Commonwealth of Great Britain and Ireland (Joan of What?)

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1789–1815) Commonwealth of Great Britain and Ireland (1815–1933)
Timeline: Joan of What?
← 1789–1933 →
Flag Coat of arms
Motto Britons never shall be slaves!
Capital		London
Languages		English
Government		Unitary presidential constitutional republic
Lord Protector
-	1792 — 1817 (first)	George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough
-	1895 — 1932 (last)	Winston Churchill
Speaker of the Commons
-	1792 — 1801 (first)	Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
-	1932 — 1933 (last)	Oswald Mosley
Legislature		House of Commons
History
-	French Revolution	1781 — 1795
-	Established	8 March 1789
-	Mosley elected Prime Minister	28 June 1932
-	Deposition of Churchill	1 April 1933
-	National Defence Act	10 April 1933
Currency		Pound sterling

The Commonwealth of Great Britain and Ireland, referred to colloquially as the Commonwealth, Britain, or (erroneously) Great Britain, was a country in Western Europe that lasted from 1792 to 1933.

The Commonwealth was a presidential parliamentary representative democracy which emerged following the collapse of the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Cygnian War of Independence. In 1789, George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough deposed the French military authorities and appointed himself Lord Protector, officially ruling as regent on behalf of the King, who had fled to Cygnia and had yet to return to Britain.

When the Congress of Vienna was convened in 1815 following the downfall of Napoleon, the Cygnian Government attempted to negotiate the restoration of the British monarchy. However, the other major European powers, namely Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and Russia, believing that a king-less Britain would be advantageous to them, favoured Marlborough's demand to have the monarchy permanently dissolved. The Commonwealth of Great Britain and Ireland was thus formed. The Instrument of Government was written in 1815, and was adopted as Britain's first written constitution on 9 May 1816.

Britain gradually regained its strength, and created a small number of new colonies in Africa. For most of its existence, the Commonwealth remained politically stable. It supported Germany and Cygnia in World War I, and after a victory for the Allies Britain negotiated for the imposition of heavy reparations on France, which the British government saw as retribution for not only the war, but also for the revolution.

The Great Depression in 1929 hit Britain hard, and as a result economic crisis and political extremism ensued. The people of Britain began to blame the Commonwealth – specifically the Lord Protector, now Winston Churchill – and France for their misfortunes, and the population wished for a return to the "glorious days" of the United Kingdom.

1930 saw the beginning of a series of hung parliaments, where no major party was able to secure the majority of seats in the House of Commons, attributed to a lack of public support for any of the politicians at Westminster. The right-wing British Union of Fascists under Oswald Mosley, peddling a platform of economic overhaul and militarisation, appealed to the populace. After the fifth election in two years held on 23 June 1932, Mosley became Speaker of the Commons, and the Fascists secured a landslide majority in the House. Within less than a year, the Commons had passed laws deposing Churchill, and with overwhelming public support, Speaker Mosley seized the Lordship, merging it with the Speakership to form the office of Supreme Leader. These events brought the Commonwealth to an end, and the establishment of Britannia.