America's Silver Era, The Story of William Jennings Bryan
- Thread starter CELTICEMPIRE
- Start date
So, despite falling from world power status, Spain still manages to screw everyone over.
Interesting choice to move the flashpoint for WWI from the Balkans to China. And am I the only one getting a Falklands like vibe from the standoff?
Interesting choice to move the flashpoint for WWI from the Balkans to China. And am I the only one getting a Falklands like vibe from the standoff?
Decent update but I find it completely unrealistic for Cuba to declare war on Spain for Puerto Rico. Cuba doesn't give a damn about what happens to the Puerto Rico so long as Spain doesn't use it as a base to try and invade Cuba. Cubans at this point would be nationalistic and isolationist. It wouldn't make much sense as the other countries of Latin America didn't try and liberate Spain's colonies after gaining independence. Plus Roosevelt would not want Cuba to do so without their approval. Lastly since France and Russia are the aggressors then Italy should by treaty obligation declare war for against France and Russia. France did attack Spain first and Germany responded in kind, then Russia declared against both Germany and Austria.
I didn't have the Falklands in mind when I wrote the chapter, but there are some similarities.
What if Roosevelt wants them to?
Italy is simply considering its options (as war with Britain would damage their economy). They may still join the war, they just didn't join in May 1915.
Does anyone have a good blank world map c.1896 that I can edit?
I don't want to give anything away, but don't expect them to be leading the alliance or anything.
SPain.....SPAIN!?!?!?!
Now to see what Spain can do in a First World War......
I don't want to give anything away, but don't expect them to be leading the alliance or anything.
Of course they won't lead it, they're basically in the position of OTL Serbia. I really appreciate this alternate WW1, always wanted to see Spain enter it, but never thought that the war could begin because of them. Would we see a Pyreenes front?
I wonder what Qing China is doing right now as the Great War started in Chinese soil.
Md139115
Banned
Spain went insane.
Spain has been insane ever since Cerevantes dropped the Don on their heads.
There will be action there, but France's main focus is defending against Germany.
Factions supporting both sides exist. However, the Qing Dynasty does support Spain's claims to Aichow over France.
....
its the moment Spain and France begin a war between themselves, and its regarded as a side-show to a fight against Germany...
Why haven't we read anything yet about Bulgaria? Why wasn't the ,,Prussia of the Balkans" interested in the Balkan War?
They were about to declare war on the Ottomans but then peace was signed.
Still alive and will appear in later chapters.
If they tie down French troops, then the Schlieffen plan might just work outSPain.....SPAIN!?!?!?!
Now to see what Spain can do in a First World War......
Though upstart nations like the United States and Japan were certainly influential nations and formidable opponents in war, the center of power in the early 20th century was Europe. The first-rate European powers were Britain, France, Germany, and Russia. Second-rate empires included nations such as the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Portugal. If one was being very generous Spain could fit into this category. And then there were the third-rate empires like Belgium and the Netherlands. The other nations of Europe couldn’t really be considered empires. Europe was in a sort of uneasy peace in which there were tensions between nations but none of the Great powers had gone to war with each other in decades. Nevertheless, two major alliances emerged in the late 19th century. One was the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. The other was the Triple Entente consisting of Britain, France, and Russia.
-Excerpt from Europe's Golden Age, Alice Davis, Oxford, 1990.
Europe in the years from 1900-1915 saw continuing industrialization, with nations like Russia trying desperately to catch up with Western Europe. These years also saw European nations finish carving up almost the entirety of the African continent. The only independent nations left on the continent were Morocco, Abyssinia, Liberia, and the white-dominated Boer Republics. Europeans expanded their power elsewhere, too. British and French companies (with minor American help) built a canal in Panama in 1905, allowing for ships to avoid sailing around South America. The Great Powers, as well as the smaller ones, were engaged in an arms race to see who could get the best ships and the best guns first. To the average observer in 1915, it seemed like power would stay concentrated in Europe forever.
There was also the rise of political ideologies, particularly those on the left. Socialism’s popularity was rising in those years. Russia responded by infiltrating radical leftist organizations and making examples of many of their leaders. Others allowed them to participate in elections and hoped that they would remain on the fringes of political opinion or moderate their positions. Such was the case with many Social Democratic movements in countries like Germany or Britain. One of the rising stars of Socialism was Adolphe Cartier, an author from French Guyana who spent several years in America before moving to Paris. He wrote scathingly of the American political system after he volunteered for the 1904 Eugene Debs campaign. He soon became a member of the chamber of deputies and helped popularize the far-left in France. He and his almost cult-like supporters were fierce critics of what they perceived as the increasing aggressiveness of the French government.
The odd man out in Western Europe was Spain, which had been forced to come to terms with the fact that its days in power were over after the Cuban War and the subsequent disastrous Dos Equis Movement. And while one may think that the Dos Equis Movement was only a disaster for Spain, it had one unintended consequence that shook the whole world. During the Qing Civil War, Spain bought itself a concession port on Hainan Island called Aichow. However, France believed that Aichow belonged in its own sphere of influence and was furious over the situation. In 1915, France decided that it had enough and on May 6, 1915 French ships blockaded the Spanish concession port. The French government was convinced that Spain would give up the port. Instead, Spain refused and ordered the French ships to lift the blockade, which it declared an act of war. Spanish Prime Minister José Canalejas gave the French Navy 24 hours to leave the port of Aichow. French President Paul Doumer was unfazed by Spanish threats and did not yield. On May 7th, Spanish artillery fired upon the French ships. French ships responded by bombarding the Spanish positions.
(Edgar Quinet, one of the French ships present at the blockade of Aichow)
The next day, May 8th, France and Spain declared War on each other. Cuba declared war on Spain on the 9th, hoping to liberate Puerto Rico with French help. Most of the early fighting was on water, as neither side had mobilized yet. France had the clear advantage. It looked like it would be a swift and decisive French victory. However, Spain had entered into a secret alliance with Germany a decade earlier. Germany began mobilization, but waited until May 15, 1915 to declare war on France. On the 16th, Russia declared war on Germany and then Austria-Hungary declared war on both Russia and France. Italy remained neutral despite being part of the Triple Alliance. At first it looked like Britain would stay out of the war as well. However, after Belgium refused to allow German troops to travel through it to invade France, Germany invaded Belgium on May 20th. Britain was bound by treaty to protect Belgian neutrality and thus Britain declared war on Germany on the 21st. By early June, France, Britain, Russia, Belgium, and Cuba were at war with every nation of the opposing alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Spain. Europe was at war.
So the Empire of Charles the V has come back to dominate the world?
Not really, they're all still separate nations who'd probably turn on each other for political reasons once the war was over even if they won.
Really interesting TL but I do have some questions regarding the Alt-Balkan War:
I get the Balkans are far from the main focus of the TL but this leaves a number of questions. First, King Alexander I Obrenovic and his wife were assasinated in 1903 in OTL, to be replaced by the much more Austrophobic (and Russia-friendly) Karadordevic dynasty. Is it save to assume that assasination was averted and the issues with Alexander's wife, Dragan Masin, who was 12years older than him and rumored to be infertile, are butterflied?
Furthermore, Bosnia-Herzegovina was occupied by Austria-Hungary since 1878 so an invasion by Serbia, much more so an ostensibly pro-Austrian Obrenovic ruled Serbia, seems very unrealistic. Also in OTL 1908 the Young Turk Revolution shook the Ottoman Empire and was the catalyst for the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and precipitated the declaration of independence by Bulgaria. All this really set the stage for the OTL Balkan Wars (among several other factors), so this seems to be coming a bit short. It might work out with a delayed Young Turk Revolution which is seized upon by Russia, Bulgaria etc. but for a TL focusing mostly on the US it probably doesn't matter that much.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/doku.php?id=resources:maps
there are some great ressources on the wiki. THe NextGen OTL Worlda Series by Hadaril are really accurate but miss exactly the Belle Epoque years you need. The Revised Worlda Maps got a good one for 1900 that should do though. These are pretty easily editable with paint.net for example.
Cheers
I get the Balkans are far from the main focus of the TL but this leaves a number of questions. First, King Alexander I Obrenovic and his wife were assasinated in 1903 in OTL, to be replaced by the much more Austrophobic (and Russia-friendly) Karadordevic dynasty. Is it save to assume that assasination was averted and the issues with Alexander's wife, Dragan Masin, who was 12years older than him and rumored to be infertile, are butterflied?
Furthermore, Bosnia-Herzegovina was occupied by Austria-Hungary since 1878 so an invasion by Serbia, much more so an ostensibly pro-Austrian Obrenovic ruled Serbia, seems very unrealistic. Also in OTL 1908 the Young Turk Revolution shook the Ottoman Empire and was the catalyst for the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and precipitated the declaration of independence by Bulgaria. All this really set the stage for the OTL Balkan Wars (among several other factors), so this seems to be coming a bit short. It might work out with a delayed Young Turk Revolution which is seized upon by Russia, Bulgaria etc. but for a TL focusing mostly on the US it probably doesn't matter that much.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/doku.php?id=resources:maps
there are some great ressources on the wiki. THe NextGen OTL Worlda Series by Hadaril are really accurate but miss exactly the Belle Epoque years you need. The Revised Worlda Maps got a good one for 1900 that should do though. These are pretty easily editable with paint.net for example.
Cheers
He'll need a little help to do that.
I figured it out, I was using an 1870s map that still had those towns under Ottoman control.
Alexander I is not assassinated, and ITTL he does produce an heir. He becomes close with Russia and less close with Austria-Hungary during the Balkan War. I butterflied away the Young Turk Revolution. I assumed that because Abdul Hamid II had a reputation for cruelty, that the Balkans would still see rebellions against Ottoman rule. I will have to change that specific part because those towns are not under Ottoman control. I really wanted to get all the world history correct, and I was worried I'd make mistakes like that. The European history I took in college was mostly Medieval (though I only ever took one US history class). Basically my areas of greatest knowledge are US political history (especially before World War II), the Komnenos Dynasty, Latin America, and Modern China. Seems like a lot, but I guarantee that you can find someone on this website who is more knowledgeable than me on each of those topics.
Thank you very much! I found one to use.