I have an idea for a World War timeline where the conflict would begin in late 1850s with Russians giving assistance to Gwalior and Oudh during the Indian Rebellion which would lead to a tit-for-tat escalation between the two powers that would drag much of the rest of the world into the conflict. The idea was that by the 1860s variations of the American Civil War, the January Uprising, the Franco-Mexican War, the Boshin War, the Risorgimento, the Taiping Rebellion, the New Zealand Wars, and the Tongzhi Hui Revolt would be seen as the many theaters of a single global war. Does this seem even remotely plausible?
Plausibility Check/AHC: Great Civil War of the 1860s
- Thread starter SeaBos
- Start date
I wonder if Russia would be up for something like that this soon after the Crimean War. You might need to go back and have some sort of divergence immediately prior to or during the Crimean War which places Russia in a better position and makes it less of a European pariah. Possibly have the diplomatic row over authority over Christian subjects in the Ottoman Empire get resolved rather than the British Ambassador tanking the negotiations and avoid the Crimean War?
I really think you would need to do a considerable amount of research and probably strengthen the Russians in some way to create some degree of parity with the Russians - but this frankly sounds like an incredible idea that I would love to see worked out.
I really think you would need to do a considerable amount of research and probably strengthen the Russians in some way to create some degree of parity with the Russians - but this frankly sounds like an incredible idea that I would love to see worked out.
That would be where a continental ally would come in. Perhaps if Nicholas was less certain of Austrian support for moves into the Balkans, he could leverage his support there in 1848-49 to create a powerblock. For a great power conflict on a large scale you would need to have people line up behind the various other powers. Perhaps a Prusso-Russian alliance?
Britain was engaged in wars in South America in the 1860's. The Dominican Republic is was once more asserting independence from Spain, Cuba and the Philippines were on edge, and France was embroiled in Mexico. All you really need to light the fuse is the prospect of a shooting war between the U.S. and Britain after the Union has basically already defeated the South, and you can have other powers exploit the crisis.
How? Gwalior and Oudh are both in northern India, which means that Russia has to transport military supplies more than two thousand miles overland through the neutral territories of Persia or Afghanistan and over the Khyber Pass into India. Alternatively, they have to put those supplies on a boat, send them to a British port in India, and try and smuggle them overland to Gwalior and Oudh- i.e., through the British armies fighting to subdue those territories.