When do you think the most interesting time for an alternate WW1 would be?

I've been brainstorming ideas for an alternate WW1 with the consideration of the social politics in different era's in mind. Based on the social events of OTL between, let's say 1880-1920, when to you think the most interesting World War could take place?
 
One probably could have been created had Kaiser Wilhelm I died earlier and Bismarck been relieved. The successor would not have been as skilled at balancing the competing interests of powers and I think the setting for war would be an eruption in the first balkan war that would pit the two sides of the Eastern Question (France, Russia, maybe Italy against Turkey, Germany, Austria, and maybe the UK) against eachother.
 
Am I allowed to say it never happening at all?

That actually sounds pretty feasible. Everyone interprets WW1 as a chain of events that was predetermined but they seem to ignore how many convoluted links were really required for everything to precipitate into war. If there was some recession earlier on and a revolution in Russia that brought an unstable government then traditional wisdom of the time (non interventionism in times of bad economics) would dictate that there would be less war while the Russian leftist government would solve for the problem of Pan-Slavicism conflicting with Austrian stability.
 
A few decades later when most great powers have nuclear weapons.

Ah yes and when Europe, North Africa and European Asia gets turned to glass. Canadian and American tourist do fly over of the radiation soaked ruin of London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Moscow, commenting on European hubris and foolishness..:D:rolleyes:
 
Around the same time as OTL, but with a Britain-friendly Germany, possibly with a joint German-British, but primarily British, with less German contribution than OTL, naval buildup to oppose France and Russia, and a greater-than-OTL (due to lesser naval expenditures) German army reform and buildup, along with possibly helping to destabilise Austria-Hungary and courting Italy, the Low Countries, Japan, and possibly Sweden and/or China (if they can help China through the process of reform and transition without having it fragment as OTL - maybe kill Cixi and get a series of strong, effective reformers on the throne, while having the expanded Central Powers assist them with reforming and modernising their military, in essence using the carrot far more than the stick?).

Overall, what would make an alternate WWI more interesting would not be a different time, but a different prelude and different alliances.
 
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I guess 1902/03 is a pretty interesting time from an alternate history pov to start a great war. There are three Great power alliances:
Germany-AH
France-Russia
Britain-Japan
Japan and Russia are at war, at the same time France and Britain are trying to improve their relationship. Germany is mildly supportive of Russia in the war, despite its alliance with AH. Depending on the trigger for a Great War (frankly I can´t think of one right away) we might see some really odd alliances. The only combination almost guaranteed (though even that might change with some PODs) is Germany against France. And Japans role is totally up in the air. If Britain sides against Russia it is fairly easy, regardless whether Russia is on the German or French side. But what if Britain sides with Russia? Is Japan willing to break the alliance and fully side with Britains opponents? A quick peace with Russia? Does it fight only Russia and is otherwise neutral? Or even stranger, it treats the Russo-Japanese war separately and continues fighting against Russia in the Far East while it fights side by side with Britain in theaters where there is no contact with Russia.
 
1898. The Fashoda crisis explodes and the other powers are drawn in one by one; not sure how they'll line up between Britain and France. Almost inevitably, the Spanish-American War will also become part of the larger conflict.
 
What about without Russia, but with a Franco-Spano-Belgo-Italo Entente, so that it becomes more of a Low Countrys War with other, less important theateres.
 
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