The year is 1936. Just twenty two years earlier, a war broke out in Europe over the double assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and an attempted attack on Paris, France. On one side of the war was the Triple Entente- France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. Supporting them were Spain, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. On the other side was the Kaiserlich Alliance- the UK, Germany, Italy, and Portugal. Supporting them were Greece, Serbia, Romania, and Portugal.
But how did such a world like this come to be?
The main PoD is that Frederick III doesn't get laryngeal cancer. He reigns until 1907, when he dies of old age. Under Frederick, Germany and Britain become close friends and sign the Kaiserlich Alliance in 1892 (alongside Italy). Another result of this is a more liberalized German Empire.
On the short end of the stick is France. Still bitter from losing Alsace-Lorraine in 1871 to the newly formed Germany, she was trying to find an ally. Britain and Italy were not possible due to their alliance with the evil (in France) Germany. Eventually, a deal is struck with Austria-Hungary and Russia, with the Triple Entente alliance being signed in 1895. Both alliances attempted to attract smaller countries- Portugal, Greece, Belgium, and the many minorities in the Russian Empire were pro-Alliance; while Spain, Bulgaria, and the Boers aligned themselves with the Entente. Various incidents occurred during this period that some feared would bring all of Europe to war, most notably the Balkan Wars, which saw the Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians, Romanians, and Albanians drive the Ottoman Empire out of Europe, except for eastern Thrace. 'What was the powderkeg that would make Europe explode?' was a thought in many European minds.
“One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” -
Otto von Bismarck
This saying is accurate for this world too, but another factor came into play as well. On June 28th, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by members of the Black Hand, a Yugoslav and more specifically Serb nationalist group that sought to kick Austria-Hungary out of the Balkans, while visiting the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The next day, a group of French-Flemish nationalists were caught trying to launch a massacre in the streets of Paris. The latter would not lead to any declarations of war, but would influence certain decisions made. Shortly after Franz Ferdinand's death, Austrian officials discover the Black Hand is behind the slaughter. Austria-Hungary sends ten demands to Serbia and Montenegro, and gives them two weeks to accept... or be invaded. Serbia only agrees to six of the demands and Montenegro only agrees to four, so on July 16th, Austria-Hungary launches a surprise attack on Serbia and Montenegro. Russia stays neutral because the attack is an offensive against her Slavic brothers, but France gives Austria full support. Germany and the UK demand France backs down, but refuses and on August 7th they declare war. Russia is now sucked into the war due to the Allies declaring war
on an Entente member, so Russia declares war shortly after.
The same camps mentioned above joined the war, too, plus the Ottoman Empire joined the Entente to try and get territory back from Greece. France decides its only way to get into Germany deeply is to cut through Belgium and Luxembourg. When both refuse to let French troops in, France invades these countries. Most fronts of the war are painfully slow, with the Iberian, Western, Central (Austria, Bohemia, Venetia, Bavaria, etc.), and North African fronts having trenches dug into their soil. Very little changes in controlled territory are made in these areas for most of the war.
The Eastern Front is a different story. German troops were able to overpower their Russian counterparts, which suffered from outdated equipment and poor supply amounts, as well as the Germans promising various ethnic groups their independence. The Balkan Front was a front of constant change, with offensives coming from both sides. The Pacific Front is often neglected in history books, but the Japanese put valiant effort into fighting the Entente for little reward in return. The Germans and British did lots of fighting in this front as well. Another front in the war was the Patagonian War, as it was called. In 1916, Argentina launched an invasion of Chile in hopes of annexing the country. Wisely, Peru and Bolivia stayed out despite their claims on Chilean territory. The British supported the Chileans, with a sub-war that lasted a little bit under a year seeing Argentina cede southern Patagonia with the British, who also purchased part of it from Chile. The United States joined the war in 1917 when the French sent a telegram to Mexico detailing an invasion of the United States in return for more land, lost during the Mexican-American war in 1848. Outraged, American "doughboys" made their way to the fronts and turned the tide against the Entente. France was the last to surrender, which happened in May 1919.
What about the peace, you ask? Oh, you mean "peace". The Treaty of Bonn was signed in September 1919, which oversaw the destruction of the Entente:
(NOTE: British pounds are used as an "international" currency in the Treaty)
France had to cede Brittany, Calais, and Normandy to Britain, the last one as a protectorate; French Flanders and other border territories to Belgium; territories ceded by Monaco in 1861 were returned; Alsace-Lorraine was enlarged and a "military frontier" was created; Occitania was released and given most of its territory, Marseilles was made a LoN Free City; billions of pounds were owed; and France's army was not only confined to a number of 75,000 but they had to stay within a certain territory. Their navy and air force could not exceeed 10% of Britain's number. All colonies except northeastern Algeria and part of the Ivory Coast were ceded to various powers. French Catalonia and Basque Country were given to those respective nations. Savoy and Nice were ceded to Italy.
Austria-Hungary fared just as worse. Austria could only keep its core territory minus Vorarlberg and part of Tyrol, but also including South Tyrol, a smidge of Sudentenland, and part of Carniola. Hungary is composed of OTL Hungary plus southern Slovakia. Also, Czechoslovakia, Istria, and Croatia-Slavonia had to be released as nations. Galicia (including the Ukrainian part) was ceded to the German vassal of Poland; Transylvania was given to Romania; and lots of pounds had to be paid.
Bulgaria had to cede southern and western territories to Greece and Serbia, and also had to cede Dobruja to Romania; plus a fee of about 1 million pounds.
Some say the Ottoman Empire fared the worst. All territories besides central Anatolia were given to other countries or granted independence. Even the capital, Constantinople, was ceded as an international protectorate. However, they had much less debt to owe than France did.
Spain fared much better than France. It had moderate territorial losses, losing the Basque country, Catalonia (which got Northern Catalonia too), Spanish Guinea, most of the Spanish Sahara, and Galicia+Asturias+some neighoring regions to Portugal. Half a million pounds in debt were owed.
The initial peace between Germany and (the recently turned republican) Russia saw the creation of Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, and the United Baltic Duchy as vassals, the cession of Osel and other islands to Germany, Aland to Sweden (which was neutral in the war), a rump pro-German tsarist state, the independence of Ukraine (which soon split into the royalist Ukraine and republican Don-Ukraine), plus the independence of Armenia, Finland, and Karelia. Bessarabia was ceded to Romania, too. About 100,000 pounds in debt were owed.
The Russian Civil War broke out in 1918, shortly after peace with the Germans. For Russian factions, there were not two, not three, but yes, FIVE main factions fighting. These were the rump tsarist state, the Novgorod Republic (based in
Nizhny Novgorod unlike its predecessor), the rump Russian Republic and vassals, the tolerant Siberian Federation with its vassal Tannu Tuva, and the Union of Soviet Siberian Republics plus its ally the Moscow Soviet. Non-Russian contenders were Finland, Karelia, Alash Republic, Turkmenistan, Turkestan (which forcefully incorporated Tajikistan), the Transcaucasian Union, Armenia, Don-Ukraine, Japan, and Norway.
Fast forward to 1936. France is ruled by neo-Napoleonists, who wish to see France returned to its former glory. Joined by them is Italy and Japan, who felt betrayed after the peace, and Spain, who wishes to regain its lost territories.
The leader of France is Michael Bernard, who, like Adolf Hitler, is willing to take risks to expand his territory. He is able to persuade Germany to cede the military frontier, and to have the independent Basque Country partitioned, however his next step is where war comes. In 1939, he demands Occitania cede the Loire Hills region to gain access to the Herault Strip. Like OTL (but inversed), war is declared on France, but nothing happens besides a tiny German offensive into Lorraine.
In early 1940, though, the French State launches a massive offensive into the Low Countries and Germany...
-description a WIP, other maps are below-
Europe in 1939.
The Second Entente at its zenith in 1943.