An Alternate History: What if the United States Didn't Exist?
In the grand scheme of Human history, The United States of America is an amazingly new country.
What if the United States Didn't Exist?
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From its culture, and the scale of it's military and economic might, The U.S. has been influential since it's inception.
In just two centuries, It went to a disunited band of colonies, Into the strongest power that has ever been seen. Even by its creation, The United States drastically changed the course of history.
So, as a thought practice, What if it didn't exist?
What if, in an Alternate Timeline, The United States of America never existed? Opens up a lot of questions, doesn't it?
For this Alternate Timeline, Let's go back to the 1770s, the American Revolution, As tension grew between the Colonies and the British. In this alternate scenario, a war begins.
The American Rebels fight against the British Regulars. There were many numerous occasions the U.S. could have been defeated. All it just took was not having the aid of one foreign ally.
An ally who would prefer to get back at the British. Yes, that's right, the French. The French involvement in the American Revolution saved the rebellion, And without it, the militia surly would've lost.
And this wasn't a little contribution, The French involvement meant funding to Rebels, Supplies, guns, men, and ships. Particularly to distract the British Naval fleet And France wanted revenge so badly. They put themselves in huge debt, Just to aid the Americans.
What if America never existed
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After years of holding out against Native American, British, and German Regulars, it's just too much. So, the Rebellion crumbles, The British seize control, And most of the Continental Congress goes into exile, Or are captured.
Perhaps negations occur between the two to make amends, But this is hard to predict.
In this Alternate Timeline, the Revolution is crushed, And the experiment that was the United States of America is in the history records.
A failed Rebellion over anger with the British Parliament. It can't be left unsaid that there is still bitterness among A sizable portion of the Colonial population.
There's still this culture within the Colonies that resent the loss. While the war ends and a majority of American Colonists Simply move on with their lives, There's still a mentality similar to "The South will rise again."
The relationship between the two is forever changed. The 13 Colonies were already kind of different From the rest of the British Realms. But now, going into the 1790s and the 19th century. It would still be painted as the rouge Colony Which still has an independent aim.
There are urgent changes that result from the U.S. not existing. When the U.S. won the Revolution, In the Treaty Of Paris. It was given all of the land east of the Mississippi River.
In this alternate scenario, The 13 Colonies simply remain the 13 Colonies. This changes multiple things.
Including the path of the British Imperial ambitions, And the politics of North America as a whole. Let's talk relationships.
In this Alternate Timeline, The American Colonists don't have the best relationship with their neighbors.
Catholic French Quebec is to the north And would be despised by the intensely Puritan Colonists. And the various Native Americans to the west Would be an issue as well, Except for a few Tribes, but I'll discuss that later.
In our timeline, when the U.S. was born, Quebec was pushed up to where it is now, And the Natives were under American command. But with control of this land under the British Parliament, American Colonists are sort of stuck on the coast.
In this scenario, Canada, as we study it, Simply doesn't exist. What eventually became Canada had a large population boost after the war From loyalists that fled the independent United States.
It's said that these loyalists were the initial boost That caused Canada as a territory for Britain. Being happy to be under the King's rule and all.
What if America didn't t declare independence
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But without independence, These loyalists stay in the Colonies. So, Canada doesn't have an influx of English speaking Brits. But, you know what it does have?
French-Canadians. This land was once under control of the French In something known as New France. But France lost this land after the Seven Years War. French Colonists were allowed to stay and keep their culture, As long as they stayed loyal to the British King.
Thus, Quebec was born, In this alternate scenario, Quebec never loses this land And stays incredibly large. One that takes up all of the Great Lakes, The Ohio River, And goes up into the Northern Seas of the Atlantic.
Had Quebec continued to be allowed to rule these lands, The Midwest and the Great Lakes are French-Speaking, Deeply Catholic territories. But there is a third culture as well.
Most of the land south of the Ohio River Is entirely populated by Native American Tribes. If the treaty with the Natives maintained, Then the British protect Native land rights in the Deep South.
Inside this territory was what was known As the Five Civilized Tribes by the Americans; The Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Seminole.
They were called this because of their general approval Of many Colonial practices into their society. And the Colonists held, by comparison, Pretty good views of the Natives as well, In comparison to other minorities.
What if America lost the revolutionary war
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It was often thought that if the Native Tribes simply adopted European culture, They'd be on equal footing with the Colonists. As decades go by in this Alternate Timeline, Interaction with British-Americans and the Quebec-Canadians, Slowly alter these five Tribal societies Into adapting more European practices.
Not much can be said other than the Native Tribes of the South Remain prominent members who may ultimately adopt Colonial ways. Who knows?
It's commonly taught in school that the American Revolution Had an immediate impact throughout the world. And that's true, Just, not in the way we think.
Remember when I said France Was a principal ally to the American Rebels? That aid required money.
That money had to come from somewhere, And the French Monarchy didn't have it. The Monarchy put itself into a large amount of debt.
This debt generated a financial crisis, And without getting into too many details. This was the crisis which pointed to the chain of events. That ultimately brought down the Monarchy, Led to the French Revolution, And eventually, Napoleon.
In this Alternate Timeline, Britain crushes the American Rebels, Since France doesn't get connected. Sure, the French Monarchy is still in debt, But without this financial crisis, because no war, They can kick that can down the road By at least a few decades.
By doing so, Napoleon's opportunity to seize power doesn't happen. The Napoleonic Wars never occur, The Holy Roman Empire is not obliterated by the French Invasion. And hundreds of little German States aren't reconstructed Into 30 with the Confederation of the Reich.
There is never rise of Prussia And so, the German Empire is never formed. It can't be underestimated how much Napoleon not coming to rule affected global history.
As Napoleon's forced invaded Spain and Portugal, Bringing their Colonies into chaos. In this Alternate Timeline, without the United States, There is no immediate military catastrophe to weaken these Empires.
They remain prominent and powerful. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, The New World is still primal state for European colonization.
The British and Spanish are pretty much the only ones left, With the Russians and Alaska. Which leaves New Spain and the question, It's doubtful the Spanish would've risked war over the territory If the British wanted it enough.
The British expand slowly over the North American continent. However, what changes is how they communicate with the Native Tribes Instead of the Americans.
What if U.S never existed
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Manifest Destiny was a uniquely American ideal That wouldn't survive in the Alternate Timeline. Instead, it's likely the British would interact with the Native Tribes And give them autonomy.
Essentially dividing North America up into Native dominated provinces in the west with white Colonists. This is the undoubted effect of the United States Losing the Revolution and not existing.
The transformation of British Imperial policy around the world. Think of it like soul searching, But with warships. Losing the United States ended the first Empire And the British funded exploration ships To go find new lands to settle.
This led to the discovery of Australia and New Zealand. It also learned to the British to become more invested In conquering lands in Africa and all of India. With North America though, Britain directly invests in this massive territory of land.
As industrialization arrives, The British ban slavery and the Slave Trade as a whole. This would generate extreme unrest in the United States. But the British still ban slavery, And the issue is ended by the 1830s.
The British still have access to the bountiful amount of Oil, natural gas, and coal left untapped in North America. The change here is the balance in power in the world.
Not only that but the balance of power in Europe. Germany continues divided for the entire 19th century, Meaning WWI and WWII never occur. Yet, some alternate war probably would happen.
As for North America, The British dominion of North America is a diverse land. The 13 Colonies still exist And are culturally different from the rest of the continent.
Native Americans make up a predominant section of western North America, While white Colonists dominate the western coast. This is, however, simply one scenario.
We'll never truly know what will happen, This is just one thought exercise. The United States has always been a land where people from around the world have come to create a new life.
And since I'm here, and I have a life, That means that in some point in history, My ancestors had to have gotten on that boat Or flew. As I like to imagine, And just stayed in the United States until generations later, I was born.
I've always kind of wondered where my ancestors came from, So, in sponsorship with Ancestry, I actually found out. Now, for reference, My whole family has absolutely no idea where we came from. It was never explained, And the furthest back I can trace my roots in Buffalo, New York.
Since my last name is Franklin, I assumed, maybe I have ties to Britain, But, I was never really sure. Also, my skin is so pale, I thought, Maybe there is some Northern European DNA in there, too.
Without either side knowing where we came from, I decided to take an experiment for myself. And just in time, Ancestry contacted me. They have a service called Ancestry DNA.
They mailed me a box, I spit in a tube And then sent it into a lab. Using their DNA cross-referencing and gene comparisons, Ancestry DNA was actually able to pinpoint. Using my DNA, Were my ancestors had actually come from, Or, at least the general area.
Basically, comparing my genes to similar genes of Ethnic groups from around the world. And the results were pretty surprising.
According to the experiment, I have 36% British ancestry, Most likely from England. So the last name actually makes sense. The next was pretty surprising. 30% Scandinavian, particularly Norway or Sweden.
Being from the Midwest, I imagined, maybe German, But nope, no German genes. Just Scandinavian. The next highest was 20% Irish, Also then a random 7% from Italy and Greece.
Somewhere in the Mediterranean. The 7% actually makes sense, because, for some reason, My brother looks something like this. Maybe he got more of those genes. And then, there are assorted genes from the rest of Europe, And even 2% Jewish, 1% Middle Eastern.
So, there must have been an interesting story in there somewhere. The oddest thing is that I thought when I'd find out, I'd feel different somehow.
I don't know. But, to be honest, Maybe it's just from having my own suspicions for this entire time, But, I don't really feel different at all. Yeah, I may have ancestors from this particular place, But, I'm 100% American.
I've lived in Ohio my entire life. I like football. Stars and stripes, that sort of thing. Also, I had a friend who started loving a certain country Way too much once he found out he had heritage from it.
So, I'm not gonna go down that path. But, learning about where your ancestors came from, Does tell a fascinating story. And it can be quite an experience.
Honestly, I suggest you give it a try. We're in an age now where you can find out your history just from spitting in a tube.
So, why not try it out? Ancestry DNA is an international service available in 30 or so markets. So, really, anybody can use it, not only Americans.
* This article was originally published here
