Wow a second Britain AAR on the subforum. This one is also very good!
I love the 1901 start date idea as it provides a cool variety. Your writing is good and actually our styles of writing somewhat match.
Just like me you also ask questions like,
and then answer them. I do the same.
Following. Good writing.
Thanks, orc. I've been, slowly, catching up on
Jihad on the Savannah in the midst of furious writing (22,515 words in the Word doc for
1901 as of 17:22 GMT, 3 July); it's damn good stuff you've produced.
Happy to have you on board, and a massive thank you for the ACA vote after just two essays. It's a hell of a confidence booster.
There is a great phrase I encountered in the series Chernobyl which seems most apt for Britain right now in this telling: "Our power is bsaed on the perception of our power". When that perception takes a hit, the power likewise crumbles.
The more you read about the late Empire, the more you realise this was not only true, but explicitly acknowledged by the UK itself. The concept of prestige as power is a very British imperial obsession. As late as the Suez Crisis, Robert Menzies (then-PM of Australia) said this:
It is apparently not fashionable to speak of prestige. Yet the fact remains that world peace and the efficacy of the United Nations Charter alike require that the British Commonwealth and, in particular, its greatest and most experienced member, the United Kingdom, should retain power, prestige, and moral influence.
A messy time all round for diplomats and politicians the world over. Intrigued by hints of shifting battle lines in Europe, particularly the reference to the Franco–German relationship. Meanwhile, the Empire cutting the Commons into about six pieces does not strike me as a brilliant assurance of stability at an increasingly fractious time…
Also intrigued to see Asquith making an entrance when we’ve had so many invented politicians.
There are, indeed, alliance shenanigans galore in store before the fateful autumn of 1911.
I will provide a health warning that, while some attempts are made to fit real politicians' actions to their OTL histories and personalities, there will be divergences. In the words of Napoleon;
To understand the man, you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty.
For many of these men, the world at twenty will have been increasingly different to the one their OTL counterparts knew as we move farther on the timeline.
Whenever I read a piece like this, I'm always reminded of the scene in The Man who Would Be King where Sean Connery's character (I forget the characters' names; it's been a while), after having set himself up as a god-king to the isolated Afghan tribe he and his partner in crime (played by Michael Caine) have encountered, he decides to take one of the village women as his new queen. During the wedding ceremony, she panics when he leans in to kiss her, because she's afraid the touch of a god will surely kill her. She ends up biting his cheek in the confusion -- not enough to do any serious harm, but just enough to draw a little blood.
And just like that, the illusion is broken. Gods aren't supposed to bleed, you see. Everything ends up going downhill (literally) for the impostor god-king not too long after.
Wonderful reference.
And to you a massive thank you for the ACA vote as well. I will do my best to justify your vote of confidence.
Equally, I’m reminded of that infamous picture of MacArthur towering over Hirohito.
And another wonderful reference.
Excellent writing all around!
I'm looking forward to developments from this parliament and empire in turmoil!
Thank you. I hope the quality will remain the same, at least, as those developments are laid out.
A lot packed into this update!
Interesting to see the shape of alliances across Europe taking shape. If the Berlin-St Petersburg axis holds strong then the Kaiser will surely be victorious whenever the Great War comes - but its sounds like that pact is under strain.
I'm loving the idea of Commons seats for the colonies. There were plenty of real people around this period who were proposing this - but the practicalities of governing New Zealand and Australia as integral parts of the UK made it a bit impractical to really push for. Perhaps some sort of devolved arrangement (like NI post partition or Scotland and Wales today) where there is some Commons reputation but also an assembly with a degree of self-governing authority might be an effective compromise solution.
As I said to Densley; shenanigans await!
While today's essay will not yet deal with the Imperial Federation (being situated before the Boer War), the question will dominate the 1900s, at least domestically.
Happy to have you on board.