German-British Alliance by 1914

Kaiser Wilhelm II attempted to gain the alliance of Great Britain before the Great War broke out, but had a peculiar way of going about it. He created trouble for Britain to show how nice it would be if such trouble was unnecessary. He even build a massive fleet to threaten Britain. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work, and he ended up pushing the British into alliance with France and Russia. What if he got some good advisers who knew what they were doing and did a good job of securing this alliance? The POD can be pre-1900, but the post-1900 forum seemed appropriate because it is about WW1. Would WW1 have broken out if he had secured the alliance? Would it have been otherwise unchanged, except for Britain being on the other side? Was the alliance even possible?
 

raharris1973

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Would WW1 have broken out if he had secured the alliance?

No, in my opinion.

Would it have been otherwise unchanged, except for Britain being on the other side?

I see it as nearly impossible for everything else in WWI to be the same with the only difference being British allegiance. For one thing, Britain exercises a magnetic effect on maritime nations like Japan, Italy, Greece and the USA. These all have less reason or no reason to side with the Franco-Russian coalition that does not have Britain onboard.

Was the alliance even possible?

Yes- in my view the simplest, smallest change would be Germany accepting every offer to cooperate with Britain at the turn of the century no matter what the terms. That leaves Britain feeling Ententes with France and Russia are not crucial and thus not getting over-committed to those Ententes.

Other changes could be brought on by inept or overly aggressive French or Russian moves.

Nobody has anything to say?

I've had plenty to say, just search for threads started by me and you'll see many of my thoughts on this topic.
 
I feel like Edward Grey needs to be neutralized to really make this stick - depending on when you asked, he either opposed Britain having firm commitments to any alliance at all - in which case a German one isn't happening, or else committed to the French, in which case a German alliance isn't happening. At least keep him away from the Foreign Office.
 

raharris1973

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Not necessarily I have seen topics run 5 times but the 6th time there can be a new valuable element to the discussion
 
You really need to get rid of Wilhelm II for this to work. Perhaps his brother ends up living and keeps the throne for another 30 years?
 
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