Völksreich

For Emglert369cz's timeline about a German WW2 victory, see Volksreich: Red Europe.

Völksreich is an alternate Great War timeline. In this timeline, Serbia is internationally seen as the aggressor leading Italy to join the Central Powers. The war lasts much longer than our timeline and sees a French separate peace, a rise in ethno-nationalism, a greatly weakened Soviet Union, and concessions from the German Empire.

Overview[]

During the Great War, the Germans were able to get close to Paris and begin an intense artillery barrage of the city. The devastation caused by the months of shelling leads the French government to sign a separate peace with the Central Powers. In this peace deal, France cedes Provence and Corsica to the Italians, the French Congo to Germany, and acknowledges German control of Alsace-Lorraine.

The war, however, continues without France. With more available manpower, Germany sees much more success on the Eastern Front. Following the battle of Kazan, Leon Trotsky is captured by Whites and executed. The power vacuum leaves the Red Army in disarray and has helped the Whites tremendously. The Russian Civil War lasts much longer than our timeline due to a weakened and resource starved Red Army. The remainder of the White Movement has stabilized their front with the Red Army in South Russia.

After the entrance of the United States to the war and Germany's struggles with occupying the Eastern Front, Germany starts to seek peace terms with the Entente. By pinning the blame of the war on Austria-Hungary, Germany manages to sign a less punishing peace deal than in our timeline. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is dismantled into the Austrian Republic, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Republic of Czechoslovakia, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In order to weaken German industrial capabilities, Silesia is partitioned between Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Ottomans cede Egypt to the United Kingdom; however, during the negotiations, the Ottoman government is overthrown by Turkish Nationalists leading to a status quo emerging.

In wake of the Ottoman collapse, a Balkan war breaks out wherein Albania, Greece, and Bulgaria gain Yugoslav lands, Turkey loses a large portion of Thrace to Bulgaria, and Bosnia breaks away from Yugoslavia. In the East, Kurdistan declares independence from Turkey alongside the Azeri State and the Mountainous Republic (consisting primarily of Georgia and Armenia). Hejaz takes the Western coast of Arabia and the rest of Arabia is divided between Iraq, ~~Nejd~~, and Jabal Shammar in the power vacuum left by the Ottomans.

In the former Russian lands, the Civil War has stagnated. After the Germans pulled out of Russia, the governments they had set up quickly fell to nationalists. Poland and White Ruthenia have managed to hold back the Red Army for now. Ukraine, however, is in dire straits. The Ukrainian Hetmanate set up by the Germans fell into civil war very quickly. In the West, the Ukrainian People's Republic holds most of the Hetmanate's former lands. East of the Dnieper, Makhnovshchina has survived thanks to their shaky alliance with the Red Army. The Red Army is fighting factions on both sides of Makhno and has honored their alliance out of desperation. The Ukrainian front of the war has also stagnated and the front lines have solidified.

Contribution[]

I heard interest from people that wanted to contribute to this timeline. I don't know how to set up a community timeline or whatever it needs to be to facilitate contribution. I'm going to seek advice from the discord in order to move forward and to find out what others would like to see of this timeline.

Contributors[]

Sir Ross (creator)

Special Thanks[]

Wanted Expertise[]

I am interested in getting advice, guidance, insight, etc. from people familiar with the following topics/fields:

Early Soviet politics and leadership
- Military leadership
- Post-Lenin politics
Interwar Caucasia
The Nanjing Decade
- Warlords and Cliques
- Internal KMT politics
- Foreign involvement
- Japanese Imperialism
Anglo-Afghan War
British Africa
German Africa
Kurdish rebellions
Balkans
- Balkan Wars
- Yugoslavia
  - Bosnian separatism
German Politics
- Non-Nazi Politicians
- Spartacists
French Politics
- Revanchism
- Third French Republic
  - Elections
  - Politicians
  - Parties
- Colonial system
Persia

Who's Working on What?[]

Countries and Regions
- Europe
  - Russia/Ukraine - Sir Ross
- Asia
- Africa
- North America
- South America

What Can You Add?[]

Right now, you can work on fleshing out Nations, Wars, People, and anything else that has a link (or should have a link). Try to use the talk pages to communicate what you are writing and the direction you want to take the articles.

Asia, the Americas, Western Europe, and Africa are pretty much open for contribution.

Some Guidelines[]

For now my initial guidelines are:

I never really figured out when exactly the "current year" is. ~~Initially it was going to be around 1925-27, but now I am thinking it is in the mid-1930s~~, (most likely ~~1936~~ 1927 ~~as that is the start date of HOI4~~)
The prominent nations (Germany, France, Italy, etc.) are mostly defined already
- Contribution should be within the already laid out information and should avoid large changes to the leaders, ruling party, borders, etc. without a discussion
- Generally, the less that is currently written about a topic, the more freedom you have to change it
- Internal politics, profiles of individuals, and other expansions of existing information is pretty open; however, it would be nice to have others look at and discuss these contributions before addition
The Russian Civil War is a key focus of the timeline and it should be handled delicately
- Changes to the borders, reworking the factions, and assigning leaders to the factions are all on the table. I would like there to be ample discussion before this part of the timeline is changed
Small nations are generally planned out, but there has not been extensive thought into the feasibility of them as part of the timeline
- For example, Greece might be more fitting as a Republic instead of a Monarchy. Nations like Greece are open to a lot of creative contribution as long as the contributions don't greatly affect the timeline
A general theme in the timeline is ethno-nationalism. In OTL, nationalism was the prominent movement in Europe, but in this timeline it will have a more ethnic orientation as a result of the lengthened Great War and the subsequent nationalist resistance that arises from occupations
- I am open to change this, but I think it adds a unique flavor to the timeline in the same vein that Kaiserreich has syndicalism
I am also open to branching, forking, or otherwise splitting this timeline. I had a lot of fun making this and I would like to see people use it to exemplify their creativity. It would be awesome if the timeline got to a point where it was actually made into a HOI4 mod (unlike my multiple half-assed and abandoned attempts to make the mod myself)
- I don't judge and I try to avoid pettiness, so if you have something to say that is important, don't be afraid to voice concerns or ideas

-Sir Ross

Based On Doodles in Ross' College Notebook[]

This was initially intended to be a mod for Hearts of Iron 4. The idea was inspired by mods such as Kaiserreich and Fuhrerreich. Instead of one side winning the war, the idea was that there was no clear winner and all sides left the conflict wounded.