Italy Strikes Yugoslavia

The arrival of German military personnel in Droatia immediately lead to the ending of the brief Croatian Civil War. The Germans were not in the mood to accept any attempts by the Croatian Fascist leader to eliminate his opposition. In fact he was quickly taken into custody and removed from the country.

Mussolini now realized that his failure to win big in Yugoslavia had sent him down the path to retirement from Political office. He might have been able to hold on if he had been able to restore order in Croatia but since he could not do that Germany had no choice to to act to prevent the area from becoming a cauldron for the next war.

German and French Foreign Policy now appeared to be at cross purposes.Germany saw the USSR as a future threat to eastern europe while France continued to see Germany as its possible enemy and greatest threat. In Poland there was now a growing group that saw Germany as there only ally that could tilt the balance in the east in favor of Poland and the Ukraine.

It would seem that Germany and Great Britain were now seeing more and more eye to eye regarding the problems in eastern europe. There was a block in the Conservative Party that felt that Mr Chamberlain had made the wrong choices all to often and there just might be a movement in the party to oust him from the leadership.

Germany was now supplying the Pole and Ukrainians with intelligence regarding the Soviet forces. It had also provided intelligence which had broken up a plot in the Liuthanian section of the Kingdom to destroy military supplies for the Polish Army and to damage the port.
 
A thaw in relations between Germany and Poland continued due to Germany's secret support for Poland against the USSR. Germany was willing to help provide equipment to the Ukrainians in an effort to force a more favorible settlement in that country.

Germany was also attempting to influence the formation of a new government in Italy. The German government want a friendly government to replace the departing one led by Mussolini . It would appear that the Germans were willing to play up the fact that France had threaten Italy to undermine any reproachment between the two.

German occupation of Croatia went much smoother than some had thought. The Germans were attempting to train the new Croatian Army and had recruited a reinforced regiment of Croatians into the German Army. Out of the Chaos order seemed to be coming. The civil war was stopped and a government of national unity was taking place. The Italian born King was still in place but no one was sure if he would remain or the Croatians would turn to Germany for a replacement or become a republic. Germany was not exactly enthusiastic about republics after the disaster that was the Wiemar Republic.
 
France Calls for Conference On the East:

The French Government seeking to end the war in the east called for a conference of all of the european powers to solve the Border problem between the USSR and the Ukraine and Poland. The Germans had forced Stalin to give up on St Petersburg.

France wanted to end the hostilities so as to be better able to rebuild its alliance system. It was more concern with a strong Germany than Stalin.
Germany however was determined to prevent France from gaining the upper hand.
 

yourworstnightmare

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Well, even the Germans would probably welcome the conference, their politics would be easier if Stalin recognize the western borders of the USSR, however the outcome would probably be two alliance networks, one french and one German. Germany can count on support from Austria, Hungary and some more passive support from Bulgaria (Boris probably either dethroned or made insignificant in Bulgarian politics). If Italy lean towards france Germany can get Greek support. Croatia would probably also fall in the German camp.

France would easily get alliances with Czechoslovakia and Romania, Serbia would probably also support France, but the Serbs are weakened, and a Bosnian question between Serbs, Croata and Moslem Bosniaks could very well cause problems. The key player is Poland, with a treaty with the USSR, Poland would feel much more safer, and even though they wouldn't trust Stalin they'd be able to play a larger role in realpolitik. The agreements with Germany are not necessary anymore, instead it woulf be in Poland's interrests to align themselves with France, a nation that always have supported Poland against their enemies, and the Germans are enemies of Poland as much as the Russians. The Memel question would probably cause trouble, a city inhabited by Germans and Lithuanians is now Poland's most important port, and the Germans want that city. A Polish colonial policy to give Lithuania a more Polish population is not out of the question. Ukraine is under Poland's thumb and will go the way poland goes.
 
Definably points to consider but let me move in another direction for a moment. The mid 1930's saw Spain move to a leftist government in OTL. In this one Germany intervenes on behalf of the Conservative elements leading to a Nationalist victory in 1938 and the restoration of the monarchy.

Spain's nationalist were supported by the Germans and Mussolini's Italy in this world. However, with the collapse of Mussolini the Kaiser's Germany now seems to have gained the upper hand. Spain needs a lot of investments to rebuild itself from the Civil War and Germany has spare capital to spare.

It is the hope of the Kaisers foreign Policy that Spain might very well be tied into the new alliance system and cause much worry to the aggressive French Government. Germany's New Battlecruiser SMS Scharnhorst has just concluded a port of Call at Corunna and is expected to also stop at Cadiz in route to a visit to Italy and Greece.
 
Germany had deceided to once again take the world's stage. Kaiser Louis Frederick was not his grandfather, he had no desire to alienate the people of the British Isles. However, the Kaiser was all for restoring what he could to the German Empire and create favorable conditions for Germany.

The Kaiser had no desire for eastern europe to be torn apart by war. Relations between Germany and Romania were quite good as were relations with Greece. The Kaiser was also distrustful of Stalin to the east. The Kaiser's advisors felt that the Soviet Government was attempt to restore the borders to where they would have been in OTL. Relations with Poland were not bad but there still were problems between the two. Germany's support of Poland and Czechoslovkia had resulted in improved relations, especially as the Polish government and military had felt that France had not been the supporter that they thoght that it would have been.

Italy's start seemed to have settled with the fall from power by Mussolini. The Italian peninsulia seemed to be divided into two camps those that wanted to return to the WWI alliances and the other camp that felt that the WW1 allies had sabotaged Italy's effort to build a big empire.
The Fascist were totally opposed to any relationship with France and even some of the other parties were opposed. Germans were in Italian North Africa doing some oil eploration as there was a theory that they had that their should be oil there.

Germany also had a growing relationship with Greece. The Greek Military Dictator looked at Geramny as a symbol that Greece should attempt to achive. Of course the Greek King also had Geramn roots. The future visit of the SMS Scharnhorst to Greece might help to put German-Greek relations on a more favorable footing.

Futher to the east Germany was seeking a new relationship with Turkey. Here the fact that Germany was ruled by the Grandson of the Kaiser helped to establish a good relationship with the Turkish Republic. The Turkish government was very concern by the USSR and eager for help modernizing its military. The germans were also willing to help with the modernization of the former german battlecruiser GOEBIN as it was still called in german naval circles.

The call for another conference was met with mixed feelings.France had convinced Great Britain to support the conference and had convinced : Czechoslovkia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Poland, Kingdom of Finland, Estonia, St Petersburg Free State, Latvia, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Bulgaria to all come. The British government also convinced the German government to attend. The Germans convinced Italy, Turkey, Crotia, Norway Denmark and the Netherlands to attend. It also suggested that the UNited States of America be asked to send delegates. Switzerland agreed to act as the host for the conference.
 
The Conference was chaired by the Swiss Foreign Minister. It immediately saw a shouting match between the Soviet Foreign Minister and the Kingdom of the Ukraine's Foreign Minister. The Ukraine demanded withdrawal of all Soviet forces to the May 5th line. This would have returned the Crimea and all the lost territory to Ukrainian control.

Next the Poles denounced the USSR for interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Poland and sabotage within its Lithuanian province.

The Soviet Foreign Minister denied the allegation an accused Poland of suppression the freedom of the Lithuanian people.

An agreement was however reached regarding the St Petersburg Zone. In the agreement the USSR finally acknowledged the existence of this territory as an independent enity. The Zone however was reduced in size to 24 miles from the outskirts of the city. The agree ment was signed by allof the powers.

The major powers spent the next two weeks hamering out an agreement which finally set the border between the Kingdom of Poland and the USSR. It was set some 20 miles east of what would have been the border of Poland and Liuthania in Our Time Line in 1939.

While the parties were still discussing the Ukraine issue the powers met to set the borders of the new states of the Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Serbia (pending a referendum it was to still be considered a Kingdom). Serbia was to include 95 % of Macedonia and 2/3rd of Bosnia.
Montenegreo was made part of the Italian Kingdom as were some islands.
Hungary regained the ethnic Hungarian sections that it had lost after WW1.
The issue of the Translyvanian border led to a massive arguement between the deligations. Romania felt that it should not have to give up any territory while Hungary demanded the return of ethnic Hungarian territories. Germany and Austria sided with Hungary getting back majority ethnic Hungarian areas. France sided with the Romanians. The Soviets deceided to side with the Hungarians so as to seed the seeds for more trouble. Britain however proposed a compromises which would see only the return of ethnis Hungarian majority territories near the border. A special commision would redraw the border and set the new border post.
 

yourworstnightmare

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The Romanians are probably pissed, if the Germans ever wanted to be friends with them, they have lost their chance. However without a major fascist backer the Iron Guard will not be able to launch a coup, which is good, instead moderate Romanian nationalists will lean more and more towards France.

The Turkish Republic would really not care much of Europe, they have their own national state, and only minor border adjustments such as Mosul (failure) and Hatay (success). IRL the relations between USSR and Turkey in the interwar ear were never really good, but neither really bad. They seemed to tolerate eachother.

The Greeks see Italy as a threat (Albania, the Dodecanese) and they will support the power that can protect them from Italian aggression.

They city of Rijeka/ Fiume with mixed Croat and Italian population can still create a war, perhaps the Conference should make the city a Free City.

Bulgaria is dissatisfied with the treaty, but not really able to do anything, after the Bulgarian disaster my guess is that King Boris is very unpopular. Greece and Romania have probably both now ceased considering Bulgaria as a serious threat.

Spain, my guess is Franco's falangue will be less influential and less fascsist. The Nationalist side will perhaps be more monarchist (which; Legitimists or Carlists??) and Catholic. However the Republicans will be less influenced by the USSR, since they are obviously busy with other business. Different Socialist, Centrist, Communist and Anarchist factions will compete for influence in the Republican ranks. However they might get French support. If france is nervous about a German influenced Spain they might send "volunteers". Could the Spanish Civil War become a proxy war for Germany and France??

In Hungary people would be quite pleased with the return of North Transylvania, although some would want annexation of all Transylvania and the Romanian Banat. However many would start to lool towards Czechoslovakia and especially at Carpatho-Ukraine and South Slovakia. It's not as the Magyars really is the majority there, but a serious minority.
 
The Conference continues:

France has been playing on Romania's anger regarding the loss of territory to Hungary. However, in secret talks the German s have assured the Romanians that they will not support the annexation of anymore territory, especially if the population is not majority Hungarian. German agents are willing to listen to anyone in Romania and recently Iron Guard members have been talking to Abwehr agents concerning a french threat.

The conference has also decided to look at the question of of the Italian - Croatian border and of a certain city claimed by both sides. Here Germany is walking a tightrope attempting not to alienate Italy or upset the new Croatian government . French agents are hoping to throw the city to one side or the other in order to create trouble for the Germans. However, the British are not interested in allowing that to happen and are thus attempting to broker a decision that might appease both sides. The Free city option seems to be one decision that they really think might work.

Meanwhile in Spain the Nationalist and Monarchist dominate the restored Monarchy. The Communist and Anarchist have been outlawed since the short Civil war. General Franco seems concern about the security of the state and distrust the French. Relations with Germany and Italy are quite good as is relations with Great Britain. For now Spain is busy rebuilding itself and has been receiving a military mission from Germany to modernize the Spanish military. Spain has received a shipment of tanks (PZkpf II and III and some Me-109 B/c).

In the Ukraine fighting has resume between the two sides and Polish forces have entered the battle . This has allowed the Kingdom of the Ukraine to gain the upper hand and push the red froces back to the river line. Allied forces have retaken the eastern suburbs of Kiev. The French tell the Soviet foreign minister that now is the time to make a deal .
 
It appears that the Polish and Ukrainian forces have entered the battle with a goal of forcing the Red army back beyond where they were when the fighting resumed. The Poles have received encouragement from the Germans and the Hungarians while the French have been trying to stop ths fighting.
Even the Romanians seem to be siding with the Poles as they want the Soviets kept as far as possible from Romania.

Meanwhile Germany's Chancellor has paid an offical visit to Rome to hold talks with the new Italian Premier and to met with Mussolini's replacment as leader of the Fascist party. The chancellors military aide is a Luftwaffe office that has been nicknamed Smiling Albert. Germany is trying to improve Italo-German relations.
 

yourworstnightmare

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Ok, let's assess the situation. Without Mussolini and Hitler as backers I doubt the Iron Guard would continue as a signigficant force in Romania. The Iron Guard did not favor expansionism (because Romania got all the territory the wanted, in this TL however...), but they wanted to overthrow the corrupt monarchy, create a one-party state, reintroduce real Romanian values (the values of the countryside over the decdent cities), remove all civil rights from ethnic minorities and they were anti- semitic. In other words they supported the usual fascist nonsence. However I can't see fascism getting stronger after Italy's fiasco in Yugoslavia.

Italy would probably try to build up a friendly relationship with both France and Germany, my bet is that fascism won't hold for long without Mussolini, and Italy would move towards democracy (and we all know leftist groups have done well in Italian elections).

France, any butterflies?? Is the Popular Front in power as IRL?? They were quite isolationists, more words than action.... however if the right is in power in this TL.....
 
France; France has seen itself pulled first to the left and now it seems to be moving toward the right. The Previous French government had been a caretaker one- what remained of the once mighty Popular Front . This french government had supported the all too brief Spanish Republic and seemed to warm to better relations with the USSR. However, Stsalin's attack on the St Petersburg zone and latter the larger war against Belorussia and the Kingdom of the Ukraine resulted in a collapse of support for leftist parties in France. Indeed the question seems to be what is considered the bigger threat the New Imperial German State or the USSR. Neither the Popular Front nor the new French Government cared for Mussolini.

France seems determined to rebuild its alliance system in the east but it faces an equally determined German foreign policy that is determined to counter each French move. Currently the French can count on the Czechoslovakians and the Serbs. The Greeks currently are leaning in the French direction but much depends upon were Italy goes. An alliance with Germany would mean that a new Central Powers alliance is forming. Romania is blowing in the wind. It seems to move one way and then another depending upon what is happening in the east. The Romanians do not exactly trust the French or even the British to stand by them in the event of trouble with the USSR but Germany they are sure of. Poland has always had good relations with France but the recent trouble with the Soviets have seen the Germans as more likely allies. Still there are elemnts in the Polish government that feel that the Germans would like to regain ethnic german territory in the east.

Germany : The Imperial German State has made much progress under Kaiser Louis Frederick and his current Chancellor King Rupphert . It can count as allies: Austria, Kingdom of Croatia, Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Bulgaria, Kingdom of Finland, Estonia and Latvia. In addition Germany has warm relations with Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Kingdom of Spain and Turkish Republic. Relations with Great Britain are quite good.
 
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It appeared that Germany was seeking better relations with a number of countries. German investments in Spain and Turkey had increased. It appeared that Kaiser Louis Frederick's Germany was picking up at were his grandfathers had left off.

It did seem that Germany and France were on a collision course. One that could very well set Europe ablaze. Germany's diplomats were engaged in a serious effort to undermine support for France. An all out effort had been made to convince the British that it was France not Germany that was looking for a fight. So far support for France had been steadily failing. Germany had been using the passed two years to improve its army and air force. The Germans had developed a long range bomber but it was just starting to enter service.

The Imperial Navy depended upon the battlecruisers: Vietmeyer (1928 design) and the newer Scharnhorst and Gneisenauand the pocket battleships Deutschland, Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer. The battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz were nearing readiness.

The Germans were certain that the Kingdom of Ukraine Greece and Serbia would stay out of any war. Poland was still worrying about the soviets . So if Poland entered the war it would have to keep a good part of its army constantly watching the east. Thus Germany would really only have to worry about the French and the Czechs. In the event of war Austria and Hungary would join them.
 
I was confuesed on what was going on until I read the other parts that came before this. I suggest later compiling all the pieces written for your universe setting into one thread. It would just make things easier thats all.

As for the story, without Mussolini who would become the head of the party? Or would the council take a more definate role in governance?

Also, how are the Soviets doing agriculturaly without the Ukraine? NOW most of Ukraine is in Soviet hands but to feed the army what was done? Less collectiziation of agriculture perhaps?
 

yourworstnightmare

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Yeah, the economy of the USSR would be worse in this TL. And the agriculture... IRL the collectivization was a disaster the first years, but NEP had also become a liability (peasants only provoding crops to the private markets, rising food prices which made it impossible for workers to buy from the private market). The new industrial worker class IRL pretty much demanded that NEP should be abandoned, I can see it being abandoned even earlier in this TL (but probably not, an earlier collectivization could have butterflied away Stalin's takeover. Acctually I am surprised Stalin is in power in this TL, with these problematic borders one could think "Communism in one nation" would not be such an appealing idea).
 
Possible candidates for Italian premier? I am open to suggestions. Currently I have Mussolini's son in law as the acting Premier but I am not sure if he would be able to hold the post.

As for Stalin controlling the USSR the only thing that has allowed him to retain control is a monopoly of firepower. With the Secret Police and the military staying loyal he has been able to survive. However, the people are growing restless and the military has grown tired of these wars of Stalin.

It would appear that there is a good chance for a revolt to take place.If Germany would strike then perhaps the whole place would collapse.
 
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