The Reign of Alexander II and the Death of the Tsarevich - a TL
- Thread starter Onkel Willie
- Start date
Hi really fascinating - could you explain why on the death of Alexander II - The Imperial Throne passes to Vladimir Alexandrovitch. I assume that Alexander Alexandrovitch never married or ran off with Marie Metchertsky who he was in love with at the death of his oldest brother Nicholas Alexandrovitch - if he has legitimate male heirs they come first.
I also assume that Vladimir's Lutheran wife was forced to convert prior to her marriage (until ammended by Alexander III the only requirement was that male dynasts likely to succeed ie the cesarevitch had to marry Orthodox brides) as he was more likely to be the heir if his brother had no issue.
I also wonder in this timeline with growing reform if at some point in the mid-80's that Catherine Dolgoruky isn't crowned Empress - which would have caused a huge rift within the family.
Another point Alexander II and Vladimir and his wife Marie Pavlovna were far more pro-German than Alexander III (influenced by growing pan slavism and his Danish wife's rabid anti prussian sentiment) a surviving Alexander II on good terms with Germany is, even faced with the rise of Pan Slavism, far more likely to extend the three emperors treaty and even if that lapses as in OTL it is unlikely that Germany is going to allow the reinsurance treaty to lapse (one reason primarily for Wilhelm II's decision to let if fall was because he was convinced that Nicholas II and Alexandra were too closely tied to him for it to matter - Alexandra was his first cousin and his brother Henry was married to her sister Irene - Alexander II was far more distantly related).
I think war with Austria Hungary in the Balkans remains a real risk - but you've got rid of an anti german Empress (dislike of the Kaiser was the only thing Marie Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna really agreed on) - you've also got a volatile relationship with Britain (who was Russia's real imperial rival and who had determindly supported the collapsing Ottoman Empire to prevent Russian expansion) and no family connection with George I of Greece (who was Marie Feodorovna's favourite brother in OTL)
I also assume that Vladimir's Lutheran wife was forced to convert prior to her marriage (until ammended by Alexander III the only requirement was that male dynasts likely to succeed ie the cesarevitch had to marry Orthodox brides) as he was more likely to be the heir if his brother had no issue.
I also wonder in this timeline with growing reform if at some point in the mid-80's that Catherine Dolgoruky isn't crowned Empress - which would have caused a huge rift within the family.
Another point Alexander II and Vladimir and his wife Marie Pavlovna were far more pro-German than Alexander III (influenced by growing pan slavism and his Danish wife's rabid anti prussian sentiment) a surviving Alexander II on good terms with Germany is, even faced with the rise of Pan Slavism, far more likely to extend the three emperors treaty and even if that lapses as in OTL it is unlikely that Germany is going to allow the reinsurance treaty to lapse (one reason primarily for Wilhelm II's decision to let if fall was because he was convinced that Nicholas II and Alexandra were too closely tied to him for it to matter - Alexandra was his first cousin and his brother Henry was married to her sister Irene - Alexander II was far more distantly related).
I think war with Austria Hungary in the Balkans remains a real risk - but you've got rid of an anti german Empress (dislike of the Kaiser was the only thing Marie Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna really agreed on) - you've also got a volatile relationship with Britain (who was Russia's real imperial rival and who had determindly supported the collapsing Ottoman Empire to prevent Russian expansion) and no family connection with George I of Greece (who was Marie Feodorovna's favourite brother in OTL)
Marie Metchertsky? Who's that? AFAIK, Vladimir was married to Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (who indeed converted ITTL). Anyway, Vladimir got the throne because with Tsarevich Alexander dead he is the Tsar's oldest son. According to the Pauline Laws, the throne passes to the Tsar's oldest male heir. The way I read it, that would be Vladimir Alexandrovich. As for Russo-German relations, I counted on Wilhelm II's bumbling. He counted on a pro-German Russia because Nicholas II was married to Alexandra who was German. Vladimir Alexandrovich is married to a German princess too and so Wilhelm II could possibly make the same mistake ITTL like I had him do.
And no, Catherine Dolgorukova didn't become Empress.
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Sorry - Russian dynasts in order of succession at your point of departure - is HIH, The Grand Duke Cesarevtich Alexander Alexandrovitch, HIH, The Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovitch, HIH The Grand Duke George Alexandrovitch, HIH The Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch, then HIH The Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch and then his children.
The Pauline laws established semi salic succession - all male dynasts in order of birth then the senior agnatic descendant.
In your time line Alexander II should be succeeded according to Russian law by his senior male heir which unless you've butterflied him away was Nicholas Alexandrovitch.
Furthermore Russian Emperors had absolute control over the marriages of the dynasty and who should be considered a dynast (with rights of succession) and over the marriage of said dynast. They did ammend them from time to time - but legal advice certainly to both Alexander III and to Nicholas II (in otl) made it pretty clear that someone borne a legitimate dynast could not be deprived of their rights to the throne. The only evidence of a skip was on the death of Alexander I when he was succeeded by his younger brother Nicholas I instead of Constantine Pavlovich (who was childless and had married morganatically and renounced his claim) - even then Constantine had still been proclaimed Emperor (his renunciation had been private and was only made public a few days after the death of his brother - he is often listed in Russian lists as Constantine I of Russia)
Marie Metchertsky was a Russian princess - Alexander Alexandrovitch was or believed himself to be in love with her - as a commoner he couldn't marry her though. Following the death of his brother - there were rumours that he would be overlooked in favour of Vladimir - however he was declared Cesarevtich immediatly after Nicholas Alexandrovitch's death - and Marie was married off to someone else and dispatched abroad whilst Alexander was dispatched to pay court to his brother's grieving fiancee in Denmark.
To get Vladimir on the throne you have to remove Alexander Alexandrovitch early and before he marries Dagmar of Denmark. The easiest way is that as Nicholas Alexandrovitch lies dying - Alexander runs off with the woman he is love with. In exile with children who can't inherit - Vladimir becomes next in line - though in that timeline it is highly likely that Alexander II pushes Vladimir to marry Dagmar of Denmark.
She was initially chosen because Alexander II wanted a non-political marriage and Denmark having been heavily defeated by Prussia was seen as a good option - a Mecklenburg princess in the late sixties early seventies would have been considered a bit more political.
The Pauline laws established semi salic succession - all male dynasts in order of birth then the senior agnatic descendant.
In your time line Alexander II should be succeeded according to Russian law by his senior male heir which unless you've butterflied him away was Nicholas Alexandrovitch.
Furthermore Russian Emperors had absolute control over the marriages of the dynasty and who should be considered a dynast (with rights of succession) and over the marriage of said dynast. They did ammend them from time to time - but legal advice certainly to both Alexander III and to Nicholas II (in otl) made it pretty clear that someone borne a legitimate dynast could not be deprived of their rights to the throne. The only evidence of a skip was on the death of Alexander I when he was succeeded by his younger brother Nicholas I instead of Constantine Pavlovich (who was childless and had married morganatically and renounced his claim) - even then Constantine had still been proclaimed Emperor (his renunciation had been private and was only made public a few days after the death of his brother - he is often listed in Russian lists as Constantine I of Russia)
Marie Metchertsky was a Russian princess - Alexander Alexandrovitch was or believed himself to be in love with her - as a commoner he couldn't marry her though. Following the death of his brother - there were rumours that he would be overlooked in favour of Vladimir - however he was declared Cesarevtich immediatly after Nicholas Alexandrovitch's death - and Marie was married off to someone else and dispatched abroad whilst Alexander was dispatched to pay court to his brother's grieving fiancee in Denmark.
To get Vladimir on the throne you have to remove Alexander Alexandrovitch early and before he marries Dagmar of Denmark. The easiest way is that as Nicholas Alexandrovitch lies dying - Alexander runs off with the woman he is love with. In exile with children who can't inherit - Vladimir becomes next in line - though in that timeline it is highly likely that Alexander II pushes Vladimir to marry Dagmar of Denmark.
She was initially chosen because Alexander II wanted a non-political marriage and Denmark having been heavily defeated by Prussia was seen as a good option - a Mecklenburg princess in the late sixties early seventies would have been considered a bit more political.
a few comments
In this scenario Britian would be allied with Germany in ww2 because of the threat that russia poses to india + Britian has fought many wars(crimean war) to keep the dardenellies out of russian, hands they would not just hand it over to the russkies . Japan is going to be afraid of russia so it is going to probally join an alliance with Germany/U.K in order to avoid being kicked off the continent by russia. Also britian would not want russia & france cutting up germany and hence dominating europe. Britian would try to keep a germany as a buffer in europe against complete russian domination of europe.
So you should have
Russia,France
v
Germany,Hungary,U.K,
In this scenario Britian would be allied with Germany in ww2 because of the threat that russia poses to india + Britian has fought many wars(crimean war) to keep the dardenellies out of russian, hands they would not just hand it over to the russkies . Japan is going to be afraid of russia so it is going to probally join an alliance with Germany/U.K in order to avoid being kicked off the continent by russia. Also britian would not want russia & france cutting up germany and hence dominating europe. Britian would try to keep a germany as a buffer in europe against complete russian domination of europe.
So you should have
Russia,France
v
Germany,Hungary,U.K,
I suppose Britain would want to ally with Germany, but Germany got humiliated by Britain the last time. Also, Britain will never allow Germany to start drawing on the map of Africa and take what it wants.
I concede, but it's a little late to change the TL. I suppose I'll just have to make Nicky disappear from the scene somehow...
I'll edit the TL.
EDIT: Darn, I can't change the first chapter anymore. Anyway, assume that Nicholas died in a tragic accident or whatever.
Anywayyy, update time.
World War II had officially begun and within the 25 years since 1915, the alliances had changed radically to the point that they seemed unrecognisable to contemporaries, but it was the logical outcome of imperialistic rivalry between France, Great Britain and Japan one hand and Germany and Russia on the other. With Austria-Hungary and its meddling in the Balkans out of the way, Germany and Russia had no real conflicting interests. In fact, they complemented each other nicely. Both had beef with Britain and/or France for their own reasons, Alsace-Lorraine and the colonies for Germany and the Middle East, the Bosporus and Asia for Russia. The Germans were almost immediately joined by the Netherlands who oddly enough broke neutrality. In fact, this was due to growing economic, dynastic and military links. In 1933, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, who was the heir apparent to the German throne, had married Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, thereby cementing friendly ties between Germany and the Netherlands. This had been the start of a fruitful relationship between the reborn Empire of Germany, which once again was an economic giant, and the Dutch. The small kingdom quickly consented to a much profitable economic and currency union which would evolve into a full-fledged customs union in 1934. The Germans now had access to Dutch markets in the Dutch East Indies where they could also buy cheap oil. The Netherlands profited too since their products could now be sold on the massive German market which counted some 85 million people. Germany had always been Holland’s most important trading partner and now even more so. The Germans assisted the Dutch by modernizing their armed forces with German equipment, training and military advisors and even sold the Dutch navy a number of cruisers and modern U-boats. As an incentive for a military alliance, the Germans had offered the Netherlands the prospect of annexing Flanders in the event of victory in the expected rematch of the Great War. Relations were further solidified when the marriage between Juliana and Wilhelm proved to be fruitful with the birth of an heir who became Prince Friedrich Wilhelm or Frederik Willem in Dutch.
Germany, with Russia for an ally, didn’t need to worry for its eastern flank. German forces who could now also pass through the Dutch province of Limburg attacked Belgium with Dutch troops further distracting the Belgian army. Belgian forces were located on the Meuse river in strong fortresses and defensive lines. By contrast, the northern border was sparsely defended. The result was chaos in the Belgian High Command due to this Dutch treason. Bruges, Gent and Antwerp fell to Dutch forces in a matter of days. The old forts around Liège resisted fiercely and once again held up German forces who then deployed paratroopers to take them out since they hardly had any anti-aircraft defences. They fell in two days instead of the entire week the German army had needed in 1913. Anglo-French reinforcements arrived, but the larger and superior German-Dutch force nonetheless took Brussels before the end of the month. The Entente powers had expected to be able to hold the Germans in Belgium like the last time, but they were wrong as their Belgian buffer state quickly collapsed under overwhelming force and threats of destruction of Belgian cities. This came as a blow, more so when the Belgian King Leopold III was captured by German forces. Belgium’s armed forces had been defeated in ten days and were collapsing. While Dutch forces advanced down the Belgian coast, capturing Ostend, German forces made their turn south and with overwhelming air power, artillery and armour they managed to conquer heavily defended Entente positions at Ypres. Entente forces were overwhelmed by the sheer speed and ferocity of the attack and the much more mechanized and reformed German army of 1939 was quite different from the 1913 German army which couldn’t move faster than its foot soldiers. On January 25th, Calais was taken by German-Dutch troops and Amiens was taken a week later. The loss of a major northern French port as well as a main logistical hub created severe supply problems and the situation was compounded by the breakthrough of German secondary offensives supported by Hungarian auxiliaries into Alsace-Lorraine. The French war effort seemed to collapse to the absolute delight of the now ex-Emperor Wilhelm II.
Germany also started to bud Italy for a declaration of war, offering Nice, Savoy, Corsica, Tunisia and even Algeria as war booty. Italy, thus far neutral, was very much attracted to the prospect of empire in Africa. With any irredentist claims against Germany’s former ally Austria-Hungary settled, there was no reason to not do this. Italy declared war on February 5th 1940 and was immediately labelled a turncoat by its former allies, not that it mattered. The Regio Esercito and the Regia Aeronautica had undergone serious reform since its underwhelming performance against the Serbs in the Third Balkan War (1929-1930) and was now a capable force even if France and Britain still saw this otherwise. Italy mobilized and a third of a million men massed against the French border and attacked. Nice fell in under two days on February 7th which coincided with the Fall of Paris after a fierce street-to-street battle as French forces fought for every square inch of land to prevent a repeat of 1871. The French army, however, was falling apart by now and the state machinery was crumbling as German, Dutch and Italian armies swarmed out over France. The French resisted valiantly, but were overwhelmed and had lost the battle for air superiority by now. The Italians swept up the Rhone valley to Lyon, encountering little organized resistance from a dispersed French army. Marseille, the second largest city of France, fell on February 17th 1940 to Italian soldiers, proving their military prowess, and Italo-German-Dutch forces swept up everything up to the Loire river. At this point even the government now located in Bordeaux recognised the situation was hopeless and surrendered as a giant pincer of German and Italian armies was moving in on them. The mighty France had fallen in a matter of weeks and the world was shocked at the first wonder of this war which had had altered the geopolitical and geostrategic situation in far shorter time than was ever thought possible. France was occupied as war with the venerable and strong British Empire continued.
Russia, in the meantime, was doing quite well too in the Far East. Japanese forces in Manchuria had been evicted and thrown back to Korea. Korea, however, had been fortified heavily over the past three decades with heavy border defences, trenches, bunkers, redoubts, barbed wire and minefields and there was abundant air support from Japan’s top notch air force. British and Japanese forces occupied the Dutch East Indies as a response to the Dutch involvement on the German side and Britain sent abundant troops and naval forces to Japanese occupied China and Korea. Russian forces in Korea and China were stalemated after a number of early Russian victories. The mighty British Empire recognised the situation for what it was and mobilized all of its means. Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African and even Indian soldiers rose to the aid of the Empire. Russian forces advanced slightly into British India and captured Peshawar, but quickly got bogged down in the rugged mountainous landscape of the Himalayas, engaging in brutal Alpine warfare above the snowline. In the meantime, at sea, Germany also scored some victories despite their apparent disadvantage in terms of battleships, but reality was that the battleship was no longer the queen of the seas. Germany, after the Great War and the imposed naval limitations, had converted a number of ships to aircraft carriers and had focused heavily on naval aviation. Two out of four Mackensen-class battlecruisers had been converted as well as all three Derfflinger-class battlecruisers. The power of aircraft carriers became apparent when both HMS Iron Duke and HMS King George V were lost to air attack. Besides the defeat of France, the Central Powers bogged down in the only other remaining fronts: East Asia and India. This was due to terrain more than anything else, but Germany and Italy decided to come to the aid of Russia by means of a Mediterranean Strategy for 1940-’41 while Britain decided on a war of attrition by means of a strategic night bombing campaign against German cities.
Italy had ironically used Anglo-French investment to modernize its economic basis and create an industrial triangle in northern Italy in the Liguria-Romagna-Venice region which was already expanding into Tuscany and Umbria. Prime industries were textiles, machinery, electricity production, steel and weapons and a beginning natural gas industry in the Po Valley. This had gone hand in hand with an expansion in infrastructure over northern Italy. Through here, German reinforcements arrived on Sicily for a planned invasion of Malta scheduled to commence in October 1940. Over a thousand aircraft of the Imperial German Air Force (Deutsche Kaiserliche Luftstreitkräfte) and the Regia Aeronautica started to pound Malta, bombing any key installations and destroying the small, but brave Royal Air Force detachment on the island. After gaining full air supremacy over and around the island, Regia Marina battleships started to shell coastal defences, relentlessly pounding the island with a combination of 14 inch (356 mm), 15 inch (381 mm) and 16 inch (406 mm) shell assisted by bombers who continued to drop their 2000 lbs bombs. This was contrary to the invasion fear that existed in Britain after the fall of France which had been stimulated by German mock preparations and false intelligence, and therefore Malta was not strongly defended. On October 12th 1940, German paratroopers and three Italian divisions landed and overwhelmed the defenders while German transport planes flew in heavier equipment, using captured airfields. Libya which had seen a lot of Italian immigration since 1915 to make it the Fourth Shore, had been modernized too with roads and railroads. The Italian Seventh and Eight Armies supported by a number of territorial divisions and by four German panzer divisions invaded Egypt on November 1st, surprising British forces and advancing to Sidi Barrani and then Mersa Matruh, routing Britain’s main force in Egypt. This was partially because Italian colonial forces had invaded from Italian Transjordan into the Sinai Desert too, forcing Britain to spread its forces. After a bloody battle against heavily fortified British positions at El Alamein which inflicted severe losses on Italo-German forces, British resistance was smashed despite their struggle to the death and street-to-street battle in El Alamein which lasted for two weeks. In January 1941, Egypt was conquered by Central Powers’ forces.
This defeat was very demoralizing, but the peace faction was ousted since Britain could not afford a Russo-German continental hegemony over Eurasia. The response was an invasion of Iraq from Italian Transjordan in the west and Russo-Persian forces in the east from Persia. The British colonial garrison was defeated after a cauldron battle and the Middle East was now fully occupied and once again Britain contemplated surrender, but the notion was rejected as London projected its hopes on America. The latter, however, was not interested in breaking isolationism at this time although Russian domination of much of China definitely wasn’t making the USA pro-Central Powers and neither was Central Powers troops running over the Middle East. The Americans responded by politically supporting London and giving loans, weaponry, trains, trucks, food, resources and other implements of war to keep the British war effort going. And so British resistance stubbornly continued and much to Central Powers frustration, the fronts in mountainous British India and also in Korea and China shifted little in favour of either side. Fortunately for the Central Powers, the capture of the Suez Canal did enable naval forces to enter the Indian Ocean and Germany dispatched a number of U-boat squadrons to attack Anglo-Japanese supply lines and harass the Royal Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy. The Republic of China, Russia’s puppet/ally, also invaded Tibet and Burma although they failed to get far. Nonetheless, these were two more fronts for Britain to defend and this forced them to spread their forces. Russian forces penetrated a little further into Baluchistan although poor transport infrastructure hampered Russian efforts more than anything. In the meantime, Russia and Germany both switched to total war production. Russia was the second largest industrial power in the entire world after the US, and Germany was the third and also the dominant power in central-western Europe. Great Britain, as much as it wanted to, could not achieve total victory alone anymore by the time 1943 dawned, but fortunately Britain was not alone at this time. America had joined the war due to the German U-boat warfare against Britain in order to strangle it to death. In November 1942, a German U-boat captain had mistaken an American battleship called USS Alabama on Neutrality Patrol for a British vessel and had torpedoed it, sinking the ship and killing most of its crew. The result was American outrage and anger over the deaths of American sailors and a declaration of war. America’s industrial might joined the war and all industries needed for the war were put under state supervision to produce 130.000 aircraft, 65.000 tanks and 12.5 million tonnes of shipping to begin with. There was, however, doubt about whether the declaration of war was valid since many questioned why that vessel had been so far from American waters in the first place. This was seen as a ploy to get America into what was essentially a European conflict by isolationist Republicans, but the need was recognised to combat the pending Eurasian hegemony of the Russo-German militaristic, conservative, authoritarian juggernaut.
American entry, however, didn’t automatically mean Entente victory because Germany was working on a secret weapon: the atomic bomb. Germany had for decades been a leading power in the world of nuclear physics with many of the most brilliant nuclear physicists coming from Germany’s universities. It had been German scientist who had first suggested the idea of nuclear weapons for all its terrible implications. Starting in the late 1930s, after a series of major breakthroughs such as the first successful nuclear fission, the German leadership had begun showing interest in this new super weapon which they had been told could level entire cities. Since Germany’s inferior naval position didn’t allow for an invasion of Britain, a nuclear energy project known as the Uranverein had been set up under a State Nuclear Energy Committee in 1938 with strong state funding and supervision. Germany had first recognised the destructive potential of nuclear weapons and wanted to harness their power. With the outbreak of the war, the entire project was moved to a new location in Bavaria into a secret underground bunker complex. Advanced centrifuges had already been built to separate the useless U-238 from the U-235 that was required for nuclear chain reaction. The Germans perfected centrifuge technology relatively quickly with models that had their own heating which caused convection currents to move U-235 to the top where scoops could collect it. From there the Germans would proceed with reactor technology and the discovery of plutonium in 1941. Britain and America had begun nuclear programs later around 1941 and cooperated, but the German team held the lead, more so when the Germans expanded their program to Russia, sharing their knowledge and finds. Time would tell who would win the race for nuclear weaponry as the war dragged on.
The US Air Force tipped the balance of air power in favour of Britain which had so far seen heavy retaliatory bombing by Germany against British cities. Within months, losses soared so high that the Germans were forced to conduct limited night time raids. In India, British and British-Indian troops supported by a 25 division strong American Expeditionary Force (AEF) liberated Peshawar although the mountainous landscape now worked against the Entente powers, more so since the Russians were good at defensive warfare. The front in China swayed back and forth as Japanese oppression didn’t exactly turn many Chinese to the Entente side. At least the Russians cared to make their puppet government somewhat popular (as they desired to set up China as their proxy against Japan in Asia). The Mediterranean Sea remained a Central Powers’ lake. American entry had thus far only stabilized the situation and the crisis years of 1939-’42 were over for Britain which now felt safe again. And so the war would enter its endgame of the period 1944-’45. America, in this period, found it could not break the stalemate even with its awesome military-industrial complex and a lot of blood was shed in senseless battles of attrition in the mountains of India and the enormous expanses of China. The Battle of Lahore was a prime example with over 400.000 US casualties between October 1943 and June 1944 before the stalemate set in once again. That was over two thirds of the entire casualty rate of the entire US Civil War and all of that was for the conquest of only a few hundred metres of ground. This was compounded by the cold and harsh conditions in the Indian mountains as well as the battle hardened veterans of the Russian Army. The US of chemical weapons such as mustard gas by British forces and tabun gas by the Russians didn’t change the overall situation. Britain and Japan also continued to suffer shortages in food, natural resources and fuel due to the U-boat war in the seas. The war dragged on with the destruction of cities, loss of life and needless bloodshed in far away and exotic sounding places like Peshawar, Beijing and Addis Ababa. They were no exotic paradises though. With 1945 came continued total war and by now war weariness was setting, especially in Britain which was continuously in the frontlines against Germany and saw occupied Europe mobilized against it. In America, people (not knowing about the atomic bomb project) were questioning whether the war could be won, seeing now visible progress for heavy casualties, unseen since the Civil War.
The stalemate ended with the success of the Russo-German nuclear project. After years of hard work building centrifuges and reactors, making the needed fissile material, designing and building a warhead, it was finished. On January 26th 1945, a 22 kiloton blast lit up the morning sky on a remote test site east of Kazan, Russia. The nuclear warhead worked and it was time to put it to use and so they did. Hull, a vital coal storage, was destroyed to the shock of the world on February 7th 1945. Britain, however, refused to surrender hoping that they might finish their atomic bomb in time, but the first test of the Anglo-American project was still six months away at best. In a double strike Germany and Russia destroyed Colchester (a symbolic attack since the humiliating peace treaty had been signed there in 1916) and Osaka, signifying their power to strike across Eurasia. Who knew, maybe an Indian city could be next. With two further attacks against Leicester and Niigata, Britain and Japan requested an armistice from the Russo-German Dual Alliance. America followed suit since it could not win the war (let alone a nuclear one) by itself, not even with its might. On March 6th 1945 the war ended and peace reigned over the battlefields of Eurasia.
Chapter IV: World War II, 1939 – 1945.
World War II had officially begun and within the 25 years since 1915, the alliances had changed radically to the point that they seemed unrecognisable to contemporaries, but it was the logical outcome of imperialistic rivalry between France, Great Britain and Japan one hand and Germany and Russia on the other. With Austria-Hungary and its meddling in the Balkans out of the way, Germany and Russia had no real conflicting interests. In fact, they complemented each other nicely. Both had beef with Britain and/or France for their own reasons, Alsace-Lorraine and the colonies for Germany and the Middle East, the Bosporus and Asia for Russia. The Germans were almost immediately joined by the Netherlands who oddly enough broke neutrality. In fact, this was due to growing economic, dynastic and military links. In 1933, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, who was the heir apparent to the German throne, had married Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, thereby cementing friendly ties between Germany and the Netherlands. This had been the start of a fruitful relationship between the reborn Empire of Germany, which once again was an economic giant, and the Dutch. The small kingdom quickly consented to a much profitable economic and currency union which would evolve into a full-fledged customs union in 1934. The Germans now had access to Dutch markets in the Dutch East Indies where they could also buy cheap oil. The Netherlands profited too since their products could now be sold on the massive German market which counted some 85 million people. Germany had always been Holland’s most important trading partner and now even more so. The Germans assisted the Dutch by modernizing their armed forces with German equipment, training and military advisors and even sold the Dutch navy a number of cruisers and modern U-boats. As an incentive for a military alliance, the Germans had offered the Netherlands the prospect of annexing Flanders in the event of victory in the expected rematch of the Great War. Relations were further solidified when the marriage between Juliana and Wilhelm proved to be fruitful with the birth of an heir who became Prince Friedrich Wilhelm or Frederik Willem in Dutch.
Germany, with Russia for an ally, didn’t need to worry for its eastern flank. German forces who could now also pass through the Dutch province of Limburg attacked Belgium with Dutch troops further distracting the Belgian army. Belgian forces were located on the Meuse river in strong fortresses and defensive lines. By contrast, the northern border was sparsely defended. The result was chaos in the Belgian High Command due to this Dutch treason. Bruges, Gent and Antwerp fell to Dutch forces in a matter of days. The old forts around Liège resisted fiercely and once again held up German forces who then deployed paratroopers to take them out since they hardly had any anti-aircraft defences. They fell in two days instead of the entire week the German army had needed in 1913. Anglo-French reinforcements arrived, but the larger and superior German-Dutch force nonetheless took Brussels before the end of the month. The Entente powers had expected to be able to hold the Germans in Belgium like the last time, but they were wrong as their Belgian buffer state quickly collapsed under overwhelming force and threats of destruction of Belgian cities. This came as a blow, more so when the Belgian King Leopold III was captured by German forces. Belgium’s armed forces had been defeated in ten days and were collapsing. While Dutch forces advanced down the Belgian coast, capturing Ostend, German forces made their turn south and with overwhelming air power, artillery and armour they managed to conquer heavily defended Entente positions at Ypres. Entente forces were overwhelmed by the sheer speed and ferocity of the attack and the much more mechanized and reformed German army of 1939 was quite different from the 1913 German army which couldn’t move faster than its foot soldiers. On January 25th, Calais was taken by German-Dutch troops and Amiens was taken a week later. The loss of a major northern French port as well as a main logistical hub created severe supply problems and the situation was compounded by the breakthrough of German secondary offensives supported by Hungarian auxiliaries into Alsace-Lorraine. The French war effort seemed to collapse to the absolute delight of the now ex-Emperor Wilhelm II.
Germany also started to bud Italy for a declaration of war, offering Nice, Savoy, Corsica, Tunisia and even Algeria as war booty. Italy, thus far neutral, was very much attracted to the prospect of empire in Africa. With any irredentist claims against Germany’s former ally Austria-Hungary settled, there was no reason to not do this. Italy declared war on February 5th 1940 and was immediately labelled a turncoat by its former allies, not that it mattered. The Regio Esercito and the Regia Aeronautica had undergone serious reform since its underwhelming performance against the Serbs in the Third Balkan War (1929-1930) and was now a capable force even if France and Britain still saw this otherwise. Italy mobilized and a third of a million men massed against the French border and attacked. Nice fell in under two days on February 7th which coincided with the Fall of Paris after a fierce street-to-street battle as French forces fought for every square inch of land to prevent a repeat of 1871. The French army, however, was falling apart by now and the state machinery was crumbling as German, Dutch and Italian armies swarmed out over France. The French resisted valiantly, but were overwhelmed and had lost the battle for air superiority by now. The Italians swept up the Rhone valley to Lyon, encountering little organized resistance from a dispersed French army. Marseille, the second largest city of France, fell on February 17th 1940 to Italian soldiers, proving their military prowess, and Italo-German-Dutch forces swept up everything up to the Loire river. At this point even the government now located in Bordeaux recognised the situation was hopeless and surrendered as a giant pincer of German and Italian armies was moving in on them. The mighty France had fallen in a matter of weeks and the world was shocked at the first wonder of this war which had had altered the geopolitical and geostrategic situation in far shorter time than was ever thought possible. France was occupied as war with the venerable and strong British Empire continued.
Russia, in the meantime, was doing quite well too in the Far East. Japanese forces in Manchuria had been evicted and thrown back to Korea. Korea, however, had been fortified heavily over the past three decades with heavy border defences, trenches, bunkers, redoubts, barbed wire and minefields and there was abundant air support from Japan’s top notch air force. British and Japanese forces occupied the Dutch East Indies as a response to the Dutch involvement on the German side and Britain sent abundant troops and naval forces to Japanese occupied China and Korea. Russian forces in Korea and China were stalemated after a number of early Russian victories. The mighty British Empire recognised the situation for what it was and mobilized all of its means. Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African and even Indian soldiers rose to the aid of the Empire. Russian forces advanced slightly into British India and captured Peshawar, but quickly got bogged down in the rugged mountainous landscape of the Himalayas, engaging in brutal Alpine warfare above the snowline. In the meantime, at sea, Germany also scored some victories despite their apparent disadvantage in terms of battleships, but reality was that the battleship was no longer the queen of the seas. Germany, after the Great War and the imposed naval limitations, had converted a number of ships to aircraft carriers and had focused heavily on naval aviation. Two out of four Mackensen-class battlecruisers had been converted as well as all three Derfflinger-class battlecruisers. The power of aircraft carriers became apparent when both HMS Iron Duke and HMS King George V were lost to air attack. Besides the defeat of France, the Central Powers bogged down in the only other remaining fronts: East Asia and India. This was due to terrain more than anything else, but Germany and Italy decided to come to the aid of Russia by means of a Mediterranean Strategy for 1940-’41 while Britain decided on a war of attrition by means of a strategic night bombing campaign against German cities.
Italy had ironically used Anglo-French investment to modernize its economic basis and create an industrial triangle in northern Italy in the Liguria-Romagna-Venice region which was already expanding into Tuscany and Umbria. Prime industries were textiles, machinery, electricity production, steel and weapons and a beginning natural gas industry in the Po Valley. This had gone hand in hand with an expansion in infrastructure over northern Italy. Through here, German reinforcements arrived on Sicily for a planned invasion of Malta scheduled to commence in October 1940. Over a thousand aircraft of the Imperial German Air Force (Deutsche Kaiserliche Luftstreitkräfte) and the Regia Aeronautica started to pound Malta, bombing any key installations and destroying the small, but brave Royal Air Force detachment on the island. After gaining full air supremacy over and around the island, Regia Marina battleships started to shell coastal defences, relentlessly pounding the island with a combination of 14 inch (356 mm), 15 inch (381 mm) and 16 inch (406 mm) shell assisted by bombers who continued to drop their 2000 lbs bombs. This was contrary to the invasion fear that existed in Britain after the fall of France which had been stimulated by German mock preparations and false intelligence, and therefore Malta was not strongly defended. On October 12th 1940, German paratroopers and three Italian divisions landed and overwhelmed the defenders while German transport planes flew in heavier equipment, using captured airfields. Libya which had seen a lot of Italian immigration since 1915 to make it the Fourth Shore, had been modernized too with roads and railroads. The Italian Seventh and Eight Armies supported by a number of territorial divisions and by four German panzer divisions invaded Egypt on November 1st, surprising British forces and advancing to Sidi Barrani and then Mersa Matruh, routing Britain’s main force in Egypt. This was partially because Italian colonial forces had invaded from Italian Transjordan into the Sinai Desert too, forcing Britain to spread its forces. After a bloody battle against heavily fortified British positions at El Alamein which inflicted severe losses on Italo-German forces, British resistance was smashed despite their struggle to the death and street-to-street battle in El Alamein which lasted for two weeks. In January 1941, Egypt was conquered by Central Powers’ forces.
This defeat was very demoralizing, but the peace faction was ousted since Britain could not afford a Russo-German continental hegemony over Eurasia. The response was an invasion of Iraq from Italian Transjordan in the west and Russo-Persian forces in the east from Persia. The British colonial garrison was defeated after a cauldron battle and the Middle East was now fully occupied and once again Britain contemplated surrender, but the notion was rejected as London projected its hopes on America. The latter, however, was not interested in breaking isolationism at this time although Russian domination of much of China definitely wasn’t making the USA pro-Central Powers and neither was Central Powers troops running over the Middle East. The Americans responded by politically supporting London and giving loans, weaponry, trains, trucks, food, resources and other implements of war to keep the British war effort going. And so British resistance stubbornly continued and much to Central Powers frustration, the fronts in mountainous British India and also in Korea and China shifted little in favour of either side. Fortunately for the Central Powers, the capture of the Suez Canal did enable naval forces to enter the Indian Ocean and Germany dispatched a number of U-boat squadrons to attack Anglo-Japanese supply lines and harass the Royal Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy. The Republic of China, Russia’s puppet/ally, also invaded Tibet and Burma although they failed to get far. Nonetheless, these were two more fronts for Britain to defend and this forced them to spread their forces. Russian forces penetrated a little further into Baluchistan although poor transport infrastructure hampered Russian efforts more than anything. In the meantime, Russia and Germany both switched to total war production. Russia was the second largest industrial power in the entire world after the US, and Germany was the third and also the dominant power in central-western Europe. Great Britain, as much as it wanted to, could not achieve total victory alone anymore by the time 1943 dawned, but fortunately Britain was not alone at this time. America had joined the war due to the German U-boat warfare against Britain in order to strangle it to death. In November 1942, a German U-boat captain had mistaken an American battleship called USS Alabama on Neutrality Patrol for a British vessel and had torpedoed it, sinking the ship and killing most of its crew. The result was American outrage and anger over the deaths of American sailors and a declaration of war. America’s industrial might joined the war and all industries needed for the war were put under state supervision to produce 130.000 aircraft, 65.000 tanks and 12.5 million tonnes of shipping to begin with. There was, however, doubt about whether the declaration of war was valid since many questioned why that vessel had been so far from American waters in the first place. This was seen as a ploy to get America into what was essentially a European conflict by isolationist Republicans, but the need was recognised to combat the pending Eurasian hegemony of the Russo-German militaristic, conservative, authoritarian juggernaut.
American entry, however, didn’t automatically mean Entente victory because Germany was working on a secret weapon: the atomic bomb. Germany had for decades been a leading power in the world of nuclear physics with many of the most brilliant nuclear physicists coming from Germany’s universities. It had been German scientist who had first suggested the idea of nuclear weapons for all its terrible implications. Starting in the late 1930s, after a series of major breakthroughs such as the first successful nuclear fission, the German leadership had begun showing interest in this new super weapon which they had been told could level entire cities. Since Germany’s inferior naval position didn’t allow for an invasion of Britain, a nuclear energy project known as the Uranverein had been set up under a State Nuclear Energy Committee in 1938 with strong state funding and supervision. Germany had first recognised the destructive potential of nuclear weapons and wanted to harness their power. With the outbreak of the war, the entire project was moved to a new location in Bavaria into a secret underground bunker complex. Advanced centrifuges had already been built to separate the useless U-238 from the U-235 that was required for nuclear chain reaction. The Germans perfected centrifuge technology relatively quickly with models that had their own heating which caused convection currents to move U-235 to the top where scoops could collect it. From there the Germans would proceed with reactor technology and the discovery of plutonium in 1941. Britain and America had begun nuclear programs later around 1941 and cooperated, but the German team held the lead, more so when the Germans expanded their program to Russia, sharing their knowledge and finds. Time would tell who would win the race for nuclear weaponry as the war dragged on.
The US Air Force tipped the balance of air power in favour of Britain which had so far seen heavy retaliatory bombing by Germany against British cities. Within months, losses soared so high that the Germans were forced to conduct limited night time raids. In India, British and British-Indian troops supported by a 25 division strong American Expeditionary Force (AEF) liberated Peshawar although the mountainous landscape now worked against the Entente powers, more so since the Russians were good at defensive warfare. The front in China swayed back and forth as Japanese oppression didn’t exactly turn many Chinese to the Entente side. At least the Russians cared to make their puppet government somewhat popular (as they desired to set up China as their proxy against Japan in Asia). The Mediterranean Sea remained a Central Powers’ lake. American entry had thus far only stabilized the situation and the crisis years of 1939-’42 were over for Britain which now felt safe again. And so the war would enter its endgame of the period 1944-’45. America, in this period, found it could not break the stalemate even with its awesome military-industrial complex and a lot of blood was shed in senseless battles of attrition in the mountains of India and the enormous expanses of China. The Battle of Lahore was a prime example with over 400.000 US casualties between October 1943 and June 1944 before the stalemate set in once again. That was over two thirds of the entire casualty rate of the entire US Civil War and all of that was for the conquest of only a few hundred metres of ground. This was compounded by the cold and harsh conditions in the Indian mountains as well as the battle hardened veterans of the Russian Army. The US of chemical weapons such as mustard gas by British forces and tabun gas by the Russians didn’t change the overall situation. Britain and Japan also continued to suffer shortages in food, natural resources and fuel due to the U-boat war in the seas. The war dragged on with the destruction of cities, loss of life and needless bloodshed in far away and exotic sounding places like Peshawar, Beijing and Addis Ababa. They were no exotic paradises though. With 1945 came continued total war and by now war weariness was setting, especially in Britain which was continuously in the frontlines against Germany and saw occupied Europe mobilized against it. In America, people (not knowing about the atomic bomb project) were questioning whether the war could be won, seeing now visible progress for heavy casualties, unseen since the Civil War.
The stalemate ended with the success of the Russo-German nuclear project. After years of hard work building centrifuges and reactors, making the needed fissile material, designing and building a warhead, it was finished. On January 26th 1945, a 22 kiloton blast lit up the morning sky on a remote test site east of Kazan, Russia. The nuclear warhead worked and it was time to put it to use and so they did. Hull, a vital coal storage, was destroyed to the shock of the world on February 7th 1945. Britain, however, refused to surrender hoping that they might finish their atomic bomb in time, but the first test of the Anglo-American project was still six months away at best. In a double strike Germany and Russia destroyed Colchester (a symbolic attack since the humiliating peace treaty had been signed there in 1916) and Osaka, signifying their power to strike across Eurasia. Who knew, maybe an Indian city could be next. With two further attacks against Leicester and Niigata, Britain and Japan requested an armistice from the Russo-German Dual Alliance. America followed suit since it could not win the war (let alone a nuclear one) by itself, not even with its might. On March 6th 1945 the war ended and peace reigned over the battlefields of Eurasia.
Snake Featherston
Banned
I must agree with the Pasha. This Timeline stopped being realistic around the time the Russian state won the Russo-Japanese Wars without any notable cultural or political butterflies. First, Russia winning the war in that manner would simply confirm the racist conceit of the Great Powers of the time. While the effects would be not any great outpouring of admiration of Russia, what would be would be a completely different geopolitical system in pre-war Europe.
If Russia has a sudden power projection capacity of that sort and shows such a speeding capacity to railroad troops across Siberia the Schlieffen Plan will be scrapped in Berlin. The whole aim of Schlieffen was to send troops to take out France before Russia had sufficient means to mobilize. Railroading 800,000 troops to win such a victory would mean the Russians are much further along the road to industrial modernity than the German military leaders are going to be comfortable with.
Turkey, too, is going to have a great big change in terms of its politics. A Russia capable of that might well try for the Great Theft of Constantinople, which would lead the Turks scrambling to increase their military reforms and to find a sufficiently powerful ally. The result might be a vastly different World War I which has a coalition system nothing like the OTL one.
Another consequence is that there may well be no Triple Entente. The British Empire now has a real reason to fear the Russians may restart the Great Game, while the Chinese are also going to be very nervous about Russia increasing its influence into Outer Mongolia. While if I remember right there were no French territories in danger of being seized by the Russian Bear, which won't impair their alliance, the British may end up pursuing a rapprochement with Germany to counterbalance Russia.
Another consequence of just the early posts is an unintentional validation of Vanguardism in the presence of the Reactionary Tsardom. The Bolshevik analogues will use this as a reason to say their brand of revolution might well work by comparison to the others, and this will embolden Lenin's faction.....
If Russia has a sudden power projection capacity of that sort and shows such a speeding capacity to railroad troops across Siberia the Schlieffen Plan will be scrapped in Berlin. The whole aim of Schlieffen was to send troops to take out France before Russia had sufficient means to mobilize. Railroading 800,000 troops to win such a victory would mean the Russians are much further along the road to industrial modernity than the German military leaders are going to be comfortable with.
Turkey, too, is going to have a great big change in terms of its politics. A Russia capable of that might well try for the Great Theft of Constantinople, which would lead the Turks scrambling to increase their military reforms and to find a sufficiently powerful ally. The result might be a vastly different World War I which has a coalition system nothing like the OTL one.
Another consequence is that there may well be no Triple Entente. The British Empire now has a real reason to fear the Russians may restart the Great Game, while the Chinese are also going to be very nervous about Russia increasing its influence into Outer Mongolia. While if I remember right there were no French territories in danger of being seized by the Russian Bear, which won't impair their alliance, the British may end up pursuing a rapprochement with Germany to counterbalance Russia.
Another consequence of just the early posts is an unintentional validation of Vanguardism in the presence of the Reactionary Tsardom. The Bolshevik analogues will use this as a reason to say their brand of revolution might well work by comparison to the others, and this will embolden Lenin's faction.....
You have to slightly nuance the RJW. The way in which it was won certainly wasn't something worth writing home about. The Japanese managed to give the Russkies a big bloody nose before they realized that Japan might not be as weak as initially thought. Btw, it's not like those 800.000 Russians went there overnight. They arrived over longer periods of time (say several weeks at the very least). This Japanese near success could lead to some level of underestimation of Russia as the imperfections of their reforms have been revealed and assuage fear of Russia.
As for Britain joining Germany, that may well be possible. I had to choose between Britain's fear of Germany's growing naval might and their desire to set up a colonial empire at the expense of Britain and France, and their fear of Russian influence in the Middle East. I simply chose the former. Russia could always be contained later... (didn't work out that well for Britain though
). And eventually, Britain and France did wind up fighting against the Russians and a newly terrifying Grossdeutschland. Also, I cannot edit the TL anymore, unfortunately
. So I'll have to continue down this road.Anyhoo, it's time for the last update.
The second and last world war was over and Germany, Italy and Russia stood triumphant and now had to hand a peace deal to the defeated powers. A location was soon decided upon and the Russian capital city of St. Petersburg was chosen. Very soon diplomats from Germany and Italy descended upon St. Petersburg followed by diplomats from Japan, Britain and the US although neither Japan nor Britain had a say in the peace deal they would receive due to the nuclear threat of the Central Powers that hung over them. Germany, Italy and Russia would now begin to redraw the world map as they saw fit and satisfy their own territorial appetites, and also cut down the British and French empires to size and remove them as competitors for geopolitical dominance. As for America, neither Russia nor Germany had any beef with the Americans and saw their participation as a result of a tragic mistake and neither wanted to or could punish the Americans, lunatics aside. America could therefore look forward to a status quo ante bellum peace or even better.
The first matter that the St. Petersburg peace conference handled was the territorial redistribution of territory in Africa and the overconfident perceived omnipotence of the victors showed as they set themselves up for enormous imperial overstretch. Germany desired a colonial empire that could match that of Britain more than ever after their defeat in the Great War and Italy desired colonial expansion in Africa too. Russia didn’t care much either way about Africa and so Italy and Germany dictated the division of the dark continent. Germany was awarded with Morocco, Gold Coast, Benin, Togoland, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Ubangi-Shari, Gabon, the Middle Congo, the Belgian Congo, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Tanganyika. Southern Rhodesia was left to the British who would merge it with their Dominion of South Africa after this very bitter peace which decimated the empire, but which they accepted due to threats of nuclear destruction. Germany would be hated for the demise of the British Empire due to its territorial greed although Italy was no less greedy than their German allies. Italy carved off Tunisia, Chad, Sudan, French Somaliland, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, French Guinea, British Somaliland, Bechuanaland, Uganda and Kenya. Algeria was divided in east and west between Germany and Italy. Besides satisfying Germany’s and Italy’s territorial appetites, Germany was wary of letting any morsel of France’s colonial empire escape their attention as they had branded France a recidivist aggressor after the third war between the two countries since 1870 and wanted to shackle it to middle power status for a long time. Britain, Germany believed, could be rehabilitated as a first tier power and therefore the Germans saw fit to award the rest of the French empire to Britain. Madagascar and the remainder of French sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, the Upper Volta region) was reapportioned to the British Empire. In the meantime, Egypt was made a joint Italo-German protectorate since the Suez Canal was deemed too important to leave to one power. The Suez Canal Company’s shares were seized and reapportioned equally to the victors.
A second important matter was the defining of spheres of influence in the Middle East and Asia. Italy added the French protectorate of Syria to its own protectorate of Transjordan and Germany received Iraq and Kuwait as part of their sphere of influence while Russia was awarded Persia and Afghanistan as their sphere of influence, giving them their desired access to the Indian Ocean. With this the Middle East was divided into three spheres of influence. In East Asia, Entente forces were to withdraw from China which fell under the authority of a nationalist junta supported by Russia which called itself the Republic of China. Japanese forces were also to vacate Korea and return Korea’s independence which they grudgingly did to avoid the nuclear wrath of Russia. In a plebiscite the choice was made to restore the monarchy although the outcome was controversial since it was suspected of being rigged by the Russians. Prince Yi Chung was installed as Emperor of the Korean Empire in Seoul by the Russians who added Korea to their sphere of influence. The Republic of China annexed Tibet and was also awarded the island of Formosa. Entente forces also left the Dutch East Indies which were given back to the Dutch. France’s and Britain’s Asian colonies were left to them as a consolation prize. In the Americas a number of territorial changes were made as well. Since the Netherlands were German allies, the US annexed Suriname and other Dutch Caribbean possessions.
In Europe, there were some territorial changes too. Alsace-Lorraine, the Briey-Longwy area and Luxemburg were annexed by the Germans. The Italians, as agreed upon, annexed Gibraltar, Nice, Savoy and Corsica and moved the border with France a little bit further west to bring the mountain watershed into Italy. The Netherlands annexed Flanders from Belgium and the remaining rump Walloon Kingdom under Leopold III was awarded Nord-Pas-De-Calais as a consolation. The Seine, Loire and Rhone rivers were internationalized and were to be patrolled by German and Italian patrol vessels. Germany briefly contemplated a 99 year lease on France’s channel ports, but they already had access to Dutch and Flemish ports as well as Calais and Boulogne, and so they dropped the notion, but did limit the French army to 80.000 men and the French navy to 175.000 tonnes with inspection rights for Germany and Italy. Also, a demilitarized zone was established on the French side of the Franco-German border. Russia was given the Greco-Bulgarian protectorate over the Straits, but in return Greece went to the Italian sphere of influence and the Italian navy received extensive basing rights in the Aegean Islands and annexed Cyprus. With this the peace treaty was concluded and it was a bitter peace for Britain and France who had now permanently lost their great power status to Germany and Italy who now had to begin their enormous task of consolidating their gains and fighting against the imperial overstretch they had set themselves up for as many Africans now desired independence which their new overlords didn’t want to give them. This was also the start of the Cold War, a period of armed peace between the various power blocs which in a way persists until today although the world today is by no means as bipolar as it was in the 1940s (Anglo-Bloc vs. Euro-bloc). The alliance between Russia, Italy and Germany on one hand and China and Korea on the other wouldn’t live to see the end of the next decade.
Germany and Italy started the Cold War with a number of colonial wars in their new massive empires as the inhabitants had by now fomented the desire for independence. The Maghreb countries had long since had an identity of their own, but now black nationalism was beginning to rise in sub-Saharan Africa. The US, who opposed the Euro-bloc, sent aid in the shape of weaponry, funds, training, military advisors and covert operations. This almost immediately put tension on post-war relations between the great powers and these became even more strained when the US tested its first atomic bomb in August 1945, a few months after Russia and Germany had tested theirs. The Euro-powers responded by increased cooperation in the military and economic field. German forces frequently assisted the Italians in colonial interventions and vice versa. The imperial overstretch was enormous and the remainder of the 1940s would be the scene of frequent ‘bush wars’ against ferocious and determined guerrilla insurgents. Italy and Germany responded brutally with death marches, concentration camps, chemical warfare, scorched earth tactics and retaliatory bombings. In American press these horrors were very broadly publicized as a means to demonise the authoritarian, militaristic and oppressive European monarchies. Germany and Italy demonized the US in the same way by portraying them as upstarts who shouldn’t meddle in the affairs of other countries. The Europeans were generally indifferent to the fate of the Africans except for France and Britain out of opportunistic grounds. Africa brought them resources for their economies such as diamonds, gold, copper and oil (oil was discovered in Libya in 1949, making Italy more determined to flood it with settlers).These bad relations led to an increased build-up of armies, navies and air forces on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean as well as an increase in nuclear weapons stockpiles. This also had more positive results such as European integration in economic and military alliances. In 1947, Germany, Italy, Russia, the Netherlands, Wallonia and Hungary formed a military alliance and customs union called the European Coalition or EC.
This alliance would expand with more European countries in the following years due to all the benefits of increased European investment and free traffic of capital, goods and persons within the EC (while non-members faced stiff tariffs), thereby making Europe an economic bloc dominated by Germany, Italy and Russia. Greece, Serbia, Romania, Montenegro, Croatia and Bulgaria would all join in the period 1947-1952 after the example set by their great power patrons. A member that was notably excluded by the directory of Germany, Italy and Russia was France which they initially treated as a leper because it had been an enemy not so long ago and because France was initially hostile to the thought of being part of the EC. France, however, saw itself increasingly surrounded by EC countries. Spain was coerced into joining and in return the ailing economy of the country which had just shaken of its latest dictator of the week would receive an injection of capital, leading to a period of huge economic growth known as the Spanish Miracle of the 1950s. France, on the other hand, was sinking away into depression as a lot of its industry was gone while the countries around it started to boom in the 1950s. At around the same time Germany and Italy realized that chastising and demonizing France might not lead to the desired humbled France, but more hatred instead. In 1957 France was offered membership and the prospect of a directory seat in the future if it behaved. The EC was officially ruled by biannual meetings of ministers, heads of state etc., but the directory consisting of Russia, Italy and Germany and one seat that switched annually had real power.
The Anglo-Bloc did something similar in response and formed the Atlantic Treaty Organization known as ATO in 1949. Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were its founding members. Very soon Caribbean and South American countries joined this new economic and military sphere. Among them were Cuba which was a US puppet anyway. Others were Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia who’s politics would stabilize with an influx of Anglo-American investment. Around this time Britain achieved its first nuclear weapon (with US assistance because Britain was in the frontlines in the fight against the Euro-bloc for world dominance). This, however, was largely overshadowed by the first successful test of a fusion weapon in the Algerian desert by Germany, a weapon more commonly known as a hydrogen bomb. The 15 megaton blast was the largest explosion until then although this weapon was not deployable whereas the strongest fission weapon with a 500 kiloton yield (boosted fission actually) was, as the Americans all too happily pointed out. And so the Cold War continued and soon outer space would become a part of it too and the Asian powers would assert themselves as their own bloc due to the process of decolonization.
Germany successfully launched a satellite into space in 1955, starting the space race. Within a few years this was followed by a successful manned mission which of course required an American response. The US space agency managed to do the same only shortly after their European counterparts. The Europeans quickly formed a joint space agency and spent a significant amount of their budget on their new pet projects which gave them prestige and kept the crowds happy. They jointly announced they would put a man on the moon before 1970 and immediately started to work to make it so since rocket technology was still limited. America followed them on foot in their bid to beat their competitors to the punch. They eventually both put a man on the moon in 1969 with the Germans slightly earlier. The great powers went on in a bid to go to Mars which the Americans would eventually achieve in 1985. In the meantime an Asian giant was starting to awaken.
This country was China which was becoming increasingly estranged from its Russian guardians due to their belittling attitude and colonialist ideas. China had seen a remarkable economic development after the war and had at this point overtaken Japan as the largest industrial power of Asia, mainly due to European investment. Beijing, however, was sick and tired of serving European interests in Asia and being a proxy because they aspired recognition of their great power status. China became increasingly anti-European as time went by and started to set out feelers in London and Washington for support. The formal split was in 1958 over territorial disputes and shortly thereafter China signed official trade and military agreements with the ATO powers although the Chinese declined to join this alliance, preferring to carve out a power bloc of their own instead. Among the agreements was support for China’s nuclear ambitions and China received enriched uranium, reactor and centrifuge designs, and even a non-functional model nuclear warhead. The result was a successful nuclear test in 1960 and a test of a fusion weapon in 1962, a mere two years after their first fission weapon test which was remarkably quick, making China the first Asian nuclear power. China was anti-colonial in its outlook and wanted the European powers out of Asia. Britain, fortunately, was already out of Asia as Burma, Malaysia and India had already received independence post-war. France and the Dutch, however, were not out of Asia. Both were fighting protracted guerrilla wars in French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch even had massive German support. In 1951, Emperor Wilhelm III had passed away and Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife Princess Juliana of the Netherlands became Emperor and Empress. When Queen Wilhelmina abdicated in 1953 due to health reasons, the two countries were united in personal union with Juliana as Queen and her husband as King Willem IV. Germany chose to intervene in the Dutch East Indies while China supported the independence movement. Eventually decolonization was inevitable since public opinion turned against these long and costly wars. Especially the youth movements of the 1960s who adhered to leftwing and neo-pagan ideas opposed these protracted colonial wars. French Indochina became independent and fell apart into Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia who entered the Chinese sphere like Korea and Burma had already done. Indonesia would remain isolated, but would join the Chinese bloc too later on.
China in 1965 formally created its own third bloc know as the East Asian Coalition or EAC with friendly relations with the ATO although allegiances would switch a few times with freezes and thaws of relations due to minor disputes. Members were China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and from 1970 also Indonesia. Japan, in 1967, developed its own nuclear deterrent with British support since they were still allied against Russia. Due to British support and even action Japan would join the EAC too in 1972 and reconcile with the Chinese. India saw this development in a much more negative light and watched with growing alarm and rage how China with US and British help positioned itself as the dominant power of Asia. India and its Bhutan and Nepalese puppets responded by joining the EC which was henceforth known as the Eurasian Coalition. India received support for their nuclear programs, even more so than China and tested a nuclear weapon in 1970. Pakistan, in turn, was alarmed as well that its rival was growing so much stronger and joined the EAC and came under China’s nuclear umbrella.
In Africa, in the meantime, it was becoming clear that some kind of compromise with the insurgents had to be reached since the wars there were still dragging in after a near three decades of brutal oppression and persecution. The rebellions against colonial rule would not cease, not even with all the might of Europe they wouldn’t. Algeria and Libya were European dominated by now due to years of immigration from Europe and ethnic cleansing, especially after the discovery of oil, but sub-Saharan Africa was still majority black. In the mid 1970s the two dominant colonial powers (Germany and Italy) decided to convene and somehow end the wars. A deal similar to a slightly more tight bound version of Dominion status within the British Empire was come up with. Most colonies (except for German and Italian Algeria and Libya) received complete autonomy in their internal affairs. Defence, foreign policy and fiscal/currency matters remained in European hands. The deal satisfied both since the Europeans kept some control while the Africans received autonomy with the hope of expanding it into full-fledged independence in the future (which they, arguably, have by now). Some bad blood over the initial oppression, however, still remains to this day.
This came at a time of increasing globalization in which the world’s economies started to get more and more intertwined, making nuclear war a lot less likely than before although the rhetoric remained. The computer revolution starting in the 1980s further enhanced these increased economic links between the world’s powers and so the world could enter a new, modern age: the 21st century.
Chapter V: Peace and Cold War, 1945 – 2010.
The second and last world war was over and Germany, Italy and Russia stood triumphant and now had to hand a peace deal to the defeated powers. A location was soon decided upon and the Russian capital city of St. Petersburg was chosen. Very soon diplomats from Germany and Italy descended upon St. Petersburg followed by diplomats from Japan, Britain and the US although neither Japan nor Britain had a say in the peace deal they would receive due to the nuclear threat of the Central Powers that hung over them. Germany, Italy and Russia would now begin to redraw the world map as they saw fit and satisfy their own territorial appetites, and also cut down the British and French empires to size and remove them as competitors for geopolitical dominance. As for America, neither Russia nor Germany had any beef with the Americans and saw their participation as a result of a tragic mistake and neither wanted to or could punish the Americans, lunatics aside. America could therefore look forward to a status quo ante bellum peace or even better.
The first matter that the St. Petersburg peace conference handled was the territorial redistribution of territory in Africa and the overconfident perceived omnipotence of the victors showed as they set themselves up for enormous imperial overstretch. Germany desired a colonial empire that could match that of Britain more than ever after their defeat in the Great War and Italy desired colonial expansion in Africa too. Russia didn’t care much either way about Africa and so Italy and Germany dictated the division of the dark continent. Germany was awarded with Morocco, Gold Coast, Benin, Togoland, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Ubangi-Shari, Gabon, the Middle Congo, the Belgian Congo, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Tanganyika. Southern Rhodesia was left to the British who would merge it with their Dominion of South Africa after this very bitter peace which decimated the empire, but which they accepted due to threats of nuclear destruction. Germany would be hated for the demise of the British Empire due to its territorial greed although Italy was no less greedy than their German allies. Italy carved off Tunisia, Chad, Sudan, French Somaliland, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, French Guinea, British Somaliland, Bechuanaland, Uganda and Kenya. Algeria was divided in east and west between Germany and Italy. Besides satisfying Germany’s and Italy’s territorial appetites, Germany was wary of letting any morsel of France’s colonial empire escape their attention as they had branded France a recidivist aggressor after the third war between the two countries since 1870 and wanted to shackle it to middle power status for a long time. Britain, Germany believed, could be rehabilitated as a first tier power and therefore the Germans saw fit to award the rest of the French empire to Britain. Madagascar and the remainder of French sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, the Upper Volta region) was reapportioned to the British Empire. In the meantime, Egypt was made a joint Italo-German protectorate since the Suez Canal was deemed too important to leave to one power. The Suez Canal Company’s shares were seized and reapportioned equally to the victors.
A second important matter was the defining of spheres of influence in the Middle East and Asia. Italy added the French protectorate of Syria to its own protectorate of Transjordan and Germany received Iraq and Kuwait as part of their sphere of influence while Russia was awarded Persia and Afghanistan as their sphere of influence, giving them their desired access to the Indian Ocean. With this the Middle East was divided into three spheres of influence. In East Asia, Entente forces were to withdraw from China which fell under the authority of a nationalist junta supported by Russia which called itself the Republic of China. Japanese forces were also to vacate Korea and return Korea’s independence which they grudgingly did to avoid the nuclear wrath of Russia. In a plebiscite the choice was made to restore the monarchy although the outcome was controversial since it was suspected of being rigged by the Russians. Prince Yi Chung was installed as Emperor of the Korean Empire in Seoul by the Russians who added Korea to their sphere of influence. The Republic of China annexed Tibet and was also awarded the island of Formosa. Entente forces also left the Dutch East Indies which were given back to the Dutch. France’s and Britain’s Asian colonies were left to them as a consolation prize. In the Americas a number of territorial changes were made as well. Since the Netherlands were German allies, the US annexed Suriname and other Dutch Caribbean possessions.
In Europe, there were some territorial changes too. Alsace-Lorraine, the Briey-Longwy area and Luxemburg were annexed by the Germans. The Italians, as agreed upon, annexed Gibraltar, Nice, Savoy and Corsica and moved the border with France a little bit further west to bring the mountain watershed into Italy. The Netherlands annexed Flanders from Belgium and the remaining rump Walloon Kingdom under Leopold III was awarded Nord-Pas-De-Calais as a consolation. The Seine, Loire and Rhone rivers were internationalized and were to be patrolled by German and Italian patrol vessels. Germany briefly contemplated a 99 year lease on France’s channel ports, but they already had access to Dutch and Flemish ports as well as Calais and Boulogne, and so they dropped the notion, but did limit the French army to 80.000 men and the French navy to 175.000 tonnes with inspection rights for Germany and Italy. Also, a demilitarized zone was established on the French side of the Franco-German border. Russia was given the Greco-Bulgarian protectorate over the Straits, but in return Greece went to the Italian sphere of influence and the Italian navy received extensive basing rights in the Aegean Islands and annexed Cyprus. With this the peace treaty was concluded and it was a bitter peace for Britain and France who had now permanently lost their great power status to Germany and Italy who now had to begin their enormous task of consolidating their gains and fighting against the imperial overstretch they had set themselves up for as many Africans now desired independence which their new overlords didn’t want to give them. This was also the start of the Cold War, a period of armed peace between the various power blocs which in a way persists until today although the world today is by no means as bipolar as it was in the 1940s (Anglo-Bloc vs. Euro-bloc). The alliance between Russia, Italy and Germany on one hand and China and Korea on the other wouldn’t live to see the end of the next decade.
Germany and Italy started the Cold War with a number of colonial wars in their new massive empires as the inhabitants had by now fomented the desire for independence. The Maghreb countries had long since had an identity of their own, but now black nationalism was beginning to rise in sub-Saharan Africa. The US, who opposed the Euro-bloc, sent aid in the shape of weaponry, funds, training, military advisors and covert operations. This almost immediately put tension on post-war relations between the great powers and these became even more strained when the US tested its first atomic bomb in August 1945, a few months after Russia and Germany had tested theirs. The Euro-powers responded by increased cooperation in the military and economic field. German forces frequently assisted the Italians in colonial interventions and vice versa. The imperial overstretch was enormous and the remainder of the 1940s would be the scene of frequent ‘bush wars’ against ferocious and determined guerrilla insurgents. Italy and Germany responded brutally with death marches, concentration camps, chemical warfare, scorched earth tactics and retaliatory bombings. In American press these horrors were very broadly publicized as a means to demonise the authoritarian, militaristic and oppressive European monarchies. Germany and Italy demonized the US in the same way by portraying them as upstarts who shouldn’t meddle in the affairs of other countries. The Europeans were generally indifferent to the fate of the Africans except for France and Britain out of opportunistic grounds. Africa brought them resources for their economies such as diamonds, gold, copper and oil (oil was discovered in Libya in 1949, making Italy more determined to flood it with settlers).These bad relations led to an increased build-up of armies, navies and air forces on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean as well as an increase in nuclear weapons stockpiles. This also had more positive results such as European integration in economic and military alliances. In 1947, Germany, Italy, Russia, the Netherlands, Wallonia and Hungary formed a military alliance and customs union called the European Coalition or EC.
This alliance would expand with more European countries in the following years due to all the benefits of increased European investment and free traffic of capital, goods and persons within the EC (while non-members faced stiff tariffs), thereby making Europe an economic bloc dominated by Germany, Italy and Russia. Greece, Serbia, Romania, Montenegro, Croatia and Bulgaria would all join in the period 1947-1952 after the example set by their great power patrons. A member that was notably excluded by the directory of Germany, Italy and Russia was France which they initially treated as a leper because it had been an enemy not so long ago and because France was initially hostile to the thought of being part of the EC. France, however, saw itself increasingly surrounded by EC countries. Spain was coerced into joining and in return the ailing economy of the country which had just shaken of its latest dictator of the week would receive an injection of capital, leading to a period of huge economic growth known as the Spanish Miracle of the 1950s. France, on the other hand, was sinking away into depression as a lot of its industry was gone while the countries around it started to boom in the 1950s. At around the same time Germany and Italy realized that chastising and demonizing France might not lead to the desired humbled France, but more hatred instead. In 1957 France was offered membership and the prospect of a directory seat in the future if it behaved. The EC was officially ruled by biannual meetings of ministers, heads of state etc., but the directory consisting of Russia, Italy and Germany and one seat that switched annually had real power.
The Anglo-Bloc did something similar in response and formed the Atlantic Treaty Organization known as ATO in 1949. Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were its founding members. Very soon Caribbean and South American countries joined this new economic and military sphere. Among them were Cuba which was a US puppet anyway. Others were Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia who’s politics would stabilize with an influx of Anglo-American investment. Around this time Britain achieved its first nuclear weapon (with US assistance because Britain was in the frontlines in the fight against the Euro-bloc for world dominance). This, however, was largely overshadowed by the first successful test of a fusion weapon in the Algerian desert by Germany, a weapon more commonly known as a hydrogen bomb. The 15 megaton blast was the largest explosion until then although this weapon was not deployable whereas the strongest fission weapon with a 500 kiloton yield (boosted fission actually) was, as the Americans all too happily pointed out. And so the Cold War continued and soon outer space would become a part of it too and the Asian powers would assert themselves as their own bloc due to the process of decolonization.
Germany successfully launched a satellite into space in 1955, starting the space race. Within a few years this was followed by a successful manned mission which of course required an American response. The US space agency managed to do the same only shortly after their European counterparts. The Europeans quickly formed a joint space agency and spent a significant amount of their budget on their new pet projects which gave them prestige and kept the crowds happy. They jointly announced they would put a man on the moon before 1970 and immediately started to work to make it so since rocket technology was still limited. America followed them on foot in their bid to beat their competitors to the punch. They eventually both put a man on the moon in 1969 with the Germans slightly earlier. The great powers went on in a bid to go to Mars which the Americans would eventually achieve in 1985. In the meantime an Asian giant was starting to awaken.
This country was China which was becoming increasingly estranged from its Russian guardians due to their belittling attitude and colonialist ideas. China had seen a remarkable economic development after the war and had at this point overtaken Japan as the largest industrial power of Asia, mainly due to European investment. Beijing, however, was sick and tired of serving European interests in Asia and being a proxy because they aspired recognition of their great power status. China became increasingly anti-European as time went by and started to set out feelers in London and Washington for support. The formal split was in 1958 over territorial disputes and shortly thereafter China signed official trade and military agreements with the ATO powers although the Chinese declined to join this alliance, preferring to carve out a power bloc of their own instead. Among the agreements was support for China’s nuclear ambitions and China received enriched uranium, reactor and centrifuge designs, and even a non-functional model nuclear warhead. The result was a successful nuclear test in 1960 and a test of a fusion weapon in 1962, a mere two years after their first fission weapon test which was remarkably quick, making China the first Asian nuclear power. China was anti-colonial in its outlook and wanted the European powers out of Asia. Britain, fortunately, was already out of Asia as Burma, Malaysia and India had already received independence post-war. France and the Dutch, however, were not out of Asia. Both were fighting protracted guerrilla wars in French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch even had massive German support. In 1951, Emperor Wilhelm III had passed away and Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife Princess Juliana of the Netherlands became Emperor and Empress. When Queen Wilhelmina abdicated in 1953 due to health reasons, the two countries were united in personal union with Juliana as Queen and her husband as King Willem IV. Germany chose to intervene in the Dutch East Indies while China supported the independence movement. Eventually decolonization was inevitable since public opinion turned against these long and costly wars. Especially the youth movements of the 1960s who adhered to leftwing and neo-pagan ideas opposed these protracted colonial wars. French Indochina became independent and fell apart into Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia who entered the Chinese sphere like Korea and Burma had already done. Indonesia would remain isolated, but would join the Chinese bloc too later on.
China in 1965 formally created its own third bloc know as the East Asian Coalition or EAC with friendly relations with the ATO although allegiances would switch a few times with freezes and thaws of relations due to minor disputes. Members were China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and from 1970 also Indonesia. Japan, in 1967, developed its own nuclear deterrent with British support since they were still allied against Russia. Due to British support and even action Japan would join the EAC too in 1972 and reconcile with the Chinese. India saw this development in a much more negative light and watched with growing alarm and rage how China with US and British help positioned itself as the dominant power of Asia. India and its Bhutan and Nepalese puppets responded by joining the EC which was henceforth known as the Eurasian Coalition. India received support for their nuclear programs, even more so than China and tested a nuclear weapon in 1970. Pakistan, in turn, was alarmed as well that its rival was growing so much stronger and joined the EAC and came under China’s nuclear umbrella.
In Africa, in the meantime, it was becoming clear that some kind of compromise with the insurgents had to be reached since the wars there were still dragging in after a near three decades of brutal oppression and persecution. The rebellions against colonial rule would not cease, not even with all the might of Europe they wouldn’t. Algeria and Libya were European dominated by now due to years of immigration from Europe and ethnic cleansing, especially after the discovery of oil, but sub-Saharan Africa was still majority black. In the mid 1970s the two dominant colonial powers (Germany and Italy) decided to convene and somehow end the wars. A deal similar to a slightly more tight bound version of Dominion status within the British Empire was come up with. Most colonies (except for German and Italian Algeria and Libya) received complete autonomy in their internal affairs. Defence, foreign policy and fiscal/currency matters remained in European hands. The deal satisfied both since the Europeans kept some control while the Africans received autonomy with the hope of expanding it into full-fledged independence in the future (which they, arguably, have by now). Some bad blood over the initial oppression, however, still remains to this day.
This came at a time of increasing globalization in which the world’s economies started to get more and more intertwined, making nuclear war a lot less likely than before although the rhetoric remained. The computer revolution starting in the 1980s further enhanced these increased economic links between the world’s powers and so the world could enter a new, modern age: the 21st century.
And here's the maps. First, a map of what the fronts should roughly be at the end of the war:
Finally, a map of the coalitions. I included Portugal in the ATO because it's Britain's traditional ally.
Snake Featherston
Banned
You have to slightly nuance the RJW. The way in which it was won certainly wasn't something worth writing home about. The Japanese managed to give the Russkies a big bloody nose before they realized that Japan might not be as weak as initially thought. Btw, it's not like those 800.000 Russians went there overnight. They arrived over longer periods of time (say several weeks at the very least). This Japanese near success could lead to some level of underestimation of Russia as the imperfections of their reforms have been revealed and assuage fear of Russia.
As for Britain joining Germany, that may well be possible. I had to choose between Britain's fear of Germany's growing naval might and their desire to set up a colonial empire at the expense of Britain and France, and their fear of Russian influence in the Middle East. I simply chose the former. Russia could always be contained later... (didn't work out that well for Britain though
Also, I cannot edit the TL anymore, unfortunately
You kidding? Given that people saw the Japanese as racial inferiors and expected Russia to win and it still did, well......that right there causes massive intellectual butterflies in terms of impact on colonial populations. "Nearly" won doesn't count for much that way. It would put a check on potential anti-colonial movements in the empires.
And you really seem to miss the effect that things like The Great Game had on British psychology. If Russia is suddenly strong enough to transport large armies across that way to accomplish an August Storm in the 1900s that immediately alters the entire vision of the Balance of Power. Russia better able to exploit its resources would be quite a bit more powerful than most other European countries. All the resources in Siberia, the huge numerical advantage......
If Germany faces such a potential Colossus on its eastern border that is a proponent of Pan-Slavism and thus a danger to its ally, Austria-Hungary....the French would keep the alliance and be a lot bolder because they have nothing Russia can menace. But German and British interests are going to co-incide and the Ottomans are still going to side with a Central Powers that put them together with Germany *and* Britain (well, if the USSR could ally with a Britain led by Winston Churchill).....
The fighting skills would be nothing to boast about, but shipping so many men so quickly across Siberia is a sudden message to the rest of Europe that's going to make a lot of people scared shitless regardless.