AHC: Make a Germany-Russia alliance lose WW1.

Redcoat

Banned
Say Germany and Russia hold on to the League of Three Emperors and Austria eventually drops out because of disagreements over the Balkans, while the other two stay allied. Austria ends up becoming neutral in WW1 for whatever reason and another event causes WW1 with Germany and Russia on the same side. Your challenge is to make this force somehow lose WW1.
 
Turkey-Austria-France-UK is the best bet.
Come to think about it, Japan could also join in...or get rich selling to both sides.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
Your challenge is to make this force somehow lose WW1.

Possible, depending on what your value of "winning" is.

If the German aim is massive extra-European expansion

And if the Russian aim is massive expansion in Asia

And if Britain, the US, Italy, Turkey Japan all aligned with the victims of this expansion (their own colonies, China, Persia, Afghanistan)

And if France is neutral as well as Austria-Hungary, and Germany/Russia honor that neutrality...

Theoretically the German-Russian alliance could be completely contained to its starting position through the opposing coalition's naval superiority, and capabilities for expeditionary warfare, which end up outweighing the forces that the Russians, even with German support, can mass through the logistical bottlenecks of the Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia and East Asia.

I think French neutrality is the key here.

If France is in the anti-German-Russian coalition, it will be a victim, and Germany will ultimately win something from France and possibly the Low Countries that makes everyone regard this as an unmistakable victory.

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If your value of "winning" is German or Russian capitulation, territorial losses or forced reparations payments, well then winning against them is impossible.
 
You'd need to find a way to bring the United States into the war very early, because without them, and with Austria-Hungary neutral, there's just no way to bleed the Russo-German alliance dry. The only large land front for Germany is France, and the Franco-British alliance barely managed to hold on while Germany was busy fighting Russia and supporting AH; without that distraction, it's not going to end well for the French.

Positing an "Everybody else in Europe, plus Japan, gangs up on the Russo-Germans" then we have Britain, France, Italy, Ottomans, and Japanese, plus assorted lesser powers, to deal with. The French are already fully committed to staving off a German invasion, or else attempting to launch one of their own, the Italians have no direct borders so are going to be supporting the French (it's unlikely they'll be willing to directly assist the Ottomans, due to historical rivalries), which does leave Britain able to open up more secondary fronts - but where?

Russia faces no immediate peril in this setup. The Ottoman front is far from their center, as are the Japanese and assorted English colonies, so the Russian war machine isn't going to be crippled by huge land losses like they were IOTL. This leaves a stronger Russia battling across more limited borders.

Bringing the United States into the war is difficult, because a British blockade isn't threatening to starve Germany - they can buy all the food they need from Russia - so there's no reason for unrestricted submarine warfare. We need a secondary POD to tie the United States into a defensive alliance with another nation, presumably Britain.
 
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Deleted member 94680

If your pod is ‘late’ enough, you could take the easy route of having Russia collapse into civil war if the war drags on long enough
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
You'd need to find a way to bring the United States into the war very early, because without them, and with Austria-Hungary neutral, there's just no way to bleed the Russo-German alliance dry. The only large land front for Germany is France, and the Franco-British alliance barely managed to hold on while Germany was busy fighting Russia and supporting AH; without that distraction, it's not going to end well for the French.

Positing an "Everybody else in Europe, plus Japan, gangs up on the Russo-Germans" then we have Britain, France, Italy, Ottomans, and Japanese, plus assorted lesser powers, to deal with. The French are already fully committed to staving off a German invasion, or else attempting to launch one of their own, the Italians have no direct borders so are going to be supporting the French (it's unlikely they'll be willing to directly assist the Ottomans, due to historical rivalries), which does leave Britain able to open up more secondary fronts - but where?

Russia faces no immediate peril in this setup. The Ottoman front is far from their center, as are the Japanese and assorted English colonies, so the Russian war machine isn't going to be crippled by huge land losses like they were IOTL. This leaves a stronger Russia battling across more limited borders.

Bringing the United States into the war is difficult, because a British blockade isn't threatening to starve Germany - they can buy all the food they need from Russia - so there's no reason for unrestricted submarine warfare. We need a secondary POD to tie the United States into a defensive alliance with another nation, presumably Britain.

The Germans could try unrestricted u boat warfare even if they are not being effectively damage by blockade. Because maybe the Germans would want an advantage, and britain’s Dependence on shipped imports is manifest to all.
 

BooNZ

Banned
Say Germany and Russia hold on to the League of Three Emperors and Austria eventually drops out because of disagreements over the Balkans, while the other two stay allied. Austria ends up becoming neutral in WW1 for whatever reason and another event causes WW1 with Germany and Russia on the same side. Your challenge is to make this force somehow lose WW1.
The opposing WW1 forces are limited to Britain and empire, USA, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Japan and the Ottomans. Conflict is limited to the Caucasus, eastern Russia/ Manchuria and the high seas.
 
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