AHC: WWI w/ France & Germany Allied

What it says on the tin. With a POD no earlier than 1872, conceive of an ATL WWI analogue that features France and Germany as allies.

Bonus points if the opposing side has both Russia and Britain as co-belligerents.

Extra bonus points if the Franco-German alliance wins in a clear victory.

OMGWTF points if all of the above, and the cooperation of France & Germany on continental Europe prevents an ATL WWII analogue (at least in a European theater).

Good luck ;)
 
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This is hard. Very hard. Franco=German hostility was THE constant of international affairs between the Franco-Prussian War and WW1. Let's see...

Maybe, you could have widespread Communist revolutions in Russia, A-H, and Italy in the early 1900s, maybe in the immediate aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War? Then, Communist revolts erupt in France and Germany proper, forcing the governments to put their internal revolts down and not worry about the foreign revolts. When the French and German revolts are put down, the Russo-Austro-Italian Communists (I'll call them the USSR) have organized and decided to export the Revolution, violently. Britain is also experiencing unrest, but avoided the worst of the revolts. France and Germany are forced to ally to survive against the USSR. Alt-WW1 is France-Germany-Britain vs. the USSR+Communists worldwide. Let the purges begin! ASB, but somewhat coherent.

Maybe a conservative monarchy in France following the FPW makes the French and Germans already fairly close ideologically.

Or, you could just go for Swarm on the Somme.

EDIT: For the first scenario, to fulfill the bonus points, just have Britain fall to Communist revolution, and for them to win, just have the US join in on their side, along with internal dissension in the USSR.
 
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...Then, Communist revolts erupt in France and Germany proper, forcing the governments to put their internal revolts down and not worry about the foreign revolts.
...

Or--the French and German uprisings both take control of France and Germany, and the new revolutionary regimes ally with each other. Meanwhile the revolts fail in the East and never start in Britain--I leave Italy to anyone's discretion. The more isolated these two revolutions are, the more desperately they will cling to each other.

That's certainly more the way Marx thought it would go--revolution succeeds in the most advanced capitalist nations; reaction holds on in the less so.
 
War of the Worlds aliens land on continental Europe in the early 20th century. France and Germany must work together against them or perish!
 
War of the Worlds aliens land on continental Europe in the early 20th century. France and Germany must work together against them or perish!

or the War of the Worlds Aliens (or other aliens) invade Britain and Russia, and prepare to crush Europe in a massive pincer movement, forcing France and Germany to lead a grand alliance of European states to defend themselves

though thats deep in ASB territory (perhaps the aliens could be a race of spacefaring sentient bats?)
 
Maybe Austria-Hungary will still try and vie for supremacy over the German people, leading to a rivalry between the German states? If Austria and Germany are not allied, the whole alliance system shifts.
 
Maybe Austria-Hungary will still try and vie for supremacy over the German people, leading to a rivalry between the German states? If Austria and Germany are not allied, the whole alliance system shifts.
I think France will likely allie with Austria as they had been before 1872, while the Germans would be happy to keep Russia whom they wanted to be friends with.
 
WI the Fashoda Incident or other such colonial squabble turns into full-blown war between Britain and France. Britain curbstops France for the most part at sea, but they can't get a foothold in the mainland, so they pull in Italy (which gives France even more headaches in the Mediterranean and resupplying their colonies), and France counters by making amends with Germany for promises of Italian territory going to Germany, as well as economic terms agreeable to the German Empire and etc.

ASB?

That's just off the top of my head. Basically, I refuse to believe that nothing (short of ASBs) in history is impossible. The general trend in this thread so far has been that's its impossible, unless X,Y,Z very unlikely event happens first.
 
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Have kaiser Wilhelm listen to Bismarck and decline to annex Alsace-Lorraine, and you take away the one lasting cause of hostility between France and the German Reich. Have Wilhelm return Alsace-Lorraine to France when Caillaux is France's Prime Minister, as he was in favor of seeking closer ties with Germany, and it will give the Germanophiles in Paris a huge boost.

With its attention away from retaking Alsace-Lorraine, France will be more focused on the colonial scene where the growth of its Empire will inevitably mean more friction with England than with Germany.

Also, no Entente Cordiale if France is satisfied of its relationship with Germany.
 

Susano

Banned
Im not sure how not feasible not taking Alsace at least is from German side. I mean, its been a contested points between French and German nationalists all throughout the 19th century, even when in terms of diplomacy its status had not been in question. Bismarck decided during the war that he needed to bind the South German states to Prussia, and thought nation-building to be a good way to do it. However, if he goes about nation-building he has to give in to some nationalist demands, it is a logical consequence.

And from the French side Im not even sure that not taking territory would change much. I think most French revanchism was about the slight suffered more than about the territory lost...
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
Im not sure how not feasible not taking Alsace at least is from German side. I mean, its been a contested points between French and German nationalists all throughout the 19th century, even when in terms of diplomacy its status had not been in question. Bismarck decided during the war that he needed to bind the South German states to Prussia, and thought nation-building to be a good way to do it. However, if he goes about nation-building he has to give in to some nationalist demands, it is a logical consequence.

And from the French side Im not even sure that not taking territory would change much. I think most French revanchism was about the slight suffered more than about the territory lost...
But is Bismark instead had given in after the defeat of Austria and allowed annexations in Bohemia, he could perhaps stop the annexation of Alsace- Lorraine.
 

Susano

Banned
But is Bismark instead had given in after the defeat of Austria and allowed annexations in Bohemia, he could perhaps stop the annexation of Alsace- Lorraine.

Its not really the same. Austria, after all, also was seen as a German power, so in the eyes of German nationalists that would be a zero-sum game. Meanwhile, France was the big enemy since the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. And really, a year-long war with absolutely no territorial rearrangments, that would have been quite odd, I think. That means those who wanted the Alsace annexed had the argument of "Thats the way things are done" on their side.
 
Im not sure how not feasible not taking Alsace at least is from German side. I mean, its been a contested points between French and German nationalists all throughout the 19th century, even when in terms of diplomacy its status had not been in question. Bismarck decided during the war that he needed to bind the South German states to Prussia, and thought nation-building to be a good way to do it. However, if he goes about nation-building he has to give in to some nationalist demands, it is a logical consequence.

Sure, but IIRC Bismarck himself remarked at the time it was a bad idea to annex it, as it ensured continuing French hostility. So that's a working angle for a POD, IMHO.

Maybe the newborn German Reich could have simply occupied it for some years, making full use of the mines and industries there, and then could have restored French ownership - a bit like what the Allied did in Germany themselves when they occupied Rhineland after WW1 (and, in WW2, all of Germany).

And from the French side Im not even sure that not taking territory would change much. I think most French revanchism was about the slight suffered more than about the territory lost...

Not so sure there. The "lost provinces" really were the crux of the matter for French politicians (and citizens), and it defined practically every aspect of French policy for the next 50 years.

With Alsace-Lorraine annexed, no alliance is possible. Any French government proposing an alliance without the guaranteed return of the provinces would collapse immediately, IMHO.
 
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