World War I (Early World War I)

This is the First World War in the time-line where the Russo-Japanese War expanded into an earlier first world war thanks mainly to the Dodger Bank incident, which in real life didn't cause a war between Britain and Russia; but in this time-line it does and then lots of other alliances come into play and other countries join the war and fighting nations get revolutionaries in enemy countries to rise up. Anyway this timeline's main page is here if you want to know anything else about the timeline.

For more information on the Russian, Mexican, Chinese and Arabian theatres in this war please see their respective page which is linked to below:
 * The Russian Civil War 1906-1914
 * The Chinese Civil War 1908-1913
 * The Mexican Civil War 1909-1913
 * The Arabian war 1911-1915
 * The European Theatre 1904-1912

1904
In 1904 Japan issued a declaration of war on 8 February 1904. However, three hours before Japan's declaration of war was received by the Russian Government, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur. Tsar Nicholas II was stunned by news of the attack. He could not believe that Japan would commit an act of war without a formal declaration, and had been assured by his ministers that the Japanese would not fight. Russia declared war on Japan eight days later. This surprise Japanese attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts the Russo-Japanese War. Then February 23rd for $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone, the Russo-Japanese War continues with Russian troops in Korea retreating toward Manchuria, followed by 100,000 Japanese troops, which climaxed with the Battle of Yalu river on May 1st. Elsewhere the British expedition into Tibet continues with the battle of Guru and also on April 8th the Entente Cordiale is signed between the UK and France; plus U.S. Army engineers begin work on The Panama Canal on May 4th. As the year continues the Herero revolts begin, then on July 21st the Trans-Siberian railway is completed and the British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet on August 3rd with the Dalai Lama signing the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty with Colonel Francis Younghusband on September 7th. Anyway back to the Russo-Japanese War, where Port Arthur enters a siege on August 1st (the siege of Port Arthur) and on August 17th a Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.

The Russo-Japanese war expands...
With the almost complete destruction of the Far east fleet, the Russians decide to send in the Baltic sea fleet around the world to aid the far east fleet. The Baltic Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy was sailing around the world to strengthen the Far East fleet, and since the British were Japanese allies, it meant the Baltic fleet couldn't use the Suez canal and had to go around the Cape of good hope, with the estimated date of arrival May 1905; however while the Baltic Fleet were in the North sea, they mistook some British trawlers at Dogger Bank for an Imperial Japanese Navy force, after rumours of a Imperial Japanese fleet detachment in the North sea. The Russians attacked on the night of 21st October 1904. Three British sailors died and a number were wounded, and Russian losses included one sailor and a priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire.

The Dogger Bank Incident is the point of diversion, (Article on the real Dogger Bank incident linked to here) the as in the real world the incident doesn't cause a war between Great Britain & Russia despite a serious diplomatic conflict between Russia and Britain, which was particularly dangerous due to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In the aftermath some British newspapers called the Russian fleet 'pirates' and the Russian admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhestvenski was heavily criticised for not leaving the British sailors lifeboats. The conflict was settled due to diplomatic pressure on the Russian government, so they agreed to investigate the incident, and Rozhestvenski was ordered to dock in Vigo, Spain, where he left behind those officers considered responsible (as well as at least one officer who had been critical of him). Then on November 25th, 1904, the British and the Russian governments signed a joint agreement in which they agreed to submit the issue to the International Commission of Inquiry at the Hague. The commission completed its report on February 26, 1905, in which it criticized Admiral Rozhestvenski for his decision to fire upon the British ships. The fishermen eventually received £66,000 from Russia in compensation and the matter was solved in a diplomatic way. However this alternative history gives a glimpse of what could of happened if instead of the incident being solved in a diplomatic way, what if the Russian government ordered the fleet to keep going to help the worsening situation in the Russo-Japanese War. What if they didn't comply with the British government's demands? What if this incident as well as the slowly increasing tension in Europe due to the Triple Alliance being created in 1882 & the Franco-Russian Alliance signed in 1892. The British were bound by the Anglo-Japanese to aid Japan technically as Article 3 of the alliance states: "Promise of support if either signatory becomes involved in war with more than one Power" and since Russia & Montenegro both declared war on Japan, the British should of joined in anyway in order to weaken Russian power and defend British interests in Persia & India. Anyway, back to the article...

Diversion from reality!
The route of the Russian Baltic Fleet is below, with red dots symbolizing when it took part in battles.

The British government wondered why the Russians would ever think the Japanese Navy had sailed to the North Sea and the British government demanded that the Baltic fleet stop to aid in the investigation into the incident. However the Tsar Nicholas II wanted the fleet in the east quick as possible and demanded the British postpone the investigation, but the British weren't having any of this and forced the Baltic Fleet to stop in the Bay of Biscay on October 22nd and placed troops on the Russian ships to make sure they followed the British fleet returning to Portsmouth. Then when in the English Channel, approaching the Isle of Wight on October 23rd, the Baltic Fleet commander Zinovy Rozhestvensky received a message from the Tsar demanding to make haste to Japan regardless of the current situation or face a court marshal, the new only recently appointed Head of Naval Staff wanted to keep his reputation and decided to throw the British troops on board his ships over board and they messaged the British Home fleet escort commander to tell him that they were leaving to Japan and they wouldn't be sidetracked. The British demanded that they stop and as they left the escort they continued, they British continued to demand the Russians stop, then as the Russian fleet was passing Alderneythe in the Channel islands, a small merchant British ship travelled in front of the Russian Fleet, the Russians believing this was another British cruiser fired at it and sunk the ship in a small barrage (the Russians didn't mean to hit the ship as it was warning shots but due to miscommunication the gunners thought they where to destroy the ship), the British seeing another British merchant ship being shot at, where furious and fired hitting and destroying a Russian destroyer; the Russian fleet then turned around to fight the British, thus the Battle of Alderneythe began and a British victory followed with the majority of the Russian ships destroyed as they turned to meet the British, but poor Russian naval artillery fire meant only 7 of the British ships were hit, with only one British ship sunk, 1 ship needing major repairs, and the rest minor repairs. However during this battle other merchant vessels and fishing vessels where destroyed in the cross-fire. This battle then caused the British to declare war on Russia in order to avenge the civilian ships, respond to social outcry over the Dogger Bank incident and the political reasoning behind the declaration, to honour the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 since Montenegro also declared war, which set off Article 2 of the alliance and Britain declared War on Russia and Montenegro. After this declaration the German Kaiser Wilhelm II saw interest in the war and decided to wait to see how serious the British would be in the war, and if he deemed them serious enough, he would have Germany enter the war against Russia, or if France joined the war to help Russia; alternatively if the British were losing bad enough, the Kaiser would help the Czar and attack Britain. The German's were playing their cards close to their chests, and the course of the war would be decided by the Kaiser's decision. The Japanese were pleased about the British actions and they began to plan an invasion of Eastern Russia, most namely Vladivostok and Sakhalin; as well as the consolidation of their current holdings in Manchuria, and a plan to take over the rest of Manchuria. However the French were torn between helping either the British or the Russians in this war since they had alliances with them both, and decided if another country was to join with Britain and Japan attacking Russia, then they would join on Russia's side, or if another two countries joined with Russia to fight Britain and Japan, then the French would help the British; this agreement was known as the Dijon compromise.

The reminder of 1904
The British begin a naval blockade on October 30th of where the North sea meets the Baltic sea, by destroying any Russian Naval craft and charging all other Russian Merchant ships with a toll, and failure to pay the toll resulting in the confiscation of the trade goods and ships, with the ships being given to the families of people who had their lives and ships taken by the Russians in the Dogger Bank incident and the Battle of Alderneyther; and the trade goods sold for cheap in London. A similar blockade was set up in the straights of Ottranto on November 3rd to stop Montenegrin naval ships, and charging a fee to merchant vessels, but failure this time to comply with the toll, meant the ships and trade goods where sold of cheap in Malta. The war in the east, continued with the siege of Port Arthur; plus the reminder of the Baltic fleet that escaped from the battle of Alderneythe were attacked and defeated at the battle of Cape town after the Russian fleet came too close to Cape town and the naval ships at Cape town noticed the Russians and sped after them and destroyed the reminder of the fleet in a quick, short and easy battle. The British came to an agreement with the Japanese to send in a fleet of British ships, a group of British ship builders to aid Japan in creating their own submarines and full dreadnoughts unlike the semi-dreadnought "Satsuma" and two army corps including new artillery units, to aid in defeating Russia. Also due to the war effort, the British admiralty decides to have all future battleships turbine powered, and the plans for the HMS Dreadnought are pushed forward, and it is laid out on the 29th November (2 years earlier than in the real world time line), it was launched on 14th January 1906 and commissioned on the 26th of January 1906, before joining the North Sea blockade.

1905
The Japanese take Port Arthur on the 2nd of January, and have the reminder of the Russian far east fleet around Port Arthur were destroyed too. Then later on the 22nd the Bloody Sunday Massacre occurred with around 1000 to 2000 unarmed civilian protesters killed or injured in St. Petersburg. Then from the 20th February to 10th March the Battle of Mukden was fought, ending in a Japanese victory and while this battle was being fought, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly (the Duma) on the 3rd of March. (Note the first or second Moroccan crisis never happens due to the Kaiser's will to wait to see how the war plays out, so he never asserts German equality with France in Morocco) The Japanese have complete control of Manchuria and then invaded the entire Sakhalin islands chain (Sakhalin and the Kuril islands) and them under Japanese control by the end of May, with the only noticeable resistance from the Russians during the Sakhalin invasions, was at the battle of Okha on May 26th - 29th. Then after a while of nationalism and desire to be independent brewing in Norway; the Norwegian Parliament declares the union with Sweden dissolved, and Norway achieves full independence on June 7th, and later on November 18: Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway. On June 27th the British fleet and army arrive in Nagasaki, where they join with the Japanese fleet and the joint navies begin the blockade and siege of Vladivostok, as well as an infantry and artillery corp also besieging the city. The Russians respond to this by sending in their armies into Manchuria and attack the Japanese garrison at Khailar and besiege it, the British and Japanese send troops to end the siege as well as destroying the Russian army.

The Battle of Khailar
The battle of Khailar happened in Khailar which is pictured on the map opposite, but the battle also spread out into the near-by regions. Now Khailar was currently garrisoned with the Japanese 3rd Army and was seen as a major point for the Russians to attack, since it was part of the trans-Siberian-Manchurian railway, so the 4 Russian armies which had recently been dispatched to the far east where sent to Chita, which is where the Trans-Siberian splits off into the Manchurian railway, one army was to be kept in reserve in Chita (the 9th) and the 10th army was sent into Mongolia to attack some local tribes who had attempted to raid Chita a week previously, before continuing on into China and then Manchuria and attack Khailar from the south west (They left Chita on the 1st July & had destroyed the tribe by the 5th in a small battle). The 7th army (also the biggest of the four Russian armies) followed the railway tracks to attack Khailar head-on; with the 8th army going off the railway tracks to attack Khailar from the direct north. The first image was the state of the armies on July 15th, and as you can see on the image the British army corp and the Japanese 6th army had landed in Seoul and where making their way up to Khailar, however on the 7th the Russian 7th Army had began to shell the city and then on the 8th the Russian 8th army had attacked the North, and on the 10th the Russian 10th army had attacked the west and had also surrounded the south, the city was now surrounded and under a Russian siege. However on the 18th of July, the British & Japanese re-enforcements who had been slow to arrive thanks to a Russian militia sabotaging the railway (the militia was destroyed in a small engagement around were the railway passes threw Khinuhan mountains on the 13th, which shortened the journey by another day, however the Russian high command thought that the militia would waste more British & Japanese time, and also that Khailar garrison would fall quicker too. Anyway back to July 18th were the supporting Anglo-Japanese army had attacked the Russian 10th army who was surrounding the south of Khailar, the Russians were quickly routed due to the fact it was a night attack and had caught the Russians off guard, the British artillery then began to shell the Russian's east & west siege camps and the Russian 10th & 8th armies retreated in order to regroup with the much larger 7th army north of the city. The British artillery moved into Khailar on the 19th and the British and Japanese armies began to plan a pincer movement to destroy the combined Russian army which had now gone into defensive positions. The British long-range artillery could easily reach the Russian encampments, so on the 20th of July the supporting British and Japanese armies split in two and attacked the combined encamped Russian armies from either side with the artillery shelling the back of the encampment with canons moving out of the city attacking the front, the Russians with no where to go where slowly beaten into the ground, with an artillery shell hitting the Russian ammo dump, causing it to explode causing 1000+ casualties, as well as destroying most of the Russian supplies, weaponry and ammo. Some of the Russian army managed to escape the encampment and slowly retreated only to have British and Japanese cavalry to chase after them and mow them down, but the majority of the Russians were still encamped and they raised the white flag at around 4 pm after 8 hours of continuous shelling and attacks. However the Russians managed to call for help, and the 9th army began to approach Khailar. The battle to destroy the 3 Russian armies had resulted with almost all of the artillery ammo running out though, meaning a conventional battle couldn't be fought, so the Japanese and British commanders came up with a trap, to blow up the rail bridge as the Russians in their trains crossed the river which flowed into lake Hulan. The British and Japanese also spread their forces out around Lake Hulan and the bridge, so that when the bridge explosives were detonated the British and Japanese forces could quickly surround the train and kill off any survivors, the artillery had also been fixed to aim at the rough area were the train would stop. On the 23rd the trap was set and on the 25th the Russian train arrived as planed with the British and Japanese laying wait to ambush the Russians. Then as the Russian train passed over, the charges were exploded and the artillery began to rain down, after 10 minutes continuous artillery, the ammo was out and the Anglo-Japanese armies rushed in to finish the job, with half the 9th army killed and the other half captured, the battle was an important victory and was the springboard for the Anglo-Japanese attack on Chita later on in the winter.

August 1905 - 1906
With the victory at Khailar the Anglo-Japanese forces decided it would be best to re-organize and to attack Russia, then on the 2nd of August the Black Sea fleet mutinied and sailed out into the Black Sea, and then on the 4th the fleet arrived in Cyprus and offered there allegiance to the British. The British accepted and stayed in Cyprus to take part of the future invasion of the Ukraine by the British in a few more years. By the time this news reached the Russian people, members of the Bolsheviks began a revolution in Moscow and Kiev and in other areas across Russia, this revolution by the Bolsheviks was to be violently suppressed by the 10th, but Bolshevik terrorism continued. However due to the Russian military occupied by the revolutions, the Anglo-Japanese Russian invasion force (1/3 British, 2/3 Japanese) marched into Russia and invaded Chinkuntsk and destroyed the garrison fairly quickly (by the 8th), the invasion force then continued to Chita and attacked it on the 12th and burnt it to the ground, before moving out to attack Lidinsk (Lindinsk is under Japanese control on the 14th), the rest of the invasion force moved onwards to Irkutsk, which was burnt down on the 18th. After this the Anglo-Japanese force turned back around to return to Manchuria, however around 3000 Russian civilians and separatists coming with the British and Japanese back. They followed the Trans-Siberian railway which the British and Japanese made use of in their attack, but this time with the help of the Russian deserters they tore it all up and Russian mobility and ability to attack Manchuria was now severely limited. The invasion force also raised all the settlements it came across on its way back with some more 1000 Russians deserting with the Anglo-Japanese force. They returned to Khailar by September 1st. Plus while all this was happening, the siege at Vladivostok was continuing, however the Russians were holding out, very well from the naval bombardments. In order to aid the invasion of Maritime, the Anglo-Japanese force which attacked Chita and Irkutusk, moved out of Khailar across Manchuria to attack the town of Kumarsk and from their subdue the rest of the Amur region, before going on to attack Nikolayevsk and north Maritime. On September 25th Vladivostok had fallen and most of the Amur region was taken too. The rest of Amur and Maritime was taken over by the 21st of February the following year, the length of this take over was greatly affected by a harsh winter, and the guerilla tactics of the Russian loyalists; but the majority of the Russian peasants welcomed a new leadership in the area. Elsewhere across the world, the Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founded Sinn Féin in Dublin, as a political party whose goal is independence for all of Ireland, on November 28th.

British strategy for 1906
The British knew they wouldn't be able to match Russian military strength on land so they devised a plan to make use of growing governmental discontent within Russia by sending in spies and agents via Norway to meet with the various leaders of independence movements and revolutionists in Kem the port on the White sea. The British would give arms, some military assistance and political recognition to the future states, in return for military aid and an alliance against the Tsar's forces. The British and German intelligence agencies also met to discuss helping each other against Russia, the two forces came to an agreement, and the Germans began to aid the Polish independence movement secretly and the British moved into the Baltic sea based around Gothland and blockaded Russian trade ships, naval ships, and inspected everything else. In return for using Gothland as a naval base, the Swedish were promised land gains in Lapland. Meanwhile the British and Germans were planing a guerilla war using Russian revolutionaries as well as a conventional front with Russia, the Japanese were planning a full scale invasion of of Vladivostok and the rest of the Maritime and some more of far eastern Russia, and the strengthening of Japanese positions within Manchuria. Then coupled with various riots across Russia, the Tsar's government began to mobilize the army to protect St. Petersburg and Western Russia in general, as well as starting another counter attack against the Japanese in Manchuria.

The agreement and re-drawing of the European map was known as the treaty of Oslo. This treaty was signed by the British, German, Norwegian & Swedish governments. Also representatives from the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian Republic separatist movements also were present & signed the treaty. The Japanese also signed an agreement with Britain & Germany in order to limit how much land Japan would gain from Russia, this was later known as the Kagoshima Agreement.

1906, the war really begins
After the slow build up of forces and the increased frequency of riots across Russia, the British blockade was strengthened with the addition of extra ships to the blockade in order to free ships to aid the planed takeover of Riga and Helsinki. Armed riots and coups in Riga and Helsinki began on January 2nd 1906, a section of the British fleet then entered the bay of Riga and fired on Riga on the 3rd, as well as another detachment of the British blockade attacking Helsinki and another detachment sailing to St. Petersburg and a naval bombing commenced, which was to last until March, when the naval bombardment stopped.

The coups in Latvia and Finland then started to get into full swing as the British made troop landings in Riga, Helsinki, Aland islands and Osd island. Then on the 5th the Polish coup began, however this was much more successful as the Poles where armed much better, then on the 9th the Germans declared war on Russia and invaded Polish Russia and Lithuania. Then on the 12th the Swedish declared war on Russia and attacked Lapland. Then on the 13th Norway declared war,and the crack Swedish and Norwegian snow troops managed to start a successful hit and run invasion of Lapland. After 2 more weeks of these landings and advancements by the Germans, Swedish and British, the western front looked a little like this on the green line. The HMS Dreadnought is commissioned on the 26th of January and sails up the Baltic to give naval support to the Finish land armies attacking the St.Petersburg region. This attack on St.Petersburg from Finland was were the majority of the allied armies were attacking from, meaning the majority of the Russian armies were drawn there, and lessened Russian resistance of the more northern Finish, Russian, and Karelian fronts, however lots of Russians kept the Germans and Poles back, but the Baltic states were lost and by March 1st the fighting became a lot more trench based, and the fighting line became more static and moved back into Russia fairly slowly. Then in the next month of fighting, the front reached the green line on the map on the right; the Russians dug in lots and the fighting became very trench orientated across the Russian line, expect in Karelia where significant gains were made, but the Russians created a strong defensive line along the Onega river and to the big lakes of south Karelia.

Elsewhere in the far east the Japanese had set up defensive lines around Manchuria, the Uda river and the gap between; this defensive line repelled a Russian counter-attack in late February to early Match(a much weaker Russian counter-attack too). While this was happening the Japanese navy and army which had taken over the Kurile Island went on to invade the Kamchatka Peninsula in order to gain some further land, also mainly because Japanese reconnaissance reported that only a single Russian militia guarded the main town in south Kamchatka: Petropavlovski, so the Japanese decided to invade based on this, and this information proved true. With this repulsion of the Russian counter attack in the 2nd Battle of Chita and the invasion of Kamchatka, the Japanese had spent the majority of their army forces, proven their military might, taken the territory they wanted, and the Russians who had been wanting a peace treaty since March this year, agreed a peace treaty with the Japanese, who kept all of their territorial gains as well as control of all Russian spheres of influence in China and Mongolia

On the left is a map of the Japanese Empire after the Russians and Japanese signed a peace treaty, and with this treaty signed, Russia's war in the east was over and they could concentrate more on their western European front. After the treaty, the Japanese declare the newly acquired Russian territories in maritime territory and the Amur region as the Colony of Yukiyama as well as declaring Manchuria a jointly controlled state, with Japan and China both running the region. Sakhalin and the Kurile islands are incorporated into the Japanese empire, each as their own prefecture (Karafuto prefecture(Sakhalin) & Chishima prefecture (Kurile islands)) and also many Japanese settlements are set up across the new prefectures. Back in the west though, during April and March the Russian line stayed about the same as at the start due to the start of trench warfare, thanks to the production and development of thousands of new machine guns by the Russians. Then after lots of demands for help the French finally decided to intervene by declaring war on Germany and Britain. The French also gave arms and money to the Sinn Fein party in Ireland and they started a coup in Ireland, the French also sent a fleet down the Thames and they attacked London, this attack was eventually repulsed and caused much fear in Britain and a large naval war started in the Channel. Many battles happened between the two powers and the French invaded the Channel islands too. They also attacked Germany and German forces set up a defensive line in Alsace with a large garrison in Strasbourg. Europe is quickly divided, but many powers remain neutral, however in Russia the independence movements form their own nations and Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Anarchist Republic of Crimea (Crimea is led by the would-be members of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine in real world events, but here they gain support from Germany and England and form their own republic in the Crimean peninsula). Also the Bolshevik armies have created their own soviet republic centered in Siberia. The German and British fleets fight the French in the Pacific ocean, the French are attacked in Laos by the British Indian armies and their are small skirmishes across Africa, with the biggest battles in Western Africa around Nigeria, Togo-land, Cameroon and Ghana. Plus the British and French fight out age long battles in the Caribbean. Around November in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia their independence movements become more recognized by the Russians, but the Turks see this as a good excuse to gain old land back, and they attack Georgia. As 1906 ends the conflict is truly world wide, as there is fighting in Europe, Asia, Africa North America and Oceania.

Other events in 1906
As well as the war, a few other events happened in 1906, such as a series of earthquakes, including the Ecuador-Colombia earthquake on January 31st(which happened just like it did in real life history), also the August 16th earthquake in Valparaíso, Chile leaves approximately 20,000 dead (magnitude 8.2) also happened just like it did in real life too, but the April 8th San Francisco earthquake was a lot worse than it was in real life, with almost the entire city destroyed, with near enough every citizen of San Francisco injured or killed; and as a result, serve building regulations were put in place and the city became more spread out over the whole San Francisco bay with building sizes being a maximum of 6 stories high. On July 12th Alfred Dreyfus was exonerated. He is reinstalled in the French Army on July 21, thus ending theDreyfus Affair. Also on August 23th because Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma is unable to control a rebellion, he requests United States intervention. After the rebellion is put down, the citizens of Cuba are so pleased with the USA's governance they start a campaign for annexation into the USA. Then on December 12th the Cuban annexation Act is passed through both houses of Congress, and Cuba becomes a territory of the USA as the Department of Cuba on December 25th, this is known as the " First Great Cuban Christmas Present". Also the first German U-boat, U-1 entered the German navy, with several other U-boots in production and to be joining the Kaiserliche Marine in the next few years. Another important event in 1906 was the nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals revolt in Persia. This coalition forces the Shah to grant a constitution and establish a national assembly, known as the Majlis.

1907, the world divides in two
As previously stated, the world was now in two, with some powers fighting for themselves, but the major two fractions fighting are the allies of Britain and Germany (the allies or reds in the maps) and the allies of France and Russia (the united forces or blues in the maps) (note the name of the two sides doesn't really matter, both sides referred to themselves as the allies, but as that may confuse you (the reader of this article) I have decided to call them two different things to lessen confusion.However the Ottoman Empire (the yellows) were fighting a war of their own, as were the Soviet republic of Siberia (the pinks)& it's various communist guerrillas in the Russian Empire, the Japanese are in peach also, but out of the war; so this wasn't just a two sided affair, anyway the world map is below: 1907 begins with a selection of Russian democrats forming an alliance with the British and their allies, and they come to an agreement, with the Murmansk region and the White sea area becoming the Russian Republic, supporters of this republic began riots and attempted to cross over the White sea and the 'no man's land' between the Russian army and the allied line. The army attempted to stop this but they just made the rioting worse, and the Russian civil war got even worse. The Ottomans take over most of Georgia by March and they begin to attack Armenia and Azerbaijan. Early in June the British sends an invasion fleet to take Montenegro consisting mainly of the Russian Black Sea (remember they deserted in 1905), who quickly takes the Montenegrin cost in two weeks, and the Montenegrin surrender to the British and agree surrender terms with the British and Germans, which included free passage of German and British forces through Montenegrin territory for the next 99 years.

The battle of the Vosges
Elsewhere in France the Germans had kept the front largely the same as the international borders, with the exception of the German attack on Belfort on February 4th. The battle of Belfort though, had spilled out to Munsterol by the 28th(where the majority of the German army in this battle were stationed), Delle by March 3rd and the Argot Forest on the 17th March, and later became the battle of the Vosges by April 1st, after the Germans take the French fort on Great Ballon d'Alsace and begin to attack Le Thillot, Cornimon, Gerardmer and Fraize, and with Markirch being attacked by the French. This battle remained on roughly the same lines for months, thanks to the strong French defences around Belfort, and equally the German defences around Markirch. However during December the Germans made a big push on Belfort and one of the fortresses of Belfort was destroyed in a non stop bombardment of the fort over the course of a week and the French began to weaken.

The battle of Metz
Also at the same time of this the battle of the Vosges, the French were attacking the fortress city of Metz and the rest of the Alsace region, but with the focus on Metz. However like the battle of the Vosges the front stayed virtually the same, due to strong fortresses on both sides. The French commander of the battle of the Vosges (who was stationed in Epinal) was trying to convince the Swiss to let the French armies go through Switzerland to attack the German flank from Basel, to attack the German towns of Lorrach, Hegenheim and Blotzheim, however the Swiss government wished to remain neutral, and the Swiss promised to join the German side intermediately if the French attacked Switzerland.

(Note that on the map opposite, each red dot is a German division and each blue dot is a French division)

The battle of Nancy
This was another battle going on at the same time as the battles of Metz and the Vosges, this was a German attack to try and take the large French city of Nancy, in order to strike a psychological blow to the French by taking a major French city, plus it would serve as a good command post for the rest of the war for the French-German front rather than continue to use Strasbourg.

German strategy for a flanking attack
The Germans were also planing a flanking attack, but this one was through Belgium, but this meant that the Belgium's claim for neutrality would be broken, and the British would have to declare war on Germany because of the the 1839 Treaty of London and its significance from Article 7 of the treaty, which bound Britain to guard the neutrality of Belgium in the event of the latter's invasion. Meaning that the British would never allow the Germans to attack France through Belgium, so the Germans appealed to the British to invade France, and fortunately the British were planing just that. Then after around a month of planing the British finally came up with a plan to launch amphibious assaults on Calais and Cherbourg in October that year, or later if control of the channel was lost.

Events in Russia 1907
As well as the fronts in eastern Europe and around the other secessionist states, a revolt started in Moldavia and the Romanians came to an agreement with the Tsar, Moldavia would join Romania, and in return, Russian troops would be allowed to pass through Romania for the next 200 years, as well some reparations (which the Russians needed lots for the war effort). The soviets were also becoming more focused around Siberia, which soviet supporters were slowly travelling across Russia to join the Soviets. However the Norwegians and Swedish agreed peace terms with the Tsar in July, due to them gaining all the land they were promised, however they continue to support the Russian Republic in North west Russia. Elsewhere the Crimean anarchists were losing support from the Crimean peasants and other non-anarchists and on April 3rd the Crimean republicans were founded and on September 2nd their army rebelled against the anarchists, as well as the majority of the Black army mutinying to join the Crimean Republican army, the remaining true anarchists left Crimea and began the Black March, in which the army went from Crimea, across east Ukraine, looking for another place to establish an anarchist state, the following year they would move out of Ukraine to continue the march across Russia. Elsewhere a group of Russian nobles, later known as the Muscowy league was formed, which was planning a revolt against the Tsar and to oust his government and replace it with their own government. Also the Turkestan Army where planning their own revolution and in November they started an armed coup in several major cities in Russian occupied Turkestan, most importantly Samarkand was taken within a few hours and from that day served as the capital of the Turkestan empire and base of operations for the Turkestan army. Also in the Caucasus region the Ottomans had beaten the Russians and drafted a peace treaty, which ceded the Caucasus region to the Ottoman Empire, however no reparations had to be paid to the Ottomans from the Russians. The Russians accepted on July 17th in order to free up troops the Caucasus region was lately becoming increasingly hostile to Russian rule and the Ottomans moved in on July 20th. However Georgian resistance and Armenian resistance had Azerbaijan resistance had all met to form an alliance against Ottoman rule and help each other after their subsequent independence on August 1st and on September 4th they started an armed revolt.

Events in Asia 1907
As well as the war in Europe, there was also going ons in Asia, the most important of these was the re-entry of Japan into the war, however it was against China. You see after the Russians relinquished claims to Manchuria the Japanese declared it a jointly controlled territory (jointly controlled with China) the Chinese wanted their land returned as the threat of attack from Russia had disappeared. However the Japanese wanted to keep Manchuria as they had uncovered large mineral deposits needed to help the Japanese economy and improve the Japanese metallurgy business, however this didn't stop Qing China, and on March 23rd 1907 they declared war on Japan, starting the second Sino-Japanese war (however it was still included in the World War one, but as the Sino-Japanese campaign). Qing agents started revolts in Manchuria against Japanese rule and the Chinese attacked the Chinese on two fronts, Taiwan and Manchuria. These revolts were stopped eventually with the promises of greater autonomy and the establishment of their own independent Manchu empire (basically it would be a protectorate of Japan), Korea was also offered a similar deal. The Chinese invasion of Manchuria was stopped quickly by the Japanese main defences but the Japanese main defences were quite a way from the Manchuria-China border so the Japanese lost a fair amount of land. However after the Chinese were brought to a standstill by the main defensive line of Japanese machine guns, the large Chinese armies were kept at bay. The Chinese invasion of Taiwan was stopped pretty quickly due to the presence of the British fleet, the British then left to join Hong Kong, the British then declared war on China after they attacked China from Hong Kong. The Portuguese were also offered territorial gains to their colony of Macao if they join Britain & Japan in fighting China. The Portuguese agreed and sent a fleet with around 3000 men, however this was kept secret until the fleet arrived in Macao, which was in December that year, which was when the Portuguese had declared war on China. As well as the goings ons in China, there was also the attack on French Indo-China by the British using their Gurkha, Indian and Burmese armies from Burma and by September they had beaten back the majority of the French army in Laos to the Mekong river. Plus dealings with local chieftains in Laos helping make sure that the British had the support of the locals by promising to create an independent Lao state. Similarly the British were financing Cambodian and Vietnamese rebels to throw the French out of the region.

The battle of the Isle of Wight
With the British aiming to invade France in December at Calais and Cherbourg, control of the Channel was seen to be in British hands, however on November 29th the French fleet which had previously been stationed at Brest sailed around into the Channel and using a combined fleet of Submarines and Battleships the French destroyed a patrolling ship the HMS Royal Sovereign (The Sovereign is pictured on the left) in a short engagement, due to the amount of French ships and subs. After the Sovereign was destroyed the rest of the British fleet was alerted and rendezvoused around Brighton. The French fleet however continued to sail and made landings on the Isle of Wight's south western coast around 10pm, the French then marched across the plains of the isle, unopposed with a few police officers and armed civilians trying to fight back, however these people were quickly killed with only 2 French causalities. The French took Newport also, however there was a small army garrison there, but again they were killed with only 3 French casualties, by 11am the following day the isle of Wight was taken with only 10 French casualties. The French then attacked the British fleet who were in port at Portsmouth and the British lost control of the Channel. While this operation was going on, the French were also invading the Channel Islands & had them all under French control in a week.

Other events
Other events included the first taxicabs with taxi meters begin operating in London; also New Zealand and Newfoundland become dominions of the British Empire. On October 17th Guglielmo Marconi initiates commercial transatlantic radio communications between his high power longwave wireless telegraphy stations in Clifden, Ireland and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. On December 19th an explosion in a coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania kills 239; and also the triode thermionic amplifier invented by Lee DeForest, starting the development of electronics as a practical technology. Also by the combination of the Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma joins the union as the 46th state in the USA.

1908, trench warfare
1908 was a deadly year with fighting on 4 continents! (Africa, Asia, Europe & Oceania); however as well as the war a few other events occurred also including the following: Also due to the war in China, King Carlos I of Portugal employed more bodyguards to protect himself against Chinese assassins and also against the anti-war republicans as well as; this causes the king and the Infante Luis Filipe not to be shot dead in Lisbon on February 1st; this keeps the Portuguese monarchy in power, rather than Portugal becoming a republic in 1910.
 * Baluchistan is fully incorporated into the British Raj
 * The 1908 London Summer Olympics are cancelled and are to be played after the war is over
 * January 13 – A fire at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. kills 170.
 * January 24 – Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement.
 * February 12 – The first around-the-world car race, the 1908 New York to Paris Race, begins.
 * February 18 – Japanese immigration to the U.S.A. is forbidden.
 * May 26 – At Masjid-al-Salaman in South-West Persia, the first major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
 * June 30 – The Tunguska event, also known as the Russian explosion, occurs near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russian Empire.
 * September 27 – Henry Ford produces his first Model T auto-mobile.
 * December 28 – An earthquake and tsunami destroys Messina, Sicily and Calabria, killing over 70,000 people.

Austro-Hungarian Empire also doesn't annex Bosnia this year as its spies notice an increase in Serbian military build-up, and rather than start a war with Serbia it decides not to annex. However this build-up in Serbia later turns out to be to fight Turkey.

The French theatre of War in 1908
The French-German front was becoming increasingly stationery due to the introduction of trenches across the line of battle, hundreds of men were dying in small advancements daily. However the situation in Britain was worsening for the British, with a lot of their channel fleet destroyed the French had won control of the Channel and another amphibious invasion of Britain looked certain, but this time on the mainland of Britain. The British in order to stop this used lots of artillery to pound the French positions on the Isle of Wight and was re-ordering the British fleet into two groups, one in Milford Haven and another in the Thames mouth. The plan of the recently appointed British First Naval Lord John Fisher (Lord Walter Kerr was in control for longer, due to his knowledge of the fleet at the start of the war and not wanting to cause disarray in the navy bosses), the title of First Naval Lord was changed to First Sea Lord too, mainly as a show of British naval might, despite a French victory. The Mediterranean fleet however was doing much better against the French Mediterranean fleet and controlled the east Mediterranean with a blockade of British ships between Scilly and Tunis (the strait of Sicily), with a smaller blockade in the strait of Messina, with the back-up ships in Malta. However the waters around Corsica and the rest of the western Mediterranean was in French hands. The French then launched an invasion of Lymington in early hours of January 12th and the port was took within the day. The French then increased their ground around Lymington, however the British were amassing an army to attack the French in Lymington, and on January 26th the British finally attacked from the New Forest area and the Battle of New Forest begun. The British slowly pushed the advancing French back and then launched a counter attack against the French trench line which guarded the French beach head, as the British generals realized they would have to quickly destroy this beachhead before the French landed too many troops on the English mainland. The well organized British assault attacked the French beachhead around Lymington and the Isle of Wight and by February 8th the Frernch were off mainland Britain and the Isle of Wight. Soon after this the British & Germans landed at Calias and formed their own beachhead on the French mainland. While slowly expanding this beachhead, the Channel Islands were retaken by various naval attacks. The British then landed near Cherbourg and began to create a second beachhead in the Cotentin Peninsula. The mainland French forces were being attacked from four different fronts (the Franco-German Western front, the Anglo-German North Western front, the Anglo-Franco North front and the Franco-Spanish southern front).

The Treaty of Cagliari
With the defeat of France seeming very likely in the next few years, the German Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow,the Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti,the British Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Paul Eyschen & the Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Maura all attended a Secret Conference in Cagliari, Sardinia: in order to come to a decision about how to split up France & its overseas colonies after the war. This conference ended in the formation and signing of the Treaty of Cagliari. This meant Luxembourg, Germany & Britain would gain land from mainland France. Spain would gain French Morocco and some land from French West Africa. Italy would gain Corsica and Tunisia. Germany would gain French Congo, Benin, and some land from French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. Britain also gained Madagascar & some land from French West Africa. It also gave Spanish, German and British consent for Italy to invade Tripoli and annex it as a colony from the Ottoman Empire. The French Southern and Antarctic Lands would go to Britain & Germany; with Germany getting Archipel Crozet, Archipel des Kerguelen, Îles Saint Paul et Amsterdam. Whereas Îles Éparses is granted to Britain. This treaty also gave consent for Britain to take Egypt & Sudan as full colonies from the Ottoman Empire too. This treaty however left France with some colonies in order to lessen post-war revenge; the colonies retained included parts of French West Africa (North Senegal, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Mali, etc), French Guiana & France's Caribbean territories.

Events in Russia
The Russian Empire's enemies are lessened after the treaty of Viborg is signed by Finland and the Russian Empire on October 3rd which declares Finland's peace with the Russian Empire and and establishment as a recognized state; this however causes the Russian Empire to lose a fair bit of territory. This is probably the best thing to happen for the Russian Empire in this year after the Soviets increase their control in Siberia and establish the Soviet Republic of Siberia in their Siberian controlled lands. However a divide between the Socialist moderates (the Menshiviks) and the majority Bolsheviks began to surface and began to threaten the stability of the Soviet armies. More bad news for the Czar as more revolts and revolutions across Turkestan happen, increasing the land that recognizes the rule of the Turkestani army, the Turkestani controlled land doubles in size. Also the Black March of the Anarchist Black Army continues from Crimea to North modern day Ukraine and they take over Kiev. The Russian Republic makes more advances and gains from the Russian Empire in the North; and also the mainly German line continues to push into Eastern Russia. And also the Crimean republicans after expelling the anarchists & beating back an Imperial Russian invasion, they continue to stabilize there territory around the Crimean Peninsula.

These cause the Czar to launch 4 campaigns in this year, the Southern Campaign (against the anarchists and then to join up with the western campaign), the North eastern campaign(to attack the Soviet forces), the South Eastern Campaign(to attack the Turkistani armies) and the Western campaign (to push out from St.Petersburg against the Republicans and Germans). The Southern Campaign is successful in re-taking Kiev and the black army is scattered. Half of the Southern Imperial Forces are sent to go & re-take Crimea from the Crimean republicans (this attack is beaten by the Crimeans at the battle of Novotroists'kyi); and the other half to go northwards to help stop the German advance. The Western campaign is largely unsuccessful as just as the Russian advance is about to begin, the Germans launch an advance and the Western forces end up just being re-enforcements for the St.Petersburg area defences. Both of the Eastern campaigns do badly, with the Soviet forces wining the battle of Tomsk and the much larger south eastern Imperial forces also being beaten but by the Turkestanis at the battle of Alatmy. (Change these battle names as they are wrong)

The War in Africa, 1908
The Germans push back the French in Africa in the French colonies of French Congo & Benin, and modern day Chad. However this isn't a big expansion as the previous year. The French resistance was especially bad in Gabon. The British however push back the French in Africa quite a lot, especially in the French colonies of Senegal (pushing south from the Gambia to the Portuguese Guinea boarder), Northwards from Nigeria into modern day Niger, westwards from Sudan into Tebu, and land in Madagascar and the British take over Reunion and the Comoros islands.

The Ethiopia's First World War
Mainly due to the location of Ethiopia, the country wasn't at war for very long, and Emperor Menelik II, the Nəgusä Nägäst of Ethiopia wished to expand his territory to include a sea port as it was costing Ethiopian merchants a fair amount of their profits to use the French port of Djibouti. This coupled with various other factors such as the creation of an Ethiopian navy and a larger merchant fleet. This would also allow the Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia the chance to be reformed and to finish the railway (construction had ended in 1906 after the company went bankrupt and the entry of France into the War. The company would be reformed as a government owned agency known as the Imperial Railway Bureau of Ethiopia. This was to be the first part of the National Railway System in Ethiopia with more lines planned too(this was part of Menelik's modernization plan). The Abissinians came to an agreement with the British that if they could destroy the French forces in French Somaliland (modern day Djibouti) the territory could be annexed by Abissinia. The Emperor liked the terms of this agreement with the British as with their own sea port Ethiopian overseas trade could greatly expand. This treaty however stated that if the Ethiopians failed to take the French colony by 1910 (the year projected by the British as the year the other French forces in Africa would be defeated), the British would annex French Somaliland into British Somaliland.

The Emperor knew if Ethiopia wanted to modernize into a powerful African nation they would have to have their own sea port to make international trade much easier. The Ethiopians knew that the French were technologically superior but they could be easily outnumbered. Almost the entire Ethiopian army was sent to attack the French colony, the Ethiopian strategy was a simply one of charging and simply overwhelming the French defences. The French forces were quickly overwhelmed and most French troops died in vicious hand-to-hand combat which the Ethiopian armies were armed for. However when it was siege warfare the Ethiopians made use of catapults and their limited firearms. The strength of numbers was what caused the French to withdraw via sea and by October 21st the French forces in French Somaliland were defeated and no longer fighting in the area. Then on November 2nd the French gave Ethiopia the territory of French Somaliland as well as its shares in the Ethiopian Railway companies in the treaty of Djibouti. Ethiopia now left the war after all of its ambitions fulfilled and this allowed the begining of a period of mass modernization in Ethiopia.

The War in Asia, 1908
The British Indian armies push into French Indo-China taking over all of western Laos. In other regions the French colonial rule in Vietnam, Cambodia & the rest of Laos is severely weakened due to more revolts by natives and the French having to send more troops to deal with the British advance; and as a result the French lose control of several cities in the colony, including Vinh and Hue.

The Beginning of the Chinese Civil War
Last year the British, Portuguese, Germans, and Japanese fail in their peace talks with the Chinese Empire. China declares war on all 4 and joins with France & the Russian Empire after signing an alliance to join the blues. The allies/reds begin to fund Chinese separatists and republicans. This causes several anti Qing groups to be formed which join the reds who are the Nanman republicans, Chinese Democrats, Tibetan separatists, and Mongolian separatists. Chinese communists also arise too as well as Chinese anarchists and lots of other little warlords (the warlords are mostly in the North West Xinjiang region). The British and Portuguese lines in the south of China are extended as the Chinese are pushed back. This starts the Chinese Civil War and the disorganized Chinese armies are pushed back out of Manchuria by the combined Manchu-Korean-Japanese armies; this mainly Japanese army gains more support from the Manchu population as the terms of Manchu independence are seen as better in terms of autonomy, as the Manchu people would be almost completely independent apart from they would be forced to help Japan or Korea in war (and vice versa though), major decisions (e.g. declaring war, expanding, alliances, trading agreements, foreign policy, etc) would have to be okayed by the Japanese Diet too; but this protectorate status was better than being an autonomous state in the Chinese Empire. The British & Portuguese advance slowly mainly due to the fact the Chinese outnumbered them and so had to make use of their modern weapons and a defensive advance (creating lots of defences while advancing, like building trenches) in order to keep the control of battle situation. Mongolian armies also readied up in the North fairly quickly and a few Japanese units marched to Mongolia to organise the Mongolian armies so they would fight in balance with the others. The British also did a similar thing with the Nanman and Tibetan separatist armies too.

The Ottoman Empire & her troubles in 1908
The anti-Ottoman revolts intensify across Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan; and the police struggle to keep the peace most of the time and so the army are brought in to aid in keeping the peace and martial law is declared in the Ottoman empire in the Caucasus region. With this revolution brewing in the Caucasus, the Ottomans try to stabilize the recently acquired territory. Things get a bit worse on October 5th, when Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire. Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar, however the main bad thing is that some Bulgarians wanted more territory from the Ottomans. The Greeks and Serbians also wished to extend their countries at the Ottoman's expense, and more revolution was brewing in Albania and Macedonia too. This caused worry for some Turks and the Young Turk secret society began planning a coup to throw out the Sultan in order to better dissolve the brewing trouble for the Ottoman Empire. With these potential six revolutions and three invasion threats the Sultan was worried and began to strengthen the army and prepare for martial law, anti-guerilla warfare and invasion.

1909
As well as the war and all the carnage; in January, the Old Age Pensions Act 1908 comes into force in Britain. Also:
 * January 27 – The Young Left is founded in Norway.
 * February 12 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded, commemorating the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birth.
 * March 4 – William Howard Taft succeeds Theodore Roosevelt to become the 27th President of the United States.
 * March 10 – The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 is signed in Bangkok in order to decide the Thai-British Malay border
 * March 18 – Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter, becoming the first radio broadcaster.
 * The city of Tel Aviv (then known as Ahuzat Bayit) is founded on April 11th.
 * The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, now BP, is incorporated on April 19th.
 * June 15 – Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference.
 * June 22 – Construction begins on the Cape Cod Canal, which would separate Cape Cod from mainland Massachusetts, United States.
 * July 16 – A revolution forces Mohammad Ali Shah, Persian Shah of the Qajar dynasty to abdicate in favour of his son Ahmad Shah Qajar. He later tries to re-take the throne in an unsuccessful coup and is killed in the process.
 * August 2 – The United States Army Signal Corp Division purchases the world's first military airplane. They buy the Wright Military Flyer from the Wright Brothers.
 * In October the Trade Boards Act, a form of minimum wage legislation, is passed in the UK.
 * October 13 – An agreement by Germany, Italy and Switzerland gives the Germans and Italians access to the Gotthard Rail Tunnel.
 * Ito Hirobumi isn't assassinated as Korea gains more rights and isn't annexed by Japan. He remains as Resident-General of Korea though, however this is more of a moderating position as Korea gains more rights. He later will go on to help the Korean & Japanese military forces co-operate and collaborate in future battles & wars, as Resident-General is changed to the position of General of Korean & Japanese collaboration.
 * The U.S. Navy founds a navy base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on November 11th.
 * December 17 – King Albert I of Belgium succeeds his uncle, Leopold II, on the throne.
 * December 31 – The Manhattan Bridge opens.

The War in Europe
The peninsula around Cherbourg is taken over and is in firm British control, over a large trench battle rages around the end of the peninsula as the British try to advance. Similarly in Calais the British extend their beach head and push into Northern France, albeit while fighting a bloody trench battle or two. The Germans have little better luck and push into France further and push the French trench lines back, taking Nancy on August 2nd. This slow advance by the allies was costing them a lot of man power, but it was hurting the French even more. The leaders of Sinn Fein and the other Irish separatist groups are captured and executed. This ends the Irish rebellion and frees up further troops to fight in France.

The War in Russia
The Crimean Republic is recognized as an independent state by most countries now and on July 1st the Treaty of Yalta is signed, declaring peace between the Crimean Republic and Russian Empire. The treaty also declares peace between Ukraine and Crimea but the Ukrainians continue to fight the Russian Empire.

After being forced out of Kiev, the Black army is fairly spread out and the Czar believes them to be defeated and dispersed. However the anarchists who fled Kiev to the South West continue to march and send out messages to regroup in Kaniv. On January 1st during the New years celebrations in Kaniv the dispersed anarchists meet back up with the main Black army and anarchists start a huge riot in Kaniv and burn it down as they cross the Dnieper (mostly in boats) to the east side and re-start the Black March. Nestor Makhno becomes fe facto leader of the black army (he is known as Batko (‘Father') to his admirers) & Makhno decides to march on Moscow & level it,to show the world the power of anarchy. He gets more & more people to join the Black army & the tachanka corps are expanded vastly and they become a large plundering force. This large expansion of the Tachankas is made possible thanks to a large smuggling opperation of machine guns into Russia from Austria by Peter Arshinov (Peter is smuggling arms into Russia to sell to revolutionaries & cause of the war, Peter doesn't get caught unlike in OTL) who also then meets Nestor & joins the Black Army. (note because of the earliness of the Russian Civil war here, Nestor was never arrested for a third time & instead began to preach anarchism & formed his black army anarchist group in 1908 instead). The Black March is back on and they cross over into Russia in November.

The Turkestani army also consolidates its hold on Turkestan and defeats a Imperial Russian assault in modern day south west Kazakhstan. This shows the power of Turkestan and they meet with the Soviets to decide on their international borders. However the Soviets don't make an agreement with the Russian Republic; and while the Russian Republic makes more advances eastward and meets the Soviet advancing line near the Timan Range of mountains and the battle of Timan range begins between the Republicans and the Soviets.

The War for the Ottoman Empire
The Azerbaijani revolutionaries get more support and get stronger in general, and as a result they take control of Baku and some other cities and places in Azerbaijan. Seeing this the Armenian & Georgian separatists try similar things but aren't as successful but they still take over some places. The Ottomans try to retake Baku and some of the other places but they fail and a state of emergency is declared in the Caucasus region of the Ottoman Empire.

The War in Africa
Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire and invades Tripoli and Ottoman Libya in general in April. They take over the majority of the Libyan coast in a series of landings. The Italian fleet also engage with the Ottoman fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean too, with a few skirmish battles in the Aegean sea.

The British land more troops in Madagascar and they take control of the Island by November with the French forces only really amassed around Tananarivo (Antananarivo). The British and Germans continue to push back the French forces across Africa also. Also Liberia joins the British and German forces and declares war on France (mainly to gain some extra territory) after sensing that France are weakening and going to surrender soon, and the Liberians push into French West Africa.

The War in Asia
The French colonial forces in French Indo-China lose control of Laos and North Vietnam. The remaining French colonial forces in south Vietnam and Cambodia surrender with there situation looking hopeless. Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are declared independent states soon after. They attack China with the British Indian forces from Vietnam and Laos in order to get support for the Nanman republicans. However this force going into China is mainly British as the Laos, Vietnamese and Cambodians are more focused in nation building.

The War in China

 * The Guangxu Emperor & Dowager Empress Cixi both die (Dowager dies first & has Guangxu killed to stop him from reforming the nation) and chosen by Dowager Empress Cixi while on her deathbed, Puyi ascended the throne aged 2 years and 10 months in December 1908 following his uncle's death on 14th November. He was titled the Xuantong Emperor. Zaifeng, 2nd Prince Chun is chosen as regent to rule in Puyi's place, he is mostly controlled by the war council fighting against the foreign invaders, and China's economy enters a phase of total war with all resources going towards the war effort.
 * The Tibetan separatists are aided by British Indian troops and by December have control of Tibet and plan to attack China Proper.
 * Mongolian Separatists gain control of Outer Mongolia and continue to take over Inner Mongolia
 * The Portuguese advance with the British and they both besiege and take over Canton
 * The Manchu/Japanese/Korean line is strengthened as the Chinese Democrats ally with them and consolidate their hold in North East China
 * The Chinese anarchists have more revolts across China but they begin to convene around the Ordos desert, making it a lawless land of outlaws and anarchists
 * The Chinese Socialists consolidate their control around Shanghai and south west inner Mongolia
 * Xinjiang region becomes virtually lawless with hundreds of outlaws, rouge generals, mutinying army regiments, etc.

The War in the Americas
The department of Cuba gains statehood as the State of Cuba, and Cuba joins the union, becoming the 47th state in the USA on December 25th 1909 in the Second Great Cuban Christmas Present.

The British invade all of the French islands in the Caribbean in a large Royal Navy assault, however this is to simply take away the territories' ability to contribute to the war effort. This is because no nation was to take over any French territories in the Americas in order to lessen post-war French anger. French Guiana is also blockaded and this effectively defeats it too as the blockade isn't broken at any time during the rest of the war. This blockade was done rather than an invasion, in order to save land troops and too lessen casualties.

The Start of the Mexican Civil War
The Mexican Revolution starts with revolutionaries in the North killing many government figures and army members. The revolutionaries call for liberalism and begin to gain more support across the country, however they only join forces because they all want more freedom and for Mexico to be more liberal however many different groups are in the revolutionaries all wanting different things. The President Porfirio Díaz calls for assistance from the USA; as the Mexican Civil War begins.

The War in the Pacific
The ANZAC corps of the British Empire begin a campaign of invading and taking over French Pacific colonies. However these colonies are only held by policemen & small army units. The most defended island was Tahiti which took a month to take, as the French were dug in quite a lot. However by the end of the year, this campaign is over with all the French Pacific colonies under British command. These colonies were to be ruled jointly by the Australian and New Zealand governments after the war ended.

1910
Britain & Germany invade and take over all of the French Southern Indian Ocean territories, and are split up by Britain & Germany. Archipel Crozet, Archipel des Kerguelen, Îles Saint Paul et Amsterdam are annexed them into the German Empire as colonies. Whereas Îles Éparses is gained by Britain.

Events in Europe

 * The British and Germans continue to push back the French in France
 * Spain invades French Morocco in January and they do a few smaller skermish attacks into European France as well, however the Spanish keep to a fortification/trench line in the Pyrenees Mountains mainly in the Spanish-French conflict in Europe. The small Spanish raids into France angers the French government and an army is sent to attack Spain in May, however the Spanish fortifications allowed the Spanish to dig in deep and all the French attacks were repulsed. From August the French give up attacking and a nervous stand-off continues until Winter 1911.

Events in Africa

 * The French are continually pushed back in Africa
 * Spain invades French Morocco in January and they do a few smaller skermish attacks into European France as well, however the Spanish keep to a fortification/trench line in the Pyrenees Mountains mainly in the Spanish-French conflict in Europe. The small Spanish raids into France angers the French government and an army is sent to attack Spain in May, however the Spanish fortifications allowed the Spanish to dig in deep and all the French attacks were repulsed. From August the French give up attacking and a nervous stand-off continues until Winter 1911.

Events in Asia

 * The New Han Rebellion occurs in China with the Manchu Qing Dynasty being overthrown and exiled into Manchuria. General Yuan Shikai lead this rebellion and established the New Yuan Dynasty with himself as Emperor Yuan. The new Emperor signed the treaty of Luoyang (which he later changed the capital to) and the Chinese Emperor had the Chinese Empire one for the ethic Han and had the Great wall of China as the Northern Border.
 * Whereas the ousted Xuantong Emperor Puyi was then taken in by the Manchuria rulers and Puyi was declared head of state and Manchuria became a constitutional monarchy however the Emperor was mainly just for green stamping things and for nationalist purposes, meaning that Puyi had very little say in how things were run(this is also due to his age).
 * The Treaty of Luoyang as well as having the Chinese Empire's northern border as the great wall, also allowed the creation of a Nanman state, Manchurian State, Mongolian State, Tibetan state and a democratic Chinese state. The lands controlled by the Chinese anarchists and communists and the various warlords in Xinjiang were disowned by the Chinese Empire. This created lots of free land unowned and unclaimed and started a number of expansions by the Mongolians and Chinese Democrats. However the anarchists and Communists also realized this and began to stabilize their regions.
 * With the fall of the Qing Dynasty The Chinese Empire, Manchuria, Korea, Japan, Portugal, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nanman & Tibet; are out of the war.

Events in Russia

 * The Ukrainians greatly expand there controlled territory
 * On March 4th the Black army reach Moscow and as they attack the Moscowy League begins there rebellion too. The Battle of Moscow rages on for the rest of March with the 3 forces raging around. The Black army eventually decides to march east to find a place to establish an anarchist state on March 29th; the Moscowy league also then pushes back the Russian Imperial troops and then begin to expand outwards and gain control of an area around Moscow.
 * Due to the increasing amount of Soviet control outside of Siberia, the Soviet Republic of Siberia is renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist states, with Siberia being the main and largest of the soviet states.
 * The battle of Timan range ends with a Republican Victory and the River Petchora is decided as the Russian Republic-USSR border with the treaty of Lbuna
 * Estonia leave the war after signing the treaty of Pskov with various countries which stabilizes and decides its borders.
 * The Turkestanis expel the Russian Imperial troops from Turkestan and expand further, creating a large Central Asian empire.

Events concerning the Ottoman Empire

 * With the Ottomans losing control and battles against Italy in Libya and the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani revolutionaries the Greeks, Albanians, Montenegrins, Serbians, Macedonians, and Bulgarians sign an anti-Ottoman alliance with the Italians, Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis; and declare war on the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman army is now very stretched out fighting invading countries, rebellions, etc.

1911
The end of the war in Africa

The end of the war in Africa

 * The Commander of the French forces in Africa surrenders in August. This ends the war in Africa for the most part.
 * Italy takes over all of Ottoman Libya in February, and the armies re-group and are re-enforced with more troops and they invade Tunisia in Early May.

Events in Europe

 * The Italian army attack France and march towards Nice in August, this attack is strenghened by returning troops from Africa after the French surrender in Africa and on September 5th Nice falls to Italy. The Italians then try to march forwards but are stopped by advancing French forces, and Italian troops begin to retreat in November, and on November 19th the Second Battle of Nice begins.
 * Italian troops invade Corsica in July, this is the largest Italian attack against the French and Corsica falls on October 11th.
 * French & Italian fleets engage in the battle of the Strait of Bonifacio on August 4th. A French victory causes the Italian troops in Corsica to be cut off and the Italian forces rush to take over the Island. The British send in the Royal Navy to help the Italian Fleet to destroy French naval control and in the battle of Elba, the French navy is finally destroyed. After this the French southern coast is blockaded, stopping lots of supplies to France.
 * Spanish troops launch a big assault on France in the winter due to the French moving troops from the Spanish front to fight the Germans. The Spanish with the superior numbers, the initial attack begins on November 9th and they reach Toulouse by December 28th.

The Ottoman Empire is defeated!

 * The British declare war on the Ottoman Empire, join the Anti-Ottoman league and invade Egypt and Sudan. British ships also move into the Aegean Sea in order to disrupt Ottoman ships too.
 * With lots of invading enemies the Ottoman Empire experiences a rebellion in the Capital and the Turk rebellion starts and Turkish republicans join the anti-Ottoman alliance in January. The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (he stays in power as the people who would over throw him in the OTL are instead occupied trying to defeat the other rebellions and invasions) signs the treaty of Constantinople with the anti-Ottoman league which reduces the Ottoman Empire to a city state with some land around the city. With this the Sultan vows to make Constantinople much larger and for the city to take up all of the land his empire is now limited to. Elsewhere the rest of Asia Minor becomes the Republic of Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan; either gain land or become nations. Italy gain Libya and Britain gains Egypt & Sudan. This puts the anti-Ottoman league, except Italy who are fighting France, Britain who continue to expand into former Ottoman controlled land and to fight France, and the Ottoman Empire out also.

The Arabian War

 * With the Ottoman Empire out of the war and a shadow of its former self, a civil war starts in the former Ottoman Middle Eastern territories. This spills into the other states in the Arabian Peninsula and the recent discovery of oil in Arabia also attracts the interest of European Powers and many of them are re-drawn into the war, albeit with a lot less troops. The major movements for would-be countries are those of Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, Lebanon, and Palestine. Also the British, Germans, Omanis, Kuwaitis and the Saudi clan planned to extend their influence over the former Ottoman lands. This involved the British expanding their colonies in Egypt into the Sinai Peninsula and Aden to control the rest of Yemen. The Germans wanted to get a colony in the gulf to secure some oil fields which the Germans needed to support their expanding petroleum and auto-mobile industry. Whereas the Saudi clan simply wanted to expand their territories into a much larger kingdom and a more recognized country. Similarly Oman wanted to bring their country back to its previous glory days by having a bigger say in the rapidly expanding global oil industry. And the Kuwaitis wanted to regain their territory which was taken by the Ottomans.

The Russian Civil War rages on

 * The Black Army and other Russian Anarchists ended their march and the Anarchist state of Nebesa is declared around Samara and the Ural river(basically east European Russia).
 * The Mensiviks leave the USSR and begin to try and establish their own moderate communist state around Viatka. They form an alliance with the USSR and the Russian Republic which also helps to decide its borders.
 * Seeing the creation of two new ex-Russian Empire states the Cossacks living around the river Don begin their own revolution and attempt to establish their own Cossack state. Similarly the Tatars and Ossetians attempt to establish their own independent states respectively.
 * The Russian Republicans and the German lines begin to meet and the Russian Empire's armies begins to split and the Tsar Nicholas the second begins to try and to establish peace with the Russian Republicans and the Germans, however the Tsar shows no peace to the communists, anarchists or the Muscowvy league.

1912
France is defeated & on July 19th, the Austro-Hungarian empire formally annex Bosnia into their empire. Even though it had partically been part of the empire for a while now, this still causes quite a stir in other Balkan states, namely Serbia; however due to the cost of the war efforts, Serbia were in no shape to plan military action against Austria, who had been readying its armies in case it joined the war, but because Austria had not fought yet, Austria was still at full strength. The Russian Empire were also angered by this move, but didn't really do anything either, in fear of the German fronts being bolstered by Austrian troops. Other states voiced their disapproval but no country was really in good enough shape to do anything.

The surrender of France
Due to the failure of the overseas French colonial troops and the battle slowly losing in France the French president Émile Loubet negotiates a peace treaty with the British and Germans. (In OTL Loubet did not seek re-election at the end of his term, however in this time line he stays in power mainly to keep the government similar because if a new government was elected then there may of been confusion and disarray as the governments changed). France are now out of the war and lose lots of overseas colonies and some territory from actual France thanks to the treaty of Strasbourg on January 8th. However the French territories in the Americas are returned to French control, the blockade of French Guiana ends, and control of some of French West Africa is returned to France also.

The War in Arabia, 1912

 * The Germans make a landing around modern day Ank in Arabia to found their new planned colony of German Arabia. The Germans make a deal with the British to decide how the Persian Gulf shall be divided and how the status-quo will be maintained. This deal is then offered to Persia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain; who were nearly forced to sign the treaty. This is known as the Treaty of Tehran and was ratified on April 2nd 1912. Note that this treaty was not offered to the Saudi clan as they weren't seen to control the remaining Arabian Peninsula and rather the rest of Arabia be split up by other Arabian clans, rather than just the Saudi clan which eventually beat all of the other clans.
 * Kuwait finishes expanding its territory to the size that the treaty of Tehran set out and they leave the war and begin to consolidate its new land.

The War in Russia, 1912

 * The Russian Empire's forces are split in two after the Russian Republicans and German Lines meet. This cuts of supplies to Moscow and as a result the Moscowy League greatly expand their territory, as do the Mensiviks, Tatars and Cossacks.
 * The Ossetians sign peace treaties with Georgia, Ukraine, the Tatars and the Russian Empire which gives peace from the Ossetians and stabilizes their borders, which puts them out of the war.
 * The Treaty of Baku is signed between the Tatars, Cossacks, Soviets, Mensiviks, Moscowy league, Russian Republicans, Germany, Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Turkestan, Nebesa, Japan, Poland and Ukraine to decide how post war Russian Empire will be split up.
 * The USSR and Poland after the treaty of Baku have all their borders decided with its neighbours and they leave the war since neither Poland or USSR could expand their borders.
 * Nebesa expands northwards and westwards after having its borders decided in the treaty of Baku, and they leave the war as they have nothing else to gain.
 * The Don Cossacks also greatly expand their influence and expand their territory lots. Similarly the Moscowy league also expanded outwards greatly, thanks to finally deciding who would be the Prince of Moscowy out of the main leaders of the Moscowy League of Nobles. On October 17th Prince Ivan of Moscowy was crowned as the constitutional monarch leader of the Grand Duchy of Moscowy. (note I have to do some more research into the Russian Nobility of the time to get a more realistic list of possible Moscowy league members)

The Chinese Civil War, 1912

 * Mongolia, Chinese Democrats, Chinese Anarchists, Chinese Communists and Turkestan continue to push back the various Chinese warlords as the Chinese Civil war begins to finish

The Mexican Civil War

 * The Mexican revolutionaries weaken greatly in lots of American-Mexican joint assaults on rebel strongholds

The Chinese Civil War

 * The remaining Chinese warlords are beaten by the Chinese Anarchists, Chinese Democrats, Mongolia, Chinese Socialists and Turkestan. This causes the Treaty of Borzson to be created and signed on June 1st by the Chinese Democratic Republic, The Mongolian Kingdom, Ordos Free State, The Chinese Socialist Republic (CSR)and the Empire of Turkestan. This treaty mainly fixes the signing countries borders among things; this causes Turkestan, Mongolia and the Chinese Democrats to leave the war; however the Chinese Socialists and Ordos Free State feel like their borders should be different and the Ordos-CSR war begins. However this only lasts until December 31st with the two nations coming to a standstill and the agreeing to the previous borders. This is also known as the useless war of Ordos-CSR due to neither side gaining anything.

The Arabian War

 * The British finish expanding to in Sinai and Yemen and pull out of war in July.
 * The Kurdish separatists successfully take control of a large part of Kurdistan and declare it there own independent state; this takes Kurdistan out of the war.
 * The Saudi clan's army are pushed back by a large assault from the Al Rashid clan

The End of the Mexican Civil War

 * The USA-Mexican armies defeat the last of the Mexican rebels in September and ends the Mexican Civil War.

The Russian Civil War

 * Tartarstan with there controlled territories shown by the Treaty of Baku now taken, Tatarstan leave the war in June after the South Russian Army is defeated by a joint Tatar-Cossack attack in the 3rd battle of the River Don.
 * Latvia pull out of the war in early January due to its economy nearing collapse due to a period of total war and more actual nation building being needed such as hospitals, laws, etc. Lithuania also pulls out but in November instead of January; however both of these countries allow the Germans and other countries against the Russian Empire to transport troops and supplies threw Latvia and Lithuania.
 * Ukraine pulls out of the war with no more land to gain, however they do give a give a few troops to aid the war effort and let their allies threw Ukraine.
 * The Cossacks push back the Central Russian Imperial Army to around the city of Novgorod.
 * The Russian Empire is pushed back in all fronts after each front is only held by one Imperial army, expect the St.Petersburg area which is held by 3 armies.

1914

 * On February the British and Germans sign the treaty of Breman on January 17th which was not only an alliance between the Germans and British but also several territories are switched between the two empires. The Germans give the British the Caprivi Strip and what is to be known as the Tanzanian Lake Passage, which is a large strip of land which basically formed the west of German East Africa including Rwanda & Burundi. This is so the Cairo-Cape town railway could be built in lands controlled by the British. Whereas the Germans gained parts of Nigeria & Gold Coast to make the borders straighter and to gain the resources in these parts. Also the Germans gained British New Guinea which gave the Germans half of the Island of New Guinea. The Germans also required some other things like rail rights and British support in wars and such.

The Russian Civil War

 * The Mensiviks and Cossacks defeat the Russian Imperials in and around Novgorod after the battle of Novgorod which included a 2 month long siege. With this last treat to the Mensiviks and Cossacks gone they leave the war.
 * The Other Russian Armies are pushed back

The Arabian War

 * Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan and Palestine continue to expand their territories.
 * See this for Real world Arabian unification in order to understand more about how this would pan out.

The Russian Civil War ends

 * The Russian Empire surrenders on February 4th with 90% of her army at the start of the war dead, injured or joining other factions. This puts the Russian Empire, Russian Republic, the Don Cossack Republic, the Mensivik Federation, Belarus, and the Duchy of Moscowy; out of the war. This causes the treaty of Baku to be signed by the Russian Empire which shows there consent to the new Russian order.

The Arabian War ends

 * Lebanon finish expanding and leaves the war on January 10th.
 * Oman finishes expanding and leaves the war on May 22th.
 * Palestine finishes expanding and leaves the war on May 30th.
 * Jordan finishes expanding and leaves the war on June 9th.
 * Syria finishes expanding and leaves the war on June 28th.
 * The German troops return home from Russia and the colony of German Arabia is stabilized. These events cause Germany to leave the war around July 1st.
 * Iraq leaves the war after they finish expanding around July 21st.
 * The Saudi clan finish expanding after the surrender of the last fighting Arabian clan, and the modern day state of Saudi Arabia is established on August 1st as they also leave the war in a lavish ceremony.

After-effects of the war
With these last few countries leaving the war, the first world war officially ends on August 1st, even though most countries leave the conflict before this. Millions of soldiers & civilians died in this war and the official figure is still unknown to this day, due to the brutality of the small warlords in the Russian, Arabian and Chinese theatres of war; the figure is estimated to be around 100 million dead. Lots of international borders changed and millions died, but lots of other things happened as a result of the war. A new world order was established with the loss of the Russian Empire and Ottoman Empire as major world powers. The French over-sea's empire was also severely weakened and shrunk. The war also established other countries as major powers such as Japan, Germany, Turkestan, & the USSR. Many other nations were also established such as the Russian Republic, Turkestan, Manchurian Empire, Poland, etc. This war also greatly lessened lots of nations economic power and treasury funds, such as France, Russian Empire and Britain. The years after the war would be tough ones, full of re-stabilization of territories and the global economy. Many independent inquiries were carried out to to discover some of the many war crimes and many ex-generals and such, were put on war crimes trials.