DBWI: Harshest Treaty of Vienna Possible

[wormyguy]

As we all know, the Great Powers' War of 1914-1915 ended on rather harsh terms for France, leading to an even greater revanchist sentiment (exacerbated by the Germans "unfair" treatment of them compared with Russia, on whom the only terms were slight reparations and the return of Kars to the Turks) that culminated in the Great European War of 1930-1934.

But could the Treaty of Vienna have been any harsher than it already was?

Germany imposed large reparations on France, but dropped its demand for France to accept guilt for the war and pay for its entire cost. Could they have pressed harder?

Germany also annexed French Equatorial Africa, Morocco, and Benin. They also took the French concessions in China as compensation for those lost to the Japanese. Could they have taken more of French West Africa? Perhaps they could even have taken other French territories, perhaps Indochina?

Could the Germans have annexed even more land than simply Meurthe-et-Moselle? It seems possible, albeit unlikely.

And finally, could the Germans have imposed even harsher restrictions on the French fleet, or even restrictions on the French army and air force? I heard that an early German demand was a limit on the peacetime strength of the French army to 175,000 men.

 

[PipBoy2999]

Well, they did allow France to maintain its own government. I could see them insisting on sweeping out the old government and instituting a new republic, perhaps with something like a governor general with veto power for a set period of years.

 

[Douglas]

This is not a DBWI. This is some kind of roleplaying. Please label these threads as "RP:", and not incorrectly as "DBWI:". Because these kinds of threads are not DBWI's.

 

[wormyguy]

This is not a DBWI. This is some kind of roleplaying. Please label these threads as "RP:", and not incorrectly as "DBWI:". Because these kinds of threads are not DBWI's.

OOC: This is a textbook DBWI. I'm asking an alternate history question from the perspective of an alternate timeline. If I were playing a character, or requesting others to, it would be a RP. For example, "What if the Germans won the Battle of Sedan?" is a DBWI, whereas pretending to be Napoleon III giving a victory speech would be RP.

 

[Temmybear]

If the war had gone on longer then German leaders would be less inclined towards magnanimity, even compared to the Treaty of Vienna. Higher costs for the Germans even if the percentage amount of the reparations was the same (65ish percent of what the Germans had to pay IIRC) the amount the French would of had to pay would have been astounding.

And just to be silly, what sort of treaty do you think the Entente would have put on the Central Powers if they had won the Great Powers' War? Sure, they were totally outmatched but they may have had a good break of luck at some point.

 

[Douglas]

OOC: This is a textbook DBWI. I'm asking an alternate history question from the perspective of an alternate timeline. If I were playing a character, or requesting others to, it would be a RP. For example, "What if the Germans won the Battle of Sedan?" is a DBWI, whereas pretending to be Napoleon III giving a victory speech would be RP.

No, the easiest way to tell if something is a DBWI is to see whether it asks something that really did happen in OTL.

DBWI: WW2 Ended in 1945? See, that did happen, so it is a DBWI!
DBWI: WW3 Disaster Never Occurred? See, that didn't happen, so it isn't a DBWI!

 

[Strategos' Risk]

I think in some ways the creation of the "post-French" puppet regimes was even more humiliating than outright annexation of Meurthe-et-Moselle. The creation of Picardie, Brittany, and Normandie struck great blows against the French national spirit.

 

[Blackadder mk 2]

I think in some ways the creation of the "post-French" puppet regimes was even more humiliating than outright annexation of Meurthe-et-Moselle. The creation of Picardie, Brittany, and Normandie struck great blows against the French national spirit.

Well the French shouldn't have tried to help Spain take Gibraltar which made us declare war on France and Spain