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So one update ago there was no war and politics was the primary issue, while now we are reading about naval battles? It's a strange shift for me. I know that you do not intend to describe every year in detail, but still it's a bit strange to make giant leaps forward almost instantly. A little bit of foreshadowing would be nice. Another problem is that not every reader knows history perfectly well, so you cannot just assume that they will know everything you know. If you want to stick to this "excerpts from a book" style, then maybe you should at least provide links to Wikipedia articles about important events that happened between the updates or important people you mention? Alternatively, you could write a short summary of key events that led to the situation which you describe in a given update.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the update, but I believe that it's best to point at perceived shortcomings early on so you can avoid them in future updates.
 
I have to agree with Cybvep here, although this is a spectacular read so far! It is rare and refreshing to see an AAR that delves so deeply into the past. Rule Britannia!
 
So one update ago there was no war and politics was the primary issue, while now we are reading about naval battles? It's a strange shift for me. I know that you do not intend to describe every year in detail, but still it's a bit strange to make giant leaps forward almost instantly. A little bit of foreshadowing would be nice. Another problem is that not every reader knows history perfectly well, so you cannot just assume that they will know everything you know. If you want to stick to this "excerpts from a book" style, then maybe you should at least provide links to Wikipedia articles about important events that happened between the updates or important people you mention? Alternatively, you could write a short summary of key events that led to the situation which you describe in a given update.
Humm... interesting points and to be honest I can't really argue with them. The reason that I have done it this way, is that I worried that if I gave too much time to the early part of the history it may put people off reading. However, I think that your analysis is correct and so the current chapter 4 that I was working on will be put to one side for the moment and I will write a 'guns of August' section for the next chapter. It will be a little out of sequence, but I don't think that will matter too much. :)

Don't get me wrong, I liked the update, but I believe that it's best to point at perceived shortcomings early on so you can avoid them in future updates.
Thank you for your kind words and don't ever worry about upsetting me, the plan for this AAR is to eventually publish it as an eBook so any constructive critisim is gladly recieved (especially from my editor eh? :D ) so thanks again.

I have to agree with Cybvep here, although this is a spectacular read so far!
Yeah I think I can see that a little more writing will be required :D

It is rare and refreshing to see an AAR that delves so deeply into the past. Rule Britannia!
Thank you very much, your words are of great encouragement, and don't think I have not noticed your AAR, I'm only about a third through at the moment, so have not commented as of yet, but its absolutely hilarious so far, good work!... and Rule Britannia indeed! :)
 
Chapter IV – The Machine of War: innocence lost








Chapter IV – The Machine of War: innocence lost
Beyond this place of wrath and tears, Looms but the Horror of the shade



As the barmy summer of 1914 subsided into the autumn changes were afoot, changes that would rob the Edwardian age of its innocence as Europe journeyed from a peaceful, pastoral land unto a stark, scarred, apocalyptic morass. The underlying causes of the war that was about to break upon the continents shores are complex and, in some cases, ran back decades into the past. The spark that set off this complex web of insecurities and alliances, is easier to understand and it all began in the city of Sarajevo, and unknown polis to many. The terrorist, or freedom fighter, depending upon you allegiance, Gavrilo Princip, was involved in a botched attempt to murder Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, when quite by chance he came out of a sandwich shop, of all places, to find his target right in front of him. The gun fired, the bullets flew and Franz Ferdinand and his wife were dead, and the inexorable progress toward conflict started.

The problem, in avoiding war for most of the combatants involved military strategy, in essence the war plans of both Germany and Russia involving the immediate mobilisation of troops. The reason for the spread of the contagion was that Germany’s Schlieffen plan called for the immediate invasion of France, hitherto technically a ‘non-combatant’ and an invasion through neutral, perhaps more importantly British backed neutrality, and thus when Serbia rejected Austria’s ultimatum, the die was cast and a ‘local matter’ soon spiralled into international war, the Battle of the Frontiers had begun.



Soldiers of the BEF, known as the ‘Old Contemptibles’



The German advance was conducted as follows. General Alexander von Kluck's First Army, on the extreme right, numbered 320,000 troops. The neighbouring Second Army, under General Karl von Bülow, and the Third Army, commanded by General Max von Hausen, respectively totalled 260,000 and 180,000. The plan wrought by Moltke dictated that the German right-wing armies must pass through the Meuse Gap between Holland and the Ardennes, a narrow corridor dominated by Liège. The Germans managed to tear through Belgium due to the compromised and cautious defence of General de Selliers de Moranville. When the Anglo-French forces failed to appear beside them the Belgian Field Army chose to withdraw towards Antwerp.

In early August Haldane’s British Expeditionary Force had disembarked in France to a grand welcome from civilians, they pressed through towards Flanders Field to take their pre-planned position upon the French left flank. Joffre, the French supreme commander, had already begun his attack with Bonneau's VII Corps advanced into Alsace. The French army that believed more in Élan than tactics marched in brightly coloured uniforms toward their opponents, just as they had done in the Franco-Prussian was some 40 years ago, the effect was terrible and they were soon compelled to withdraw. These first actions by either side have not caused a mortal blow to their opponents, but the Germans were still streaming toward the allied line. The volunteer army was heading towards the Belgian town of Mons, and its date with destiny, for on the 24th August the ‘Old Contemptibles’ had taken up defensive positions around the Mons-Conde Canal, Sir John French was expecting a force of around five divisions, similar to his own. The man was not aware of the French troubles or that the German force advancing toward him was comprehensibly larger than his own. The Imperial soldiers were the finest men to be seen fighting on any front that year, their rate of fire was such that their opponents thought that every man jack of them had a Vickers machine-gun, but it would not be enough. French had gotten word that the allied line was withdrawing and so fell back accordingly, they cavalry screening the force well.



Map of the Battle of Mons


The German pursuit of the withdrawing allies was remorseless, however they were having their own issues. Russia had mobilised much quicker than anyone had thought possible and they were pushing into East Prussia this, along with Belgian resistance near Ghent, compelled Moltke, the German commander, to detach significant forces to the east and to screen his right flank. This was a mortal blow to the plan, with the forces under his command already tiring and becoming less cohesive a gap was always likely to open up. This occurred between Von Kluck’s First and von Bülow’s Second, Joffre acted decisively and poured troops into the expanse of open space. It was still a close run affair, with 600 Parisian taxi cabs being utilised to transport some 10,ooo troops of the Paris Garrison to the from, but the tide turned and the Germans, being overstretched, withdrew.

The end result was that the war of manoeuvre was finished and both sides started to dig-in, both still looking for an opportunity to flank the other, until the beaches of the Channel were reached and a line of trench fortifications reached from there to the mountains of the Swiss border. In the East, the Austrian invasion of Serbia had been stalled by fanatical resistance and Ludendorff and Hindenburg had decisively defeated Russia’s thrust into Germany at the Battle of Tannenberg. The initial stages of the conflict thus settled down, the war would not ‘be over by Christmas’ and indeed was to last for a number of years. Offensive action quietened over the winter, but it would soon return in the spring as both sides tested each other, but first there was a matter in the North Sea to see too [1].



Campaign map of the 'Battle of the Frontiers'



[1] All of this is as per OTL and for further reading I would recommend Kurt_Steiner’s exclent http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?487730-The-Great-War-(mod-1914) or the somewhat epic work by Allenby http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-interests-British-honour-British-obligations




 
Strong update as usual, I don't really mind the whole 'jumping from topic to topic' thing as I never felt particularly lost and enjoyed where the story was going. Keep it up!
 
Cybvep: Thanks a lot, that was abit of a pain to write, but I got ther in the end :)

Saithis: Your kind words are well recieved :)

BenjaminGrey: Thanks Sir, and RN 1-0 eh?... we'll see :)

Update coming in 5...4... ;)
 
Chapter V - Defeat is a mean feat to achieve








Chapter V - Defeat is a mean feat to achieve
God of our fathers, known of old—Lord of our far-flung battle line



Black Friday, known throughout the Empire, that day of infamy, that stain upon the most noble of generation, defeat at its blackest. This is how that day would be forever remembered, or so it was though at the time. The story of how the Empire got to such a place is a complicated one and yet in the making of defeat was the forging of a recovery, but a seismic shift altered the Empire that day, but it was not to be the spark that did for Empire. The early part of the British effort in 1915 can be described as tepid, at best. Things were started by French at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, were the initial advance was successful, but the leader of the newly enlarged BEF, was slow to engage reserves and bad weather and communications lead to the advantage been lost and a strong, but ultimately unsuccessful, counter-attack by German forces under Crown Prince Rupprecht caused the battle to end, the result was a tactical British victory, but a strategic defeat.

This pattern was to be repeated throughout the year by allied forces, with initial attacks progressing well, but a lack of clear leadership or communication of orders leading to stalemate, while the casualty figures were truly horrendous. The other major theater was the campaign against the Ottomans and Churchill's brainchild, the Dardanelles Campaign. After a successful repulse of the Turks by Anglo-Egyptian forces at the crucial Suez Canal, the project got the green light and in February and Anglo-French unsuccessfully attempted to force the straight, broken off after several ships were badly damaged, and the French ship Bouvet was lost. The next stage was an amphibious landing, with the Sectary of War, Lord Kitchener, entrusting the task to Sir Ian Hamilton along with the newly formed Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, better known at the ANZAC Corps. The landings started on the 25th April, with the Anglo-French portion of the force landing on ‘Cape Helles’, beaches W,X,Y & Z on the below diagram while the Antipodeans landed at ‘Anzac Cove’, beach S [1].




Map showing the landing locations of the Dardanelles Campaign


The landings saw truly horrific casualty figures for all the allied forces, for example the Lancashire Fusiliers, who landed on W beach, were left with only 21 men and officers out of a compliment of 200. While at first, the landings had the look of a bloody mistake, eventually the high ground at Chunak Bier was reached by the elements of the 6th Gurkha Rifles, who had been retained for such a task. They overwhelmed the Ottoman 57th Infantry Regiment, who fought bravely, almost too the man, but had been desperately low on both supplies and ammunition and the Entente landings were secured [2]. The remaining Ottoman defences fell back in some disorder in the fear of being cut off, but they were rallied by Mustafa Kemel at the town of Gallipoli, in the hope that a temporary defence could be held until a more permanent defensive line could be found. The improvised defence, however, held firm in no small part due to Kemel’s leadership and fresh supplies from Constantinople. The ‘Kemel Line’, as it would become known resisted all attempts at allied offensives and the front settled down into a status quo such as the one in Flanders [3].

There was better news for the embattled British government when the Italian nation threw in its lot with the Entente and attacked into Austria. This seemed to be a ‘game-changing’ occurrence, with the Austro-Hungarians struggling to hold back the Russian hordes and eliminate the Serbian army the added troops of Italy would significantly swing the balance against Austria, and therefore Germany. This was not to be the case, however, the First Battle of the Isonzo, raged on as the Italian Supreme commander, Luigi Cadorna, employed frontal assaults after impressive, but brief, artillery barrages that wasted his 2 to 1 advantage in troops, and so another front in the war had been opened and squandered by the Entente. It seemed that there was little prospect for a return to manoeuvre warfare on any front, save in the East where the Russians were on the receiving and being slowly pushed back [4].




Italian General, Luigi Cadorna


So as the leaves, that help make England a ‘green and pleasant land’, turned from their sumptuous summer greens toward the autumnal brown and russet, Rear Admiral Arbuthnott was on the bridge of his flagship HMS Invincible, unaware of what was to come. Room 40 had intercepted signals that a force of German cruisers was intent on returning to the British coast once again under the command of Commodore von Reuter. Battle was opened just 15 miles of the coast of Scarborough as the destroyer Lydiard spotted at least two cruisers and supporting torpedo boats and moved to engage the smaller craft. Commodore Tyrrwhitt, commanding the Harwich Force, had found his prey with a light cruiser more than his adversary, not to mention the three battlecruisers of Arbuthnott’s 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, the trap had been sprung, and all that remained was for Tyrrwhitt ships to keep their foes engaged while their larger sisters closed. By the time the cruisers Cleopatra and Conquest had engaged the German squadron the redoubtable Lydiard had suffered serious damage, but was to keep in line and provide an excellent account of herself [5]. The Strassburg was the first casualty of the fracas as she was hit by two torpedoes from the, now heavily damaged, destroyer Loyal. Von Reuter’s concern was growing as the Cleopatra and Conquest now set upon his remaining cruiser Pillau and it only deepened when coming out of the haze at around 12,000 yards was the unmistakable shape of three Invincible class Battlecruisers.

Tyrrwhitt quietly said a few words of thanks as the greyhounds came on toward his force, but moments later his relief turned to shock as waterspouts lunged from the sea near to the battle-wagons and he received a message from his radio room reading “Strong possibility German battle cruisers in support of von Reuter, Believe it best for you to join with 3rd BCS” Arbuthnott had arrived, but so had Rear Admiral Boedicker with his own battlecruisers. However Arbothnot was quick to respond and before the German’s second salvoes’ had landed the British shells were on their way back, the Battle of Scarborough Headland was well and truly joined [6]. The reports that came from the resultant battle were confused as with the weather, and visibility, being awful the reports from both sides after the event were sketchy and lacking in detail. What is clear is that the gunnery on both sides was superb, with both the German and British landing significant blows upon each other, however, the better results were coming from the German guns. The lightly armoured British vessels were taking a sever pummelling, HMS Invincible was the first real concern as one of her turrets had taken a direct hit from the Derfflinger that had pierced the armour and detonated. The resultant damage was extreme, but the tightened safety measures and the quick flooding of the magazine ensured that she stayed afloat, the next to suffer was the HMS Indomitable as the German shells tore through what little armour she had causing horrendous damage. Lastly was HMS Indefatigable which suffered a hit similar to that of the Invincible but the damage to her engines was much worse, causing her to slow rapidly [7].




Rear Admiral Arbuthnott, Leader of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron


The German ships were not in an altogether good shape as they had similarly taken a pasting from British guns, but the shells were letting the Jack Tar’s down. For example the Moltke had taken seven or more direct hits, but not all of these hits had detonated and as a result, although she too lost speed, she was in a much better condition that her enemies. After near four hours of battle, Tyrwhitt, was obliged to disengage for fear of losing all his assets in the region, but this loss was somewhat made up for by the arrival of Commodore Goodenough and his 2nd light Cruiser Squadron. As the Commodore engaged there was an incredible flash seen on board the Invincible after a shell strike and she immediately started to capsize, loosing herself beneath the wave of the North Sea with almost all hands. The German guns were now trained upon the Indomitable and in a few minutes their gunfire, along with multiple torpedo hits, caused another huge explosion and the ship followed her sister to the sea floor. Tyrwhitt realized that Arbuthnot would need all the assistance he could get and steamed back, as fast as possible, toward the German formation attacking with the ferocity of a Dervish and forcing Boedicker, who believed this to be yet another British cruiser force to withdraw. As such the Indefatigable, would manage to limp home and carry news of the worst Royal Navy defeat in modern times back to Britannia [8].

The Royal Navy, it seemed, no longer ‘ruled the waves’ and on the continent, mere days later, John French and Douglas Haig lead British and Commonwealth troops into another attritional contest that lead to the death or injury of at least 50,000 souls for little gain. Earl Grey and His Majesty’s Government was stunned, it appeared that the Naval was close to being lost while the land war bogged down at horrific cost. This, coupled, with the invasion scare stories involving the defeat of The Grand Fleet and marauding Huns across the Home Counties, caused a maelstrom against the Liberal government, the Prime Minister knew what he had to do, and so he approached Chamberlain [9].




HMS Indefatigable, one of the fataly floored I-Class, living up to her name, by making it home







[1] Everything up to here is purely a telling of the war from OTL

[2] The POD (point of divergence) for this particular campaign, in OTL the Ottoman’s managed to hold the line inspired by Kemel, although they had nought but bayonets to fight with.

[3] Well the landing has succeeded, not everything can go perfectly all the time

[4] All as per OTL, such a waste of an opportunity

[5] Got to have heroics when the RN are concerned

[6] This Naval battle is totally made up and did not happen in OTL

[7] Basically were seeing the result of Beatty’s charge at Jutland in 1915 not 1916 and before the two great fleets have met, this may change some things ;)

[8] An unmitigated disaster with two German Battlecruisers smashing a British contingent that outnumbered them... not good, expect sackings galore

[9] So no shell scandal means no coalition with the Tories… until the Battle of Scarborough Headland anyway ;)




 
Beautiful update, I loved the description of the naval battle. Britain now has to think twice about underestimating the Germans on the water.
 
BenjaminGrey: Sorry Ben, but I'm glad you enjoyed the update if not the outcome :)

Cybvep: Thanks very much

Saithis: Thanks for the compliment :) Not sure they underestimate the Germans... just overestimated how much speed could equal armour... :eek:hmy:

Thanks to all those reading :D

...update in 5... 4...
 
Chapter VI – The End of The Begining








Chapter VI – The End of The Begining
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget!





The position for Grey was a precarious one, the government had not had the greatest of majorities after the last election, and this have been further eroded by the Marconi Scandal. For the time before the war, this was not a problem, as the Liberal party was seemingly united behind Grey and the ‘Imperial Liberal’ faction once the news of the Battle of Scarborough Headland was known, however, those who had lost their power in the ‘night of the long knives’ saw an opportunity and began discussing the war’s execution with other backbenchers. The threat, while initially small, began to grow and the senior members of the party were concerned that the issue would snowball. The only real option available to the Prime Minister was coalition and so he asked Chamberlain to cross the floor and help him form a ‘wartime’ government [1].




Chamberlain, left, & Grey the new political leaders of the war effort



Of course as soon as the offer was made, the horse trading that Parliament is so fond of began, the major issue was of the Great Offices of State and what Grey was willing to ‘give up’ for Conservative support. In the event Grey was worrying mainly about the ‘cosmetics’ of any move, as he already knew that any deal would involve giving up two of the offices [2] and that as he would remain as Prime Minister it came down to a choice between Viscount Haldane, at the Foreign Office, Asquith, at the Home Office and Reginald McKenna, at the Treasury. It was an easy choice to push McKenna out as he had little to no backing within the party and while Haldane would be tricky to remove, Asquith would be impossible. It was Kitchener who was to provide the ‘way out’ of the problem, by promptly resigning after the terrible losses suffered at the Battle of Loos. Grey swallowed his pride and offered the posts at the head of the Treasury and Foreign Office to Chamberlain. The offer was quickly accepted with only a few provisions, the first was that Chamberlain would be made Lord High Treasurer [3], giving him a high rank in the cabinet, but allowing for him to be able to concentrate on strategy without the problems inherent in running an office of state. The second provision was that a ‘war cabinet’ would be formed to streamline the running of the war and separate it from the running of the country [4]. The first political casualty of the war then was Winston Churchill, who lost his office of state along with Jacky Fishers, being replaced by Admiral Henry Jackson [5].


As such the new cabinet was as follows;


War Cabinet;
Prime Minister: Sir Edward Grey
Lord High Treasurer: Joseph Chamberlain
Secretary of State for War: Viscount Haldane
Foreign Secretary: Lord Curzon
First Lord of the Admiralty: Austen Chamberlain
Secretary of State for India: Reginald McKenna
Secretary of State for Munitions: Edwin Samuel Montagu [6]


Other Cabinet Posts;
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Andrew Bonar Law [7]
Home Secretary: H H Asquith


Once the new government and war cabinet were in place, the beginnings of radical change in the armed forces could begin. One of the more interesting points from the fallout and reaction to, Black Friday, is the fact that while the Royal Navy was most culpable for the fall of the ‘peace-time’ government, it experienced less change at the operational level than the Army, which saw significant changes [8]. The first was a major change upon the western front with Sir John French quickly being removed from control of the BEF and replaced by James Grierson [9], who had been in command of II Corps. As we now know the change was a masterstroke, but it was a close run affair, Douglas Haig always thought that it should have been him to succeed French, but his involvement in Loos caused Grierson to take command. The other critical move was that after the Gallipoli Campaign had bogged down, its commander Ian Hamilton, was succeeded by Edmund Allenby [10] who had covered himself with glory leading the screening cavalry at the retreat from Mons. The other change during the coalition building was Kitchener’s last act for the British armed forces, the introduction of conscription. The move had always been seen as too controversial, and as the initial response to his national requests for volunteers had been so successful that it was only the appalling losses and ‘defeats’, that enabled the move. [11]

The Admiralty, as we have seen, did not get off ‘scot free’ with Churchill resigning from Parliament to take a command on the Western Front and Fisher retiring after the embarrassment. The position of the active Admirals, however, was not changed as the understanding was that little had actually ‘gone wrong’ in terms of leadership and tactics, but the deficiencies lay with the battlewagons themselves, as Arbuthnott had commented during the battle, “There is something terribly wrong with our ships today!” [12]. The major change, then, was the removal of the I-Class battlecruisers from The Grand Fleet to the Mediterranean Theatre, where they would be facing off against less strenuous competition, and the existing dreadnoughts from said theatre acting as their replacements [13]. The second change was the two Battlecruisers already laid down, would have their armour significantly upgraded from the original plan [14].




Grierson, left, & Allenby the new army leaders of the war effort



The last major event of early 1916 happened on the home front, or more specifically in Ireland. The process of Ireland moving from being controlled by Westminster to self-representation within the Empire was one that had been moving slowly, but inexorably towards its aims. This had caused problems within the more radical groups over the Irish Sea, in that the closer Ireland got to ‘home rule’ the more the moderates grew in popularity and the extremists waned, this then was the context for the Easter Rising. The insurrection was organised by the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and lasted for three days in April of that year. Members of the Irish Volunteers, led by Patrick Pearse, joined by the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connollyand and members of Cumann na mBan, tried to seize key locations in Dublin while proclaiming an Irish Republic independent of Britain. There were some actions in other parts of Ireland including a minor attack on the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks at Ashbourne, County Meath, but they were minor [15]. The major issue for the ‘risers’, as they would become known, was that they lacked for numbers, having only around 400 men, this was because Eoin MacNeill, who was opposed to a rising unless popular support was secured, did everything possible short of phoning Dublin Castle to prevent the rising. He had learnt that the shipment of arms coming from Germany had been intercepted by the Royal Navy, after Room 40 had picked up its orders, as he was unsure that a rising would occur he countermanded Pearse’s orders [16].

When the rising began, members tried to secure key buildings including Liberty Hall, which was to be the risings HQ, Jacob’s biscuit factory and St Stephens Green. When some Dublin civilians, who disagreed with the action, tried to dismantle barricades at the park and factory, they were fired upon by the risers [17]. In the event the rising was only a minor skirmish as most of the population of Dublin was horrified by the use of force and Dublin castle, the home to British rule in Ireland, was left untaken. The result was that after only three days the ‘risers’ surrendered unconditionally to Brigadier-General WHM Lowe, who had taken command of the British forces. Lowe passed control back to the civilian government, in the form of Sir Matthew Nathan, who designated that those involved in the uprising should be tried before a court of their peers [18]. In the end the surviving leaders of the rising, sans Pearse and Éamon de Valera both killed during the fighting, were sentenced to death and other involved were prisoned. The death sentences were commuted, as were many of the prison terms, the only execution to go ahead was that of Roger Casement, and Englishman, who had been tried for high treason in London.




A group of 'risers' during the Easter Rising



The reaction to the Easter Rising from both the populace of Ireland and the British authorities underlined that home rule would be a gradual process carried out in a democratic manner [19]. The Irish Home Rule Act would later be passed by the Westminster, establishing self-governance in Ireland just months after the wars end. Ireland would retain its MPs in Parliament, something that caused a few to comment on why they were still there, but their staying in Westminster, along with other events during the war, would change the shape of Empire. In a way the Easter Rising helped kick-start a debate about how to govern the Empire.






[1] This basically happened to Asquith, but was instead due to the Shell Scandal and the failure at Gallipoli.

[2] Grey is more pragmatic than Asquith was and offers the Conservatives more… in exchange the Tories pay him back by not forcing him out (it also helps that the scheming Lloyd George is out)

[3] A strange decision, but its due in part to 4

[4] This happened when Lloyd George took over in OTL, her its Chamberlain’s brainchild and knowing that the Chancellor will be excluded takes a different job so as to have another Con on the war cabinet

[5] Someone has to take the blame… if Gallipoli goes well, however, Churchill may have his reputation restored more quickly?

[6] Did a pretty good job after LG so we’ll have him from the start

[7] Bonar-Law is heir apparent to Chamberlain in TTL, while in ours he was leader

[8] Funny how that happens eh?…

[9] He went in OTL as well, but here instead of Haig we get James Grierson. He was a noted tactician (he easily defeated Haig in war-games when at a numerical disadvantage), but he died shortly after the BEF’s landing in France in OTL… here he survives… good news for the average Tommy as he seems a much better General.

[10] Allenby eh? Yes the Bull’s taking charge at Gallipoli :) brilliant commander for those who don’t know.

[11] This happened around the same time as in OTL

[12] This is actually Beatty’s quote from Jutland, it seemed approximate here, I’d also agree with the analysis in that the I-Class and lightly armoured ships have no place in the line of battle

[13] Meh… the dreadnoughts in the Med did little so not much change from this

[14] So we have basically gone from a slow version of HMS Hood to a slower, but very well armoured HMS Hood… this probably means that when the actual HMS Hood gets built she’s a ‘fast battleship’ rather than a battlecruiser

[15] Everything up to here is directly from OTL

[16] Basically the POD here is that the message intercepted by Room 40 is used to intercept the arms shipment quicker meaning that MacNeill never supports the rising leading to fewer men

[17] This actually happened in OTL as well and there was a lot of bad feeling because of it. Here the attacks stand out so much more as there is a lot less violence during this version on the rising.

[18] Big difference here, Maxwell doesn’t come in with his size 14’s smashing things, arresting everybody and killing people who have to be tied to a chair as they can’t stand… Maxwell was a g*t who made the rising much, much worse than it needed to have been.

[19] This is the result Irish home rule within the Empire and very different Anglo-Irish relations



 
Splendid update sir! Good to see the changes starting to kick in, glad The Bull's got a chance to shine, never heard of Grierson, wonder how he'll do in place of Haig?
Thanks very much Mr Grey... Just to let you guys know I've had to wipe my HD and re-instal Windows...

...this will not affect the AAR at all, apart from a small pause :) should be a new update tomorrow or Friday at the latest... thanks for the support guys :D
 
Some very interesting divergences so far, I'm looking forward to what comes next.

I also have to say that Chamberlain has a simply smashing monocle on.