Alternate First World Wars

Fenlander

Banned
Its often been said that the web of alliances prior to the first world war was so fragile that something had to give, even if events in Sarejevo had not happened. Its also been said that there were a bunch of incidents prior to the Ferdinand assassination that could've sparked a war, but didn't. Does anyone know (or care to speculate) what these incidents were, or could have been? I sense a rich gold mine for AH here, and I've been banging my head against the wall trying to come up with a good spark for my own patchwork timeline.
 
One of the most obvious ones that spring to mind would be the Moroccon Crisises in which Germany attempted to take over a French sphere of influence in North Africa.

Another might be the Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Then there's the First Balklan war fought between the powers of the Balklans and the Ottoman Empire. Then there's the second Balklan war which was fought between the Balklan powers alone.

But to be honest, these are nothing that couldn't have been found with a simple search online.
 
Some damn fool thing in the Balkans. There's no shortage.

If you want a true alternate WW1, not just OTL earlier, then the Fashoda Incident in 1898 could potentially trigger a Anglo-French war at around the same time as the Second Anglo-Boer War, which could fatally overstretch British resources. Speaking of the Boers...maybe the British are much more harsh in putting the Boers down or their OTL atrocities are much more publicized. This may not start WW1 early, but it could lead to greater British isolation from the Continent in 1914, so they don't intervene in WW1 when Belgium is invaded. Interesting scenario... Also, you could use the 1895 Anglo-US conflict over the Venezualan-Guyana border to start a Anglo-US war. You could also have Germany take full advantage of the Russian weaknesses in 1905 after their defeat from Japan to attack France, maybe over Morocco as kaeim said.
 
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