I was reading a short biography of Bismarck, and chanced across a mention of the "Holy Alliance" between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. When the Crimean War started in OTL, both Austria and Prussia stayed out of the conflict, Austria because the Russians were making a beeline for the mouth of the Danube, and Prussia because it had absolutely no interest in the conflict. So, what would have happened if they entered the conflict, say with Austria on the side of the Alliance, and Prussia with the Brits and French? Could we get an early WW1?
Crimea Explodes: WW1 in 1853
- Thread starter Adam Parsons
- Start date
Grey Wolf
Donor
Alasdair Czyrnyj said:
There isno chance that Austria is going to enter on the side of Russia. They had a treaty with Britain and France amounting to armed neutrality pact. Regarding Prussia, whilst there was an even split between pro-Russian and anti-Russian feeling, consider that if Austria entered, the war would therefore have entered 1856 and Sweden would now also be in the anti-Russian alliance. It would be suicide for Prussia to join the losing side in this war
There IS the possibility of its becoming a general war with all the European powers ganging up on Russia - this would likely even sweep in Spain which OTL offered to join but needed British financing.
The main what-if includes an American participation on the Russian side. I have argued this too often in the past to go into massive detail here, but it depends basically on the fact that the USA had had a major falling out with Britain in this period and severed relations.
See my thread 'Longer Crimean War' in the Archives for more detail on all of these various arguments
Best Regards
Grey Wolf