The Union Forever: A TL

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Ze Kaiser

kevvy2010 said:
hah... that's funny :D
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Now for a few questions:

1) Is Great Britain still a stickler for Belgium neutrality?
2) How many Russian troops have been moved into Prussia proper? I'd imagine that the biggest army in the world, which probably has the biggest draft in the world in effect, could have a massive standing army in a friendly country right across the border. I cite the "American Occupation" of Great Britain during WWII as proof, and that's without the nice land border factor.
3) How's the situation in the Far East going? Russian competency in that area has always varied. The Japanese ran over them like a lawnmower runs over grass in 1905, yet the Soviets kicked their collective butts in the 1930s border skirmishes and in 1945.
 

Mac Gregor

Ze Kaiser said:
Agreed.

Now for a few questions:

1) Is Great Britain still a stickler for Belgium neutrality?
2) How many Russian troops have been moved into Prussia proper? I'd imagine that the biggest army in the world, which probably has the biggest draft in the world in effect, could have a massive standing army in a friendly country right across the border. I cite the "American Occupation" of Great Britain during WWII as proof, and that's without the nice land border factor.
3) How's the situation in the Far East going? Russian competency in that area has always varied. The Japanese ran over them like a lawnmower runs over grass in 1905, yet the Soviets kicked their collective butts in the 1930s border skirmishes and in 1945.
Click to expand...

1) Yes the UK is still a staunch proponent for Belgium’s neutrality.
2) and 3) I'll get to Russia and the Far East in a bit. Anyone want to speculate?
 

Alternatehistoryguy47

Mac Gregor said:
1) Yes the UK is still a staunch proponent for Belgium’s neutrality.
2) and 3) I'll get to Russia and the Far East in a bit. Anyone want to speculate?
Click to expand...

A front mostly centered on Manchuria, with the Russian navy working to break the Japanese blockade, and a possible third party to fight against in the form of the factions of the Chinese civil war forming a temporary alliance to assault both the Russians and the Japanese perhaps?
 
The Great War: Austria-Hungary and the Balkans November, 1907- June, 1908
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    • Mac Gregor

    Austria-Hungary and the Balkans ​

    November, 1907- June, 1908 ​



    464px-Yaroslav_Veshin_-_Na_nozh.jpg

    Painting of Bulgarian seperatist fighting the Ottomans
    February, 1908     ​


    Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

    The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy entered the Great War in a precarious place both geographically and politically. As of November, 1907 Austria-Hungary found its self literally surrounded by enemies with Prussia to the north, Italy to the southwest, Russia and Romania to the east, and Serbia and Montenegro to the south for a minimum of six different fronts. Of these Russia posed the most direct threat to the Dual Monarchy as Prussia was largely tied down fighting France in the west. As such, at the outbreak of the war Austria-Hungary launched an offensive into Russian Poland towards the city of Warsaw. When Warsaw fell on January 7, 1908 Austro-Hungarian Emperor Maximilian I proclaimed the creation of the Kingdom of Poland to be created out of all the polish lands of Russia and Prussia. This was not only meant to stir up the polish subjects of Russia and Prussia but also to try and physically divide the two allies from each other. Although this new Polish state was quickly recognized by the other Entente powers the response from the local population was not nearly as enthusiastic as was hoped for. The Poles loyalty to their Russian masters was largely due to the increasing levels of autonomy given to Russian Poland in recent decades. Furthermore, the capture of Warsaw created a large salient into Russian territory that was increasingly feeling pressure from the Prussians in the west and the Russians in the east. Efforts to expand the “Warsaw Salient” were sharply curtailed with the entry into the war of the Balkan states which required the redeployment of hundreds of thousands of Austro-Hungarian troops.

    Although less than a year into the Great War and on the winning side, Austria-Hungary was already by the summer of 1908 feeling the destabilizing effects of the war. Many revolutionary groups saw the war as a chance to create independent states or merge with neighboring homelands instead of remaining subjects of the heterogeneous Austro-Hungarian Empire. Furthermore, with neighboring Russia gathering strength it was becoming increasingly crucial to knock out the smaller Alliance powers so the Entente could concentrate their forces for the inevitable Russian counterattack.

    Kingdom of Serbia and the Principality of Montenegro

    Within weeks of entering the war in late October of 1907, Serbia and Montenegro launched a quick offensive to capture the small strip of Ottoman territory that separated the two nations. This effectively severed the small land connection between Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Although having to leave considerable forces on their northern borders to defend against Austria-Hungary, these two nations began pushing into Ottoman held Europe starting in the winter of 1908. Slowly but surely, the Serbs began liberating territory that the Ottomans had held for centuries.

    Kingdom of Romania

    With its chief war aim to annex the Romanian majority areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Romanian invaded Transylvania in December of 1907. After initial success, the Romanian offensive ground to a halt as Austro-Hungarian reinforcements began arriving in mass. The Kingdom of Romania also sent troops into neighboring Bulgaria to support its efforts in gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire. These troops however were pushed out of Bulgaria in April, 1908 by a strong Ottoman counteroffensive.

    Kingdom of Greece

    Greece attacked swiftly into Ottoman held Thessaly beginning in late November, 1907. Unlike their fellow Balkan allies however, they meet with less success as a grueling war of attrition set in as the Greeks made slow and painful progress as they crawled their way north.

    Hellenic_Kingdom_Flag_1935.png

    Flag of the Kingdom of Greece     ​

    The Sublime Ottoman State

    The Ottoman Empire was initially caught off guard by the Balkan nations joining the war on the side of the Alliance. However, starting in the spring of 1908 the Ottomans began pouring their troops into southeastern Europe. This caused Turkish fortunes to improve, starting in Bulgaria where in early April the separatist forces of the so called “Kingdom of Bulgaria” had been pushed back into Romania. By the end of June, 1908 the Turks had largely slowed or stopped Alliance gains in the Balkans and would soon be able to launch their own counteroffensive to regain lost territory.

    Ottoman victories in the Balkans came at a price elsewhere though. The massive redeployment of troops caused the Ottoman offensive in the Caucasus’s to grind to a halt. Furthermore, a rebellion was fomenting on the Arabian Peninsula, which was producing a series of embarrassing small scale defeats for the Turks. The Ottoman’s claims that the rebellion was being fomented by the neighboring British did nothing but exacerbate deteriorating Anglo-Ottoman relations.

    Ottoman_troops_Battle_of_Kumanovo.jpg

    Ottoman Troops in the Balkans
    June, 1908     ​
     
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    • Shadow Knight

    Very interesting Mac. How far did the Ottomans go into the Caucasus before they had to pull troops to the Balkans?

    Btw no luck in getting your regular account fixed?
     

    Mac Gregor

    Shadow Knight said:
    Very interesting Mac. How far did the Ottomans go into the Caucasus before they had to pull troops to the Balkans?

    Btw no luck in getting your regular account fixed?
    Click to expand...

    The Ottomans got as far north as Grozny. The Caucasus front runs in a rough line from the Black to the Caspian Sea.

    And no luck yet. The email account I registered my original account with has been deactivated. Anyone know how to get it fixed?
     
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    Workable Goblin

    Workable Goblin

    Mac Gregor said:
    The Ottomans got as far north as Grozny. The Caucasus front runs in a rough line from the Black to the Caspian Sea.

    And no luck yet. The email account I registered my original account with has been deactivated. Anyone know how to get it fixed?
    Click to expand...

    I guess you should probably talk to one of the mods, or Ian. They'd know what to do.
     
    The Great War: Imperial Russia: June 1908-February 1909
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    • Mac Gregor

    The Bear Awakens​


    Imperial Russia: June 1908-February 1909 ​



    attachment.php

    Flag of the Russian Empire ​


    Less than a year after being attacked by the Empire of Japan in October of 1906, the Russian Empire was forced to honor its treaty commitments with Prussia and entered the Great War against the Entente Imperiale. Since then the Russians had suffered an almost unbroken string of defeats from being pushed back in Manchuria by the Japanese, to losing the Caucasus to the Ottomans, and having half of Poland taken by the Austro-Hungarians.

    Despite these loses however, Emperor Nicholas II realized that the Empire’s position was not as perilous as it might appear. Nicholas knew from the beginning that his country’s vast population and territory favored Russia in a long war. As such Nicholas and the Russian General Staff took their time in training their armies, expanding the nation’s rail network, and building up the munitions industries necessary to wage the war. By the summer of 1908 the Russian Empire was ready to go on the offensive.

    The Far East

    The Empire of Japan suffered its first serious defeat of the war in early June of 1908 at the battle of Khabarovsk. At the battle, Russian forces decimated the Japanese 3rd Army and relieved the city which had been besieged for months. Following this victory the Russians launched a general offensive which over the next few months began pushing the Japanese back towards the Korean Peninsula. Several major battles ensued at places like Harbin and Changchun in which casualties on both sides would invariable reach into the tens if not hundreds of thousands. On November 28, 1908 Russian troops lifted the siege of Vladivostok which had been encircled by Japanese forces for almost a year. As winter set in the front stabilized as Japanese forces began to construct an impressive line of fortifications, collectively known as the Mutsuhito Line, running from Port Arthur on the Yellow Sea then along the Yalu River to Chongjin on the Pacific coast.

    The Baltic Fleet

    A few months after the outbreak of war against Japan and after much debate the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet was ordered to the Pacific to relieve the blockaded ports of Vladivostok and Port Arthur. News of Russia’s declaration of war against France however reached the Russian fleet as it was passing British Hong Kong. In what would become one of the most celebrated events of the war, the commander of the Russian Fleet, Admiral Igor Golubev, decided not to proceed north to fight what would in all likely be a losing battle against the Japanese. Instead, he directed his fleet to raid Entente shipping in the Pacific. Over the next 15 months, the Baltic fleet would sink or capture hundreds of French, Austrian, Turkish, and Japanese vessels from Indochina to the Philippines to New Guinea. Using coal and food commandeered from captured enemy ships the Russian fleet was largely able to sustain itself. Furthermore Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States provided the Russians with intelligence and secret shipments of fuel and provisions that allowed the Baltic Fleet to stay one step ahead of the Entente. The climax of the campaign came on August 7, 1908 when the Baltic Fleet successful escaped from a Franco-Japanese task force sent to stop it of the course of Guam, sinking the French cruiser the NSMI Napoleon II in the process. On January 3, 1909, after sailing north around the Japanese home islands, the Baltic Fleet successfully breached the Japanese blockade of Vladivostok, completing one of the most memorable episodes in Russian naval history.

    The Caucasus

    On July 24, 1908 Russian forces on the Caucasus front launched Operation Pytor. Named in honor of Peter the Great, the Russian offensive liberated the city of Grozny from the Ottomans, and began pushing the Turkish lines southward. Although the Turks would make the Russians pay dearly for every mile gained, Russian superiority in numbers gradually wore the Ottomans down. By February 2, 1909 Tbilisi was liberated from the Turks after a ferocious battle in which both sides suffered over 100,000 casualties.

    The Warsaw Campaign

    Starting in July of 1908, in what would be called the Warsaw or Polish Campaign, the Russian Army began pushing the Austro-Hungarians out of Russian Poland. Russian manpower soon began to tell as the noose tightened around the Warsaw Salient. Reading the writing on the wall, on October 11, 1908 Emperor Maximilian I ordered the beginning of a withdrawal of Austro-Hungarian forces from Poland. On November 9, 1908 Warsaw was officially liberated by Russian troops. Much to their credit, the Austro-Hungarian Army conducted an impressive fighting withdrawal south towards their own borders inflicting serious casualties on the attacking Russians. Although the Warsaw Campaign was an important victory for the Russian Empire their inability to trap the retreating Austro-Hungarian Army passed up a golden opportunity to inflict a serious defeat on the Entente.
     
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    • Lean II

    The Empire Strikes Back! :p Excellent updates as always, and it's good to see the Russians fighting back and doing so well. I'm not sure things are as bleak for the Alliance as it would seem. Keep it up!
     

    zeppelin247

    I really like it and looks like things will not be going as well for the French and Austrians as they might like and I think that with the Alliance doing as it well that once the British and Americans start to get involved you are going to have the French decisively defeated
     

    Darth_Kiryan

    I'm really impressed with this update. Really, really impressed.

    What sold it for me were that damn Russians. Brilliantly used tactics. Go RUSSIA!!!!!
     
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