WI: Divided Britain in the Cold War?

Britain fights on the losing side of a world war and in the aftermath ends up getting the Germany/Korea treatment and is divided between the Soviets and the Americans. This may seem improbable but could occur in a scenario post the First World War where Britain goes Facist and sides with a resurgent Germany. Assuming a war against both the Americans and Soviets occur and in the post war world they divide the country how would you envisage the Cold War shaping up? Where would the dividing line be? What would happen to areas such as Northern Ireland? Where would the capitals of both states be?
 
Geographical speaking due to it's north Atlantic, Britain would exclusivity be an American operation. There no reason to divide the country or for the United States to allow the Soviets a base in the North Atlantic for nothing at all.
 

Deleted member 94680

Geographical speaking due to it's north Atlantic, Britain would exclusivity be an American operation. There no reason to divide the country or for the United States to allow the Soviets a base in the North Atlantic for nothing at all.

Agreed. You’d need a Soviet Norway, Denmark and probably entirety of Germany to make a Soviet (part) of UK a realistic proposal.

And if the Soviets have been that successful in continental Europe, why are they sharing anything?
 
The proposal is pretty unrealistic. Even if the Soviets had been more successful across Europe and managed to get all the way to the Channel, there would be a clear problem of "well, how do we get our guys across?" The WW2 Soviet Navy was the biggest joke of the Soviet Armed Forces, or at the very least a very unimpressive force. The USN would have a better chance of getting to Britain from Iceland than the Soviets have of getting to it from Germany - and the Soviets would have to fight through Central Europe to get there, first.

However, in the scenario of Britain getting the Post-War Germany treatment, I can see the Irish taking the rest of their island back and thumbing their noses at the beleaguered Brits. The British may complain to the Yankees, but depending on how much the Soviest have in their hands, the remnant would hardly be in any condition to retake Wales back, let alone Ulster.

Plus, with a broken and shattered Britain, many of its colonies will be given their independence guaranteed, with Egypt booting out the Suez garrison and getting a prestige boost to India undergoing civil war after the British were forced to leave to defend the homeland.

If we're talking about a divided Britain (as in, it must happen and cannot just have Britain has a European Post-WW2 Japan) I can see Scotland and perhaps a bit of North England, but the industry, resources, and population will largely remain in Soviet hands. If the US can take the "industrial belt" of Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, et al, they'd be in a better position, otherwise the People's Democratic Republic of England/Britain will be the stronger polity.
 
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A fascist Britain might be downright horrible to the Irish populace, so I could see a Red Ireland emerge as an analogy to the Home Army uprising, only pro communist.
 
Imagine Glasgow as a high tech metropolis like Seoul or Hong Kong.
Between Glasgow, Edinburgh - hell, almost the entirety of Scotland is an industrial base/resource center. While it would have a much lower population base than England, it still has the basis to create a strong, prosperous country on its own. It took the economic crises of the 1970s and Thatcher's massive privatization process to wreck Scottish industry, so with luck, the Kingdom (or Republic, if the monarchy's been removed, like what was done to the Italians) of North Britain can still be a viable US client.

As for Ireland... yeah, a Fascist UK would be a horrifying idea there. Probably not as bad as what was done to the Jews, but still unpleasant to say the least. However, given the large Irish demographic in the United States, I can see the USA try and set up an Irish nationalist party to balance out the Communists. Not to mention that due to Communism's strong anti-Church stance (as was seen in the USSR and during the Republican reign of Spain), there'd be some degree of resistance to a Communist takeover of the Emerald Isle.
 
There'd be a great deal of propaganda spin on how the United Kingdom was really a Scottish kingdom. James I would be emphasized as James VI.
Depends on how the monarchy ends up. While there would be someone or other supporting a Scottish monarchy, the Stuart line had effectively been either cut off by lack of heirs or sent to exile with Bonnie Prince Charlie for being rebels. It's been so long since a Stuart was on the throne it's a miracle if people find a suitable ruler.

If the House of Windsor was a willing participant or pliant figurehead in whatever Mosleyist or Fascist actions were done, the whole family might as well be eventually dethroned by the Allies for their complicity, similar to how the House of Savoy in Italy ended up. Otherwise, if there were members of the family who rebelled against what happened or denounced the regime from their exile in Canada or the like (or even spent time in jail as a political prisoner), there's a higher chance of the Windsor family getting to stay after WW2.

But yeah, I can see there being a movement to find a suitable Scottish dynasty, or have the Windsors marry into Scotsmen.

Similarly one can argue that with Scotland effectively dominating North Britain, there'd be a strong impetus for a Scottish independence movement, especially if what they have of Northern England is mostly empty farmlands and they don't have the British industrial belt.
 
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