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Description
The product of a world war and the result of teeth-clenched cooperation, the Franco-British Union is one of the most unusual thing to ever exist in world history. Not only does it represent the union of two nations that up until that point could charitably have been described as having "troubled" relations for most of their history, the beginning of World War II presented itself as the most desperate hour for both the French Republic and the United Kingdom. Facing a total collapse of the French government, Winston Churchill and leader of the French Forces in Exile Charles de Gaulle proposed a radical solution: to merge the two countries into a single entity, the Franco-British Union, ironically achieving the ancient claim of the United Kingdom to the throne of France. This new state would retain King George V as Head of State, with an elected President as Head of Government to oversee a joint parliament run by a Prime Minister. Cobbled together hastily and without any true regard for the aftermath, the Union came into being fully on 4 June 1940.

The war would drag on for many years, with defeat after defeat until the Nazi war machine drove itself to destruction at the hands of the Allied forces of Franco-Britannnia, the United States, and the Soviet Union. In that year of 1945, the Franco-British Union stood as the largest single empire in the history of mankind, an odd counterpoint to its rival superpowers of the USSR and the USA. One represented Communism, the other Capitalism, and now one represented Imperialism. And yet it was not to be. Within years, the Union was forced to relinquish its hold over India, and from there the Union's overseas territories began to fall out of their grasp. Offered union as equal partners in a supposed "United Commonwealth of Nations", none accepted and instead pushed for full independence, often backed by the USSR or the USA in their effort to dismantle the Union's empire to gain more bargaining chips and pawns for their grand worldwide game against each other.

While the loss of India crippled the Union, it would be Algeria that would finally cause it to collapse in its old form. Algeria, as what had been part of Metropolitan France, was considered an integral territory of the Union, and by consequence it was less of a colonial uprising and more of a full-scale civil war that drained the already teetering finances of the Union further, driving it into spiraling bankruptcy. Already humiliated by the loss of India, the loss of most of their colonies, and worst of all a complete political and military defeat in Egypt over the Suez Canal, the Union was forced to surrender when large-scale anti-imperialist protests broke out across the Union's core territories, collapsing the government of Charles de Gaulle and nearly threatening the downfall of the monarchy.

The dust only cleared when the United States, clearly angered at the utter failure of what should have been its most powerful ally, stepped in to help restore order with massive loans and grants on the promise that the Union restructure itself to allow it to even function at all. To this end the Treaty of Brussels was signed in 1965 that formally recognized the independence of Algeria and pledged an eventual withdrawal from all areas of their combined Empire that did not wish to be integrated into the metropolitan territories of the Union. Ironically during this time the French portion of the Union had begun to beg Queen Elizabeth II for her to step in as an absolute monarch, seeing the calm and measured presence of the Queen as a better leader than the weak and incompetent Presidents that the Union had suffered through.

The Queen naturally refused, but did remain as Head of State of a joint Franco-British Union. But serious internal restructuring was vital, necessary even for the Union to survive at all, be it as a political entity or even just financially. The Union was federated into several regions along the lines of the states of the United States, a new Union Parliament organized with representatives to elect a Prime Minister that would hold full political power while ditching the President of the Union. By only the narrowest margins did states like Northern Ireland and Scotland not vote to leave the Union entirely, and even afterwards many remain unconvinced that the Union is a good thing. The same could be said for many in what was France, who saw the Union as a domination of France by London even if Paris was one of the two official capitals. Only by the narrowest of margins has the Union survived at all, a minor miracle if nothing else. But with a new government, financial assistance from the United States, and a developing plan for decolonization, perhaps the Union can indeed be maintained at all.

Description
The product of a world war and the result of teeth-clenched cooperation, the Franco-British Union is one of the most unusual thing to ever exist in world history. Not only does it represent the union of two nations that up until that point could charitably have been described as having "troubled" relations for most of their history, the beginning of World War II presented itself as the most desperate hour for both the French Republic and the United Kingdom. Facing a total collapse of the French government, Winston Churchill and leader of the French Forces in Exile Charles de Gaulle proposed a radical solution: to merge the two countries into a single entity, the Franco-British Union, ironically achieving the ancient claim of the United Kingdom to the throne of France. This new state would retain King George V as Head of State, with an elected President as Head of Government to oversee a joint parliament run by a Prime Minister. Cobbled together hastily and without any true regard for the aftermath, the Union came into being fully on 4 June 1940.

The war would drag on for many years, with defeat after defeat until the Nazi war machine drove itself to destruction at the hands of the Allied forces of Franco-Britannnia, the United States, and the Soviet Union. In that year of 1945, the Franco-British Union stood as the largest single empire in the history of mankind, an odd counterpoint to its rival superpowers of the USSR and the USA. One represented Communism, the other Capitalism, and now one represented Imperialism. And yet it was not to be. Within years, the Union was forced to relinquish its hold over India, and from there the Union's overseas territories began to fall out of their grasp. Offered union as equal partners in a supposed "United Commonwealth of Nations", none accepted and instead pushed for full independence, often backed by the USSR or the USA in their effort to dismantle the Union's empire to gain more bargaining chips and pawns for their grand worldwide game against each other.

While the loss of India crippled the Union, it would be Algeria that would finally cause it to collapse in its old form. Algeria, as what had been part of Metropolitan France, was considered an integral territory of the Union, and by consequence it was less of a colonial uprising and more of a full-scale civil war that drained the already teetering finances of the Union further, driving it into spiraling bankruptcy. Already humiliated by the loss of India, the loss of most of their colonies, and worst of all a complete political and military defeat in Egypt over the Suez Canal, the Union was forced to surrender when large-scale anti-imperialist protests broke out across the Union's core territories, collapsing the government of Charles de Gaulle and nearly threatening the downfall of the monarchy.

The dust only cleared when the United States, clearly angered at the utter failure of what should have been its most powerful ally, stepped in to help restore order with massive loans and grants on the promise that the Union restructure itself to allow it to even function at all. To this end the Treaty of Brussels was signed in 1965 that formally recognized the independence of Algeria and pledged an eventual withdrawal from all areas of their combined Empire that did not wish to be integrated into the metropolitan territories of the Union. Ironically during this time the French portion of the Union had begun to beg Queen Elizabeth II for her to step in as an absolute monarch, seeing the calm and measured presence of the Queen as a better leader than the weak and incompetent Presidents that the Union had suffered through.

The Queen naturally refused, but did remain as Head of State of a joint Franco-British Union. But serious internal restructuring was vital, necessary even for the Union to survive at all, be it as a political entity or even just financially. The Union was federated into several regions along the lines of the states of the United States, a new Union Parliament organized with representatives to elect a Prime Minister that would hold full political power while ditching the President of the Union. By only the narrowest margins did states like Northern Ireland and Scotland not vote to leave the Union entirely, and even afterwards many remain unconvinced that the Union is a good thing. The same could be said for many in what was France, who saw the Union as a domination of France by London even if Paris was one of the two official capitals. Only by the narrowest of margins has the Union survived at all, a minor miracle if nothing else. But with a new government, financial assistance from the United States, and a developing plan for decolonization, perhaps the Union can indeed be maintained at all.