Q&A · 1:14:02-1:15:22

A longer Anglo-Japanese alliance and American anxiety

A durable Anglo-Japanese alliance would encircle much of the maritime world with a powerful partnership and likely provoke sustained American efforts to break it apart.

Question

What if the Anglo-Japanese Alliance continued beyond its historical end?

Short answer

Britain and Japan could form an exceptionally strong global naval partnership, but the United States would work hard to divide it.

Notes

The counterfactual begins by giving Japan a reason to retain confidence in Britain, using stronger British support during the 1905 Dogger Bank crisis as the divergence. Without Tsushima serving the same independent nation-building role, Japan might accept somewhat less naval autonomy inside the alliance. The resulting global maritime partnership would alarm the United States and make diplomatic pressure against the treaty a central feature of later relations.