"Imagi- War." Topic

So Ponder this. We have all sorts of Imagi-Nations, what about Imagi-War. I do not mean a war between Imagi-nations, but different wars than the Wars of Louis XIV, the War of the Polish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession, and Seven Years war which would be fought by real powers.

What conflicts on comparable style and level could you come up with different powers, different alliances, different aims and goals to replace the above conflicts.

Like Dr. Who's recollection of the Fifth Phillipino Assualt on Reykjavik?

Dear Otto;
The Seven Years War in India…

Eric

The Prussian Incursion of 1806 in Ireland.

Spanish landing in Brittany in support of Pont Kallec's 'uprising' (actually the conspiracy never gathered more than 200 followers, less than 70 among them really motivated, and the few Spanish troops landed quickly re-embarked).
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An 1865-1866 war between the US and Maxilian's Mexican Empire was one that could well have happened. It would pit the hardened Union veterans under Sherman allied with the Mexican Republicans against Maximilian, his French troops, and diehard Confederate expatriates.

Jim

Great Britain and France are drawn into the Civil War (perhaps a la Trent Affair) and Russia decides to join in on the Union side – Prussia then decides to help out the South as well

World War I, 1862 style

Are you only interested in the 18th C.?

There's a vast array of potential conflicts arising from the so-called Great Game between Britain and Russia in central Asia.

It's pretty easy to imagine more Russo-Turkish wars than actually happened. If WWI hadn't occurred, there probably would have been another Russo-Turkish war in the early 20th C. If you give Turkey the dreadnoughts they were supposed to receive in 1914, the Black Sea naval situation gets *very* interesting. You only have to research the course of WWI to see how the land war would have gone. Against the overwhelming numbers of mobilized Russians, the Turks might need some help, but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine massive German and Austro-Hungarian arms sales to the Turks (esp. artillery, machine guns, naval mines, and aircraft), and probably a lot of "military advisors" in the technical services (artillery, air corps, navy, etc.).

On the ACW line of thinking – what if McClellan won the election and ended the war with an intact Confederacy? There would have been US-Confederate border conflicts during the rush to settle the West, interesting political tensions with Canada and Mexico, and a lot more European interventions in the Americas. Western North America could have become the scene of a second Great Game, with Russia, the US, the Confederacy, and Britain all being interested parties. The successful secession of the Confederacy might also have inspired even more independent North American states by the end of the 19th C. What if Texas tried for independence a second time? Would California become the heartland of a new country?

Most (well over 50%) of the scenarios in the Avalanche Press "Great War at Sea" series are based on what-if and almost-happened wars (mostly 20th C., some late 19th C., all naval). Most of the titles are named for the US Navy "rainbow" plans positing open conflict between the US and some other great power.

It's also fun to do alternate-history possibilities of existing wars. I've wasted (er, "spent") countless hours researching the potential courses of WWI if Italy had declared war on the side of the Triple Alliance, because I find the Mediterranean naval situation that creates to be very interesting and very even.

- Ix

Wars of the Rosy Cross (Prince Henry's War)
Winter Queen's Summer War
Grand Lodge Wars
Wars of the Bohemian Succession
Wars of the Grand Iroquoian Alliance
Dutch-Venetian War
Rabat–Salé Invasion of The Two Sicilies
Colonial Wars of the Dutch-Swedish Alliance
Charlotine Revolution
Westphalian Secession
Savoy-Saxony War
Ohioan Insurrection
Jacobite Conquest of the Royal Province of New York