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If Britain had made the position clear (attack France and it is war) then Germany wouldn't have given Austria a blank check in dealing with Serbia, the Austrians accept the Serbians response to their ultimatum and the war doesn't happen.
Both sides thinking Britain would act in a manner beneficial to them caused a miscalculation that led to the war.
As for a different WW1, I'm not sure how it could happen, the French knew they couldn't handle Britain which is why they climbed down over Fashoda (in a very embarrassing manner), the Germans have nothing to gain in a war with Britain, nor A-H and Russia would lose out against Britain as well.
Both sides thinking Britain would act in a manner beneficial to them caused a miscalculation that led to the war.
As for a different WW1, I'm not sure how it could happen, the French knew they couldn't handle Britain which is why they climbed down over Fashoda (in a very embarrassing manner), the Germans have nothing to gain in a war with Britain, nor A-H and Russia would lose out against Britain as well.
I think it should.
As others have already mentioned, the outbreak of WW1 was the result of a lot of (secret) diplomatic manouevering on the part of the European major powers, some of it goes back deeply in the 19th century, when Bismarck had drastically changed the balance of power with the unification of Germany, the final act being a crushing victory over France in the 1870/71 war.
By crowning the king of Prussia emperor of Germany in the palace of Versailles, the Germans humiliated the French utterly, which made the French more inclined to go to war with Germany, should the occasion present itself (which it did in 1914)
Germany and England were on the road to an armed conflict by the Kaiser's naval building program, with the goal of challencing the supremacy of the British Royal Navy, which, naturally, the British didn't like. By 1914, the Kriegsmarine was almost the same size of the Royal Navy.
Upto 1914, Austria had steadily increased it's territory and influence in the Balkans and northern Italy. The latter, of course, clashed with the Italian drive for unification which also started way back in the 19th century.
As for the Balkans itself. Russia too wanted to move in there. For centuries, Russia's rulers tried to acquire warm water ports, which could be found in the Balkans. This, of course, was obstructed by Austria moving in furher and further, not to mention the Ottoman Empire, which controlled a lot of that territory too at the time.
All of these major 'events' should have happened in the game to warrant an outbreak of WW1 in or around 1914.
For one, the unification of Germany by Bismarck's Prussia was one big gamble, for which Prussia had fought a number of limited (European) wars. If any of these wars had been lost by Prussia, the German unification would (probably) not have happened. That would have produced an entirely different balance of power, and thus WW1 (in it's RL form) would probably not have hapened.
Jan Peter
As others have already mentioned, the outbreak of WW1 was the result of a lot of (secret) diplomatic manouevering on the part of the European major powers, some of it goes back deeply in the 19th century, when Bismarck had drastically changed the balance of power with the unification of Germany, the final act being a crushing victory over France in the 1870/71 war.
By crowning the king of Prussia emperor of Germany in the palace of Versailles, the Germans humiliated the French utterly, which made the French more inclined to go to war with Germany, should the occasion present itself (which it did in 1914)
Germany and England were on the road to an armed conflict by the Kaiser's naval building program, with the goal of challencing the supremacy of the British Royal Navy, which, naturally, the British didn't like. By 1914, the Kriegsmarine was almost the same size of the Royal Navy.
Upto 1914, Austria had steadily increased it's territory and influence in the Balkans and northern Italy. The latter, of course, clashed with the Italian drive for unification which also started way back in the 19th century.
As for the Balkans itself. Russia too wanted to move in there. For centuries, Russia's rulers tried to acquire warm water ports, which could be found in the Balkans. This, of course, was obstructed by Austria moving in furher and further, not to mention the Ottoman Empire, which controlled a lot of that territory too at the time.
All of these major 'events' should have happened in the game to warrant an outbreak of WW1 in or around 1914.
For one, the unification of Germany by Bismarck's Prussia was one big gamble, for which Prussia had fought a number of limited (European) wars. If any of these wars had been lost by Prussia, the German unification would (probably) not have happened. That would have produced an entirely different balance of power, and thus WW1 (in it's RL form) would probably not have hapened.
Jan Peter
That is not quite true. For one, the German Kaiser desperately tried to avoid war and pushing for a diplomatic solution to the 'problem' at hand (being that Austria was actively pushing for war with Servia). Ultimately, this failed and Germany was more or less forced to honor the alliance with Austria. That resulted in the intervention of Russia, which in turn let to the French DoW on Germany and Austria. (France had an alliance with Russia at the time).
This is a fact that a lot of people don't know (or try to forget). It was France that declared war on Germany, not Germany declaring war on France. However, the Germans did violate Belgian neutrality in their campaign against France, when they executed the 'von Schlieffen' plan (although in RL Germany did not declare war, they did anticipate a two front war against France an Russia as inevitable, and planned ahead accordingly). That was a calculated risk on their part. By invading a neutral, they hoped to gain surprise, to be able to outflank the French army, march on Paris and get the war over with before anyone else could react/respond. It very nearly succeeded as well. It ultimately failed by quick Russian mobilisation and advance into eastern Prussia, making it necessary to withdraw German regiments from the western front to counter the Russians before the campaign in France was won.
Jan Peter
There should be a multitude of assassination events all set for June 1914. 
In an alternate 1914, where Austria has united southern Germany and created a weird-ass dual monarchy of Germany and Hungary, where Prussia had to give the Rhineland to France and where Russia is allied with Prussia, Serbia, the Swedish-Norwegian Kingdom and the Confederate States of America, I want someone else to get shot.
Say, a Russian Grand Duke on visit to Constantinople is shot dead by an exiled Russian anarchist. ("assassination event") Russia presents Turkey with an ultimatum to extradite all wanted Russian 'criminals and terrorists' and demands a guarantee of some sort ("ultimatum event) Austria pledges unconditional assistance to Turkey, France proclaims it will protect the straits, Prussia reaffirms its alliance with Russia and on the other side of the Atlantic ocean the USA and CSA all reaffirm their respective alliances.
I want all possible scenarios provided with "sparks" for global war!
In an alternate 1914, where Austria has united southern Germany and created a weird-ass dual monarchy of Germany and Hungary, where Prussia had to give the Rhineland to France and where Russia is allied with Prussia, Serbia, the Swedish-Norwegian Kingdom and the Confederate States of America, I want someone else to get shot.
Say, a Russian Grand Duke on visit to Constantinople is shot dead by an exiled Russian anarchist. ("assassination event") Russia presents Turkey with an ultimatum to extradite all wanted Russian 'criminals and terrorists' and demands a guarantee of some sort ("ultimatum event) Austria pledges unconditional assistance to Turkey, France proclaims it will protect the straits, Prussia reaffirms its alliance with Russia and on the other side of the Atlantic ocean the USA and CSA all reaffirm their respective alliances.
I want all possible scenarios provided with "sparks" for global war!
Telegram from the Imperial Chancellor, von Bethmann-Hollweg, to the German Ambassador at Vienna. Tschirschky, July 6, 1914
The above is the famous "blank cheque" that Germany gave to Austria, informing them that they could deal with Serbia in whatever manner they liked and Germany would back them up.
I will also quote this
Telegram from the Imperial Chancellor, von Bethmann-Hollweg, to the German Ambassador at Vienna, Tschirschky, July 28, 1914:
Serbia agreed to A-H demands but because Germany had already given them the blank cheque they decided to push for more.
And finally also from the above
Its clear the Germans did not try to restrain A-H and where in fact supporting them and trying to prepare for a War they saw coming.
Just take a look at the various diplomatic traffic in the peroid leading upto the war, Germany was egging the A-H on whilst Britain and Russia were telling Serbia to roll over and do as A-H asked, without Germany being so trigger happy (which the French believed to be because they thought Britain would sit it out, which I agree with) then A-H settles for what it asked for and the world doesn't explode into war.
if there is a specific scenerio for the wwI or one that is just prior to it i would not worry about the first world war. you are the driving force behind your country. the odds of repeating the mistakes leading to the first word war are to high. play a european country with your flare for, peace, war, what ever. its just when we start to play another completely different timeline begans.
I think the war should definitely be avoidable in the full length campaign. Some Historical participants of WWI might be annexed prior to the turn of the century.
EnPeaSea
EnPeaSea
I stand corrected. I was tapping into my memory when I wrote what I wrote, and somehow the French mobilisation of 31/7/1914 got stuck as a DoW in my head.
I have just looked up the facts here:
http://www.worldwar1.com/tlplot.htm
Which does show, amongst other things, that the Kaiser did try to diffuse the situation.
Jan Peter
Having 1835-1920 timespan, WWI or many other important historical events will be avoidable for sure. Assuring in the half of XIX century that ie. WWI will happen would need such a level of artificial interventions in what player is doing, that You could hardly call it a game. I hope You can ie. prevent Germany's unification in Vic. But if so, then even a major war at the end wouldn't probably be what You could call WWI. Without Germany? No...
when the human player is blood thirsty, we even can't prevent WWII and WWIII in Victoria,
I think that WW1 should be an easily avoidable event in the Grand Campaign. This would give the player greater control, rather than being guided by events.
However, there is a scenario which starts at 1914 or sometime around then, when WW1 would obviously be fairly hard to avoid. I know that such a scenario exists because i have seen a screenshot labelled 1914
The only problem with this would be a lack of variation on the WW1 theme. You could not have, for example, an Anglo-German alliance if the WW1 scenario started in 1914.
However, there is a scenario which starts at 1914 or sometime around then, when WW1 would obviously be fairly hard to avoid. I know that such a scenario exists because i have seen a screenshot labelled 1914
The only problem with this would be a lack of variation on the WW1 theme. You could not have, for example, an Anglo-German alliance if the WW1 scenario started in 1914.
Yes...but some of us want to play the real WWI again to see if we can do better than historically...as if THAT will be that hard. Can the Russians drive to Berlin in 1914? Can Austria hold back the Russian tide and fight Serbia at the same time? Can France stop the German offensive or will Germany be able to take out France in 6 weeks as planned? What if Germany is more aggressive with its surface fleet? What if the Republicans win the US elections in 1916?
No argument. But I don't think I speak for myself alone when saying there'll be a WWI if I can help it...
Heck, even if it destroyed my country, at that point, what's the difference? If I'm still playing EU by 1800 (or if I start in a later scenario) I do all kinds of crazy crap. I think that'll turn out to be the prime factor, the fact the in-game consequences don't really much matter, that a player would only avoid WWI to prove it academically possible. This also goes a long way to explaining the 1920 end date (still wish it was 1925, for the Russian Civil War, but I'm sure someone will do something about that).
The grand campaign starts in 1835 and I am sure that WW1 as we know it will not only be avoidable but will for sure almost never happen. However I am equally sure that most players will face a World War one time or another and possible even more than one world war.
If people really wants to play the World War 1 as was fought in our real history I am sure that there will be a scenario for it.
Some other momentous events during this time might be more historically in the game. The one I'm thinking of is the American Civil War which I think will be hard to avoid unless the US or Confederate player make big sacrifices and probably huge prestige losses.
If people really wants to play the World War 1 as was fought in our real history I am sure that there will be a scenario for it.
Some other momentous events during this time might be more historically in the game. The one I'm thinking of is the American Civil War which I think will be hard to avoid unless the US or Confederate player make big sacrifices and probably huge prestige losses.
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Originally posted by kristoff
Having 1835-1920 timespan, WWI or many other important historical events will be avoidable for sure. Assuring in the half of XIX century that ie. WWI will happen would need such a level of artificial interventions in what player is doing, that You could hardly call it a game. I hope You can ie. prevent Germany's unification in Vic. But if so, then even a major war at the end wouldn't probably be what You could call WWI. Without Germany? No...
It would be the First World War, though.
What would WWI look like with a still-Balkanized Germany? Something very much like the Seven Years' War I think.
On the other hand, you might want to look at this from the perspective of the Austrians.
If Austria goes to war with Serbia and provokes war, even without the vote of support, Germany still must act. She has very little room to maneuver since if Austria is committed to the war alone, Germany loses her closest ally. Nonintervention is an all-out loss.
Germany cannot afford to abandon Austria to the Russians. The only other option available to the Germans is to intervene against Austria, the likelihood of which seems tiny, particularly adding in the domestic Germanic ties, and the total outcome of the intervention option is a relative loss in terms of prestige and, very likely, A-H territory. Relatively speaking, Russia's position is considerably strengthened both domestically and with the Balkan states if allowed to win.
Austria, realizing the problems posed for Berlin by these three options, has a de facto blank check of German support without any formal acknowledgement.
WW1 Has to be avoidable, In the end Victoria is about making your own decisions.
England Declared war on Germany after germany invaided Belgium. This was a tactical move by germany this does not mean that the player playing germany is going to do the same. If this is the case england could sit it out.
You have to be able to set your own rules. England might no honour the alliance with belgium, there are lost of veriables that have to be taken into consideration and 1 to all country might not enter the war!