Anyways, will Kurt von Schleicher be playing a major role in this "reactionary Germany"? He was a prominent right-wing general who was a fierce critic of German democratization and the SPD-led governments of the 1920s and 30s.
 
I am rather surprised Italy did not join, they would have no reason to remain neutral- and the Entente will at the very least give them South Tirol and part of Istria IMO.
Frankly with the Dual Monarchy collapsing there's basically nothing stopping them from invading Austria and annexing those two provinces...
...Aside from their alliance with Germany and the Dual Monarchy? I know that alliance was never strong to begin with, but I can't really see Italy just betraying their ally. Besides, Italian neutrality in the Great War in OTL was strongly supported, with many prominent politicians, including Giovanni Giolitti, opposing entry into the Great War.
 
Anyways, will Kurt von Schleicher be playing a major role in this "reactionary Germany"? He was a prominent right-wing general who was a fierce critic of German democratization and the SPD-led governments of the 1920s and 30s.
Ooh, I do like that idea. Ludendorff will play a big role early on, but I'll keep Scheicher in mind.
 
...Aside from their alliance with Germany and the Dual Monarchy? I know that alliance was never strong to begin with, but I can't really see Italy just betraying their ally. Besides, Italian neutrality in the Great War in OTL was strongly supported, with many prominent politicians, including Giovanni Giolitti, opposing entry into the Great War.

The Triple Alliance specified three things: that if Italy or Germany was attacked by France, the other would intervene, that if Russia attacked Austria, Italy would remain neutral, and that if either Austria or Italy expanded in the Balkans they would provide suitable compensation to the other. If there was any betrayal it came with the Treaty of London, prior to that point Italy had no de jure reason to enter the war (and de facto plenty of reasons to stay out as well, aside from irredentism Austria had made clear in the years leading up to the war that she considered the article on compensation a dead letter at best, and Italy was highly vulnerable to both French and British blockade and attack and dependent on foreign imports from them).
There was a strong popular feeling towards neutrality but Italy still entered the war for two reasons, the political classes (specifically the conservatives and nationalist liberals) wanted a "short victorious war" to shore up their popularity and justify military expansion (and a crackdown on leftist rabblerousing) and because everyone thought the war was going to be short and Austria was on the ropes.

Put another way if Austria is collapsing to the point where Russia is carving pieces off of her, then Italy is going to declare war ASAP to join the winning side, if only to stop Russian-backed Serbia from annexing Trieste (something the Yugoslavs were very keen on doing), also the king's wife is from the Montenegrin royal family and there were tensions over Dalmatia, Fiume/Rijeka, fears of Russo-French Serbia becoming a new rival in the Adriatic, and tensions over Albania too which both Italy and Serbia had territorial ambitions over. Given the other powers had just fought a world war there is IMO little they would or could do to stop Italy from flexing her muscles in the Adriatic, any more than Mussolini faced much objection when he invaded Albania. Indeed Italian expansion probably means propping up either Yugoslavia or Austria (or both) as a counter. The question then becomes, which of the victorious powers breaks ranks first and decides to court the Italians? Russia has her own sphere but could probably benefit from Italian aggression in the Med (especially with the Ottomans still up and about) since that draws British ire away from her. France has little interest in seeing Italy expand but would probably rather she turn her attentions east than south or west, and could probably be convinced to make a deal if the terms are fair. Britain has seen Germany dismembered and is undoubtedly concerned at the growth of Russian power (and is perhaps not fond of French encroachment in the Rhineland either) and might come to see Italy as a lesser evil and worth courting to frustrate Franco-Russian ambitions.
 
Alright, so this was supposed to be an April Fools TL, much like the timeline "A House United" that I posted last year in the Before 1900 Forum. That means that I probably will not continue this TL with chapters, but the response to this was really good (thanks! You guys are awesome!), so I would be happy to post brief little updates and maps of TTL, as well as the TL the "author" is from, where Germany won WWI.
 
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