AHC: Explain this map

Russians win at Tannenberg and occupy Konigsberg with threats to go deeper into the country. German offensive to Paris stalls per OTL. Russians begin preparations for much larger push into Germany, but Christmas truce causes mild panic. A year passes with few results and copious corpse counts. Peace offers via Vatican floated, negotiated, and accepted in Treaty of Rome on 01 April 1916. Poland becomes a kingdom on paper, Germany gives up Alsace-Lorraine after plebiscite there goes 60-40 in favor of France. Alsace was even, Lorraine was *not*. Russians secure Konstantingrad as the Ottomans collapse and shore up their interests there.
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
This is an interesting map. On the one hand, the Russians over-performed, but the fact that Poland exists as an indy state, means the Russians were so exhausted by the war they wanted a buffer state between them and the Germans despite the danger such a thing would pose for them.
I think the dotted line implies that Poland isn’t truly independent, it probably has Finland’s status. (Under personal Union with Russia and nominal autonomy.)
 
I think the dotted line implies that Poland isn’t truly independent, it probably has Finland’s status. (Under personal Union with Russia and nominal autonomy.)
Ah, good point. Still dangerous, but Russia could be using this to attempt to "tame" Polish nationalism by rigidly defining it. Let's face, if Nicholas II and his merry crew of fools are on the winning side, the Devil knows what is going on as a government policy.
 
Ah, good point. Still dangerous, but Russia could be using this to attempt to "tame" Polish nationalism by rigidly defining it. Let's face, if Nicholas II and his merry crew of fools are on the winning side, the Devil knows what is going on as a government policy.

I mean, I’m not even sure this is a Russian win in any real sense. Austria still has Slavic territory
 
I mean, I’m not even sure this is a Russian win in any real sense. Austria still has Slavic territory
Brutha, Russia got to walk away from WWI with Finland, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and got access to the Med. It's a win. I just don't fully understand what is going on with Hungary ITT and why Austria half-fell-apart the way it did.
 
Brutha, Russia got to walk away from WWI with Finland, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and got access to the Med. It's a win. I just don't fully understand what is going on with Hungary ITT and why Austria half-fell-apart the way it did.

Is it possible that this is in a TL with no WW1?
 
Is it possible that this is in a TL with no WW1?

That's possible. Perhaps TTL Bismarck never managed to get Nappy III to take the bait, so Germany never acquired Alsace-Lorraine in the first place. Ausgleich failed, so the Crown of Saint Stephen became a separate country, and Russia opportunistically nabbed Galicia-Lodomeria. The weird Russo-German border was established after some war between the two, maybe Germany interfered with a Russo-Japanese conflict or something. Finally, the breakup of the Ottoman Empire went way more sideways earlier, so Britain and France allowed Russian possession of Constantinople in exchange for a free hand in carving up the Ottoman Middle East Sykes-Picot style.
 
Hmm. Interesting. But how did the Russkies end up with the Straits then? Did the Ottomans half-collapse? And what then happened to the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Economy plus nationalist revolts?

Maybe ITTL, there were a series of wars, as Europe has been accustomed to, instead of one general war. One Russo-Ottoman, then a Hungarian Revolution, backed by the Russians, and then France and Russia invaded Germany to protect the Kaiser from revolution and took the chunks out as a form of payment?
 
That's possible. Perhaps TTL Bismarck never managed to get Nappy III to take the bait, so Germany never acquired Alsace-Lorraine in the first place. Ausgleich failed, so the Crown of Saint Stephen became a separate country, and Russia opportunistically nabbed Galicia-Lodomeria. The weird Russo-German border was established after some war between the two, maybe Germany interfered with a Russo-Japanese conflict or something. Finally, the breakup of the Ottoman Empire went way more sideways earlier, so Britain and France allowed Russian possession of Constantinople in exchange for a free hand in carving up the Ottoman Middle East Sykes-Picot style.

That’s another interesting idea
 
That’s another interesting idea

I think I've improved on the idea a little. So forget everything after Russia taking Galicia-Lodomeria. The Great Game stays intense so Britain and Russia never ally. France allies with Russia as per OTL, but isn't especially hostile to Germany or Austria since no conquest of A-L. Eventually, some damn fool thing in the Balkans happens and triggers a war with Britain, Germany, Austria, and the Ottomans versus Russia, France, Italy, Greece, and Serbia. After the powers grind themselves down, they reach a peace agreement that results in the map shown.
 
I think I've improved on the idea a little. So forget everything after Russia taking Galicia-Lodomeria. The Great Game stays intense so Britain and Russia never ally. France allies with Russia as per OTL, but isn't especially hostile to Germany or Austria since no conquest of A-L. Eventually, some damn fool thing in the Balkans happens and triggers a war with Britain, Germany, Austria, and the Ottomans versus Russia, France, Italy, Greece, and Serbia. After the powers grind themselves down, they reach a peace agreement that results in the map shown.

Wouldn’t such a war be a total CP wank? The French have to fight two flanks, they can’t realistically prevent a British amphibious invasion, and it’s likely their main defenses would be in A-L, which would be encircled if a version of the Schlieffen Plan is enacted. Once France is out of the war, then that means A-H can focus on screwing the heck out of Serbia and then Italy, while the Brits land at St. Petersburg and Odessa while most Russian forces are getting screwed in Poland and the Baltics.
 
I think I've improved on the idea a little. So forget everything after Russia taking Galicia-Lodomeria. The Great Game stays intense so Britain and Russia never ally. France allies with Russia as per OTL, but isn't especially hostile to Germany or Austria since no conquest of A-L. Eventually, some damn fool thing in the Balkans happens and triggers a war with Britain, Germany, Austria, and the Ottomans versus Russia, France, Italy, Greece, and Serbia. After the powers grind themselves down, they reach a peace agreement that results in the map shown.

Not trying to diss your scenario, which seems well-thought out, I’m just saying that if your scenario unfolds like this then it’s almost definitely going to be the reverse of this map.
 
Not trying to diss your scenario, which seems well-thought out, I’m just saying that if your scenario unfolds like this then it’s almost definitely going to be the reverse of this map.

Maybe Britain did something to piss off America (alt-Venezuela crisis or somesuch) and ended up having to deal with the colossus across the Atlantic as well
 
Maybe Britain did something to piss off America (alt-Venezuela crisis or somesuch) and ended up having to deal with the colossus across the Atlantic as well

Are you saying the USA joined the Franco-Russian alliance, or was sort of a neutral power (more neutral than OTL with the entente, but not completely neutral)?
 
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