Edelweiss: What if the Great War Never Happened?

[PrussianMan]

The Year is 1914.

It seems that a warm summer was expected due to the temperature of June 28th. The streets of Sarajevo were alight with splendour as Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie drove in their motorcade through its streets and being greeted by many crowds of cheering people. A few minutes ago a bomb meant for the Archduke went off behind them and injured the people in the following car. After giving his speech at the town hall the Archduke's driver began taking them to the hospital. The driver was about to begin turning right down Schiller Street before being told by the Governor Potiorek that the hospital was left across the Latin Bridge.

Oskar Potiorek, Officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army and Governor of Bosnia Herzegovina from 1911 to 1914.

After the Archdukes visit to the hospital to comfort the victims of the failed attempt on his life. Once this improvised visit was concluded the Archduke, his wife, and the Governor continued with the tour. With the tour the of Sarajevo concluded the Archduke went on to inspect the armed forces of the region. With all the objectives the tour completed the Archduke and his entourage made their way to the Imperial Train and began the journey back to Vienna.

With the Serbian mission to kill the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne the entire goal of the Serbians was lost. The mission deemed a failure. The King of Serbia Peter I intervened in the new plans being drawn up to assassinate a different member of the Austrian Aristocracy by saying that “Serbia is not prepared for such a struggle that you hope in causing, turn your attention from the ill man of the north to he dying man of the south.” The Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic refused to follow other Serbian military officials and continued to pursue his dream of a ‘Greater Serbia’.

Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence

With tensions in Europe so high and Serbian officials plotting treachery against their King’s orders it seems war is on the horizon for Europe. In the Far East the Empire of Japan looks at the German pacific territories with hungry eyes and in Eastern Europe the Russian bear is sickly with an outdated industry and wrought with poverty. What is the future for this world, will the treacherous Serbians enact their plan or will their King discover their plot, it is the writers decision so y’all have to find out.

 

[PrussianMan]

I would like to point out that this is my first alt-history. Feel free to give me advice on how to improve them thanks!

 

[Dave Shoup]

It's a perfectly fine start; the language ("Russian bear is sickly with the threat of revolution and civil war") is overwrought, but in a good way ... its sounds like something an author might write in 1914.

Looking forward to the next section.

 

[A Piece of History]

Not a bad start. Your grammar could use some slight improvement, but it's no big deal.

 

[Kapellan23]

and in Eastern Europe the Russian bear is sickly with the threat of revolution and civil war.

Czernin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary, visited Tsarist Russia during the days of the war, relatively shortly before the February Revolution, and this is what he saw:
"Everything that we saw manifested itself under the sign of iron order and strict discipline. None of us believed in the possibility that this country was on the eve of the revolution, and when I returned, Emperor Franz Joseph asked me if I got any Any evidence of the expected revolution, I replied resolutely in the negative."

 

[Darth_Kiryan]

In all honesty the question really iswhether or not stopping the assassination is enough to really stop the First World War from happening.

WIth the way the alliance system is, somehting is going to make it blow. Whether its the Franco-German border, or the Anglo-German naval arms race, or the German-Russian border (with Poland), or Austria-Hungary having many problems, or even with the Ottomans-Russians in the Caucasus?

 

[PrussianMan]

In the middle of Chapter II I’m going to make something revolving around the Russo-German border but it won’t start the war, something else will cause the war to erupt and it will involve the the naval Cold War between the British and the Germans. However I’m not going going to give any more hints.

 

[NHBL]

I LOVE Great War timelines. Preventing it from happening is tough; there's a lot of burning fuses, and not enough buckets of water, but, IMVHO, not quite impossible.
If it does start, might it start in a way that doesn't leave Italy a fig leaf to hide behind?

 

[NHBL]

In the middle of Chapter I I’m going to make something revolving around the Russo-German border but it won’t start the war, something else will cause the war to erupt and it will involve the the naval Cold War between the British and the Germans. However I’m not going going to give any more hints.

Copenhagen...

 

[SavoyTruffle]

No assassination of Franz Ferdinand is a good thing in the short term (while FF was hardly the most liberal heir ever, at least he wasn't a rock stuck in a bygone era like Franz Joseph was).

That said, the mounting tensions of the past few decades (imperialist stuff in Africa and the Pacific, the German naval buildup) still means that Europe is a powder keg surrounded by dry tinder.

 

[Hammerbolt]

Czernin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary, visited Tsarist Russia during the days of the war, relatively shortly before the February Revolution, and this is what he saw:
"Everything that we saw manifested itself under the sign of iron order and strict discipline. None of us believed in the possibility that this country was on the eve of the revolution, and when I returned, Emperor Franz Joseph asked me if I got any Any evidence of the expected revolution, I replied resolutely in the negative."

Let me guess: he never actually went down to street level, to factories, universities, slums, etc... did he?...

 

[TRH]

Let me guess: he never actually went down to street level, to factories, universities, slums, etc... did he?...

No authoritarian government wants foreigners to see that side of their society.

 

[Alpha-King98760]

Off to a great start! I will be definitely following this.

 

[PrussianMan]

December 1914.

Six months after the attempted assassination on the Archduke the cold winter months began uneventfully although the instability of the Austro-Hungarian Empire increased as more of the ethnicities within the Habsburg empire gained nationalist sentiment. Within Berlin Kaiser Wilhelm II continues to look over Schlieffen plan that had been adopted for the invasion of France almost a decade earlier. The plan when implemented would bypass the French defences near Alsass-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine) by going through neutral Belgium. However one flaw existed within the almost brilliant plan. Invading Belgium would bring the wrath of the British lion upon the German Empire. With the Kaiser on the warpath with his urge to challenge the Royal Navy with the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet) war with between the British and the Germans is inevitable.

Dreadnoughts of the Hochseeflotte

While the British began to feel uncomfortable about Germany’s will to compete with the might of the Royal Navy, the treacherous Serbian officers had agreed on a new target within the Austrian Aristocracy. The target was Karl von Habsburg, nephew of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Serbian Chief of Military Intelligence Dragutin Dimitrijevic and his fellow conspirators in the Black Hand society organised the attack for April of 1915. This was to give to them time to gather weapons and supplies. King Peter I was warned by Field Marshal Radomir Putnik that some of his high ranking officers were disobeying his orders to discontinue targeting members of the Austrian Aristocracy. With this revelation the King ordered his secret service to begin an investigation into the conspirators. This knowledge was withheld from all except for the kings most trusted.

Tsar Nicholas II

In the east the Russian Empire appeared to be a prosperous, industrialising nation. However beneath the layers of Imperial splendour was a poverty ridden society built on agriculture. Although the largest of the Great Powers it was considered by many to be a backwater and a European wannabe. With the loss of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 the Russian efforts in naval advancement were effectively paralysed. Due to the poor living conditions many had begun to look towards more radical outlooks. The most popular idea was promoted by the Bolsheviks. An ideology that proclaimed that state belonged to the people and that all of the states people were of equal class; A farmer was as valued as scientist and a teacher as much of soldier. An ideology known as communism. Tsar Nicholas II had exiled the leader of the Bolsheviks to Switzerland, this man was Vladimir Lenin. A fervent believer in the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedich Engels he was originally exiled to Siberia and then later Germany and Switzerland.

Vladimir Lenin

What is to come of this Europe you may ask? War. In the words of Otto von Bismarck “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” Indeed he is correct.

 

[aap5454]

Please don't have just a repeat of OTL Revolution in Russia; the main reason for communism's popularity was 3 years of war & hardship, caused in great part by the closing of the Bosporus. Russia also wasn't that much of a backwater; it was 4th or 5th in industrial capacity at the time, and with an extra year or two likely would've made it through the war without a Bolshevik Revolution.

 

[ShortsBelfast]

With the Kaiser on the warpath with his urge to challenge the Royal Navy with the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet) war with between the British and the Germans is inevitable.

I don't think that the Kaiser wanted a war with Britain particularly and the Russians were starting to attract equal concern at the Admiralty with their programme of naval construction.

 

[TRH]

Please don't have just a repeat of OTL Revolution in Russia; the main reason for communism's popularity was 3 years of war & hardship, caused in great part by the closing of the Bosporus. Russia also wasn't that much of a backwater; it was 4th or 5th in industrial capacity at the time, and with an extra year or two likely would've made it through the war without a Bolshevik Revolution.

Also, the Bolsheviks specifically were a minority even in the early Soviets until quite late.

And regarding the last update, I'm a little nonplussed as to the logic of creating a timeline premised around avoiding a war, only to have a seemingly similar conflict erupt not long afterwards. But I guess we'll see just how similar it is.

 

[PrussianMan]

Also, the Bolsheviks specifically were a minority even in the early Soviets until quite late.

And regarding the last update, I'm a little nonplussed as to the logic of creating a timeline premised around avoiding a war, only to have a seemingly similar conflict erupt not long afterwards. But I guess we'll see just how similar it is.

I would like to kindly remind you the alliance system of the time there are a heck of a lot of burning fuses and their isn’t enough water.

 

[TRH]

I would like to kindly remind you the alliance system of the time there are a heck of a lot of burning fuses and their isn’t enough water.

Why even call this a timeline answering what if the great war never happened, then? If you're just going to let it happen later under another name, then the question remains unanswered.

 

[Nivek]

Why even call this a timeline answering what if the great war never happened, then? If you're just going to let it happen later under another name, then the question remains unanswered.

Because is a different conflict altogether.