Two Thrones For A Time

Two Thrones For A Time:

A request made by bl777 for a scenario where the English succeed in conquering France during the Hundred Years War. In this world there is no Joan of Arc, the young woman dies when her home village is burnt to the ground by a Burgundian raid. Without her there is no sudden and inspirational revival of French morale and the pattern of defeats they suffered during the second great phase of the Hundred Years War continues until finally the Dauphin, OTL Charles VII, is captured and the French crown is officially given to the English King Henry V.

For a time the Kingdom of France had supremacy over England, Henry agreeing that his position as King of France being much more prestigious than his leadership of England. This of course caused problems.

It didn't take long for English nobility, angry at the idea of swearing allegiance to a man who gave his title as King of France precedence over England's to begin rebelling. This would lead to a series of wars as secessionists, revolutionaries (of a sort), loyalists and opportunists took whatever chance they had to fight for control of England. A few kings would claim English superiority over France but their successors would often revert back to French supremacy. Both England and France were lashing out at their rulers even as an ATL Protestant movement emerged and the New World captured the attentions of Europe.

France and England permanently split for once and for all in the Late 16^th Century after the Protestant movement divided the two. However the impact that the conquest of France had on the rest of Europe, and by extension the rest of the world, was now enormous.

Spain discovered the Americas though there were different people involved. They also avoided the Hapsburgs as well, remaining a somewhat more stable state. Without Spain the Hapsburgs instead focused more on their territories in the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire. The Netherlands became their centre of power and from there they still set out to build an empire of their own, competing with Spain, Portugal and eventually England.

As of 2014 the major power of the world is the Empire of Spain. Like OTL they were able to grab the choicest portions of the Americas and did a better job of keeping it. Though it was difficult they were also able to weather the wars with rivals, losing only their most indefensible territories. Imperial overstretch and revolution in Nueva Galicia also prompted the reforms that would turn Spain into the confederated entity they are today. Despite concerns from the more conservative elements of society the Empire is post-racial and allows anyone of any colour to work their way to the upper echelons of society as long as they speak good Spanish. Catholicism, however, is still the preferred religion and whilst other Christian denominations, Judaism and Islam are tolerated they are usually encouraged to not be that open with their faith. Atheism is often looked down upon by the largely religious or, at least, agnostic population of the Spanish Empire.

Militarily most of their armed forces are devoted to policing and protecting their own territories and protectorates. They prefer to leave the policing of the world to other nations and instead maintain a more defensive policy. They are nuclear armed however and do participate in global affairs, preferably as a non-involved party in conflicts.

The Hapsburgs did not have as much luck establishing an empire overseas but in Europe they were able to build a hegemony unchallenged by the battered French and distracted Spanish. They also spearheaded a Christian alliance against the expanding Ottoman Empire that reinforced their power and influence. The Hapsburgs now run a familial compact made up of the many different states that their family are now monarchs over. Marriages and political alliances have served the Hapsburgs well in Europe and numerous different states, often with clashing cultures and established histories of conflict have since been reconciled into a single economic and political union. It has changed over the centuries from a dynastic hegemony into a more concrete union of nations. The ATL Protestant movement was far less successful and took place in other areas but it was still enough to prompt a Reformation and suppression campaigns by the Catholic Hapsburgs. By today there aren't that many Protestants in the Hapsburg portion of Europe (which had consequences for other areas). This led to an eventual tolerance for other religious minorities in the 20^th Century. This has eased all but worst of the religious tensions within their overseas territories and also began the secularisation of their Muslim territories but terrorist actions still take place.

England was able to build an empire but it was a very different process carried out by a very different nation. Britain ended up becoming a more Latin nation with a greater degree of French in the language. The break away from Britain was led by the York family who later became the monarchy after the traditional ruling Plantagenets had been overthrown.

Whilst nowhere near the levels of Spain in terms of influence the English are definitely one of the greater powers and are doing a decent job of holding their empire together. Despite fervently retaining and supporting their monarchy the English Empire is primarily a democratic nation due to their history of lashing out against the, usually pro-French, monarchy of the 15^th and 16^th Centuries and the power shift away from the British Isles and towards their settler colonies. Despite their greater democratic history than most other powers the English Empire as a whole has a rather elitist attitude and swings more towards conservative ideals and traditions. The English never ruled the waves and have always been inferior to the major powers like Spain and so never had the imperialist arrogance of OTL. However since the Spanish turned away from enforcing their hegemony over the world for maintaining their own empire the English have been forced to guard their own possessions instead. A greater employment of cooperative imperialism through existing power structures in their colonies has also made their empire a bit more palatable though less sturdy. Their African territories, most of which were taken from Germany or Spain after they abandoned them, are ruled in a more colonial fashion. This has forced them to adopt the federated structures of the Spanish as their colonies developed and gained more power.

A China that was opened up earlier at a time when its technological and organisational disparity with Europe was not as large as OTL managed to rally itself and strike back against the growing European global hegemony. Chinese leadership that had not fallen as far into isolationism and complete disregard for new ideas began to mobilise the empire into combating the increasing encroachments onto their territories and the areas that they had always regarded as Chinese dependencies. Whilst an industrialised and modernised state the Chinese have retained a lot of their traditional culture. Their greatest strength is the sheer volume of goods and resources that the empire can produce and export to the world. This has also allowed them to dominate the economies of their dependencies, ensuring their control over them. They have had a lot more trouble adapting to high technology and are falling behind other states like the Spanish and English. Traditionalism has led to a highly stratified society that is also rather sexist and somewhat xenophobic. There is also a rather large wealth disparity between most of the population that is slowly disappearing at a crawl.

A rather strange great power in this world is the insular Republic of Johannia. Named for the first recorded explorer to discover North America, Johannia started out as an English colony on North America. It eventually broke away during a period of extreme instability and civil war in England itself during the 17^th Century. Johannia would go on to absorb the German, French and Danish colonies in North America and succeed in conquering most of the rest of the continent outside of Spanish control. Johannia is a rather conservative republic but does still have universal suffrage for men and property owning women. Christianity is the preferred religion but the government does now promote religious tolerance and there is also an influential agnostic movement. Culturally they are rather isolationist with a strict policy of non-involvement in global affairs. They do promote free trade however.

Culturally this world is similar to ours in some ways. It is somewhat more conservative than OTL in places, especially concerning things like imperialism. This is a world where large empires have survived but also evolved into different forms. Multiculturalism and cultural integration are too concepts that are employed by the major powers even as they contradict one another. It is also a more religious world than ours. Catholicism that is even more widespread than OTL means that this worlds population is already at 8 billion. This stretched an already struggling agricultural system, prompting the scientific community and the ruling elite to search for solutions. Deforesting for arable land has caused major concern amongst various fledgling environmental and conservationist groups. Climate change is more pronounced in a world that is more industrialised than ours. The severity of the growing climate change issues is leading to a bypassing of religious authorities and ethics in order to pursue the scientific fields that are seen as necessary in the search for a solution. Globalisation does exist but there is no single hegemonic power enforcing it. Instead the great powers look after their own spheres of influence with little cooperation. Monarchies are the most common form of government whether they are constitutional, enlightened absolutism or analytical absolutism. The concept of the hereditary or established ruling elite in some form is still seen as the more credible form of government.

There has not been a Cold War in the ideological sense but a cultural war of supremacy has been going on for decades. Since the existing status quo was reached. Despite a few changes here and there the respective spheres of influence have mostly stayed the same. Nuclear weapons were developed but have never actually been used in combat, the attitude towards them can occasionally become rather cavalier depending on which politicians are in charge.