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Long before the French Revolution and the American War of Independence, England fought a bloody civil war, put its king on trial and executed him.
The ensuing Commonwealth became a military dictatorship with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector.
But there were more radical elements in his army and society who wanted to create a Republic of God. Think Taliban on Thames and you have an idea of where England might have headed.
Republics were not liked in the 17th Century. Those that existed, Venice and the Dutch had aristocratic rulers in the Doge and House of Orange.
A radical extreme protestant Republic based on a rising London ruled by an austere Puritan middle and gentry class would have been as anathema to France and Spain as Brexit Britain today- the English don't change much over the centuries.
Some things would have stayed the same. The English Republic would have grown rich on the slave colonies in the Caribbean and the East Coast of North America.
The scientific and industrial revolutions would still have happened but under a rigid political structure.
The bond between London and it's colonies would have been closer than under the Georgian monarchy.
The impact of this rising Republic on the nations of Europe can only be guessed at.
But assuming the Republic of England had survived and prospered, with a navy similar to the actual Royal Navy but with a militia based army like the actual US and Prussia, Europe would have been a very different place.
Without the upheavals of Napoleon and two World Wars, with other European countries following a similar republican path, the wars between states would still have occured but not on the scale we have seen.
The English Republic would have been even more technically innovative and with Northern Europe and Scandinavia likely to follow its example, most of the technology we know today would exist.
The ensuing Commonwealth became a military dictatorship with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector.
But there were more radical elements in his army and society who wanted to create a Republic of God. Think Taliban on Thames and you have an idea of where England might have headed.
Republics were not liked in the 17th Century. Those that existed, Venice and the Dutch had aristocratic rulers in the Doge and House of Orange.
A radical extreme protestant Republic based on a rising London ruled by an austere Puritan middle and gentry class would have been as anathema to France and Spain as Brexit Britain today- the English don't change much over the centuries.
Some things would have stayed the same. The English Republic would have grown rich on the slave colonies in the Caribbean and the East Coast of North America.
The scientific and industrial revolutions would still have happened but under a rigid political structure.
The bond between London and it's colonies would have been closer than under the Georgian monarchy.
The impact of this rising Republic on the nations of Europe can only be guessed at.
But assuming the Republic of England had survived and prospered, with a navy similar to the actual Royal Navy but with a militia based army like the actual US and Prussia, Europe would have been a very different place.
Without the upheavals of Napoleon and two World Wars, with other European countries following a similar republican path, the wars between states would still have occured but not on the scale we have seen.
The English Republic would have been even more technically innovative and with Northern Europe and Scandinavia likely to follow its example, most of the technology we know today would exist.
