alternatehistory.com

In the late 19th and early 20th Century, as the future of the British Empire became uncertain, there was a proposal from Unionists in the United Kingdom, intended to preserve the British Empire, to create a federal union consisting of the many colonies and dominions established by the British Empire.

It's name: The Imperial Federation.

While a firm plan was never established, the basic idea was that the federation would have a common parliament and would be governed as a superstate. Thus, Imperial unity could be maintained while still allowing for democratic government.

Members of the Old Commonwealth ( England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, for example) were to have their own parliament. Westminster would've become a purely imperial body.

The plan had support among members of the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Party, with the supports seeing only two paths the UK could take in the future: imperial union and continued long-term importance or imperial dissolution and the reduction of the status of the UK to a second-class nation.

As you can imagine, the colonies, represented by Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain, were not about to give up their sovereignty to be part of this imperialist fantasy, so the plan died a quiet death.

But what if the members of the British Empire decided to give up their sovereignty and become a part of the Imperial Federation?
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