XX-XXI Century Alternate History Clichés

[jolou]

The side where America/Britain is in a World War will win . (And generally it's the opposite side the French are in)
A little change in history will make France goes Fascist/Communist and the British/American with their German friend will beat her
France don't have an army or a stupid one .

 

[Hrvatskiwi]

You know what cliche I hate the most? Evil Pakistan. While India's current PM was banned from entering the US for his role in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, no one is making an "Evil Hindu nationalist India" TL, yet in a lot of TLs that have a divided India and talk about it Pakistan is the theocratic shit hole while India is the secular bastion of democracy in the region. I can't describe how much this makes me angry.

My TL has an evil Hindu nationalist India run by the RSS. It dismembers Pakistan.

 

[Kirook]

The side where America/Britain is in a World War will win . (And generally it's the opposite side the French are in)
A little change in history will make France goes Fascist/Communist and the British/American with their German friend will beat her
France don't have an army or a stupid one .

Come to think of it, there do seem to be a lot of "USA/Germany WWI team-up" TLs...

 

[galveston bay]

Come to think of it, there do seem to be a lot of "USA/Germany WWI team-up" TLs...

The German American community was huge (its still large) and very active pre World War I

 

[Noscoper]

There always a Sino Soviet split

China ends up like Otl or in a civil war sometimes with nuclear weapons being used

Iran-Iraq war always ends in a stalemate and Iraq always invades Kuwait

 

[A Most Sovereign Lady]

Imperial Germany wasn't openly irredeemable evil, either. That helps in making them an attractive option in alliance etc.

 

[JackLumber]

Imperial Germany wasn't irredeemable evil, either. That helps in making them an attractive option in alliance etc.

Fixed

 

[Miss Construction]

One word...

Zeppelins!

 

[Alcsentre Calanice]

Come to think of it, there do seem to be a lot of "USA/Germany WWI team-up" TLs...

Given the great number of Americans with German ancestors, the two great wars opposing both countries are actually quite surprising. Especially when you take into account that the US allied with their former colonial overlord.

 

[Alcsentre Calanice]

An empire with fair representation sounds like a contradiction in terms anyways.

I can name you a bunch of empires which had equal representation. The German Empire, the Brazilian Empire, the Austrian Empire.

And empires like the Napoleonic Empire and the Roman Empire granted equality to their subjects, even if they had no true representation.

 

[A Most Sovereign Lady]

Fixed

Given the great number of Americans with German ancestors, the two great wars opposing both countries are actually quite surprising. Especially when you take into account that the US allied with their former colonial overlord.

There's a long established tradition that German-Americans may be more numerous but Anglo-Americans run everything.

 

[TRH]

There's a long established tradition that German-Americans may be more numerous but Anglo-Americans run everything.

Usually these scenarios follow British meddling in the civil war, which would mark them out as a national enemy and make the Anglo thing less worth trumpeting than the American part.

 

[Indicus]

Well, surviving colonialism, I can see it happen. It's not much of a push for it to evolve somewhat and stay in place in the right circumstances.

But the Benevolent English Commonwealth (Not An Empire Anymore We Swear) TM seems extremely common, with Canada, India, South Africa and everyone joyfully joining in for the love of the Queen and Country

And the funny thing is, if India was fairly-represented, it would make the British Empire an Indian Empire.

And I'm not gonna lie, that makes the Indian in me all excited. Not as much as, say, a Mughal India that escapes colonialism entirely, but it still makes me excited.

 

[BootOnFace]

I always love the idea of Britain granting India more and more power in the Empire until the tail wags the dog. I haven't seen a good TL that does that, though.

 

[Asami]

And the funny thing is, if India was fairly-represented, it would make the British Empire an Indian Empire.

I've wanted to do a "British rule in India devolves to the point where it's a dominion ran by the highest Indian castes and white Briton elites." with a British Royal as Emperor of India.

 

[Indicus]

ran by the highest Indian castes

That wouldn't work. In India, there are many poor Brahmins, and poor people of every caste, actually, and there have always been rich Shudras, holding commercial power, throughout its history. For instance, on my father's side, I'm descended from Brahmins that were poor tenant farmers. Later, they moved into the city and became store owners. Not really the jobs associated to Brahmins.

The fact is, the caste system should not be conflated with the class system.

 

[Asami]

That wouldn't work. In India, there are many poor Brahmins, and poor people of every caste, actually, and there have always been rich Shudras, holding commercial power, throughout its history. For instance, on my father's side, I'm descended from Brahmins that were poor tenant farmers. Later, they moved into the city and became store owners. Not really the jobs associated to Brahmins.

The fact is, the caste system should not be conflated with the class system.

Oops, I meant the Indian elite, more or less.

 

[Indicus]

I always love the idea of Britain granting India more and more power in the Empire until the tail wags the dog. I haven't seen a good TL that does that, though.

Fight and Be Right has a Syndicalist British Empire that is heavily implied to be going Indian due to its federal structure.

 

[Augenis]

And I'm not gonna lie, that makes the Indian in me all excited. Not as much as, say, a Mughal India that escapes colonialism entirely, but it still makes me excited.

[shamelessplug]
My TL has that
[/shamelessplug]

 

[Arkenfolm]

I always love the idea of Britain granting India more and more power in the Empire until the tail wags the dog. I haven't seen a good TL that does that, though.

That's the most realistic version of what would happen if there was an Imperial Federation, but it isn't often acknowledged.

The TL Malê Rising had something similar with Portugal and Angola federating, but Angola eventually dominates it thanks to demographics which causes discontent in Portugal. I could imagine something similar would happen regarding Britain and India.