United Kingdom

The **United Kingdom of Great Britain**, or colloquially Great Britain, is a country situated on the British Isles, including the territories of Scotland, England and Wales. Originally the home of the once great British Empire, the situation for London has changed drastically over the course of a few decades. Despite emerging victorious in the brutal Great War, the Empire was unable to endure decades of slow political decay, and 2 years after war ended the British were once again dragged into a global conflict, this time resulting in the partial collapse of the British Empire in 1920.

### **Government Structure**

Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy

### **Established**

1801

Thereafter the British Empire remained exhausted and bloated, while the British economy, especially with the collapse of the United States would never recover to its pre-war status. Subsequent failed wars in the coming years and the collapse of British colonies in North America and Asia lead to the rise of the far-right J.F.C Fuller, who has stayed Prime Minister since 1935.

## History

### Height of the British Empire and the Great War

By 1914, the British Empire had reached its height, stretching across all oceans and continents. On the eve of the Great War, the British Empire was the most powerful country in existence, holding colonies in the Arab Peninsula, Asia, America and most importantly Africa.

When the Great War had begun, the British, like most other European powers had hoped that the Great War would be a short and quick campaign to subdue the Central Powers, but the situation slowly became unbearable for London, even as their country was spared from the intense fighting the French, Germans and Austrians were receiving. Britain poured men and resources into Europe and stretched its resources thin to accommodate for the war, only ending less than 3 years later with hundreds of thousands of men dead and little to show for it.

While the public was appeased with the punishment of Germany, the British Empire received so little for a war that practically bled them dry. The Empire, while emerging victorious began to stumble. Its economy was shaky at best, owing to the large loans and debt the government now owed and had to repay the United States government after the war.

### Cairo War

(Main article: Cairo War)

With the Great War finally bringing the United Kingdom back to peace, its hold on its colonial territories was stretched thinner than ever. The rise of anti-British nationalism was unable to be maintained, even as decades old colonial structures, which worked wonders in the past, were now seen as useless to maintain their holdings. One such colony was that of Egypt, which was, alongside its Arab colonies were experiencing a rise of pan-Arabism and anti-colonialism. With a rapidly deteriorating situation in the cities alongside the German Revolution entirely forcing the British out of Germany, Cairo was taken over by Egyptian nationalists, a major blow to British ambitions. While London was confident in their ability to crush the revolt, attempts to retake Cairo only ended in failure, and when the Nejd Emirate moved in to illegally occupy British colonial holdings, there was little the government could do to retake Egypt and, importantly, hold the Suez Canal.

With British forces gone entirely from the Arab Peninsula and Egypt by December, the British Empire began to collapse. Iran suffered an economic collapse, followed by a revolution, while Siam, Japan, Italy, Spain and many other countries poached off British colonial holdings during the war.

### Great Decline

After the British lost the Cairo War, the British Empire would be permanently changed for the worst. As the years went by, aided by the collapse of the United States, Britain would spiral into further economic depression. As time went on, the support for the old government would eventually sour, as new ideologies would emerge, especially with the help of people like Oswald Mosley. The British needed to pay huge debts to the winners of the war, something they couldn't afford to do.

Without valuable trading posts in places like Malta, the Suez Canal or the Malacca Straits, the British had a very slow income and saw itself profoundly in debt. While the war had ended, anti-British unrest did not. The British Raj, as valuable as it had been before the wars, became liabilities for mainland Britain instead of valuable assets due to the high cost to maintain British occupancy.

Politically, Britain saw a rise of the far-right and a marginalization of leftist groups with the paranoia that ensued following the end of the German and American Civil Wars.

### South African Riots, Indian Civil War and the London Financial Crisis

In 1927, a financial crisis hit the banks of London, aided by the instability of the London Stock Market. While the Market had arguably been unstable since the Cairo War, stock prices began to decline in May as the British government was due for another series of war repayments. Spooking investors throughout the month, many silently started to sell their stocks and assets in large quantities. In June, as the British Pound saw a devaluing in its currency once again, the prices of essential goods and services started to rise at levels not yet seen in modern British history. In Glasgow and London, riots and strikes further took a toll on British industrial output, and as the stock market continually dipped, rumors began circulating that the banks would be hit next. With paranoia building, and investors rapidly taking their assets and finances out of the country, the banking system in London soon collapsed as well, leading to the London Financial Crisis of 1927. All throughout Great Britain, unemployment rose steeply while economic and overall industrial output slugged to a grinding halt. Unable to keep their mainland economy afloat, this Crisis soon trickled into their colonies as well.

#### Upheaval in India

British India, formally the British Raj, had, for many years, stayed gridlocked in an ongoing battle with London. The Cairo War soon ignited anti-colonial, nationalist sentiments that could not be snuffed out, as much as the British had tried. Life for British colonists became uneasy, as assassinations and resistance networks grew all over the sub-continent, but the Financial Crisis proved to be the straw that would break the camel's back. The effects of the London Collapse soon echoed to the Raj, where unemployment and the cost of basic goods rose. Unable to afford or keep up with the current system, echoing the May Riots, a series of demonstrations and protests paralyzed New Delhi in August. The British governor's infamous response of terror and suppression only emboldened those fighting against the Empire. Similar demonstrations and violent riots would soon be spotted in over 15 major cities as well as in Burma, escalating into the Indian Civil War only a few years later.

#### South African Riots

With the start of the Indian Civil War came pronounced and emboldened anti-British movements in South Africa, many of them having ties to labor, socialist and republican tendencies. Aided by disgruntled Afrikaner farmers, strikes and protests mirroring that in the Raj took place in Pretoria, but the governor was quick to learn from the war in India. Despite its initial growth, the small-scale intervention within the South African military and police eventually allowed the protests to subside after two months. While small-scale riots broke out in Kenya and Nyasaland, they were quickly subdued, and fears of a total collapse of the British Empire never fully materialized.

### **Rise of the New Party**

The 1931 general election proved to be the most tumultuous in modern British history, as just one month after the election of J.F.C. Fuller, the British Raj would fall into collapse. Fuller’s policies proved to be unpopular during the war, but his plans of economic revival proved to be successful, largely stabilizing his popularity even as Canada declared itself “fully autonomous” within the British Empire. Despite these losses and predicted loss in the 1935 election, Fuller capitalized on the war in France, and after successfully supporting Italian and Spanish intervention in the French Civil War, Fuller once again was reelected Prime Minister by a slight majority like the previous election.

## Politics

### Government

Great Britain is a Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy, and has been since the 1800s. Since Fuller’s takeover, his party, known as the New Party dominates parliament only by a slight majority, though people are weary of the NP’s authoritarian behabior and stances.