LucaTheDevilCat
Banned
Bonus points to anyone who comes up with a rough timeline and it's effect and the 20th and 21st centuries, POD no earlier than the Franco Prussian War.
Which is more plausible: CP or Axis Britain?
- Thread starter LucaTheDevilCat
- Start date
CP. There was a timeline where Germany invested in a sizeable U-Boat fleet that gave the RN all sorts of trouble. Wish I could remember it off the top of my head.
Challenge accepted.
British foreign policy has been consistently to preserve the balance of power in Europe and prevent one country from dominating the continent and upsetting said balance. At the dawn of the 20th century, it was logical for Britain to side with France and Russia against Germany, as it was clear that Germany posed a direct threat to global peace and intended to upset said balance. So how do we ensure that Germany is no longer a threat to the balance of power in Europe, thereby making it easier for Britain to ally herself with Germany, while France instead becomes a clear threat to the balance of power? Well, it isn't too hard for an Anglo-German alliance to arise, as there were certainly prominent British politicians who argued for such a pact - most notably Joseph Chamberlain. The problem lies on the German side, where Kaiser Wilhelm II, so erratic and obsessed with outshining all of his relatives, consistently torpedoed relations between the two Empires, culminating with the German naval buildup. Consequently, it is clear that, if we are to establish a Central Powers Britain, we must remove Wilhelm II from the equation or modify his policy as Emperor.
The easiest way to do this would simply to avoid the complications Wilhelm II endured at birth, but since you have specified no PODs prior to the Franco-Prussian War, that is out of the equation. So, if we cannot remove Wilhelm II, let's ensure that he is on the backseat when Germany is crafting its foreign policy, shall we?
Our POD shall be March 1878 - an attempted assassination attempt on Wilhelm I succeeds and the German Emperor falls to the floor dead. His son, Frederick III, ascends to the throne ten years earlier than in our timeline and so has plenty of time to oversee his reign before succumbing to his cancer. During said reign, Frederick III fights a long and arduous battle to liberalise Germany which he eventually wins - Bismarck resigns when it becomes clear that his and the Kaiser's views are incompatible, while the power of the Junkers is significantly reduced. Meanwhile, the power and authority of the Reichstag increases to the extent that, by the end of Frederick III's reign, Germany is a liberal constitutional monarchy along similar lines to Britain. And, speaking of Britain, the British Government looks upon Frederick III's reforms in Germany with approval, fostering close relations between Britain and Germany which are enhanced by the fact that Frederick III, unlike Bismarck in our timeline, does not pursue colonial ambitions in Africa, meaning that Britain secures control of the territories which became German colonies in our timeline. Therefore, Britain is able to go ahead with the Cape-to-Cairo railway without any obstacles, while it is clear to London that Germany does not pose a threat to the British Empire. Upon Frederick III's death, Wilhelm II ascends to the throne much like in our timeline, yet it is soon clear that the Kaiser has far less power upon his ascension to the throne than his father. Several attempts are made by Wilhelm II to overrule the Reichstag and the Chancellor and determine German policy, yet all of these fail and so Wilhelm II begrudgingly fits into the role of a constitutional monarch (a role which he performs poorly, constantly voicing his own opinions in public).
Right, so now we have a Germany which is friendly to Britain, making forging an alliance between the two easier. But even with a Germany which will not threaten the British Empire or Britain's maritime dominance, we must still establish France as a threat to the European balance of power before Britain decides that it must seek peacetime alliances. To do this, we shall escalate the Fashoda Crisis - a skirmish takes place between Kitchener's and Marchand's forces which results in Britain and France declaring war upon one another. Such a war, probably known as the Fashoda War, immediately turns in Britain's favour - the Royal Navy quickly establishes a blockade of metropolitan France while landing British troops to occupy French colonies in the Caribbean, Pacific, Indian Ocean and Africa. Meanwhile, Russia makes it clear that it will not start a war with Britain over the colonies and so France quickly finds herself isolated and losing, eventually suing for peace. The result is France recognising British control of Egypt and the Sudan and transferring a few colonies (Senegal and probably several islands) to Britain - a decisive British victory has been won.
However, the age-old flames of Anglo-French rivalry have arisen once more, and, in France, there is bitter resentment at their defeat - the Third Republic is eventually replaced by an Orleanist restoration, while, recognising that Britain's victory came about primarily through naval superiority, the new French Government orders a major expansion of France's navy. Such a move disturbs Britain as it becomes clear to the British Government that the French threat to the balance of power has re-emerged, and this spurs the Government of Prime Minister Joseph Chamberlain (who succeeds Lord Salisbury as Prime Minister in this timeline, rather than Arthur Balfour) to sign the Anglo-German Verstehen, which, while short of a formal alliance between Britain and Germany, establishes a clear friendship between the two Empires.
So we have achieved a Central Powers Britain - but how do we ignite conflict in Europe? Well, let's delay the Russo-Japanese War by a decade to allow the new British-German friendship to solidify itself while France continues to make provocative moves which threatens both countries. Then, in 1914, conflict breaks out between Japan and Russia in the Far East - Japanese forces are quick to move from Korea into Russian-occupied Manchuria, while the Russian Baltic fleet is mobilised and begins to move around the world to the Pacific. However, mid-voyage, the Russian fleet encounters British trawlers in the North Sea and, mistaking them for Japanese vessels, opens fire - there is outrage in London and, after several weeks of poor diplomacy, Britain declares war on Russia in defence of their Japanese ally. The Royal Navy is quick to crush its Russian counterpart while Japan continues to advance through Manchuria, yet the war soon escalates as France, sensing an opportunity to secure its revenge, issues an ultimatum to the British Government demanding that Britain cease hostilities with Russia. When the ultimatum is ignored, France declares war on Britain, followed by Germany declaring war on France in defence of Britain. Russia then declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary and attacks them from the east, while France manoeuvres through Belgium to attack Germany, triggering outrage in Britain at the violation of Belgian neutrality.
Fast forward two years and the Franco-Russian alliance has been decisively defeated by the Central Powers - British victories at sea and in the colonies and a German push-back of the initial attack culminates in late 1916 with British forces landing in Normandy and linking up with their German allies to march on Paris, forcing the French Government to surrender while, on the Eastern Front, Central Power naval superiority allows Britain to land forces in the Baltic to strain the Russian army and allow the Central Powers to advance, eventually forcing Tsar Nicholas II to sue for peace in order to preserve his own rule. The subsequent peace treaties would almost certainly be starkly different to the ones the Central Powers envisaged in our timeline - Britain will not want to exchange an attempted French dominance of continental Europe for a German dominance (furthermore, the absence of Prussian militarism probably means that Germany does not want such a peace anyhow). So, in Eastern Europe we'll see Poland and the Baltic States separated from Russia, yet completely independent rather than under German influence. In Western Europe, France is required to pay reparations to Britain and Germany and cede the Channel Ports to Belgium. Overseas, Japan gains territory in the Far East, while French possessions are partitioned between Britain and Germany.
Following the conclusion of the Great War, Britain returns to Splendid Isolation, having seen off another attempt to disrupt the balance of power and secure with no other nation posing a threat to Britain's maritime or colonial interests, while France returns to republican government and keeps its head down, Germany continues to maintain friendliness with Britain so as to maintain the strong position it has found itself in, Austria-Hungary probably implodes several decades down the line and, in Russia, the monarchy remains in place as Nicholas II faces unrest akin to the 1905 Russian Revolution which is eventually put down through concessions (such as the establishment of the Duma).
Last edited:
The whole reason the Central Powers formed as an alliance was fear of the Triple Entente, and Axis Britain? That's as likely as Axis Poland. I mean in theory neither is impossible but you'd have to push a lot of blocks.