Map Contest III: Final Round

Shadow Knight

It has come down to these six noble and skilled map makers:

round 1 - Scarecrow
round 2 - Dutchie
round 3 - EdT
round 4 - Imperator
round 5 - Zach
round 6 - euio

To compete in the final round of AH.com's third map making contest. First a round of applause to all the contestants as there has been some really high quality maps done this year. :applause:

Now without further adieu the challenge for our noteworthy finalists:

The Balkan Wars were a change to the centuries old power structure in the Balkans. Your challenge is to choose one of the two Balkan Wars and have it be the spark with starts an alternate WWI in Europe. How you do so is up to you. The only restrictions are that it must be Europe based map [whether in whole or part is up to you].

Best of luck to you. You have two weeks [I give you that long as I know RL can interfere and I want full attendance.]

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Please again use the Discussion Thread for all comments, discussion, questions, etc. as this thread is for the final round contestants maps only.

Thanks,

Chief Judge SK
 

euio

Alright. I've done my map.


The Great War ends in a stalemate, with both sides too worn out for more war. The resulting peace is a compromise, though Russia has loads o' new states carved out of it because it's in the middle of a civil war, which ends with the partial balkanisation of Russia (The Democratic Republic of Russia depicted on the map doesn't extend far past the Urals).

Austria-Hungary still colapses at the end of the War, though less - Austria keeps the German-speaking areas of South Tyrol, as well as the Sudetenland. Bohemia and Hungary are in a personal union (yes, it's just like the Fourteenth Century!).

The map takes place in the 50s, and decolonisation is beginning (which involves the "Mediteranean Crisis", if you're wondering).
 

euio

Here's the map.

finalround.jpg
 

Zach

When Greek King George I was assassinated by an anarchist on May 23rd, 1909, his son Constantine I took the throne. He was pro-German, fiercely nationalistic and an advocate of militarism and Greek expansion.

The First Balkan War 1912-13 ended in victory for the Balkan League comprised of Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia against the Ottoman Empire resulting in territorial gains for the small European countries. At the peace conference, the Greeks clamored for Thrace and gained it.

The Second Balkan War 1913-14 was a war between Bulgaria and Greece over Thrace and Macedonia which both countries claimed. Serbia joined the Bulgarian side while Montenegro sided with Greece. Austria-Hungary, wishing to see Serbia weakened, supported Greece over Bulgaria. The strong ties with Austria and Germany helped Greece in the war and it proved victorious in March, 1914. Greece and Montenegro gained negligible territories but Bulgaria and Serbia (especially Serbia) were severely weakened.

A coup in September, 1914 puts in a more militaristic government in Serbia who do nothing to stop the activities of disgruntled veterans. In their most significant act of terrorism, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated in Sarejevo on February 14th, 1915.

Austria demands a lot of Serbia who reject it, Russia comes to Serbia's aide who had always suspected AH of interfering in Second Balkan War. Blank check by Kaiser to Austria, mobilization, etc. same as OTL. Only difference is that Greece is part of Central Powers along with Ottomans, Germans and Austrians vs. Entente (UK, FR, Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria).

Italy decides to join the Entente in early 1916 in order to gain territory from Austria and Greece. On May 5th, 1916 three American ships are torpedoed by German submarines (2 in Atlantic, 1 in Med). After stern warning, Germans do it again on May 10th when RMS Lusitania is sunk. Americans declare war on July 20th, 1916.

Course of war -
Same except in Balkans:
Anglo-American-Italo invasion of Greece in 1917, tough fighting, brings stronger ties between US and Italy. Heavy fighting but Entente naval superiority ensures victory.

Stronger American presence on the Continent. Main focus of Americans are in Greece because Anglo-French don't want too much American influence in postwar setting. War drags on in Greece forever.

Eventually, everyone sues for peace in 1919 because everyone is exhausted. Greece gets the shortest end because it was nearly occupied by Italians, Americans, Brits. Germany loses A-L, keeps monarchy, loses a bit to Poland. Russia remains imperial but very much weakened with a number of buffer states formed from revolutionary movements. Austria-Hungary broken up but Hapsburgs remain. Greece gets the worst end of the bargain, being divided between Italy and Bulgaria.

Americans disgusted as Italy for gaining so much and overall rejection of L o N and goes into isolation after losing so much for so little.

 

Dutchie

  • November 5, 1911
    • First Balkan War - Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria vs. Ottoman Empire
  • August 8, 1912
    • Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria join to form Rumelia
  • January 5, 1913
    • Ottoman Empire declares war on Rumelia
  • January 8, 1913
    • Greece declares war on Ottoman as part of Balkan League
  • January 23, 1913
    • Germany declares war on Balkan League in support of Ottoman
  • February 16, 1913
    • Russia declares war on Ottoman in support of Balkan League
  • February 18, 1913
    • Germany declares against Russia
  • February 18, 1913
    • Austro-Hunaria declares against Russia and Balkan League
  • May 4, 1913
    • France declares war on Germany in support of Russia
  • August 11, 1913
    • Due to German warships in Black Sea, Russia invades Rumania en route to Balkan League and Ottoman
  • August 15, 1913
    • Rumelia invades Albania
  • August 26, 1913
    • Britain/Portugal declare war on Russia over Rumania and Rumelia over Albania invasions, in support of Ottomans
  • 1913
    • Britain and France remain mutually neutral, due to Entente Cordial, but uneasily
    [*]1914
    • The grind of war
  • September 5, 1914
    • Cordial Entente is officially 'suspended'
  • January 21, 1915
    • Brazil declares war on France, invades French Guiana (attempt to distract internal attention from Contestado War)
  • January 30, 1915
    • France declares war on Brazil and Portugal over invasion of French Guiana
  • February 6, 1915
    • Britain declares war on France
  • April 17, 1915
    • Republic of China declares war on Allies - Russia/France forgive Boxer Rebellion reparations/France withdraws from areas east of Pearl River.
  • April 18, 1915
    • China overruns British/German enclaves. Hong Kong falls to ROC forces after 71 day siege
  • June 8, 1915
    • China annexes Tibet
Global War in Europe, S. America, Asia, Africa. Australia and Canada involved in fighting for the British in Europe and Asia. United States, Italy, Spain, Scandanavia and Benelux countries remain neutral.

Treaty of Rome – January 1919
· Cessation of all hostilities between European powers (including colonies)
o Conflict continues against China
· France, Russia, Balkan League (Coalition Powers) conditionally surrender to the Allies (GB, Germany, AH, Ottomans)
· France is stripped of most African colonies, though keeps Mauretania and Algeria, Madagascar. Germany claims Tunisia. Much of French Africa is joint administered between Germany & Britain
· Britain claims Corsica
· Buffer state created between Germany and France – Federated Provinces of Burgundy. In reality, a German puppet
· France cedes Guiana to Brazil, Martinique to Portugal
· Russia Surrenders most European territories, creating new states of Poland, Finland, Lithuania and German Balkan Republic. Germany annexes Courland.
· Russia loses territory in Caucasus to Ottoman and to new buffer states (Georgia, Armenia)
· Russian influence in Persia is ended, with personal royal union between Persia and Britain. Central Asian Republic is carved out of Russian territory north of Afghanistan/Persia
· Rumelia loses Thessaly and Moesia/Thrace to Ottomans, Kosovo and N. Macedonia to Albania
· Greece loses most Aegean islands to Ottomans. Germany takes Crete.
· China gains territory from the British and Germans, as well as the territory ceded control by France and Russia in negotiations to have China enter the war. Tibet remains in Chinese hands for now. Japanese territory on the mainland is maintained.
 

Attachments

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EdT

Here's my effort.

PoD: 1903. Alexander Obrenović gets wind of the plot to assassinate him and strikes first, gutting the Serbian military. Without the influence of the Karageorgevics, Serbia remains relatively pro-Austrian, altering the power-structure of the Balkans considerably. When Greece and Bulgaria declare war on Turkey in 1912 and the Turkish armies collapse, Austria enourages Serbia to annex the northern part of Albania to prevent it coming under Greek or Italian influence. Increasingly Bulgaria becomes the Russian ally of choice in the region.

The European peace staggers on for another few years, but in early 1919 a Pan-Slavist throws a bomb at King Alexander, killing him. Serbian-Bulgarian relations deteriorate, and when Austria support's Serbia's demand for reparations from Bulgaria, it is the spark that leads to a general conflict. Six years later the Great Powers are exhausted, and a compromise peace is negotiated in Stockholm. The collapse of Austria-Hungary left Serbia occupied and isolated with a Montenegrin dynasty installed, and as the Allies create an Albanian State the Serbs are compensated with chunks of Bosnia.

Final.jpg
 

Imperator

POD: Instead of Bulgaria, Greece is the Balkan League member that does the best in the First Balkan War. Naturally, Serbia and Bulgaria turn on her in the war that immediately follows, and this anti-Greek coalition is quietly supported by Russia. As these allies make progress against the Greeks, the Austrians grow increasingly tense: a powerful Serbia would seriously damage Austro-Hungarian interests. Thus Austria lends support to Greece, and the situation escalates until Russia and Austria declare war on each other, triggering the alliance system. Britain sits out at first due to domestic anger over percieved Russian aggression against Greece (whose king had close ties to the British), but enters the war in 1914 after negotiating an end to the Second Balkan War.
(Note that this means that the Ottomans never entered the war, as the British did not seize any Ottoman ships.)

Thus both Serbia and Bulgaria began WWI in 1913 on the side of the Allies. Italy and Romania would likewise join the Entente as the war progressed. Due to French use of Plan XV instead of Plan XVII, Allied casualties are markedly lower. In the East the open Dardanelles resolve Russia's supply situation and that empire also performs better. The war ends in 1917 after Germany and Austria-Hungary sue for peace. The terms are harsh: Germany loses Alsace-Lorraine and the Saar to France, with the Rhineland to be temporarily occupied, as well as Posen to a Russian dominated Polish state. Austria loses vast swaths of land on all fronts, but manages to hold together. The map depicts 1918, after peace has ensued and Europeans everywhere begin the hard task of rebuilding their shattered Continent.
 

Shadow Knight

Firsts off a big thanks to all the participants in this years Map Contest. So a big round of applause to them.

The voting has been tabulated and a winner has been chosen.

Drum roll please.

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...and the winner is...
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Imperator!!!

Congrats to Imperator.

Second place goes to EdT.

So here you go Imperator your Map Contest III of 2008 trophy:

Map Contest Trophy.PNG
 
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