VoCSe said:
I don't think they could have kept them after a war either, they just have some historical claims. But it could have worked out for them as a peacetime reorganization.
Neither Frankfurt (a more neutral capital) nor St Petersburg will want an independent Polish state. You might have to partition Galicia with Russia though, giving them Tarnopol, Cracow, the Bukovina, and some border lands; Germany could get Auschwitz-Zator (the small area south-west of Cracow, once part of Silesia). They'd be given plenty of autonomy, of course.
As for Dalmatia, the new Germany will not accept the Italian semi-equivalent of the Kashmir (an independent area where the ruling minority wants to join Italy and the majority wants ... I don't know, something else, Serbia's too far away and Croatia's ruled by the Hungarians). This Greater Germany will see the Greater Hungary as its extension into the Balkans.
Since Dalmatia is Hungarian, Germany could take Fiume to get a better position in the Adriatic.
It could happen if German nationalists take power in Vienna. Expect a Franco-Russian alliance to form immediately.
I think you are right about what might have happened if a peacetime reorganization had occured.
But those changes wouldn't change history too much. WWI would still start and Greater Germany and Hungary would lose it , like Germany and Austria-Hungary lost it in OTL. Then , we would probably still have a Nazi Germany trying to get revenge.
But what if WWI have ended a little different?
Here's a POD:
After the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty , the German High Command decides to pull out all of it's troops from the Italian front and from the Balkans in order to use them in their final offensive against the Entente.
The spring and summer offensives of 1918 have better results for the Germans than in OTL. They reach the outskirts of Paris and almost manage to surround the city. Not wanting to send their last armies against Allied machineguns , the Germans decide to stop their offensive and start to dig trenches.
The Allied counter-offensives manage to drive them away from Paris to the Hindenburg line , both sides suffering heavy casualties.
Meanwhile , whithout German troops to help them , the Austro-Hungarian troops are more easily defeated on the Italian front and on the Salonic front.
Bulgaria collapses earlier then in OTL , Allied troops reach the Danube sooner than in OTL , and Romania reenters the war .
Because of those setbacks , a revolt breaks up in Vienna , declaring the Republic of Austria . Emperor Karl flees to Budapest.
Fearing Bolshevik revolts and economical collapse , whithout the succesful counter-offensives they had in OTL , the British and French goverments agree to the German proposal of a cease-fire , in December 1918. ( The Germans were also fearing revolts , were almost starving , and were running out of manpower and Emperor Karl had already singed a cease-fire with the allies )
Karl tries to keep the rest of his empire intact but fails due to revolts in Galicia , Boemia and Transilvania , Italian landings in Dalmatia , and Romanian and Polish attacks.
The Austrian Republic joins the German Reich . ( In OTL , on the 12-th of November 1918 , it was proclaimed at Vienna a republic of "German Austria" ( Deutsche-Osterreich ) as a component ( Bestandteil )of the German federation .)
In the spring ( or maybe summer ) of 1919 the peace treaty of Den Haag is signed )
The results for the countries involved are:
France:
-gets Lorraine
-gets Alsace ( after a refferendum )
-gets some reparations from Germany ( not as big as in OTL )
-gets Siria and Lebanon
Britain:
-recieves the German colonies ( the African ones )
-recieves Palestine , Jordan , and Iraq
Germany:
-loses Lorraine and Alsace
-keeps Danzig and West Prussia
-the union with Austria ( includeing Carniola , Stirya , Carinthia , Tirol ( with Bolzano ), Salzburg , Voralberg , and Sudetenland ) is recognised.
-gets Burgenland ( after a plebiscite )
-refferendums will be held in Northern Schleswig , Posen and in the former Austrian Silesia
-pays reparations to France and Belgium
Hungary:
-loses Dalmatia to Italy
-loses Galitia to Poland
-loses Transilvania to Romania
-loses Banat to Serbia and Romania
-loses Burgenland to Germany
-Croatia , Slovakia and the Czech Republic become independent
-keeps Backa and some territories in modern day Northern Croatia
-keeps Ruthenia and Southern Slovakia
Italy
-gets Trentino ( whithout Bolzano )
-gets Triest , Istria , Gorizia , Fiume and Dalmatia
Poland:
-gets Galitia ( southern Bukovina goes to Romania )
-unites with Lithuania
Japan:
-gets the German colonies in the Pacific
Greece:
-gains Thrace and Smyrna
Serbia:
-recieves some parts of Bulgarian Macedonia
-partitions the Banat with Romania
-partitions Bosnia with Croatia
Romania:
-gets Transilvania and a part of the Banat
-gets southern Bukovina
-the anexation of Besserebia is recognized by the great powers ( except the USSR )
-Dobruja is regained
Also , a naval treaty is signed:
-The UK and the US will have the largest navies
-France , Italy and Japan will have to limit their navies to 3/5 of the UK's navy
-Gemany will have to limit her navy to 1/2 of the British navy
The independence of Latvia , Estonia and Finland is recognised.
Into the 20's ( or 30's ):
-Turkey will become a republic
-Germany will become a constitutional monarchy ( Kaiser Wilhelm will have to abdicate , though )
-Hungary will become a republic , after a period of unrest
-Europe's main threat will be communism
-the League of Nations will be stronger ( the US will be a member )
-the US won't be so isolationist
-the fascist regimes won't come into power in Germany and Italy ( no stab in the back and , respectivly no betrayal by the allies feeligs)
-France and Germany will make up
So , what about that?