1914-1929 (1914 Incident)

This is a history of the years 1914 through 1929 of the timeline 1914 Incident.

The 1914 Incident
At the beginning of the 1914 Incident, Germany did not have a competent leader, and it was becoming increasing isolated from the other great powers. France had lost its territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Russia was lagging behind other nations in technology. Austria-Hungary was falling apart due to ethnic tensions. Britain didn't have any true allies in Europe. As tensions rose, a war between the great powers seemed to be inevitable. When Austria-Hungary's heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated on June 28, 1914, by Serbian nationalists, Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia. Unacceptable, Serbia only agreed to some of the terms. Austria-Hungary then declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.

Following the string of war declarations, the war pitted Serbia, Russia, and France against Germany and Austria-Hungary. The first army movements began, as Austro-Hungarian soldiers invaded Serbia. Germany used its (unmodified) Schlieffen Plan to invade France, while Russia continued to mobilize. French armies began to invade Alsace-Lorraine, and the Belgians put up heavy resistance to invading Germans.

Since Germany considered the treaty protecting Belgium to simply be a piece of paper, they were not expecting any nation to come to Belgium's aid. However, many British politicians called to defend Belgium's neutrality. A vote in Parliament was narrowly unsuccessful in declaring war, and is the POD of this timeline. Instead, a moderate proposal, condemning Germany and giving aid to Belgium, was passed. Without British support, Germany entered French territory just before the end of August.

Likewise, France had also made large gains into Alsace-Lorraine. By early September, France had re-acquired the territory, and were entering Baden (the southwestern most Kingdom of Germany). Despite their gains, Germany had already made sizable gains in northeast France. Another problem was that, by early September, Russian troops were starting to arrive on the Eastern Front. Russia, facing little resistance, was able to occupy several parts of eastern Germany, and nearly reached Königsberg before the tide turned against them.

France had been lulled into a false sense of victory. When reports came in that Germany had almost reached Paris around September 10, French commanders, who were now reaching into Württemberg, panicked and withdrew to defend Paris. However, this was too late. By the time the first French reinforcements arrived, German forces had already surrounded Paris. The German government offered France a peace if they agreed to give present-day Benin to Germany, Tunisia to Italy, and most of present day Guinea to Austria-Hungary, as well as relinquish claims to Alsace-Lorraine. The rather merciful peace was accepted by France on September 16, though it was rather unpopular among the people.

With France kicked out of the war, attention now turned to Russia and the Balkans. Montenegro had declared war on Austria-Hungary in late August, and the Serbs were putting up heavy resistance. However, Austria-Hungary offered Bulgaria some Serbian land if they helped in the Balkan Front. Bulgaria accepted the deal, and entered the war. On October 22, Montenegro and Serbia jointly surrendered, and were annexed by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, Germany was sending huge amounts of its powerful army to fight the Russians in the Eastern Front. Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria also began to send their forces to the Eastern Front. By September 25, the Russian advance had been stopped, and a stalemate began. Though heavy casualties were incurred on both sides, on November 9, Russian lines were smashed during an offensive. The Central Powers pushed back the Russians, in a constant retreat, reaching Smolensk on December 14. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria offered Russia a peace in exchange for territorial concessions, with Congress Poland going to Germany, and Bessarabia going to Romania, who had agreed to remain neutral.

With all fronts closed, the war truly was over by Christmas, unlike OTL.