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Part One-Hundred Two: The Eastern Front

The Alpine Front:
As in western Europe, little movement was made on the German borders with Italy or Hungary in the first months of the war. In Italy, any quick movements were thwarted by the Alpine terrain and limited to the few mountain passes on the German-Italian border. The Germans were placed on the defensive in Bozen as the Italian forces in the Alps were better supplied. A fierce battle in the Adige valley south of Bozen raged during May. However due to the failed tactics of the German commander, Italy gained the advantage as getting German supplies through the northern Alps was difficult. After Italian forces from Trentino brought artillery up to the cliffs above Vadena and Bronzolo, the Germans were forced to make a hasty retreat into Bozen. By the time of the Olympic truce at the opening ceremony in June, Italy had destroyed the rail connection between Bozen and Meran and had cut off access to Bozen from the west. Bozen would fall to the Italians by the end of June.

While the German offensive to retake Bozen was a top priority on the Alpine front, other offensives were carried out to attempt to bypass the Adige valley. These attacks were focused at Campolongo and Falzarego passes, since besides Bozen, Campolongo was the only major pass along the border below 2000 metres elevation[1]. The Germans who set forth from Bruneck succeeded in capturing the two passes and moved east and south, capturing the city of Ampezzo[2]. However, movement by Italian forces in an attempt to capture Gardena Pass forced much of the German corps to move back west to secure the pass and a unified line between Bozen and Ampezzo. By the Olympic truce, the Germans managed to force the Italians out of Gardena Pass and retain the occupation of Ampezzo.

The early success of the Italians in the Alpine front was surprising to the German general staff in Berlin, given the two country's relative power and army size at the beginning of the war. But in retrospect, the difficulties faced by the German armies are understandable. The Bavarian government had special autonomous privileges within the German Empire that granted it ultimate authority over the Bavarian lands. This autonomy even extended to the Bavarian army and the management of military emplacements within Bavaria[3]. Over the decades, however, the Bavarian government had neglected the southern Alpine region in favor of the area around Munich and the cities in northern Bavaria. The poor maintenance of the Alpine railways strained the German supply lines when the Great War began and the German army in the Alps was poorly trained, and allowed Italy to score an important early victory.


Russia Joins the Coalition:
While the German army suffered a loss of ground in Bavaria, the Germans scored important early successes against Hungary. Germany defeated Hungary in late April to capture the cities of Pressburg and Odenburg on the Hungarian border. German attempts to cross the Danube near Pressburg were stopped by Hungarian forces. However, the army at Ödenburg[4] continued to move east and reached the outskirts of Gyor by June. In northern Hungary, Germany captured Malacka and Szenice and pushed the Hungarians back to the Little Carpathian mountains.

These early successes worried the British and the Italians that Hungary might sign a peace agreement with Berlin and allow the Germans to operate on a single front against Italy or assist France in the west. These concerns were at least somewhat founded. When France declared war on Italy, some members of the Hungarian Diet moved that Hungary should not honor its commitment to the Lega di Mediterraneo and not declare war on France, and after the German advance, support for a quick separate peace agreement with France and Germany grew in the Diet. However, Hungarian chancellor Kalman Tisza refused to accept a peace with Germany. He sent is son Istvan[5] to Saint Petersburg along with the British, Spanish, and Italian foreign ministers to convince the Russians to enter the war on the side of the New Coalition.

In Saint Petersburg, the Tsar was still vacillating on whether Russia would enter the war. While Saint Petersburg had become more involved in Europe over the previous decade, it had not made any diplomatic commitments with any of the other great powers. The three-day Olympic truce between June 9th and 12th provided the breakthrough the Coalition needed to convince him. Just prior to the truce, the British High Seas Fleet had defeated a German fleet in the North Sea that was sailing to aid French ships in the Channel. At the same, word from the Pacific reached the Tsar that France had once again committed its Far Eastern navy to the aid of Corea and that the French and Corean navies had launched an attack on the island of Tsushima. Russia had leased a naval base from Japan on Tsushima in the early 1890s[6], and the Tsar realized that if Corea took the island, the Russian base and Russia's naval presence in east Asia would likely end. These revelations, added to the influence of the four ambassadors from the New Coalition, convinced the Tsar to bring Russia into the Great War on June 16th.

[1] Reschen and Brenner passes are fully within German territory.
[2] Cortina d'Ampezzo. The name was changed after WWI in OTL.
[3] This is about on par with Bavaria's special status in OTL within Germany. Bavaria had its own army that would only go under Prussian command in times of war.
[4] German name for Sopron, Hungary.
[5] Istvan Tisza was prime minister of Hungary from 1903 to 1905 in OTL.
[6] Russia tried to establish a base on Tsushima in 1861 in OTL, but the British intervened. ITTL with closer British-Russian relations and with Russia waiting longer, the base is allowed to be built.