I am again trying with a TL, a bit more realistic than my last attempt, but still quite dominated by my personal preferences...
Thanks for many people giving me inspiration, ideas, and moral support! Special thanks to Kaiser K for inspiring me to try my hand at writing a TL at all! Hopefully, you will love it this time around!
Mind that this timeline will, for the most part, use the Republican Calendar, as if it was written from the perspective of the United Worker's Republics.
Without much ado, this will become the first update:
1914:
1915:
1916:
1917
CXXVII:
CXXVIII/CXXIX:
Thanks for many people giving me inspiration, ideas, and moral support! Special thanks to Kaiser K for inspiring me to try my hand at writing a TL at all! Hopefully, you will love it this time around!
Mind that this timeline will, for the most part, use the Republican Calendar, as if it was written from the perspective of the United Worker's Republics.
Without much ado, this will become the first update:
Messidor CXXII - Germinal CXXIX:
A Great and Two (Un)Civil Wars
A Great and Two (Un)Civil Wars
1914:
- Franz Ferdinand is assassinated on June 28 in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, just as OTL. However, Sophie does not get hit, instead, the other bullet(s) hit Potiorek as was maybe intended.
- However, this results in not a war, but just a major international crisis when Germany refuses to issue a blanco cheque to Austria-Hungary. Germany demands that France and the UK be neutral before doing so, they refuse, and Germany leaves Austria-Hungary alone. Italy leaves the Dreibund over this, making it into a Zweibund again.
- Serbia still refuses the ultimatum sent to it from Vienna, but with nobody helping Austria-Hungary and Russia declaring that it will help Serbia, Austria-Hungary can only get bitter and protest, but not do much. Austria ultimately recedes on the most egregious demands of the ultimatum, Serbia accepts, and the terrorists are fought against. Nevertheless, Serbia has become a de facto Austro-Hungarian puppet
- In October, there is another major crisis as Walloon separatism comes to a head. This, for all great powers, is a sign that a Great War is inevitable. It seems even more obvious that Germany wants war as they unilaterally accuse France of supporting Walloon separatism. But the other Great Powers, especially Britain (and to some extent Russia) want the powers to negotiate. In the end, Germany "backs down" for getting Eupen-Malmedy. But they guarantee the security of the newly-independent Flanders
- The concept of the tank is further developed, at least on paper
- Visible and tangible reforms towards more democracy and equality are undertaken in Austria-Hungary. This rather appeases most separatists, however, the South Slavs cannot be appeased that easily.
1915:
- A first tank prototype is battle-tested in Britain, and then in France.
- The Great War finally breaks out nearly a year later than Germany wanted, due to two simultaneous international crises.
- First, in what is going to be forever known as the Barcelona Riots, Spain joins the Central Powers as France, more or less openly, supports Catalan and later also Basque separatism
- And on April 19/April 30, what claim to be Polish separatists/nationalists under the leadership of Wojciech Opczynski assassinate the governor of Warsaw and of the Polish Zarstvo.. Russia suspects Germany of supporting this, and the May Crisis erupts.
- As Germany wants war, they do not deny supporting the Polish separatists. Russia sends an ultimatum which contains such demands as letting Russia participate in an investigation, helping Russia with troops to root out the separatists, and others. Germany of course refused, and Russia mobilises after Germany declared war on Russia on May 22.
- On May 26, Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia. On May 27, France and the UK declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, as does Italy. On May 29, Spain declares war on the Entente. All great and middle powers were now sucked in, together with numerous small powers. But, despite the expectation of being "home by Christmas", trench warfare has set in on the West by October.
1916:
- Woodrow Wilson wins the US Presidential election on a non-interventionist platform.
- Riots, and later revolts, continue in Mexico against the dictatorial conservative government. But these revolts are mostly small and suffer from infighting. Later in the year, three big factions turn out to have significant support: Communists, Aztec fundamentalists, and democrats. The USA, for now, supports no faction, but the government. Guatemala is puppetised as another banana republic.
- At first, the Central Powers seem to have some success. Within months, they were within French territory (marching through "neutral" Flanders and Walloonia which were thus driven into Entente hands) and near Vilno and Warszawa in Russia.
- The war in the East is quite a bit more mobile and more intensive, but just as bloody. Neither Germany nor Austria-Hungary seem to get far into Russia, however, theydo give support to Polish and Baltic nationalists.
- Approx. 2 million French and Brits, and 1,8 million Germans, are dead, injured or missing by the end of the year. However, new hope arises when a new tactic to deploy tanks and air support is tested on the Somme by France.
1917
- Italy, by it's proxy of Greece and also with it's own troops, is having major successes in Albania and Macedonia, another front which is more mobile than the western front.
- In March, the French bypass the trench lines of the Somme and Marne and march into German-occupied Walloonia. Although the Germans redeploy a lot of troops from the east to keep the west in their hands, they are massively outnumbered and outwitted, especially with US material support coming into the UK. By December (but with ca. 1 million losses) they have reached the pre-war German and Belgian borders.
- Due to the Germans withdrawing most troops from the West, Russia forays into German territory and, as the first battle on true German territory, wins the Battle of Allenstein.
- By the end of the year, Russian troops are within reach of Danzig, and the war has become more mobile with the new tank and air support tactics.
- Nationalist uprising, supported by the Entente, especially the UK, brews in the Ottoman Empire. People on all sides are becoming more and more weary of the war, mainly due to the heavy losses, the dwindling resources, a starving and lacking populace and no new sources for materials.
- New hope arises in the West as France, after the winter is over, with British support and it's new tank and air tactics, quickly pushes through Flanders, the Netherlands and then to the Rhine and Weser rivers. By July, Cologne and Mainz are in French hands (together with British, Belgian and Dutch support). Belgium could only be coaxed into the Entente camp by promising redivision into Flanders and Walloonia. But, the new hope was soon gone again as all material supplies (food, ammo, spare parts,...) dried up significantly in April, getting worse in May and June. France would have to have sued for peace very, very soon...
- However, starvation and lack were truly severe this year after two successive, abnormally severe winters. In April, together with a moist heat wave, a new lethal illness called (for now) "Ebro Fever" or "Ebro Influenza" (as the wave, due to war censorship, seems to have started and disproportionally affected the Ebro valleys) breaks out. Young and healthy people are disproportionately affected, and it is basically the Spanish Flu with some elements of Malaria mixed in. French soldiers fighting at the Ebro die mysteriously, but it hits other areas just as hard, especially in riverine areas.
- In July, desertions and mutinies, especially in the French, Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies are on the rise. Charles I. sees the writing on the wall (i.e. that the Central Powers are losing) and deserts the CP for the Entente on April 9. However, he demands an independent Poland as a concession to Russia for now helping them. However, he must cede Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia, and Montenegro as well as a part of Romania as the Italo-Greek alliance (with some other support) had already advanced that far presenting itself as the "liberator of the Slavs".
- Russia pushes ever deeper into Prussia, but heavy losses are always incurred against a valiantly resisting German Army.
- However, as the most important event of the year, the Fructidor Revolution rocks France and Italy almost simultaneously. Chaotic uprisings, including the stepdown of Poincaré's government in June and riots and mass demonstrations for bread and peace in major cities had already taken place, and the workers had mass-joined the CGT and PCF and organised into (first illegal) councils. And these took power on 4 Fructidor CXXVI. One of their first moves was to make peace with the Central Powers according to the Treaty of Gap, fixing the French, Belgian and Dutch borders at the current frontline. Worker's councils organised around the CGT also took power in the DOM-TOMs of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Lenin also successfully organised uprisings and thus a revolution in Switzerland and his faction cooperated perfectly with the internationalist, Syndicalists which had prevailed in France and the Bordigists of Italy. They do unite on introducing the Republican Calendar as mandatory (Gregorian is tolerated and not much more). And they made every Worker's Republic of the to-be United Worker's Republics near-independent, which allowed for different species of communism to prevail in the different republics.
- Nevertheless, there was civil war between tens of sides. Brittanian and Corsican separatists played a role just as much as loyalists, moderate socialists, Sardinian and Sicilian nationalists, Republicans in Italy, and other forces. Of course, the other powers supported everybody who is anti-red, and in CXXVI, it did look good for the Reds, but it was in no way inevitable.
CXXVII:
- Britain is weary of the Reds and alarmed of their success in France, but can't do that much as its own populace is war-weary and there are mass protests (for now peaceful, but that could change any moment) in Ireland for the Home Rule law actually being put into place (which finally happens on 8 Brumaire, with effect as of 11 Nivôse). Also, Britain is lacking resources to honestly do something, and there is still the Ottoman Empire to win against. Although there is more or less token support for the non-red elements of the civil war by Britain, Spain, Denmark et al., the Reds are steadily gaining more and more power, gaining more and more territory and eliminating more and more resistance. It doesn't hurt that they are in full control of the Netherlands, Flanders, and their part of Germany, and also that rather many parts of the Italian (the "French navy" didn't deserve that name, really) deserted, forming the Red Navy and carrying the civil war into the Tyrrhenian. Also, the occupation naval forces which France and Italy had sent to occupy the Balearic islands and protect Barcelona deserted, which gave the Reds control of the three strategically important islands in the Mediterranean.
- The only one to really still have resources to fight with is the Russian Empire, draining Central Asia and Siberia. And so, Russia is the one who, together with Austria-Hungary, marches deeper into Germany. There are still some elements of trench warfare. However, Munich falls on 5 Frimaire, after heavy guerilla fighting in the Alps for over half a year, and becomes the first major German city east of the Rhine or west of the Vistula to fall. Danzig follows suit and falls to Russian armies on 9 Frimaire. Germany is definitely losing, and on 30 Frimaire, the Russians are less than 50 miles from Berlin.
- Russia manages bringing Denmark and it's relatively powerful navy into the war on the Entente side on 6 Nivôse, by promising them the coastal areas of Germany. Denmark declares war on Germany, and the first to attack is Germany. However, they only get to Tonder before being fought back. And Denmark had, despite pressure from some nationalists, refused any territory in which no referendum had been held.
- On the Ottoman Front, Russian, Greek, Bulgarian, British, and other forces are constantly pushing into what remains of the Empire. It is also being ripped apart by nationalist revolt, e.g. led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey. The Entente forces landed on Cyprus on 28 Brumaire, liberated the island in just a week, and landed on the Turkish coast on 2 Nivôse. By Germinal, the Ottoman Empire does not exist anymore save for guerilla fighting in the mountains of Anatolia.
- As most of Germany is falling to Russo-Danish troops in the months of Pluviôse and Ventôse (Kiel surrenders on 1 Pluviôse, Rostock and Wismar on 21 Pluviôse, Hamburg on 4 Ventôse, and Lübeck on 18 Ventôse), the German High Sea fleet scuttles itself somewhere in the North Sea in order not to fall into British or Danish hands. Notably, there are also some mutinies and worker's uprisings, but these are crushed brutally
- Berlin is one of the last cities, and the last major city, to fall on 3 Germinal after heavy street fighting. Officially, the Kaiser abidcated on 11 Germinal and the German Empire surrendered to Britain, Denmark, Portugal, Russia, Austria-Hungary and the other Entente forces. The last known cities to fall were Fulda on 20 Germinal and Braunschweig on 26 Germinal. Isolated guerilla fighting in the Harz, Westerwald and Teutoburger Wald mountainous/hilly regions, as well as in the mountains of the Allgäu, continues into Floréal. The Great War is, thus, over and done with. An international conference will solve the problems remaining.
CXXVIII/CXXIX:
- In the treaties after the Great War (as it was then called), signed on 16 Vendemiaire CXXVIII and going into effect 10 Brumaire Germany was balkanised into: Kingdom of Bavaria, United Duchies of Baden and Württemberg, Kingdom of Saxony, Grand Duchy of Silesia, Empire of Prussia, United Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg and Kingdom of Hannover. These were all puppet states of Russia or Austria-Hungary, and in one case, Denmark. The United Worker's Republics were officially allowed control over their zones of occupation west of the Rhine and Weser rivers, including the port of Bremen, nearly having won the civil war. And the zone "in between", i.e. Hesse and territory east of the Rhine, including the Ruhr area, were put under a joint Anglo-Russian-French-Danish mandate.
- In Nivôse, the referendums in Schleswig, Holstein, the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, and in Mecklenburg were held. They each included the option of "Joining denmark" or "independence". And, to many's surprise (but the Danes did reckon with it), Lübeck and Mecklenburg voted to be independent. And so, they became...
- After mass protests by workers in the newly establishing UWR, the Supreme Worker's Council decided on having both Nonidi and Decadi as rest days, increasing the share of free days in comparison to the Gregorian calendar and eliminating the reason for the mass protests. In the same session, the Sansculottides were fixed as a national holiday week (=no school and work) and the leap year rule was decided on continuous leap years every four years from year XV onwards. Firms are also free to decide on more free days, or are also allowed to work part-time on Nonidi.
- The Ottoman Empire was dissolved as a state and much of it's area ended up unter British proctectorates and puppet states. The southern coast, called "Republics of Cibyrrhaeot" ended up as a Greek puppet state, and Russia carved out a "Kingdom of Pontus" on the northern coast of Turkey. The Turkish state was led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk after a surprisingly successful revolution supported secretly by the UWR. And Greece? Requests help of it's ally Russia and their puppet states in order to "relocate" all the turks (and they are the majority in Cibyrrhaeot) to a "safe place" in Atatürk's Republic. We must call it ethnic cleansing, but for them, that is legitimate...
- In the USA, isolationism was rather unpopular as Mexico threatened to fall to communists and, generally, radical ideologies threatening to democracy were on the rise . Thus, Leonard Wood, the former Chief of Staff and military governor who was strongly in favour of interventionism, won the presidential election on 11 Brumaire. And both houses fell to the Republicans in what was one of the biggest landslides in US history. One of his first acts was to send troops into Mexico to fight the rebel threat (and, secretly, also expand...).
- On 23 Germinal CXXIX, the last notable armed resistance groups against the UWR were crushed in the Central Apeninnes. There were isolated occurences of civil disobedience or demonstrations, but now, the UWR could be said to be a stable state with a proper army, namy, people, and control over all of it's claimed territory. Notably, some of the most valiant pro-UWR fighters were recruited from the Tuareg people of Southern Algeria (which was, in reward, gerrymandered).
- Russia, on the other hand, had also overextended itself somewhat with the war. First nationalist revolts and "bread riots" had already broken out in Messidor CXXVIII, mainly in the Baltic states and Tannu Tuva. In Thermidor and Fructidor, the riots became somewhat stronger and were more clearly nationalist-oriented than just some riots due to the people being pissed off. No, the people of the minorities (which were legion after the treaties enforced upon others by the Russian Empire) wanted independence. The situation only deteriorated from Brumaire onwards, and when true communist revolts started up in the most urban areas of the Empire on 23 Frimaire, Russia was in civil war and withdrew from it's puppet states of Prussia and Hannover. Immediately, Revanchism was stirred up in Prussia again. Campaigning for a reunification of all German states was mainly organised in the VDNP (Vereinigte Deutsch-Nationale Partei) which was founded on 18 Nivôse CXXIX and led by a certain Adolf Hitler who had always been a radical German nationalist, and whose extreme German nationalism, instead of his Antisemitism or his hatred for Slavs (which were still present to an insane extent!), were reinforced by the war. He had been able to flee to the Erzgebirge mountains, then to Dresden and then to Berlin during the march of the hated Austro-Hungarian armies. However, his calls for now were heard only by a small (but still significant and not fringe) percentage of the Prussian population.
- Ethiopia does some sabre-rattling against the Italian Empire, but the British Empire affirms support for their valuable ally against the reds.
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