Great Britain

The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as The United Kingdom, UK, and simply Great Britain, is an island country in western Europe. Great Britain is known for being a huge naval power throughout history. It's country is on the island of "Great Britain", which is apart of the British Isles, the most significant other islands in the British Isles are: Ireland, which Great Britain controls, and the Isle of Man which Great Britain also controls.

Description
Great Britain, a global maritime authority and mighty industrial powerhouse has finally prevailed supreme after the Seven Years’ War among its primary rival, the Kingdom of France. This victory, however, has come at a tremendous cost. While Britain had occupied the majority French forfeitures in North America following the war as well as cementing its place as the leading maritime empire, the Royal Colfers are empty, nonetheless. The monarchy has continued to repress the proletariat, both local and foreign. Will you be able to suppress these violent rebellions and maintain the fracturing Empire?

Backstory
The British Isles at the time, were separated into 4 separate countries, The Kingdom of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Both England and Scotland met at the negotiating table in 1707 to sign the Acts of Union 1707 which united the two kingdoms to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Britain eventually started to colonize lands in Africa bit by bit and was rivaling the power of the Kingdom of France who was the great power of Continental Europe. Great Britain started claiming lands in French North America which sparked the Seven Years' War leading to a British victory, but at a cost. The war was proven to be costly despite being victorious, the Royal Coffers we're empty and Britain entered bankruptcy. So, Britain started to impose taxes on every product in their North American Colonies, the locals we're outraged and protested in the town of Boston which the Brits massacred, this sparked independence movements across the Thirteen Colonies and eventually led to the American Revolution for Independence in 1774. France, who badly wanted to get revenge joined the rebels and eventually in 1783, Great Britain recognized the United States of America as an independent country and gave up some lands to the west.

Now that Great Britain lost a valuable part of their empire, they started to look east towards Asia and the Pacific. They colonized Australia which they called "New South Wales", and eventually gained a large foothold in the Pacific, they also found their way to India, which at the time was a fractured Mughal Empire, and they also gained a foothold in the Malay Peninsula.

But back home came a major event which will test Britain's power. in 1789, a revolution started in France that replaced the Bourbon monarchy with a republic and Napoleon Bonaparte became leader of the new French Republic, as France became increasingly aggressive in Continental Europe, Great Britain had to keep an eye on them to make sure they're contained and don't become too powerful. Napoleon invaded the low countries and turned them into their puppets which had a foothold in South Africa, so Britain occupied the Dutch colony of Cape Town to contains French domination in the area. By the 1810s, Napoleonic France is now the most powerful empire in Continental Europe and announced a blocked of British goods to the continent which Britain alternatively traded with the rest of the world. But in 1812, France betrayed Russia for not abiding with the blockade against Britain and invaded all the way to Moscow, which they pulled back. Meanwhile Britain's trade with world further strengthened its position amid a declining France, and when the coalition reached Paris, France was forced to surrender, and Napoleon exiled to the Island of Elba. And even though Napoleon did one last battle in Waterloo, Belgium, he was defeated and exiled further.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain entered into an era of economic prosperity called Pax Britannica, Where the British Empire is now the world's greatest superpower, and although they have powerful rivals like the Qing Dynasty or the Russian Empire, Britain had unrivaled naval superiority and unlimited access to trade thanks to its colonies spread throughout the world. Britain also started the Industrial Revolution which started mass production, increase wages, effective machinery, and political influence. They invented the Steam Engine, Motor, Electrical Telegraph etc. They also fought in various wars like the First and Second Opium Wars, The Zulu Wars, The Crimean Wars, and more. However, they're about to encounter rivals once again.

They rivaled the Russian Empire for land and influence in India, the Qing Dynasty for dominance in Asia, the United States for Preeminence in North America, and back in Europe, their old ally Prussia formed the German Empire in 1871, now souring relations between the old allies, they also supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War most of the populous supported the Union for being abolitionist and even Canadians volunteered to fight for the Union. Growing nationalism amongst Indians for Indian Independence from Great Britain and despite being suppressed. the world knew the British Empire is no longer the greatest empire in the world.

Entering the 20th century and relations between the various European Powers continued to shake. As Germany rapidly industrialized throughout the rest of the 19th century, they can now rival Britain's economy despite the British Empire being more than 11x larger than the German colonial empire. The Imperial German Navy is also powerful and modern enough to rival that of Britain's Royal Navy. Britain wanted to remain the preeminent power in Europe, Germany wanted to be the new European hegemon, France wanted to take back Alsace-Lorraine lost during the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871), and Austria-Hungary wanted to rival the Russian Empire for dominance in the Balkans with the help from Germany. In 1914, World War I broke out and the Western Front between Germany, France, and the U.K., Britain blockaded Germany's food imports to starve out the German population and eventually after America's involvement in the war in 1917, The war was won by the Entente in 1918. They also got land from the Ottomans in Mesopotamia and Palestine.

In the Interwar period, The British Empire is now the largest empire to ever exist in human history covering up 33.7 million sq km. (13.01 million sq mi.), but Britain is no longer the greatest superpower in the world. Its power is now rivaled by its ally the United States which became the largest economy since 1900 but Britain decided to shrug it off. But as years passed, Britain became less interested in its power and colonies and its power slowly declined throughout the Interwar Period by decolonizing and autonomizing it's colonies.

When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Britain and France declared war Germany starting World War II. France was blitzkrieg'd by the Germans in 1940 and Britain is now the only enemy in the Western Front. Britain was heavily bombed by the Germany Luftwaffe traumatizing everyday life for the Brits, but morale is still high amongst Brits and eventually Germany had to postpone its Invasion of Britain. And in the Pacific, its colonies are now under threat from Japanese expansion. The Japanese Navy defeated the Royal Navy in Singapore, delivering a humiliating defeat to the once mighty Royal Navy as well as British Hong Kong. But they did join the United States in its war against Japan in the Pacific. And eventually the war ended with Japan surrendering to the Allies after two nukes dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Even though Britain was one of the victors, just like in the Seven Years' War, they went bankrupt and had to depend on American funding. Britain is now in an era of decline and decolonization was ramped up fast. In 1947, India declared Independence form the British Empire, this was a huge loss for Britain as they lost the most valuable part of their empire and most of Britain's riches came from India. Britain was still the minor superpower during the Cold War between the now two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. But after the Suez Crisis of 1956, Britain lost its title as a superpower, and continued to decolonize throughout the Cold War, releasing its Asian and African colonies as well as giving its overseas dominions self-rule over themselves. Eventually in 1997 in a historic moment, the United Kingdom give its last colony Hong Kong back to China, this event was known as the end of the British Empire. ￼

Trivia

 * You can see the Stone Hedge near Wales.