United Commonwealth on the Antilles

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United Commonwealth on the Antilles is a political term regarding the status of the Antilles, officially known as the United Commonwealth of America. Since the 1921 Great Retreat of the Federalist government to the Antilles at the conclusion of the Continental Revolutionary War, the political status of the exiled government and its new country had been disputed. Even though Sierra, Superior, Astoria, and the other Western North American states recognized the Continentalist United Commonwealth by signing the Treaty of Bernheim, the treaty did not mention the Antilles, and so they pursued a policy of ambiguity, sometimes border on recognition, throughout the 1920s. This meant that Sierra and its allies maintained relations with the new country, but from 1923 this would frequently be under the name "United Commonwealth on the Antilles," because the Treaty of Bernheim did not address the question of the remaining Federalists or sovereignty over the Antilles. On several occasions Sierra nearly granted formal recognition to the Antilles as "the United Commonwealth of America" under the pressure of Royalist politicians.

Usage

The term United Commonwealth on the Antilles remained widely used in Anglo-America both officially and unofficially, outside of the Continentalist States, from the early 1920s to the late 1950s. It was promoted by Antillean President Amelia Abarough, as part of her long term goal to reassert claims to the mainland. After the outbreak of Great War I and the Continental Blitz in 1932, Sierra fully recognized the Antilles and established formal relations with the United Commonwealth of America, but this was undone in 1938 with the signing of the New Orleans Accords and the original ambiguous policy was returned. The term United Commonwealth on the Antilles fell out of use in an official capacity after the Continentalists and Sierra fought on the same side during Great War II against derzhavism, and the Antillean dictatorship was seen by some as proto-derzhavist. It still remained used unofficially up to the 1980s, because after the death of President Abarough in 1983 the Antilles began adopting a more independent identity rather than claiming the mainland. Since the rising tensions between the United Commonwealth and the Conference of American States, especially after the 2021 Caribbean Sea incident, the term has been increasingly used again. The same pattern has also been true in another Anglo-American states, except Superior, which has always continued to use United Commonwealth on the Antilles because of its constantly hostile relations with the Continentalists.

In the 1970s the term was proposed as a compromise for a name that would allow the Antilles to participate in international organizations and events, but this was rejected by the Continentalists, and instead the international name for the country for events like the Olympic Games was chosen as "American Antilles."

See also