The Lion Roars.

“This war is not our war. The British Empire has not been attacked. Whilst we will, undoubtedly remain vigilant in this time of peril for the European continent, we will remain neutral. Armed neutrality shall be our watchword.”- Herbert Asquith, British Prime Minister. 4/8/1914


The build up to the critical moment.

On July 26th 1914, French intelligence picked up reports of German intention to attack France through Belgium. These reports were passed onto the Belgian Government with the advice of full mobilisation for the Belgian Army and the statement that France would support any defence of Belgian territory. The Belgian Government took the reports seriously, and on 28th July, partial mobilization was called, publicly as a sign that none of the great powers should consider Belgium as an open passageway to the other..

On the same day, the French offered to send a small force of 20,000 men and a squadron of the French Air Force into Belgium which it was stated could only be used in the eventuality of a German invasion. The French importantly decided to leave this as an open offer and stated the troops would be ready whenever called upon. Initially the Belgians rejected the offer on the grounds that it would imperil Belgian independence and neutrality.

On 2nd August, the Germans handed the Belgians an ultimatum. Either accept German passage through Belgium in a German assault on France or be considered an enemy. Within hours, thousands of French troops began crossing the Belgian border, with the blessing of the Belgian Government, this occurred alongside the beginnings of a full mobilisation.

The lights burned into the night in the cabinet rooms of number ten Downing Street. In allowing the French Army into Belgium before the German invasion, was Belgium acting in an aggressive manner towards Germany? After all, officially at any rate, Belgium was a neutral power. The cabinet voted on the matter.

The position was officially that the Belgian escalation had negated the British need to defend Belgium. Great Britain would remain neutral in the continental war. The French decried this example of Perfidious Albion, but it was to matter not. The defence of Western Europe was to lie in French hands.

On 4th August, Germany invaded Belgium. The Belgian Army heroically defended its positions but was pushed back, as the number of French troops increased however, the front stabilised. This war was destined to be one of attrition.
 
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“What we see today is a great day for democracy. We, the people of Ireland are to have our very own Parliament. It is now the time to shape our own future.”-John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and Prime Minister of Ireland12/5/1915

Home Rule.

Following the successful passage of the Government of Ireland act on the 25th May 1914, Ireland was to be allowed home rule within the United Kingdom. It allowed for a bicameral structure for the Irish Parliament, a House of Commons and a Senate. The number of Irish MPs at Westminster was to be reduced to 42 though, the change in numbers to take affect after the next general election.

One of the major flaws in the home rule scheme was the temporary exclusion of the six counties in the north of Ireland. This was done after concerted pressure by Sir Edward Carson and the Ulster Unionists. This was viewed with a great deal of resentment by many within Ireland, but Carson had the support of most of the north so he managed to carry the day. Northern Ireland was to remain under the direct rule of Westminster for the time being.

By September 1914, the Scottish Home rule bill passed the Commons, but was rejected by the Lords. It was agreed that it would be presented before Parliament again. It became the Governments position that there should be home rule for all. The scheme encountered serious resistance from the Conservatives and the Liberal Unionists who believed that the scheme would break up the United Kingdom.

The cause of home rule was however encouraged by the result of the 1915 general election, where the Liberals, with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party, maintained their grip on the government.

The following week, in the first Irish General election, the Irish Parliamentary Party won a majority. To the disconsternation of many, however the Labour Party became the main opposition.

The England and Wales home rule acts were put before Parliament in 1915. It allowed for English and Welsh Parliaments within the Union also.

In 1916, the Parliament act was used for Scottish Home rule. Scotland was also to have its own Parliament, in the same manner as the Irish.

British entry into the Great War prevented the Scottish act from being enacted or the English or Welsh acts from passing. There were more pressing events on the horizon.
 
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“We have been the victim of an unprovoked attack by the Imperial German fleet. No longer can we stand aside whilst democracy is being murdered in Flanders fields. Enough, I say. Onward I say, onwards to victory!”-Herbert Asquith, British Prime Minister 8/8/1916.

British entry to the Great War

Germany was close to victory over France by the summer of 1916. The war was going badly for the French. The Germans were a mere thirty miles from the centre of Paris. Much of the channel coast was in the hands of the central powers. France was only still in the war, and only holding the front due to supplies which were being provided by the British. The Russians were in a similar state.

Under these circumstances it was decided in Berlin that British support must be cut off in an effort to gain total victory over France and the war itself. It was believed that should France fall, the British would be forced to negotiate. It was under these circumstances that Germany decided to challenge British naval supremacy for the first time since the days of Lord Nelson.

On the 8th July 1916 at 2 am, the Imperial German fleet sailed. Its destination was Scapa Flow. Secrecy was essential. The aim was to “Copenhagen” the British fleet. Unfortunately for them, they were spotted by a British cruiser, the Warrier was on patrol in the North Sea and with haste returned to the British base in Portsmouth to warn the Grand Fleet of the impending assault. As a result, by the time the German Imperial fleet reached Scapa Flow, the British were awaiting them.

This led to the battle of Scapa Flow, which lasted three days. Losses were great on both sides. At the end of the third day, the decisive moment of the battle occurred when British reserves arrived from Portsmouth. Outgunned, outnumbered and exhausted after three days of combat, the Germans retreated back to Germany. The assault was a failure. Within hours, Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire declared war on Great Britain.

The result of the assault was clear. Great Britain and the Empire had joined the Great War. Within two months, 100,000 British soldiers had joined the French troops on the Western Front.

Lord Kitchener called for a new army to help defend the western front. Within two months, over one million men had volunteered for active service. It was seen that by 1917, over half a million recruits from the Empire would join the French in defence of the west.

The die had been cast.
 
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“Yankee doodle went to town, riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni!”- US ditty.

American Entry into the Great War.

Since Britain had entered the war, there had been a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare against shipping within an exclusion zone set by the German Government, which included the area leading to the British Isles.

This policy led to scores of US merchant ships being sunk in British waters, and increased the calls for the United States to declare war on Germany. Such calls were led principally by Theodore Roosevelt. It also led to division within the nation. The isolationist lure was still strong and the belief was there that the US should not enter what was a European War.

President Wilson favoured a policy of armed neutrality, similar to the one which the British had adopted before the battle of Scapa Flow. He believed that it was in American interests that America should arm the Entente, but stay out of the conflict herself.

The deciding moment in the decision of American entry into the conflict was, as has been the case in history an accident. On May 23rd 1917, the US Destroyer, the Cassin was spotted just outside the exclusion zone in the North Atlantic Ocean by the German submarine UB33.

Its commander Waldemar von Fischer mistook the Cassin for a British destroyer and torpedoed it. The Cassin was sunk. Of its crew, there were 78 survivors. The mistake was a fatal one.

The news, upon reaching Washington caused uproar. An American Warship, peacefully patrolling the Atlantic had been a victim of an unprovoked attack. This occurred days after the British had secretly handed the Americans a telegram they had intercepted from the Germans encouraging Mexico to declare war on the United States in an effort to reclaim lost Mexican territory and, although it was not stated, to stop American supplies to Europe.

On May 20th, the United States declared war on Germany. America had entered the war.
 
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“Today is a dark time for the entente. Despite this though, it shall not weaken our resolve. We shall persevere.”(Translation)-Raymond Poincaré, President of the FrenchRepublic. 28/8/1917

German-Russian Armistice, the Russian Revolution.

Russia was in a state of almost total chaos. Lenin had arrived in Petrograd on June 7th, and within a week the Bolsheviks controlled the city.

The result was a civil war. By the end of July, Lenins forces controlled both Moscow and Petrograd, and much of European Russia with the support of the urban masses and as such declared themselves the government of Russia. The provisional government had falledn and on 21st August, peace was concluded with Germany.

As a result of the negotiations, Russia lost the baltic territories and Russian Poland. After the negotiations were concluded and Russia left the war the nation disolved into the anarchy of opposing factions, from which after years of bloodshed the Communist state was to arise.

The news was met with disbelief in Paris, London and Washington. In the west the war had been going well. The Germans had, for the first time since the fall of 1915 been pushed back by the Anglo-Americans to the Belgian border. The French had recaptured Verdun and were on the verge of crossing the Mosselle river. Now the news was that they were to face millions of battle hardened German troops. This was seen as demoralising for many who had Germany and victory within sight.

It was now widely believed that the war for the first time since Verdun had been recaptured that the war would continue into 1918.
 
“I firmly believe that this campaign will go down in the annals of the history of the British Empire as one of our finest moments.”-Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty 2/9/1917.


The Dardanelles Campaign and the capture of Constantinople.

T.E Lawrence had described that Turkish strength in the region was not of full strength and that a determined force could land on the Dardanelles peninsula and capture the capital of the Ottoman Empire, effectively knocking the Ottomans out of the war.

Churchill was aware that the Royal Navy had many battleships, in the mediteranian and in the Indian ocean which could be used in such an operation. As such he prepared the plans for a joint Franco-British assault on the peninsula.

It was seen as vital that a port be taken for the assault to be succesful and as such the opening target of the campaign was to be the port of Gelibolu. The troops which were chosen for the campaign were mainly Anzacs who had been fighting the Turks since the declaration of hostilities. The operation began on 2nd September 1917.

Despite heaqvy gunfire and the loss of several ships, the Allies made the port and started pouring ashore. Alongside them landed 40 tanks which were diverted from the western front for the purpose of moving on the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Despite an extremely brave and heroic defence of the peninsula by the Ottoman forces, they were defeated within a month. The allies were effectively free to move towards Constantinople.

Constantinople was captured on November 3rd 1917. Amongst the captured from the city were Mehmed V and Ahmed Izzet Pasha. An armistice was called between the Ottomans and the Entente powers with the conditions to be negotiated over the following months.

The first of the central powers was defeated. It was defeated by a combination of heavy armour and naval power. Following the Russian revolution, this was seen as the best news the allies had received since the outbreak of hostilities. There were wild celebrations throughout the allied powers.

By January 1918, the invasion of Bulgaria had begun.
 
Good stuff :D

Is Scapa flow an analogue of Jutland - in that the Naval balance of power isn't really changed and the HSF now fears to leave base? Or is there a greater affect on either Navy?

Looking forward to seeing if the blockade is necessary in TTL.
 
Interesting scenario. If Constantinople is open, the Allies could begin shipping supplies to whatever Whites are gathering in Ukraine and Crimea.
 
just three niggling quibbles...

a) tanks are a new invention, and possibly have been retarded by a couple of years from Britains late entry into the war, and i don't think they would get 40 tanks into gallipoli
b) ottoman entry into the war was facilitated by Britain siezing two ships that it had built for them when they declared war on germany. it might proove to be that they would still support germany but remain neutral.
c) the entire point of the gallipoli campaign was to open a supply route to russia to keep them in the war. not so much of a point when they've already been knocked out
 
a) tanks are a new invention, and possibly have been retarded by a couple of years from Britains late entry into the war, and i don't think they would get 40 tanks into gallipoli
Yes they are a new invention, they have been invented slightly quicker than OTL however. British entry to the war was always going to happen at some point and as the western front had developed into a mire of trench warfare the imperative was shown. As such a joint Franco-British venture created them by the begining of 1916. Tanks do not see service until mid-1916, and are not used in great numbers until 1917.

As for the issue over tanks entering Gallipoli, you are thinking more of the OTL campaign. This campaign centres on capturing a port on the edge of the Gallipoli peninsula, namely Gelibolu. The tanks are put ashore there after the warships have blasted their way through and a beachead is created. This both cuts the Turkish troops on the peninsula off and creates an open road to Constantinople.
b) ottoman entry into the war was facilitated by Britain siezing two ships that it had built for them when they declared war on germany. it might proove to be that they would still support germany but remain neutral.
The Ottomans still enter on the side of the Central Powers, but shortly after OTL. The Ottoman-German Alliance was signed as in Otl. In short the army won out.
c) the entire point of the gallipoli campaign was to open a supply route to russia to keep them in the war. not so much of a point when they've already been knocked out
In OTL, it was a major point of the Gallipoli campaign. In ttl however the perogative is different. It is to attack through Bulgaria and hopefully create a new front for the Austro-Hungarian Empire which would be hopefully more fluid than the bloody stalemate on the western front.

As a side issue, it is hoped that the white Russians could be supplied through the Crimea, but in ttl that is not achieved as the Reds capture the region.
 
In OTL, it was a major point of the Gallipoli campaign. In ttl however the perogative is different. It is to attack through Bulgaria and hopefully create a new front for the Austro-Hungarian Empire which would be hopefully more fluid than the bloody stalemate on the western front.
Still, with Russia out of the war, I really doubt Britain would want to open up a second front in the Balkans, when hundreds of thousands of Austro-Hungarian and German troops are returning from Russia.

Right now, the Central Powers can spare a few troops, but the Entente needs all the troops it can get if they want to drive on Germany (or, since Russia's out, hold the line on the border).
 
FletcherofSoultan said that the majority of troops used were Anzac that had been fighting the Turks from day one...so its not like the Western front is being robbed here. I could also see the use of newly arrived American troops shuffled off to a side show due to Pershing's unwillingness to place them under direct French or German command (as a side note America was actually offered a mandate over Turkey following OTL WWI but turned it down.)

As for the strategy of going after the Ottomans, I think it would be an effective way to knock out the Turks and then A-H thus isolating Germany and exposing the "soft underbelly." With the US in the war the allies have the troops and material to spare on attempts to by-pass the grueling attrition of trench warfare that dominates the Western Front.

Benjamin
 
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