Central Powers win

3 Questions:
1. What would the Central Powers consider a victory?
2. What’s the largest possible Central Power territory gain?
3. What’s the most likely gains of a Central Powers victory?
 
Lets talk about each Central Power's War goals:

  • Austria-Hungary: the Dual Monarchy's main goals were to punish Serbia for their involvement in the killing of the Archduke. Without a doubt Austria would make Serbia a satellite state, and most likely conquer Montenegro or the Veneto region in Italy
  • Bulgaria: Bulgaria had the most clear war goals. They wanted the lands promised to them in the Treaty of San Stefano that they didn't receive in the Balkan Wars. This is what they wanted from Serbia. They probably would've taken all of Dobruja from Romania along with Macedonia in Greece.
  • Germany: by the end of the war, Germany's main goal involved the Continental balance of power. Germany wanted to re-shift the balance of power from the British-French to them. "Mitteleuropa;" make Europe centered upon them. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was part of these plans, putting German supported kings in Eastern Europe. Obviously France would take most the damage from a CP victory, with Germany taking lands in Equatorial Africa and elsewhere. Most of Belgium was occupied during the war, making it an obvious puppet target.
  • Ottomans: Survival? Ottomans suffered from seemingly eternal creeping national unity issues and lack of modernisation. Maybe the Berlin-Baghdad Railway may give an avenue for growth, but otherwise the Ottomans were on their deathbed, with WW1 as their last breath. If they do take lands, the obvious targets would be Tripolitania and the Dodecanese from Italy, Armenia+Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, and Cyprus.
 
Lets talk about each Central Power's War goals:

  • Austria-Hungary: the Dual Monarchy's main goals were to punish Serbia for their involvement in the killing of the Archduke. Without a doubt Austria would make Serbia a satellite state, and most likely conquer Montenegro or the Veneto region in Italy
  • Bulgaria: Bulgaria had the most clear war goals. They wanted the lands promised to them in the Treaty of San Stefano that they didn't receive in the Balkan Wars. This is what they wanted from Serbia. They probably would've taken all of Dobruja from Romania along with Macedonia in Greece.
  • Germany: by the end of the war, Germany's main goal involved the Continental balance of power. Germany wanted to re-shift the balance of power from the British-French to them. "Mitteleuropa;" make Europe centered upon them. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was part of these plans, putting German supported kings in Eastern Europe. Obviously France would take most the damage from a CP victory, with Germany taking lands in Equatorial Africa and elsewhere. Most of Belgium was occupied during the war, making it an obvious puppet target.
  • Ottomans: Survival? Ottomans suffered from seemingly eternal creeping national unity issues and lack of modernisation. Maybe the Berlin-Baghdad Railway may give an avenue for growth, but otherwise the Ottomans were on their deathbed, with WW1 as their last breath. If they do take lands, the obvious targets would be Tripolitania and the Dodecanese from Italy, Armenia+Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, and Cyprus.

Alright, so is this at all possible? Are these the maximum gains, or is it possible for Germany to annex the Netherlands, Belgium, etc?
 
Alright, so is this at all possible? Are these the maximum gains, or is it possible for Germany to annex the Netherlands, Belgium, etc?
Germany had no goal of annexation, they obviously take Luxembourg and maybe they move the French-German border to the Moselle in France. They wanted puppets that see Germany as the world power, not Britain/France/Russia.
 
Germany had no goal of annexation, they obviously take Luxembourg and maybe they move the French-German border to the Moselle in France. They wanted puppets that see Germany as the world power, not Britain/France/Russia.

Depends on the source. Talk during the war ranged from minimal acquisition and somewhat honorable peace to 'OMG you want to restore Lotharingia?!'
 
3 Questions:
1. What would the Central Powers consider a victory?

Paris in German hands, Venice in Austrian hands, Russia neutralized, Serbia destroyed, and positive control of the Danube delta. Ideally with Athens and Rome subjugated as well.

2. What’s the largest possible Central Power territory gain?

Maybe I post my thoughts in a week or two...

3. What’s the most likely gains of a Central Powers victory?

3. Satellite Poland-Lithuania under a Hohenzollern or Habsburg, CP Ukraine under a Habsburg, France reduced to second-power status with that of Italy knocked down a bit farther, an isolationist US, and a Balkan peninsula united under their auspices. Bulgaria would probably equate to Italy by war's end while German follows English as an international language of education and trade.
 
The Ottomans if they want to survive with the territories they held they have to stop Arab nationalism by using the Caliphate designation and use Islamist goals to unify the coutnry. If not, they end up dying anyways after the war. The Ottoman's whole demise from start to finish was a shitshow.
 
The Ottomans if they want to survive with the territories they held they have to stop Arab nationalism by using the Caliphate designation and use Islamist goals to unify the coutnry. If not, they end up dying anyways after the war. The Ottoman's whole demise from start to finish was a shitshow.


Why? Even OTL the Arab revolt didn't start until 1916, and to this day they are divided six ways from Sunday (or Friday?) into factions who hate each others guts. Plenty of scope for divide and rule.

The other minorities hardly count. The Armenians are already destroyed, and the Greeks will get the same if they try anything (maybe even if they don't). That only leaves the Kurds, who by themselves are probably manageable.
 

BooNZ

Banned
Germany: by the end of the war, Germany's main goal involved the Continental balance of power. Germany wanted to re-shift the balance of power from the British-French to them. "Mitteleuropa;" make Europe centered upon them. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was part of these plans, putting German supported kings in Eastern Europe. Obviously France would take most the damage from a CP victory, with Germany taking lands in Equatorial Africa and elsewhere. Most of Belgium was occupied during the war, making it an obvious puppet target.

From my reading the original concept for Mitteleuropa is not entirely compatible with Brest-Litovsk. In its initial guise the Germans were mindful of a Mitteleuropa that would be accepted by its intended members and the west, with the intent to avoid triggering a wider trade war. With the rise of the silent dictatorship, the German war goals were less nuanced and appeared to be more of a land/resource grab, with the intention of preparing for the next war.
 
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