alternatehistory.com

Hello everyone. This will be my attempt to do a fairly realistic timeline based on the premise of a German (though not necessarily Central Power) Victory in WWI. The focus is not on the victory itself, but rather on the aftermath of it and the world that it creates. I welcome criticism so long as it's constructive and offers suggestions on how I might improve.

Being my first real timeline of this nature, I appreciate any advise other forum members have to offer. :)

And now, without further ado, I shall start us off...

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-March 5, 1909

Following the end of his second term in office, Theodore Roosevelt leaves his home in New York for a Safari in Central and East Africa, wishing to recapture the sense of adventure he knew as a youth during his time in the badlands of North Dakota. Unbeknownst to him and his expedition however, this trip would prove to be a disaster for the 26th President of the United States.

-April 3, 1909

Theodore Roosevelt falls faint due to fever and exhaustion. Having likely become ill during his journey up the Nile River, Roosevelt, despite the pleas from his party to abandon the expedition, opts to continue his Safari. He continues his journey up the Nile, eventually arriving in Khartoum.

-April 13, 1909

Having refused to stop even in the face of his deteriorating health, Theodore Roosevelt collapses during a hunt in Khartoum. The members of his expedition are unable to revive him. Within the following weeks, word of the Rough Rider’s death spread throughout the United States, resulting in a thick atmosphere of shock, grief and mourning descending over the country for who would come to be regarded as one of the greatest Presidents America had ever known.

-February 13, 1910

The Payne-Aldrich Tariff, passed April 9, 1909, had been a highly controversial bill. Having been dramatically altered from it’s original form by Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, it was viewed in a generally negative light by the Progressives of the Republican Party who felt that it did not go nearly far enough in lowering Tariffs. It would also prove to be the end of the political career of Senator Aldrich. President William Howard Taft would come to publicly blame the Senator for his distortion of the bill and it’s subsequent failure to meet the expectations of the Progressives within the Republican Party.

In spite of the divisive feelings brought on by the Tariff, President Taft managed to hold his party together, allowing them to narrowly maintain their congressional majority during the elections that year.

-November 5, 1912

Incumbent President William Howard Taft wins his bid for reelection, defeating Democratic Candidate Woodrow Wilson with 455 Electoral Votes to Wilson’s 76, and a 50.6% lead in the popular vote. Despite the Progressive faction of the Republican Party still being bitter with the memory of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, Taft had successfully placed most of the blame firmly on the shoulders of former Senator Aldrich, sparing him the potentially disastrous political fallout that could have resulted.

-October 8, 1912 – May 30, 1913

The First Balkan War, fought between the forces of the Balkan League (Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro) and the fracturing Ottoman Empire concluded in the defeat of the Turks at the hands of the overwhelming forces brought against them. Despite achieving victory and gaining a significant amount of territory in the Treaty of London, Bulgaria refused to demobilize it’s forces, seeming determined to claim the entire pot for itself.

-June 16 – July 18, 1913

Bulgaria attempts to bully Serbia and Greece out of their winnings and, predictably, unites practically the entire Balkans against them. In just over a month their forces are defeating by those of Greece, Serbia, Romania and the Ottomans, and they are forced to hand back virtually all of their previous gains. This causes Bulgaria to slip into revanchism as it waits for the right opportunity to reclaim what it feels rightfully belongs to it.

-28 June, 1914

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are shot and killed by Serbian assassin Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on the orders of Danilo Illic, a member of the Pan-Slavic secret society “Unification or Death”. Shock at the murders quickly spreads throughout Europe as the already tense situation between Serbia and Austria-Hungary threatens to spill over into open war. Despite this however, no one in Europe sees the assassination as a just cause for war, and in June and early July, most cannot imagine the far reaching impact that it will have.

-23 - 25 July, 1914

Austria submits what will come to be known as the “July Ultimatum” to Serbia. This ultimatum, containing ten enumerated demands, was intentionally designed to be impossible for any respectable sovereign nation to agree to if it valued it’s existence as an independent nation state. Given a mere 48 hours to respond, Serbia accepts all but two of the particularly harsh demands, in particular point 6, which demanded that Austro-Hungarian officials be allowed to conduct their own investigation on Serbian territory. In spite of it’s agreeance to 8 of the 10 demands and it’s timely delivery, Austria-Hungary, it’s heart set on war, used this as a casus belli to plunge Europe into the bloodiest conflict man had ever seen.

-July 28, 1914

At 11:00 AM, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on the Kingdom of Serbia, setting the stage for the greatest conflict in human history. This is soon followed on August 1 by a German declaration of war against the Russian Empire. With these acts, the conflict that would become known as the Great War had begun…
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