Friends Across The Sea! A Germany/Britain Timeline

where is the belgium congo?

Never became the Belgium Congo. The Congo free state was spilt between Britain, Germany, portugal and France, though the French have to up some of the French congo, and had to give a small colony to Belgium.
 
Never became the Belgium Congo. The Congo free state was spilt between Britain, Germany, portugal and France, though the French have to up some of the French congo, and had to give a small colony to Belgium.

i forgot that,

well it explains the big differences in Africa.
 
Part XIII: The Tinderbox of the Balkans and Diplomacy of the Great Powers 1913-1914
Inside Austria-Hungary, the rise of left wing nationalism was beginning to erode the power of the Elite. An event which sent shockwaves up the spine of the Austro-Hungarian government was the Sarajevo riots. In August 1913 a group of Pro-Serbian socialist reactionaries published a pamphlet highlighting cases Austrian suppression of Slavic identity and how much better a Independent Slavic country would be under Socialism. In Sarajevo, a large mob attacked the town hall and decided to proclaim an independent state, demanding that the Austrians withdraw from “Slavic lands”. In Vienna, mild concern turned to panic. Not knowing if the local Slavic military units would put down the riot, a battalion of Hungarian cavalry was sent in. The local police and a handful of trust-worthy Muslim infantry had contained the situation. It was decided that force would be the wrong way to solve the problem, and rioters were given an amnesty, which three quarters accepted. The remaining rioters attempted to negotiate, which failed; Austria-Hungary could not allow Autonomy in Bosnia. The Loyalist units began marching in and detaining Rioters, with promises of no Imprisonment for those that didn’t resist. This offer was taken by many of the rioters, leaving a core of 100 men. Several were armed, and the remaining rioters turned a factory into a fortress. By this time, there was no room for quarter. A battery of light artillery shelled the factory at close range, and the Hungarians stormed the building. The sajarevo riots shocked the Austro-Hungarian government, leading to show trials of many of the rioters, who were then shot. Austria-Hungary made it clear that the country would be kept together, by force if necessary.


The trial of several rioters​

In Britain, Lloyd George passed the Wage control act and the National healthcare act. The wage control act set up boards to decide what the minimum wage would be for some industries, and the national healthcare act created national insurance which would provide some degree of healthcare for the poor. The House of Lords refused to pass it. Lloyd George then passed the Reform act which broke the veto power, and demanded the lords passed it. They refused. A general election was called in 1913, and the liberals won, 30 seats short of a majority, leaving them reliant on john Redmond and his Irish parliamentary party as well as tory rebels. The king, threating to flood the House of Lords with liberals relented and passed the bill. A Scottish home rule bill was passed in 1914, Giving Scotland home rule. After the success of Irish home rule, and the introduction of Scottish home rule, Ulster, Welsh and even Cornish home rule began to take off as serious political ideas.


In Russia, an effort began to modernise the armed forces; both German and French advisors came and both tried to subtly, and sometimes not so subtly encourage Russia to turn to their respective factions. The Tsar chose neither. Allying with the Germans would involve allying with Britain and japan and the Tsar didn’t get on too well with the German Kaiser, and allying France would mean accepting Austrian control of the Balkans and anyway, Germany wasn’t a huge threat to Russia either. The best policy for Russia was therefore to remain neutral, the tsar’s aim of creating a third an alliance was dashed with the Bulgarian revolution.

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia​


In 1914, the French, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Romania signed the Paris Entene, replacing the myriad of treaties surrounding the French-austrian pact, with one big one. The Central alliance considered this to be a provocative act and all five members made a formal diplomatic protest. This was laughed at by the press as a case of all bark no bite. Russia was invited to join, but they declined. In hindsight, including the Turkish Empire in the treaty certainly discouraged Russia from signing, though the chances of Russia signing anyway were quite minimal.

Ludwig Quidde​

In Germany, von Bieberstein died in 1914, and was replaced with Ludwig Quidde, a strong liberal, who would lead Germany into the First World War. One of his first actions was to organise a state visit by the Kaiser to Britain, to improve their relations. The Favour was returned, and King George visited Germany, and even had a ride on a zeppelin! More importantly, a meeting was organised in London between the central alliance on a unified war plan if war broke out, the Hampton Court Plan.

The Balkans after the two Balkan wars were still a tinder pot, with Greece and Serbia both having unresolved issues with the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary respectively. To this end, after the Sarajevo riots Serbia began funding a non-socialist rebel group, the Serbian freedom militia or the SSB. The only other rebel group of any significate size was the Slavic Socialist Army, the CCB, which was funded and armed by Bulgaria covertly. In Greece, Eleftherios Venizelos made the Reconquista speech, in which he called for greeks in the Turkish empire “To relish the day of liberation which shall soon be coming.” This had the effect of upsetting the Turkish empire
With Austria Hungary looking increasingly unsteady, some thought the collapse of Austria-Hungary would the next crisis to rock europe. However, on February the ninth, 1915, an event happened which shaped the course of history.
 
Great mistake number one

well it appears that the Great mistake number one is about to kick off.

France is in for a world of hurt a british blockade and a german invasion will not help their survival.

austria is a dead man walking and Italy is just waiting to get the italian speaking lands back.

so will the germans and British split the oil fields they conquer from the corpse of the ottoman empire.

more please
 
It returns!!!:D:D:D

For now, as I've ran out of relevant written material. I've started to write the start of the war, which is what the main aim of this timeline was, so it might be a another wait.

well it appears that the Great mistake number one is about to kick off.

The French have a large army and a navy second only to the RN. They could win.

France is in for a world of hurt a british blockade and a german invasion will not help their survival.
Germany have got to deal with Austria-Hungary as well though.

austria is a dead man walking and Italy is just waiting to get the italian speaking lands back.
Austria is near to revolution, but they aren't finished yet. Wars tend also to unite people

so will the germans and British split the oil fields they conquer from the corpse of the ottoman empire. more please
Spoilers!!!
 
This is the kind of content I signed up wanting an answer for.
Bravo Torten, Bravo.

They could, but it will not be an easy fight by any means, and it will only become worse for them the longer the war lasts. Their navy may be good, and may be able to put the hurt on the RN pound for pound but it won't be able to recover nearly as quickly. The fact of the matter is that at this point nobody on the continent could match GB in its ability to repair and replace damaged/sunk ships.

Similarly, Germany may have to deal with A-H, but even with a larger military they won't take as many resources to bring down as Russia did. They're smaller, still wracked by systemic problems with their military (and infrastructure), and unlike invading Russia the Germans will have a much easier time invading from a logistical standpoint. Their railroads are on the same Gauge after all.

In this situation I could see German strategists favoring an inverted version of the Knockout blow strategy they used OTL. The Austrian military is unlikely to be much faster to mobilize than they were here and Vienna is comparably very close to the border (especially compared to Paris, behind a short and well defended border as it is). A rapid invasion of the heartland of A-H could cripple it, if not take it out of the war entirely; thus freeing up lots of resources that could either be sent directly to the border, or down into Italy to mount an invasion from that direction.

This is all assuming that Germany doesn't try and pull and end-run through Belgium anyways, though that really depends on how much Russia is actually committed to the Treaty of London, as they'll probably be filling the role of Neutral Power who signed this time.
 
How i imagine the French saw him after being proclaimed Grand Duck of Alsace-Lorraine:

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/296/1/4/invisible_duck_by_themrock-d83w4bv.jpg


But in all seriousness, quite enjoying the timeline :3

I noticed the mistake while proof reading, and I found it funny, so I left it in. Quick Fact - The Kaisermarine recruited a lot from A-L.

This is the kind of content I signed up wanting an answer for.
Bravo Torten, Bravo.
Thank you:)

They could, but it will not be an easy fight by any means, and it will only become worse for them the longer the war lasts. Their navy may be good, and may be able to put the hurt on the RN pound for pound but it won't be able to recover nearly as quickly. The fact of the matter is that at this point nobody on the continent could match GB in its ability to repair and replace damaged/sunk ships.

Similarly, Germany may have to deal with A-H, but even with a larger military they won't take as many resources to bring down as Russia did. They're smaller, still wracked by systemic problems with their military (and infrastructure), and unlike invading Russia the Germans will have a much easier time invading from a logistical standpoint. Their railroads are on the same Gauge after all.

In this situation I could see German strategists favoring an inverted version of the Knockout blow strategy they used OTL. The Austrian military is unlikely to be much faster to mobilize than they were here and Vienna is comparably very close to the border (especially compared to Paris, behind a short and well defended border as it is). A rapid invasion of the heartland of A-H could cripple it, if not take it out of the war entirely; thus freeing up lots of resources that could either be sent directly to the border, or down into Italy to mount an invasion from that direction.

This is all assuming that Germany doesn't try and pull and end-run through Belgium anyways, though that really depends on how much Russia is actually committed to the Treaty of London, as they'll probably be filling the role of Neutral Power who signed this time.

Gave me a few things to think about, but you have got a rough idea of what the Germans are going to do in A-H. Russia don't want to ally with the Austrians and accept Austrian control of the Balkans, but don't want to ally with the Japanese or British. If they could get concessions off either side, we would be talking about a totally different situation...
 
Part XIV: The Karpathos Incident

A village on Karpathos
The Island of Karpathos in the Dodecanese has a long and rich history. Part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, Karpathos had been a constant fixture in Aegean politics since the Greek epics of old, having been mentioned in the Iliad. By 1915, Karpathos was a heavily Greek part of the Turkish Empire. The Greek government however, had been stoking up rebellion on these small islands of the Aegean Sea, especially Rhodes, which had much strategic value. Karpathos, according to Greek government records, had been sent 200 rifles during 1914, the only such delivery. While a Greek nationalist movement did exist, they main confined themselves to anti-Turkish propaganda and therefore Karpathos considered to be unlikely to rise up or otherwise engage in any form of military action . The local Turkish governor had 200 soldiers available to keep the peace, many of these being ethnic Greeks from Thrace. The cause of the uprising is mainly considered to be the execution of Alexei Kalivas for the murder of a Turkish soldier on the 27th of January though some of the evidence supports suicide. (To this day, it argued by historians what exactly happened.)
On the fifth, many of the Greek troops mutinied over a pay dispute. (They hadn’t been paid, which just shows how much money the Turkish were wasting on putting down the Kurdish rebellion of 1914 and the construction of the Battleship İstanbul) The next day, armed men took control of some of the outlying towns, and with the local governor panicking, asked for reinforcements. The Commander on Rhodes, who was dealing with a Civil disobedience campaign and armed militias roving the countryside sent over some coinage, and 25 Greek soldiers from a penal battalion, which arrived, but the Greek soldiers still refused to fight, saying that this only got rid of half the arrears. The reinforcements were sent out to restore control, the governor wrongly presuming they had been sent as they were good soldiers, but was wrong, and unsurprisingly deflected on masse to the rebels, two of the soldiers actually being from Karpathos! Two days later, 57 men attacked the capital, Karpathos. After a short gunfight on the outskirts of town, and the deflection of almost all the mutineers to the rebels, the Turkish governor escaped on a fishing boat.

On the eighth of April, the Greek navy landed a company of Greek soldiers, supported by the battlecruiser Lassira, the pride of the Greek fleet.
The Turkish government, hearing about this ‘invasion’ ordered the ex-French pre-dreadnought Gaulios, renamed Seyyâr to launch an attack with two small patrol vessels carrying soldiers. The Seyyar was attempting to intercept Greek gunrunners in the Aegean, rather unsuccessfully due to its slow speed. The Seyyar, after meeting with the patrol boats, arrived at Karpathos.

The Seyyar, a Ex French Battleship

Demanding that the Lassira left Turkish waters, the Seyyar steamed toward the island which the Lassira refused, claiming that Karpathos was now Greek.
Both ships drew closer to each other, trying to break the other captain’ nerve, both firing warning shots. The Captain of the Lassira, was under strict orders that if any ship attempted to attack Karpathos, he was to attack them and that he did as Eight 12 inch guns fired at the Seyyar. The captain of the Seyyar decided to head closer toward the Lassira, to ram her. The Seyyar was able to get the first hit upon the Lassira, deflecting off the Lassira belt armour, but the third salvo Lassira fired scored two hits on the Seyyar, one destroying the rear 12 inch turret, another penetrating the deck armour and lodging in a bulkhead, and another near miss exploding within yards of the ship, the shock damage damaging the rudder The Lassara’s captain ordered the gunnery officer to stop firing, to see if the Seyyar would withdraw. The Seyyar was an old ship and the pounding she had received had destroyed any combat effectiveness she still had so her captain, realising that the battle was lost, withdrew at 10 knots, escorted by a distance by the Lassara.
The captain of the Seyyar transmitted a radio message to the Turkish Senate, explaining the situation. The Turkish Government had a cabinet meeting to decide what to do. After considering many options, they asked the Italian government to put pressure on their Greek allies to withdraw.
However, the Italians proved unwilling to ask the Greeks to withdraw, and suggested the Turks just let it happen. That, combined with the arrival of the HMS Lord Nelson and HMS Agamemnon off Karpathos on the 12th reduced the options the Turks had available. Austria-Hungary however strongly supported the Turks and suggested that they demand the islands back or threaten war. However the tension died down, and by the 22nd, the Turkish government reluctantly agreed to hold discussions about transferring the island to Greece, though in return from some concessions from the Greeks. The next day, the island of Lemnos rebelled. This time the Greeks didn’t get involved, but the Turkish army was thrown off the island in two days, with much bloodshed. The Turkish Empire demanded that the Greeks stopped causing islands to rebel. By this point, the Turks were regularly engaging rebels on Rhodes. On the 27th, a large pogrom took place in İstanbul against the Greek population, leading to the deaths of 124 Greeks, 32 Turks and 14 ‘others’, mainly Armenians. The same evening, the Turkish ambassador to Athens gave the ‘five points’ to the Greek government.

1. Population exchanges

2. Return of Lemnos (the Republic of Lemnos was not recognised by either side)

3. A commitment by the Greeks to demilitarise several Aegean islands, including Crete

4. An official recognition of Turkish Sovereignty over several islands

5. A Demilitarised zone along the Greek-Turkish border

Greece refused, citing a lack of concessions on the Turkish side.

Meanwhile in the Strait of Otranto, a Austrian ship was stopped for straying into Italian waters off the Albanian coast on the 1st of march. This may seem insignificant but relations between the two powers had never been fantastic due to many opposing issues. The ship was released, but Austria-Hungary argued that the ship had been in international waters. Incidents such as this did sometimes occur, but normally they were almost ignored. However, the Austrian government sent out two dreadnoughts to enforce that these were international waters. The Balkans were on the edge of catching fire.
 
I'm finishing my exams this week, so I am going to continuing the timeline, but reading though some of the first parts, I have decided to rewrite them and therefore, I will be rebooting the timeline, in a new thread.
 
Could you post the link to the new TL in here?

I haven't started the new thread yet. I'll post the link when I make it. Anyway, I have only just started rewriting it, so I'll post the new thread in a few days time once I get the first update complete (Which will almost certainly be a amalgamation of the first and second updates.)
 
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