Can France and Russia win in WWI without Britain?

BlondieBC

Banned
Its a good point. Aren't the Ottomans screwing their own trade by closing the straits to merchant ships? I had a sidereal relative in this time period who used to captain a ship trading with Istanbul (generally called Constantinople, since he was known as Constantinople John) and it seems to have had a thriving trade of its own, including thus with Britain

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

I don't think so. Were they collecting big tariffs on ships that pass through? And risking the Capitol to attack seems unwise and to not match OTL War Plans.

Now if the POD has the UK provide enough assurance to the Ottomans, I guess they could only mine the Black Sea portion of straights and allow ships to dock at the capitol. But I am not sure this really matters much, since as soon as Russia sends millions of men and farm animals to the front, the food surpluses exported will disappear.

IMO, if there was a compromised with the UK, the more likely scenario is to improve the Railroads with UK financing so both the Ottomans and UK make a fortune on the war. There are plenty of ports like Smyrna or Salonika to unload war munitions and ship overland to a port on the Black Sea. With the up to 6 to 1 price hikes in the war, there is plenty of profit to make the idea work. And the UK is a proven quality and rapid railroad builder.
 
Istanbul was by far the richest part of the Ottoman Empire; though as a capital, that would probably have happened regardless. I think they probably would have levied a toll or a tariff; after all, it would be an extremely lucrative trade, so why not, unless Britain forced freedom of the seas on them or something, as they did with the Danish straits.
 
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