WI: Portugal Attempts to Enforce Pink Map

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Map

Back in the 1800's, Portugal attempted to claim sovereignty over Zimbabwe and Zambia. They wanted to unite their colonies of Mozambique and Angola. The British threatened to blockade Mozambique if they didn't stop.

What if, afraid of reprisals from Republican politicians and activists, the King of Portugal attempted to go ahead with the plan? The British blockade Mozambique, and after a series of battles successfully annex it.

The King is deposed in the Portuguese revolution a few years late; and British and Portuguese relations are at an all time low.

What happens next?
 

Arrix85

Donor
I don't know, but if the King is deposed, then the relationships between Britain and Portugal wouldn't be at all time lows given the fact that Portugal has a new government and probably way more compliant of British interests.
 
Why stop in Mozambique? Britain would have a good pretext to annex all of Portugal's colonies. The Portuguese people would be motivated to fight fiercely but Portugal would be crushed nonetheless.
 
Why stop in Mozambique? Britain would have a good pretext to annex all of Portugal's colonies. The Portuguese people would be motivated to fight fiercely but Portugal would be crushed nonetheless.

Don't want to deal with annoying natives, don't want Germany to feel like it has to defend Portugal since they'll need Germany's assistance to build the Cape to Cairo railway.

I don't know, but if the King is deposed, then the relationships between Britain and Portugal wouldn't be at all time lows given the fact that Portugal has a new government and probably way more compliant of British interests.

The whole reason why the Republican Revolution occurred was because Britain successfully threatened Portugal into giving up it's claims over Zim and Zambia. If Portugal and Britain fought a war and Portugal lost they'd be even more pissed off.
 
The whole reason why the Republican Revolution occurred was because Britain successfully threatened Portugal into giving up it's claims over Zim and Zambia. If Portugal and Britain fought a war and Portugal lost they'd be even more pissed off.

I thought it was more to do with the fact that Portugal had declared bankruptcy twice in the last 20 years (1892 and 1902) and was heading towards another one when the revolution occured in 1910.
 
I thought it was more to do with the fact that Portugal had declared bankruptcy twice in the last 20 years (1892 and 1902) and was heading towards another one when the revolution occured in 1910.
That too. But the Republicans did capitalize on the nationalist anti-British wave the humiliated nation was experiencing and managed to pin the guilt on the monarchist regime.
 

Lusitania

Donor
That too. But the Republicans did capitalize on the nationalist anti-British wave the humiliated nation was experiencing and managed to pin the guilt on the monarchist regime.

It is acctually ironic that the Portuguese national anthem was born as an anti British song. All that changed when it became the national anthem was the removal of the English.

Incidentily for Portugal to have any hope of getting the claim to the Zambezi River basin it would have to succeded in first exploring the river prior to Livingston and more importantly not have someone like Rhodes advocating British Imperialism into the interior of Africa.
 
It is acctually ironic that the Portuguese national anthem was born as an anti British song. All that changed when it became the national anthem was the removal of the English.

Incidentily for Portugal to have any hope of getting the claim to the Zambezi River basin it would have to succeded in first exploring the river prior to Livingston and more importantly not have someone like Rhodes advocating British Imperialism into the interior of Africa.

I can't remember off the top what the basis for their claim was, but they did try to enforce it so they must've thought they had some legal basis to do so. My idea is that they keep trying to enforce it and fail, badly.
 
I can't remember off the top what the basis for their claim was, but they did try to enforce it so they must've thought they had some legal basis to do so. My idea is that they keep trying to enforce it and fail, badly.

The basis was that they had interest in the African interior long before the British did. Angola and Mozambique were more than coastal trading sites at a time where the rest of Europe was barely blinking at Africa. Only the Dutch in the Cape had anything comparable. The thing is that Africa became available after the invention of quinine - the Portuguese claimed that they would have colonised the Zambesi long before the British had they been able, but that isn't a strong enough basis to drive back the British Empire.
 
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