BooNZ
Banned
You appear to be channeling Ludendorff and focusing exclusively on short term military considerations. What would be Germany's post war export markets? How receptive do you think the British, French and Russian markets will be to German made goods, assuming they can afford still them? What are the chances of Germans getting dragged into the Russian chaos?Germany (really Prussia) would have noting to fear after a victorious war other than maybe Austria and the minor German states revolting France would be crushed paying tribute and Russia beaten and in chaos This is a very bright future indeed
The Germans preference was initially an alliance with both Russia and A-H, but Russian ambitions in relation to the Ottomans and Balkans was not compatible with the continued existence of A-H. ITTL Austria would still represent Germany's strongest and most reliable ally and most significant trading partner.What use is Austria now? The Germans allied with Austria as a check on Russia a threat which would be gone
A five year "pattern" that had ended over forty years earlier...Look at it this way:
In 1864, Prussia allied with Austria against Denmark. In 1866, Prussia attacks Austria. In 1870, they fight the Franco-Prussian war and absorb their own allies the minor German states. Its a pattern.
1. Population - 1914 population of Bulgaria less than 5 million compared to A-H population of over 50 million.What possible reason would the Germans have to prefer Austria over Bulgaria?
2. Geography - Germany has to crawl over Austrian territory to get to Bulgaria.
3. Infrastructure - the overall standard of infrastructure within the A-H empire exceeds that available in the minor Balkan states.
4. Industry, education and literacy - again the standards within the A-H empire were generally higher than among the minor Baltic states with the possible exception of Bosnia Herzegovina.
5. Language - the Austrians also spoke German
I was not aware A-H granted mandate to Germany to negotiate on its behalf so early in the war... Would the Germans be more likely to honor such commitments to Italy than the British and French?The German attitude towards Austria was clear from the start when they tried to entice Italy and Romania into the alliance with offers of Austrian territory
You don't think the Anglo-French promises to Italy for chunks of A-H territory was "something"? It might also be argued that Italy ignoring the alliance system brought them into conflict...And no, French and British aid to Italy doesn't count as a quarrel. The only reason that was given was because of Austria's alliance with Germany. Austria wanted nothing from britain or France and they wanted nothing from her. Only the alliance system brought them into conflict