1904: The Great War

The War
In 1904, the Russian and Japanese Empires began to fight over control over Manchuria and Korea. Soon, Japan invaded territory that was owned by China, bringing China into the war. Being strongly outnumbered, Japan called on the United States and British Empire, who were already politically and financially supporting them, to join the effort. In 1905, Britain declared war on China, and Russia immediately declared war on them. At that point, Japan experienced an eight month period of victories in Korea and Manuchria, until France and Germany agreed to declare war on Britain in 1906, and Japan declared war on them thee days later. This caused the war to spread to Europe. In 1906, the United States joined the war on the Japanese side, and the USA, Japan, and Great Britain signed the Kyoto Pact, calling for a "Military Coalition of Japan, United States, and Great Britain". The USA sent troops to the European and Asian fronts. At this point, the war escalated to become a worldwide war, as a good amount of the world was part of the empires involved. However, when the Unied States joined and countries realized the severity of the war, countries picked sides, with the Netherlands, Austia-Hungary and Belgium joining the Russian-German-French Alliance, and Italy, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire becoming later signers of the Kyoto Pact. The signers of the Kyoto Pact, who had become known as the coalition, ended up with a major victory in the Asian front, especially as Japan completely overwhelmed China, and Russia was fighting on two fronts, over 9,000 miles away from each other. Also, the United States, Australia, India, and New Zealand had helped defeat French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. In Europe, the war was basically a stalemate, but caused exteme deaths. The machine gun was used for the first time in major conflict, and trenches were built. There were many bloody battles, and several countries (France, Ottoman Empire, Russia, Italy) directly involved in multiple separate fronts. Europe was so jambled up, that every major country involved (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Ottoman Empire, Russia, Austria-Hungary) experienced invasion from more than one other major country. In 1908, as the Pacific Front of the war seemed to have no chance for the Allies, they managed to lure Mexico into the war, and Mexico declared war on the United States. Mexico invaded Texas successfully, but was pushed back. This had no major border changes, but caused less of an American focus on the European War, while they did focus on the Pacific War. Now Britain and Italy were left alone in Western Europe. The French and Germans were not smart though, and attempted to invade Britain instead of Italy, and Italy managed to conquer Innsbruck and then Munich. England, being able to fend off the invasion attempts, managed to land in the Netherlands in 1909 and capture Amsterdam. At this point, Netherlands and Belgium both surrendered to the British, and Italy managed to keep the border with Germany North of Munich. Also, Mexico surrendered just over a year after they declared war on the USA, and the Russian Empire fell in 1910, surrendering to Japan, Bulgaria, USA, and the Ottoman Empire. In 1910, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and France agreed to join a peace conference in London. They agreed on March 7th, 1910, and joined the London Conference. However, they had almost no power in comparison to the "Big Five" of Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Japan, USA, and Great Britain. The treaty, which heavily favored England, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire, was signed on May 30.

Treaty of London
The main thing focused on by the Treaty of London was borders. The Empire of Japan was given control of Manchuria and Korea. At the end of the war, when Russia surrendered, a communist revolution was started, and the Soviet Empire was born. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was split upinto Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and parts of Italy, Soviet Empire, and Romania. The German and French Empires ceded their colonies to Italy and Britain. Albania, Slovenia, and Corsica were all given to Italy. The countries of Russia, France, and Germany were all forced to disarm, and an International Union was formed, originally featuring Britain, USA, Germany, France, Italy, Ottoman Empire, Japan, China, Mexico, Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, and Yugoslavia. Russia did not originally participate as it was amidst a revolution. The capital of this was set at Geneva, which would be an international city. The USA was given French Indochina, as they controlled the nearby Philippines. Out of the agreement, the United States, Italy and Britain agreed to an unconditional alliance in case of another invasion, to be known as the Triple Alliance. The Treaty of London greatly changed the balance of Power, with Italy and the Ottoman Empire becoming major powers, and Russia, France, and Germany losing that status. Russia and Italy would become communist, while  Germany would become fascist and France remained democratic. In 1915, France had made great advances towards disarmament and a stable, democratic government, they felt scared with Germany over the border. Germany asked to join the Triple Alliance, and they were accepted. These four countries prospered for many years, until Benito Mussolini, the Prime Minister of Italy, launched a communist revolt, putting him as the leader and overthrowing the government. Italy left the International Union, and starting building up weaponry. This would eventually lead to World War II, which started when Italy invaded France, breaking the Quadrupe Alliance of Italy, USA, Britain, and France. Italy, backed by Russia, China, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Cuba, and much of Eastern Europe, ended up causing the conflict to becoe the second World War.