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United Britannic Commonwealth
Timeline: Yellowstone: 1936
Flag Coat of Arms
Flag Coat of Arms
Capital Canberra (adminstrative)
Durban (legislative)
Largest city Mumbai
Language English
Hindi (India only)
Established August 15, 1972
Currency Britannic Pound (£)

The United Britannic Commonwealth, commonly known as Britannia (UBC) is a nation located in southern Africa, Oceania and on the Indian sub-continent. Reformed from the British Empire in the early 1970s, following the Insurgency and Rebellion period, the nation of Britannia shares its borders with multiple nations around the world. Although majorly divided by Oceans, the large nation still holds together through a strong union.

Britannia is a constitutional monarchy, with a federal parliamentary system. Its administrative capital is the city of Canberra, with its legislative capital situated in the city of Durban. The current Britannic monarch is Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor. The United Britannic Commonwealth consists of x countries: New Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, Rhodesia, Kongo. It also consists of multiple dominions across the world, which include: England, Canada etc.

The predecessor to the UBC was run from the British Isles, although the British Government was evacuated to South Africa and Australia when the Yellowstone super-volcano erupted during Eruption Day. Britannia is smaller than its predecessor, but it is united by a certain unity which was not present in the British Empire.

History[]

Pre-Eruption[]

The British Empire pre-Eruption consisted of multiple dominions and colonies that spanned the planet. The British Isles had a glorious history, with the major turning point in its history being regarded as the the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. From there on, England soon grew from a small kingdom into a colonial power - growing in strength both on the Isles as well as the planet. In 1707, the Act of Union would be signed between England and Scotland, establishing them as one nation.

The British soon faced off against the French Empire in the 7 years war in 1756, defeating the French and annexing their territories in North America along with their protectorates in India. Although the war would help increase British power, it would set about the stage for the American Revolution, which began with the declaration of Independence in 1776. After a bloody war of independence, the British would finally come to the negotiating tale and grant the Unites States of America independence in 1783.

British power, however, continued to grow. More of the Indian sub-continent was coming under British control while their African colonies began to expand. Throughout the nineteenth century, Britain would grow economically and industrially as it became the powerhouse of the world. The Sepoy Rebellion in India in 1858 highlighted the need to remove Company control over the colony and put it directly under the crown. For the latter half of the century, it was mainly plain sailing for the British as they began to expand at a greater pace in Africa, allowing them the chance to gain areas with greater resources.

By the early twentieth century, however, war clouds had begun to grow over Europe. Britain found itself gathering allies and siding with France and Russia against the growing power of Germany and its ally Austria-Hungary. The Great War was devastating, fought from 1914-1918, it claimed the lives of over a million British soldiers. Yet it did allow for the British Colonial Empire to gain a few colonies and the nation recovered, before it hit the great depression and jobs began to become scarce. Yet all these problems would begin to be mellowed by the events of July 18, 1936.

Eruption[]

As the first reports of a volcanic eruption in North America came in, the British were caught unprepared. Unsure of what the scale had been, reports coming in from America only confirmed their worst fears, the super-volcano Yellowstone had erupted. Effects began to be felt in the following week as temperatures plummeted and crops began to suffer due to the increasingly harsh conditions. Although the harvest would be salvaged, the winter would bring with it frozen lakes and record snowfall.

The British government consulted meteorologists and geologists on their opinion of the weather and the conditions of Britain. Both were in grim agreement that things were only going to get worse. However, reports were beginning to come in that the summer in the outback in Australia had been cooler, temperatures in the Namib desert were also getting lower. This gave the British a radical idea. Knowing if desperate actions were not taken soon, the people could freeze to death, the British High Command authorised "Operation Exodus". The Operation would consist of evacuating Britons out of the Isles to South Africa and Australia, while evacuating the Canadians to Australia. It was a desperate measure and it was planned to begin in the Spring of 1937.

The order was immediately given to the dominions of Australia and South Africa to begin building temporary accommodation to the planned influx of the millions of migrants which were going to arrive.

The Great Exodus[]

As Spring arrived, the British immediately ordered every available ship to steam into the ports of Britain. Over the radio, the people were told to try to sell as much of their possessions as they could and pack two bags to be transported to the British dominions on the other side of the world. Many were surprised with the move, and Chaos began in some areas, yet the high number of troops helped to ensure things did not get out of hand and that the first stage of Operation Exodus went according to plan. Trains were filled to the brim and many people made the journey in buses which had all been diverted to head north. As people arrived in the larger coastal cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, they found ships ready to evacuate them out of the nation. Ships began to fill up rapidly and soon were under-way, heading toward South Africa.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the weather began to deteriorate at a much more rapid rate. People arrived south in very large numbers, while many headed east from the western cities of Vancouver and Ottawa. This lead to overcrowding and emergency rations being put into place to made sure everyone was fed. The British knew they would need to evacuate Canada too. The British would spend the next four years evacuating Canada using Royal Navy ships, whilst importing fuel and mainly food from Australia and India. They diverted their forces between Britain and Canada in a bid to get both nations' peoples out as quickly as possible.

Worrying reports from the Orkney Islands began to be received, however. With evacuation ongoing at full speed, reports began to be received of temperatures not rising more than -5 C. Small glaciers began to form in the highlands of Scotland, beginning to form in the Grampians and working their way to other mountain ranges. Although the evacuation was ongoing, many began to travel down south - hoping to get out of the path of the increasing snow. It began to become painfully obvious the pace of evacuation was not quick enough and starvation-related deaths now began to be registered due to the fact food became scarce and resources to burn began to run low.

As Southern England became overcrowded, the Government made a drastic decision in the summer of 1941. They decided to give more focus on the evacuation of the United Kingdom. All Royal Navy ships were told to first drop off their passengers and then immediately steam toward the United Kingdom. It was decided the Merchant Navy would now be used instead to transport the Canadians that were still crowding into the eastern coastal ports of Canada. Although this would mean less numbers of Canadian citizens could be transported to the southern hemisphere - it allowed the British evacuation to pick up pace at a rapid rate.

The military found their hands full in a nation where control was hard to maintain. The colder temperatures were bringing with it more snow and less sunlight and people were beginning to suffer heavy frostbite in various parts of the nation. Coupled with the small amounts of chaos occurring in the larger cities - the government was beginning to have doubts on how long they could continue to maintain control over the nation before all out chaos erupted. Although troop numbers remained high (nearly 1.8 million in fact), they could not be transported quick enough on various occasions to stop ongoing chaos around England. The only hope the remainder government had (with most of the cabinet having being evacuated to either Australia or South Africa) was to hope the evacuation kept pace and got their people out of the nation.

However, by 1942, the British government found themselves in a direct engagement against the Japanese. Although they had overlooked the fall of Malay and Singapore in a bid to continue evacuation, they had realised that time was running out for them and that full out war was inevitable. The Japanese had advanced significantly and had managed to get to striking distance of Australia, after launching an invasion of New Guinea. The British were forced to reduce their force of 1.8 million troops on the British Isles and send 1.2 million of them to Oceania to fight the Japanese invasion. The remaining 600,000 would be redirected toward the more populated areas in a bid to keep better control on the region - while the north was left to its own devices.

But other problems regarding the evacuation arose too. The Australian government quickly send a report to the British cabinet in mid-1942 that they would not be able to take in anymore refugees. Their camps were overflowing and the outskirts of their cities were covered in slums. Plus there was the fact the Japanese were getting ready to launch an invasion of the nation in a bid to achieve total dominance and had already invaded the holdings on New Guinea as a precursor. The British had no choice but to accept and they began to downscale the evacuation - taking the rest of the citizens to South Africa. Although the majority of citizens from the UK had headed to South Africa, over 35% had been taken to the more developed Australia. It was planned to make Australia one of the two seats of power in the British Empire following the loss of Britain.

Over the next 6 years, the merchant navy would take responsibility for transporting the remaining citizens in Britain who were wishing to leave the island. Neville Chamberlain would resign as Prime Minister of Britain, deciding to try to create some sort of stable state following most of the evacuation. He would become the first Governor of the Dominion of England. Winston Churchill would succeed him and would continue the evacuation of Britain and Canada until 1948. From then onwards, the evacuation would largely stop and the merchant navy would cut services to South Africa, ending the Great Exodus.

Pacific War[]

The British had the misfortune of the Pacific War beginning when the British were busy evacuating Canada and Britain in The Great Exodus. The Japanese were easily able to conquer Malay due to the fact the British had stationed minimal number of troops in the region, focusing more on India and Australia. This had allowed the Japanese to easily take control of the colony and use it to launch further attacks in the region. The British were in a completely defensive stance throughout the initial phase of the war - transporting their civilians and focusing on keeping their ships in shape to continue the evacuation unhindered.

However, it soon became evident they would need to fight. The rest needs to be worked out.

Housing Crisis[]

With slums and refugee camps growing and overflowing with people following the Great Exodus in South Africa and Australia, the administration decided that they needed to focus on infrastructure and housing their citizens in better conditions. As a result, in November 1943, the Housing Act was passed in the Parliaments of Australia and South Africa, which allowed for the use of resources on the construction of new houses, flats and residential complexes. Work soon began on the construction in certain locations in August 1944, after the first stage, scouting slums and assess whether conditions could be improved upon, was completed.

Australian Slums (36)

In Australia, the assessment showed that most slums could be transformed into inner city suburbs through funding the construction of more flats and houses as well as allowing people to rebuild their houses and flats using permanent materials. Current conditions were close to abysmal as the population had hurriedly been housed in temporary shelters as they began to arrive from 1937 onward due to the fact the Australian government had to manage the army and air force, too and crucial resources were needed for the military effort as well as for the establishment of new farms necessary for the survival of the nation which saw a huge influx of people in a very short span.

Approval by the government was given to raise many of the unstable slums while re-constructing many which were on stable foundations and just needed to be expanded to become viable houses for the population. The government could now afford the resources for this and quickly sourced the resources needed for this. Work was quick as the need for proper housing was high and by March of 1947 most work was completed.

South African Slums (36)

However, it was in South Africa the government realised that there was potential for the creation of not only new towns but new cities. It was here where over three fifths of the British population had been relocated to and conditions to house them had been significantly better than that in Australia, but it still had been pretty terrible. People had not been happy with how they were being treated, where the say the black population live in housing which was better than theirs. This did cause some problems, but most were kept checked. Focus here too had been securing control over the colonies and adding to their fold areas of Mozambique as well as Angola - both rich in resources needed for the future projects.

The government approved plans to build new settlements all over southern Africa. Rhodesia, South Africa and Botswana in September 1944. All saw the creation of these new towns fairly quickly and many blacks were used as forced labourers to construct the new housing as well as mine resources and fell trees.

Member States[]

Flag Nation Capital Joined Left OTL
Full Members
Flag of Australia (converted) Australia Canberra N/A Australia
Flag of New Zealand New Zealand Wellington N/A New Zealand
South Africa Flag 1912-1928 South Africa Cape Town N/A South Africa
Dominions
Britannia
Bflag Brythonia Plymouth South West England, South Wales
Channel Flag Republic of the Channel St. Helier

Bailiwicks of Jersey
and Guernsey, English Channel

Anglesey alt5 Ynys Môn a Man Holyhead Anglesey Island, Isle of Man
Flag of the Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight
Flag of Yorkshire (Yellowstone 1936) Yorkshire
Flag of Fascist England English State
Birmingham Flag Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham and Surrounding Area
Kent Sussex YS Sussex-Kent Canterbury Sussex, Kent, Surrey
Others
Canadian Red Ensign 1921-1957 Canada Ottawa Canada
British Raj Red Ensign India

Delhi

India
Colonies

Military[]

Navy[]

Retired:

  • HMS Centurion
  • HMS Iron Duke
  • HMS Eagle
  • HMS Queen Elizabeth
  • HMS Warspite
  • HMS Barham
  • HMS Valiant
  • HMS Malaya
  • HMS Revenge
  • HMS Royal Sovereign
  • HMS Royal Oak
  • HMS Resolution
  • HMS Ramillies
  • HMS Nelson
  • HMS Rodney
  • HMS Renown
  • HMS Repulse
  • HMS Courageous
  • HMS Glorious
  • HMS Furious
  • HMS Hood
  • HMS Argus
  • HMS Glorious
  • HMS Courageous
  • HMS Furious
  • HMS Eagle
  • HMS Hermes
  • HMS Vindictive
  • HMS Effingham
  • HMS Frobisher
  • HMS Hawkins
  • 12 S-Class Submarines
  • 4 R-Class Submarines
  • 6 P-Class Submarines
  • 9 O-Class Submarines
  • 7 L-Class Submarines
  • 3 River-Class Submarines
  • 4 Grampias-Class Submarines
  • 5 T-Class Submarines


Aircraft Carriers
# Name Commissioned Class Status
I49 Argus 1918 Argus-clas Sold for scrap, 5 December 1946
Glorious 1917 Courageous-clas
50 Courageous 1916 Courageous-clas
47 Furious 1917 Courageous-clas
94 Eagle 1924 Eagle-clas
95 Hermes 1924 Hermes-clas
91 Ark Royal 1938 Ark Royal-class



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