I was thinking about alternate WWI alliances earlier, and a question crossed my mind. How would an alliance of France/Germany/Austria-Hungary vs Britain/Russia/Ottoman Empire/Italy form? To me this seems like a challenge.
The question is: how would this alliance form? The later the POD, the better the challenge!
The German (and part of) Austrian Armies will gang up on Russia while the rest of Austrias army together with most of French troops will knock out Italy early Hochseeflotte is tying up most of Royal navy while keeping Russia bottled up in Baltic.
in the Med Austria and france ty up Italy/Russians and the few Ottomans out there until Italy is knocked out (see above). With Italy gone French and A-H are free to support Germany while shielding possible attacks from the Balkans (I assume the Balkans nations can't remain neutral - though its not easy to decide which way they lean - depends on earlier developments - basically teh Ottoman empire is the basic enemy while all other nations are potential allies.
Romania might be in the anti russian camp which may put Bulgaria to pro Russia - as probably Serbia. Greece OTOH will probably lean to Austria/France as it has interests in Asia Minor.
Turkey is likely easily contained so its basically a match between Russia and Germany with strong A-H participation and France gaurding versus invasion by Britain - also probably being the Continentals primary "producer" (no need to use a large army.
As Germany/A-H/France form a compact block sitting between the other nations they have a strategic advantage. I assume the colonial ToO will be inconsequential to the overall effort. (West Africa in French hands the rest will probably face a slow "consolidation" - french and Germany should be able o balance Brits and Italians in Africa - rest of the World a Brit backyard)
But the war is decided in Europe - as I assume Italy is knocked out early and OE is inconsequetial the RN is not overwhelming the Continental navies, so britain will not be able to dominate the seas (Probably bottling up the Germans, but France will keep some lanes open), so Britain will also not be able to make a strong show on land - that leaves Russia which will not be able to knock out A-H and Germany on its own (Basically)
I assume a "continental" win withing 18 months of war.