Old Rivals Never Stop: An Attempt at a Timeline

Damn I am loving this!
Will keep a very close eye on this
Thanks man. I’m not entirely sure what I expected when I started this a while back, but so far the reception has been really positive so I hope I continue to deliver.
Huh, so Austria made it out in one piece.
After thinking it over I figured it would be a lot more interesting if an Austrian Empire stayed around. This is not to say that they have easy times ahead. I’m planning on the next chapter to deal with the postwar chaos in Austria-Hungary.
 
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Chapter 11: The Revolutions of 1923
Bolshevik gains in Russia hit Austria-Hungary like a freight train. The Hapsburg's had long ruled a vast and diverse land, stretching from the Alps to the Romanian border. Containing over a dozen major ethnic groups, the realm had been successfully held together for by now great spans of time, though numerous moments, particularly recently in 1848, had pushed the empire to its limits. Over 60 years later in 1923 the empire in a recognizable form was yet again put under threat of collapse via revolution.

Vienna had gained many an enemy by their participation in the Great War, inside and out. Now not only the capital of the prewar-divided empire, but the ruler of acquired lands in Italy and Romania as well as the puppet governments of Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania. These people chafed under their new, unwanted leadership, and dissenting views rose as quickly as they did inevitably. Between the winter of ‘22-‘23 strikes and protests repeatedly popped up, yet these were far from the worst to come. Secluded rooms served as meeting places, where more extreme measures to gain freedom from Austria were discussed. Such was the impasse, Austria had given up too much to give independence, and the would-be rebels would accept nothing less.

Spring of 1923 saw the door burst open. As an uprising in Veneto quickly liberated Venice, the governments of the Balkan puppets were overthrown as revolutionaries preached that ultimate freedom for their people via communist utopia was just around the corner. Knowing that the momentum was on their side and the need to act before Austria-Hungary could prepare themselves, the rebels pushed onward. Austro-Hungarian forces in the way were pushed back, unprepared for the size of the armies facing them and undermanned as the empire desperately scrambled to mobilize. This was easier said than done, thanks to dissension among northern peoples such as Polish and Czechs, who held little investment toward the continual control of southern nationalities they failed to identify with. As the revolutionaries pressed on Croats and Slovaks rebelled as well, eventually forcing Austria-Hungary from the whole Adriatic Sea.

Yet in their time of need, Austria's allies answered the call. German reinforcements finally arrived in substantial numbers, and with this the Central Powers could begin successful counteroffensives against their motivated yet ill-equipped adversaries. Revolting Serbs had spilled over into Bulgarian-annexed lands, signaling Bulgaria's entrance into the conflict alongside the other two Central Powers. Trapped on two sides and thoroughly outmatched, the 1923 revolutionaries would find themselves rapidly losing ground, relegated to doomed pockets of resistance by year's end.

Emperor Charles was victorious, yet the insurrections deeply unsettled him. Whether or not Austria-Hungary would've fallen apart had no outside support came is still a fiercely debated topic, though it remains undeniable that at the time their chances seemed very bleak. Could he always count on the German knight? The Kaiser after all was a busy man, having to deal with not only the problems of Germany but the security of chaotic France and the plethora of newborn Eastern European nations. If France and Russia were no longer major threats, surely that would incentivize Germany view to a struggling Austrian Empire as a lost cause wouldn't it? Charles hated to take the chance. Therefore he became determined to sufficiently stabilize Austria-Hungary for the next time the Balkans went up in flames. Seeing as the revolting portions of his empire would be unable to pull off such a stunt again for quite a few years, he turned his eyes to the north. No Polish or Ukrainian revolution had occurred, but it would be a monumental waste of resources to deal with the possibility when Poland and Ukraine were both now real countries. He would go on to sell all Polish-majority land and some more of the Ukrainian-majority territory outside of Hungary to their respective nation states, thereby removing those groups as potential future dissidents. This event would later be playfully referred to as "the bloodletting of Austria" in mainstream media.
 
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just found this story. Really interesting and cant wait for more.

I really liked the choice to knock out italy next instead of forcing more people down northern france.
 
just found this story. Really interesting and cant wait for more.

I really liked the choice to knock out italy next instead of forcing more people down northern france.
Glad you're enjoying it. In the end I decided that because Italy was weaker and mostly fighting on their own, unlike France, it would make more sense for an offensive down the peninsula to garner support than yet another crack at Paris.
 
Chapter 12: God Is No Frenchman
Since its inception, France had been a European mainstay. Whether at a peak or valley it was always an important factor. This trend still rang true once the Great War ended, and now was definitely one of its low points. 4 years of destructive fighting on their own territory brought the nation to its knees, the Treaty of Munich leaving a carcass expected to delicately balance keeping the disgruntled populace under control via repairing itself while hamstringing its own efforts by paying a victorious Germany. Unsurprisingly the Third Republic didn't succeed in this endeavor.

Of course violence couldn't resume right away. Time had to be allotted for the exchange of territory, soldiers to return home, grieving. After the aforementioned steps were done however depression towards their misfortune quickly turned to resentment among Frenchmen. National humiliation still fresh in their minds, yet another revolution was afoot in 1922. As one might expect the entire country was in chaos before long. Paris fell again, now to its own citizenry, dragging France further into disorder. Communism and socialism proved enticing among these revolting inhabitants in a land which valued the ideals of the French Revolution. It was this that drew Germany back to their rival.

From across the border it seemed that all the ingredients were there to cook up another Russian Civil War. Given that the Reds were winning that fight the Kaiser wasn't in a gambling mood. Fortunately for the Bolsheviks geographical distance meant they were an exception to the rule. French revolutionaries weren't blessed with such luck. A bitter, communist nation right next to them was a pill much too hard for the German government to swallow, and spit it into the garbage they did. Once armies were readied they moved out. What followed was a hard-fought but not overly-long duel, culminating in the final defeat of French rebels as a 1923 spring came around the corner. In fact many of the men hoping to come back to their homeland for some time found themselves re-summoned for combat as Austria-Hungary dealt with their own revolutions the same year. These foreign uprisings served to keep the Imperial Germany Army on a busy schedule during the pivotal postwar years, and were what allowed the Red Army to successfully takeover Finland despite the obvious risks.

Back in France the debacle had left lasting impacts. Beaten down and internally bleeding, the French people found themselves looking to each other for support and protection. It was these bonds which would come to breed the overwhelming national fervor that defined France through the decade and beyond. From their perspective they had their fellow countrymen and ally Italy, who recently adopted a budding political ideology known as fascism, and one way or another it was possible to rise back to power together and defeat those who wronged them. Said group starring Germany: Emperor of Europe, and Britain: The Great Betrayer. That needed to come later. Nationwide healing was absolutely necessary, not to mention the Third Republic was still in power...
 
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Chapter 13: A Secluded Eagle
Joining the fight late and making a non-decisive impact on the hellhole within Europe, the United States felt the repercussions of putting their eggs in a fallen basket. Woodrow Wilson chose to avoid the cost of feeding Americans to European trenches, instead opting to loan money to the Entente while waging a naval war in the Atlantic. This seemed to be quite the reasonable course of action at the time, assuming that the funds expended would help in bringing the war to a satisfactory conclusion. Given this fact the existence of a victorious Central Powers meant that said currency had been wasted.

Before the Great War kicked off America held little direct involvement in Europe. Comparatively now the country had directly invested in nations such as the United Kingdom and France, and their sluggish recovery from the conflict made repaying the U.S.A. a major endeavor. The result of this being an increasingly annoyed United States unable to fully recoup their losses, further cementing the belief among Americans that dealing with Europe in general wasn't worth it. This rule of thumb overpowered even the president, who failed to convince Congress to let the U.S.A. join a new international organization, titled the League of Nations, whose outward objective was to keep peace and prevent a repeat of 1914-1918. Their reasoning was increased involvement in foreign politics wouldn't be a beneficial path for a nation developing at breakneck speeds regardless and had managed to avoid anywhere near as much bloodshed as their forefathers an ocean away.

This rapid inward development pushed on unabated, and the 1920's witnessed a marked high point in innovation and production. While these shifts weren't all-reaching, many in rural communities recoiled in the face of sudden social and technological changes, it seemed obvious to many Americans that the path to continued prosperity tunneled through isolationist soil. The government reflected these aspirations via a laissez faire-loving Republican Party. Save for distant islands like the Philippine archipelago the U.S.A. quietly resided in the Americas. The League of Nations on the other hand was made with the intention of it serving as a mediating force, though in practice crippling issues reared their heads. A hodgepodge of member states, containing contradictory individual agendas, found it difficult to reach a consensus on what to do in case of aggression. Even if it was decided that a war was worthy of stopping, many of the drained constituents didn't feel the matter personally vital enough to do much about it. In reality Europe remained almost as susceptible to armed warfare as in the past.
 
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Why did turkey lose more land? Why haven't they retaken it, they have millions of turks in them. Turkey was weaker in the turkish war of independence yet they still beat greece and Armenia. Yet greece has more land have all those turks all magically disappeared now?
 
Why did turkey lose more land? Why haven't they retaken it, they have millions of turks in them. Turkey was weaker in the turkish war of independence yet they still beat greece and Armenia. Yet greece has more land have all those turks all magically disappeared now?
The next chapter will be on Arabia and Anatolia so I'll go into more detail on the matter then, but what's shown in the map are the "official" borders of the rump Ottoman Empire in 1919, but that's not to say that no Turkish War of Independence will break out over the lost territory. I mostly just haven't gotten to that part yet (and admittedly got some research to do).
 
The next chapter will be on Arabia and Anatolia so I'll go into more detail on the matter then, but what's shown in the map are the "official" borders of the rump Ottoman Empire in 1919, but that's not to say that no Turkish War of Independence will break out over the lost territory. I mostly just haven't gotten to that part yet (and admittedly got some research to do).
yeah sorry i just don't like stuff that feel like greek/byzantine circle jerks Constantinople not istanbul and remove the kebab bullshit, i felt might be coming. Greece has no claim to these lands, it has as much as morroco has to southern spain, and its filled majority muslims who will fight for turkey.
 
yeah sorry i just don't like stuff that feel like greek/byzantine circle jerks Constantinople not istanbul and remove the kebab bullshit, i felt might be coming. Greece has no claim to these lands, it has as much as morroco has to southern spain, and its filled majority muslims who will fight for turkey.
No worries. I've yet to entirely decide how the TWI will conclude but I promise that even if Greece does better than OTL I'll do my best to not make it some ass pull cause Neo-Byzantine Empire=Cool(I'll admit that it's a nice looking border/neat concept).
 
but I promise that even if Greece does better than OTL I'll do my best to not make it some ass pull cause Neo-Byzantine Empire=Cool
Thrace and Izmir have to become turkish again theres no way greece has no land connection and lands with majority angry muslims, the only way greece can keep these lands is through killing or expelling the muslims which there are alot of them.
Btw the ottomans are caliphs this was a really bad move by the UK.
 
Thrace and Izmir have to become turkish again theres no way greece has no land connection and lands with majority angry muslims, the only way greece can keep these lands is through killing or expelling the muslims which there are alot of them.
Btw the ottomans are caliphs this was a really bad move by the UK.

38.76% of Eastern Thrace was Greek in 1910 sure they have more Turks 46.11% in the area but not by an overwhelming majority the way you are putting it. If population exchange has occurred (and no Greek and Armenian ethnic cleansings) I see no reasons why Greece can't keep all of Eastern Thrace with over 1 million Anatolian Greeks coming over to fill Eastern Thrace up. Smyrna would be more difficult though to keep unless had British support (which is unlikely). Armenia will be more tricky probably since will be more of a Kurds instead of Turk's issue. Armenia might be allied with Persia for all we know or those smaller breakaway states from Russia that fear Turkey just going around annexing lots of lands. The possibility of a Kurdish uprising in Turkish controlled lands is strong with a weaker smaller Turkey. Another issue is if there is a stronger Bulgaria, and if they came out of the war in a better position they could possibly reject any attempt by Turkey to return to the Balkans and just annex the Eastern Thrace themselves. Many Turks could have also possibly fled the regions controlled by Greece especially Constantinople during the war in fear of retaliation. "Muslims fighting for Turkey" is not likely going to happen since Arab/Kurds do not like the ultranationalist Turkish government going on, plus the Arabs fought against them.
 
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No worries. I've yet to entirely decide how the TWI will conclude but I promise that even if Greece does better than OTL I'll do my best to not make it some ass pull cause Neo-Byzantine Empire=Cool(I'll admit that it's a nice looking border/neat concept).
It would be interesting to see if Greece or Bulgaria keep the European part of Constantinople while Turkey gets the Anatolia part and makes a new Istanbul.
Will hardly probably not get mentioned at all but Assyrian autonomy in British held Mespotima/Levant (which could possibly lead to them trying to expand at Turkish expense if the possible outcome could be achieved) would be interesting.
 
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Muslims fighting for Turkey" is not likely going to happen since Arab/Kurds do not like the ultranationalist Turkish government going on, plus the Arabs fought against them.
Ottoman caliphate hasn't fallen and all the arab mitary units remained loyal.

Many Turks could have also possibly fled the regions controlled by Greece especially Constantinople during the war in fear of retaliation.
Greeks never took it.

they have more Turks 46.11% in the area but not by an overwhelming majority the way you are putting it.
Then need to take into account the refugees from the balkan wars.

Assyrian autonomy in British held Mespotima/Levant (which could possibly lead to them trying to expand at Turkish expense if the possible outcome could be achieved) would be interesting.
Why, they make no majority anywhere.
The possibility of a Kurdish uprising in Turkish controlled lands is strong with a weaker smaller Turkey.
Caliph is still around, expansion of non-muslims into muslim land probably has them more working togather.
 
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