The Union Forever: A TL

[Earl_of_Somerset]

This brings up the question of what the Alliance's (soon to be renamed the Coalition) strategy in the Mediterranean will be. Anyone care to speculate?

I think that First, The alliance will take out France's North Africa Colonies (Algeria, Morrocco, Tunis, Libya). Then take over the Major Ente Held islands (Crete + Corsica) for naval bases. (Possibly Aircraft, I dont know if they exist ITTL, I forgot )

Then with Alliance Naval supremecy, Ports in Southern France, will be first blockaded, then assaulted later. Nice, Marsille, and Toulon would make great targets.

From there the alliance can move from Southern France up to Paris.

While this is going on, Campaigns against the Ottoman Held Levant need to take place and against French held egypt, Preferably before the islands need to be taken. From bases in Southern Arabia, Kuwait and India, Mainly British and Dominion territories can attack Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine.

Its not neccesary to preform a Gallipoli like incident, but it might happen if the Ottomans provide too much resistance.

Maybe an ambitious invasion at Tristne, could provide a base for another front against Austria

 

[Andristan]

Definitely Egypt, the Coalition needs to capture the Suez Canel to facilitate movement into the Med and with it under Coalition control, they hold both entrances to the Med, well more than they do now(Gibralter + Aden). With the Med open to Coalition Naval forces the Austrians will be forced to pull their fleet out of the Black Sea where it was helping the Ottomans(IIRC), or be cut off from their home port, this allows the Russians to secure the upper hand in the Black Sea, allowing reinforcements and supplies to be shipped to the (still free) Balkans- Serbia and Greece, possibly restarting the Bulgarian Revolution against the Turks and basically reopening the Balkan front as a significant theater; All this just from taking the Suez Canel. There may be some Brit offensives against the French Colonies in Africa but I don't see that becoming a major Theater. By the way, the US fleet squadron that is stationed in the Med is ideally situated to start commerce raiding against the Entente merchant marine; it should still be there, they started putting one there since the war with the Barbary Pirates in the late 18th century.

 

[Andristan]

I think that both Spain and Portugal are pro-Entente, though Portugal is allied to Britain since early 19th century, but Spain hates the US and probably won't let any Coalition forces enter.

Oh and will Britain put pressure on Japan to end the war with Russia since now the UK is aligned with both sides in that conflict.

 

[Andristan]

In OTL, the Ottoman supply lines to the Caucasus front were atrocious, with land transport being close to non-existent and the majority going by small ships in short hops from port to port. In TTL, the Russian Fleet is superior to the Ottomans and probably on parity with both the Ottoman and A-H fleets combined. I think the Russian Black Sea Fleet could sally forth and meet the combined fleets in the Black Sea and at least restrict their ability to ship supplies to the front allowing another massive offensive to go ahead.
By the way, the A-H admiral is probably Graf Rudolf Montecuccoli who is still around in TTL, the Russian Black Sea commander is probably either Nikolai Skrydlov, Genrikh F. Tsyvinskiy, or Robert N. Viren, I think these guys are still around(Skrydlov probably, other two not sure), and the Ottoman Admiral is unknown but if the Ottoman Sultan is still Abdulhamid II then he won't be very good, as Abdulhamid worried about a Naval coup and so kept the better admirals out of command position.

 

[Mac Gregor]

Opération Abeille D'or​

March-July 1909​

​

French Troops on their way to the front during Operation Golden Bee
March, 1909​

With the entry of the United States and Great Britain into the War, Emperor of the French Napoleon IV knew that in order to achieve victory the Kingdom of Prussia must be knocked out of the war before large numbers of American and British reinforcements arrived. In order to accomplish this, the French General Staff devised what would be one of the largest offensives of the war, Opération Abeille D'or (Operation Golden Bee), to deliver the coup de grace to their beleaguered German adversary. Golden Bee would capitalize off of the resent success of the Hess-Nassau Offensive by continuing to drive north along the east bank of the Rhine and into Prussia’s Westphalia Province. The ultimate goal of the offensive being to reach Prussia’s industrial heartland, the Ruhr valley. With the Ruhr severed from the rest of the kingdom, Napoleon believed that the Prussians would be forced to sue for peace. With Prussia out of the war a peace could be negotiated with the other Alliance powers that allowed France to keep her wartime gains.

Start of the Offensive
Starting on March 15, 1909 the French, along with large contingents of their South German vassals, launched Operation Golden Bee. Entente efforts initially meet with great success as the Imperials slogged their way north despite heavy casualties. Over the next month and a half, Prussia lost Marburg and their remaining toeholds in Bonn and Cologne. On May 2, 1909 the commander of the Entente forces for Golden Bee, Marshal Petain, made a request to the Emperor that the offensive be halted in order to regroup and resupply. Napoleon IV denied Petain’s request and ordered that the operation continue until “the Ruhr valley is taken and every last Teuton is driven from her banks.”

The Battles of Dusseldorf, Kassel, and Sundern

French Soldiers at the Battle of Dusseldorf
April 13, 1909​

On April 11, 1909 in what would become known as the Battle of Dusseldorf, French forces launched a major attack on their western limit of advance. The battle would rage for four days and see the French make several attempts to take the city. Although on the second day of the battle it looked as if the city would fall to the French, the arrival of elements of the British Expeditionary Force turned the tide in the Allies favor. Dusseldorf would prove to be the high watermark for the Entente offensive into Prussia. Over the next few weeks the French would suffer a series of defeats include one at the hands of a Russo-Prussian force south of Kassel. Another important turning point during Operation Golden Bee occurred at the Battle of Sundern where American forces saw combat for the first time in Europe. On June 2, 1909 in the thickly forested terrain outside of the city of Sundern, a composite Marine-Army element known as the American Expeditionary Corp inflicted a devastating defeat on the French-Bavarian force opposing it. At the battle the Americans took over 10,000 prisoners, most of them Bavarians. Due to the tenacity of the Americans’ performance during the battle, one French commander labeled them Démons de Forêt (Forest Devils) a name that would stick with American troops throughout the war.

Start of the German Revolt

Following the failure of Operation Golden Bee to end the war, and the heavy casualties suffered by south German troops, anti-French unrest exploded in the south German states of Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden. Desertion skyrocketed as Prussian propaganda stirred up Pan-German sentiment while trying to alienate southern Germans from the co-religionist French and Austrian allies. Many historians mark July, 5, 1909 as the official start of the German Revolt, when guerrillas ambushed an Entente convoy outside of the Bavarian city of Bamberg resulting in over 200 French casualties. Over the next few months, tens of thousands of Germans would flee to the hills and forests to start fighting against their French and Austro-Hungarian oppressors. This forced the French to divert valuable men and resources, items they could not spare in light of the deteriorating military situation.

Flag used by many Pan-German guerrilas in southern Germany​

 

[rick007]

What about air craft on warfare? Or at all? Is there going to be a battle at Vimy Ridge? (Yes I am Canadian why do you ask?)

 

[Earl_of_Somerset]

very intesting, keep it up

 

[zeppelin247]

now we see the beginning of the collapse of the French and the start of the coalitions victory, now the only question is how long will it take before they reach Paris, I say it could take quite a while as the French do have a large army and are only fighting on one front unlike the Germans but naturally the combined forces of Britain, Prussia, Russia and the USA will obviously be able to push the French back easier than the Germans but I also wonder what is going on in Italy right now

 

[Lean II]

German Nationalists! Wonderful! I wonder, if Austria-Hungary collapses, if a Greater Germany will be created during the peace talks. If so, I'd say that the new government would have a devil of a time holding down the former Austrian possessions. I wonder if Italian Nationalists are following the German Nationalists' example in Northern Italy. An intresting course of events. I await your next update eagerly, as always.

 

[Mark 4 Morrel Barrel]

Thank God its back I was getting worried.
A French Michale and TTL Bellau Wood.
YES THANK YOU!!

 

[Alternatehistoryguy47]

Glad to see that it's back!

 

[Andristan]

The Americans have a real fast mobilization and transportation time .

With the French forces encountering the majority of the Coalition along the German Front, I would think Napoleon would start to consider ending the war, especially with the loss of at least communication with the majority of his American possessions, if he doesnt know for certain that they have fallen.

Good update too!

 

[SavoyTruffle]

And thus we see France getting owned.

 

[Mac Gregor]

The Dark Continent​

March – November 1909 ​

British Machine Gun during the invasion of Madagascar
June, 1909​

At the start of the war, France controlled roughly half of the continent of Africa. As the war dragged on, the French largely stripped their colonial possessions of their garrisons and conscripted large numbers of natives to fight in Europe. With the unexpected entry of the United States and Great Britain into the war in March of 1909 the French suddenly found that their African territories posed easy targets for the British, who with their naval superiority after the Battle of Dogger Bank could move and land troops with relative ease around the African coast.


Madagascar

The island of Madagascar had been a French colony since the 1870’s. It represented an important Entente naval base in the British dominated Indian Ocean. On May 24, 1909 a British/South African force landed on the west coast of the island near the city of Tomashina. The skeleton garrison the French had left to defend the island did not contest the landing but instead withdrew into the mountainous interior to wage a guerrilla war against the invaders. By July 13, 1909 the islands colonial capital Tananarive fell to the British. Over the next few months the British would use their superior naval strength to gain control of much of the coast. The French however, managed to maintain control of large sections of the islands interior due to the harsh terrain and thick vegetation.


Somaliland

French Somaliland was invaded by the British troops from neighboring British Puntland, Kenia, and Mombassa during late April, 1909. By June 3, 1909 the colony’s capital Mogadishu had fallen, and the French only managed to control a small strip of territory near the Ethiopian border.

West Africa

Although the British did not possess the troops necessary to invade all of France’s vast West African empire, several efforts were made in the spring and summer of 1909 to seize what the British deemed to be strategically important French territory. At the start of the war the French colony of Togoland separated the British possessions of Ghana and Nigeria. When the British invaded in early May of 1909, the French retreated north allowing the British to unite their West African colonies. Over the next few months the British would seize several other points on the West African cost. The only significant French victory during the early months of the African campaign occurred at the heavily fortified port city of Dakar in September, 1909 where the French managed to inflict heavy losses on a British attempt to take the city. After the defeat the British settled in on for a long blockade and siege of Dakar that would ultimately result in thousands of Alliance casualties, mostly from disease, before the port finally fell in February, 1909.

 

[SavoyTruffle]

So I see France recognized that its African possessions were in secondary priority to the mainland, obviously. Though of course its wide open to British attack, so I can see the Pax Britannica maintained, given that it was the Napoleonic Wars that gave rise to it in the first place.

 

[Alternatehistoryguy47]

France doesn't really have to worry about it's african colonies. it is in no real danger of losing them, and there is a lot of land for the British to take and hold down.

 

[zeppelin247]

well I think that Britain is not going to suffer the horrible debt that it did after OTL, Britain being able to seize so much of French African colonies is going to look very good and add more prestige and with the help of Russian and American troops their is not going to be such horrible losses and defeats as in OTL and I hope with the lack of Med bases their will be no attempts for an amphibious assault on the Ottoman Empire so I think that the British Empire will come out of this war stronger than ever, I hope some kind of Imperial Federation could come about

 

[Mac Gregor]

well I think that Britain is not going to suffer the horrible debt that it did after OTL, Britain being able to seize so much of French African colonies is going to look very good and add more prestige and with the help of Russian and American troops their is not going to be such horrible losses and defeats as in OTL and I hope with the lack of Med bases their will be no attempts for an amphibious assault on the Ottoman Empire so I think that the British Empire will come out of this war stronger than ever, I hope some kind of Imperial Federation could come about

This brings up an interesting point about the British Empire's post war future. Assuming that the Entente loses the war, what is Britian likely to gain? Also, what are Britian's chances to create some sort of Imperial Federation post war? FYI, Australia, NZ, Canada, India, are all pretty much the same as OTL. Although, I haven't really commented on Ireland, i don't see any real reason why their situation would be drastacilly different than in OTL. Cheers!

 

[Mark 4 Morrel Barrel]

Great update. Anychance that we might see Coalition soldiers wearing stallhelms

 

[SavoyTruffle]

This brings up an interesting point about the British Empire's post war future. Assuming that the Entente loses the war, what is Britian likely to gain? Also, what are Britian's chances to create some sort of Imperial Federation post war? FYI, Australia, NZ, Canada, India, are all pretty much the same as OTL. Although, I haven't really commented on Ireland, i don't see any real reason why their situation would be drastacilly different than in OTL. Cheers!

I can see that Britain gets a large amount of the African possessions of France, which is what I meant by this war being similar to the Napoleonic Wars.

With Prussia being a bit of an underperformer it's not set in stone that they could demand Alsace-Lorraine, too.