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The year is 1907. France and Russia are war with the Imperial Japanese Empire. Japan, highly structured and disciplined, is proving a persistent and admirable opponent to the two European powers. Death tolls are high on the side of the European powers; there are four Franco-Russian soldiers killed for every Japanese one. As the years have gone by, the war has forced more and more French and Russian soldiers to the front. It was expected that Japan's finances and manpower would have run out years ago, but an undisclosed American banker continues to give loans. Stress is rising between the United States and the two European powers over the issue. Japan continues to fund and supply militias in French Indochina and French India, promising a greater degree of home rule as part of the Japanese Empire. France and Russia are not only facing war abroad, but strife in the battle of public opinion.

Britain, though uneasy with France declaring war on its ally in the far east, makes up for its breaking of alliance by allowing Japan to use British ports and cutting off all trade with France and Russia. It is rumored that the British government is sending ammunition, food, and finances to Japanese soldiers on the Russian front. The French and Russia economies have been slowing. When all trade with the British Empire is cut off, you lose 350 million potential consumers, a loss France and Russia are finding difficulty coping with. Tariffs have also been placed on French and Russian goods going to the United States; a sign of the tense relations between the two European powers and America.

Japan meanwhile has recently entered talks with two speculate new allies across the world: Mexico and Italy. With such a massive amount of French forces located in east Asia, the French homeland and other parts of its empire have been neglected to in terms of defense.

December 18th 1907: Mexico receives a telegram from Italy and Japan proposing a simple plan: Bait and attack. Mexico's limited military capability will be entirely focused on capturing French Caribbean territories, and bunkering down. French defenses in the region are miniscule, as it was deemed by the French government to be a relatively stable region where large international conflicts were unlikely to occur. Mexico, still resenting French occupation some 50 years prior, sends a telegram to Rome and Tokyo.

March 12th-March 22nd 1908: Mexico declares war on France. The entire nation of Mexico is pulled into total war. Ships rapidly launch from Veracruz towards French Caribbean territories, French Guiana, and Clipperton Island. French forces are caught entirely by surprise, and as such are overtaken quite easily. Mexican naval forces turn the islands into fortresses, and militarize the Guianan coast. The jungles of french Guiana are perfect for Guerrilla warfare, and as such the central military government of the territory is located deep inland. It will takes weeks for the French Navy to arrive, and in that time Mexico's ship production will produce massive amounts of patrollers and frigates. If the Mexican navy cannot overtake France in sheer brawn, they can hope to overtake them with a massive amount of inexpensive and rapidly built ships. The United States, mindful of events occurring south of its border, stands ambivalent. Tensions with France have lead to an American policy of ambivalence in all things related to the war.

May 6th - July 18th: French naval forces do combat with their Mexican counterparts. They prove far more persistent than expected. A French naval commander messages to Paris:
"The enemy is proving to be more infuriating than previously foreseen. Their many small ships pick away at our fleet over time. If we destroy 10 ships in one week, 15 come to take their place the next. Every Mexican captured island is a fortress, and as such are difficult to bring back under our sovereignty. When we have attempted to capture Guiana, we suffer heavy losses on the beach, and by the time we secure ourselves, the enemy retreats into the jungle where we cannot touch them. We have tried, but they ambush our men, and few return. We have seen terrible things done to dead bodies left to be found. In Guiana our beachheads only last for days at a time, as they ambush us every night, and sabotage whenever possible. When day comes they repel us. We have been pushed off four times. What difficulties we have bared in Guiana have been nothing more than a small irritation compared to our attempts to breach the Mexican homeland. Not only do we fight through jungle, but we must climb mountains as well. The Mexicans are killing us slowly. They cannot deliver a decisive blow, but neither can we. The only difference is that their supply lines are far shorter than ours, which happen to be far less secure than expected. We fear for the pride of France, the idea of our defeat at the hands of these savages... it as all too realistic."

August 1st - 12th of 1908: The French homeland suffers from a surprise invasion by Italian forces. The Italian-Japanese-Mexican coalitions plan: bait enough forces away from France to allow for a successful Italian invasion of France, has succeeded. The Italian military, in a rather blitzkrieg fashion, has occupied and bunkered in Savoy and Nice. The Italian navy has also occupied the port at Tunis, and managed to gain a foothold on Corsica. French lines to Corsica are also being harassed, and the only way any ammunitions or rations can be delivered to Tunisia is through Algeria and over the mountains to the Tunisian coast. France was caught entirely by surprise. French Somaliland has also easily fallen under Italian control. Superior Italian positions in Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, and French Somaliland have caused French overseas supply lines to the Far east have been cut entirely. All of the Franco-Russian coalitions supplies and rations travel on a single route. Weapons are produced mainly by French factories and shipped to the port at St. Petersberg. From there they are taken by train through Siberia to the front against Japan. Japanese forces stop any supplies from reaching French Indochina or French India.

September 17th -29th 1908: The entirety of French Indochina, French India, French and Russian portions of Tientsin, and Kwang-Chou-Wan have fallen under Japanese control, and Japanese naval forces have begun shelling New Caledonia, Wallis Island, Futuna Island, and French Polynesia.

October 7th 1908: All French forces are either captured or withdrawn from the Caribbean.

October 18th 1908: Japan has captured New Caledonia, Wallis Island, Futuna Island, and French Polynesia.

December 11th 1908: Italy has captured all of Tunisia and Corsica.

December 14th 1908: The Siberian railroad is bombed and no more supplies can reach the Siberian Front. Kamatchka and the Kurils have been lost.

December 17th 1908: Russia collapses into revolution and civil war.

December 23rd 1908: The French government, unable to bear another Christmas in an unwinnable war, signs an armistice.

January 21st 1909: Italy, in an attempt to increase its own power in the black sea, captures the Crimea. It was barely defended as Russian forces were far too preoccupied with the the revolution at home.

Italy, with massive forces in Tunisia, Crimea, and Sicily, is perfectly poised for its next expansion against the Ottoman Empire.

The citizens of France have suffered a great loss to their pride. Their glorious nations have been defeated in a long, painful, dreadful war. Millions of men have been lost, resources have been used, and finances have been spent. The French Empire has lost its sense of prestige and the French people have become resentful. Resentful of the government that could not defend their sense of pride, and resentful of the Italians, seen as the savage invaders to the east who came and took their land. Furthermore, they despise the very idea that non-European nations like Mexico and Japan could have ever posed a threat to the might of France. There is talk of a massive social revolution in France, the indebted nation is on the verge of being lost to radicals in the ballot box and the public mind.


Japan: Gains French India, Sakhlain, the Kuril Islands, French indochina, Kwang-Chou-Wan, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis Island, and Futuna Island.
Mexico: Gains St. Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Martinique, French Guinea, and Clipperton Island.
Italy: Gains French, Russian, and Japanese districts in Tientsin, Corisca, Savoy, Nice, Tunisia, and French Somaliland.
France is forced to pay off all of Japan's debts to the American Banker.

Edit: So I made a few changes, I hope they helped.

So how's the timeline? Any issues? Should I expand it into WW1?
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