The birdwatcher Prime Minister: my new TL

A minority of the Irish Parliamentary Party objected to its participation in the Irish Convention and Redmond's support for recruitment to the British army. 14 MPs (out of 73) resigned to sit as Independent Nationalists in the House of Commons.
 
Among the nationalist organisations in Ireland which formed part of the anti-recruitment movement were Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Belfast-based Dungannon Clubs, the Irish National Foresters, the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association.
 
The Department for Recruiting for Ireland (DRI) was established in early November 1914, following a conference in late October in Dublin, at which representatives of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) the Unionist Party and the Catholic Church met with Sir Edward Carson, the Secretary of State for Ireland, to discuss ways of boosting recruitment.

The conference decided to launch a recruiting campaign. At the suggestion of John Redmond, it decided that a letter encouraging enlistment signed by representatives of the IPP, Liberal and Unionist parties be sent to every man in Ireland between the ages of 19 and 41. Though as recruitment to the British army was running among Protestants/Unionists, the campaign would be directed at Catholics/Nationalists.

The postal campaign was launched on 16 November. The appearance of an official-looking letter did lead to some people to think that enlistment was compulsory. When it became known that it was voluntary, most people took little notice of the letter.

The campaign was initially for one month. The DRI's goal was that it would lead 10,000 men to enlist. In fact only 5,068 men were recruited, though that figure includes men who would have joined up anyway.
 
In late September 1914 Balfour invited Sir Edward Grey, the former Liberal Prime Minister, to serve as a member of the Committee on Imperial Defence (CID) About a month later, Grey was one of the CID members who formed the War Council. The other members Balfour appointed were Lansdowne (Foreign Secretary), Austen Chamberlain (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Ernest Pretyman (First Lord of the Admiralty), and Lord Midleton (War Secretary). Sir John Jellicoe, the First Sea Lord, and General Lord Kitchener served as technical advisers.
 
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The Ottoman Empire had remained neutral at the outbreak of the Great War. Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, and Sait Halim Pasha, the Grand Vizier, signed a secret treaty of alliance with Germany on 2 August 1914. This was grudgingly accepted by the Ottoman cabinet. However its opponents still had time to abrogate the treaty. Cemal Pasha, Minister of the Navy, favoured the Entente.

Many Ottomans held strong pro British and pro French sentiments, and regarded war against those countries as unthinkable. On 18 August the Ottoman Empire declared neutrality with a 'Notification of Neutrality'. and on 10 September 1914 the Grand Vizier annulled the Capitulations which gave special privileges to foreign nationals. These first two paragraphs are as in OTL.

Preventing the Ottomans joining the Central Powers was a prime objective of the Balfour government. It was thought that their neutrality was much more likely than their joining the Entente. There was the fact of Ottoman-Russian enmity, and the Ottomans would need to recover after having fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in which they had suffered a defeat.

A traditional objective of Unionist (or Conservative) policy was preservation of the Ottoman Empire against Russian expansionism. In the Balfour cabinet Lord Lansdowne, the Foreign Secretary, was a strong advocating of at least keeping the Ottomans neutral.

In early August 1914, the British government delivered two battleships, the Sultan Osman 1 and the Reshadieh, which the Ottomans had ordered from British shipbuilders.

On 10 August, two German warships, the Goeben and the Breslau reached the Dardenelles, which were Ottoman waters. According to the rules of war the ships were interned.
 
The Ottoman Empire had remained neutral at the outbreak of the Great War. Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, and Sait Halim Pasha, the Grand Vizier, signed a secret treaty of alliance with Germany on 2 August 1914. This was grudgingly accepted by the Ottoman cabinet. However its opponents still had time to abrogate the treaty. Cemal Pasha, Minister of the Navy, favoured the Entente.

Many Ottomans held strong pro British and pro French sentiments, and regarded war against those countries as unthinkable. On 18 August the Ottoman Empire declared neutrality with a 'Notification of Neutrality'. and on 10 September 1914 the Grand Vizier annulled the Capitulations which gave special privileges to foreign nationals. These first two paragraphs are as in OTL.

Preventing the Ottomans joining the Central Powers was a prime objective of the Balfour government. It was thought that their neutrality was much more likely than their joining the Entente. There was the fact of Ottoman-Russian enmity, and the Ottomans would need to recover after having fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in which they had suffered a defeat.

A traditional objective of Unionist (or Conservative) policy was preservation of the Ottoman Empire against Russian expansionism. In the Balfour cabinet Lord Lansdowne, the Foreign Secretary, was a strong advocating of at least keeping the Ottomans neutral.

In early August 1914, the British government delivered two battleships, the Sultan Osman 1 and the Reshadieh, which the Ottomans had ordered from British shipbuilders.

On 10 August, two German warships, the Goeben and the Breslau reached the Dardenelles, which were Ottoman waters. According to the rules of war the ships were interned.

pipisme

That's a hell of a big butterfly. If the rest of the Ottoman government can sit on Enver Pasha then there is good chance of the empire staying out of the war. This will make a huge difference to Russia specifically and the allies in general. Could easily shorten the war by a year or more. ;)

I'm not sure if Britain would agree to still sell the ships to Turkey given the concerns about the naval position with Germany. Suspect they would make the same offer as they did OTL, at least initially. Have they also made a similar change on the Chilean ships or still sought to hire them?

Steve
 
Originally posted by stevep
Have they also made a similar change on the Chilean ships or still sought to hire them?

That was the first time I had read about the Chilean ships. I don't know what happened in OTL.
 
That was the first time I had read about the Chilean ships. I don't know what happened in OTL.

pipisme

Britain was building a couple of pretty powerful BBs for the Chilian navy, 10x14" and about 23,000tons. Came to an agreement with Chile by which Britain would take them over, paying the Chileans so much per month or so for their hire so to speak and then reconstructing them after the conflict. One saw service as HMS Canada and was then refitted and returned to Chila as Admiral Latorre in 1920. The later was left as a partial hull for a while then bought outright and became HMS Eagle, one of the early carrier converts.

Hope that helps.:)

Steve
 
Steve

That information is helpful. Thank you.

Because in OTL the Chilean navy was not of decisive importance in the Great War, in this TL Britain hired the Chilean ships as in OTL.

Negotiations took place in the first three weeks of August 1914 for a defensive alliance of Bulgaria, Greece, the Ottoman Empire and Romania. the Treaty of Bucharest signed on 19 August 1914 affirmed the neutrality of these nations in the war, and committed all of them to mutual defence in the event of an attack by another nation or combination of nations.

On 20 August, the British, French and Russian ambassadors in Constantinople gave verbal assurances to Sait Halim Pasha, the Grand Vizier that if the Ottoman Empire observed strict neutrality, Britain, France and Russia would uphold its independence and integrity against any threat which might arise during ther war. Two days later, Sait Halim offered the three ambassadors the follow terms:

The Entente Powers must offer the Ottoman Empire written, individual guarantees of its independence and integrity to be valid for the duration of theb war and the subsequent peace settlement; they must renounce all rights of interference in the Empire's internal affairs; they must agree to the full annulment of the capitulations. In return the Empire would give a guarantee of neutrality in relation to the Entente Powers, and dismiss the German military mission in Constantinople.

After consulting with their respective governments, the three ambassadors agreed to these terms. They were formalised by the Treaty of Constantinople signed on 28 August.
 
Steve

That information is helpful. Thank you.

No problem, glad to be of help.:)

Because in OTL the Chilean navy was not of decisive importance in the Great War, in this TL Britain hired the Chilean ships as in OTL.

Negotiations took place in the first three weeks of August 1914 for a defensive alliance of Bulgaria, Greece, the Ottoman Empire and Romania. the Treaty of Bucharest signed on 19 August 1914 affirmed the neutrality of these nations in the war, and committed all of them to mutual defence in the event of an attack by another nation or combination of nations.

That would be good but might be difficult if we have had the Balkan Wars that occurred OTL. Since only a year or so ago they had been tearing each other apart. Especially since between the two wars each had been allied against the other two.

On 20 August, the British, French and Russian ambassadors in Constantinople gave verbal assurances to Sait Halim Pasha, the Grand Vizier that if the Ottoman Empire observed strict neutrality, Britain, France and Russia would uphold its independence and integrity against any threat which might arise during ther war. Two days later, Sait Halim offered the three ambassadors the follow terms:

The Entente Powers must offer the Ottoman Empire written, individual guarantees of its independence and integrity to be valid for the duration of theb war and the subsequent peace settlement; they must renounce all rights of interference in the Empire's internal affairs; they must agree to the full annulment of the capitulations. In return the Empire would give a guarantee of neutrality in relation to the Entente Powers, and dismiss the German military mission in Constantinople.

After consulting with their respective governments, the three ambassadors agreed to these terms. They were formalised by the Treaty of Constantinople signed on 28 August.

That would be a great help, both for those powers and the allies. Possibly for everybody if it leads to a shorter and less destructive war and a more stable peace settlement.

Steve
 
The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 happened as in OTL.

In OTL in early August 1914 there were negotiations involving the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania for the creation of a neutral bloc, or a defensive or offensive alliances of some or all of those nations. See the chapter Ottoman Empire by F.A. K. Yasamee in the book Decisions for War, 1914 edited by Keith Wilson, published by UCL Press, London (1995).

In OTL the Ottoman Empire entered the war in November 1914, Bulgaria in October 1915, Romania in August 1916 and Greece not until June 1917.
 
The Treaty of Constaninople signed on 28 August 1914 under which the Ottoman Empire guaranteed its neutrality towards the Entente Powers, released 100,000 Russian troops in the Caucusus for transfer to the Eastern Front. They are too late to prevent the Russian defeats at the battles of Tannenbeg and the Masurian Lakes in late August and early September 1914 (as in OTL), instead General Brusilov, the Russian commander in Galicia, uses them in his offensive against Austria-Hungary in the Carpathians.
 
The Russian army swept through Galicia taking Lemberg and beseiging Przemysl. (1) By the end of September 1914 it had reached the Carpathians and the Hungarian plain was open to it.

Austria-Hungary (A-H) was forced to withdraw troops from Serbia to combat the Russian advance. This enabled Serbia to expel A-H troops from their country by the middle of October.

With the support of German forces, A-H stopped the Russian advance at the battle of Kaschau in northern Hungary from 18-21 October. (2) The Russians were driven back to the Carpathians.

(1) Here is a map of the Eastern Front in 1914 in OTL: http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EasternFront1914b.jpg .

(2) Here is a map of the eastern half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1895 which shows the town of Kaschau: http://www.iarelative.com/maps/ah_1895/ah_e.htm .
 
From October 1914 there was stalemate on the Western Front, as in OTL. On the Eastern Front the Russians launched an offensive in central Poland in early November 1914. This was halted by the German army at the battle of Sieradz from 29 November to 7 December. (1)

There was stalemate on the East Prussian/Russian border.

(1) Here is a map of modern day Poland in OTL which shows Sieradz: http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/poland.html .
 
The constituency of Londonderry City was the most marginal in Ireland. In the September 1913 general election it had been won by David Hogg for the Liberals by a majority of 29 votes in a straight fight with the Unionists.

Because of the wartime electoral truce the Unionists did not contest the by-election on 30 November 1914 caused by Hogg's death. Sir James Brown Dougherty, the Liberal candidate, was challenged by Ernest Blythe standing for Sinn Fein. Blythe was an Ulsterman and a Protestant. He said that if he was elected he would follow the Sinn Fein policy of not taking up his seat in the House of Commons.

Dougherty won by a majority of 50.7% to 49.3% for Blythe. But the turnout plunged from 78.6% to 42.5%.

Michael Joseph O'Rahilly (known as The O'Rahilly) gained East Galway for Sinn Fein from the Irish Parliamentary Party in the by-election on 4 December. The Tullamore by-election on 9 December was won by an Independent Nationalist, which was what the previous member had been.
 
In March 1915 the War Cabinet decided on a British invasion of Austria-Hungary along the coast from Montenegro, which was an ally of the Entente. (1)

In early April a large British force landed at Bar on the Montenegrin coast and advanced north-east along the Adriatic coastal strip and crossed into the Austro-Hungarian province of Dalmatia. By the end of May the joint British/Montenegrin force had captured Dubrovinik and Spalato (Split). (2)

(1) This map shows Montenegro in 1913: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Montenegro1913.png .

(2) See this map: http://www.iarelative.com/maps/ah_1895/ah_w.htm .
 
The Balfour government did not want a complete Austro-Hungarian (AH) defeat to the extent which would result in the breakup of the AH Empire. Both in OTL and this TL anti AH sentiment was predominantly on the left. (1)

(1) See R. W. Seton and British Anti-Hapsburg Sentiment by A. J. May in American Slavic and East European Review, February 1961, pp. 40-54: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3001244 .
 
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