1925
War and pre-Revolutionary Peace (First Interwar Period)
Never before was so much blood shed for so little gain.
In the trenches of Spain, the Peninsular campaign saw the most condensed form of violence in history, as the hilly terrain was churned up and filled with the bodies of about a million British Americans and a million French, as well as about one hundred thousand Spanish combat deaths. This theatre played host to the largest losses of France and the British Empire and would become
the poster image of the war henceforth.
Portugal betrayed Britain and stayed neutral, narrowly avoiding the war, earning the enmity of the British world for selling out Iberia. Though considering the destruction avoided, others would say this was a wise move.
Italy, despite the good defensive terrain, was overrun relatively quickly as the agricultural South could not keep up with the industrialized North. Even so, Italian losses total at two hundred thousand for both sides combined.
Prussia was able to inflict several stunning victories in the opening year of the war, but after a decisive battle in Northern Germany, they were pushed back by a combined French-German-Dutch force, and subsequently overrun without much more resistance after the encirclement of Berlin. German forces would go on to knock out Denmark with the cooperation of the Swedish Navy.
The largest front was the Eastern Front. Composed of Russia and Rumania (and Prussian holdouts) against the Swedes, Germans and Austrians, and some French. Russia would lose two million men to the fighting.
In the Balkans, the Greeks, with limited British support from Egypt by way of the Suez, was able to hold out against the Bulgarians and Turks, but only just. Serbia and Rumania were nearly overrun, until saved when the Austrian state imploded and their armies deserted en masse following the Magyar Revolution, which would culminate in the dissolution of the Austrian Empire.
The Ottoman Empire was soundly defeated by British forces in the Middle-East and from India working in tandem with Arab nationalists. Iran was subsumed by British armies as well.
Elsewhere, little skirmishes in African colonies ended up being of little relevance and of limited scale, as the French and British navies blockaded South Atlantic supply routes from each other.
In Asia, the Chinese were able to avoid a civil war and instead used the distraction of the Europeans to continue modernization, even negotiating an end to several unequal treaties. Japan seized British Pacific possessions, but did not contribute against Russia in Asia, allowing Russia to pull armies out of Manchuria to use in Europe.
The war ended when the Russian Tsar was overthrown in a coup (royal family later found dead under suspicious circumstances while making their way towards exile), with the provisional government agreeing to a cease-fire.
Italy was unified under the pro-French North.
Spain, Denmark and Prussia ceded all overseas possessions to the victorious powers.
Britain made minor colonial concessions in Africa, and exchanged island claims with the French in the Pacific, as well as ceding Hawaii to Japan. Spain was left divided into three, with the areas under British military control becoming new independent states of Asturias and Granada (Andalusia), Madrid itself becoming a puppet of France.
Austria dissolved into a short civil war that ended shortly after the Russian Armistice was declared. Hungary, Slovakia, and Bosnia gained independence. Serbia was returned occupied territories, Rumania made significant gains, even to the expense of their former ally Russia.
Out of Prussia, Russia, and Austrian Galicia was a territory for Polish people to be carved out. The temporary solution provided was to have Poland be partially administered by Prussia (Prussia and Posen regions) and Austria (Silesia, Galicia). This settlement evolved into the Union of Prussia-Poland.
Russia was blamed for the entire war, and was forced to take full responsibility in the War Guilt clauses. The people of Russia were sporadically revolting, and the provisional government was eager for a peace treaty even if it meant accepting a dictat of reparations, territorial losses to Baltic nations, Rumania, Sweden and Poland, disarmament of Russian military capabilities, and the demilitarization and occupation of the Petrograd Oblast.
To enforce peace settlements, the European League was established. Its primary members were France and its victorious allies, though it included many European countries regardless of participation in the war. The only countries not included were those that either chose neutrality (Norway, Portugal) or were too invested in British influence (Greece, Asturias, Granada), had a coup (Turkey), or were excluded on purpose (Russia).
After the guns fell silent, suffering continued as massive disease outbreaks ravaged the war-torn world and beyond, as the Americas were hit with European diseases. Britain in particular suffered, as it had been stressed by the French blockade. Through the 20's Britain would stagnate economically, its people not recovering from the loss in the War. British domestic politics would swing towards the extremes among the lower classes, as the people stopped believing what their government told them. Popularity and public approval of the monarchy sank to an all-time low.
In Japan, ever since modernization and Westernization took hold, domestic politics was slowly swallowed by the military as Japan won strings of easy victories after victories against European Great Powers and even the Goliath of old, China. However, the military was fatally divided within itself. During modernization, Japan modeled its army based on the successful French army. But the Navy modeled itself on Britain's fleet. Westernization not only brought in European ideas and techniques, but also saw a revival of the importation of European religion. Catholicism in particular became important, as it already had traditional roots in Japan, and was the most widespread religion of their largest influencer France. With the conquest of the Philippines from Spain, division between the Army and Navy factions became not just political, but social and religious. Christianity became very popular among the army officer classes as they emulated the French. Being placed in charge of the colonization of the Philippines, they became rabid nationalists, though distanced themselves from the Emperor. Meanwhile state Shinto and Emperor worship was a reaction to rising Christianity as it threatened the sacred position of the Emperor in the eyes of the people. The Navy in particular was adamant about its support of the Emperor and Japanese tradition. they too became intensely nationalist, but in a distinctly monarchist sense, much like the British were.
The Army gained a huge amount of influence over the Navy through its administration of the Philippines, but the Navy responded in kind by winning important victories in the Sino-Japanese War, seizing Taiwan. A brief war was fought against the Russians over influence in Korea. The Navy decisively defeated the Far Eastern Fleet, but then became of little value when the British advised the Russians not to set sail their Baltic Fleet, as the South and East China seas were largely controlled by the Dutch and French, who supported Japan. Korea became a puppet of Japan, and stayed independent as the Navy would not allow the Army to have both the Philippines and Korea as their colonies.
These disputes came to a head in the mid/late 20's when Navy and Army leaders began assassination campaigns against political opponents, turning Japan's top leadership against itself.
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