Germans keep Tsingtao

The European theater of World War I gets the preponderance of the attention, which is understandable since the bulk of the forces contributed to the war were from European powers. However, it was a world war, and there were numerous engagements around the globe. For example, the hopeless German defense of their Chinese protectorate, Tsingtao. While heavily outnumbered the Germans held on, and put up quite a fight. My question is, can the Germans hold on to Tsingtao, or was the battle a mere foregone conclusion? Maybe with an earlier POD the Germans can further reinforce their grip on the city, consolidate their power, and make it much more impregnable. A strong base for the High Seas Fleet in the Pacific wouldn't hurt, either. Any thoughts?
 

MacCaulay

Banned
The defenses were out of date, mostly because the Germans had made their big financial improvements on the city in the commercial facilities. For example, Tsingtao Beer is still being made, and it's available in America now.
(It's okay, but they've Chinese-ised it and changed the original recipe)

If they had reenforced the defenses with newer guns, I think they could've just held out longer. There wasn't much of a chance for them to hold. Sorry, man. Believe me, I'd like to have it happen. God...if only they could've saved that BEER...
 
The Germans also brought wine to Tsingtao. It can be bought under the modern name of the town, Qingdao - a nice red wine.
 

Hendryk

Banned
Having done a bit of research into the topic for my own TL, I second MacCaulay: the Germans wouldn't have been able to hold on to Qingdao. They were blockaded and surrounded, with no hope of getting reinforcements, and their land defenses were inadequate.

If you'd like to see how the battle of Qingdao played out in my TL, check out Doctor What's "One flew over the Cuckoos' Nest". Since it takes place only two years after the POD, most of the data is consistent with OTL.
 
Holding Tsingtao is infeasible for the Germans, unless you have an earlier POD. They never put much effort into the defenses. In addition, as soon as the British enter the war (or even if they dont), the Japanese are going to move in and snap it up. The more resources poured into the defense, the more that are lost when one of the entente powers decides to remove the german outpost. Tsingtao lacks any hope of reinforcement, and is important enough to get attacked early in the war, but lacks any real chance of holding out against Entente forces.

The only real hope that the city (or, to some extent, any of the german colonies has) is a german victory in Europe which gives them the bargaining chips to get their colonial holdings back.
 
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