God there should be!
Than you should get working on that.
God there should be!
Huh, and smokeless gunpowder enters the world a bit late of schedule.
The use of lever-action guns by the Western Powers could prove to be a major disadvantage if this war devolves into trench warfare, particularly if they fail to adopt the Eastern weaponry quickly.
The Global War saw many fascinating innovations, but perhaps one of the most impressive was the development of airpower starting in 1890. While for many decades the French had led in the development of first ballooning, and then the use of powered balloons. However, it was in British hands that the airship reached its pinacle. Using a rigid airframe and mountiing the finest steam engines available, the first class of combat balloon, the Orcas, set the standard for the war. Also known as Air Whales, the Orcas were used for long range reconnaisance and bombing on occasion (more of a propoganda weapon than anything else).
it sounds like the western powers will take a nasty battering early on. Hopefully they aren't decisively defeated and can adjust quickly after the initial shocks.
Steve
In the medium to long run the eastern powers are going to run out of gunpowder since at this time the nitrates all come from overseas (that the West will lock down), and local manure beds are both insufficient to demand and diverting resources needed for agriculture. At some point the eastern advance is just going to die.
PRIME MINISTER LOVECRAFT! That was UNEXPECTED!
Famous writers becoming Powerful politicians... I love you.
While only a small number of trains used in 1899 were of the armoured variety, by 1890 they were more and more in evidence
ALL HAIL PM CTHULU!!! lol, that was as unexpected as it was brilliant.
Not necessarily, even in WWI the Allied powers had a hard time COMPLETELY blockading that Central Alliance, I imagine a good twenty years earlier it will be even more difficuly, particularly with Russia operating on the side of the Korsgaardians. Russia is particularly important here, as its participation in the alliance means that the Western powers have no chance at all of closing the asian markets to them. Trade in the Pacific will be even harder to restrict, given TTL's U.S.'s continued nuetrality and Russia's permenant warm ports via Manchuria. I actually imagine the Eastern powers will be able to maintain a relatively stable level of trade throughout the war.
Cyrano
Actually you're missing a couple of points:
a) By OTL WWI the key ingredient, nitrates was being sympathised by the Haber Process in Germany, which enabled it to manufacture the explosives it needed. Even then it was a close thing and the method was just being developed so the capture of stockpiles in Antwerp was very important for the Germans in keeping production going.
b) Since this is set some time earlier and the eastern bloc probably has a smaller technical base than OTL Germany I doubt that they will have anything like the facilities to repeat this.
As such what they will need are large stocks of natural nitrates and I believe the main stockpiles are in the Pacific region of S America.
Given British domination of the seas and also British trade influence in the region it is doubtful that any significant measures can reach Siberia.
Even if they can, unless the Trans Siberian has been significantly advanced compared to OTL, it will be bloody difficult getting any real stockpiles to the main industrial regions of the eastern powers.
Siberia is important because with the British empire and the Ottomans in the opposing bloc, along with Germany and by the sound of it Scandinavia, its about the only way in for supplies from the outside world.
There is the possibility of using older gunpowder types. But as well as being less powerful and very smoky, with resulting problems, this is also difficult to get hold of. OTL the main sources of saltpetre for this was British India, which again is not going to be supplying the enemy.
Other sources can be used but with industrial levels of conflict occurring and on a continental scale the need for gunpowder will be very, very large.
It is likely that both sides will have stockpiles but also that they will vastly under-estimate the consumption rates. Especially since the war will probably very rapidly expand in size beyond anyone's expectation.
Steve
As stevep points out you have it completely arse-backwards, backwards in time the Eastern nations are more reliant on imports of the substances, moving bulk goods across Asia in large quantities is still pretty fucking difficult, the production regions are closed to them (and even if they weren't Britain and France have the cash to just outbid them). The US is irrelevant on this issue.
The Haber and similar processes also require electricity production facilities that just don't exist at this time to boot.
Glen
Interesting but seems to be rather a pointless exercise by the easterners. While they might have defeated the German fleet if they were able to catch it isolated what would be the point. The allies have the French and British to back them up, so are likely to see their forces quickly reinforced and the Baltic become largely an allied zone. While the RN might be widely stretched in this conflict it can largely act as backup for its allies in most cases. A squadron to reinforce the French in the Adriatic to keep the Austrians in check, another force to secure the Black Sea and something to safeguard the Baltic and the shores of Scandinavia, as well as possibly threaten enemy coasts and coastal traffic. [In fact, unless this battle was right at the start of the war I would expect British units to be in the Baltic either from the start or within a couple of weeks at most]. About the only place that Britain would probably be fighting on its own would be seeking to dislodge the Russians from Japan and isolate their Pacific ports. [If I'm remembering the right TL Japan is split between British and Russian protectorates? In which case that's somewhere, along with probably N China, where there will be direct fighting].
The RN and the French will have to hunt down raiders elsewhere and seek to blockade the enemy. They might have to consider potential attacks from other parties, plus keeping down pirates and other problems of the time. However, barring major tech changes or additional entrants to the conflict the allies should have the naval side of things sown up pretty quickly. Especially since despite the more advanced technology I think its still too soon for subs to be practical weapons other than possibly in coastal roles.
Steve
Glen
Sounds from the last two updates that the easterners have made early progress
but things are now bogging down in a WWI type situation
and from this point it gets very bloody but the greater resources of the western allies will probably win. Could be a hell of a long haul however.
Steve