WI: US buys Iceland and Greenland

You ever notice all these ATL's which involve the United States just buying and buying other countries lands.

It's a weird American institutional memory, rooted in the Louisiana Purchase during the Napoleanic Wars, when France had nominal legal title to an indefensible piece of territory that it might lose control over in the face of British naval superiority, and the Alaska Purchase, when Russia had nominal legal title to an indefensible piece of territory that it might lose control over in the face of British naval superiority. That and raping Mexico repeatedly and occasionally shelling them a few sawbucks, raping Colombia and throwing a few sawbucks, raping Spain, throwing a few sawbucks, etc.

We never see ATL's about any other countries going on acquisitive spending sprees.
 
Just wait until you hear about the trail of tears. I have no idea why you guys are talking about mods? Do you think that you're not allowed to mention the holocaust on this forum?

The USA has shown itself more than willing to engage in ethnic cleansing, if Iceland does anything other than follow the Hawaiian example you'll see the results.

If you want a more modern example one simply has to look at the behaviour of the USA in Vietnam and the Middle East, but keep on believing that the USA will just let Iceland rebel...

Ala Acadia and the Cajuns.

But does the Late 19th Century USA have the will to commit ethnic cleansing against White people (especially White Protestants)? All the areas the U.S. conquered during the Late 19th Century (American West, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Hawaii, Cuba to some extent) were nonwhite, at least by Anglo-American standards, and all of them were also non-Protestant. On the contrary, there is no way that anyone at any point in time could argue that Icelanders are not white, and Iceland was very Lutheran at the time.

Filipinos

Cubans

Icelanders


So were the Boers, and weren't they stuffed into concentration camps?
 
Just wait until you hear about the trail of tears.

But the trail of tears was an overland migration completely within US borders, and so no foreign nation would have had the capacity to intervene. Contrast this with Iceland, where a significant distance on the open seas with a monumental number of transport ships (not to mention escorts) would be required for such an undertaking at a time when the US was not yet a dominant naval power. Any discussion of willingness is moot because it simply isn't logistically possible.
 
people are forgetting the Iceland can immediately become a state because it has over 60,000 people although Greenland is a bit trickier because of it's limited population it would probably still be a territory to this day or maybe integrated with Iceland. How the people react to becoming part of the us probably is determined on the US treats the population but there are going to be people that are super pissed no matter what. Although I do think quickly becoming a state help ease the transition. Foreign policy wise Great Britain is going to be the biggest problem even if Denmark for what ever reason is willing to sell Greenland, Iceland, and hell lets say the danish west indies get thrown in as well because the Danish were trying to sell them around this time period, because GB is not going to want an American navel base so close to home but at the time GB was also starting to realize that the US was a better to have as a friend then to have as an enemy so maybe it speed that process up. And another issue with GB would the territorial claims between Canada and the newly acquired territory of Greenland.
 
There were about 80,000 Icelanders in the 1880's. Not sure if that is much more than the number of ethnic Hawaiians when the US took over?
The linked article mentions 1868. According to the Icelandic statistical office their population for that year was 69,231. I can imagine many of them would have been delighted to accept a free ticket to some more luxurious tropical environment such as Maine, Oregon, Minnesota etc. clearing the way for the imperialist authorities to seize total control of the piscine powerhouse. However I think the British would quickly perceive, and react vigorously against, this obvious first step to monopolise the fisheries of the North Atlantic. It is after all inevitable that the next targets of the New Cod Order would be Newfoundland and Rockall.

http://px.hagstofa.is/pxen/pxweb/en...t1/?rxid=3beafb05-51fe-4438-bfe6-6683ced659bf
 

Lusitania

Donor
lets Try this one. They become a US and demand that Icelandic become an official language. No, why not America is really interested in accommodation it will allow these people to keep speaking their language they been speaking for hundreds of years. Plus the new state will demand US baby stop all other Americans an and foreign fisherman to fish in all seas 50-100 miles from the coast. Plus the US will provided all citizen free transportation to the US mainland and back (once a year). Lastly all American citizen arriving in the new state of Iceland will be required to learn Icelandic.
 
lets Try this one. They become a US and demand that Icelandic become an official language. No, why not America is really interested in accommodation it will allow these people to keep speaking their language they been speaking for hundreds of years. Plus the new state will demand US baby stop all other Americans an and foreign fisherman to fish in all seas 50-100 miles from the coast. Plus the US will provided all citizen free transportation to the US mainland and back (once a year). Lastly all American citizen arriving in the new state of Iceland will be required to learn Icelandic.

Why not? Because the US has no official language, I suppose.
 
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