Kaiserpedia - Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg Wiki project

Hello all, I'm Masked Pickle, I'm a French student involved in history itself, alternate history of course and Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg mod for Hearts of Iron II, a Paradox Interactive strategy game for PC. Let me present you the mod itself...
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On the 10th of September 2005, a mod idea was proposed by forumite Sarmatia1871, creator of the classic alternative reality mod 'All the Russias' (which supposes that the Whites won the civil war). The basic idea behind the Mod was not so vastly different from that of ATR, but the affects of the diversion from reality was and are very broad in scope, much broader in fact than All the Russias (an adapted version of which forms a key component in the mod). That simple idea was this - that Germany and the Central Powers won the Great War (or Weltkrieg as it is called in our timeline). From this concept has grown a team of dedicated modders, contributors and hangers-on. ( See the forum here)

The POD in this timeline is that the Lusitania was never sunk, and that the Germans eventually refused to avoid unrestricted submarine warfare, thus impeaching the American intervention in WWI. Without US reinforcements, 1918 Offensive was more benificial for the Germans, who destroyed the Salonika bridgehead the same year, and a double offensive in France and Italy in 1919 led to German victory: in both defeated countries, syndicalist unrest led to general strikes and later revolt against the government responsible for defeat, with German approval. French government come to exile to its African colonies after a syndicalist revolution inspired by the souvenirs of the 1871 Commune has triumphed at home whilst Italy is cut in two, between Syndicalist south and Austrian-occupied North. The remaining of the war consists of a few smirkishes in the Middle East and German intervention in the Russian Civil War that eventually leads to the victory of the Whites, united under the aegis of Alexandr Kerensky. The Lloyd George government finally accepts to sign the "Peace with Honour" with the German Imperial government in 1921, acknowledging German supremacy on the continent, excessive war indemnities, annexation of Belgian Congo, French Indochina, Moresnet, Luxemburg and western parts of Russia to Germany, but leaves Britain, Japan and Portugal and their empires unharmed.

In Germany proper, Wilhelm II enjoys his fullfilled dream of "Place under the Sun", but the Hindenburg-Ludendorff dictatorship fight to keep control of the government, criticized on its left by democrats and on its right by the advocates of a preventive strike against Syndicalist France. The two generals are ousted by 1924 to be reimplaced by Grossadmiral von Tirpitz, who will rule during a golden age of German supremacy. Kingdoms of Flanders-Wallonia (formerly Belgium), Finland, United Baltic Duchy, Lithuania, Poland, White Ruthenia, Ukraine are established in eastern Europe, under German princes and left to German settlers. Austria-Hungary fails its inner renovation after Emperor Karl's death on 1922, and its economy and government are progressively put under German control: the 1927 Augsleich leads to a lame compromise about federal status, and has to be renogicated by 1937. Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria barely survive with German help against their respective internal dissenters (Arabs and Balkanic neighbours). Russia, dismembered during the Civil War, is put under a weak democratic regime under Kerensky, going under heavy corruption and high dissent due to pardoned former Bolsheviks and far right White Generals: Kolchak fails its coup in 1925 and has to flee for Japan. Britain is hit by internal dissent and has to deal with German-sponsored revolts throughout its empire, such as in Ireland, India or in Africa: a General Strike in 1925 leads to the fall of the Home Islands to Syndicalism and the exile of the Royal Family to Canada. India is split into three rival factions, South Africa proclaims its independance, Australia and New Zealand are merged into the Australasian Dominion and Germany take control of many British colonies, in Africa and Asia. Mainland France is under syndicalist rule, but after Pouget's death in 1931, the power has fallen into the heads of the unexperienced Marceau Pivert, who has not managed to avoid the rise of powerful and rival factions; the French government in exile has already fallen to a nationalist military junta under Field Marshal Philippe Pétain. China has been invaded by German forces in 1926, eventually leading to the restoration of the Qing Empire and the German administration of country in the past British model in India. Japan awaits for an occasion to expand, such as Baron von Ungern-Sternberg in Mongolia...Under Republican President Leonard Wood, the USA have entered an era of isolationism before being hit by the 1929 New York Stock Market Crash: the 1936 Presidential Election will be the most disputed since 1860, with Jack Reed's Combined Syndicates of America and Huey Long's America First Union Party ready for an uprising...American authority in South America has already collapsed, being disputed by syndicalist revolutionnaries, Commonwealth agents (Canada, where the Royal Family resides, as its leader) and German advisors.

In 1936, when the game begins, it's the 48th year of the reign of Wilhelm II. Following the assassination of Kerensky, rival factions, ranging from Wrangel's ultranationalists to Bukharin's Neo-Bolsheviks, will fight each other for the control of the Kremlin. The Mitteleuropa system will be critically hit by the Berlin Stock Market crash. The Third Internationale Congress in Paris will trigger a new age of syndicalist policies, sparking uprisings throughout the world. The United States will collapse in a new civil war. King Edward VIII will enhance a rearmament program from Canada in order to reconquer the Home Islands. The Zweite Weltkrieg is to happen by 1940, involving three factions: the Syndicalist Internationale, the exiled Entente and the Mitteleuropa system.

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EUROPA 1936
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The fig-leaf constitutionalism and social welfare program of the Second Reich are no longer as effective as they once were. Many groups are calling out for reform or radical action. For the past 30 years the Social Democrats have consistently made up the largest party in the Reichstag and are becoming more radical and convinced of their Marxist views by the day. Prussia's Junker aristocracy still dominate the Reich's military and diplomatic establishment, and want to return to an idealised view of the estatist social order of the eighteenth century. Meanwhile, Ernst Roehm and his pan-German Grossdeutsche Volkspartei want to set up a single state in Central Europe for all Germans, with the other nations serving as mere colonial appendages.
The messy Kleinstaaterei put in place at the end of the war means that Germany's principal allies are hardly stable or reliable. Austria-Hungary lurches from one crisis to another, and all the groups within the Dual Monarchy are preparing for the negotiations for the renewal of the Ausgleich in 1937 as the time to make their move.
The post-war treaties ensured that Bulgaria was the prime beneficiary of the war in the Balkans. But Tsar Ferdinand’s Empire is now unwieldy, bloated and chaotic. German investment led to the creation of much industry, but also massive social inequalities. The three mutilated Balkan powers, Serbia, Greece and Romania are waiting for the first sign of weakness, before making their move and reclaiming their ancient territories.
In the south of Italy, the Republic of the Sicilies was quickly taken over by a socialist government, which aligned itself with revolutionary France. However, this did not seem to matter, as the Austrians believed that replacing the former Kingdom with a federation of Duchies in Northern Italy under Papal presidency would at least keep their frontiers stable. But in 1934, a cabal of radical Cardinals secured dominance in the Vatican, with the aim of making Papal authority in Italy a political reality, rather than a mere symbol. And the Pope’s power could spread far beyond Rome: Carlists in Spain, Integralists in France and Latin America, Corporationists in the Germanic and Balkan countries, the scattered remnants of the dismembered Polish nation, even the tiny Republic of Armenia, all seem willing to rally to the cause, should the call come.
The return of Turkish suzerainty over Egypt and much of North Africa, as well as the costly completion of the Berlin to Baghdad Railway did little to promote economic development or stability within the Ottoman Empire: it is now challenged from within by reformist tendencies and an increasingly powerful pan-Arab nationalism. And to the East, the Republic of Turkestan seems intent on wresting the Caliphate from the Turks.
The two syndicalist powers, the Union of Britain and the Commune of France, have been occupied with internal reconstruction for the past decade. But with the threat of revolution in the Kingdom of Spain, it is probably not long before demands for International Solidarity and the promotion of the interests of the Workers of the World ring out on the streets of Paris and London. Meanwhile, the two Governments in exile, the Kingdom of Canada and the Fourth French Republic are riven by internal dissent, but still eager to oust the metropolitan regimes.
Europe now has only three parliamentary Republics, and the largest, Russia, is on the verge of collapse. Who knows what will happen there?
***
AMERIKA
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Across the Atlantic, the United States is not faring much better. German domination in Europe and Asia and chaos in the former French and British Empires combined to ensure that the USA has suffered a continual economic decline since the beginning of the 1920s, and a series of isolationist Presidencies have meant that its international standing has diminished considerably. The two-party system is beginning to break down, and the elections due for the end of 1936 will see the Democrats and the Republicans face off against two new political coalitions: the Combined Syndicates of America, formed in 1935 through a fusion of the American Socialist Party and the AFL and IWW labour organisations, wants to promote a new Syndicalist order on Franco-British lines; the America First-Union Party wants a centralised American dictatorship to dominate the Western hemisphere. Both see the Constitution as an outdated irrelevance and are willing to use violence to promote their aims. A second civil war is a definite possibility...
South America has become a continent of barricades: Argentina, Peru and Venezuala have fallen into the orbit of Germany, while Columbia, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay have formed their own security alliance with American backing. Right now it is impossible to tell whether Brazil will side with one of these groups, or try to forge ahead with its own path.
***
ASIEN
----------------

In Asia, most of the former British and French colonies are under German control. However, the disastrous civil war following the collapse of British authority in India proved too large and chaotic to handle. The Raj has now broken up into a number of independent states. As well as independent monarchies ruling Burma, Nepal and Bhutan, a federation of Hindu and Islamic Princes dominates the South, the North and West is controlled by a technocratic dictatorship led by a coalition of the few remaining British personnel and native Indian elites, and Bengal has been taken over by a radical peasant republic based on ideals of agrarian socialism.
The Chinese Republic collapsed into anarchy in early 1920s. As a result, German arms backed the restoration of the Qing Emperor, while setting up an autonomous federation of legation cities to regulate maritime trade. This now provides a facade of legitimacy for what is to all intents and purposes a German hegemony over China, with administration of most of the country actually falling to the Allgemeine Ostasiatische-Gesellschaft, a grand consortium of German companies. However, the Empire of Japan desires an Asian Empire of its own, and millenarian Chinese groups are organising in the West, crying out that the Qing have succumbed to foreign domination and lost the Mandate of Heaven, which should now pass to a new dynasty which will restore China's place at the centre of the world.
***
AFRIKA
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Freistaat Mittelafrika was hailed in the early 1920s as a vast colony of settlement and the secure foundation for Europe's future economic security. However, it has failed to live up to these promises, and is now a black hole sucking in European money and manpower with little use other than as a dumping ground for embarrassing politicians. But still, Statthalter Goering is not lacking in ambition, and with vulnerable Portuguese colonies, an overstretched Kingdom of Abyssinia and a technically neutral South Africa on his frontiers, he has many opportunities for expansion.
In short, the Global Order put in place by Germany after the Weltkrieg is a house of cards. When one part falls, the rest is sure to follow...

The project for which I'm coming there is the Kaiserreich Wiki, also dubbed as the Kaiserpedia. I personally consider Kaiserpedia as an useful resource for AfterActionReports writers, in-game events, and as a great experience in alternate history, as it put some order in the chaotic Kaiserreich timeline and came with the idea of making a whole false Wikipedia about a world that never existed. Even if the timeline has to keep some coherence, everyone who appreciates the Kaiserreich mod, interestered in alternate history and wanting to participate to the mod can contribute in order to accelerate it. The only things you got to do is to register (it's free), type the name of your article in the research engine; if it exists, use the button edit to add your contribution, if not, choose the option "this exact title" and begin it. You must of course obey a model described there and your contributions could be revised or even totally erased if they don't correspond at all to the Kaiserreich canon background, but you are totally free to write-in, and to propose some suggestions, as we're never lacking of it.

I hope my call will be heard by some alternate historians...If you have any question, I will be happy to answer them!

http://editthis.info/kaiserreich/Main_Page
 
I have a question: Why is White Ruthenia called White Ruthenia and not Galicia, seeing as it takes up basically all of historic Galicia and the Poles are probably the largest ethnic group?
 
I have a question: Why is White Ruthenia called White Ruthenia and not Galicia, seeing as it takes up basically all of historic Galicia and the Poles are probably the largest ethnic group?
White Ruthenia is where OTL Belarus is, if my Kaiserreich knowledge is correct.
I think you are talking about Galicia, a puppet of Austria and in the same place as OTL.
 
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The last few versions have had the names changed a bit, probably a bit confusing for the modders working on that as well.

I wonder if I'm still in the credits, consdering none of my events are still in it :D

(though I did make alot of suggestions!)
 
The POD in this timeline is that the Lusitania was never sunk, and that the Germans eventually refused to avoid unrestricted submarine warfare, thus impeaching the American intervention in WWI.

I think I would advise rewording your POD since to 'refused to avoid unrestricted submarine warfare' means that they DID adopt unrestricted submarine warfare. If when two cars are driving towards each other there will be a crash if one refused to avoid the other.

Also the sinking of the Lusitania was not the primarily reason for the Americans entering the war.
 
The mods been around for ages (on the internet ages anyway), so I don't think any arguments on the premise will really effect it.
 
@Saladin: We changed a couple of stuff, since the last version - German Gambia is now National France, also National France has got more land in central chad (see the map MaskedPickle posted) and German Südwestafrika got more land out of OTL Botswana (I should say the districts of Ngamiland and Chobe)!

Other then that, great map!!!:cool: Maybe you would care to post it at our forumhttp://z11.invisionfree.com/Kaiserreich/index.php?showforum=5 our more precisly at the African topic http://z11.invisionfree.com/Kaiserreich/index.php?showforum=22!!!

Edit: A slit oversight, the department of Westafrika is now Goldküste (the name is more fesh!!)
 
Hey MaskedPickle,

First off, I really want to congratulate you and everyone else who's done work on the Kaiserreich Mod. It's a great mod and a lot of fun, but the break down of US politics in the post-Weltkrieg 1920s and 30s is a bit...unrealistic to say the least. I understand the idea behind the break down of central authority in the USA being a way to create a more balanced and challenging game experience, but it's not realistic.

First and foremost, Herbert Hoover. How in god's name did he win reelection in 1932? If the economic situation in 1932 was as bad, if not worse, than it was in the Great Depression as in our time line, the chances of Hoover and the Republicans winning the Presidency and any sort of majority/minority in the Congress, let alone the state and local legislatures and governorships, is slim to nil.

The 1929 Stock Market Crash and ensuing depression coincided with the generational pendulum swing from conservatism to liberalism that is a hallmark of American history. While Roosevelt/the Democratic Party did not instigate this shift to the left, they did ride the wave of popular dissent against Hoover and the Conservative Republicans into the White House and a Congressional majority. Thus, unless the Democrats put Al Smith on the top of the ticket as it looked like they might have done @ the 1932 Convention, Hoover's chances for reelection in 1932 were close to 0%.

With Franklin D. Roosevelt as the Democratic Party nominee, even with the America First and Combined Syndicalists presence and sway over the voting public in Kaiserreich world, chances close to zero that the Syndicalists in the industrial states and America First in the Deep South/Midwest could spoil the election. Within the context of the Kaiserreich timeline, Roosevelt’s personal story and message of recovery would resonate just as strongly, if not more so, than it did historically. Roosevelt was the right man, at the right place, and at the right time. Unless he lost some of his political senses in Kaiserreich land, the scenario as laid out of the 1932 election doesn’t work.

In the Kaiserreich Wiki you’ve got Franklin D. Roosevelt refusing to admit to the new political situation with the America First and Combined Syndicalist Parties. I’ll admit that FDR was no angel and he did what he had to in 1932 in OTL to secure the Democratic nomination, but it’s really out of character for him not to compromise in order to get the votes he needed. He was first and foremost a political realist and lifelong politician, not the ultra idealist he is portrayed as in popular media. If faced with the choice of compromising with the less radical wing of the Syndicalists and winning the election, or telling them to take a hike and risk loosing, I doubt he’d go with the latter.

Secondly, the America First Union Party. Huey Long and Fritz Julius Kuhn (Historical head of the German American Bund) as Presidential nominee and Vice-Presidential running mate is believable. Long and Kuhn are going to have definite conflicts over power sharing, but if conservative reactionaries in the Rural and Deep South/Midwest are behind the ticket, the odds are in favor of them putting them aside. The problem is that Kuhn was not an American citizen; he was born in Germany and had served in the German Army during the First World War. If I’m remembering the mod correctly and Kuhn was the V-P nominee or at least in the Presidential Cabinet, it’d be unconstitutional due to his status as an immigrant to the United States. Even if he were in the Cabinet, following the Presidential Line of Succession it would still be unconstitutional due to the chances that he could end up becoming President should the President, Vice-President, and others in the line be killed or incapacitated.

I will also reiterate Kuhn’s status as an immigrant. The 1920s, historically speaking, was an era of extreme xenophobia and racism in American society and culture. This was the zenith of the Second Ku Klux Klan formed during the 1910s and whose hallmark was extreme xenophobia and intolerance of any and nearly all immigrants from Europe post-war. Though Kuhn would not fall into any of the categories that would be panned by the Klan and other southern extremist groups and singled out as anti-American, any position in the America First Union Party that Kuhn held would be tenuous at best.

Furthermore, with the German victory in World War One in the Kaiserreich mod, during the 1920s with growing German dominance of the international market it can be assumed that extremists/conservative reactionaries in the USA would be emboldened to be vehemently more xenophobic and anti-immigrant than they were historically. Thus, even if Kuhn were to rise to the upper ranks of the America First Party leadership, it’d be hard if not neigh impossible for him to get into the cabinet/advisory panel, nonetheless the Vice-Presidency.

Thirdly, the Combined Syndicates of America. Jack Reed surviving the October 1917 Russian Revolution and the ensuing Russian Civil War is a great idea and makes US domestic politics in the 1920s and 30s far more interesting. Historically, following World War One, there was a rash of Communist witch hunts in 1919-21 as a reaction to the experiences of the war and the perceived threat of Bolshevism amongst the working classes of the United States. Business leaders were extremely wary of organized labor in our time line post-World War One and with a charismatic figure like Jack Reed leading a Marxist/Syndicalist Third Party the anti-Bolshevik backlash would be even worse.

Put together with the successful revolutions in France and Britain that resulted in the creation of the Commune of France and the Union of Britain, Reed and his fellow Marxists and Syndicalists in the United States would have a reason to become emboldened. However, with this in mind, popular sentiment during the 1920s in Kaiserreich world, with the USA forced out of the international economy and German dominance over the European market, would shift against Reed and his allies. If the US economy entered into a prolonged slump that transformed into a recession and, ultimately, a Great Depression-style economic implosion in the mid-to-late 1920s and 1930s, the government would have a reason to crack down even more than it had historically post-World War One.

With the elections in 1932 and 1936 Reed and his Marxist/Syndicalist allies would have a limited voting base at best. Even at the depths of the Great Depression in the USA in OTL, support for the Socialists only amounted to around 5% of those polled during the 1932 Presidential election with the Communists securing even less. Though Kaiserreich world does have a prolonged economic depression in the USA, it’d have to be extremely bad, the worst possible case scenario for the US economy, for popular support to have been raised to the point it is in at the start of the Kaiserreich scenario in 1936.

What’s more, when you begin delving into some of the historical texts about the Great Depression in the USA you find that many Marxists and members of the intelligentsia had trouble finding support for Marxism/Marxist politics. American Marxists and leftist thinkers in the intelligentsia had to Americanize Marxism and Marxist theory in order to make it palatable for the American voting public. The 1936 Presidential Election is a great chance for Reed and the CSA to create a working Marxist/Syndicalist political platform, but unless the West Coast and parts of New England become much more interested in Reed’s message and the Syndicalist platform, his chances aren’t great.

With all that out of the way, I want to again say that even with my criticisms of the Kaiserreich timeline, I think it’s a great mod and a wonderful concept. But, that said, I’ve always had and continue to have real problems with the US scenario. Personally, I’d love to see the Second American Civil War eliminated entirely and have an FDR presidency just to see how an FDR and New Deal oriented United States would work in the Kaiserreich world. Imperialist Japan, the Second Internationale, the remnants of the Entente, and the Central Powers arrayed against each other with Franklin Roosevelt at the helm of a recovering USA is almost too good a scenario.

Though I know that you guys on the Kaiserreich mod team are really happy with the US scenario and are focused on making a detailed, balanced, and challenging gaming experience, I would love to see an alternative Kaiserreich scenario created with an FDR presidency rather than the inherently unstable and rapidly fracturing and dissolving USA as it is in the mod. Thanks to the inherent USA wank of the original HoI 2 game layout, it would be easy to go in and rewrite the industrial stats of the USA to balance out overall game play. IMO, an FDR Presidency combined with a reduced industrial capacity in the US scenario might make for an interesting gaming experience.

A united and recovering USA would throw the European balance of power into question and create new tensions between the slowly imploding German Empire and the now recovering United States. The roles of the Canadians and the former British imperial possessions within the Entente and the vaguely proto-Commonwealth framework and the diminished capacities of Nationalist France in exile in the African colonies would be in doubt as the rising power of the USA would serve to bring a counterbalance to the inherently imbalanced geopolitical Balance of Power with Germany on top. That would definitely put the Japanese in a tough position on the international stage, place a damper on German ambitions, and give rise to the chances that the Entente could fight some sort of Reconquista in Western Europe to regain metropolitan France and the island of Britain from the Marxists and Syndicalists.

Anyways, long story short, FDR/recovering USA versus the Central Powers and Second Internationale with the Entente now unsure of their role in geopolitics would be amazing. Though, given the updates up until this point, I doubt it’d happen. Good luck on the modding efforts, and I’m looking forward to your response.

General_Paul
 
Why did Syndicalism become the big revolutionary ideology in this timeline instead of Marxism?
As I understood it, the explanation derives from the failure of the Bolsheviks. Basically, revolutionary Marxism got somewhat discredited by the failure of a Marxist revolution.
 
I remember my first game as Mexico, allying myself with the syndicalists hopeful they would gain power everywhere (specially in the US) so I could expand freely into Latin America.

Couple of years later, France has been partitioned between Germany and Carlist Spain, Two Sicilies has been annexed by Italy, and I'm fighting a losing war against both the Entente (I really needed to take the Panama Channel) and Mitteleuropa (La Plata's expansionism conflicted with mine).
 
Bumping this because there's a canon timeline out for it now.

The Weltkrieg

1914
- While visiting Sarajevo on the 28th of June, Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assasinated by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. In a reaction Austria-Hungary sends an ultimatum to Serbia, whose contents are deliberately made unacceptable to the Serbs. Austria-Hungary declare war on Serbia shortly after receiving German backing. Russia in turn declares war on Austria-Hungary and Germany, dragging its ally France, waiting for an opportunity to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine, into the war too.
- When Germany invades neutral Belgium to execute the Schlieffen-plan the British Empire declares war on Germany. The German advance to Paris is halted at the Marne and a series of flanking attempts, known as the Race to the Sea, prove unsuccesful. The war in the West grinds down to a halt.
- The Germans are much more succesful in the East, repulsing the Russian invasion of East Prussia and defeating the Russians at the battles of the Mazurian Lakes and at Tannenberg. The architects of these victories, Field Marshall Hindenburg and general Ludendorff would play key roles in the final German victory.
- The Ottoman Empire joins the Central Powers later in the year, after a dispute with Britain about the confiscation of ships being built for the Empire.
- Almost all German colonies are occupied before the end of the year, besides German East-Africa. Here general Von Lettow-Vorbeck will play a game of cat and mouse with the allied forces until the end of the war.

1915
- In the West the lines remain static, but the fighting increases in brutality, with chlorine gas being first used during the Second battle of Ypres on 22th of april.
- In the East Russia is being pushed back by the Germans, but manages to hold on to Galicia.
- Bulgaria joins the war on the side of the Central Powers and Serbia becomes the first allied nation to be defeated.
- Italy joins the war on the allied side, hoping to claim the Austro-Hungarian Illyrian provinces. The campaign bogs down to trench warfare.
- In an ill concieved effort to knock the Ottomans out of the War, allied troops land near Gallipoli, hoping to gain control of the vital Dardanelles. The whole campaign becomes a disaster and the allies will pull back their forces before the year ends. A British invasion on Mesopotamia is repelled and the remaining troops retreat to Kut, where the disastrous siege of Kut will start.
- A German submarine sinks the Lusitania. A severe backlash in the United States leads to Germany abandoning its unrestricted submarine warfare, which had hoped to strangle Britain into submission. Many speculated that a continuation of the unrestricted submarine warfare could have led to the entry of the United States into the war.

1916
- The battle of Verdun starts, attempting to bleed the French army dry. In reality all sides bleed equally in a battle which soon loses its military objective. A similar attempt the the British forces at the Somme has the same outcome. 1916 also saw the first use of tanks at the battle of Cambrai.
- In the East the Brusilov offensive is launched. While very succesful at first, the offensive doesn’t manage to either knock the Austro-Hungarians out of the war, or drive Germany from Russian Poland.
- The British troops at Kut are forced to surrender, dealing a heavy blow to British prestige. The Ottomans are being pushed out of the Caucasus and Armenia by a succesful Russian campaign. The Sharif of Mecca starts of a general Arab revolt against the Turks.
- At sea the First Battle of Jutland ends in a tactical German victory, but a strategic British victory, as the Hochseeflotte will remain in port until late 1918.
- Romania tries to profit from Austrian setbacks and invades Transsylvania. German assistance would lead to a quick collapse of Romania, with Bucarest being taken by August von Mackensen within the year. Further south the allies have taken positions around Salonica.

1917
- In Germany chancellor Von Bethmann-Hollweg is forced to resign, being replaced by Georg Michaelis. It was soon clear that Michaelis was little more than a puppet for Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
- On the Western front the heavy French casualties at Chemin des Dames lead to a strike among the French soldiers. This would paralyze the French Army until the end of the year, giving Germany a chance to recover from the Brusilov Offensive.
- Russia collapses into anarchy, with the Czar abdicating early 1917. A provisional government is formed under Alexandr Kerensky, but this government was overthrown by Lenins Bolshevists in november 1917, starting the Russian Civil War.
- In Italy the Caporetto Offensive beats the Italians back to the Piave river, where a last minute defence saves Venice in the nick of time.
- The Ottomans receive blow after blow, with both Baghdad and Jeruzalem being lost to British forces.

1918
- In early january the Peace of Brest-Litovsk is signed between the Germans and the Bolsheviks, freeing thouzands of German and Austrian troops. The Bolsheviks turn over Finland, the Baltics, Belarus and Ukraine to the Germans.
- A great allied spring offensive, designed at breaking the Germans before their reinforcements arrive, is being repulsed at great cost of life.
- Operation Teutoberg is launced, attempting to kick Greece out of the war. Instaed of assaulting the Salonica stronghold head on, the Central Powers make extensive use of specialized stormtroopers and so called infiltration tactics. The defenders at Salonica are pinned down while the rest of the Central forces sweep through Greece. Athens falls on july 3rd, causing the Greek government to surrender. The forces at Salonica are evacuated soon afterwards.
- General Allenby manages to pull of the last great allied victory of the war, encircling and destroying large parts of the Ottoman Army and conquering Damascus. Only the las minute arrival of two German divisions in Asia Minor prevent an invasion of Anatolia.
- The succesful allied tactics against the German u-boats and the bloccade of Germany itself leads to a desperate sally of the Hochseeflotte, now led by admiral Hipper. The Second Battle of Jutland ends in a tie, but the shock of being assaulted forces the Royal Navy to break their blocade. The end of the blocade and the influx of Ukranian grain ends all fears of Germany being starved into submission.

1919
- On the second of march the Germans launch their Great Offensive at St. Mihiel, south of Verdun. The infiltration tactics prove to be succesfull, with Nancy falling on the 16th. The French organize an ad hoc defence, leving their flank exposed. An attack on Rheims on the 26th splits the allied forces in two. An attack on Chateau-Thierry meant the French couldn’t retreat back to the Marne. In effect the entire French army was forced to retreat south and Paris was now under siege.
- Operation Radowitz is launced on the 11th of march, attacking the Italian forces from Trento instead of Piave. Vicenza and Verona fall on the 24th pinning the Italians between two Central armies when Venice is reached on the 10th of april. The siege of Venice would last until July, but with most of the Italian army occupied the rest of Italy lay defenceless, with Rome falling on the firsth of August. Italy would surrender a few days later. The surrender of Italy meant the road to Southern France was now open, with Marseilles falling in september.
- Allied setbacks would lead to Allenby, and most of his troops, being redeployed to France. Allenby’s successor, Sir William Marshall, is forced to slowly retreat because of a lack of man.
- The retreat of the French army lead to the positions of the BEF becoming undefendable. Most of the British forces where evacuated at Dieppe in June, leaving the French on their own. At this point the French army, battered, war-weary and with little hope of victory was in open rebellion. With a second mutiny, a general uprising of the working classes imminent, the fall of Paris a certainty and Marseilles in German hands, the French government capitulated on the 4th of october, ending the war in Europe.

1920
- The fall of France, Russia, Italy and its allies in the Balkans reduced the Entente to the British Empire, Japan and Portugal. While none of these countries was under direct German threat, none was able to pose a threat to Germany likewise. The battle between Germany and Britain continued for two more years at sea, with the Battle of Rockall of 20th of march 1920 being the last great engagement, best known for the fact a torpedo launched from an airplane from the aerodrome-ship Argus managed to cripple the German battlecruiser Würtemberg.
- Peace was being made on harsh terms with all former Entente nations.
- Serbia would secede Macedonia to Bulgaria and accept Austria-Hungary as its nominal overlord. Montenegro was annexed by Austria outright.
- Greece was forced to secede Greek Macedonia and Salonica to Bulgaria, while it had to accept a German lease on Crete for as long as the Kaiser deemed neccesary.
- Romania had to secede Oltenia to Hungary and the port of Constanza to Bulgaria. The oilfields of Ploesti where leased to Germany. Romania was allowed to annex Moldova however.
- Italy was split apart in a number of weak republics, duchies and principalties, with Tuscany, the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Sicilies returning on the map of Europe. The Kingdom of the Sicilies was ravaged by revolution soon afterwards and the Northern states united themselves as the Italian Federation, under the symbolic and spiritual leadership of the Pope. The Veneto was annexed by Austria outright. Libya became a kingdom under Ottoman protection while Germanies last minute ally Ethiopia was allowed to annex most of Somalia, mainly because neither Germany nor Austria had any interest in it.
- France was poised to secede the French Congo, Madagascar and the French Pacific colonies, in addition tot the occupation of parts of French Lorraine. The revolution prevented the ratification of the treaty, causing Germany to simply occupy these colonies.
- Belgium was changed into the Kingdom of Flander-Wallonia, with the Kaisers son Adalbert becoming the new king. The Belgian Congo was given to Germany and Wallonia east of the Meuse, the location of most Belgian industry would be occupied as long as the German government deemed neccesary. The Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg would become a constituent state of the German Empire.
- In the East the acquisitions of the Brest-Litovsk treaty where organized into a series of puppetstates. The Baltics where united into the United Baltic Duchy, with Adolf Friedrich von Mecklemburg becoming its first Grand Duke. The Kaisers brother Heinrich became king Genrikh I of White Ruthenia (Belarus). Poland and Finland became independent states under German protection, with the Kaisers brother-in-law Friedrich-Karl von Hessen becoming king of Finland. Lithuania became independent with Wilhelm von Urach, Duke of Urach, becoming King Mindaugas. The Austrians where allowed to put Archduke Wilhelm Franz on the Ukranian throne in exchange for guarantees about Ukranians rich supplies of coals and grain.

1921
- the war between the Entente and the Central Powers dragged on in 1920 and 1921, with the Royal Navy and Hochseeflotte occasionally butting heads and Central troops trying to break through the British lines at the Suez channel. With no chance of either side breaking the stalemate, and with Russia, France and Southern Italy engulfed by revolution, general Ludendorff proposed a ‘Peace with Honour’ to the Entente. The remaining Entente members would acknowledge the peace treaties between Germany and the former Entente members and return Germanies colonies in exchange a status-quo peace. The peace itself was signed on November 11th 1921, ending the Weltkrieg after seven long years.

Postwar developments

1919
- The Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), led by anarcho-syndicalist Emile Pouget, declares a general strike in reaction to the bloody defeat of the French army during the German Great Offensive and the second mutiny. Its main aim was an immediate end to the war. After the fall of Paris the government of Georges Clemenceau was replaced by a Provisional Government under Aristide Briand.
- Jacobin radicals, inspired by their Russian brethren and Lenins theories about a revolutionary vanguard start a series of attacks on government officials and public buildings, ending achance of the CGT and Provisional Goverbnment reaching an agreement. An attempt of the government to use demobilized soldiers to restore order ends in many soldiers joining the revolutionaries. France in engulfed in a short but bloody war, ending in a victory for the revolutionaries. Emile Pouget starts with the difficult task of changring the French Republic into the Commune of France.
- The remains of the French establishment flee to Algiers, setting up a government-in-exile, led by Maréchal Foch.
- The White generals agree to coordinate their efforts with Kerensky’s provisional government to fight the Red Army at the Congress of Omsk. Trotsky decides to focus his efforts on defending Moscow, allowing the White armies to retake St. Petersburg.
- Baron Ungern von Sternberg and his ‘Wild division’ take the Mongolian capital of Urga, with Sternberg declaring himself Mongolia's supreme ruler.

1920
- The threat of becoming surrounded by syndicalist states, es well as the presence of Makhno’s Black Army in Eastern Ukraine makes Germany intervene in the Russian Civil War. General Wilhelm Groener is ordered to support the White generals in their fight. Groener manages to drive Makhno out of the Ukraine, but fails to rally the Cossacks in support of the Kerensky government. The Cossacks would soon form their own state, just as Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Alash Orda and Turkestan would secede. Georgia quickly fell to the so called Menshevist remnants in the Caucasus.
- Republican candidate Leonard Wood defeats his democratic opponent William McAdoo, replacing president Woodrow Wilson. Wilsons deteriorating heath prevented him from running for another term.
- Wood would become known for his strong crackdown on socialism and syndicalism alike and a policy of strict isolationism, jailing Eugene V. Debs, but was unable to prevent the Zapatista from gaining control in Mexico.

1921
- The combined forces of Marshall Denikin and Groeners expeditionary corps defeat the forces of Trotsky and Tukhachevsky at Tsaritsyn on the 21th of february after weeks of bitter street fighting. With the road to Moscow open, Baron Wrangel takes the city in september. Trotsky uses the confusion to flee the country, but the civil war is at an end.

1922
- after the Easter Uprising in 1916 and five years of war, a peace treaty is concluded between UK and Irish rebels that leads to the creation of a new Free Irish State on Jan. 1 1922. Negotiations with German ambassador Franz von Papen convinced Michael Collins to offer the crown of King of Ireland to Prince Joachim, but German delays and reluctance to let the Prince depart to Ireland led to the declaration of the Republic in October. Marshall Collins becomes the head of the Irish state. The whole affair was deeply embarrasing to the Ludendorff/Hindenburg junta and was quickly swept under the carpet.
- South Rhodesia joins South Africa, nervous of potential German expantionism in its region.

1923
- thrown into depression after his short reign as King of Ireland and his unhappy marriage, Prince Joachim attempts suicide. The scandal is initially covered but leads to speculation.

1924
- President Wood gets reelected, defeating his democrat opponent Albert Smith.
- Admiral Kolchak attempts to coup the Russian government but fails to secure the vital support of Denikin and Wrangel. He quickly flees to Vladivostock, where the Japanese set him up as president of Transamur.
- The German press, dominated by DVP supporter Alfred Hugenberg, finds out the thruth behind Prince Joachims suicide attempt and accuses Ludendorff of mishandling the Irish crisis. Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, now the leader of the DVP, manages to gain the Kaisers support to force de facto dictator Erich Ludendorff to step down. Tirpitz then replaces feeble Michaelis as chancellor. The old and respectable Field Marshall Hindenburg was made minister of war in Tirpitz cabinet,suggesting some kind of behind-the-screen dealings between Tirpitz, Hindenburg and the Kaiser.

1925
- A coalminers strike in Wales quickly escalates into a general strike when the government threatens to send in the army. The strike was quickly followed by a mutiny of parts of the navy and ended with the king and the government fleeing to Canada. A coalition of syndicalists, Labour, Welsh and Scottish nationalists and suffragettes take over the government under the charismatic John McLean.
The fall of Britain itself lead to a massive landgrab by many of its longtime enemies. Gibraltar finally fell into Spanish hands once again, while Argentina quickly seazed the Falklands, Egypt gained sole authority over the Sudan and the Ottoman Empire regained control over Cyprus. The German Empire managed to secure most of the British African Empire as well as the strategic colonies of Malta, Suez, Aden, Ceylon, the Strait Colonies, Brunei and Sarawak.
- Australia and New Zealand seize the British part of New Guinea and Fiji. Later in the year both nations would form the Australasian Confederation for mutual protection.
- India, once the pearl in the British crown breaks down into three new states. The Princes of Kashmir and the Punjab unite with the remaints of the Raj to create British friendly Delhi while a revolt in Bengal leads to the establishment of a syndicalist state there. The Princes of the South form their own, independent Princely Federation. Birma becomes an independent kingdom once again.
- South Africa manages to secure the Bechuana Protectorate and Nyassaland. Tension between pro-Entente Smuts and pro-republic Hertzog grows.
- The only thing left for Canada and the Royal Navies caribean squadron is to secure the British colonies in the region. These colonies, together with the former French colonies inthe region would form the Caribean Federation.
- In Canada the senate is replaced by a House of Lords, members of the British aristocracy who fled to Canada.
- Xu Shichang manages to become president of the divided Chinese Republic. In an effort to restore order, Xu asks the German Empire to help him restore order in China. In exchange he would accept the restoration of Pu Yi to the Chinese throne. The Guominjun accuses Xu of betraying the Republican principles of Sun Yat-Sen and declares war on him.
- In order to manage its many Imperial possesions in Africa,Germany creates the Freistaat Mittelafrika after the model of the British Raj. Field marshall Von Lettow-Vorbeck becomes its first Stadthalter.


1926
- Governor Hans von Seeckt of German Indochina is ordered to intervene in the civil war in support of Xu. Within six months Germany manages to defeat the Guominjun and secure most major centers of industry and population. The opponents of the government retreat to the remote west, Yunnan or Manchuria Pu Yi is restored as Emperor, but has to accept a coglomerate of German enterprises, known as the AOG (Algemeiner Ostasien GmbH) taking economic control of the industrial south. Hans von Seeckt would become its first governor-general. In order to safeguard the economic interests of other major powers all the port cities are united as the Legation Cities and are put under joint control.
- Japan intervenes too in support of Zhang Zuolin, but isn't willing to risk conflict with Germany. The Fengtian Republic is set up in Manchuria.

1927
- President Wood dies of a malignant brain tumor. His vice president Irvine Lenroot becomes the next president.
- The renegotiation of the Ausgleich between Austria and Hungary nearly leads to a splitup of the Dual Monarchy. Only German intervention prevents the split. The final outcome is a federalisation of the Empire, with Bohemia, Galicia-Lodomera, Croatia and Bosnia all gaining limited homerule. In the confusion Serbia manages to break out of the Austrian sphere of influence.
- Ukraine, which was part of the Austrian sphere of influence becomes part of Germanies alliance, as a 'reward' for Germanies mediation.
- Revolts sweep through Guatemala, toppling the government. British Honduras quickly falls to revolution too, joining the new syndicalist state.

1928
- Republican Herbert Hoover defeats New York governor Al Smith.
- The Central American revolt spreads to El Salvador. Guatemala and El Salvador merge to form Centroamerica

1929
- The inability of the Entente nations to pay off their enormous debts and Germanies heavy protectionism have hurt the American economy for years but in 1929 the New York stock exchange finally collapses, sending America into the Great Depression. The economic crisis remainslimited to the American continent, with the European economies now oriented on the Berlin stock exchange.
- The Iron Guard party coups the Romanian government, installing Corneliu Codreanu as the Conductare.

1930
- Grand Admiral Afred von Tirpitz dies on the 6th of march. He is replaced by Fieldmarshall Oskar von Hutier, the man finalizing the encirclement of Paris during the Weltkrieg. He was the most succesful and popular chancellor in German history behind Otto von Bismarck himself.

1931
- In a reaction to the growing threat of Centroamerica, Nicaragua and Costa Rica unite to form the United Provinces.

1932
- Herbert Hoover narrowly defeats Franklin D. Roosevelt, mainly because the once Solid South voted for Gerald K. Smith, the candidate put forward by popular Louisiana governor Huey Long and his American First movement. The syndicalists, led by Alexander Berkman and John ‘Jack’ Reed manage to win the state of New York.
- In South Africa Barry Hertzog wins the elections and declares South Africa to be a republic. South Africa leaves the Entente.

1933
- Chancellor Von Hutier dies and is replaced by Franz von Papen.
- A series of border skirmishes between Paraguay and Bolivia leads to Argentina and Bolivia go to war over the alledged Bolivian attempts to annex Paraguay.

1934
- Argentina manages to drive the Bolivians out of the disputed Gran Chaco region. Brazil decides to intervene on Bolivia’s behals, sparking off the Great South American War. Small Uruguay is quickly overrun by Brazilian forces, having the misfortune to be in the way. The march towards the River Plate ended in trench warfare.

1935
- Argentinian troops, fresh from defeating Bolivia counterattack the Brazilian lines along the River Plate. The tired Brazilian forces break and Brazil quickly seeks terms. Paraguay and Uruguay join Argentina in the newly created Federation of La Plata.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt is assasinated on the 12th of april by a radical American Firster.

Paging Faeelin.
 
Well.. at least the POD was good(total interuption of USW after lusitania and a forget than exist aptituted against the United States) and some what pausable...

but why they don't kill FDR in the main US POD? in the original Canon they kill FDR before the primaries... thus leving the Democrats divided(Between Long and another one) and unable to beat Hoover
 
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