Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-5018798-20131030101233/@comment-6383542-20131103010018

Britain did exactly that in the Dutch East Indies after WWII. However, it was only necessary because they had been occupied for three years by Japan, and because the Indonesians had decided to fight en masse for independence.

If it weren't for that, I think the Dutch administration in the colonies could have survived the war, even though the Netherlands themselves were occupied for most of it. The same goes for Belgian Congo.

However... if the Netherlands took a heavy beating during WW1 it's plausible that the Indonesians could have revolted during and after WW1 instead. It would need to be a full-scale war for independence, rather than a few isolated rebellions, but that might then require the intervention of Britain or Japan.

I think Belgian Congo would probably survive just fine. Belgium was more or less destroyed by four years of war anyway in the OTL, so two more years couldn't do much more damage abroad.