Concept:
This incident between France and Germany in 1887 turns into a general European War when one French cabinet member changes his vote, and a note as nationally insulting to the German Empire as the Ems Dispatch was to the French in 1870 in our world is sent, causing Germany to declare war on France.
France vs. Germany, with additional nations entering in based on alliance systems and the desire to prevent any one nation from gaining too much power.
I've been working on this for quite some time (~a year), most of it on research (there is so little info on European armies and navies from, say, Sedan until the Spanish-American War), and much of it wargaming and planning out battles in advance.
Much of the text is in outline form right now, but I do have one picture for you guys consisting of my scratches in Paint over a nice WW1 map. It depicts the opening positions in May 1887 based on actual French and German war plans from early 1887 (you don't want to know how much digging this took...

).
The German
Westaufmarch developed by the elder Moltke in its form as of 1887 features a concentration along a line from Bolchen (Boulay) to Saarunion of eight corps with another corps and nine reserve divisions as reserve. Depicted in narrow lines is the planned attack on Nancy in the event that the French did not throw themselves against the dug-in Germans.
The French "Plan VII" is generally a defensive plan, and expects a full-on German offensive in the Trouee de Charmes, the general area between Epinal and Charmes where the First Army is located. The armies on the French left are held further back than one might expect, in order to prevent any possible German envelopment
a la 1870.
