France had her demographic transition very early. It is debated whether it was caused by the Revolution or happened a decade or two before. Either way, a POD around 1750 or so to push them in a more theocratic direction could do it. More French settlers and more zealotry in conversion/ethnic...
If Nemtsov follows Yeltsin, Russia would probably have followed a similar development path to Poland. Democracy, Christian culture and reasonable economic development is enough to be seen as Western.
Why would converting the Maghreb in the 19th C be more expensive than converting Iberia in the 16th C?
Everything I have read so far comes down to (a) culture has changed so religion is less important to Europeans and (b) there are Muslim neighbors that would fight it. But (a) can be changed by...
Prior to the Reconquista, Al-Andalus was about 80% Muslim. These lands became captured by Christian kingdoms, who through a combination of bribery, blackmail and expulsion converted the country to being devoutly Catholic.
By the time France conquered Algeria IOTL, the country had been through...
An Atlantic Empire of the British Isles and North America would have been very viable logistically once you have steam ships. Just need to get the right constitutional balance.
This is all correct. Also, Hannover was not British, so it was only of interest to anti-British forces to the extent the King cared about the place. George III felt no connection, so a succesful invasion would give little leverage.
The Habsburgs actively embraced identifying people in their empire as a single nationality based on their primary language. Do that for long enough and people start identifying that way. In reality, huge numbers in the empire had ancestry from multiple places and spoke multiple languages. They...
Islam had huge success in India. India was a mammoth population with deeply embedded, institutionally strong religion and yet the Muslims still managed to convert a third of the population.
Don't understand your point about Buddhism at all.
I think this is exactly right, and also a big part of why Islam spread so much. As an economist and a big student of economic history, I think a lot of people don't appreciate how modern middle class societies have such a different social structure to most of history. Prior to 1600, the vast...
This is a lot of the thinking in my first post and would welcome debate. I think they could hang on to small population places like Malaya, Ceylon, Formosa. But trying to hold on to places like China, India is a fool's errand even for a mega-Britain. Though imperial hubris is likely to mean they...
What resources will be pushed into North America? North America would be a net source of resources for a united imperial power. And, as I said, the conquests of India, Nigeria, Malaysia in OTL weren't pushed from London. They are people on the ground trying their luck. And more people on the...
Britain already has a heavily growing population from Florida to Nova Scotia. The native population north of the Rio Grande has been decimated by disease and far lower technology. The imperialist mentality of the Anglo settlers is going to grab the land and I can't see who else would get in...