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Europe 1905

Europe at the start of the war

In the First World War in the Early World War I timeline, the war in Europe would rage from 1904 until 1912, and this would be a very bloody war, mostly confined to the trenches, with even the smallest of advances taking weeks to complete.

1904[]

File:Route of the Russian Baltic fleet.jpg

Route of the Russia Baltic Fleet

The First World War started in 1904 thanks to a Japanese attack on Port Arthur and this caused the Russo-Japanese Conflict. Japanese naval victories caused the Czar great anger and he sent his Baltic Fleet to help the dwindling Russian Far East fleet. However, while the Baltic Fleet were in the North sea, on the night of 21st October 1904, the Russian fleet mistook some British trawlers at Dogger Bank for an Imperial Japanese Navy force, after rumours of a Imperial Japanese fleet detachment in the North Sea. Three British sailors died and a number were wounded, and Russian losses included one sailor and a priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire.

This caused lots of diplomatic pressure for the Czar as the British government demanded that the Baltic fleet stop to aid in the investigation into the incident. However, Tsar Nicholas II wanted the fleet in the east quick as possible and demanded the British postpone the investigation, but the British weren't having any of this and forced the Baltic Fleet to stop in the Bay of Biscay on October 22nd and placed troops on the Russian ships to make sure they followed the British fleet returning to Portsmouth. Then when in the English Channel, approaching the Isle of Wight on October 23rd, the Baltic Fleet commander Zinovy Rozhestvensky received a message from the Tsar demanding to make haste to Japan regardless of the current situation or face a court martial, the new only recently appointed Head of Naval Staff wanted to keep his reputation and decided to throw the British troops on board his ships over board and they messaged the British Home fleet escort commander to tell him that they were leaving to Japan and they wouldn't be sidetracked. The British demanded that they stop and as they left the escort they continued, they British continued to demand the Russians stop, then as the Russian fleet was passing Alderney in the Channel islands, a small merchant British ship traveled in front of the Russian Fleet, the Russians believing this was another British cruiser fired at it and sunk the ship in a small barrage (the Russians didn't mean to hit the ship as it was warning shots but due to miscommunication the gunners thought they were to destroy the ship), the British seeing another British merchant ship being shot at, where furious and fired hitting and destroying a Russian destroyer; the Russian fleet then turned around to fight the British, thus the Battle of Alderney began and a British victory followed with the majority of the Russian ships destroyed as they turned to meet the British, but poor Russian naval artillery fire meant only 7 of the British ships were hit, with only one British ship sunk, 1 ship needing major repairs, and the rest minor repairs. However, during this battle other merchant vessels and fishing vessels where destroyed in the cross-fire. This battle then caused the British to declare war on Russia in order to avenge the civilian ships, respond to social outcry over the Dogger Bank incident and the political reasoning behind the declaration, to honour the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 since Montenegro also declared war, which set off Article 2 of the alliance and Britain declared War on Russia and Montenegro.

This was the start of the conflict in Europe in this World War as after this declaration the German Kaiser Wilhelm II saw interest in the war and decided to wait to see how serious the British would be in the war, and if he deemed them serious enough, he would have Germany enter the war against Russia; or if the British looked like they would lose, the Kaiser would help the Russians. However, the French were torn between helping either the British or the Russians in this war since they had alliances with them both, and decided if another country was to join with Britain and Japan attacking Russia, then they would join on Russia's side, or if another two countries joined with Russia to fight Britain and Japan, then the French would help the British; this agreement was known as the Dijon compromise.

The British begin a naval blockade on October 30th of where the North sea meets the Baltic sea, by destroying any Russian Naval craft and charging all other Russian Merchant ships with a toll, and failure to pay the toll resulting in the confiscation of the trade goods and ships, with the ships being given to the families of people who had their lives and ships taken by the Russians in the Dogger Bank incident and the Battle of Alderneyther; and the trade goods sold for cheap in London. A similar blockade was set up in the Straits of Ottranto on November 3rd to stop Montenegrin naval ships, and charging a fee to merchant vessels, but failure this time to comply with the toll, meant the ships and trade goods where sold of cheap in Malta. Also due to the war effort, the British admiralty decided to have all future battleships turbine powered, and the plans for the HMS Dreadnought are pushed forward, and it is laid out on the 29th November (2 years earlier than in the real world time line), it was launched on 14th January 1906 and commissioned on the 26th of January 1906, before joining the North Sea blockade.

1905[]

On the 22nd the Bloody Sunday Massacre occurred with around 1000 to 2000 unarmed civilian protesters killed or injured in St. Petersburg. Then on the 2nd of August the Black Sea fleet mutinied and sailed out into the Black Sea, and then on the 4th the fleet arrived in Cyprus and offered there allegiance to the British. The British accepted and stayed in Cyprus to take part of the future invasion of the Ukraine by the British in a few more years. By the time this news reached the Russian people, members of the Bolsheviks began a revolution in Moscow and Kiev and in other areas across Russia, this revolution by the Bolsheviks was to be violently suppressed by the 10th, but Bolshevik terrorism continued.

These events of resentment towards the Tsar & his government gave the British an idea, knowing they wouldn't be able to match Russian military strength on land so they devised a plan to make use of growing governmental discontent within Russia by sending in spies and agents via Norway to meet with the various leaders of independence movements and revolutionists in Kem the port on the White sea. The British would give arms, some military assistance and political recognition to the future states, in return for military aid and an alliance against the Tsar's forces. The British and German intelligence agencies also met to discuss helping each other against Russia, the two forces came to an agreement, and the Germans began to aid the Polish independence movement secretly and the British moved into the Baltic sea based around Gothland and blockaded Russian trade ships, naval ships, and inspected everything else. In return for using Gothland as a naval base, the Swedish were promised land gains in Lapland. Meanwhile the British and Germans were planning a guerrilla war using Russian revolutionaries as well as a conventional front with Russia. The Kaiser was especially pleased with the plan and his caused him to join the British-Japanese cause as it would destroy Russian influence in East Europe and would also cause France to join the war too. This war had the potential to destroy two of Germany's greatest foes (France and Russia) as well as to gain some more colonies and other territories.

Also after a while of nationalism brewing in Norway, the Norwegian Parliament declared the union with Sweden dissolved, and Norway achieved full independence on June 7th, and a little later on, Prince Carl of Denmark became King Haakon VII of Norway on November 18.

1906[]

WW1AltrnRussia1906

After the slow build up of forces and the increased frequency of riots across Russia, the British blockade was strengthened with the addition of extra ships to the blockade in order to free ships to aid the planed takeover of Riga and Helsinki. Armed riots and coups in Riga and Helsinki began on January 2nd 1906, a section of the British fleet then entered the bay of Riga and fired on Riga on the 3rd, as well as another detachment of the British blockade attacking Helsinki and another detachment sailing to St. Petersburg and a naval bombing commenced, which was to last until March, when the naval bombardment stopped.

The coups in Latvia and Finland then started to get into full swing as the British made troop landings in Riga, Helsinki, Aland islands and Osd island. Then on the 5th the Polish coup began. However, this was much more successful as the Poles where armed much better, then on the 9th the Germans declared war on Russia and invaded Polish Russia and Lithuania. Then on the 12th the Swedish declared war on Russia and attacked Lapland. Then on the 13th Norway declared war, and the crack Swedish and Norwegian snow troops managed to start a successful hit and run invasion of Lapland. After two more weeks of these landings and advancements by the Germans, Swedish and British, the western front looked a little like this on the green line. The HMS Dreadnought is commissioned on the 26th of January and sails up the Baltic to give naval support to the Finish land armies attacking the St. Petersburg region. This attack on St. Petersburg from Finland was were the majority of the allied armies were attacking from, meaning the majority of the Russian armies were drawn there, and lessened Russian resistance of the more northern Finish, Russian and Karelian fronts. However, lots of Russians kept the Germans and Poles back, but the Baltic states were lost and by March 1st the fighting became a lot more trench based, and the fighting line became more static and moved back into Russia fairly slowly. Then in the next month of fighting, the front reached the green line on the map on the right; the Russians dug in lots and the fighting became very trench-oriened across the Russian line, expect in Karelia where significant gains were made, but the Russians created a strong defensive line along the Onega river and to the big lakes of south Karelia.

During April and March the Russian line stayed about the same as at the start due to the start of trench warfare, thanks to the production and development of thousands of new machine guns by the Russians. Then after lots of demands for help the French finally decided to intervene by declaring war on Germany and Britain. The French also gave arms and money to the Sinn Fein party in Ireland and they started a coup in Ireland, the French also sent a fleet down the Thames and they attacked London, this attack was eventually repulsed and caused much fear in Britain and a large naval war started in the Channel. Many battles happened between the two powers and the French invaded the Channel islands, too. They also attacked Germany and German forces set up a defensive line in Alsace with a large garrison in Strasbourg. Europe is quickly divided, but many powers remain neutral. However, in Russia the independence movements form their own nations and Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Anarchist Republic of Crimea (Crimea is led by the would-be members of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine in real world events, but here they gain support from Germany and England and form their own republic in the Crimean peninsula). Also the Bolshevik armies have created their own soviet republic centered in Siberia. Around November in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia their independence movements become more recognized by the Russians, but the Turks see this as a good excuse to gain old land back, and they attack Georgia. As 1906 ends the conflict is truly world wide, as there is fighting in Europe, Asia, Africa North America and Oceania.

1907[]

Divided world 1907

1907 begins with a selection of Russian democrats forming an alliance with the British and their allies, and they come to an agreement, with the Murmansk region and the White sea area becoming the Russian Republic, supporters of this republic began riots and attempted to cross over the White sea and the 'no man's land' between the Russian army and the allied line. The army attempted to stop this but they just made the rioting worse, and the Russian civil war got even worse.

The Ottomans take over most of Georgia by March and they begin to attack Armenia and Azerbaijan. Early in June the British sends an invasion fleet to take Montenegro consisting mainly of the Russian Black Sea (remember they deserted in 1905), who quickly takes the Montenegrin cost in two weeks, and the Montenegrin surrender to the British and agree surrender terms with the British and Germans, which included free passage of German and British forces through Montenegrin territory for the next 99 years.

The battle of the Vosges[]

Elsewhere in France the Germans had kept the front largely the same as the international borders, with the exception of the German attack on Belfort on February 4th. The battle of Belfort though, had spilled out to Munsterol by the 28th(where the majority of the German army in this battle were stationed), Delle by March 3rd and the Argot Forest on the 17th March, and later became the battle of the Vosges by April 1st, after the Germans take the French fort on Great Balloon d'Alsace and begin to attack Le Thillot, Cornimon, Gerardmer and Fraize, and with Markirch being attacked by the French. This battle remained on roughly the same lines for months, thanks to the strong French defences around Belfort, and equally the German defences around Markirch. However, during December the Germans made a big push on Belfort and one of the fortresses of Belfort was destroyed in a non stop bombardment of the fort over the course of a week and the French began to weaken.

Maoofalsacefront

The Battle of Metz[]

Also at the same time of this the battle of the Vosges, the French were attacking the fortress city of Metz and the rest of the Alsace region, but with the focus on Metz. However, like the battle of the Vosges the front stayed virtually the same, due to strong fortresses on both sides. The French commander of the battle of the Vosges (who was stationed in Epinal) was trying to convince the Swiss to let the French armies go through Switzerland to attack the German flank from Basel, to attack the German towns of Lorrach, Hegenheim and Blotzheim. However, the Swiss government wished to remain neutral, and the Swiss promised to join the German side intermediately if the French attacked Switzerland.

(Note that on the map opposite, each red dot is a German division and each blue dot is a French division).

The Battle of Nancy[]

This was another battle going on at the same time as the battles of Metz and the Vosges, this was a German attack to try and take the large French city of Nancy, in order to strike a psychological blow to the French by taking a major French city, plus it would serve as a good command post for the rest of the war for the French-German front rather than continue to use Strasbourg.

German strategy for a flanking attack[]

The Germans were also planning a flanking attack, but this one was through Belgium, but this meant that the Belgium's claim for neutrality would be broken, and the British would have to declare war on Germany because of the the 1839 Treaty of London and its significance from Article 7 of the treaty, which bound Britain to guard the neutrality of Belgium in the event of the latter's invasion. Meaning that the British would never allow the Germans to attack France through Belgium, so the Germans appealed to the British to invade France, and fortunately the British were planning just that. Then after around a month of planning the British finally came up with a plan to launch amphibious assaults on Calais and Cherbourg in October that year, or later if control of the channel was lost.

The battle of the Isle of Wight[]

HMSRoyalSovereign1897

With the British aiming to invade France in December at Calais and Cherbourg, control of the Channel was seen to be in British hands. However, on November 29th the French fleet which had previously been stationed at Brest sailed around into the Channel and using a combined fleet of Submarines and Battleships the French destroyed a patrolling ship the HMS Royal Sovereign (The Sovereign is pictured on the left) in a short engagement, due to the amount of French ships and subs. After the Sovereign was destroyed the rest of the British fleet was alerted and rendezvoused around Brighton. The French fleet, however, continued to sail and made landings on the Isle of Wight's south western coast around 10pm, the French then marched across the plains of the isle, unopposed with a few police officers and armed civilians trying to fight back. However, these people were quickly killed with only two French casualties. The French took Newport also. However, there was a small army garrison there, but again they were killed with only three French casualties, by 11am the following day the isle of Wight was taken with only ten French casualties. The French then attacked the British fleet who were in port at Portsmouth and the British lost control of the Channel. While this operation was going on, the French were also invading the Channel Islands and had them all under French control in a week.

1908[]

The French theatre of War in 1908[]

The French-German front was becoming increasingly stationery due to the introduction of trenches across the line of battle, hundreds of men were dying in small advancements daily. However, the situation in Britain was worsening for the British, with a lot of their channel fleet destroyed the French had won control of the Channel and another amphibious invasion of Britain looked certain, but this time on the mainland of Britain.

The British in order to stop this used lots of artillery to pound the French positions on the Isle of Wight and was re-ordering the British fleet into two groups, one in Milford Haven and another in the Thames mouth. The plan of the recently appointed British First Naval Lord John Fisher (Lord Walter Kerr was in control for longer, due to his knowledge of the fleet at the start of the war and not wanting to cause disarray in the navy bosses), the title of First Naval Lord was changed to First Sea Lord too, mainly as a show of British naval might, despite a French victory. The Mediterranean fleet, however, was doing much better against the French Mediterranean fleet and controlled the east Mediterranean with a blockade of British ships between Scilly and Tunis (the strait of Sicily), with a smaller blockade in the strait of Messina, with the back-up ships in Malta. However, the waters around Corsica and the rest of the western Mediterranean was in French hands.

The French then launched an invasion of Lymington in early hours of January 12th and the port was took within the day. The French then increased their ground around Lymington. However, the British were amassing an army to attack the French in Lymington, and on January 26th the British finally attacked from the New Forest area and the Battle of New Forest begun.

Battle of New Forest/Lymington 26/01/1908 - 07/02/08[]

The battle was a British offensive to kick the French off the British mainland by attacking the French positions via the New Forest, the battle began with a whole cavalry brigade charging through the Forest to attack the French trenches, with the majority of the French forces still asleep due to the British attacking around 6am just as the sun was raising the British cavalry took the French trenches and rearranged the French machine guns to be turned around and as the French came to take the trench back the cavalry mean fired the captured French machine guns (as well as their rifles) and repealed the French counter attack. The rest of the British army caught up with the cavalry around 30 minutes later and helped the cavalry to repeal another French counter attack. With their second counter attack a failure the French decided to strengthen their position in the village of Brockenhurst. The British though expecting another counter attack waited an hour for another counter attack. However, with nothing happening the moved out to take Brockenhurst, which the British Division leader decided to move out and attack Brockenhurst. However, just as they were about to move out, a French cavalry company appeared and began to attack the British. The British managed to defeat this French attack. However, the British who had just began to move out of the trenches were killed (around 100 men killed). The British though decided to continue to attack Brockenhurst and sent forward a scouting cavalry squad, who returned to the slowly advancing British. The scouts reported the French commanders were garrisoned in the train station. The British artillery began to shell the station as the rest of the British troops began to move through the village, and the battle for Brockenhurst raged for the rest of the day and night and the French commander surrendered at 2:14pm the following day. The British then moved into near-by Brockenhurst manor to use it as a command base. Elsewhere the other British corp attacked the French from the east by attacking New Milton and Barton on sea; this larger force took the majority of the French forces and the French began to withdraw to a trench line around Milford on Sea, Everton, Pennington, Bowling Green, Boldre, Norely Wood, East end and the Solent. However, French units outside of this trench line stayed outside the line to fight back the British.Battleofnewforest


On the 27th the three British divisions in New Milton attacked the French unit in Ashley & forced them into a withdrawal and they began to march back to regroup with the French division in Hordle. However, around half of the unit was lost as they were retreating and also in the initial attack of the French New Milton positions. The British also then surrounded the French division in the outskirts of Barton on sea, the majority of this division surrendered. The British in Tiptoe also began to move out to attack Hordle, which they reached around night fall and began to besiege the French positions. The rest of the British from New Milton then arrived in Hordle in the early hours of the 28th and began to flush out the French. However, most of the battle of Hordle was hand-to-hand combat and it took the British two days to fully clear Hordle of French soldiers, none surrendered and only a hundred or so prisoners were taken by the British.

Elsewhere, a lone cavalry division attacked Sway on the 27th in a daring night raid but due to the majority of the French being caught off guard in Sway the village was taken by day break and around half of the French division in Sway surrendered. The two of the three divisions which were used to take Brockenhurst went down to attack Setley on the 29th and again faced a brutal, mainly hand-to-hand combat in taking Setley, all of the French were killed at around half of the British, and if artillery wasn't used then the numbers would of been even worse for the British. On the 29th a force of three divisions set out from Southampton to Fawley and then began to march to Blackfield and from there to Exbury. This was the final part of General Neville Lyttelton's three part attack on the French beachhead; General Lyttelton (who was also served as Chief of General Staff too) believed a quick victory was needed to push the French out of the British mainland for good, because if they took too long French reinforcements may land and overwhelm the British; so he decided to attack immediately. However, he knew that the French could be reinforced in a day, so working with First sea Lord John Fisher they devised a double attack. On the first of February the army would attack the French trench line from the North and West with the fleet moving out from Milford Haven and the Thames mouth. The east fleet was to launch an amphibious assault on the east of the Isle of Wight (centered around Bembridge), with the western fleet attacking Totland bay were it was estimated the French fleet would be while transporting troops to Lymington. Torpedo boats would also be sent out from Southampton and Portsmouth to attack any French vessels in the Solent. A group of German destroyers would also sail down to the Channel to besiege Calais as well as give additional protection to the landing fleet. This joint operation combined with the battle of New Forest/Lymington to become the battle of the Solent.

The Battle of the Solent 02/02/1908 - 08/02/1908[]

Around 2am two torpedo boat groups sailed out of Southampton to clear the west Solent of ships, they sunk one French cruiser and several other small French ships, another two torpedo boat groups sailed out of Portsmouth at around the same time and they encountered three French cruisers, three torpedo groups and the destroyer République class "République". The French were forced into a retreat at a cost of half of the torpedo boat groups and they re-grouped into one group. The Thames fleet were quickly informed and began to sail to Bembridge. However, along the way they encountered two French destroyer République class ships the "République" & "Patrie"; as well as the other destroyer of a lesser class, the "Suffren" as well as a few other smaller ships. It seemed that the French had heard of the German plans and not the British ones but still meet the British invasion fleet, a small naval battle began with the British escort ships including the Colossus class battleships the "Colossus" & "Edinburgh"; as well as the Admiral class battleships the "Rodney", "Howe" & "Benbow" attacking the French ships to allow the troop transport ships to get past to Bembridge. But then French re-enforcements began to arrive including several torpedo boats and the turret battleships the "Iéna", "Bouvet", "Jauréguiberry" & "Masséna". Due to the superior numbers of the now re-enforced French, the British were getting decimated. However, the German fleet which was meant to attack Calis was informed of the French attack and quickly sailed in and turned the battle against the French. The Germans attack from behind caused the French to lose the "Bouvet" and the "Masséna" as the French were struggling to turn around and re-organise. They slowly moved out from in-between the Germans and British fleets losing the "Jauréguiberry" as they re-organised. The "Iéna" was now the only major French ship left and the big guns pounded it down until it sunk. The remaining smaller ships were either sunk with the "Iéna" or sunk by the perusing German fleet as they tried to sail away. The British landed in Bembridge with a French fortified building in the form of an old bakery. Elsewhere the Eastern fleet landed with minimal naval resistance since the majority of the French navy were occupied with the east fleet and the German fleet. However, a French trench line and the needles gun battery was over-looking the beach and artillery fire from this killed many troops landing on the bay, until the escorting ships began to fire on the battery with the Trafalgar class battleship the "Nile" landing the shell which hit the ammo and in turn blew up the battery.

On the 3rd of February with these two beachheads the British armies began to go inwards to the Isle of Wight, the majority of the French troops had withdrawn to Newport were they had formed fortifications around including a trench line, Carisbrooke Castle and a few other barricaded/fortified buildings. The two British armies marched across Isle of Wight towards Newport with a splinter army from the larger eastern British army going south to secure the lesser defended Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor.

The western army going towards Newport encountered a French battalion while trying to clear out Yarmouth. However, they had been set up in Yarmouth castle and were raining bullets down on the approaching British armies. This was unexpected and so the British high command began to prepare a new landing in Cowes in order to secure the entrance to the River Medina, so British ships could sail down to give naval support to the attacks on Newport and Cowes respectively.

The 4th of February continued in the

  • The British re-take the Isle of Wight & the Channel Islands from the French. As well as this the British start landings around Calais and Cherbourg.
  • The treaty of Cagliari was also signed as the defeat of France seeming very likely in the next few years, Germany, Italy, Britain, Luxembourg & Spain all attended a Secret Conference in Cagliari in order to come to a decision about how to split up France & its overseas colonies after the war. This conference ended in the formation and signing of the Treaty of Cagliari. (For more info on this treaty see the Original WW-I article)
  • The anti-Ottoman revolts intensify across Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan & martial law is declared in the Ottoman empire in the Caucasus region
  • October 5 – Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar.
  • July 3 – Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire: Major Ahmed Niyazi, with 200 followers (Ottoman troops and civilians), begins an open revolution by defecting from the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia, decamping into the hill country.

1909[]

  • Balkan bayonet charge
    The peninsula around Cherbourg is taken over and is in firm British control, over a large trench battle rages around the end of the peninsula as the British try to advance. Similarly in Calais the British extend their beach head and push into Northern France, albeit while fighting a bloody trench battle or two.
  • The Germans push into France further and push the French trench lines back, taking Nancy on August 2nd.
  • The leaders of Sinn Fein and the other Irish separatist groups are captured and executed. This ends the Irish rebellion.
  • The Crimean Republic is recognized as an independent state by most countries now and on July 1st the Treaty of Yalta is signed, declaring peace between the Crimean Republic and Russian Empire. The treaty also declares peace between Ukraine and Crimea but the Ukrainians continue to fight the Russian Empire.

1910[]

  • The British and Germans continue to push back the French in France.
  • Spain does a few small skirmish attacks into European France after declaring war on France in January. However, the Spanish keep to a fortification/trench line in the Pyrenees Mountains mainly in the Spanish-French conflict in Europe. The small Spanish raids into France angers the French government and an army is sent to attack Spain in May. However, the Spanish fortifications allowed the Spanish to dig in deep and all the French attacks were repulsed. From August the French give up attacking and a nervous stand-off continues until Winter 1911.
  • Estonia leave the war after signing the treaty of Pskov with various countries which stabilizes and decides its borders.
  • With the Ottomans losing control and battles against Italy in Libya and the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani revolutionaries the Greeks, Albanians, Montenegrins, Serbians, Macedonians, and Bulgarians sign an anti-Ottoman alliance with the Italians, Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis; and declare war on the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman army is now very stretched out fighting invading countries, rebellions, etc.

1911[]

  • The Italian army attack France and march towards Nice in August, this attack is strengthened by returning troops from Africa after the French surrender in Africa and on September 5th Nice falls to Italy. The Italians then try to march forwards but are stopped by advancing French forces, and Italian troops begin to retreat in November, and on November 19th the Second Battle of Nice begins.
  • Italian troops invade Corsica in July, this is the largest Italian attack against the French and Corsica falls on October 11th.
  • French & Italian fleets engage in the battle of the Strait of Bonifacio on August 4th. A French victory causes the Italian troops in Corsica to be cut off and the Italian forces rush to take over the Island. The British send in the Royal Navy to help the Italian Fleet to destroy French naval control and in the battle of Elba, the French navy is finally destroyed. After this the French southern coast is blockaded, stopping lots of supplies to France.
  • The Russian Republicans and the German lines begin to meet and the Russian Empire's armies begins to split and the Tsar Nicholas the second begins to try and to establish peace with the Russian Republicans and the Germans. However, the Tsar shows no peace to the communists, anarchists or the Muscovy league.
  • Spanish troops launch a big assault on France in the winter due to the French moving troops from the Spanish front to fight the Germans. The Spanish with the superior numbers, the initial attack begins on November 9th and they reach Toulouse by December 28th.

The Ottoman Empire is defeated[]

Turkish trenches at Gallipoli

Ottoman troops look on fearful of imminent allied attack on their position

The British declare war on the Ottoman Empire, join the Anti-Ottoman league and invade Egypt and Sudan. British ships also move into the Aegean Sea in order to disrupt Ottoman ships too. Now with lots of invading enemies the Ottoman Empire experiences a rebellion in the Capital and the Turk rebellion starts and Turkish republicans join the anti-Ottoman alliance in January. The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (he stays in power as the people who would over throw him in the OTL are instead occupied trying to defeat the other rebellions and invasions) signs the treaty of Constantinople with the anti-Ottoman league which reduces the Ottoman Empire to a city state with some land around the city. With this the Sultan vows to make Constantinople much larger and for the city to take up all of the land his empire is now limited to. Elsewhere the rest of Asia Minor becomes the Republic of Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan; either gain land or become nations. Italy gain Libya and Britain gains Egypt & Sudan. This puts the anti-Ottoman league, except Italy who are fighting France, Britain who continue to expand into former Ottoman controlled land and to fight France, and the Ottoman Empire out also.

However, with the Ottoman Empire out of the war and a shadow of its former self, a civil war starts in the former Ottoman Middle Eastern territories. This spills into the other states in the Arabian Peninsula and the recent discovery of oil in Arabia also attracts the interest of European Powers and many of them are re-drawn into the war, albeit with a lot less troops.

1912[]

Emile loubet

Émile Loubet, the French President

  • Due to the failure of the overseas French colonial troops and the battle slowly losing in France the French president Émile Loubet negotiates a peace treaty with the British and Germans. (In OTL Loubet did not seek re-election at the end of his term. However, in this timeline, he stays in power mainly to keep the government similar because if a new government was elected then there may of been confusion and disarray as the governments changed) France are now out of the war and lose lots of overseas colonies and some territory from actual France thanks to the treaty of Strasbourg on January 8th.
  • The Treaty of Baku is signed between the Tatars, Cossacks, Soviets, Mensiviks, Moscowy league, Russian Republicans, Germany, Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Turkestan, Nebesa, Japan, Poland and Ukraine to decide how post war Russian Empire will be split up.
  • The USSR and Poland after the treaty of Baku have all their borders decided with its neighbours and they leave the war since neither Poland or USSR could expand their borders.

Aftermath of the European War[]

Trenches after the Battle of Machynlleth

The aftermath of all the trench warfare, was millions of lives...

Even though peace had been achieved in Europe, and the war had stopped in this theatre; the war would continue to rage on in Asia, especially in Russia and Arabia but the fighting in Europe was over with the surrender of France. Part of Russia is in Europe though, and European Russia though would continue to see fighting but that is in the Russian Civil War section rather than this Europe section which is aimed more at Western Europe. Anyway, the war was over for France, and France started to form a new government and rebuild the ruined nation. The terms of surrender dictated by the treaty of Strasbourg, included war reparations, the loss of colonies, and loss of territory in France proper. The French military wasn't penalized though, it was, however, subject to British and German inspectors to make sure the French weren't planning on invading the lost French territories. And the loss of the war had put the French military out of serious action for some time, so Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain could sleep easy knowing for the time being, the French wouldn't be a serious threat to their newly gained territory.

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