Ausgleich of 1917

Ausgleich of 1917 diverges from OTL in the secret peace talks between the Entente and Austria during which Charles I of Austria attempted to make peace with the Triple Alliance. In OTL the talk lasted until April 1918 when Germany found out and Austria was forced to stop them. This led to the fall of the dual monarchy. In the Ausgleich the talk go through and Austria signs a separate peace.

POD - June 1917

 * 22 February 1917: Briand Note is sent to Emperor Charles informing him that the Triple Alliance is willing to sign peace with Austria-Hungary in return for territorial secessions and reparations. Under severe weight of the conflict, Austria secretly accepts and begins preparing for the treaty.
 * 23 February 1917: The Salzburg Meeting is held between Charles I and the German Emperor Wilhelm II. Austria declares their intensions to sign a separate peace and despite loud protests from the Emperor and the German High Command officially dissolve the Dual Alliance.
 * 8 March 1917: The February Revolution breaks out in the Russian Empire. St. Petersburg is slowly taken over and the Imperial Government overthrown.
 * 11 March 1917: Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy sign a ceasefire and Italian forces withdraw to their borders.
 * 15 March 1917: Emperor Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the throne. The Russian Provisional Government is founded the same day headed by Georgy Lvov.
 * 16 March 1917: With Austria intending to sign peace, Operation Alberich is hastily fulfilled as the German army withdraws from their current position in Picardy to create a more defensible front line.
 * 3 April 1917: After the United Kingdom and the French Republic refuse to accept Nicholas II and his family due to fear of his presence having a destabilising  effect, the Romanov family flee to Norway. Haakon VII of Norway and the Norwegian government welcomed them in Oslo the next day.
 * 9 April 1917: The Entente attack the German Empire during the Nivelle Offensive intending to break the through the front line and into the Kingdom of Belgium.
 * 18 April 1917: The Kingdom of Romania signs the Treaty of Bucharest with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the agreement return all Romanian land under Austrian occupation and promises rights to the Romanian people in Transylvania.
 * 20 April 1917: Kingdom of Bulgaria signs the Armistice of Salonika, effectively ending their involvement in the war. The same day the Kingdom of Italy signed the Treaty of Trieste with Austria-Hungary, which granted them control over the Italians in South Tyrol and ended hostilities between them.
 * 12 May 1917: The Entente forces win the Battle of Arras, but the Second Battle of the Aisne ends up being indecisive.
 * 13 May 1917: The Kingdom of Serbia signs the Treaty of Sarajevo with the Austria-Hungary and are recognized is sovereign owners of Bosnia. The same day the Kingdom of Montenegro was restored and King Nikola I returned from exile. The signing was accompanied by the signing of the Austrian Armistice of 1917, which ended all hostilities and promised to federalise the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
 * 15 May 1917: The Ausgleich of 1917 is declared with the agreement of the Imperial Council and the Diet of Hungary, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Galicia-Lodomeria, the Principality of Slovakia and the Principality of Transylvania become mostly independent states in a personal union with Austria.
 * 16 May 1917: The Entente armies attack the German positions at the Battle of Passchendaele, forcing their enemy deep into Belgian territory. In the face of this defeat, the German Empire calls for an armistice before the Entente have another chance at pushing them back.
 * 19 May 1917: The German Armistice of 1917 is signed; Germany agrees to withdraw from Belgium and France. They have to return Alsace-Lorraine to the French Republic and pay reparations. The armistice agrees to a peace conference in Brussels to be held on the 1 July 1918.
 * 20 May 1917: The Kingdom of Poland declares independence with support from the Entente and the German Empire, which also abandons Ober Ost territory, which is returned to the Russian Republic. The German High Command proclaims their continued support of Wilhelm II as Germany is forced to disband their army in humiliation.
 * 21 May 1917: The Social Democratic Party, which won the most votes during the 1912 Reichstag election, splits with the German Communist Party splitting off. The same day a large demonstration occurs in opposition of the Armistice.
 * 29 May 1917: The Reichstag is disolved and elections are called in light of large scale opposition forming against the armistice. The elections are to be held in two weeks time.
 * 1 June 1917: The Treaty of Lemberg is signed between the Russian Republic and Austria-Hungary agreeing to restore their borders prior to the war. They also agree to come to the Brussels Conference.
 * 3 June 1917: Unable to get support, Georgy Lvov resigns as the Minister-Chairman of the Russian Provisional Government and is replaced by Alexander Kerensky, the Vice-Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and one of the diplomats that signed the Treaty of Lemberg.
 * 6 June 1917: The 1917 Reichstag Elections take place, the Social Democratic Party loses several seats, but retains its position, but the National Liberal Party becomes the second strongest.
 * 8 June 1917: The Ukrainian, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian People's Republic are declared as autonomous parts of the Russian Republic.
 * 10 June 1917: Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead an attempted coup d'état against Kerensky and Socialist Revolutionary Party. The initial attack against the Provisional Government fails and Lavr Kornilov is order to crush the uprising.
 * 11 June 1917: The loyalist armies crush the Bolshevik Uprising and their leaders are imprisoned at their homes for attempting to overthrow the provisional government.
 * 13 June 1917: The Russian Provisional Government declares Alexander Kerensky the President of the Russian People's Republic and disbands the Bolshevik Party. Large-scale desertion among the Russian army leads the government to implement limited versions of the reforms planned by Lenin and Trotsky after the coup.