1607
Jamestown
The Virginia Company plants the first lasting English settlement at Jamestown. In 1619 the House of Burgesses meets there, the first elected assembly in English America.
The Library
For as long as the Realm has had historians, they have asked the same question: what if George III had refused the Olive Branch Petition in the summer of 1775? Since 1840 they have added a second: what if Edward Oxford had missed? Their answer is the oldest counterfactual in the Register's keeping, and it is set out here beside the record. It has a republic called the United States, a Queen who reigns for sixty-three years, a civil war over secession, and two world wars fought on other sides.
One history: everything to the summer of 1775 is common to both.
1607
The Virginia Company plants the first lasting English settlement at Jamestown. In 1619 the House of Burgesses meets there, the first elected assembly in English America.
1620
The Mayflower's passengers sign a compact to govern themselves and settle at Plymouth.
18 January 1701
The Elector of Brandenburg is crowned at Königsberg, and Prussia becomes a kingdom.
In the Register →1707
England and Scotland unite as the Kingdom of Great Britain under one Parliament at Westminster.
1714
George I, Elector of Hanover, succeeds Queen Anne, and one prince wears the British crown and the Hanoverian.
1754
At Albany, Benjamin Franklin proposes a union of the colonies under the Crown. The colonial assemblies and London both refuse it.
1763
Britain ends the Seven Years' War master of North America east of the Mississippi, with debts it means the colonies to help pay.
1765
Parliament taxes the colonies' paper. The colonies answer that they cannot be taxed by a Parliament in which they are not represented.
16 December 1773
Men dressed as Mohawks tip the East India Company's tea into Boston harbour, and London answers with the Coercive Acts.
September 1774
Delegates from twelve colonies meet at Philadelphia and address their case to the Crown as subjects with ancient rights.
19 April 1775
Shots on Lexington Green and at Concord's North Bridge. The regulars march back to Boston under fire, and the war has begun.
8 July 1775
The Second Continental Congress sends George III a last appeal: that the quarrel be settled as a dispute within the empire, not a war of separation.
In both histories: 5 of 17
Summer 1775
The recordLord Dartmouth advises the King to receive the petition, and he does.
Had the King refusedThe King refuses to receive it.
The record26 October 1775
The King's Speech speaks of hearing the colonies' grievances, and in November the Lords carry the Duke of Richmond's motion that the petition is a ground for conciliation.
In the Register →Had the King refused23 August and 26 October 1775
The King declares the colonies in open rebellion, and his Speech of 26 October promises to put it down by force.
The record4 July 1776
Jefferson drafts and Hancock signs first a statement of constitutional objections addressed to the Crown and Parliament. The radicals who wanted independence lose the argument.
In the Register →Had the King refused4 July 1776
Jefferson drafts and Hancock signs first a declaration that the colonies are free and independent states.
The recordSeptember 1776
Lord Howe meets Franklin, Adams and Rutledge. The talks fail on substance: Howe can grant pardons but not an American Parliament.
Had the King refused11 September 1776
Lord Howe meets Franklin, Adams and Rutledge. The talks fail at once: Howe cannot treat with men who have declared independence.
October 1777In both
Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, and France begins to take the American cause seriously.
The record1778
Congress refuses France an alliance conditional on independence, and refuses the Carlisle Commission because it cannot concede an American Parliament.
In the Register →Had the King refused6 February 1778
The United States and France sign a treaty of alliance, and the Carlisle Commission's offer of everything short of independence is refused.
The recordSummer 1779
Lord North's ministry falls on a Commons defeat over the war. George III drafts a message abdicating in favour of his son, and never sends it.
Had the King refusedMarch 1782
North falls three years later, after Yorktown. George III drafts a message of abdication, and never sends it.
The record19 October 1779
An armistice is signed in the Old State House at Boston, where the war began, by Washington for the Continent and Clinton for the Crown.
In the Register →Had the King refused19 October 1781
Two years later to the day, Cornwallis surrenders to Washington and the French at Yorktown.
The record4 July 1783
Signed in the Old State House, the Charter creates the United Kingdom of America: a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary federation under the Crown.
In the Register →Had the King refused3 September 1783
Britain recognises the independence of the United States of America.
1783In both
Britain makes peace with France and Spain at Versailles. Gibraltar has held through a siege of more than three years, and Spain keeps Florida.
The record1783 to 1797
Washington serves two terms as the first Governor-General, defining the office by refusing every invitation to act as a president or a monarch.
Had the King refused30 April 1789 to 1797
Washington is inaugurated in New York as the first President and serves two terms, defining the office by declining a third.
The record1785
Benjamin Franklin leads the first ministry under the Charter and teaches the system cabinet government.
Had the King refused1787
Franklin, eighty-one, sits in the Philadelphia convention that writes a constitution for a republic.
1789 to 1799In both
The monarchy of France falls, and the wars that follow it run for a generation.
In the Register →The record1783 to 1797
A capital is planned and built on the Potomac during Washington's tenure: Parliament, the Royal Palace and the rest.
Had the King refused1791 to 1800
A capital is planned on the Potomac and named after the President. Congress moves into it in 1800.
1803In both
France sells Louisiana and the Americans double their territory: in the record the Realm buys it, in the what-if the republic.
In the Register →1806In both
Francis II lays down the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, and the German lands have no common institution.
In the Register →The record1813 to 1815
Under Prime Minister James Monroe, the Realm joins Britain as a co-belligerent in a limited expedition against the French in the Gulf of Mexico.
Had the King refused18 June 1812
The United States declares war on Britain. In 1814 British troops burn the new capital on the Potomac.
The record1813
A British army takes Buenos Aires at Spain's request and does not give it back. The River Plate becomes a British colony.
In the Register →Had the King refused1806 to 1816
Two British invasions are thrown back in 1806 and 1807, and the United Provinces of the River Plate declare their independence in 1816.
In both histories: 8 of 17
The record1815
The Imperial Act revives the Holy Roman Empire: an elective crown, a Diet at Frankfurt, and an emperor who cannot command the states.
In the Register →Had the King refused1815
The Congress of Vienna gathers the German states into a loose confederation with a Diet at Frankfurt and no emperor at all.
7 September 1822In both
Pedro, the Portuguese heir left as regent at Rio, declares Brazil independent and is acclaimed Emperor.
The record20 March 1833
Edmund Roberts signs a treaty of amity and commerce at Bangkok, the Realm's first with any Asian state.
Had the King refused20 March 1833
The same man, on the same day, signs the same treaty for the United States.
1834 to 1838In both
Slavery is abolished across Britain's Caribbean colonies, and the apprenticeship that follows is ended early under pressure from the freed.
20 June 1837In both
Victoria, eighteen, succeeds to the British throne. Hanover, which a woman may not inherit, passes to her uncle Ernest Augustus.
In the Register →3 September 1838In both
On borrowed sailor's papers, Frederick Bailey escapes slavery in Maryland. At New Bedford he takes the name Douglass.
10 June 1840
The recordEdward Oxford fires at the Queen's carriage and kills her. She is four months pregnant.
Had the King refusedBoth of his shots miss.
The record1840 to 1851
Her uncle, already King of Hanover, succeeds to Britain and the Realm and joins the crowns again: a difficult king whose resistance to convention hardens it.
In the Register →Had the King refused1840 to 1901
Her first child is born that November, the first of nine. She reigns for sixty-three years and gives her name to an age.
The record1844 to 1852
Henry Clay becomes Governor-General in the years of greatest strain before the civil war: the nobility and the futility of compromise.
Had the King refused1844
Henry Clay loses the presidency for the third time, to James K. Polk.
The record2 March 1845
Texas enters the Union by negotiated settlement in three legal stages, commencing on 21 April 1846.
In the Register →Had the King refused29 December 1845
Texas is annexed by a joint resolution of Congress and admitted as a state.
The record25 April 1846
Parliament declares that war exists by the act of Mexico, over objections that Daniel Webster's ministry made the clash foreseeable.
In the Register →Had the King refused13 May 1846
Congress declares war at President Polk's request. Daniel Webster, a senator, is among its opponents.
1848In both
Revolution sweeps the continent. Most of the crowns survive by conceding constitutions.
1850In both
Prussia receives the constitution that, amended again and again, still frames its government in the twenty-first century of the record.
In the Register →The record1851 to 1878
Ernest I's blind son succeeds him in every crown, Britain, the Realm and Hanover, and reigns through the civil war and abolition.
In the Register →Had the King refused1851 to 1866
The same blind son succeeds only in Hanover, and reigns there for fifteen years until Prussia takes his kingdom.
The record2 August 1852
On Sam Houston's advice, Winfield Scott becomes Governor-General and serves exactly seven years.
Had the King refusedNovember 1852
Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate, loses the presidency to Franklin Pierce.
5 July 1852In both
Frederick Douglass sets the national anniversary against an order that still tolerates slavery, in the most famous speech of his life.
The record1858
Abraham Lincoln leads the National Union coalition into office after an election dominated by slavery.
Had the King refused1858
Lincoln debates Stephen Douglas across Illinois and loses the Senate seat, then wins the presidency two years later.
October 1859In both
John Brown's raid on the arsenal fails on the same days, in the same place, for the same reasons. Only the courts that try him differ.
In both histories: 7 of 18
The record1861 to 1863
Slaveholding militias seize national forts and arsenals, but no polity leaves the Union and no foreign power recognises a rebel government. The war lasts two years.
In the Register →Had the King refused1861 to 1865
Eleven states secede and form the Confederate States of America. The war opens at Fort Sumter and lasts four years.
14 September 1862In both
Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes of the Twenty-third Ohio is badly wounded leading from the front.
The record1863
Armed resistance collapses. The five rebel polities stay in the Union under federally appointed civil officers.
Had the King refused1 January 1863
Lincoln declares free the slaves in the rebel states. In July come Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and the war has two years to run.
19 November 1863In both
Edward Everett speaks for two hours and Lincoln for two minutes. In the record Everett is Governor-General and Lincoln Prime Minister; Everett writes the next day that Lincoln reached the centre more directly.
The record1 January 1865
Parliament's Emancipation Measure ends slavery in every polity, loyal ones included, and Everett assents on the day.
Had the King refused6 December 1865
Slavery is abolished by amendment to the Constitution, eight months after the war ends.
The record1869
Lincoln leads the postwar ministry and resigns in orderly fashion in 1869.
Had the King refused14 April 1865
Five days after Appomattox, Lincoln is shot in Washington and dies the next morning.
1865In both
After the Morant Bay rebellion, Jamaica's elected assembly is abolished and the island is ruled directly as a Crown colony.
The record1866
Parliament enacts the American Rights Act, turning the Charter's rights into enforceable law against every federal authority.
Had the King refused1866 to 1868
A Civil Rights Act passes over the President's veto, and the Fourteenth Amendment promises equal protection of the laws.
The record1866
Prussia defeats Austria and destroys the restored Empire, but does not annex Hanover, which already shares the Crown of the Realm.
In the Register →Had the King refused1866
Prussia defeats Austria and annexes Hanover. Its blind King goes into exile.
The record1867
The northern colonies federate under a Parliament at Ottawa, and the Crown of New Albion joins the personal union.
In the Register →Had the King refused1 July 1867
The Dominion of Canada is formed under a Parliament at Ottawa, a self-governing part of the British Empire.
The record1867
The Prince of Liechtenstein buys Alaska from Russia. It is admitted to the Realm as a kingdom in 1884.
In the Register →Had the King refused1867
The United States buys Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars.
1867In both
The Compromise gives Hungary its own parliament and government, and the Emperor of Austria is crowned King of Hungary.
1868In both
Cuban planters and free people of colour rise against Spanish rule.
The record1869 to 1877
Chase commissions Ulysses S. Grant as Prime Minister. His ministry prosecutes the terror organisations of the old rebel regiments.
Had the King refused1869 to 1877
Grant is inaugurated President and serves the same eight years.
4 September 1870In both
Napoleon III surrenders at Sedan, and two days later the Republic is proclaimed in Paris.
In the Register →1871In both
Germany is unified under the Prussian Crown after victory over France.
In the Register →The record15 February 1873
Frederick Douglass, born in slavery, becomes Governor-General, and the first oath to name the Rights Act is administered to him.
Had the King refused1877
Douglass is appointed United States Marshal for the District of Columbia, the first of the federal posts he will hold.
The record1877
When Grant leaves office, federal enforcement in the South begins to recede.
Had the King refused1877
A disputed election is settled for Rutherford B. Hayes, and the last federal troops leave the South.
In both histories: 10 of 24
1878In both
Rutherford B. Hayes decides the boundary between Paraguay and Argentina in Paraguay's favour, and earns a gratitude that lasts.
The record1878
Ernest III succeeds at twenty-eight and reigns fifty-eight years, the longest reign in the House of Hanover.
In the Register →Had the King refused1876
Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India.
1879In both
Willard takes the national presidency of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and builds its Do Everything programme.
The record15 February 1881
Douglass retires after exactly eight years and Rutherford B. Hayes succeeds him.
Had the King refused2 July 1881
Hayes has left the presidency. His successor, James Garfield, is shot four months into his term and dies in September.
The record1884 and 1889
Parliament creates the March with extraordinary powers over water, heat and the border. In 1889 the Capital Act seats it at Phoenix.
In the Register →Had the King refused1863 and 1889
Arizona is a federal territory, and in 1889 its capital moves to Phoenix. It becomes a state in 1912.
The record1884
The Duchy of Brunswick passes to Ernest III under Welf law, without any Prussian say.
In the Register →Had the King refused1884 to 1913
Prussia keeps the Hanoverian heir out of Brunswick, and regents rule it for nearly thirty years.
The record1888
Brazil abolishes slavery and compensates the owners with a loan raised in London. The planters stay loyal, and the monarchy stands.
Had the King refused13 May 1888
Brazil abolishes slavery without compensation. Eighteen months later the army deposes the Emperor.
The record15 February 1889
Frances Willard becomes Governor-General, the first woman to hold the office.
Had the King refused1889
Willard leads the temperance women of the republic. Women will not vote in its national elections for thirty-one years.
1893In both
Banks and businesses fail and a depression follows, before any central bank exists to meet it.
The record1898
The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi accedes to the Realm by the Treaty of Honolulu, which preserves its Crown, legislature, language and land for ever.
In the Register →Had the King refused17 January 1893
American businessmen and marines overthrow Queen Liliʻuokalani. The islands are annexed in 1898.
17 January 1893In both
Rutherford B. Hayes dies at Spiegel Grove, on the same day as the Queen of Hawaiʻi falls in the what-if.
1894 to 1895In both
Wells confronts Frances Willard over her racial rhetoric, in print and from the platform, and Willard's answer is inadequate.
20 February 1895In both
Frederick Douglass dies of heart failure at Cedar Hill, after attending a meeting for women's rights.
1895In both
The last Cuban war of independence begins. José Martí dies early in the fighting and becomes the figure every later government claims.
The record15 February 1897
Booker T. Washington becomes Governor-General on McKinley's advice.
Had the King refused1895 and 1901
Booker T. Washington makes his Atlanta Exposition speech, and in 1901 dines at the White House, to an outcry.
The record1898
The Realm intervenes in the Cuban war, defeats Spain and occupies the island. Porto Rico passes to the Realm.
Had the King refused1898
After the Maine explodes in Havana harbour, the United States defeats Spain and takes Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.
The record1901
Ernest III has reigned twenty-three years, and reform ministries take on the trusts, food and drugs, labour and conservation.
In the Register →Had the King refused22 January 1901
Victoria dies after sixty-three years on the throne. In September President McKinley is assassinated at Buffalo.
20 May 1902In both
Occupation ends and Cuba is independent, under the Platt terms: a foreign right of intervention and a naval lease at Guantánamo Bay.
The record1906 and 1916
The Roosevelt ministry carries the two founding instruments of the Royal American Parks System.
In the Register →Had the King refused1906 and 1916
President Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act, and ten years later the National Park Service is created.
The record1910
The Union of South Africa is formed under Ernest III as King of South Africa, a legally separate Crown, excluding the Black majority from power.
Had the King refused31 May 1910
The Union of South Africa is formed as a dominion of the British Empire, excluding the Black majority from power.
The record25 May 1910
On the centenary of the May Revolution, the River Plate becomes a sovereign realm with Ernest III as its King.
In the Register →Had the King refused25 May 1910
Argentina celebrates a hundred years since the May Revolution, as a republic.
The record1912
The dynasty is not overthrown but converted: a constitutional compact keeps the Qing Crown under a Constitution of 1912.
Had the King refused12 February 1912
The last Emperor, aged six, abdicates, and China becomes a republic.
1912In both
Cuba's Black political party is crushed by state violence in a massacre, and a long silence follows.
1913In both
China's first parliamentary leader is assassinated.
In both histories: 3 of 15
The record28 June 1914
A French national shoots the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on the platform at Gotha, and Europe goes to war within weeks.
In the Register →Had the King refused28 June 1914
A Bosnian Serb student assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and Europe goes to war within weeks.
The record1914
The Central Powers are Germany and Britain; against them stand France, Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
In the Register →Had the King refused1914
Britain, France and Russia stand against Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
The record1916
After two years of armed neutrality the Realm joins Britain and Germany against France and Russia.
In the Register →Had the King refused6 April 1917
After two and a half years of neutrality the United States joins Britain and France against Germany.
The record1917
The tsar falls and a provisional government takes power. There is no Bolshevik seizure of the state and no union of soviet republics.
In the Register →Had the King refused7 November 1917
The Bolsheviks seize power in Petrograd. In 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is founded.
The record1918
France is defeated. The Realm ends the war a world power, and Ireland becomes an independent Crown realm with its own Oireachtas.
In the Register →Had the King refused11 November 1918
The Kaiser abdicates two days before the armistice, and the German Empire becomes a republic.
The record1918 to 1922
Admiral Kolchak builds an army from the imperial gold reserve, wins the civil war and makes himself master of the Russian republic.
Had the King refused7 February 1920
Admiral Kolchak is handed to the Bolsheviks and shot at Irkutsk.
The record1919
France comes to the peace a defeated enemy, and the treaty recognises a single independent Kingdom of Arabia.
In the Register →Had the King refused28 June 1919
Germany signs in the Hall of Mirrors. Britain and France divide the Ottoman Arab lands between them as mandates.
1920 to 1933In both
A wartime moral reform becomes a national ban on drink that nobody can enforce. Speakeasies flourish for thirteen years.
In the Register →10 January 1920In both
The League comes into being. The American power that designed much of it declines to join.
In the Register →The record1920s
John J. Pershing serves as Governor-General through the boom years, and Earl Browder, leader of the Realm's constitutional communists, follows him.
Had the King refused1920s and 1930s
Pershing retires as General of the Armies. Browder leads a small Communist Party that never comes near office.
The record1922
When the leagues mobilise, the Crown refuses to sanction the coup, and the army stays loyal to the King.
Had the King refused30 October 1922
The King invites Mussolini to form a government, and Italy becomes the first fascist state.
The record1922
Greece and the Ottoman Sultanate are joined in one federal constitutional order.
Had the King refused1922 to 1923
Smyrna burns at the end of the Greco-Turkish war, the Sultanate is abolished, and more than a million people are exchanged between Greece and Turkey.
Had the King refused1922
After a war of independence, twenty-six counties become a self-governing dominion. Six stay in the United Kingdom.
The record1924
Pu Yi turns eighteen and takes up the powers the Constitutional Regency had exercised in his name.
Had the King refusedNovember 1924
Pu Yi, emperor in name only, is expelled from the Forbidden City.
12 March 1925In both
The founder of Chinese republicanism dies at Peking. In the record he has served a monarchy he did not design.
In both histories: 5 of 13
October 1929In both
The stock market collapses and the Great Depression begins.
The record1929 to 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt leads the ministry through the whole of the Depression, funding recovery under the Charter's emergency powers.
Had the King refused1933 to 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated in 1933 and is elected four times.
The record1931
Japan occupies Manchuria, recognised Chinese territory. Because the dynasty never fell there is no puppet emperor to install.
Had the King refused1932
Japan makes Manchuria a puppet state and installs Pu Yi as its ruler.
The record1930s
Germany remains an imperial monarchy and a stabilising power, and no regime arises to drive out a generation of its scientists.
In the Register →Had the King refused30 January 1933
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany, and within months the National Socialists have destroyed the republic.
1933In both
A rising of students, workers and soldiers drives Cuba's dictator from power.
The record14 February 1934
The President of the Republic hands power to Henri Delacroix under the emergency article, and fascism comes to France.
In the Register →Had the King refused6 February 1934
The leagues riot in the Place de la Concorde. The Republic survives them.
1934In both
Franklin D. Roosevelt negotiates away the right to intervene in Cuba. The lease at Guantánamo survives.
The record1936
Ernest III dies after fifty-eight years and Ernest IV succeeds, the Wartime King.
In the Register →Had the King refused1936
George V dies in January, Edward VIII abdicates in December, and his brother reigns as George VI.
7 July 1937In both
A clash outside Peking opens the full war between China and Japan.
The record1939
The Second Great War begins: Germany, Britain and their partners against fascist France and Japan.
In the Register →Had the King refused1 September 1939
The Second World War begins: Britain and France against Germany, later joined by Italy and Japan.
7 December 1941In both
Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, at Honolulu, brings the Americans into the war.
In the Register →The record1941 to 1945
The fascist French state carries out a nationalist genocide of Jewish civilians, and hands captured soldiers into its machinery.
In the Register →Had the King refused1941 to 1945
The National Socialist state murders six million Jews.
The record6 June 1944
Eisenhower lands the Allies in Normandy and Brittany to free them from fascist France.
Had the King refused6 June 1944
Eisenhower lands the Allies in Normandy to free France from German occupation.
In both histories: 12 of 38
The record12 April 1945
Roosevelt dies at Charter House, and Governor-General George C. Marshall commissions Harry S. Truman.
Had the King refused12 April 1945
Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, and Truman is sworn in at the White House the same evening.
August 1945In both
Two atomic bombs are dropped on Japanese cities, and Japan surrenders.
The record1945
The San Francisco Charter reconstitutes the same League, with its Assembly at San Francisco and a new Security Council at Kyoto.
In the Register →Had the King refused26 June 1945
The United Nations Charter is signed at San Francisco, and the League is wound up.
The record1945 and 1960
France is liberated into an empire: Napoleon VI is Emperor-elect for fifteen years and accedes in 1960.
Had the King refused1946 and 1958
France rebuilds as a republic, and in 1958 de Gaulle founds a fifth.
The record1947
India is not partitioned. Nehru is Prime Minister and Jinnah Governor-General of one federal state, though sovereignty still comes with deaths.
Had the King refused15 August 1947
India and Pakistan are made independent and divided. Nehru is Prime Minister of one and Jinnah Governor-General of the other, and the killing that follows takes perhaps a million lives.
1948In both
The National Party takes power in South Africa and makes segregation a system.
The record1948
The League adopts a universal declaration of rights.
In the Register →Had the King refused10 December 1948
The United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted under the chair of Eleanor Roosevelt.
1949In both
Truman's government founds the Atlantic alliance, open to republics and kingdoms on the same terms.
The record1949
A resurgent Russian republic attacks Finland, and the Treaty of Kalmar binds the five Nordic nations into a Scandinavian Union.
In the Register →Had the King refused1939 and 1949
The Soviet Union attacks Finland in 1939. Ten years later talks on a Scandinavian defence union fail, and Norway and Denmark join NATO.
The record1947
China renews the Constitution of 1912 by amendment, entrenching rights without breaking the line back to the compact.
Had the King refused1 October 1949
The Communists win the civil war, and Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China.
The record1950s onward
The long cold war is fought against a resurgent Russian republic that builds the bomb among the first.
Had the King refused1947 to 1991
The Cold War is fought against the Soviet Union, from the Berlin airlift to the fall of the Wall.
Had the King refused6 February 1952
Victoria's great-great-granddaughter succeeds at twenty-five and reigns for seventy years.
The record6 November 1952
Governor-General Eleanor Roosevelt commissions Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Had the King refused4 November 1952
Eisenhower is elected President, two days before the date on which the record commissions him.
26 July 1953In both
Young Cubans attack the Moncada barracks and fail. The date names the Revolution.
The recordSeptember 1954
After Dien Bien Phu, Eisenhower's ministry signs a defence treaty with the Kingdom of Siam.
Had the King refusedSeptember 1954
After Dien Bien Phu, the United States builds a south-east Asian alliance with Thailand among its members.
The record1957 to 1989
A Wilhelm II of a Hohenzollern line reshaped by 1840 reigns in Prussia and Germany for thirty-two years of reconciliation.
Had the King refused1888 to 1918
Victoria's grandson reigns for thirty years, abdicates in defeat, and dies in exile in 1941.
3 January 1958In both
Ten British Caribbean territories federate under a deliberately weak constitution.
The record1958
Porto Rico votes to leave the Realm and join the Federation.
Had the King refused1952
Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
1 January 1959In both
Batista flees and the Revolution takes power.
The record10 November 1960
Governor-General Earl Warren commissions John F. Kennedy.
Had the King refused8 November 1960
Kennedy is elected President. Earl Warren is Chief Justice and swears him in.
The record1960
A white-only referendum returns 51 per cent for the Crown, and no republic is declared.
Had the King refused5 October 1960
A white-only referendum returns 52 per cent for a republic.
The record1961
Jamaica votes 50.8 per cent to remain, and the Compact of 1961 saves the Federation.
Had the King refused19 September 1961
Jamaica votes 54 per cent to leave, and the Federation is dissolved the next year.
The record1962
Russian missiles in Cuba. The Havana Accord ends it, and the Realm's missiles quietly leave Byzantium.
Had the King refusedOctober 1962
Soviet missiles in Cuba. The Soviets withdraw them, and America's missiles quietly leave Turkey.
The record1966
Prime Minister Kennedy is killed while delivering a public address in New York City.
Had the King refused22 November 1963
President Kennedy is killed in his motorcade in Dallas.
The record1964
Brazil's generals demand the dismissal of a ministry. Empress Isabel II refuses on the radio, and the movement collapses in three days.
Had the King refused1 April 1964
A coup deposes the President, and the army rules Brazil for twenty-one years.
The record1965
After the Gulf of Tonkin, the Commons passes a twelve-month resolution by 431 votes to 2.
Had the King refused7 August 1964
Congress authorises the President to use force in South-east Asia, with two votes against in the Senate.
21 October 1966In both
A colliery spoil tip slides onto the village school at Aberfan, and 116 children are among the dead.
The record1967
Pu Yi dies a constitutional emperor, and his daughter Hsien-ying succeeds him.
Had the King refused17 October 1967
Pu Yi dies in Peking a citizen of the People's Republic, having worked as a gardener and an archivist.
20 July 1969In both
Americans land on the Moon.
28 March 1969In both
Dwight D. Eisenhower dies at Walter Reed and is buried at Abilene.
The record1972
Ernest IV dies and his son succeeds at twenty-five. He will reign fifty-six years.
In the Register →The record27 January 1973
The Indochina ceasefire is signed at Peking, with China as host.
Had the King refused27 January 1973
The same day, the Vietnam ceasefire is signed in Paris.
30 April 1975In both
The legislature refuses more money for the southern government, and Saigon falls. The last helicopter leaves the embassy roof that morning.
March 1978In both
The tanker breaks up off the Breton coast, in one of the worst oil spills of the century.
1980In both
Tens of thousands of Cubans leave from the port of Mariel for Florida in a few months.
The record1982
The River Plate junta, which its own King refuses to recognise, invades the Falklands and is defeated by Britain: a war between two realms of the same King.
In the Register →Had the King refused2 April 1982
Argentina's junta invades the Falklands and is defeated by Britain. The junta falls.
The record1983
After the revolutionary government destroys itself, a West Indian-led intervention restores constitutional government in a state of the Federation.
Had the King refused25 October 1983
After the Prime Minister is killed by his own colleagues, the United States invades.
The record1986
Empress Isabel II dies childless, and Brazil and Portugal share a sovereign and nothing else.
Had the King refused1985 and 1986
Brazil returns to civilian rule, and republican Portugal joins the European Community.
In both histories: 3 of 16
The record1989
Wilhelm II's reign of reconciliation ends after thirty-two years. There is no wall in Berlin to fall.
Had the King refused9 November 1989
The wall that divided Berlin for twenty-eight years is opened, and within a year Germany is one country.
December 1989In both
American forces remove Panama's military ruler.
The recordThe 1990s
Russia retrenches but does not fall, and Cuba's Special Period begins without any Soviet collapse.
Had the King refused26 December 1991
The Soviet Union ends, and fifteen republics become independent states.
The record1994
South Africans vote together for the first time. Nelson Mandela becomes Prime Minister and Desmond Tutu Governor-General.
Had the King refused10 May 1994
South Africans vote together for the first time, and Nelson Mandela is inaugurated President.
The record1997
Hong Kong remains British by renewed treaty and local consent.
Had the King refused1 July 1997
Britain hands Hong Kong to the People's Republic.
2 July 1997In both
Speculators break the currency peg in Bangkok, and the crisis spreads across Asia.
20 December 1999In both
Macau returns to China, keeping its Portuguese law and language.
The record1 May 2006
Coordinated bombs across New York Province, Grand Central among them, kill 2,158 people, the worst attack in the Realm's history.
In the Register →Had the King refused11 September 2001
Hijacked aircraft destroy the World Trade Center and strike the Pentagon, and nearly three thousand people are killed.
The record2005
The King of Prussia and German Emperor gives up both crowns to his son Heinrich I.
In the Register →The record2008
Fidel Castro retires and the National Dialogue Accord opens a negotiated transition to democracy.
Had the King refused2008
Fidel Castro hands the presidency to his brother, and the one-party state continues.
The record18 January 2014
An heir is born to the Prussian and German Crowns on Kingdom Day.
In the Register →Had the King refused8 September 2022
Elizabeth II dies at Balmoral after seventy years on the throne. Here the what-if stops: the nearer it comes to the present, the less a counterfactual is worth.
The record2027
The Treaty of Straßburg founds a supranational union of Europe before a war rather than after one.
In the Register →Had the King refused1992
The Treaty of Maastricht turns the European Community into a union.
The record2027
Mexico sells the Baja peninsula, and Loreto accedes to the Realm.
In the Register →The recordFebruary 2028
Heinrich I dies suddenly, and Alexander I comes to both thrones at fourteen.
In the Register →The record31 October 2028
Ernest V, lost and found off Newfoundland, gives up the Crown, and his son reigns in every realm as George V.
In the Register →The record column restates the Register's own entries; follow its links for the full articles. The what-if column is the counterfactual alone, and the Register vouches for none of it.