~ Revenge is bitter sweet ~
The combined efforts of France and the Confederacy had finally payed off during the Christmas Offensive. The attack had kept the Germans reeling, but it was in sense a cake walk. Casualties were daunting, on both sides, yet it was what was needed to break the German war effort. The main goal of the offensive was to do what it was named for, bring the war to an end by Christmas eve of December, 1917, that was the one part of the plan they failed to do.
The smoke would settle over the battlefield and new battle lines would be drawn. The offensive had made considerable gains in ground, cutting into Southern Germany like a well sharpened knife. The allied forces then settled in for what would, hopefully, be the line they had to hold to bring the Germans to their knees.
While the offense was a success in ground taken, it made problems for the allies when Belgium, who had taken major casualties in their attacks due to slacking by French commander, made a peace agreement with Germany, allowing the troops that would be guarding that front, to pour down onto the new defensive line.
Despite the setback that was the loss of the Belgium front, the new line was becoming an solid wall of guns and dirt. It also saw the rise of, in the Confederacy, several brave and intellectual individuals, one being the brash, darings and jingoistic commander George S. Patton.
Rising quickly through the ranks, George S. Patton gained a reputation as being one of the bravest and most distinguished men of the Army of Northern Virginia. His tactics and amazing ability to lead and deal with stressful situations quickly and efficiently earned him C.S. Distinguished Service Medal and the C.S. Distinguished Service Cross, as well as a promotion to a full colonel in Confederate Military.
Despite the Confederacies own little hero's piping up the situation was beginning to get grimmer. The German attack’s continued to keep coming and coming, wave after wave and then it stopped.
The war would last from January of 1918 to April 1st of 1918 when, not due to any great military victory, Germany surrendered. Historians would credit the end of the war with the victories gained in Africa and the sudden change of luck the Germans experienced, but the real reason was because of the people.
The British would be the true reason, which their attacks may have failed, but their domination of the shipping lanes had forced the German people to their need through starvation. Revolts had popped up all over as the Kaiser refused to make peace when he could have gained something more favorable, but it all eventually came to an end when the people and the Kaisers own generals forced him to abdicate the thrown and a new democracy was proclaimed, Germany would be free of a king, but would be dominated by the following repercussions put on them by none other than a vengeful France.
~ The Treaty of Versailles ~
[ Europe and Africa after “The Great War” and The Treaty of Versailles ]
The end of the Great War saw the collapse of three empires, and strangely the rejuvenation of the one. Revolts in Germany forced the Kaiser to abdicate the thrown and a new Democracy was called, the nation caving into the French demands and were forced to sign The Treaty of Versailles, which striped them of most of their overseas colonies, forced them to take full responsibility for the war and pay massive amounts of money back to the allies to cover the cost of the war.
Russia had fallen into the chaos of Revolution earlier, before the war was over during the Bolshevik revolution. During the wake of a bloody civil war the Bolsheviks, a communist faction, was able to seize power and with the Treaty of Brest-Litosk Russia officially pulled out of the war. This treaty was by far hard on the new Government, forcing them to succeed vast stretch’s of land across Ukraine, Poland and around the Baltic Sea. During this wake of bloodshed and opportunity the people of Ukraine, Finland, Georgia and Azerbaijan declared their independence from Russia, creating some of the first of what would later become many more new nations, if only for a brief time.
Austria collapsed because of internal strife, having been pardoned by France who was looking to hurt Germany, not Austria. Despite that fact, the Austrian Empire collapsed, leading to the formation of Yugoslavia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, limiting the nation now to its Austrian core lands and its holdings in Italy.
The most unique case of the war was the case of the Ottoman Empire, or more commonly known as “The Sick man of Europe.” In which the War had apparently cured. The Ottomans participation in the war had seemed to unify the people in there cause, rejuvenating the sick man of Europe. Like Austria, the Ottomans were given amnesty, mainly since they were not defeated by the allies, the pulled out paying the costs of the war, while retaining all of their territory and even benefiting from the Brest-Litosk treaty, taking control of some Russian lands in the Caucasus.
Europe would be a different place, after the Great War, border would be redrawn, and new seeds of hatred would be sown. As for the Confederacy, the nation was simply glad it was all over, and their debt to Great Britain would be fulfilled in its entirety.
~ New Nations ~
- Lithuania
- Azerbaijan
- Estonia
- Latavia
- Georgia
- Ukraine
- Ceckoslavakia
- Yugoslavia
- Hungary
- Daniz (?)
- Finland
- Poland
