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The POD for this world was the War of 1812, in which New England seceded from the United States and developed close ties with Great Britain. The USA eventually dissolved into various successor states throughout the 19th century, including the theocratic Republic of Oklahoma, the war-mongering Republic of Texas and the more industrial East-Coast states such as the Carolina Republic and of course, the rump United States.

Otherwise, world politics followed a fairly similar pattern to OTL, though with recognisable differences, which escalated as time went on - Argentina became a kingdom under a Hapsburg monarch, Brazil never became a republic, British India is significantly larger and includes OTL Afghanistan and the Iranian part of Baluchistan, the Ottomans successfully subdued the Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula, Cape Colony was returned by Britain to the Netherlands following the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Netherlands keeps a hold of Belgium thus allowing them to industrialise faster and develop more of a colonial empire, The Qing Empire made some very terrible mistakes (including declaring war on Russia in 1870) and lost Xinjiang and Mongolia to the Russians, with Tibet becoming an independent state with close ties to the British Empire, Italy never went through the unification process, Austria won against Prussia and kicked them out of the Confederacy and the German Confederation still exists, albeit essentially just being Austria's hat. Also, the Bourbon restoration was a success after 1815 and has lasted until the modern day, with a very similar situation as Britain, with a constitutional monarchy.



Hopefully that gives you a good image of how this world went, though the challenge is to create a plausible Great War. First, here is a map of Europe in 1900:



My initial idea is that the war would be:

Russia, the United Kingdom, Savoy and Prussia against Austria, the German Confederation, the Ottoman Empire and France.

The reason behind the war would be first: Russia and Austria's fight over the Balkan States, similar to OTL. France has an alliance with Austria and so like Germany in OTL WW1, is dragged into the war, but also France dislikes Savoy, who is a constant threat to France's Bourbon cousins in the Italian peninsula.


Prussia, still bitter about the heavy losses suffered in the Austro-Prussian War in 1863, is eager to regain territory from Austria, particularly the lost lands of Anhalt, Saxony and Silesia.

The Ottoman Empire's alliance with France is one reason for the Ottoman entry into the war, but also the Ottoman desire to regain lost lands from Greece and Bulgaria, as well as the British possessions in Arabia.


During the war, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia all enter on the side of Britain, Prussia, Russia and Savoy, as well as the British-influenced Persia, hoping to gain territory from the Ottomans.

Japan also starts an Austrian-backed attack on Chinese Manchuria during the war, hoping the European powers will be too distracted with their own strife to interfere. The Austrians back the attack because they think it may turn British, Russian and Dutch attention to their possessions in East Asia (Dutch Shanghai, British Hong Kong and Russian Mongolia and Siberia).

So my question to you is, how plausible is the war at this point in time, how can it be improved, and who will the most likely victor of this war be? I was hoping it'd be quite a balanced war with no clear winner that will damage both sides of the war.

Also, for bonus points to those geniuses among you, does anyone have any idea how to get America involved?

Here are some more maps from the year 1900. Please note that the war doesn't break out in 1900, so they may be a little bit behind from when the war would start (The war starts somewhere between 1910 and 1920). Korea is a part of the Japanese Empire by the start of the war.


East Asia situation in 1900:


West Asia situation in 1900:



Americas situation in 1900:

North:


South:
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