History (German Spring)

Spring Offensive
German troops, freed up from the Eastern Front, sent troops to invade France in the Spring Offensive. In July 14, 1914, on Bastille Day, Paris fell to Germany and the Treaty of Paris was signed, dissolving the French Third Republic and establishing the French Fourth Republic in its place. It was a rump state, with all of its colonies having been given to Germany. Germany defeated weak France, giving it a vast advantage over France.

Final Days of the War
The US dropped out of the war after the defeat of France. However, even with there being only Britain and several insignificant Balkan nations fighting against the Central Powers, Germany was still being blockaded by Britain. The Central Powers could only win if the blockade was stopped. The wartime economy of Germany was churning out a massive amount of U-Boats. In January 5, 1919, off the coast of Calais, German U-Boats encountered several boats that were enforcing the blockade. In a bloody battle, these ships were defeated by German troops.

Britain was losing more and more military men every day. The nation needed to gain soldiers. A decreasing number of soldiers were signing up for the military and conscription was introduced. It caused a firestorm. The British Empire was forced to conscript throughout its empire. This led to dissatisfaction. This grew into Central Power-supported nationalism. In Ireland, the IRA established an illegal Irish government, the Dail Eireaan. This assembly began a guerrilla war against the British government.

Meanwhile in India, the Indo-German Conspiracy was beginning to become successful as rage against conscription turned into Indian nationalism. Various groups were popping up in India and the India Strike was called. British forces murdered many protestors, causing more violent resistance to pop up. A guerrilla war began in India as well.

Aftermath
However, only Germany was in a good state. Ethnic tensions in both Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were reaching a head. Despite the Ottoman Empire gaining Palestine and Egypt from Britain, tphey were rapidly weakening. A series of revolutions began as all of the empire except for Anatolia and Hejaz became independent. Even in Anatolia, a civil war between Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's forces and the empire was being forced into exile in Hejaz in 1921. The Ottomans in Hejaz were swept by anti-Turkish forces and that is considered the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Early Interbellum
Austro-Hungary was angry at what it saw as Germany only attempting to fulfil its own interests. However, any attempt to war never occurred because of ethnic tensions boiling over to a massive point post-war. Hungarian nationalists were staging major rebellions and Austro-Hungary was forced to decentralize. However, in 1926, Hungary declared independence. Croatia and several other non-German regions soon followed. The former Austro-Hungarian Empire was reduced to Austria. However, these conflicts would be overshadowed by far more important occurrences.

Great Depression
After exiting the war, the American economy went up even as the crumbling of the British Empire occurred. The economy did not go up as much as it could have, but the isolationist decisions of the US did not stop trade. The USA made allies with Germany and the dominant European power was an American ally post-war. However, a series of bad economic policies led to the collapse of the Wall Street Stock Exchange as investors lost almost all of their stock.

Rise of Fascism
The Fourth Republic was in ruin. Hyperinflation was destroying the economy. France was in shambles and could easily fall to fascism. In the 1935 elections, the Action Française became elected. Converted to a fascist party, it advocated for the mass genocide of German peoples.

In Italy, after their defeat, elections were held immediately. These elections showed the fascists led by Mussolini on top. Becoming Prime Minister in 1920, he remilitarized Italy to try to have it regain its little colonial territory. Fascism rose in Italy and France and both movements threatened to destabilize Europe.