The Great War (Great Rapprochement)

With the death of Franz-Ferdinand of Austria, the complex web of alliances of Europe began unraveling into factions that quickly polarized into two world alliances pitted against one another.

Siding with Austro-Hungary were Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The souring of Confederate relations with Britain had lead it into the arms of the Central Powers.

The Entente grew gradually to encompass France, Portugal, Great Britain, and by extension the Kingdom of Canada. Italy eventually joined on the side of the Entente, notwithstanding its treaties with Germany and Austria-Hungary. The USA joined to counterbalance the effect of the Confederates siding with the Central Powers.

The war was bloody, if not the bloodiest in human history, with the infrastructure on both continents disastrously weakened.

European War
On the 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student, killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, a group whose aims included the unification of the South Slavs and independence from Austria-Hungary. The assassination in Sarajevo set into motion a series of fast-moving events that eventually escalated into full-scale war. Austria-Hungary demanded action by Serbia to punish those responsible, and when Austria-Hungary deemed Serbia had not complied, declared war. Major European powers were at war within weeks because of overlapping agreements for collective defense and the complex nature of international alliances. Although the war began with fast paced cavalry charges and the like it wasn't long before the war degenerated into trench warfare. Victory in Europe was only obtained thanks to the overpowering effect of the Royal Navy on Germany who began to collapse under the loss of commodity products.

American War
The USA and CSA swiftly degenerated into trench warfare in a sombre comparison to the European War

Aftermath of American War


Within a matter of months, the CSA had secured Cuba and Porto Rico as their territories, and the USA the Philippines and Guam. A full peace was negotiated in the end months of 1898, and ratified by the congresses of the Confederate States and the United States in January and February respectively.

This war did little to ease the tensions between the CSA and the USA, and served only to hone the military apparatuses of these two feuding nations. The CSA became embittered against the British because of their support of the United States, and diplomatic tensions increased between the two nations.