1915-1918 (19) (The Lusitania Lives)

PoD
On May 7th 1915 the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat after giving several warnings to the Americans that they would would do so, 128 American citizens died and wide spread outrage set in across the States.

However, in this TL the PoD is that Germany decides not to start unrestricted warfare for another year seeing as it would do little for their war effort at the moment and instead would attempt to break the blockade early on using all of their resources to that objective culminating in the Battle of Jutland (this TL, not OTL one) on September 5th which ended with an inconclusive result but ensuring British dominance at sea and a complete British blockade on German trade including American shipments. This, in turn, would bring the Germans to finally declare unrestricted submarine warfare. With both sides hindering American interests in European relations with both the entente and the Central Alliances began cooling quickly.

And now the TL starts on October 17th 1915 after Congress declares all intent on remaining neutral in what they consider a European war, but promise that any agitation by either powers will lead to a possible change in policy to protect American interests.

1915-1917 Stalemate and British Pressure
The battle of Jutland ended indecisively with four British dreadnaughts sunk and five German dreads sunk and six cruisers destroyed among other losses, despite the inconclusive situation surrounding the battle it allowed the British to maintain the blockade, as stated in the Pod we now move onto the TL.

October 17th 1915 the American Congress and President Wilson held a special conference to come to some sort of conclusion on how to protect American interests, with the British now seizing all cargo ships heading for Germany and keeping the Cargo and the German U-boats haunting the waters around Britain, promising to attack all ships they consider legitimate Targets, Wilson and the Pro-entente members of Congress speak in favor of supporting the entente more but much of the congress - as well as the population - still remained slightly sympathetic toward the Germans and were stout isolationists refused any attempts to aid British war efforts. At the end of the meeting no real progress had been made other then America must remain neutral but it must find some way to protect American interests abroad.

Upon hearing this news British would try and get the Americans to go to war through a series of plans including using ships that were considered part of the royal navy but under civilian control to get the Germans to attack them such as the RMS Lusitania. These attempts would however fail as the Germans now weary of American intentions nd hoping to keep at least cordial relations with them decide to pick targets wisely solely attacking military targets and scaring off merchant ships. This would only slightly harm the British war effort but it helped keep the American public largely neutral.

With the water front remaining largely silent apart from commerce raiding since the battle of Jutland the war on the continent raged on with the long trench lines setting into the winter of 1915. No real efforts during that winter were made to break the stalemate, but come spring both sides would prepare for new offences on the western front while the German forces continued to push deep into Russian Poland while Russian forces continued to crush Austrian forces.

Early 1916 efforts would start up again by the German-Austrian command to knock the Russians out of the war. but the line would pretty much the same as OTL except for a few counter offences that successfully took a few parts of Austro-Hungary back.

The western Front would remain largely the same as OTL with the same battles playing out and Germans trying to break French forces at Verdun in august earlier then OTL but suffering massive casualties due to poor terrain and tactical decisions but the French would prove unable to take advantage of this and would suffer a defeat of their own soon after that. This was the only large German offence ad across the rest of the line it would be a strictly defensive war which left thousands of french and commonwealth forces dead across the no man's land.

Americans would continue to remain ambivalent to the war in the old world and would instead be focused on domestic issues and the recent series of border incidents along the southern border with Mexico culminating in the American Invasion of north Mexico to remove Pancho Villa from the area, outrage across Mexico would lead to further tensions in North America and a slow build up of American forces in case a full scale war broke out in the south. Public favor to a full scale intervention in Mexico began to pique the interests of many southerners and some northerners alike to protect American interests and bring order to a revolutionary Mexico. Britain, also fearful of its interests, would try to get America to back off. This would lead to the atmosphere across the continent to go farther south as Pro-isolationists and nationalists shouted loud anti-British rhetoric and recalled the Monroe Doctrine. However, attempts by the Germans to take advantage of this also led to strong anti-German sentiment by the press and the biased Wilson administration. America would further close its doors to the European crisis and focus on the western hemisphere.

The Balkans and Italy remained largely a mess with the failed Serbian and Italian pushes into Austro-Hungary in 1915. Following that, the Austrians supported by Bulgarian and Ottoman forces began surrounding the Serbians and pushing into Serbian territory, but the Serbians successfully pulled out of the area and retreated into Greece where they would operate until later on. Romania would enter the war soon after on the side of the allies and try to take Transylvania, but their campaign would swiftly collapse when joint central forces began pushing into Romania and occupying much of the southern areas.

The Middle Eastern campaign continued as OTL but with some slightly smaller numbers on the French part due to greater a need for troops in France.

Nearing the end of 1916 the war was playing out very much close to OTL except that the British and Canadians began relocating some troops back to North America due to rising tensions with America.

The bloody mess in Mexico would continue to deteriorate as the different factions fought for power, despite mass protests from the population the American government decided not to intervene due to the new risk of Britain,  slow military build up would continue.

In the Far East all of the Austro-Hungarian and German colonies and leases had been seized by the Japanese and British forces, despite Germany's best attempts to get Japan to join the Central powers or, at least, sign a peace treaty were for nothing with the Japanese looking to annex former German colonies currently under their occupation.

With the British efforts to get the U.S.A. in the war failed and with rising tensions, the U.K. began using another strategy to try and gain support from the neutral countries of Europe such as Sweden, Denmark and Holland, but to no avail, Germany would also begin a similar idea but instead of trying to get an alliance Germany would attempt to get aid relief for trade to help relieve the situation in Germany and Austria.

Entering the winter of 1916 another two battles would occur across the western front with a German victory at Ypres but soon having to fall back once British reinforcements and the newly deployed tanks began arriving and another indecisive battle between France and Germany near Verdun ending with massive French casualties and the continuous demoralization of the french army, leading to the start of some defections. With several breakthroughs on the eastern front Russian troops began falling back faster from all lines across the front, leaving the Romanians and Serbians to face the might of the Central forces alone. Italy and Austro-Hungary continued fighting it out across the eastern alps which cost both sides dearly and due to Italian ill prepared forces left thousands dead, while Austrian-German forces slowly advanced into northern Italy.

1917-1919 break throughs: Collapse on the Eastern Front, mass French desertions, America threatens Embargo
The war had been going on for well over two years now with no real progress on the western front, and the ill prepared  eastern Entente falling to pieces as the German war machine slowly pushed east. Italy remained stuck in the Alps and The Ottoman Empire began showing cracks in the centuries old empire.

In the opening months of 1917 Russian forces would begin faltering faster as the German and Austro-Hungarian forces pushed towards their objectives, in February the Red Revolution would begin as in OTL with support from the central powers. The imperial family would be put under house arrest and mass surrendering would begin to appear, without American support for the allied war effort the already ill-prepared Russians would continue to fall into disarray. the new provisional government unstable and unsure how to handle the current situation would fall prey to a series of assassinations and revolts lead by the reactionary right wing leaders and by the revolutionary Soviets based in Moscow and Petrograd, all the while the Russians continued their push into Slavic territory.

Without Russian support Romania folded and requested an armistice with the central powers a mere year after entering the war. Romania would be forced to cede Walachia to Austro-Hungary and all lands taken from Bulgaria during the second Balkans War back to Bulgaria. Serbia would soon follow when Greece lead by a new de facto government requested entry on the side of Germany, King Constantine, a pro-German, had organized and lead a coup that removed the pro-entente prime minister Eleftherios from power. Now an ally of Germany, Greek forces forced the remaining Serbian forces to surrender and Serbia would sign a cease fire with the access soon after, freeing up troops to fight on the other fronts. Greek troops would begin attacking Italian possessions in the Balkans, Occupying a few islands and forcing Italy to divert much needed forces from the Alps front. Serbia would remain under joint Austrian, and Bulgarian occupation as Greek and Bulgarian forces began sending troops to try to help the Ottomans - a nation they had previously fought at the beginning of the decade. Despite the victories of the Central Powers in the Balkans and the rapid gains in Russia discontent began spreading throughout Eastern Europe as nationalism and antiwar riots began breaking out every where south of Vienna.

The fall of their Balkan allies brought greater loss of morale on the western front as it liberated more troops to head towards the Russian front and eventually to France. With the Germans now producing their own tanks though of a different design attempts to breakthrough on both sides began once more as the Allies knew that if Russia should fall it would be a lot harder to end the war against Germany, and Germany rejoicing their streak of victories across Europe hoped to finally bring an end to the war. All attempts were again met with nothing but artillery fire and machine guns mowing down lines of infantry bringing in greater casualties with no great gains to show for it.

At sea the British Blockade held firm and the effects were beginning to show as German agricultural production couldn't keep up with the demand as more civilians were drafted inot the army. Austro-Hungary also began losing stability at a faster rate as ethnic violence continued to spark up. Despite the best efforts of the German High sea Fleet and the U-boats no progress could be made in breaking the blockade and both German and British navies continued to damage trade to the region raising tensions with the USA and hindering Dutch trade with its colonies. In July 1917 the American Government after yet another inconclusive meeting continued to demand that both Germany and Britain cease their harassment of American trade, and anti-European sentiment began flooding through out the States as stories of the brutality and the mass loss of life came pouring from Europe.

In September 1917 General Lavr Kornilov supported by British and French interests launched a coup under the supposed orders of the provisional government to restore order to Petrograd. The coup unlike OTL would prove successful as Lavr retained the loyalty of most of the Russian forces that remained strong and would prove capable of organizing his troops better then OTL, despite the confusion the Provisional government quickly fell and as one of the few successful generals at the time the rest of the armed forces that retained loyalty to the imperial government joined the ranks of the counter-revolution, followed by the reactionaries and monarchists. Within days of the coup the Soviets would launch a second rebellion across the country, sparking the start of the Russian civil war. With the civil war starting the Russian war effort completely collapsed and Central Forces began pushing deep into the Russian empire breaking past the Brest-Litovsk line (OTL extent of the Eastern Front) and pouring past the Baltics into Russia proper and into the Ukraine, without any other choice Lavr's Government was forced to retreat from Petrograd farther inland to handle operations.

With the rapid collapse of the Eastern Front the Communist forces centered in Moscow quickly set up a meeting with the Central Powers to agree on a ceasefire. The Russian Communists in a far more desperate situation then OTL and with the Russian forces further disorganized the Communists were forced to accept to the same treaty as OTL Brest-Litovsk known as the treaty of Kiev, the Communists acknowledged the creation of a free Ukrainian state, the occupation of Russian Poland and the Baltics, whose fate would be determined at a later time, both the allies and the now renamed White Army refused to accept the treaty and called it null and void but without the capacity to deal with the German forces at the time Lavr simply discontinued fighting the Central powers agreeing to a ceasefire until a later time so that he could focus on the Red Army. With the start of the civil war the long oppressed Finnish declared Independence as the Republic of Finland, the state was instantly recognized by Germany and its allies.

With the freeing up of extensive forces on the eastern front the German forces began moving west to get ready for a large spring offense against the remaining entente. French morale would be at an all new low with the new troops heading west from the eastern front, and constant inferior tactics by the French leadership lead to several mutinies against the french commanding officers and refusals to participate in suicidal assaults across the trench lines. In March 1918 the German spring offence would begin, when German forces launched another attack on Ypres and Verdun, both of which managed to break through at the cost of massive losses of life, but could not push much further, having lost Verdun after promising to not retreat under any circumstance, the mutinies across the french line increased but the french and British lines remained relatively firm, despite the breakthroughs made by German forces. It is believed nowadays that the main reason for the strategic failure of the spring offensive was the weariness of German troops and the need to leave large amounts of troops in the east to help occupy the newly gained regions instead of providing greater manpower for the offense west.

The Italian front was now even more dire then before as the Austro-German forces now advanced supported by troops coming from the eastern front. By August 1918 despite British support the Central powers occupied all of northern Italy up to Milan and Venice, unable to continue fighting, and facing major discontent further south and rising violence lead by Communists and right wing nationalists the liberal government capsized and asked for a ceasefire with the central powers, which was granted under the condition that Italy allow Austro-Hungarian and German forces pass through Italian territory to attack France from the south, which Italy grudgingly accepted.

With the mass defeats across southern and eastern Europe of the Entente powers French forces finally had enough and demanded that the government ask for a cease fire or the army would march on Paris itself leaving the country wide open for a German offense, faced with pressure from the army and from the civilians France finally agreed to a ceasefire with Germany and the Central Powers on November 11 1918 marking an end to the fighting on continental Europe.

With its last major ally out of the war Britain was now in alone except for the distant Japanese though the great British fleet protected the homeland and held firm the blockade of the Northern Sea. The High Sea Fleet would attempt another breakout but it would fail and soon after members of the navy would begin refusing to go out to sea to die. Germany despite its success and only fighting Britain niw was on its last legs with mass hunger kicking in back home, and the national debt getting bigger with each passing day.

The Ottomans unlike their allies would not have the same luck and soon enough face more defeats at the hands of the British and the Arabs, finally agreeing to a cease fire in September 1918. and would swiftly fall into a civil war similar to that of Austro-Hungary when oppressed minorities began revolting against Istanbul and a young Turkish General Kemal began a revolt to create a Turkish republic.

America now having faced more then four years of interference in its trade with Europe and its investments coming into risk now demanded an end to the war and threatened to embargo both the U.K. and the German Empire. threatening to use the American navy to cut the trade route between Britain and its colonies and Argentina its largest meat supplier. In January 1919 both Germany and Britain agreed to a ceasefire and accept American mediation.

In Amsterdam all major belligerents except Russia (currently falling apart) and the Ottomans would meet to begin peace talks. the final Amsterdam Accords would be signed establishing the following:
 * The Recognition of the Treaty of Kiev, and the independence of the Kingdom of Ukraine, the Free State of Warsaw (made out of Russian Poland) and the Baltic States under German and Austrian Protection.
 * Germany must withdraw from Belgium and pay for damage caused by the occupation.
 * Germany is granted the Belgium Congo
 * Germany must withdraw from France but no reparations be enforced.
 * France renounce all claims to Alsace-Lorraine.
 * Germany regains all African colonies currently occupied by French and British forces
 * Germany cedes its Far East Territories to Japan and Britain (OTL changes to East Asia in the post war) with proper compensation to Germany.
 * Italy suffers no territorial losses but must allow the occupation of North Eastern Italy as a Demilitarized Zone.
 * Serbia and Russia is blamed for starting the war and is placed under the protection of Austro-Hungary (becomes a Protectorate of Vienna)
 * The Blockade of the North Sea ends upon the signing of the Treaty and both Germany and Britain must pay for damages done to American trade.
 * Palestine and Jordania are to be ceded as protectorates to Britain while Syria is to granted to Germany as a protectorate.
 * Bulgaria is restored to the Pre-Second Balkans War. Romania is to remain under Central powers occupation.
 * A new international forum be created to help preserve world peace and work out problems.
 * Austro-Hungary must grant greater rights to its minorities within six years or face embargo.

The Amsterdam Accords were particularly rough on Serbia and on Russia who re considered by the central powers to have started the war, but it generally established a status quo anti-bellum between the western powers with some minor changes. The Peace talks were largely lead by Britain, the USA, Japan, and Germany while Austro-Hungary was treated as minor member of the alliance. France and Italy, were effectively the defeated powers and suffered accordingly though the peace terms were far lighter then OTL Treaty of Versailles. It did, however, leave large tensions among the former belligerents and left a great chance for a new war in the future. The Ottoman Empire which hadn't been present in the peace talks was greatly angered by the partitioning of the empire but was in little capacity to do anything as Istanbul remained the only real stronghold of the Pasha forces while the rest of the the former empire remained in chaos.

The Accords greatly reshaped eastern Europe as it created a series of new nations which hadn't existed for centuries and it laid the foundations for the Austro-Hungarian Civil War as the Austrian now incapable of sustaining their multicultural empire finally broke apart when Slavic and Hungarian rebels began marching and fighting for independence after September 1919. Forced to try and aid their allies the reluctant German high command sent a large amount to help their German brothers, sparking the start of the Eastern Crisis, a large series of military interventions carried out by Germany, its allies and a reluctant Britain and USA to try and bring some stability to Eastern Europe.

Russia now going into its second year of civil war was not allowed to attend the peace conference and the Reds and Whites continued to ripe each other apart, leading to the former belligerents of the great war to intervene in the civil war (will get into this below.) leading to the integration of the Russian civil war into the greater Eastern Crisis along with the former Ottoman Empire.

The end of the war finally brought an end to American troubles and it began loaning to the damaged countries to help rebuild the shattered economy of Europe. This would help stimulate American business that had suffered for the better part of a decade. But with the investments going into Europe a new period would begin for America and for the rest of the world. The Great War served as a wake up call for the USA as it now saw that it could no longer turn away from what happened in the rest of the World and it needed to protect its interests through any means necessary. It would start by focusing across its southern border by securing its interests in South America in the so called Banana Wars (same as OTL will go into details on a separate page.)

1919-1923 The Eastern Crisis, Beginning of the Roaring 20's, The Start of Ultranationalism and Fascism
East Asia had been unstable for years with the increasing tensions and the constant rise of nationalist sentiments throughout the oppressed regions of the former Russian empire and within the now crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Ottoman Empire.

The fighting in Russia had broken out in Russia after the successful coup lead by Kornilov which removed the moderate provisional government from power and sparked the Soviet uprising. The civil war had been roaring for the last year and a half roughly without any real success for either side, and mounting deaths of innocents due to the red and white terror carried out by both sides. Mass executions and pillaging became coming as both sides hoped to break the spirit of the other force. Most of the royal family was executed in late 1918 as the White Army marched on the region that they were being kept. The only exception was the son of Grand Duke Michael who was a child and managed to escape with his mother and was currently sheltered by Kornilov who planned to use the young one as a rally point for the White Army and unite the anti-Communists.

Austro-Hungary had been in extensive internal strife since before the war with massive anti-Hapsburg sentiment and extensive nationalist movements forming. The Amsterdam Accords only added fuel to the flames growing throughout the minorities and it finally exploded the 16th of September when mass revolts and demonstrations appeared across the nation demanding independence. The Austrian government promised equality and autonomy to each of the groups in mentioning the Accords but the populace sick of Vienna rule and of the strain the war caused to their livelihood, their economy and to their youths lead to increased violence and armed resistance on a minor scale towards authorities, this resistance was largely lead by Slavic nationalist groups, including the now resurgent Black Hand, and other groups. Martial law would be declared and a nation wide crackdown would be launched by the returning soldiers. Again the government chose a poor choice of action and the end result would only prove disaster for Karl I's government as the previously passive majority of the exhausted and hungry population began joining the revolt by the end of the year, leading to increased chaos and violence. The Austrian troops helping in the occupation of the former western Russian empire were called back to help deal with the growing insurrections. Germany would also be asked to supply soldiers to help calm the uprising. Kaiser Wilhelm not wishing to see his closest ally fall apart demanded that the German high command deploy a contingency to help disperse the revolutionary groups in Austro-Hungary. 70,000 German soldiers would march into Austria on the 25th of December 1919. This would aid in restoring order to some areas of the crumbling empire but it would add more hate to the diverse ethnicities that lived under Hapsburg rule and even the previously indecisive Hungarian population rose up against Austrian rule demanding Germany withdraw from all lands not German. With the anarchy that continued to grow within the empire more and more troops would have to withdraw from occupied Poland and Ukraine allowing both Russian Red and White armies to begin operating in the area again. Despite the Reds original acceptance of the Treaty of Kiev it would renounce it soon after operating within the Ukraine began, it would also support a Red uprising that was in the making in Germany in hopes that a Communist Germany could help crush the Nationalist White movement. As more German troops poured into Austro-Hungary violence and terrorism would only increase. German and Austrian forces would be forced to brutally repress the general populace, who fought back more and more rabidly and they began resorting to guerrilla tactics and greater acts of terrorism which shocked the western nations.

The constant bloodshed and the increased strain on the unstable German economy would cause the Red Revolt of 1920 in early summer launched by the Communist parties of Germany in co-ordination with anti-monarchists that had been growing within some parts of Germany since the mid great war. despite some early success without widespread support and due to the German army's experience during the war the uprising was swiftly put down by August 1920. With the failure and with the growing presence of Reds within the German area of Influence the German high command decided that it was time to cut their support for the Reds and pressure the White movement to support their new puppet states and accept the Kiev treaty. The German Army also expelled a large portion of the Polish Community in Eastern Germany into the Republic of Poland.

With the end of the great war and the Amsterdam Accords the great powers to come out of the war as "victors" set about creating an organization to help mediate future problems and help avoid a future conflict of this scale, and, as such, the brain child of Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations came into creation on the 4th of August 1920 (same structure as OTL just different leaders) Despite attempts of a number of the senate and several prominent figures within American society the US Congress refused to enter the organization instead to become an observer. The League Council would be formed by the four major powers to come out of the Great War intact: Britain, France, Germany and Japan, while six non-permanent members would be elected every three years, the first council members would be Brazil, Sweden, Spain, Greece, Thailand (under pressure from Japan) and the Netherlands. The first issue of the new organization was to put an end to the violence occurring in Eastern Europe and bring about reconstruction to Europe. Despite the best efforts of Italy to get a permanent seat on the council, it was refused. Germany would successfully plead its case to the rest of the council on the necessity to intervene in Eastern Europe and Britain would reluctantly dispatch a small amount of troops to aid restore order to areas of interest to it while it set about securing its mandate in the Middle East which had been expanded to include Iraq by the other council members. France would not dispatch any troops at all since it was on very unstable grounds and did not want another uprising from the populace.

The Russian civil war was blowing across northern Eurasia and had began spilling into Eastern Europe as the Communists gained support from left wing factions across the region and the nationalist groups already ripping each other apart began attacking the worker factions. The USA and Britain determined to get what was owed to them by the Russian government supported the Kornilov war effort and scared of a spread of Communist ideals grudgingly agreed to an alliance of sorts with each other and with Germany to put an end to the Communist wild fire. The American and commonwealth forces would largely enter Eastern Europe through Finland and Nationalist controlled Russia and some thousand troops would be sent to aid the Japanese who also feared the spread of Communism to secure Eastern Russia and then push west to the Urals. The Japanese, looking to secure their northern border, decided to intervene in the civil war sending 25,000 troops into eastern Russia with the intention of either establishing a puppet state or annexing as much land as they could. The Germans already fighting the vast nationalist and terrorist groups in former Austro-Hungary, would filter more troops into Eastern Europe to help with both interventions and would set about training pro-German organizations in Eastern Europe - largely in the Ukraine and in Poland and Lithuania - successfully creating the backbone of the future Ukrainian royal army. Also, German troops would begin putting to use more and more military inventions created late in the Great War such as tanks and the MP 18 - a sub machine gun developed by Theodor Bergman and would be noted for its great potential and increased usage by the German Imperial Army. The weapon would soon be noticed by the other major powers for its possibilities and for the fear of German ingenuity, The USA would swiftly try to reproduce the weapon eventually developing the Thompson Sub machine Gun (developed later then OTL due to lack of American interest in it until the end of the Great War).

China was another region in an absolute mess as it had finally ended the revolutionary period only to enter one of warlords who constantly fought for control of the region and with Puyi finding refuge in Japanese Lushen. The Germans and Austrians no longer had any concessions in China since they ceded them to Japan but France and the U.K. still controlled theirs to some degree having been greatly weakened by the war. The other colonies had been greatly shocked by the war as well as it had shown that the European powers weren't all powerful and could collapse such as the case of Austria and Russia. There would occur a strong uprising in French Indochina which would continue for several years, and several riots in the British Raj which would all end in bloodshed as the British authorities swiftly clamped down on them.

The Ottoman Empire had collapsed in late 1918 after requesting a ceasefire with the Entente. The Pasha forces only controlled Thrace and some isolated areas of the country by early 1920 when German and British expeditionary forces moved into their respective Mandates. The Germans would swiftly take the coast line of Syria and establish a base of operations to extend their control to the rest of the region which would prove easy with the Arabs killing each other in the south or resisting British take over of Palestine and Iraq and the Turks fighting the ethnic minorities and the remnants of the Ottoman forces in Anatolia. The Republican revolutionaries lead by Kemal would prove far better then the generals who had fought during the great war and a central government would be established in Ankara. The Turkish Republicans would begin fighting Armenian and Kurdish separatists and successfully break most of their forces within the next year. However, the northern minorities would succeed in gaining independence for a time supported by the Russian Reds. Greece, anxious to restore the so-called Greater Greece, requested permission to intervene in the civil war and eventually annex areas deemed Greek. The British and the Germans accepted to their request and Greece would soon intervene in the civil war with Bulgarian and German support over running Istanbul and Ottoman Thrace swiftly ending the Ottoman Empire which had existed for more then four centuries. With this, the civil war ended and all powers involved in the conflict met at the negotiation table and the Treaty of Constantinople would be signed by the grudging Turkish republicans and Arabs in early 1921 when Germany and Britain pressed a ceasefire on them. The Treaty secured the following: The treaty caused mass movements of Greeks and Turks trying to leave the areas controlled by the other and left a bitter resentment in later years towards each other. Greece would restore the name of Constantinople to Istanbul. The German and British acceptance of Greek annexation of Thrace allowed Greece to remain an important German ally in the region and allowed a warming of relations between  Athens and London. However, the treaty quickly ended German friendship with the Turks and a closer alignment of Turkey to German enemies in the following decades. After the treaty the Greeks requested that Cyprus be ceded to them by the British. This request was largely supported by the USA, Germany and the Cypriot Greeks who wanted to enter a union with Greece. Eventually, London agreed after much consideration.
 * Both British and German Mandates would be accepted by the Turkish leaders.
 * The Republic of Turkey would be established along OTL borders minus Thrace and all islands off the coast of Anatolia which would be ceded to Greece.  (Turkey threatened to leave the negotiating table several times but threats from both the major powers and the looming threat of further Kurdish and Armenian revolts forced them to accept this clause)
 * Greece renounce all claims to Anatolia.
 * The Arabic kingdom of Saudi Arabia be accepted by all warring parties.
 * Istanbul should become a demilitarized zone under Greek administration.

By the end of 1920 the fighting in Austro-Hungary had improved a bit in the North with Austrian proper and Bohemia under firm German control but everything East and South was still a hell on earth with violence and brutality being commonplace among the warring factions, The South Slavs decided to join together into a single state centered around Serbia, since it was the only true entity in the region. This move was unacceptable by Austrian standards but Germany, now tired of the constant bloodshed and increasing opposition back home, cared little about the state. Hungary also began forming a solid area of influence and borders, and the armed resistance there was far better organized then anywhere else in the empire since it was built on the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary and many national Hungarians who had previously served in the army defected to the rebellious state. In May 1921 all sides, tired of fighting, finally agreed to meet to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Austrian civil war. Despite Vienna's best attempts to push forward their federation idea, the Germans realized it was impossible at this point and decided to support the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and eventually convinced the Austrian liberals and industrial progressionists to accept this. Soon after an end to hostilities was secured in October that same year, the Treaty of Budapest would be signed and the Berlin Accords would be established stating the Following: With the final end to the conflict in Eastern Europe Germany pushed forward the Reichstag and high command's modified plans for Eastern Europe in the form of the the Eastern European Community an economic and military alliance between Germany and its allies. The E.E.C. would have as its signatories, Germany, Austria (grudgingly due to German aid in the partitioning of A-H), Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania (including the whole of the Baltics), Finland and Czechoslovakia. Romania, though offered a chance, refused due to the sour relations over Transylvania decided to remain outside the E.E.C. and soon became aligned once more with Russia. Yugoslavia also sour over the Denial of Slovakian areas would also eventually go towards the Russian camp in the following years. Despite the dissolution of Austria-Hungary the creation of the E.E:C. allowed for a slow but stable process of reconstruction and balance in the economy of the region with greater co-operation then OTL.
 * Treaty of Budapest:
 * 1) The restoration of the Kingdom of Hungary independent of Austria under the Hapsburg Monarchy, the State of  Hungary shall include all ethnic Hungarian regions plus Transylvania it would however have to cede the German-speaking areas in the west to Austria. (it would however have to cede Slovakia to Czechoslovakia due to high resistance on the Slovakian part to Hungarian rule)
 * 2)  The Foundation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (OTL Yugoslavia minus Carniola)
 * 3) The Republic of Austria (OTL Austria plus Italian majority regions retained since Italy lost in this TL and Carniola)
 * 4) Galacia to be ceded to the Kingdom of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland split along ethnic lines.
 * 5) And the creation of Czechoslovakia out of Former Bohemia-Moravia without the German-speaking border (OTL Sudetenland) area which would be ceded to Germany.
 * Berlin Accords:
 * 1)  The Recognition of the treaty of Budapest by all major powers.
 * 2) An agreement to friendship and economic cooperation between all nations created out of the former Austrian Empire.
 * 3) German protection of the independence of all states in eastern Europe.
 * 4) A new Balance of Power in Europe.

With the stabilizing situation in former Austria-Hungary and the former Ottoman Empire, German efforts now focused towards the gains granted it by the Kiev Treaty and began sending all the forces that had previously been in A-H to the pro-German Polish and Ukrainian regions to evict Russian forces and eventually help end the civil war.

Italy was in shambles following the great war, it had lost a war that many had not wanted to enter in the first place annd had been humiliated in the process forced to accept an occupation. However due to the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the occupation of Eastern Italy never came about with the Germans carrying more about Eastern Europe then about the small defeated Italian state. The liberal government began facing major opposition in 1918. The military was in shambles and being demobolized this would further strain the already rocky italian economy which simply collapsed in mid 1919. This would lead to the opposition becoming visably more violent and supporting the previously minor Communist and reactionaries. One particular group known as the Fascistas lead by Benito Mussolini began campaigning against the government and against the Communist and left wing parties. Mussolini called the liberal govenment a pack of cowards inepts and traitors, and called the loss a shameful disgrace forced upon the proud italian people by the oppresive Central Powers. The stalwuarts of the party known as blackshirts would openly attack other parties and disrupt rallies, the party became increasingly violent over time as ex-soldiers began filling its ranks looking for work and word in an destroyed economy and political enviorment. The vioence would continue to spread and the police simply stopped attempting to hold the peace hiding in fear. The Communist agitators would eventually lead a revolt and try to take power in November 1920 which would be largely successful throughout areas of the country. However, the Blackshirts lead by Mussolini (in OTL he didn't participate) lead a march on Rome in an attempt to curtail the chances of the Communists of taking power, and they demanded a new government or face a coup. King Emmanuel III would force prime minister Francesco Saverio Nitti to resign and requested that Mussolini create a new parliament which Mussolini took advantage. Due to the monarchist loss of popularity during the Great War since Emmanuel had made the decision to go to war himself, Mussolini gave him 48 hours to leave Italy face death along with the rest of his family, scared for his life and realizing he had invited the wolf into his home fled along with his family to Malta and then to London in December 1920. Now the king in exile Mussolini declared the end of the Kingdom of Italy and the formation of the Republic of Italy declaring that elections would be held, but through violence and bribery along with poopular support among the middle class he won by a landslide and set about reducing the democratic functions of the government and building his dreamed dictatorship. His opening speech as President called for the restoration of Italian pride, to put an end to class struggle and to finally unite all the Itallian people. After the speech he would be affectionately known as the Duce which he would eventully adopt as his title as leader of the Italian republic. He would immideately start by accomodating the right wing leaders of the country into the parliament and put forward a program of integration of all social classes like OTL.

France had left the great war after accepting a minor defeat at the hands of the German forces in the final part of the war and had entered an economic reccession in the immiadiate post war and with a very unstable government. The government was trying to regain the confidence of the population and greatly distrusted the military which had almost raised up arms and refused to continue fighting in the war. The Indchinese revolt which was raging in south east asia. The military hated the government as they saw it as corrupt, ineppt regime that had no idea how to run the country, soon enough the military and the government began trading insults and threats at one another but an easy peace would hold as the french empire was teatering on collapse while Communist agitators began arising within the ranks of the populace so the two pillars of french society remained passive for the moment, but the shadow of distrust and wounded pride which wouldn't be forgotten by anyone.

Japan had left the war a victor but it soon became involved in the Russian Civil War like its counterparts in the west and the war cost was continuing to grow, this mixed with the complications of shifting into a peace economy and trying to expand Japan's industrial base slowly led to decrease in economic growth and Japanese society began struggling same way it did OTL in the period, however the Taisho political reforms and shift towards parliamentarism and universal suffrage continued however the growth of Communists among the some of the lower class greatly scared the liberal and conservative coalition in power and eventually the clause for social preservation and civil order would be passed in 1921 which greatly curtailed Communist chances to take power in Japan and kept power within the hands on centrist andright wing politicians  who tried and had some success in reaaproachment with Germany and the U.S.A. to re-stimulate the country's economy by importing the necesary natural resources necesary to further Japanese industrial expansion and entry into heavy industry which its leaders saw as necesary for the country's future success as a great power, the Zaibatsus continued to thrive thanks government policies. This would help to an extent in the restoration of economic prosperity in the future years but it would take a while to normalize the economy.

America had entered the 1920's with a raging economy aided laregely by investing in latin america and in the reconstruction of Europe. However the American non-interference in the Great War left the society slightly divided on foriegn policy with many supporting a greater intervention in world affairs to assert american position in maters while many other still wanted to remain in isolation. Reations between the U.S.A. and the major victors of the war was still rocky but restored economic ties and the joint effort to curtail Communist interests helped ease tensions and normalize relations. Wilson left power in 1921 with mixed feelings towards his government and with many regrets about not leading the country into the great war. His ratings were significantly lower then they had previously been do to the controversy around his position on the war and his confrontations with the senate. He would be succeded by Ex-General Leonard Wood who won the republican bid for 1920 due to Wood's strong and procise foriegn policy and his support from the old Roosevelt faction, with Harding not presenting for the bid due to health issues. He would prove an ardent supporter of the Red Scare and also promote greater american intervention in world affairs especially central america extending the banana wars started over a decade before along with try and extert greater influence over an increasingly populist Mexico. Wood's administration would also become famous in later years for its unprecidented support for the socialist crackdown where the police and army participated in a series of repressions against left wing gtherings and riots gaining much support from the country's elite, but alienating many of his supporters who had previously backed him due to his close realtionship with Roosevelt.

Britain had come out of the war one of the only two nations still standing at the end of the Great War apart from Germany (Austro-Hungary though standing, was on the verge of collapse and being helped up solely by German support), and left the war without any loss of territory, though the loss of life was unmatched in any previous conflict. The war also greatly strained the previously strong relationship with the U.S.A. and weakened the British empire greatly with several revolts occurring in India - though they all were suppressed. Britain would soon be pulled into the Russian civil war and the Eastern European Crisis, which only helped weaken the situation. The region most restless was Ireland which had been demanding autonomy for the longest time. A bill to grant home rule was postponed at the outbreak of the war so the region continued to become more and more violent eventually leading to the 1919 declaration of Independence where the Irish Volunteers and other nationalist groups started a guerrilla war against British authorities and against the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) with large success. With the British forces spread thin across the world and with a tired population, popularity for keeping the island was low despite the common belief amongst the English that Ireland was a intelgral part of the Kingdom. However, Lloyd's cabinet was intent on keeping the integrety of the Ilses intact. Most of the world was focused on internal problems or the growing violence on continental Europe. However, the war for Irish independence would become increasingly brutal as Irish revolutionaries stepped up their campaign and began looking for international recognition, gaining sympathy in the U.S.A. and other neutral powers, However, Germany was absorbed in the Russian war at this point and gave little support for the Irish plight. However by 1922, the British, exhausted from fighting for over eight years in a series of wars, began suffering from riots demanding British withdrawal from all conflicts and focus on reconstruction of the empire. With that and the growth of diplomatic support from Wood''s administration in the States, Lloyd finally accepted that it was time to end British intervention in the wars in Europe and withdrew from the Russian civil war and signing the Treaty of Dublin with the Irish Republican Army and ceding all of the Catholic parts of the island to the Irish Free State, keeping the Protestant north inside the empire. This raised mass outrage from the Revolutionaries but tired and in need of reconstruction themselves, and in need of foriegn support, did not press the issue. Soon after the end of the war American diplomats would sign a treaty of friendship and economic co-operation with the Irish Free State - giving them a new friend in an uncertain world. ''

With the sudden withdrawal of the british from the Civil War the Communists woefully hoped that the other foriegners would back as well but to no avail with German and Japanese forces stepping up their campaign to support the end to the Communists. In late 1922 a string of victories by the White forces and the International coalition in the Caucasian region and near Moscow forced the reds to withdraw from their base of power and head into the Urals and into Siberia where the winter took a further toll on them. Lenin would fall victom to raid carried out by the imperial army in January of 1923. Upon his body being discovered amongst the dead it would be hung up in the centre of Moscow when Lovr personally lead the entry into the city. With this, the final nail in the coffin of the first Communist revolution had been hammered in and Trostky would eventually flee the country for fear of his life while Stalin would continue the losing war for the next few months until his own capture in Nevosibirik. Despite the momentum that the soviets had carried without strong leadership the rest of the Red Army soon fell apart into a series of guerrilla groups and bandits which would fall over the net decade. In October 1923 the White Army declared victory after six years of fighting and Lovr its hero. The following treaty of Petrograd would be signed between the new Russian Duma led by the leaders of the counter-revolution and the International coalition. Despite Kornilov's reluctance the treaty reaffirmed the treaty of Kiev accepting the independence of its former western territories and cede the rest of Sakhalin to Japan in exchange for their "support" for the anti-Communist forces, along with repayment of loans giving by the supporting powers. With the War over Lovr was declared Grand Marshall of the Russian Empire and regent for the young Czar George Romanov (formerly George Mickhailovich), a new constitution would be writing giving power to the Duma but making the Duma subservant to the new position of Grand Marshall, and it limited the seats to the landed aristocracy, capitalists and military leaders, effectively ending the period of absolute rule of the Czars and the beginning of a military dictatorship supported by the nobility. The new regime would set about pushing forward reforms to modernize Russia's military and economy along with suppressing the ramnents of the reds, while looking for an outlet to keep the populations anger away from the officials ,finding it in the "treacherous" minorities, mainly Russia's large Jewish and caucasian population leading to the eventually expansion of the pogroms and other programs of similarly violent nature.

With the east finally somewhat peaceful Germany could set about restoring order and prosperity to the Empire and  and finally enjoy their victory over France and Russia. However, the war and the subsequent revolutions throughout Eastern Germany had awakened the nation's minds to the ideas of self determination long dormant under the spell of nationalism and enlightened rule, and the populace began demanding greater liberties and a larger voice in the country's management. This would face resistence from Wilhelm but facing a possible return of internal instability and stout support ffrrom the growing liberals, social-democrats and even from the imperial forces Wilhelm finally agreed on christmas 1923 as a gift to his loyal German subjects a revision of the German constitution and an expansion to the Reichstag to reform the imperial government, this would allow be met with wide spread celebration across the country and German pride once again began surging high for the first time in over a decade.