I'm currently working on a timeline beginning in 1917 going until World War II.
Our point of divergence is March of 1917.
After 3 years of the most brutal conflict in the history of man, the German people decided they had enough. Seeing that things were not going their way and that a positive end to the war was not probable, the leaders of some of the historical kingdoms that made up the German Empire met and signed the Treaty of Mannheim. In doing so, they not only withdrew from the war ceding all German-held territories to their original owners, but also named Kaiser Wilhelm a war criminal and sentenced him to death. Furthermore, the German Empire would be divided into four Kingdoms: Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and Hannover. The people of Prussia elected their president Prince Maximilian of Baden to become their new King replacing the House of Hohenzollern with the House of Baden as the dominant house in Prussia. King Frederick Augustus III and King Ludwig III retain their titles as King of Saxony and Bavaria respectively, and Crown Prince Ernest Augustus is elevated to King Ernest Augustus II of Hannover.
With Germany no longer taking part in the war, the other central powers fell quickly, and the war was over by the end of the summer of 1917, before the Americans would have gotten involved. Since the German Empire went defunct relatively peacefully, and since the Kingdom of Hannover gave the long contested territory of Holstein to Denmark as a show of good faith, the Allied Powers went easier on the Germans and didn’t fully dismantle their military, though the Kingdom of Prussia always felt slighted by the agreements as their kingdom was smaller than that they historically held. Things stayed relatively in the region peaceful for the 1920s.
In December of 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty essentially gave the Irish people their independence, however, it would prove to be short-lived as the British reneged on their side of the bargain taking over Dublin in March of 1922 and keeping Ireland occupied indefinitely. A popular uprising took place in June of that year, but was put down violently. This led to a long resentment of the British culminating in several scuffles over the next few decades.
In Italy, Benito Mussolini came to power as prime minister in 1922. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he named himself Il Duce, or leader of Italy.
Things in post-war Prussia went rather poorly with the an incompetent government and hyperinflation which led to food shortages, civil unrest, and riots. The National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi Party) promised to rebuild a strong central government, eliminate the monarchy which was viewed as weak, and to create a global empire for the Germanic people. When King Maximilian died in 1929, the government delayed any succession to the throne indefinitely.
A populist movement known as Nova Romana began led by Mussolini’s son-in-law Count Galeazzo Ciano. Nova Romana’s goal was to restore the glorious Roman Empire. In 1930, they managed to oust Mussolini from power and imprisoned him.
Although the economy was stronger in Saxony than in Prussia, everything changed drastically when King Friedrich Augustus III passed away in 1932. His oldest son Prince George had renounced his claim to the throne to become a Catholic priest, so Prince Friedrich Christian ascended to the throne as King Christan III.
In fall of 1932, in the Prussian parliamentary elections, the Nazi party won a majority of seats, and quickly set in motion a plan to overthrow the crown altogether.
In 1933, Saxon King Christian III saw what was happening in Prussia, and excited at the concept of a global Germanic empire, joined Saxony with Prussia in March 1933 as part of what would become the Third Reich. The Prussian Nazi party under their leader Adolf Hitler successfully passed legislation dissolving the monarchy and exiling the royal family. Later in the year, the Germans (as they will be called from now on) revoked the citizenship of all Jews, and all political enemies of the Nazi party. Rather than round them up, they were deported and many were taken in by Italy.
In 1935, Ciano had Mussolini publicly executed, and then named himself emperor of the New Roman Republic under the name Caesar Gallius Cianus.
In early 1938, Rome signed an agreement with Russia, Ireland, Scotland, and Third Reich forming New World Alliance. They secretly devised a plan to take over most of Europe and carve it up among themselves. Ireland and Scotland would take over Great Britain with the help of the German Luftwaffe, German Navy, and Roman Navy, Russia would take most of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, Germany would take back all of the lands once controlled by the German people, and the Romans would try to reassemble the Roman Empire. This was a fairly loose alliance and there was a great deal of mistrust between the leaders of the nations.
On September 1, 1939, Russian tanks rolled into Poland in a new operational doctrine known as “Molniyenosnaya voyna” (lightning war). Meanwhile, Irish and Scottish troops with German air and naval support surprised the British by sweeping through Great Britain. In Europe, the German troops rolled through Denmark, Hannover, and the low countries (Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg) on their way to France. The Romans fought their way through Corsica and Southern France with the goal of meeting up with the Germans in Paris. They also fought their way through Northern Africa expanding to Morocco in the west and the Nile in the east.
By November of 1939, the Scotch-Irish had driven through the entire island of Great Britain and surrounded London as the Germans and Romans bombed it. The Germans had a really hard time slugging their way through Bavaria even though the Bavarians had outdated military equipment. The battle for Bavaria lasted from November of 1939 through February of 1940 when the Germans finally seized Bavaria completing the forceful reunification of Germany. The Germans and Romans met in Paris in December of 1939 completing the takeover of Western Europe.
In January of 1940, under the cover of a brutal winter storm, the British pulled off an amazing escape known as Operation Dynamo, evacuating the remainder of the military and government from Great Britain through the Mediterranean and Suez canal into India where they would rule in exile. This couldn't have happened any later as the Romans would seize Gibraltar and Suez only weeks later effectively closing the Mediterranean.
In March of 1940, the Romans did the unthinkable and turned on the Scotch-Irish and seized Great Britain for themselves forcing them back to Ireland. The Germans did and said nothing about this betrayal so as to not risk offending the Romans, but the Russians condemned the act and dissolved their alliance with Germany and Rome.
...and that's all I have so far. At this point I have ideas of where I would like this to go, but I'd like some input on what I have thus far. I'll take your feedback and then expand from here.
Our point of divergence is March of 1917.
After 3 years of the most brutal conflict in the history of man, the German people decided they had enough. Seeing that things were not going their way and that a positive end to the war was not probable, the leaders of some of the historical kingdoms that made up the German Empire met and signed the Treaty of Mannheim. In doing so, they not only withdrew from the war ceding all German-held territories to their original owners, but also named Kaiser Wilhelm a war criminal and sentenced him to death. Furthermore, the German Empire would be divided into four Kingdoms: Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and Hannover. The people of Prussia elected their president Prince Maximilian of Baden to become their new King replacing the House of Hohenzollern with the House of Baden as the dominant house in Prussia. King Frederick Augustus III and King Ludwig III retain their titles as King of Saxony and Bavaria respectively, and Crown Prince Ernest Augustus is elevated to King Ernest Augustus II of Hannover.
With Germany no longer taking part in the war, the other central powers fell quickly, and the war was over by the end of the summer of 1917, before the Americans would have gotten involved. Since the German Empire went defunct relatively peacefully, and since the Kingdom of Hannover gave the long contested territory of Holstein to Denmark as a show of good faith, the Allied Powers went easier on the Germans and didn’t fully dismantle their military, though the Kingdom of Prussia always felt slighted by the agreements as their kingdom was smaller than that they historically held. Things stayed relatively in the region peaceful for the 1920s.
In December of 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty essentially gave the Irish people their independence, however, it would prove to be short-lived as the British reneged on their side of the bargain taking over Dublin in March of 1922 and keeping Ireland occupied indefinitely. A popular uprising took place in June of that year, but was put down violently. This led to a long resentment of the British culminating in several scuffles over the next few decades.
In Italy, Benito Mussolini came to power as prime minister in 1922. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he named himself Il Duce, or leader of Italy.
Things in post-war Prussia went rather poorly with the an incompetent government and hyperinflation which led to food shortages, civil unrest, and riots. The National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi Party) promised to rebuild a strong central government, eliminate the monarchy which was viewed as weak, and to create a global empire for the Germanic people. When King Maximilian died in 1929, the government delayed any succession to the throne indefinitely.
A populist movement known as Nova Romana began led by Mussolini’s son-in-law Count Galeazzo Ciano. Nova Romana’s goal was to restore the glorious Roman Empire. In 1930, they managed to oust Mussolini from power and imprisoned him.
Although the economy was stronger in Saxony than in Prussia, everything changed drastically when King Friedrich Augustus III passed away in 1932. His oldest son Prince George had renounced his claim to the throne to become a Catholic priest, so Prince Friedrich Christian ascended to the throne as King Christan III.
In fall of 1932, in the Prussian parliamentary elections, the Nazi party won a majority of seats, and quickly set in motion a plan to overthrow the crown altogether.
In 1933, Saxon King Christian III saw what was happening in Prussia, and excited at the concept of a global Germanic empire, joined Saxony with Prussia in March 1933 as part of what would become the Third Reich. The Prussian Nazi party under their leader Adolf Hitler successfully passed legislation dissolving the monarchy and exiling the royal family. Later in the year, the Germans (as they will be called from now on) revoked the citizenship of all Jews, and all political enemies of the Nazi party. Rather than round them up, they were deported and many were taken in by Italy.
In 1935, Ciano had Mussolini publicly executed, and then named himself emperor of the New Roman Republic under the name Caesar Gallius Cianus.
In early 1938, Rome signed an agreement with Russia, Ireland, Scotland, and Third Reich forming New World Alliance. They secretly devised a plan to take over most of Europe and carve it up among themselves. Ireland and Scotland would take over Great Britain with the help of the German Luftwaffe, German Navy, and Roman Navy, Russia would take most of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, Germany would take back all of the lands once controlled by the German people, and the Romans would try to reassemble the Roman Empire. This was a fairly loose alliance and there was a great deal of mistrust between the leaders of the nations.
On September 1, 1939, Russian tanks rolled into Poland in a new operational doctrine known as “Molniyenosnaya voyna” (lightning war). Meanwhile, Irish and Scottish troops with German air and naval support surprised the British by sweeping through Great Britain. In Europe, the German troops rolled through Denmark, Hannover, and the low countries (Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg) on their way to France. The Romans fought their way through Corsica and Southern France with the goal of meeting up with the Germans in Paris. They also fought their way through Northern Africa expanding to Morocco in the west and the Nile in the east.
By November of 1939, the Scotch-Irish had driven through the entire island of Great Britain and surrounded London as the Germans and Romans bombed it. The Germans had a really hard time slugging their way through Bavaria even though the Bavarians had outdated military equipment. The battle for Bavaria lasted from November of 1939 through February of 1940 when the Germans finally seized Bavaria completing the forceful reunification of Germany. The Germans and Romans met in Paris in December of 1939 completing the takeover of Western Europe.
In January of 1940, under the cover of a brutal winter storm, the British pulled off an amazing escape known as Operation Dynamo, evacuating the remainder of the military and government from Great Britain through the Mediterranean and Suez canal into India where they would rule in exile. This couldn't have happened any later as the Romans would seize Gibraltar and Suez only weeks later effectively closing the Mediterranean.
In March of 1940, the Romans did the unthinkable and turned on the Scotch-Irish and seized Great Britain for themselves forcing them back to Ireland. The Germans did and said nothing about this betrayal so as to not risk offending the Romans, but the Russians condemned the act and dissolved their alliance with Germany and Rome.
...and that's all I have so far. At this point I have ideas of where I would like this to go, but I'd like some input on what I have thus far. I'll take your feedback and then expand from here.