would remain uninvolved? Would any try to support Rhodes to weaken the Brits? Would some support Britian in bringing it back under control, to either win favour with Britain, not have it serve as an troublesome example to their own colonies or both?
  4. What about the Boers, how would they react to this? Take advantage of the situation to try to split off from both 'powers'? Side with Rhodes because they think he'd be a better option than Britain? Side with Britain because they think that would be a better option than Rhodes? Stay neutral, because they don't like either side enough to fight for/with them?
  5. Would such an act, assuming its at least somewhat successful, spark similar movements or ideas in others?
  6. As unlikely as it is to affect anything, given their position in society at the time, what would the reaction of the native Africans be?
Click to expand...
Rhodes and his peers were fervent British nationalists. They had disagreements on how Britain should rule the colonies, but they were all in agreement that Britain should rule it. If Rhodes had a sudden, bizarre change of heart, he would have no one on his side. I'm also dubious that Rhodes even had the authority to declare anything. He wasn't exactly an absolute dictator.
 

Youngmarshall

Tanc49 said:
Regarding plausability, I'll point out this would not be the first time it happens...
A man, on his own, in the middle of the Dark Continent, decides he can have it all. He shoots his white officers and declares himself a Black King of a New Empire.
Click to expand...

Right but Rhodes wasn't on his own in the middle of the Dark Continent.

He lived in the center of the cape colony with around 500,000 other whites, where he was an elected mp and ran a series of businesses.

He was as close to the dark continent as a resident of New York in 1860 was to the wild west.
 
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