The Great War (Chinese Meiji)

A complex web of alliances, colonial competition, and ethnic and nationalistic rivalries are all contributing causes to the Great War. When the global conflict erupted in August 1914, it pitted the Central Powers against the Oriental Alliance, Entente Powers and the United States. Paris fell in a matter of weeks and France surrendered to Germany. Italy, though originally a member of the Triple Alliance, remained neutral until Germany’s spectacular victory over France convinced it to join the Entente Powers.

After France’s defeat in 1916, the European theater shifted to Africa, where the Germans and the British poured in armies to fight over the colonies, and where the Free French forces of the exiled French government rallied troops in defiance of Metropolitan France’s surrender to continue fighting the Germans.

Russia, the Oriental Alliance, Britain and the USA continued to fight on. In February 1918, Germany signed a separate peace with Britain and the United States, which the Chinese viewed as peace.

In January 1921, the hawkish government in China fell, and the replacement National Republican government, which adopted a more conciliatory tone to its enemies, agreed to an armistice and a peace based on Wilson’s Sixteen Points. In the negotiations at London, diplomats from Europe and the United States redrew the world.

Alliances

Central Entente

British Empire

Danish Kingdom (surrenders in 1914)

Second French Republic (surrenders 1914)

Russian Empire

Belgium (surrenders in 1915)

Serbia (surrenders in 1916)

Albania (surrenders in 1917)

Greece

U.S.A. (joined the war 1914)

Netherlands (surrenders in 1914)

Luxembourg (surrenders in 1914)

Italy

Central Powers

Germany (surrenders in 1919)

Sweden (surrenders 1918)

Austria-Hungary

Ottoman Empire

Portugal (surrenders in 1917)

Spain (surrenders 1918)

Bulgaria

Oriental Alliance (allied with Central Entente)

China

Japan

Siam (joined the war in 1916)

Aftermath

After the war ended 1921, December 1st, the Central powers have lost, while U.S.A., the Oriental Alliance, and the Central Entente have won the war. According to the treaty, Germany, Portugal, and Spain was forced to hand every peace of their colonies to Britain, Netherlands, and France. Germany was forced to pay their enemies at least hundreds of billions in war reparations. All of the armies and navies of the Central Powers were limited and a air force was banned. Germany was to give up hold on France as well. Russia was turned into a dominant party with its the whole empire becoming a part of it. Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg formed into United Netherlands because co-operation with the nations can help repair their situations. As a result, U.S.A., the Oriental Alliance, and the Central Entente drew the map of the new world. Germany giving back territory to France and Russia, thus creating the modern borders of Germany. Austrian-Hungary split up into independent nations. China became a republican nation.