Alternate WWI

Can anyone suggest me a POD so that the sides of WWI would be:

Japan
United Kingdom
Germany
Italy
Austria-Hungary

VS

USA
Russia
France
(Both sides may also include other minor and major powers depending on the POD)

Note: the POD must not be earlier than the Franco-Prussian war
 
The hardest part is the US actually joining an alliance system, much less on the opposite side of their biggest trading partner. Maybe the US loses a war with Britain over the 1892 Venezuelan border dispute? Also, maybe the Fashoda incident evolves into a much bigger dispute than OTL and permanently sours Franco-British relations, maybe as a butterfly of the earlier POD. Then, Germany, seeing the Franco-British strife, doesn't embark on its great naval building program and as a result has much better relations with Britain. So two big blocs develop in Europe, the France-Russia one and the German-British one. The Austrians join the German-Brits cause of their alliance with Germany, Italy joins to be on the winning side, and Japan joins to be against the Russians. The US joins the opposite side because they don't like the Brits after losing a war to them. That sounds at least somewhat plausible. The real problem is getting a war to erupt in 1892.
 
Can anyone suggest me a POD so that the sides of WWI would be:

Japan
United Kingdom
Germany
Italy
Austria-Hungary

VS

USA
Russia
France
(Both sides may also include other minor and major powers depending on the POD)

Note: the POD must not be earlier than the Franco-Prussian war



Difficult o get the US involved but the rest is perfectly possible any time up to the Kruger Telegram. Only then, and even more so once the naval race got going, did Britain get seriously worried about Germany. Till then France and Russia were our main worries.
 
I'd say your best opportunity, without throwing out a grab-bag of POD's in 1871 that would make it less recognizable as a WW1-with-different-sides, would be to have a general European war break out, and at some point during that war have the US and UK make drastic and terrible diplomatic mistakes over something like Venezuela in OTL that in a regular state of affairs wouldn't normally result in anything but a minor diplomatic incident. I don't see this realistically taking place at any time after about 1900 or 1905.

The general European war isn't difficult, since everyone was on edge from about 1877 until 1914 in OTL, and it shouldn't be hard to provoke a war with those sides, though after the Franco-Russian alliance in the early 1890's it will be much easier.

In the US you need a Democratic administration and a Democratic congress, as no Republican president will pick a fight with the UK and no Republican congress will vote for war, as the GOP depended on the eastern industrialists who depended on trade with Britain for their wealth. Judging from OTL, your best chances are during the 52nd and 53rd Congresses (1891-1895), which are the two Democratic-controlled congresses in the optimum 1890-1905 time frame. Though the 52nd Congress is better in terms of Democratic dominance (238-86), there is a Republican president in office (Harrison) who is unlikely to press Britain hard in any diplomatic crisis. Cleveland did press the British hard over Venezuela, so I would give your window of getting the US into a war against Great Britain as being between 1893 and 1895.

This won't be our WW1, but it will be really interesting and I can honestly say I have no idea who would prevail in the end.
 
Matter of fact, my TL Blut and Water has this so far minus Italy and the US (war just started).

Here is a little sample:

Nov. 30, 1899 Joseph Chamberlain says "friendship" rather than "alliance" in front of Wilhelm II and Bernhard von Bulow. During the Second Boer War, their is no boarding and searching of German ships near South Africa, avoiding the embarrassing seizure of three German mail ships in Jan. 1900, not giving Admiral Tirpitz public outrage meaning the Second Naval Law passes in a severely weakened state and no further ones are passed, avoiding the naval arms race.

By 1905 there is a variety of agreements between the UK and Germany with respect to spheres of influence and colonial cooperation. For example, the Cape to Cairo Railway is successful built. There is no UK-France or UK-Russia ententes, leading to friction between their spheres of influence, particularly Africa and Asia, respectfully.

In 1912, during the *Second Balkan War, Bulgaria successfully seizes Constantinople, and Russia and Rumania declare war on the Balkan League, siding with the Ottomans. A-H declares war on Russia & Rumania when Bulgaria's king is killed by Rumanian troops, Germany follows suit, France invades Germany through Belgium and so it goes...

Actually this thread has given me an idea of how to get the US involved, but getting them involved directly in continental Europe is unlikely.
 
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