World War I (Early World War I)

1904
In 1904 on a Japanese surprise 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. One sailor and a priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire were also killed. The British government wondered why the Russians would ever think the Japanese Navy had sailed to the North Sea and demanded the 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, the German's were playing their cards close to their chests, and the course of the war. 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) 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 independence brewing in Norway, the Norwegian Parliament declares the union with Sweden dissolved, and Norway achieves full independence on June 7th. 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 4pm 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-Jap 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.

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 Sweedish 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.

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 Lativa 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). With this 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.

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. The French commander of the battle (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.