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So the Reich and Britain will stand together. Very interesting, I wonder how the other powers will align themselves. Austria will need Germany and I can't see the others oppose the mighty Germany alliance.
 
cthulhu said:
So the Reich and Britain will stand together. Very interesting, I wonder how the other powers will align themselves. Austria will need Germany and I can't see the others oppose the mighty Germany alliance.

Thankyou. Please rember that the 'alliance' is just an understnading and nothing formal it is more like a defensive alliance... think back to 1914 and rember that Germany declared war upon France and Russia. ;)

There is not so much different in this time line, Russia and France stand against Germany and Austria with Italy and the OE waiting to see who looks to be winning and Britain not looking to get entangled in a continental war. :D
 
Well, IMnotsoHO, France, Russian and Italy won't stand much of a chance against GER, AUS, OTO without Britain (the Italians will probably not fight anyway). The French Atlantic fleet will probably be beaten to pulp, so no blockade. :)
 
cthulhu said:
Well, IMnotsoHO, France, Russian and Italy won't stand much of a chance against GER, AUS, OTO without Britain (the Italians will probably not fight anyway). The French Atlantic fleet will probably be beaten to pulp, so no blockade. :)

Indeed... but France only has to defend from Switzland to Belgium, with forts like Verdun and French planners not relying upon British troops it could be difficult for Germany. Russia however may not be so lucky... you'll have to wait and see... tonight or tomorrow The Great War!! :)
 
Lord_Robertus: Thank you sir...

Stymphalid: oh dear... thank your for your words, but you may not like WWI... :)
 
The Great War

1914


Revelation chapter 6 said:
1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

On the 28th Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip a member of the revolutionary youth organization Young Bosnia. Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his death was the spark to the powder keg that was continental Europe. His uncle Franz Joseph I Emperor of the Empire was outraged when he heard the news. His first course of action was to telephone his ally Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. When the Kaiser advised that he would back Austria “…to the hilt…”, Austria on the 23rd July sent a ten point ultimatium.


Austria said:
1. To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and contempt of the [Austrian] Monarchy;
2. To dissolve immediately the society styled Narodna Odbrana [National Defence], and to proceed in the same manner against the other societies which engage in propaganda against [Austria];
3. To eliminate without delay from public instruction in Serbia, both as regards the teaching body and the methods of instruction, all that serves or might serve to foment propaganda against Austria-Hungary;
4. To remove from the military service and the administration in general all officers guilty of propaganda against Austria-Hungary, names of which were to be provided by the Austro-Hungarian government;
5. To accept the collaboration in Serbia of organs of the Austro-Hungarian government in the suppression of the subversive movement directed against the territorial integrity of the monarchy;
6. To take judicial proceedings against the accessories to the plot of June 28th who are on Serbian territory, with the help and direction of organs delegated by the Austro-Hungarian government;
7. To immediately arrest two named persons implicated by the preliminary investigation undertaken by Austria-Hungary;
8. To prevent by effective measures the cooperation of [Serbia] in the illicit traffic in arms and explosives across the frontier;
9. To furnish Austria-Hungary with explanations regarding statements from high Serbian officials both in Serbia and abroad, who have expressed hostility towards Austria-Hungary; and
10. To notify Austria-Hungary without delay of the execution of the[se] measures.

The Serbian government agreed to all but one of the demands in the ultimatum, noting that participation in its judicial proceedings by a foreign power would violate its constitution. Austria-Hungary nonetheless broke off diplomatic relations on the 25th July and then declared war 28th July through a telegram sent to the Serbian government. This was followed on the 30th by Russia’s mobilisation after the break down of crucial telegram communications between the Czar of Russian and Kaiser of Germany.

Czar Nicholas II said:
"I foresee that very soon I shall be overwhelmed by the pressure forced upon me and be forced to take extreme measures which will lead to war. To try and avoid such a calamity as a European war I beg you in the name of our old friendship to do what you can to stop your allies from going too far. Nicky."

But in the end, the correspondence changes tone and the two leaders warn each other of impending mobilization due to factors out of their control, while retaining the notion that mobilization does not mean war. An excerpt of the last telegram:

Kaiser Wilhelm II said:
"Immediate affirmative clear and unmistakable answer from your government is the only way to avoid endless misery. Until I have received this answer alas, I am unable to discuss the subject of your telegram. As a matter of fact I must request you to immediatly [sic] order your troops on no account to commit the slightest act of trespassing over our frontiers. Willy"

When Russia refused to de-mobilise on the 31st at Germany’s behest, the fate of the continent was sealed. On the 1st august Germany declared war upon Russia and then on the 3rd a declaration of war upon France.


Revelation chapter 6 said:
3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

With the dawning of war came the implementation of the Grand Plans of Germany, France and Russia. Alfred von Schlieffen, German Army Chief of Staff, was given instructions to devise a strategy that would be able to counter a joint attack. In December 1905, he began circulating what later became known as the Schlieffen Plan. Schlieffen argued that if war took place it was vital that Russia was speedily defeated. If this happened, France would be unwilling or unable to carry on fighting. Schlieffen calculated that it would take Russia six weeks to organize its large army for an attack on Germany. Therefore, it was vitally important to advance into Russia as quickly as possible to try to get Russia to surrender while a defensive force would hold off France.

Schlieffen (left) and von Moltke (the younger right)

The ‘shots of war’ were fired on the 8th of August when French colonials invaded the German protectorate of Togoland. While in Europe Germany’s mobilisation machine was moving with amazing speed and troops were disembarking in East Prussia ready to invade Russia. Schliffen’s reasoning that it would take six weeks for Russia to mobilise were quite correct, in fact it took much longer due to the German invasion that began on the 3rd of August. While German troops marched deep into Russian territory with only token resistance by border guards panic and confusion spread within the Russian High Command.

Senegalese soliders who were used to attack Togoland

On the western front The French commander-in-chief, Joseph Joffre attacked according to Plan XVII. Helmuth von Moltke new his adversary well and had envisaged, to almost the last detail, what the French would do. It was, therefore, understandable what would happen next. Frenchmen clad in their colourful uniforms marched ‘shoulder to shoulder’ en-mass toward the German lines. For their part the Germans were deeply entrenched in the impressive and deadly line of the Schlieffen Line.

A drawing of the German trench system

The slaughter was extensive and almost unimaginable, with the initial stages of Plan XVII failing because of huge losses the French High Command was thrown into disarray. With no way to circumvent the German line Joffre had no option but to dig-in. von Moltke and the rest of the German High Command were jubilant, with only five to ten percent of German forces in the Line of trenches and forts in Alsace-Lorraine the planned invasion of Russia could proceed at ‘double speed’ as the Kaiser reported to his ally Emperor Joseph.

French forces dig-in for the winter on the western front

And so 1914 ended with the Dual-Alliance of Germany and Austria clearly in the ascendancy. As the Dual-Alliance had predicted it looked as though the war would last anything up to two years and would not as Joffre had confidently predicted be “… over by Christmas…”

 
Great update. Spiffin' stuff. :)
 
The Great War​

1915 & 1916

An injured Bear & impotent France


What has surprised many commentators around the world now and even back in 1914 was the German high commands readiness for a long campaign. With hindsight it is easy to see why it was so. When von Schlieffen was tasked with planning a war with both France and Russia he found he had little options. As he saw it there was a need to concentrate upon one foe before tackling another. The obvious target was France, as she could be knocked out more easily. As he looked around he saw his options cut, with Britain’s defence of Belgium guaranteed he could not scythe through onto Paris and with the Verdun line of fortresses he would not even contemplate a direct assault upon French positions. This, therefore, left an attack on Russia as the only option and so he formulated his plan on utilising the estimated six-week mobilisation of Russia.


The Centeral Powere Battle Plan

The First Army (1.Armee) of fifteen divisions in three corps was to advance upon Riga and Daugapils and then on through Pskov to Petrograd while the Second Army would cover its flank. Meanwhile the Third Army split into two groups of two corps each would push from Eastern Prussia and Austria to cut off the Warsaw salient. From the Hungary the Fourth army would support the push of the Austrians First and Second Army’s toward Kiev and the Dnieper River.

The speed of the advance was breath taking and two crucial early battles one in late 1914 and the other early in 1915 would effectively seal Russia’s fate. The Battle of Warsaw was actually fort near Rawa the 2nd Russian army in modern day Poland tried to make a tactical withdrawal so as to stop being encircled by the German Third Army. Unfortunately for Russia and its commander General Alexander Samsonov the engagement was a humiliation. With the Russians totally out manoeuvred and crushed by elements of the German Third army under General Erich Ludendorff it was left to the Russian 1st Army to try and stop the swing upon Riga.

Modern day Riga a German target in 1914​
The battle of Wilno was the Russian’s last attempt to stop the German incursion upon their territory. Fort shortly after the spring ‘Rasputitsa’ it was another crushing blow for the Czar and his people. Many have blamed the Russian General Paul von Rennenkampf for the surprise defeat but much can be attributed to the skilful command of Paul von Hindenburg.

In the west there was nothing the French could realistically do although after the second Russian defeat they did march upon the German lines in Alsace-Loraine.
The loss of life was disturbing to the French High Command and the Russians were largely left to their fate. Elsewhere the French were gaining the upper hand on their Germanic adversaries. In the colonies especially they had made great gains and looked to be ‘mopping-up’ Africa.

When the Russian winter set in the German armies made camp on the western banks of the rivers Dnieper and Dvina. They could be proud with their acheivments thus far Riga was under siege, Kiev was only a few miles away, The Russian army was in total disorder and was crumbling. The factor that Russia had relyed upon was the size of its armies. Unfortunatly while they dwafed the Germans once prepared they faced two decisive problems. The first was that although they could call upon many more troops that the two million that Germany could deploy altogether, they were under supplied with small arms, supplies and leadership. The second was that the moral of the troops was now crumbling. The ‘average solider’ had expected the war to be over by now and after the two horrific defeats they were near breaking.


Generals von Rennenkampf and Samsonov

 
Sorry it has been so long in coming but I have been working on the modification of HOI2 for this idea. Finaly it is almost compleat although there are some slight problems. I hope you have not all forsaken me, thank you for your supprot. :)
 
SirCliveWolfe said:
:rofl:

Edit: What a waste of my 200th post!! :(

200th post? You made 236 posts in 5 days? :eek:

NEways, so the POD is the Fashoda crisis? Quite interesting. Haven't seen it mentioned very often.
 
anonymous4401 said:
200th post? You made 236 posts in 5 days? :eek:

NEways, so the POD is the Fashoda crisis? Quite interesting. Haven't seen it mentioned very often.

Thank you... actually the POD is somewhat earlier, there in no rebellion against British rule in India for example and the Empire is a federation. The POD is actualy around the time of the American Revolutionary war and Clive of India's victory at Pladsey. :)
 
anonymous4401 said:
200th post? You made 236 posts in 5 days? :eek:

NEways, so the POD is the Fashoda crisis? Quite interesting. Haven't seen it mentioned very often.

Ermmm.... 3-9-05 to 8-1005 thats more like a month!? :p
 
It's October already. :(

Tempus fugit...
 
Have just read through the entire AAR I must say so far it has been very impressive, I can only hope the rest will continue in the way it has begun :)
This seems to be a very interesting story, the Germans taking out the Russians first, and then when Russia is defeated I guess Germany will be able to hit France in force and so we shall have a very different ending to the Great War, and thus a different start and different possibilities for the 2nd war.
Keep up the great work :D