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  1. The Restless Twenties (CP Victory Timeline)

    Belgian Luwembourg represents less than 10% of the total French-speaking population in Belgium, so it wouldn't alter much the language balance in the country. And the Flemings were and are still the majority.

  2. WWI delayed by four years

    I am just curious to understand whereupon the analysis that France aboslutely wanted war in 1914 comes from. At that time, though the French still resented bitterly the loss of their Eastern provinces, I was not under the impression that it was in anyway looking for an incident to provoke war...

  3. WWI delayed by four years

    Also, Belgian defences would have been much better prepared, as it was only around 1911 that the Belgian Government had awoken to the risk of war. It was only in 1913 that general military service had been introduced. You'd see a much enlarged Belgian army, and more solid fortifications in...

  4. WI France keeps on Fighting

    It may not have been completely impossible to put out a defense in Provence behind the Rhone and the Alps. That could have been a formidable redoubt. Obviously, this requires sacrificing cities like Lyons and Marseilles. Also, to pull that off, you may want an earlier retreat of the armies...

  5. another end to the great war

    I like Kabraloth's ideas. However, I see Belgium has annexed the French department of Nord. This would seem like reward for letting German troops go through unopposed, and would explain a quick defeat of France at the start of the war. I have more trouble understanding how France gets...

  6. WI Prussia takes most of Czechoslovakia in 1866

    In any case, Britain would really frown upon Napoleon getting the Rhineland. Look at a map, it's pretty clear Belgium will be next...

  7. Negotiated Settlement in WWI

    Don't exaggerate the military significance of mutinies in the French army in 1917. They started after Nivelles refused to cancel the obviously failed offensive on the Chemin-des-Dames, throwing tens of thousands to a pointless death. They were limited only to the units being sent to the...

  8. 1994: right wing overthrow in minor european country

    You may be talking about Kurt Waldheim, who had been a commandant in the Wehrmacht during WWII. He was not far-right in terms of his policies, but not-so-nice stuff happened to some minorities in the area he was responsible for during WWII. He had been Secretary-General of the UN before.

  9. 1994: right wing overthrow in minor european country

    You may not need even a coup. Extreme-right has 25% of the votes in Flanders, 33% in the city of Antwerp. Watch out for municipal elections in October!

  10. If Elizabeth I had a son, what would happen to Scotland?

    New Guinea is not united, neither are Timor, Borneo, Ireland, Cyprus, Saint-Domingue, etc.

  11. Germany Falls, 1940

    The "Chasseurs Ardennais" surely did a good job. Unfortunately, they had to retreat very fast to join the bulk of the Belgian army on the Dyle 200km to the Northwest. The Battle of the Lys was also an impressive resistance against forces that were 3 times superior and eventually bought enough...

  12. Germany Falls, 1940

    But Belgium became much more active after it had returned to neutrality end of 1936. As I said, the rearmament program is huge in comparison to what France or the Great Britain is doing at the time. It is not a "passive" neutrality, but very much one that is determined to defend the country...

  13. Critical variable for UK: Schlieffen Plan or Weltpolitik (und Tirpitzplan)?

    Probably either of them taken in isolation would have been enough to bring the British on the side of the French in WWI. However, Schlieffen makes it much easier towards public opinion; without it, British involvement would probably have taken more time.

  14. Independent Quebec, 1990's

    In 1995, everybody understands it's a bad idea to forcibly keep a country united when a majority of one of its regions has democratically expressed its willingness to become independent. US diplomacy would be in a pretty uncomfortable position supporting a violent intervention of Rest-of-Canada...

  15. Germany Falls, 1940

    This is a somewhat odd way of presenting things, and frankly unfair to the Belgians. On March 7 1936, German troops enter the Rhineland, destroying the balance achieved in the Locarno treaty. The Belgians mobilize their army, and ask the French and British what they intend to do; they even...

  16. Germany Falls, 1940

    You can find some references to this in Roger Keyes's work "Outrageous fortune", in chapter V. There were constant approaches being made by the Belgians in that direction all during the 1930's. For instance, in 1932, the Belgian ambassador to Paris Gaiffier d'Hestroy. In 1933, a Belgian...

  17. Germany Falls, 1940

    I'm afraid your first point is mistaken. It was obvious to everybody in the 1930's that strong fortifications on the Eastern border without doing the same in the North was an invitation for the Germans to pass through Belgium again next time they would want to invade France. Seeing this...

  18. Germany Falls, 1940

    Maybe there could be a more focused POD. Let the French military establishment recognize the validity of Colonel de Gaulle's doctrines on the use of tanks. In 1939, the French Army has, say, 6 "divisions cuirassées" as de Gaulle had recommended, it could launch a pretty devastatting...

  19. I found a POD!...

    The US is a signatory to the Berlin agreements, which foresee this preemption right. If they deem that Leopold is not fit anymore to rule Congo, they are bound to encourage France to take over...

  20. I found a POD!...

    Actually, France had a preemption right on Congo if Leopold (or Belgium) would not keep it. Thinking of this, an intervention by TR or Germany would be more likely to create an armed conflict with France than with Belgium where many people would have been relieved of disentangling themselves...
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