1917 - 1920
BT Treaty and Late CP victory. France collapses into internal disorder. Ottomans still lose Iraq and Syria to which together with Arabia forms the 'United Kingdom of the Arabs' under under British influence. The Hashimites set up dual capitals at Medina and Damascus.
In the Russian Civil War, the Kolchak coup is adverted and 1919 sees the return of White armies to the Russian heartland. After a string of victories, two armies under Denikin driveat Moscow from the south and east respectively. Trotsky is slain in one of the many skirmishes along the Volga and the Red Army slow dissolves as troops either join the Whites and Anarchists or return to their homes. Moscow falls to the Whites in 1920 shortly followed by Petrograd.
1920 - 1925
Marxists rebels and disaffected military units rise in France in the wake of the end of the Great War. Paris falls to these forces in the spring of 1920 and the Second Commune is declared. France's colonies in Africa and Asia are offered semi-independent status as junior communes for the explosion and/or destruction of any resident republican or royalist factions. The Republicans in exile take over the African colonies in open defiance of the Metropole while Indochina declares neutrality in the civil war while trying to crush Vietnamese forces trying to set up communes, proclaiming loyalty to Red Paris.
German forces take over Portuguese and French colonies to the muted protests of the UK. Plans are drafted for a Kinshasa to Zanzibar railway. The reorganization of Mittleeuropa is completed with only the Ukraine and Baltic in turmoil due to ongoing Russian civil war. The original odd partnership with the Reds in the wake of BT is ended in favor materiel and supply of volunteer freikorps to Denikin and the Cossacks in return for White promises to respect the new order.
Enver Pasha's expedition to Central Asia finds success as the 'Army of Islam' fills the void after the crushing of the Red army and the movement of White forces on Moscow. The Khans and emirs of the east tentatively, but gladly declare their loyalty to Istanbul. Afghanistan also considers a pact with the resurgent Ottomans as a balance against British India.
The British Empire however was rocked by upheaval, thought not as badly as the French. Ireland was lost in the wake of the Great War and the success of the Arab revolt, the Ottoman intervention, and the French 'revolution' convinced many in India that the time was right to win their freedom by force of arms. The revolt (1921) was crushed within the year, but guerrilla and terrorist action continued for three years afterward. At home, Oswald Mosley, also influenced by the Second Paris Commune, united veterans, workers, and certain elites disgruntled with the lackluster performance of the Coalition (blaming them for stabbing the British army and people in the back) under the platform of reform. These radicals stormed to power in the election of 1924. One of Mosley's first acts was to call for a commission on the Indian revolt and considered possible reforms. the public had become horrified at the tactics being used to maintain the Raj, and this played well to that concern.
In the Americas, the US ignores the politics of Old World disputes in order to maintain its free trade policy. They do use the collapse of France to the Marxists in order to occupy the French West Indies and Suriname. Two interventions are made into Mexico, the first against Pancho Villa and a second against a Marxist revolt in Oaxoca (again French influenced). In both cases, they retreat from American firepower and hold out in the interior against government forces. Throughout the 20s, US troops intervene in Latin affairs, but instead of setting up puppets and leaving, small garrisons of Marines are maintained in many countries to keep order and inforces and commands from Washington.
to be continued...