Countries that almost existed
I'm working on a story for Never Was about countries that almost existed.
So far, I have:
Intermarium
Republic of Pontus
North American Technate
SS State of Burgundy
Balkan Union
Balkan Federation
Fertile Crescent Plan
Arab Islamic Republic
Quebec
Cascadia
Any suggestions?
The only restrictions are that it must have been a serious plan or attempt and taken place in the steam, diesel or atomic era, so roughly from 1800 to 1980.
So far, I have:
Intermarium
Republic of Pontus
North American Technate
SS State of Burgundy
Balkan Union
Balkan Federation
Fertile Crescent Plan
Arab Islamic Republic
Quebec
Cascadia
Any suggestions?
The only restrictions are that it must have been a serious plan or attempt and taken place in the steam, diesel or atomic era, so roughly from 1800 to 1980.
Comments
In addition to the non-countries listed above, it also contains the Free State of Antwerp, which was part of a French proposal to partition Belgium between France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The Baltic Duchy?
An independent Ruthenia after WW1?
Wet dream of the NVA mayor of the town right there!
And actually, probably most people that live in Antwerp (the town). There's a saying around here: Everything that isn't Antwerp is the parking lot. Which tells you everything you need to know.
Good ones!
An artist actually made this great map of all the states that were proposed or briefly existed around the time of the Russian Civil War:
I transcribed the country names and descriptions at the blog last year.
Well, independent Ruthenia briefly existed just before WWII, as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine - proclaimed in March, 1939 and almost immediately occupied by Hungary.
We can also recall the Allies' generous promises of statehood for Kurds and Assyrians during WWI. And a never-was United Arab Kingdom (1919).
Regarding post-war curiosities, it's hard to ignore D'Annunzio's Regency of Carnaro in present-day Rijeka, a city-state that existed from October, 1919 through December, 1920, to be replaced by a puppet Free State of Fiume, finally annexed by Italy in 1924.
Great map and writeup. One short-lived but important entity is missing although: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donets-Krivoy_Rog_Soviet_Republic
Added the United Baltic Duchy to the story!
Since Carpatho-Ukraine existed - if briefly - it doesn't really count as an country that almost existed.
I think I'll write a separate story about the various proposals for Arab unity.
Working on a story about attempts at, and proposals for, Arab unity and found this alternate-history map of a United Arab Republic:
In reality, the United Arab Republic was a short-lived union of Egypt and Syria, but still the most successful of Gamal Abdel Nasser's various attempts to unite the Arab world.