AHC/WI: World I Ends in White Peace

[GeographyDude]

So, initially just Great Britain and France as the Entente?

 

[Delta Force]

Might someone please explain what countries western 'Entente' powers refers to?

The Entente powers were the Commonwealth, France, and Imperial Russia. Additionally, the Commonwealth was allied with Japan through the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Their rival was the Triple Alliance of Austria-Hungary, Imperial Germany, and Italy. Due to the way the Triple Alliance was written, the powers were only obligated to assist each other in the event of an attack by a hostile power. Since Austria-Hungary declared war first, Italy was able to back out of the alliance.

 

[Delta Force]

So, initially just Great Britain and France as the Entente?

The alliance between the Commonwealth and France was the Entente Cordiale. France and Imperial Russia had an older alliance dating back to the early 1890s (the Franco-Russian Alliance). It wasn't until 1907 that all three powers had direct alliances with each other, leading to the Triple Entente.

 

[GeographyDude]

Thank you.

 

[Tentrees]

A thought...

A possible scenario would be having the Spanish flu on steroids or another similar plague hits Western Europe at Christmas. By the New Year half the armies of both sides can't fully man their positions due to sickness and death's and both sides ask for ceasefire/armistice.
A bit ASB but with heavy casualties from disease and the staff not being immune to this moral on both sides would be in the toilet and a ceasefire that is extended into an armistice at Easter time might be possible...

 

[TRH]

Another idea: suppose that a more efficient Austro-Hungarian mobilization combined with considerably less German success on the Western Front means that Serbia falls by the end of 1914, but there's little to no progress on all the other fronts? If that state of affairs continues into 1915, the idea might emerge that the casus beli for the war has been resolved, and that Status Quo Antebellum can be declared on the other fronts without anyone's national pride being the worse for it. Probably optimistic, but it would be a white peace in the senses that really matter, and ending as early as that means that there's less ingrained enmity between the combatants, so they'll be more reasonable in the negotiations.

 

[Snaut]

A white peace changes everything. There's no WWII and no Holocaust.

The Cold War might be toned down. It's not just that Russia "went communist," for I think a lot of the emotional reaction is that Russia was an ally and then they bailed. So, without the twenty-one nation or whatever invasion, their revolution might go better, or at least not as hardcore for as long. Now, Stalin is a wildcard, for he truly was a sociopath. But maybe he doesn't have the same opening, or with less of a war footing, people might not so mindless follow him. At least, we might focus on substance, and not just labels.

I completely fail to see how this guarantees no WWII. The Holocaust in its OTL form was an unlikely event from a WWI perspective, so this is easy to butterfly away with PoDs well after WWI. It could be replaced by this timeline's own massacres though. Seeing what happened after defeats in Russia and Germany one cannot help but wonder what other nastiness might have appeared - and there's still potential for them, or others, to lose another war.

I also hardly think Russia is predetermined to go communist if the war ends early enough for a return to the status quo.

Some things would have to change from the pre-war period in a "white peace" regardless.

For example, if the war lasts long enough then the Russian Empire (if it survives ofc) is losing land. Poland and Lithuania at minimum. Then you have the issues with the Ottomans and A-H, as both could fall apart even if Germany comes out of the war intact.

And as soon as the Russian revolution starts, regardless if the Whites win out in the end instead of the Soviets, Eastern Europe will be completely unrecogniseable from the pre-war period.

Plus there is the issue that virtually any peace treaty signed while the Germans are occupying Belgium, a big chunk of France, and creating buffer states from the territories of the Russian Empire will be seen as a German victory.

And if there's a white peace Russia of course gets its pre-1914 borders back. I could see Germany going for it if Russia shows the desire to sign a separate peace while the fighting in the west is still going strong. But those who don't go into the details will only see two massive withdrawals, meaning that although Germany was winning all the blood turned out to be shed for literally nothing... Do I sense the seeds of an alternate stab-in-the-back myth?

Their rival was the Triple Alliance of Austria-Hungary, Imperial Germany, and Italy. Due to the way the Triple Alliance was written, the powers were only obligated to assist each other in the event of an attack by a hostile power. Since Austria-Hungary declared war first, Italy was able to back out of the alliance.

Of course, it's not like Italy wouldn't simply have been able to break their alliance if it had been different. The Entente would have welcomed the defection with open arms, and Italy would be going for a conflict with Germany/Austria-Hungary anyway.

 

[machine3589]

And if there's a white peace Russia of course gets its pre-1914 borders back. I could see Germany going for it if Russia shows the desire to sign a separate peace while the fighting in the west is still going strong. But those who don't go into the details will only see two massive withdrawals, meaning that although Germany was winning all the blood turned out to be shed for literally nothing... Do I sense the seeds of an alternate stab-in-the-back myth?

Unless the war has lasted less than a year, there is no way that Russia is getting its old border back. The original draft of Brest-Litovsk stipulated that Poland and Lithuania had to be independent, and I doubt that the Germans will ever agree to less.