WI an Austro-Hungarian Tannenberg

IIRC, the Alpenkorps came from the Italian Front IOTL, which isn't there ITTL, when deployed to Verdun.
So, where have they been deployed before? In the Carpathians, co-operating with the Austrians already? - Would be a bonus.
 
Alpenkorps

IIRC, the Alpenkorps came from the Italian Front IOTL, which isn't there ITTL, when deployed to Verdun.
So, where have they been deployed before? In the Carpathians, co-operating with the Austrians already? - Would be a bonus.

Alpenkorps started on the Italian front but then participated in the Serbian campaign before. Arguably it may have a different name ITTL but yes it has probably fought with KuK mountain troops before.
 
They were late arrivals at the Serbian theatre of operations and saw no combat (quite the same affair as in Italy), shifting them to an active front would be a logical deviation from OTL.
 
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wwalter

US Presidential Election?

What's going on on the other side of the Atlantic as the Entente looks like its headed towards defeat? Take away unrestricted sub warfare, and add the earlier "rising" in Ireland, and the US public should be decidedly less anti-German, and more anglophobic at this point compared to OTL. Speaking of Ireland, is the KM any more capable of smuggling arms to to the rebels?

In any case, great TL, I look forward to the next post.
 
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Hi, I'm new to the site and just finished reading this excellent Timeline. I am eagerly awaiting an update, since it appears the end is near (militarily) for the Entente here. With Russia out of the War more than two years early, France cannot possibly hold out against the Germans/Austrians. Unless the Germans manage to provoke the Americans into intervening.
 
What's going on on the other side of the Atlantic as the Entente looks like its headed towards defeat? Take away unrestricted sub warfare, and add the earlier "rising" in Ireland, and the US public should be decidedly less anti-German, and more anglophobic at this point compared to OTL. Speaking of Ireland, is the KM any more capable of smuggling arms to to the rebels?

In any case, great TL, I look forward to the next post.

The US is divided. There is still a segment esp. in the Republican Party that is very AntiGerman even without Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (TR, Root, Hydrochloric Acid) Within the Democratic Party Wilson is badly isolated.
 
Hi, I'm new to the site and just finished reading this excellent Timeline. I am eagerly awaiting an update, since it appears the end is near (militarily) for the Entente here. With Russia out of the War more than two years early, France cannot possibly hold out against the Germans/Austrians. Unless the Germans manage to provoke the Americans into intervening.

Should have an update in 2 more days.
 
update

11 Dec: Brugha reaches the Wicklow Mountains with 170 men, a quarter of which are walking wounded. He then starts to run a guerilla campaign. Meanwhile inside Dublin, the 2nd Dublin Battalion and the Citizens Army surrender at noon.

The two divisions of the Austro-Hungarian XXIV Corps debouch out of Thann. Together with Alpenkorps they defeat the local French forces which are almost entirely Territorial units. In the early afternoon an increasingly worried Gen Joffre orders 2 first line divisions and 3 batteries of 155mm howitzers dispatched by rail to Belfort. He puts strong pressure on Haig to mount a major offensive operation to take some of the pressure off his army.

12 Dec: Now badly outflanked from the north, the French units in Sundgau are forced to retreat into Belfort. Because the Austro-Hungarian pursuit is somewhat tentative they capture very few prisoners and only 3 guns, though they do take some stores. Gen. Dankl © had wanted a cavalry division but Conrad had denied him one feeling that cavalry were better utilized patrolling the occupied Ukraine. Dankl feels that with a cavalry division he could have cut off the French retreat. Alpenkorps takes Masevaux at midday.
Gen. John Maxwell arrives in Ireland to administer martial law as a military governor.

13 Dec: The 88th Landesschützen Brigade almost captures the key mountain pass at Bussang. This forces the French Seventh Army to reinforce this position. At Verdun the French take Fort Thiaumont in the morning only to lose it again in the afternoon.

In Mesopotamia the Ottoman Sixth Army which has been strongly reinforced lately and is now under the leadership of General von der Geltz counterattacks an AngloIndian expedition led by Gen. Townshend northwest of Amara.

14 Dec: The Germans use phosgene for the first time at Verdun in combination with chlorine released between Fleury and Vaux. The Germans take Fort Souville but Fort Vaux holds out stubbornly due in part to the effects of phosgene being very delayed but also the heroic tenacity of its commanding officer. In the Vosges the Germans make an attack on St. Die that makes very little progress but draws some the French local reserves away from Belfort.

The Ottoman Sixth Army encircles the main force of the AngloIndian expedition at Amara.

15 Dec; The German government is getting annoyed that the Russian negotiators at Stockholm have not yet agreed to their terms. Gen. von Falkenhayn is worried that there is a very real threat that the Tsar can and will resume the war. The Russian army was been swelled by a huge number of new conscripts since August. Falkenhayn argues strongly in favor of softening Germany’s peace terms. Ludendorff OTOH argues that the negotiators should make their terms harsher and threaten to make them harsher still if the Russians continue to stall. For the time being the negotiators do not change their terms.

In Ireland Gen. Maxwell institutes a series of trials of arrested rebels by “field general court martial”. He also tries to stamp out the small guerilla operations in Kerry and Wicklow with mixed results.

16 Dec: Thomas MacDonagh and Eamon de Valera are executed at dawn by firing squad. The Foreign Office is upset when they learn of de Valera’s execution because he was born in the United States.

17 Dec: Skoda 12” howitzers begin firing on Fort de Roppe delivering the “loud knock on the door” at Belfort that Gen. Falkenhayn has been hoping for.

In Ireland Thomas Ashe and Sean Murphy are executed at dawn. There is a heated dispute within Balfour’s Cabinet about executing those rebel leaders who participated in the rebellion (some of those who did not like O’Neill, Pearse and Connolly are given lengthy prison sentences under vague conspiracy charges). Balfour waffles on this issue for a while but eventually decides that he will permit only 3 more men to be executed (making it clear that the Countess Markievicz is definitely not to be executed) even though many of his fellow Unionists want at least a dozen to drive home the point.

18 Dec: At Verdun the German Fifth Army finally succeeds in taking Fort Vaux along with Damloup in the afternoon. Conrad tells Falkenhayn that while he thinks Tsar Nicholas will probably make peace before the expiration of the armistice it is by no means certain and for that reason he must remove 2 divisions from the Ninth Army between Christmas and New Years Day.
19 Dec: In Mesopotamia Gen. Gorringe tries to free Gen. Townshend’s force from encirclement but is driven off by the Ottoman Sixth Army.

20 Dec: Mellowes, Stack and Colivet are executed at dawn. Austrian artillery begins shelling Fort de Bessoncourt.

21 Dec: There are very intense French counterattacks at Verdun. They take Fleury and Daimlop but lose the latter to German counterattacks after dark.
Gen. Gorringe makes a second attempt to break the rescue Gen. Townshend’s force but is again repelled with heavier losses than before.

22 Dec: The KuK XXIV Corps together with Alpenkorps take Fort de Giromagny.

President Wilson is under pressure within his own party by Irish politicians lead by Senator O’Gorman of NY, who are very critical of British policies in Ireland. The devoutly AntiCatholic Wilson is trying his best to ignore them. Instead he now issues his own vague utopian Christmas Plan for Peace which to his profound disappointment is largely ignored in Europe except by King Albert who heartily endorses it.

23 Dec: At Verdun the Germans simultaneously attack on both banks. On the west bank they take Cumieres and advance a kilometer south of Mort Homme. On the east bank they have a more difficult time but still manage to retake Fleury.

24 Dec: Pope Benedict issues his own Christmas Peace Initiative. The Holy Father still argues for an ante bellum solution overall but he makes some allowances for what he considers to be the just retribution of Austria-Hungary for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Despite this most Austrian prelates are unhappy with this document because it is antebellum.

25 Dec: (Christmas Offensive): Gen. Haig has decided that his best chance for an attack is on Christmas Day when the Germans should be the least ready. This attack was to be made by the First Army with 7 divisions between Loos and Festubert. It starts with an 8 hour bombardment. The German had some ambivalent intelligence suggesting that the British might try something Dec 24-26 so this operation is not a complete surprise even before the shelling started. In the afternoon the assault is made and the left wing of the British attack advances roughly a kilometer while the right wing makes even less progress. British casualties are very heavy.
 
Hmm... France is having some trouble it appears. I expect that if Russia attempted to restart the war their military might become suddenly disobedient. Looking forward to the next chapter.

Michael
 
update

26 Dec: Gen. Haig’s Christmas Offensive is very unpopular with the men of the British First Army. There is a rumor circulating amongst them that the main reason for the offensive was to prevent a repeat of last year’s fraternization with the enemy. The offensive continues but is unable to make any further progress.

27 Dec: Both Kitchener and Balfour had agreed to Haig’s Christmas Offensive only after he had promised to halt it after 48 hrs if he failed to achieve a clear cut breakthrough. Despite failing to achieve such a breakthrough Haig violates his promise and continues his offensive making little progress and suffering serious casualties. He later justifies by saying that he wanted to keep up the pressure on the Germans to facilitate the upcoming French counteroffensive.

There is an acrimonious meeting between Falkenhayn, Kronprinz Wilhelm, the commander of Fifth Army, and his chief of staff, Knobelsdorf. The prince complains that surprise has been long lost at Verdun and the recent operations esp. those on the east bank have become too costly. He therefore favors suspending the offensive. Knobelsdorf feels that it is now all downhill into the city and is confident that he can take it in the next 10 days. He already has bands ready to celebrate the triumph. Falkenhayn is deeply ambivalent. Part of him wants the prestige of taking Verdun but he is also tempted to bleed the French as much as possible first. He eventually shocks Knobelsdorf by agreeing with Wilhelm.

28 Dec: Joffre launches counterattacks at both Verdun and Belfort. At Verdun where Petain has finally been put in charge the French effort is concentrated solely on the east bank. At a heavy cost in casualties they take Fleury and Fort Thiaumont but are repelled at Fort Souville. At Belfort the French Seventh Army succeeds in advancing a kilometer in front of Fort de Roppe and Fort de Bessoncourt with only moderate losses despite the enemy still having a superiority (albeit reduced) in heavy artillery. However at Fort de Giromagny the French make no progress at all and suffer heavy losses.

29 Dec: Kitchener orders Haig to terminate the Christmas Offensive forthwith. The French however continue their attacks at both Verdun and Belfort. They make no progress whatsoever at Verdun and only a little at Belfort while suffering very heavy losses at both places.

31 Dec: The French Seventh Army supplements its counteroffensive at Belfort with a secondary attack in the Vosges with the ultimate objective of taking the Grand Ballon. It starts by pushing the Austrians back near the Bussang Pass but then peters out in the rough terrain.

1916

Early Jan: The state of the Russian economy during the winter of 1915-1916 is considerably worse than OTL though not as wretched as the winter of 1916-1917. The western Ukraine has been lost and the eastern Ukraine has been degraded by the inconsistently applied scorched earth policy causing a shortfall of food harvested. There has been a massive number of refugees who are not being cared for adequately esp. the Jews. The huge influx of conscripts into the army in the late summer and fall have resulted in severe labor shortages. The railroad network is deteriorating. Major food shortages begin to appear now in the cities spawning more demonstrations and strikes.
In Ireland there is an annoying very small level guerilla campaign by the rebel forces in Wicklow and Kerry (which at this stage are totally independent) that Maxwell is unable to eliminate. Maxwell complains that this is due in large part to executing too few rebels. There are some members of the Cabinet that agree with him incl. Kitchener.

3 Jan: Kitchener and Haig meet with Joffre at Dieppe. Haig and Joffre agree that it is possible to defeat the Germans on the Western Front during the summer provided Russia reenters the war. If Russia drops out they believe they can hold on defense and wear the Germans down in 1916 and then go on a decisive offensive in the spring of 1917. Kitchener is not completely persuaded by this and asks blunt questions about how many casualties could be expected under both scenarios and is unhappy with Haig’s answer. Joffre does admit that if Russia makes a separate peace King Albert will be tempted to do likewise.

5 Jan: Kaiser Wilhelm calls another conference at Pless to discuss strategy if Russia fails to accept the demands of the Central Powers at Stockholm. Falkenhayn who is still advocating softening the CP demands, says that if Russia does resume the war then the Central Powers should be on the defensive and let the Russians wear themselves out with a winter offensive. Ludendorff strongly disagrees with this and advocates an immediate march on Petrograd when the armistice ends. Conrad has plans for taking the Crimea. There is some concerned that the Rumanians believing the war to be over, have demobilized too much during the armistice. The problem with the Ottomans is the reverse. Enver has been steadily strengthening his forces in Caucasia during the armistice. Falkenhayn is worried that there could be a repetition of Sarikamish if Russia reenters the war. Sweden has promised to join the war against Russia but will need time to mobilize. Wilhelm has trouble making up his mind. He eventually decides that if Russia resumes the war that initially the Central Powers should remain on the defensive but in late April should launch a war winning offensive though he is unclear about what that should be.

6 Jan: Since Christmas French casualties at Verdun alone are now over 100,000 while Seventh Army has suffered over 70,000 at Belfort.

7 Jan: Petain finally takes Fort Souville in incredibly fierce fighting.

10 Jan: Unable to advance any further on the east bank, Petain switches to the west bank. He achieves some surprise and is able to advance 600m.

11 Jan: German Fifth Army recovers from yesterday’s set back and defeats a French attempt to take Morte Homme.

13 Jan: Under heavy pressure from the Ottoman Sixth Army which has been recently reinforced, Townshend’s expedition is destroyed.

14 Jan: (Lockhart Plot) Robert Bruce Lockhart, the Acting British Consul General in Moscow together with Sidney Reilly have conspired with members of the Duma favoring a resumption of war. They want to depose the Tsar and replace him with his uncle Grand Duke Nikolai who in addition to resuming the war they expected to grant Duma the authority it wants. This plot is uncovered by an informant. Lockhart is arrested but Reilly escapes.
 
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That Lockhart-Plot could cost the Entente powers dearly. Will the csar end the war given this plot against him? Given that an autocrat can be led by personal and emotional reasons far more than a democratic government, we might see surprising results from this plot.

I'm unsure what I'd prefer for the timeline - Falkenhayn getting his will, softening CP demands and keeping Russia out or the Russians reentering, their internal situation deteriorating, Germany and AH holding the lines and the Ottomans and Swedes advancing until they easily get a harsher peace treaty.

Given that a harsh treaty on the Russians in a CP-victory is as much a cliché as AH doing badly, I think I'd like to see a lenient peace with Russia.
 
That Lockhart-Plot could cost the Entente powers dearly. Will the csar end the war given this plot against him? Given that an autocrat can be led by personal and emotional reasons far more than a democratic government, we might see surprising results from this plot.

I'm unsure what I'd prefer for the timeline - Falkenhayn getting his will, softening CP demands and keeping Russia out or the Russians reentering, their internal situation deteriorating, Germany and AH holding the lines and the Ottomans and Swedes advancing until they easily get a harsher peace treaty.

Given that a harsh treaty on the Russians in a CP-victory is as much a cliché as AH doing badly, I think I'd like to see a lenient peace with Russia.

There are degrees of leniency. I agree that OTL Brest-Litovsk has been a AH cliche.
 
One of the things that kept Nicholas in the war in the OTL was his sense of duty and loyalty to his allies. If his allies are plotting to overthrow him then its possible that all bets are off.

If you want to massive Russian defeat TL Tom then have Russia re-enter the war. Their army launches attacks which the Germans handle well and the Austrians not so well but the Austrians have lots of ground to give. When the Russians offensive runs out of steam Sweden enters the war and a huge offensive stretching from the Arctic to the Caucus Mountains is unleashed. The Russian army collapses under the renewed stress of the war and revolution comes.

Michael
 
The entrance of the Swedes into the War on the CP side would make things quite interesting. Kind of a second Finnish War, though the endgame could be messy, as Finnish nationalists may not be that eager to trade a personal union with Russia for a personal union with Sweden.

Apart from the military boost they entry of Sweden of Sweden would bring, it would also effect the political calculus of any US entry into the war. Any president that went to war with Sweden and Germany could kiss the US Midwest goodbye, as together they made up a near majority of many of those states.

I wonder what GB could realistically threaten Sweden with? Any sort of invasion through Norway would seem unrealistic. Also, since the dissolution of Sweden-Norway, Sweden doesn't have much of a merchant marine to lose. Nor does it posses a vulnerable colonial empire. Would a naval blockade cripple Sweden in the short run?
 
Sorry to necro this, but the author just linked it in another thread today. Can there please be more of this superb TL?
 
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