Talk:World War I (New World)

Rough timeline:

If you wish to see something, this is the current outline for the WWI (again, years and some details are subject to change due to previous, yet undeveloped events ITL, but main line-ups are not). Middle Eastern and Central Asian fronts still undeveloped due to my lack of expertise. Also post-war events like the Russian Civil War, the partition of the Ottoman Empire, and the French Revolution still lack development.

March 14, 1914: Bulgaria, with support from Hungary, decides to grab Macedonia from Serbia. On this day, Serbia is presented with demands for the immediate cessation of this region. It declines.

March 21, 1914: Bulgaria mobilizes against the Serbian Border. Serbia mobilizes as well, and, unexpectedly, so does Romania.

March 23, 1914: In a quiet meeting in Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm summons the leading members of German nobility--the Princes and Kings of smaller German States, including King Ferdinand of Austria and Hungary. As much a matter of formality as well as an issue of state, the important portion of the gathering, just two hours out of the six hour meeting, discusses the German and Hungarian position on the Bulgarian-Serbian crisis. Although some reiterate variations of Bismarck's predictions that some Balkan Incident would trigger a global war, the ruling elites are pleasantly reminded that should the situation come to that, the German-Hungarian Armies are fully capable of crushing France in the same great way as it happened in 1870. With their support in hand, Germany's position is finalized--Germany will support Bulgaria, and the Entente would either read the writing on the wall and let it happen, or they will lose a quick war, just as 1870 had been before.

March 25, 1914: Serbia formally requests Russian Assistance. A firefight breaks out on the Serbian-Bulgarian border, later revealed to be caused by Serbia.

March 26, 1914: Russia begins to mobilize. Germany protests; the German Army begins to counter mobilize.

March 27, 1914: Unexpectedly, France begins to mobilize. The French idea is that they can finish their mobilization first, and press the advantage to grab and hold AL from Germany.

April 2, 1914: Bulgaria receives support for Germany for a Plebiscite of Macedonian Territory. Serbia responds by launching a surprise attack against Bulgaria, apparently with Russian Support.

April 10, 1914: With Russia still mobilizing, France attacks a fully mobilized Germany. The attack achieves local surprise, and France seizes Metz and Strasbourg.

April 11, 1914: Italy denounces France's surprise attack, begins to mobilize. France is forced to begin diverting reinforcements to protect its southern flank.

April 12, 1914: Russia and Germany do not declare war, but admit that a state of war exists between them.

April-May 1914: The French consolidate their hold on AL; resisting a hastily assembled German counterattack. France responds by building trenches to cover the area.

In the Eastern Front, the German Army is forced to withdraw from Konigsberg and is in full retreat against a Russian enemy who outnumbers them 2:1 on some parts of the Front.

Another Front opens as Italy begins to attack and faces counter attack along the French Border.

Acting on his own initiative, the aggressive commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet, Admiral Essen, who thinks it is highly probable that Sweden go to war, confronts the Swedish navy at Gotland with the Baltic Fleet to demand that they abandon that base and not come back. The Swedish refuse and a fight ensue. Angered Swedish parliament heeds the advice of the King to join the side of Germany and mobilizes to “curb naked acts of aggression by the barbaric Czarist autocracy”.

The USA declares their strict neutrality in the war.

June 1914: The Miracle of Tannenburg. A Haphazard Russian Advance and rivalry between the Russian commanders means that the Russian advance is fragmented and vulnerable. Paul Von Hindenburg achieves one of the greatest victories in the war by smashing the Russian armies, despite their numerical superiority.

The fighting has already begun to spread to colonial engagements. Tunisia is hotly contested by Italy and France and Equatorial Africa by Germany and France.

Attacked from three sides (Hungary from the North, Bulgaria from the East, and Italy from the West, the latter sending an expedition corps across Montenegro and Albania), Serbia quickly collapses after two months of war, and it is occupied by the Allied powers, its entire army captured or destroyed.

July 14, 1914: The UK decides to formalize its control over Afghanistan; a move they know to be provocative, but Russia is in no position to refuse. Unfortunately, as UK forces begin moving into Afghanistan en masse, Russia begins to do the same.

July-September 1914: The French positions in AL are gradually pushed back. Despite their best efforts and a counterattack, France is unable to hold their gains. In the south, Italy is stalemated, advancing no more than 20 miles into French territory. And during this time, Russian forces are slowly being beaten backward by Germany.

To resolve this situation, France begins to plan a strategic diversion through Belgium by encircling the northern half of the German army and invading Rhineland. They begin to redeploy their forces against the border of Belgium and enter in secret talks with his government; they are promised Maastricht, the duchy of Luxemburg, and Eupen-Malmedy in exchange for free transit through their territory. The Belgian remain uncommitted. Russia redeploys her forces against Hungary.

Sweden occupies the Aland isles.

October-November 1914: After much hesitation, the government of Belgium decides to grant free access to France. The French army crosses the border of Belgium. However, widespread indignation over the violation of the country’s national integrity and neutrality explodes throughout the country, especially among the pro-German Flemish population. Widespread grassroots rebellion arises in Flanders and hastily assembled militias form to oppose the passage of the French army, while the Walloon split, some join the patriotic uprising but others welcome the French.

Germany stops advance on the AL front and redeploys forces to the Belgian border. Italy attacks on the Alps and sends some armies to the AL and Belgian fronts. Already suspicious with the Russian encroachments in Afghanistan, Britain takes issue with the violation of Belgian neutrality and declares war on the Entente. Fearful for their own territorial integrity, the Netherlands mobilize and side with the Alliance. The British Expeditionary Force lands in Netherlands and marches south with the Dutch army.

France is forced to expand its advance in Belgium to cover the threat from the north but it is delayed by Flemish insurgents (the war crimes of France against the Flemish become a major propaganda issue of the Allies, the much-publicized "rape of Flanders").

The Russian offensive in Galicia is stalemated after limited gains.

British and Russian armies clash in Afghanistan and Persia.

December 1914-February 1915: the French offensive in Belgium is stopped on the Antwerp-Maastricht-Malmedy line. The successful defense of Aachen by combined Allied forces is much celebrated as “defending the cradle of Europe against Napoleonic tyranny and Slavic barbarism”. Confronted with widespread anti-French insurgence and the growing ethnic and political polarization of the country, the government of Belgium resigns, and the King tries to flee the country, but he is captured and put under house arrest. Belgium is put under military occupation and a Walloon puppet government is set up by France. A government in exile is set up in London.

Allied British-German-Italian fleets defeat the French fleet off the coasts of Brittany and Corsica. France and Russia are put under tight naval blockade, which effectively curtails any supply for the French troops in the colonies and seriously cripples Franco-Russian commerce, albeit the French are able to smuggle some through neutral Spain.

Japan enters secret talks with Britain and her allies about fulfilling his alliance obligations. Agreement is reached for a land offensive in spring and combined naval action; a Japanese sphere of influence in Inner and Outer Manchuria.

March-May 1915: the Western Front stabilizes in a near-continuous line of trenches from Antwerp to Cannes, only broken along the Swiss border, as various Allied and French offensives and counter-offensives fail to obtain a breakthrough.

At an Allied conference in Vienna, it is agreed to obviate the stalemate in Belgium and France by wearing down France with a war of attrition, naval blockade, and amphibious harassment, and to try and knock Russia out of the war by engaging her on multiple theaters. Unified Allied commands are created for the Western and Eastern fronts (under German leadership) and for the Allied navies (under British leadership). Germany, Britain, and Italy transfer forces on the Eastern front.

A second Russian offensive in Galicia fails.

Japan masses troops on the Yalu river and declares war on Russia. Japanese armies swarm Southern Manchuria: Mukden and Kirin fall, Ussurisyk and Vladivostok are encircled.

Allied fleets defeat the Russian Navy in the Black Sea and the Sea of Japan.

German-Swedish forces land in Vaasa and cut the railroad which supplies Russian troops on the Swedish front.

June-August 1915: A combined German-Hungarian offensive on the two-sides of the Poland-Galicia salient causes a strategic breakthrough, the destruction of four Russian armies, and a general Allied advance.

Japanese secure Harbin and Imam, Vladivostok surrenders. The Russian Army evacuates Primorsky and retreats beyond the Amur river.

A Swedish offensive on the border with Finland breaks through the Russian forces in Kemi. A Russian general retreat from Northern and Western Finland is enacted.

Italian troops occupy Djibouti and Tunisia and advance into Algeria; Anglo-German troops occupy Morocco and French Equatorial Africa.

In order to curb Allied naval activities in the Black Sea, Entente diplomats successfully lobby Ottoman ministers with bribes, subsidies, promises of territorial gains in Egypt and Persia, and limited cessions in the Caucasus. The Ottoman Empire closes navigation in the Bosporus and the Dardanelles to warships. Outraged Allies, seeing their operations in the Black Sea curtailed, send a fleet to demand reopening of the Straits. Tensions escalate and a naval skirmish accidentally takes place which sinks some Turkish warships. The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Allied powers.

September-October 1915: The Russians are forced to withdraw from Poland, Lithuania, western two-thirds of Belarus, Volhynia, Galicia, and Western Podolia, to the Riga-Dvinsk-Bobruysk-Mozyr-Zhitomir-Proskurov-Czernowitz line and Dvina and Berezina rivers. The Tsar takes supreme command of the army.

The Finland front stabilizes in Tampere.

Japan conquers Sakhalin Island.

Greece mobilizes and declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

The Allies occupy Algeria, Chad, and Niger.

November-December 1915: Russia enters into secret talks with Romania, which is promised Transylvania in exchange for her entry into the war. Romania agrees.

Guinea, Upper Volta, and Ivory Coast are occupied by the Anglo-Germans.

An Allied multinational force is landed in Alexandropolis. Bulgarian and Greek forces engage the Ottomans in Eastern Thrace and slowly press forward.

January-February 1916: The Edirne province of eastern Thrace is occupied by the Allied armies.

March-April 1916: Romania mobilizes, opens its border to Russian armies, and declares war on Hungary. The Romanian army and Russian forces cross the Southern Carpathian mountains and invades Transylvania. After initial gains, a Hungarian counterattack with German and Italian reinforcements stops the Romanians and the Russians.

Senegal and Mauritania are occupied by the Anglo-Germans.

May-June 1916: Despite their best efforts and Russian assistance, Romania is repelled to her borders and loses Dobruja.

Successful Allied landings in Gallipoli and later at Sarkoy and Tekirdag outflank the Ottoman front on the Hyrabolu river. Turkish forces evacuate the Kirkareli and Tekirdag provinces. Allied warships control the Sea of Marmara. Constantinople is besieged.

A Japan offensive forces the Amur river at Dzalinda and cuts the Transiberian railway.

July-August 1916: Combined German-Hungarian and Italo-Bulgarian offensives break the Russian-Romanian army and overrun Wallachia. Bucharest falls. Russian forces retreat to Moldavia.

Swedish landings in Turku outflank the Finland front in Tampere. The Russian army retreats on the Hudenvese to cover Helsinki. Russian presence in Finland is restricted to the southeastern strip.

Allied landings in Kanakkale and Tuzla secure the Asian side of the Straits. Allied fleets force the Bosporus. General Japanese offensive breaks the Amur line. The Russian forces retreat from Outer Manchuria.

September-October 1916: the British land at Odessa and the Allied armies in Moldavia renew their offensive. Three Russian armies are destroyed; the others are pushed beyond the Bug river. Romania is completely overrun and surrenders.

Constantinople surrenders. The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice.

The Far Eastern front is stabilized on the Stanovoy Mountains.

November-December 1916: the Eastern Front stabilizes as the Russians retreat beyond the Dnepr river.

Unrest grows in Russia about the repeated military defeats, the heavy casualties, and the severe economic hardships caused by the blockade.

February-April 1917: Revolution erupts in Russia. The Czar is deposed. The Duma establishes a Provisional Government. A rival power center develops in the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The Russian Army collapses.

Armistice talks are started but break down when Russian representatives reject the Allies’ demands (independence for Finland, the Baltic duchies, Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland).

Allied armies start a general advance on the Eastern front and occupy Latvia, Estonia, Helsinki, Vyborg, Karelia, Pskov, eastern Belarus, Smolensk, Bryansk, Kursk, eastern Ukraine, Kharkov, Donetsk, and Rostov.

The provisional Government of Russia resigns itself to the inevitable and signs the Armistice of Brest-Litovsk, which gives up the control of Poland, the Baltic duchies, Finland, Karelia, Belarus, Ukraine, Transcaucasia, and Inner/Outer Manchuria to the Allies.

May 1917: Peace talks are started between France and the Allies but soon break down as France balks at the harsh peace terms proposed by the Allies (return of Alsace-Lorraine, Nice, Savoy, and Belgium, cession of French Flanders, Lorraine, eastern Provence, Corsica, almost all French colonies, heavy reparations, radical demilitarization).

The Allies send an ultimatum to Spain and ask her to close her borders to French commerce. Spain agrees. French industry is completely cut off from foreign commodities. The Allies move troops to the Western front.

June-September 1917: Massive offensives are unleashed by the Allies in Belgium, Alsace-Lorraine, and the Alps. Allied fleets bomb the ports of Calais, Dunkirk, Boulogne, Ostend, St. Valery, Dieppe, and Le Havre, and troops are landed to occupy these ports.

After three months of heavy fighting, the overstretched and weary French armies collapse and multiple breakthroughs occur at Antwerp, Liege, Metz-Verdun, Nancy, Chambery, Grenoble, and Frejus. A general French retreat starts.

October-November 1917: Bruxelles, Namur, Rheims, Chaumont, Grenoble, Toulon, fall to the Allies.

The Allied armies advancing from the occupied Flemish ports and from Champagne occupy Amiens and Compiegne, and encircle the French armies retreating from Belgium. Dijon, Lyon, Marseille fall.

Paris is besieged. The French President and government flee to Bordeaux, resign and flee to Spain. A caretaker government takes over and offers surrender.

(Credit: General Zod)