The Domination of South Africa

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

The Domination of South Africa

As most of us agree, there are grave flaws with the Domination series of books; therefore, here is my own take on that POD. I’m going to work as much of the dominion in as I can, but it will be very different from the ‘OTL’.

The American Revolution/War of Independence begins as in OTL. The first major difference is that Canada falls. I could borrow Scott’s POD, but I believe that a more elegant POD, and one suitable for this essay, would be the British Commander in Canada tries to defend both Quebec and Montreal. Spread out too thin, he is unable to cover both cities and therefore most of Canada, aside from a few isolated forts, and Halifax, which is impregnable as long as the RN can supply it, falls to the Americans.

The good news for the British, of course, is no Saratoga. The bad news is that the American victory has the same effect in Europe as Saratoga did, and therefore the French join the war, along with Spain and the Netherlands, which is bad news for Britain mostly. However, there are some differences. Without the need to garrison Canada, the British are more able to take New York and hold on to Boston. Americans guns, however, ironically dragged from New York, make holding on to Boston increasingly difficult.

With the remaining extra forces, the British mount a campaign against French, Spanish and Dutch interests and colonies. Cuba, Haiti, and Cape Town all fall to the British. The Spanish navy is useless, while the French are largely defeated at the battle of Dover, where the British navy defeated a French invasion attempt. Henceforth, the French contribution was merely troops in America and shipping supplies to the Americans.

With the breathing space caused by the outbreak of war between France, Spain and Britain, Washington has the time needed to rebuild the American army into a more professional force, set up limited American industries and invent a cleaver semaphore system to spread information throughout America. When the British finally launch an attack into the American south, they are harried by resistance fighters and finally encircled in Virginia. With the surrender of the British Army in North Carolina, the British finally make peace with the Americans.

There are some slight differences between the two peace treaties. The British insist on keeping New York and Halifax, Boston having been included in the demands, but fell to Arnold just before the peace, and Canada is firmly an American territory. This does leave the British with the question of where to settle thousands of loyalists.

Some enterprising British officer with dreams of empire building suggests Cape Town as a destination for them. Therefore, some 100’000 Americans leave America and most of those end up in Cape Town. The Royal Navy is severely stretched convoying them all. Unfortunately, they won’t be safe there at first, as the original European immigrants will not be too happy to see them.

The Boer war, as it came to be known, began in 1782. As the immigrants arrived, the Boers, 9’000 strong, reacted in a number of ways. One large group headed upwards into Africa, fighting the natives for a place there. Another group joined the new arrivals and were assimilated within fifty years though intermarriage. The final group dug in and fought.

Against such odds, resistance would be futile, but the remaining Boers had evidently never watched Star Trek. The war, which began with an attack on advancing settler columns, would drag in British resources for five years as troops strove to defeat or wipe out the Boers. Resistance practically ended in 1787, but isolated attacks on the settlers continued until 1850.

The effects on the settlers, who I’ll call the Draka, just for laughs, were profound. Becoming, even for a limited amount of time, a martial society changes those people considerably. They discovered a manifest destiny that encompassed the whole of the African continent. There was also one other change; while they were fighting, they had fought alongside both British troops and a black regiment founded by Lord Dunmore in the American Revolution. This caused a slight shift in their attitudes towards blacks, if they were Christianised and Europeanised, they were regarded as one step below whites. If they still clung to their African ways, they were barbarians and it was the duty of the Draka to convert them or to exterminate them.

After the war ended, the Draka began to push upwards, while industrialising as best as they could in those times. They were soon able to make guns and other essential war making equipment, while prevailing upon Britain to send troops and build a naval base at Cape Town to act as a base on the way to India. Draka soon becomes a testing ground for British troops and serves as a reserve for the British army, just in time for the Napoleonic wars to begin.

The French defeat in the American War of Independence was worse than OTL, but in the long run their defeat there was certain. This swiftly led to the fall of the French monarchy and the rise of the republic. Most readers will be familiar with the circumstances of the war, but here is a quick overview.

In 1789, The French revolted against their aristocrat overlords. On 14th July the Bastille was stormed, primarily for ammunition for captured muskets. Monarchist Europe responded quickly and in1792 The 1st Coalition was formed against Revolutionary France by Austria and Prussia and their troops were mobilised. Next year, Britain, Spain and Holland declared war on France. In May the Holy Roman Emperor's armies besieged Mainz. Captain Bonaparte earned whirlwind promotion to general within three months of his spectacular conduct at the siege of Toulon. By 1793 it had become clear that the King of France was on the side of the enemy, Austria and Prussia. If the Revolution were to be overthrown, he would recover control of the state. Therefore, the King was tried and executed, leaving France as a true Republic, governed by the People (pause for hollow laughter). The important fact is that in 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte set out to conquer Egypt.

Butterflies are present in all timelines. The major differences here are two-fold, one, Napoleon’s ships travel in two groups to reduce the chances of interception and, two, a delays in departure mean that Nelson has a chance to recollect his ships after they were scattered by a storm. This offers the change that half of the French force can and was intercepted by nelson. By one single stoke, twenty thousand, out of fifty thousand, French troops marched into captivity and were unable to arrive in Europe.

This won’t stop Napoleon though, he is still able to capture Alexandria and Cairo, but, with reduced forces, he is unable to completely crush the Marmlukes. Therefore, he decides to enlist them and use them against the Sultan’s forces. This gives the Sultan Apoplexy.

The British prepare an exhibition to remove the French. Ten thousand troops from Britain and six thousand from the new Draka colony. That’s not a numerical advantage, but it can cause havoc and severely ruin Napoleon’s plans. The planning is accelerated by a request from the Sublime Porte (the sultan), who offers the British a deal granting them special rights in the ottoman empire in return for throwing out the French and crushing the Marmlukes. This encourages the British and they land in late 1798.

What follows is a campaign that lasts until 1801. Napoleon scores a number of small victories, but the skill and vigour of the British and Draka prevents a decisive victory and manages to wear out Napoleon till he manages to flee the country in 1799. The campaign dragged on with varying levels of success until 1801, when the death of the fanatical Muslim convert, General Menou, led to the surrender of the French Army. Later campaigns against the Marmlukes would last for another year until they were crushed completely.

The Draka, meanwhile, have been busy. Their population has increased significantly, though immigration, conversion and birth, and they have been heading upwards. Individual groups have been pushing upwards into the heart of Africa, most dying of disease, but some surviving. The official government expansion is along the sea coast, helped by the royal navy. The knock on effects have a devastating, though insubstanceal effect on history. There will be no Shaka, no Nelson Mandala, and no Rhodes. The tribes that Livingston and Stanley met won’t exist as the Draka expand upwards, waves of effect knocking history around.

Napoleon, meanwhile, discovers that history will be less kind to him, even though, once he returns, he scores a number of decisive victories for France. He eventually becomes part of a triumievite ruling France, but he is not the sole holder of power. After a number of sharp wars, culminating in the subjection of the German states and parts of Poland, the French negotiate for peace from a strong position and eventually a peace is signed.

The Draka, meanwhile, have claimed to rule as far as modern-day lower Ethiopia. Their new governor is none other than Lord Nelson, who survived Trafalgar in this TL as it never happened. (The French navy minister has more real power in this TL) He has been effectively exiled to Draka as a result of his affair with lady Hamilton, who had already bore him a girl child, and they came with him to Draka. Nelson was an ardent expansionist for the Draka and encouraged settlement. He also talked the local RN commander into assisting with an invasion of Madagascar.

Despite their claims, the Draka don’t have effective rule that far. What they have is rule up the two seacoasts and are slowly filling in the middle of Africa with railways and roads. The Drakan population is booming. The Draka society has three levels: white men are at the top, white women and black freemen (no ones quite sure where black women fit in), and slaves. The slaves are the survivors of tribes and other African civilisations who were defeated after they refused to join the Draka and adopt white ways. The Draka sell those slaves onwards, as they don’t want them too near their homelands, although thousands would die building the Suez Canal and in the taming of disease-ridden Madagascar.

In 1840, the French government, having managed to reorganise itself into a directory with both civilian and military members, decides its time to seek out empire elsewhere. To the fury of the Draka, they attempt to take Algeria and the surrounding lands, nominally under Ottoman control but practically independent. The Draka demand that Britain does something, but the British are reluctant because of fears over the Russian advance into central Asia using railways. The British also complete an Indian rail network and keep colonising.

The Draka begin the first real ‘home rule’ campaign. The Home Rule party wants to have full local authority (particularly over slaves and military matters) and to have a vote in the affairs of the British Empire. There is some resistance, but the British Prime Minister Shaw agrees to their demands. He would later be forced to grant similar status to Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

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