Here's a brief sketch of a TL idea I've been playing around with for years. Parts of it are a bit implausible, but overall, I think it's workable. The crux of the idea is a worse Dogger Bank Incident. The Russian Navy fires on some British ships, leading to a brief firefight, with loss of lives on both sides. Crucially, one of those killed on the British side is important to someone famous--a newspaper magnate's son, or an MP's, etc. This leads to a big reaction in the papers, with lots of newspapers devoting column inches to this terrible outrage. Russo-British relations are very tense. A portion of the Royal Navy follows the Russian fleet down the African coast, and war looks possible. The French are worried that Britain really might join the war against Russia, and makes moves to mobilize their own fleet. The Empire of Germany is delighted to see it's two greatest rivals potentially hostile to the British, and the Kaiser argues for war. Germany declares war on Russia and France, citing the mobilization of the French fleet as the "Russian atrocity" as pretexts. (This is the implausible bit, but if Germany thinks it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to drive a wedge between the British and the Russians & French, they might seize the opportunity.) France, now at war with Germany, urges Russia to do something to smooth ties with the British. The Russians agree to pay an endemnity, and Britain doesn't join the war. France does not declare war on Japan. The British, still hoping for a French victory against Germany, does not fight, but does announce that they will blockade "the combatant nations". In reality, she blockades Germany, but makes only a token effort to stop traffic to France.
Germany still lacks heavy siège guns, and the German advance is slower than in OTL 1914. The Haber Process is still in the future, and in a little over a year, Germany faces starvation and stalemate. Germany sues for peace, and while the terms are a humiliation, they are not ruinous. The Kaiser has not seen his power drift away to the military, and he retains his throne. Within a decade, an overwhelming SDP majority starts a long and slow process of limiting the Kaiser's powers.
Over in Russia, the war was costly. French victory prevents any territorial concessions in Europe, but they see little gains, either. Peace in the Pacific is possible only because neither side can fight on any longer. Russia is exhausted and busy fighting elsewhere, no new troops can be dispatched East. Japan is victorious on land and at sea, but the state is dangerously overextended and near bankruptcy. Her national savings exhausted, Japan can only continue the war by securing huge loans from London, and Japan is financially hobbled for a decade afterwards, minimizing foreign adventurism. Back in Russia, the Revolution of 1905 sees even more unrest. The Tsar doesn't have enough troops to suppress the unrest and continue fighting, so, though he hates it, he concedes to the creation of a Duma with real, though limited, powers. Shortly thereafter, a bomb-throwing radical assassinates him, leading to an upswing in public sympathy for him. As the new Tsar is just a boy, a regency council is the true power behind the throne. The council manages to avoid doing anything disastrously stupid, and keeps the worst of the gossip about the Imperial family out of the papers. After a few years, the boy dies. The New Tsar Michael insists on being confirmed by the Duma, thus creating, possibly, a précédent for the legislature to confirm succession. The regency council has no formal authority or even existence, but still act as informal advisors. Russia's many problems continue, but the Duma seems to be at least trying to address some of them, minimizing popular support for radical solutions.
There, that should get you to at least 1920 or so. Past that, the TL has diverged enough that you could do almost anything you want with it. Neither Russia nor Germany are anything close to crowned republics, but by that same token, neither one allows their Emperor true unfettered power, either. It's definitely not my best work in terms of plausibility, but in my own defense, I think it's an interesting world. The true horrors of WW1 is avoided for now. London stays the world capital of high finance a little longer. The US is still not truly seen as a globally-engaged power. There is no communist revolution yet. The Empire of Japan got their victory over a world power, but is too much in debt to do anything on the scale of the OTL Siberian Dispatch, for example. Interesting, no ?
Germany still lacks heavy siège guns, and the German advance is slower than in OTL 1914. The Haber Process is still in the future, and in a little over a year, Germany faces starvation and stalemate. Germany sues for peace, and while the terms are a humiliation, they are not ruinous. The Kaiser has not seen his power drift away to the military, and he retains his throne. Within a decade, an overwhelming SDP majority starts a long and slow process of limiting the Kaiser's powers.
Over in Russia, the war was costly. French victory prevents any territorial concessions in Europe, but they see little gains, either. Peace in the Pacific is possible only because neither side can fight on any longer. Russia is exhausted and busy fighting elsewhere, no new troops can be dispatched East. Japan is victorious on land and at sea, but the state is dangerously overextended and near bankruptcy. Her national savings exhausted, Japan can only continue the war by securing huge loans from London, and Japan is financially hobbled for a decade afterwards, minimizing foreign adventurism. Back in Russia, the Revolution of 1905 sees even more unrest. The Tsar doesn't have enough troops to suppress the unrest and continue fighting, so, though he hates it, he concedes to the creation of a Duma with real, though limited, powers. Shortly thereafter, a bomb-throwing radical assassinates him, leading to an upswing in public sympathy for him. As the new Tsar is just a boy, a regency council is the true power behind the throne. The council manages to avoid doing anything disastrously stupid, and keeps the worst of the gossip about the Imperial family out of the papers. After a few years, the boy dies. The New Tsar Michael insists on being confirmed by the Duma, thus creating, possibly, a précédent for the legislature to confirm succession. The regency council has no formal authority or even existence, but still act as informal advisors. Russia's many problems continue, but the Duma seems to be at least trying to address some of them, minimizing popular support for radical solutions.
There, that should get you to at least 1920 or so. Past that, the TL has diverged enough that you could do almost anything you want with it. Neither Russia nor Germany are anything close to crowned republics, but by that same token, neither one allows their Emperor true unfettered power, either. It's definitely not my best work in terms of plausibility, but in my own defense, I think it's an interesting world. The true horrors of WW1 is avoided for now. London stays the world capital of high finance a little longer. The US is still not truly seen as a globally-engaged power. There is no communist revolution yet. The Empire of Japan got their victory over a world power, but is too much in debt to do anything on the scale of the OTL Siberian Dispatch, for example. Interesting, no ?