alternatehistory.com

And now, update time! I'll add more footnotes later.

Part One-Hundred Twenty: In the Footsteps of Charlemagne

Crossing the Alps:
Through the early months of 1908, the Italian front remained static. In the summer months however, the Alliance Carolingien made further breakthroughs in pushing their way through the Alps. The German armies, still facing difficulty in getting supplies through the Bavarian Alps, managed to recapture Trent in August of 1908. However, the move south from Trent was stopped at the north shore of Lake Garda. The lake edge running right up to the steep mountain slopes made for a well defensible position for the Italians. Further east the German army found more success, able to finally take Belluno in September 1908.

After the capture of Belluno, the Battle of the Piave River began. The potential German plans for pushing through the Piave River valley and the final ridge of the Alps left the commanders divided. The possibility of a straight assault south toward Conegliano was more direct, but a push west toward the Asiago plateau could link the two German Alpine armies and threaten the more industrial area of Veneto near Vicenza. While major general Prince Karl of Bavaria[1] suggested the latter strategy, marshal Otto von Lossow decided on the direct assault to continue the momentum of the advance and partially out of personal dislike for the prince. The assault began on October 13, and lasted for five days before it was called off. The Italian defenses, at the Lago di Santa Croce, which encompassed artillery positions, machine gun emplacements on either side of the lake and in the valley to the south, repelled the German advance inflicting over 35,000 casualties. The next phase, in which the Germans tried to advance west, was less successful for the Italians. The German push along the full front of the Piave valley reached Sedico by the end of November and Feltre by December 15. As the German supply lines through the Alps were now being stretched, however, another attempt to push out of the Alps would not come until the next spring as the Italians counterattacked.

For the French, meanwhile, their front lines started to become much more mobile as the advance reached the western edge of the Po Valley. The main target, the industrial city of Torino, was the major focus of the French line for the first half of 1909. The city itself fell to the French in June of that year, and the front line fanned out from Torino. Ivrea and Chivasso were captured by the French in August, though Chivasso changed hands multiple times as the front wavered back and forth into 1910. In the south, the Italian forces drew back from the Alpine positions to coordinate a defense at Saluzzo that held the French until October. However, Saluzzo and soon Cuneo had come under French control by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the French continued to enlarge defenses around Piombino, ensuring they would hold the city and surrounding islands for the duration of the war.

Elsewhere in Europe:
As the French consolidated their push into the Po Valley, in Spain the army prepared to launch a coordinated assault across the Ebro River in February of 1909. The plan of attack was twofold, as French troops concentrated on Burgos and another attack on Tarragona. The British-Spanish force at Burgos put up stiff resistance, but Burgos finally fell to the French in May. However, once again the New Coalition navy sortied from Valencia and prevented the French from providing adequate naval support. And now with the French army spread across almost the entire stretch of the Ebro, the assault failed. Tarragona was one of the last holdouts in Catalunya, lasting well into 1910. After the failure of the assault in February, French troops bypassed Tarragona to focus their advance on Tortosa and the Ebro delta. This attack succeeded, and in April 1909, Tortosa and the port of Amposta fell. The French army continued south along the coast, taking Castellón after a three week long siege in August.

On the Eastern Front, the German army continued to struggle with the Russians and Hungarians. Plans to capture Budapest were put on hold as the push into Varazd made the prospect of isolating Croatia and Dalmatia a priority. The German army pushed eastward from Varazd, and in 1909 the cities of Kőrös and Belovár fell, with a brief feint toward Agram proving successful at drawing parts of the Hungarian army out of Slavonia. In Poland, the Germans were able to move east from Krakow after pacifying the city, and Tarnow fell in April of 1909. The Galizian government which had fled to Tarnow surrendered to the German army soon after the occupation of the city. However, the Russian army quickly moved in to block further German advances toward Rzsezow. Meanwhile, a Russian counterattack to capture Warsaw stalled the army in Poland. Further north, the Russians continued to be pushed back from East Prussia, and the Germans had taken Kaunas by August. But indecision on whether to continue north toward Riga or east toward Wilno left the German army in Kaunas to the end of the year.

[1] Son of King Ludwig III (when the Mad King Ludwig was overthrown with the Frederick's approval, OTL King Otto was skipped over).