US Involvement in WW1 and a Negotiated Peace?

wiking's excellent What if the Austro-Hungarians put the Eastern Front first? thread got me thinking, is there any way to have the US involved in the Great War and yet have it still end in a negotiated peace even if it does somewhat favour the western Entente powers? What I was ideally looking for was a war where Germany and Austria manage to beat Russia so that it collapses before transferring troops to the west only to have both sides bash heads and come to a bloody stalemate. Then when the US intervenes it ends up forcing them into a negotiated peace where the Central Powers have to give up some concessions to avoid being completely beaten. Basically what I'm trying to aim for is Germany and Austria-Hungary to get out of it mostly intact and without having to pay reparations except Germany having to return Alsace-Lorraine. Ideally I'd also like them to lose the Polish Corridor, not including Danzig, but I honestly can't see how to get them beat down or things looking bad enough for them to give it up without being in so bad a position that something equivalent to our timelines Treaty of Versailles follows.

The $64,000 question though is it possible to get a limited US involvement? As the 800 lb gorilla in the room once US troops enter combat it's pretty much a forgone conclusion I think. The only two ideas I can come up with are the US decides to extend economic aid to the Entente powers without sending troops or they send economic aid and start training up troops but press the Central Powers to agree a peace before they land in Europe. Anyone got any other ideas?
 

Deleted member 1487

wiking's excellent What if the Austro-Hungarians put the Eastern Front first? thread got me thinking, is there any way to have the US involved in the Great War and yet have it still end in a negotiated peace even if it does somewhat favour the western Entente powers? What I was ideally looking for was a war where Germany and Austria manage to beat Russia so that it collapses before transferring troops to the west only to have both sides bash heads and come to a bloody stalemate. Then when the US intervenes it ends up forcing them into a negotiated peace where the Central Powers have to give up some concessions to avoid being completely beaten. Basically what I'm trying to aim for is Germany and Austria-Hungary to get out of it mostly intact and without having to pay reparations except Germany having to return Alsace-Lorraine. Ideally I'd also like them to lose the Polish Corridor, not including Danzig, but I honestly can't see how to get them beat down or things looking bad enough for them to give it up without being in so bad a position that something equivalent to our timelines Treaty of Versailles follows.

The $64,000 question though is it possible to get a limited US involvement? As the 800 lb gorilla in the room once US troops enter combat it's pretty much a forgone conclusion I think. The only two ideas I can come up with are the US decides to extend economic aid to the Entente powers without sending troops or they send economic aid and start training up troops but press the Central Powers to agree a peace before they land in Europe. Anyone got any other ideas?
Thanks for the support!

Kinda hard to imagine when the most popular song of the war period included lyrics: "We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there."
http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/overthere.htm

The best bet was not to have the US enter the war in 1917, thereby allowing loans to run out without renewal being an option. The Germans can't win outright, but the Entente cannot afford to fight aggressively. Ergo negotiation.

I suppose a different Wilson could use liberty loans to leverage the Entente at Versailles, but he'd better be willing to suffer the consequences of the Euros playing hardball. Germany could suffer more as a result, something the US was trying to moderate OTL, which if Wilson tries to strong arm his allies to the 14 points, he could find himself shut out worse than OTL (US didn't sign Versailles and only worked out a separate peace in the 1920's).
 
I know, I need something that will tip the Central Powers over the edge but not end up with them suffering a crushing victory. There seems to have been a fair amount of debate at senior levels over whether the US should declare war on Germany or not. The best I can come up with is that the US extends the Entente the loans it needs to continue to appease public anger whilst heavily leaning on Germany with the threat of sending troops to force a peace mediated by Wilson. Once war is declared and troops start training in earnest like you said it's too late at that point. It's a bit of a bugger.
 

Deleted member 1487

I know, I need something that will tip the Central Powers over the edge but not end up with them suffering a crushing victory. There seems to have been a fair amount of debate at senior levels over whether the US should declare war on Germany or not. The best I can come up with is that the US extends the Entente the loans it needs to continue to appease public anger whilst heavily leaning on Germany with the threat of sending troops to force a peace mediated by Wilson. Once war is declared and troops start training in earnest like you said it's too late at that point. It's a bit of a bugger.

The US public wasn't really onboard with the loans in the first place. Some of the population was, but most were either not or ambivalent. Honestly once the Entente has money, it isn't really a matter of the US sending troops. Don't get me wrong, there was important contributions by the US, but they weren't really necessary to get Germany to collapse-they just sped up the process and prevented the French from collapsing in the meantime. Cut off the loans though and Germany still cannot win, but neither can the Entente.

With any TL resembling OTL there is just no way I can think of to get the US in the war, but have negotiations. The scales were tipped just too far one way.

I suppose you could have a situation where someone like Roosevelt gets elected in 1916 and strong arms a divided nation into war, which, due to public pressure, is forced to bow out early due to riots and civil unrest, but that is really hard to imagine. The US elected Wilson precisely because he was supposed to keep us neutral. It would be impossible for a POTUS to leverage Congress into that war without Germany picking the fight.
 
Looks like the US is staying neutral then. The problem then becomes if both sides are exhausted how do I slant things a bit towards the Entente to help set things up for round two. Giving back Alsace-Lorraine could probably be accepted with a fair amount of regret if it got them out of the war, giving up part of East Prussia to the Poles of all people just seems too much - annoying since it's needed for a viable Poland. This requires further scheming.
 

yourworstnightmare

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I think a little different scenario is needed. US enters the war earlier, but mainly participate in naval operations and only have a few soldiers in the trenches of France.
 
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