Insomniac
12-25-2008, 05:20 PM
British Empire includes all of its international possessions at that time (India, Australia, Egypt, Canada, etc.), United States includes the continental states as well as its territories and possessions of the time (Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, etc.). If the war lasts four years, the Panama Canal gets finished.
For whatever reason, diplomatic relations break down, maybe over the border between Canada and the U.S. or how big the Alaska purchase was. Whatever. In 1910, war breaks out.
Who ya' got?
My take:
Although British sea power at that time was enormous, it doesn't do much good conquering a land of people with technology as good as your and immunities to your diseases. With the help of France, Russia, and Italy, three years went by without the British making much progress against the Germans. The United States of 1910 was larger geographically and demographically, richer both in resources and industrial output, than Britain and still rising.
Now, the British Empire was very rich and had a very large population, but not all of that would be strictly additive. You can't just take soldiers away from all of your colonies, can't just get good recruits from people within your claimed territory, and you're very reliant on them to continue to supply you with materials and food.
America was basically self-sufficient, had a military more than strong enough to conquer Canada in short order, and a good deal of Britain's food came from the Great Plains. The longer the war lasts, the more economics come into play, and America was stronger than Britain by then.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_in_1907
For whatever reason, diplomatic relations break down, maybe over the border between Canada and the U.S. or how big the Alaska purchase was. Whatever. In 1910, war breaks out.
Who ya' got?
My take:
Although British sea power at that time was enormous, it doesn't do much good conquering a land of people with technology as good as your and immunities to your diseases. With the help of France, Russia, and Italy, three years went by without the British making much progress against the Germans. The United States of 1910 was larger geographically and demographically, richer both in resources and industrial output, than Britain and still rising.
Now, the British Empire was very rich and had a very large population, but not all of that would be strictly additive. You can't just take soldiers away from all of your colonies, can't just get good recruits from people within your claimed territory, and you're very reliant on them to continue to supply you with materials and food.
America was basically self-sufficient, had a military more than strong enough to conquer Canada in short order, and a good deal of Britain's food came from the Great Plains. The longer the war lasts, the more economics come into play, and America was stronger than Britain by then.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_in_1907