AH Challenge: Longest WWI Possible

An extended WWI has been somewhat popular in video games and the like for some time now (see Iron Storm). Now, most of the dragging out of WWI in these medias is ASB as far as I'm concerned. However, I think it's a very interesting idea.

So, how long could WWI be feasibly drawn out? Is 1918 the end-all be-all for the Central Powers, or could there be a chance for them to survive until, say, the 1920s? What about the Entente? Of course, a lot of PODs would have to be created but I'm sure they're available.

I can see a longer WWI having a vast change in world history. Would it cause an earlier Great Depression? Would WWII be butterflied away, or would it merely be later on in history? How vast of a change would this cause?
 
I can see 1919, if the CPs don't start negotiating with Wilson. But the Ottomans, A-H, and Bulgaria were already out, and I can't see Germany as anything other than ground to dust by the end of 1919.

With an earlier POD, or having the CPs win? No idea, but still probably not longer than 5 years.
 

MrP

Banned
Well, the CP are low on resources by '18, hence the surrender. However, if we have people on all sides prepare for war in advance rather better, then there's a chance. Have larger shell stockpiles (the signs are all there in the R-J War), create the concept of Reserved Occupations so that industry doesn't suffer as badly, advance the emancipation of women so they can help more and sooner, and change several campaigns so that instead of being manpower-draining disasters, they're less bloody.* Delay the introduction of poison gas weaponry or have it used in a previous war and then banned because the horrors are more widely publicised.

* The Austro-Russian headbutt at the start of the war, the terrific French initial casualties of 1914, and later on there's Caporetto, the Somme and Verdun to name but three.
 

MrP

Banned
Ooh, you could decrease the Anglo-German Naval Race. Stopping it's probably impossible, but one can limit it somewhat, which leaves some more money for other stuff.
 
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