Timeline of World History since 1914

Syndicalist Revolution in Europe Every Day Kaiserreich History

The Weltkrieg

1914

Main article: Weltkrieg

Weltkrieg in Europe Every Day Kaiserreich History

• While visiting Sarajevo on the 28^th of June, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. In reaction, Austria-Hungary sends an ultimatum to Serbia, whose contents are deliberately made unacceptable to the Serbs. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia shortly after receiving German backing. Russia in turn declares war on Austria-Hungary and Germany. Germany, wanting to knock France out of the war before it can assist its Russian ally, declares war on France on August 3rd.

• When Germany invades neutral Belgium to execute the Schlieffen Plan, the British Empire declares war on Germany. The German advance to Paris is halted at the Marne and a series of flanking attempts, known as the Race to the Sea, prove unsuccessful. The war in the West grinds down to a halt.

• The Germans are much more successful in the East, repulsing the Russian invasion of East Prussia and defeating the Russians at the battles of the Masurian Lakes and at Tannenberg. The architects of these victories, Field Marshal von Hindenburg and General Ludendorff, would play key roles in the final German victory.

• The Ottoman Empire joins the Central Powers in October, after a dispute with Britain about the confiscation of ships being built for the Empire.

• Almost all German colonies are occupied before the end of the year, besides German East-Africa. It is here that Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck will play a game of cat and mouse with the Allied forces until the end of the war.
• Japan joins the war in late August and occupies most of Germany's Pacific and Asian colonies, including Tsingtao and the Mariana, Caroline & Marshall Islands.

1915

• In the West the lines remain static, but the fighting increases in brutality, with chlorine gas being first used during the Second Battle of Ypres on 22^nd of April.

• In the East, Russia is being pushed back by the Germans, but manages to hold on to Galicia.

• Bulgaria joins the war on the side of the Central Powers, relieving the struggling Austrians in the Balkans.

• Italy joins the war on the Allied side, hoping to claim Austro-Hungary's Tyrolian and Illyrian provinces as well as Albania. The campaign bogs down into trench warfare.

• In an ill conceived effort to knock the Ottomans out of the war, Allied troops land near Gallipoli in February, hoping to gain control of the vital Dardanelles. It is the beginning of the Gallipoli Campaign. The whole campaign becomes a disaster and the Allies pull back their forces before the year ends. A British invasion of Mesopotamia is repelled and the remaining troops retreat to Kut, where a disastrous siege will start.
• The Fourth Invasion of Serbia between October and December 1915, a joint campaign by German, Austro-Hungarian & Bulgarian forces, leads to the Central Powers occupation of Serbia, Montenegro and most of Albania. The Serbian Army, trapped in no man's land, decides to retreat over the Albanian mountains with the goal to reach the Adriatic & evacuate to French-occupied Korfu. During this so-called Great Retreat, over 200,000 people die in the cold winter.

• A German submarine sinks the Lusitania. A severe backlash in the United States leads to Germany abandoning its unrestricted submarine warfare, which had hoped to strangle Britain into submission. Many speculated that a continuation of the unrestricted submarine warfare could have led to the entry of the United States into the war.

1916

• The Battle of Verdun starts, attempting to bleed the French Army dry. In reality, all sides bleed equally in a battle which soon loses its military objective. A similar attempt against the British forces at the Somme has the same outcome. 1916 also sees the first use of tanks at the Battle of the Somme.
• Germany declares war on Portugal after Portuguese troops confiscate German ships interned in Portuguese ports.

• In the East, the Brusilov Offensive is launched. While very successful at first, the offensive doesn’t manage to either knock the Austro-Hungarians out of the war or drive Germany out of Russian Poland.

• The British troops at Kut are forced to surrender, dealing a heavy blow to British prestige. The Ottomans are being pushed out of the Caucasus and Armenia by a successful Russian campaign. The Sharif of Mecca starts off a general Arab revolt against the Turks.

• At sea, the First Battle of Jutland ends in a tactical German victory, but a strategic British victory, as the Hochseeflotte will remain in port until late 1918.

• Romania tries to profit from Austrian setbacks and invades Transylvania. German assistance would lead to a quick collapse of Romania, with Bucharest being taken by August von Mackensen within the year. Further south the Allies have taken positions around Salonika.

1917

• On January 8^th, the Kaiser hears arguments from military leaders for reopening unrestricted submarine warfare, but ultimately decides against them. This is the point where the Kaiserreich universe diverges from our own.

• Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg is forced to resign and is replaced by Georg Michaelis. It is soon clear that Michaelis is little more than a puppet for Generals von Hindenburg and Ludendorff. Michaelis resigns still in the same year and is replaced by Georg von Hertling.

• On the Western Front, the heavy French casualties at Chemin des Dames lead to a strike among the French soldiers. This disaster discouraged the French high-command from continuing great offensives until the end of the year, giving Germany a chance to recover from the Brusilov Offensive.

• Russia collapses into anarchy, with the Tsar abdicating in March 1917 (O.S. February). A provisional government is formed under Alexander Kerensky, but this government is overthrown by Lenin's Bolsheviks in November (O.S. October), starting the Russian Civil War.
• Greece joins the war in June.

• In Italy, the Caporetto Offensive beats the Italians back to the Piave river, where only a last minute defense saves Venice from occupation.

• The Ottomans receive blow after blow, with both Baghdad and Jerusalem being lost to British forces.

• A British submarine mistakenly torpedoes an American freighter carrying Christmas gifts to Germany, killing several US citizens. The public backlash forces a partial opening of the blockade, averting the looming spectre of famine in Central Europe.

1918

• In early March, after a successful Operation Faustschlag, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is signed between the Germans and the Bolsheviks, freeing thousands of German and Austrian troops for other fronts. The Bolsheviks have to renounce all territorial claims in Finland, the Baltic states, most of Belarus, and Ukraine as well as in parts of the Caucasus.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918)

1. Russia has to renounce all territorial claims in Poland, Courland and Lithuania.
2. Livonia, Estonia and most of Belarus stay under German occupation for the time being.
3. Finland & Ukraine are recognized as soveraign states.
4. The districts of Ardahan & Kars as well as the city of Batumi are returned to the Ottoman Empire.

Supplementary Agreement from August 1918

1. Russia has to renounce all claims on Livonia, Estonia and Georgia.
2. Russia has to pay 6 billion gold mark to Germany.
3. Germany promises to withdraw all troops from Belarus.
4. Germany assures no to intervene on the Allied side against the Soviet regime.

• A great Allied spring offensive, designed at breaking the German lines before their reinforcements arrive, is repulsed at great cost of life.

• In May, the Treaty of Bucharest is signed by the Central Powers and Romania.

The Treaty of Bucharest (7 May 1918)

1. Romania and the Central Powers declare the end of the state of war between them and that the diplomatic and consular relations between them would be resumed.
2. The Romanian military has to be demobilized.
3. Romania returns Southern Dobruja and cedes the southern part of Northern Dobruja to Bulgaria.
4. The rest of the province is ceded by Romania to the Central Powers and thus remains under joint Central Powers' control. The Central Powers guarantee the commercial road to the Black Sea for Romania by way of Cernavodă and Constanța.
5. Romania cedes various Carparthian mountain passes to Hungary.
6. All parties renounce war indemnities, except for special agreements regarding the regulation of war damages.
7. Romania leases its oil wells to Germany for 90 years.
8. The Central Powers recognize the Union of Bessarabia with Romania.
9. The German and Austrian occupation of Romania continues until a date "later to be determined".
10. All of the occupation costs are to be paid for by Romania.
11. All of Romania's "surplus" agriculture has to be handed over to Austria-Hungary and Germany with an Austro-German commission deciding what was Romania's "surplus" production and what price to be paid for the "surplus" production.
12. All of the railroads, telephones, telegram and post systems in Romania were to remain under the control of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
13. German civil servants with the power to veto decisions by Romanian cabinet ministers and to fire Romanian civil servants are appointed to oversee every Romanian ministry, in effect stripping Romania of its independence.

• Operation Teutoburg is launched, attempting to kick Greece out of the war and drive out the Entente forces out of Albania & Saloniki. Instead of assaulting the Salonika stronghold head on, the Central Powers make extensive use of specialized storm-troopers and so called "infiltration" tactics. The defenders at Salonika are pinned down while the rest of the German-Bulgarian forces sweep through Greece. Athens falls on July 3^rd, causing the Greek government to surrender. The western forces at Salonika are evacuated soon afterwards.

• Anti-Bolshevik White Russian forces of the "Volunteer Army" under General Lavr Kornilov retreat south from Rostov across the frozen Kuban steppe from February to May. The famous "Ice March" campaign concludes with Kornilov narrowly escaping death from an artillery shell on his headquarters during the Battle of Yekaterinodar. The city's capture cements the Whites' control over the Kuban Cossack heartland.

• General Allenby manages to pull off the last great Allied victory of the war, encircling and destroying large parts of the Ottoman Army and conquering Damascus. Only the last minute arrival of two German divisions in Asia Minor prevent an invasion of Anatolia.

• Vladimir Lenin, the famous leader of the Russian Bolsheviks, is assassinated by Fanny Kaplan following the Bolsheviks' suppression of the Left SRs. Lev Kamenev quickly succeeds Lenin, but Bolshevik spirits are seriously shaken.

• Successful Allied tactics against Germany's U-boats and the blockade of Germany leads to a desperate sally of the Hochseeflotte, now led by Admiral Hipper. The Second Battle of Jutland ends in a tie, but the shock of being assaulted forces the Royal Navy to break their blockade. The total end of the blockade and the influx of Ukrainian grain ends all fears of Germany being starved into submission.

• After an unsuccessful socialist uprising in Germany in September, the so-called Enabling Act is passed by the Reichstag in November. It grants Reichskanzler Georg von Hertling (and indirectly Erich Ludendorff) the ability to pass laws without a vote, and bans all socialist parties in the German Empire (excluding the SPD). It is the beginning of the Ludendorff dictatorship.

• Meanwhile, Kaiser Karl, under pressure by the continually crumbling homefront and ever-swelling spirit of revolution, issues the "Völkermanifest", promising national self-determination within the Empire once the war is won, placating Austria's numerous ethnic minorities. Even though the manifesto did not pose any demands to Hungary, self-determination of a Croat state was agreed upon by both sides of the Dual Monarchy by the end of October, resulting in the Kingdom of Croatia achieving the same status as Hungary.

• After almost a month of negotiations between the anti-Bolshevik Constituent Assembly and Siberian governments, Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak reluctantly launches a British-backed coup to unite the fractious Whites. The situation is salvaged by the arrival of Boris Savinkov, who convinces Kolchak to accept many of the SR's demands, and limit his power to only supreme command over military affairs.

• The United Baltic Duchy is proclaimed in late 1918 through the merger of the Duchy of Courland & German-occupied Livonia & Estonia. Adolf Friedrich von Mecklenburg is elected as its monarch.
• Reichskanzler Georg von Hertling resigns in December and is replaced with Paul von Hindenburg.

1919

• On March 2^nd the Germans launch their Great Offensive at St. Mihiel, south of Verdun. Their infiltration tactics prove to be successful, with Nancy falling on the 16^th. The French organize an ad hoc defense, leaving their flank exposed. An attack on Reims on the 26^th splits the Allied forces in two. An attack on Château-Thierry meant the French couldn’t retreat back to the Marne. In effect, the entire French army is forced to retreat south and Paris was placed under siege.

• Operation Radowitz is launched on the 11^th of March, attacking the Italian forces from Trento instead of the Piave. Vicenza and Verona fall on the 24^th, pinning the Italians between two Central armies after Venice was reached on the 10^th of April. An armistice was signed with Italy, allowing Austria-Hungary to garrison Lombardy and Venetia until a peace was signed.

• As Italy collapsed, Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia and Sayyid al-Hasan of the Dervish State declared war on the fledgling nation, retaking Italy's colonies and reversing a European colonization of Africa for the first time.

• Allied setbacks would lead to Allenby, and most of his troops, being redeployed to France. Allenby's successor, Sir William Marshall, is forced to slowly retreat because of a lack of manpower.

• The retreat of the French Army leads to the positions of the BEF becoming indefensible. Most of the British forces are evacuated at Dieppe in June, leaving the French on their own. At this point the French Army, battered, war-weary and with little hope of victory is in open rebellion. With a second mutiny, a general uprising of the working classes imminent, the fall of Paris a certainty and Marseilles in German hands, the French government capitulates on the 4^th of October, ending the war in Europe. On Christmas Eve, the Central Powers and the remaining Allied Powers sign a Ceasefire at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen.

The Treaties of Versailles (1919)

1. The fall of France, Russia, Italy and their allies in the Balkans reduced the Entente to the British Empire, Japan and Portugal. While none of these countries were under direct German threat, none were able to pose a threat to Germany likewise. The battle between Germany and Britain continued for two more years by proxy, in Ireland and elsewhere, while the otherwise victorious Central Powers divided up their conquests.
2. Serbia cedes Vardar Macedonia to Bulgaria and is forced to accept Austrian-Hungarian oversight in most of her domestic and foreign affairs.
3. Albania becomes an Austrian-dominated protectorate.
4. Montenegro is annexed by Austria outright.
5. Greece is forced to cede Greek Macedonia to Bulgaria and islands in the Aegean to the Ottoman Empire.
6. France cedes Dahomey, Cote D'Ivoire, Madagascar, all of French Equatorial Africa south of Lake Chad, Pondicherry, Indochina, and her Pacific colonies, along with a swath of territory from Pas-de-Calais to Lorraine. However, the revolution prevens the occupation of anything outside Lorraine.
7. Belgium is reorganised into the Kingdom of Flanders-Wallonia, with the Kaiser's son Adalbert becoming the new king. The new kingdom however receives the French port of Dunkirk. The Belgian Congo is given to Germany and southeast Wallonia would be occupied as long as the German government deemed necessary. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg would become a constituent state of the German Empire.
8. In the East, the acquisitions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk were organized into a series of puppet states. Estonia and Latvia were fused into the United Baltic Duchy, with Adolf Friedrich von Mecklenburg becoming its first Grand Duke. The Kaiser's brother Heinrich became King Genrikh I of White Ruthenia (Belarus). Poland and Finland became independent states under German protection, with the Kaiser's brother-in-law Friedrich-Karl von Hessen becoming King of Finland. Lithuania became independent with Wilhelm von Urach, Duke of Urach, becoming King Mindaugas. In Ukraine, Hetman Skoropadsky's power was officialized, aligning the country with Mitteleuropa.

The Treaty of Trieste (4 October 1920)

1. After a civil war served to effectively end the Kingdom of Italy's authority, what remains of Italy is reorganized into a decentralized Italian Federation aligned with Austria.
2. Libya is returned to Ottoman rule. Direct Ottoman control is reasserted in Tripolitania and Fezzan, while the Senoussi Order retains control of Cyrenaica.
3. Eritrea is granted to Ethiopia.
4. Somalia fals under the control of Warsangali, a British protectorate in Somaliland.
5. The Dodecanese islands are returned to the Ottomans.

The Peace with Honour (11 November 1921)

Syndicalist Revolution in Europe Every Day Kaiserreich History

Main article: Peace with Honour

• As the ceasefire began to run out and with neither side willing to re-enter direct conflict, General Ludendorff proposed a ‘Peace with Honour’ to the Entente. The remaining Entente members would acknowledge the peace treaties between Germany and the former Entente members and return Germany's colonies (including those transferred in the peace treaties) in exchange for status quo ante bellum. The peace itself was signed at 11 AM on the 11^th of November, 1921, ending the Weltkrieg after seven long years.

Postwar developments

1919

• The Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), led by anarcho-syndicalist Emile Pouget, declares a general strike in reaction to the bloody defeat of the French army during the German Great Offensive and the second mutiny. Its main aim was an immediate end to the war. After the fall of Paris, the government of Georges Clemenceau was replaced by a Provisional Government under Aristide Briand.

• The Southern White Russians begin their "Volga Campaign" with the capture of the city of Tsaritsyn. Led by General Pyotr Wrangel, the Whites swiftly seize Saratov, but are halted at Samara by Leon Trotsky. It takes until July for a Siberian White counter-offensive to force Trotsky to withdraw and surrender Samara, ultimately uniting the two largest White fronts.

• In the Baltics, the White Russian Northwestern Army under General Nikolai Yudenich launches its offensive towards Red Petrograd. The outnumbered Reds are quickly forced to withdraw to Petrograd itself, and the Whites (with White Ruthenian and Baltic support) place the city under siege.

• The Southern and Siberian Whites meet in the recaptured city of Ufa to negotiate a union of their governments. It is ultimately decided that Aleksandr Kolchak will remain supreme military commander of all White Russian forces, with Sergey Sazonov acting as prime minister. Most importantly, however, the Siberian Whites agree to follow the example of the Southern Whites, and cut ties with the Entente. Petrograd falls shortly afterwards to Yudenich's troops, and he presents the city as a gift upon also ratifying his support for the new, unified Provisional All-Russian Government.

• Jacobin radicals, inspired by their Russian brethren and Leninist theories about a revolutionary vanguard start a series of attacks on government officials and public buildings, ending the chance of the CGT and Provisional Government of reaching any agreement. An attempt of the government to use demobilized soldiers to restore order ends in many soldiers joining the revolutionaries. France in engulfed in a short but bloody war, ending in a victory for the revolutionaries. Emile Pouget starts with the difficult task of changing the French Republic into the Commune of France.

• The remains of the French establishment flee from Nice to Algiers, setting up a government-in-exile, led by Marshal Ferdinand Foch.
• Pursuant to a clause in the 1815 Treaty of Paris, Switzerland occupied Haute-Savoie during the closing stages of the French Civil War.

• Following the armistice, republican and nationalist rebels rose up all over northern Italy, fighting against both the forces of the disintegrating Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian garrisons in the Italian Civil War. Central Italy fell to the rebels by November, and looked to proceed into Rome and Abruzzo.

• Unfortunately for their cause, the republicans would soon split into feuding "Red" and "White" factions, leading to yet more devastation and conflict in Northern Italy. Meanwhile, the Savoyard loyalists were driven out of Liguria by the Socialists and the Savoy-Aostas fled to Sardinia, where they would remain for the next twenty years.

• The Hashemite Rebels, in disarray and without any foreign support, are crushed by a joint Saudi-Ottoman campaign.

• Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg and his 'Wild division' take the Mongolian capital of Urga, with Sternberg declaring himself Mongolia's supreme ruler.

• Uruguay establishes its Council of National Administration, ending political tensions for the time being.
• In British India, unrest leads to the bloody Amritsar Massacre in April. This proves a flashpoint for a widespread Indian revolt. With the British government still fighting against Germany, reinforcements are not forthcoming - Governor General Rufus Isaacs is forced to declare a state of emergency.

1920

• On January 1^st, Wilhelm Karl von Urach is officially crowned King of Lithuania.
• Though Moscow had been under siege from a combined army of Whites since November of 1919, it takes until January 22^nd, 1920 for the Bolsheviks to finally submit a formal surrender. Outnumbered, outgunned, and crippled by starvation and desertion, the Reds have little choice but throw themselves at the mercy of the Provisional Government. The Whites stand victorious at the formal conclusion of the civil war.

• The White Russians send a delegation of Aleksandr Kolchak, Sergei Sazonov, and Alexander Kerensky to ratify a modified version of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, despite furious protestations from nearly all elements of Russian society. With the nascent Russian Republic in almost as poor shape as the Bolsheviks had been in 1918, the Russians have little choice but agree to German demands, lest they face "punitive action" by the Kaiser's armies.
• In the summer, an accord is reached between the Ottoman Empire and the British, who still occupy parts of Palestine and Iraq despite the signing of the Ceasefire of Copenhagen the year before. Two autonomous regions are established, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem in Palestine, stretching from the Allenby line to the Red Sea, and an autonomous region for the Assyrians in the Vilayet of Basra. The Mutasarrifate is to be governed by an International Council consisting of the German Empire, British Empire, Austrian Empire, United States of America and the Ottomans themselves. Forbidding the entry of Ottoman troops into the region, an international gendarmerie force would maintain the peace within Palestine. The British hope to maintain their influence in the Middle East via those two autonomous territories.

• Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo becomes the 29^th President of the United States, with Alexander Palmer as his Vice-President.

• The Italian Civil War reaches its de facto end, as Austrian and Republican forces defeat the Socialist attackers in the "Miracle at the Po". Wary of starting a full scale war with Austria, and with most of its territory devastated by conflict, the SRI quits its offensives. The "White" republicans join an Italian Federation as part of their deal with Austria, formally becoming the Republic of Lombardy-Venetia. The Prime Minister of the Republic would become the Interim Head of the Council of the Federation.
• A general strike breaks out in Patagonia in response to low wages and poor conditions among sheep farm laborers

1921

• Kaiser Karl reconvenes the Imperial Council and announces his intent to move forward with the institution of national self-determination within the Empire.
• Leon Trotsky dies during the shelling of Tsaritsyn by White Russian and German forces.

• The promising political career of Franklin Roosevelt is tragically cut short when he succumbs to Guillain–Barré syndrome.
• The Battle of La Anita between the Argentinian Army and striking workers grants the latter decisive victory. Faced with monetary difficulties amidst a poor economy and hoping for a peaceful solution, the Argentinian government abandons any attempt to control of Patagonia. There its authority is usurped by the Patagonian Worker's Front.

1922

• After the Easter Uprising in 1916 and five years of war, a peace treaty is concluded between the UK and Irish rebels that leads to the creation of a new Free Irish State on 1^st January, 1922. With the Protestant north as an autonomous region and the King as a figurehead only nominally acknowledged, opposition to the treaty is minimal.
• During the "Red Summer of 1922", Indian socialist rebels execute the Maharajah of Travancore along with most of his family. Palaces are ransacked and lands taken forcibly from the wealthy.

• South Rhodesia joins South Africa, nervous of potential German expansionism in its region.

• In Portugal, the Monarchy is restored after a coup led by Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro.
• With the Tsingtao Accord, the state of war between Germany & Japan, which had not been resolved with the Peace with Honour, is finally ended.

1923

• After being linked to a mass embezzlement of public funds, Ludendorff is removed from his post, ending the Junta in Germany. Hindenburg resigns as well. Grand Admiral von Tirpitz is elected Chancellor, beginning the golden age of Weltpolitik.

• When the Victoria Police Strike leads to a Syndicalist uprising and the brief formation of a Melbourne Commune, George V implements the Emergency Protocols, and the Commune is brutally suppressed.

1924

• In the United States, President McAdoo is reelected.

• In Russia, a coup is attempted by a loose coalition of businessmen, industrialists, centre-right conservatives, and Siberian autonomists, all of whom are united chiefly by strong anti-German resentment. Aleksandr Kolchak, despite having little involvement with the plot, is declared provisional dictator. However, only a handful of units in Siberia side with the plot, and all ultimately agree to stand-down rather than fight the army units sent to suppress them. Seeing the writing on the wall, the plotters disperse, with Kolchak accepting an Anglo-Japanese offer to be installed as an anti-German pretender in the "Russian Republic" of Transamur.

• Seeing the chaos engulfing Russia in the wake of the Kolchak Putsch and resentful of broken promises for autonomy, the Don, Kuban, and Terek Cossacks mutiny on the urging of General Pyotr Krasnov. Though support for the rebellion is far from universal among the Cossacks, the feeble state of the Russian army leads Kerensky to reluctantly agree to Krasnov's demands. The newly-created Don-Kuban Union that arises is independent from Russia in all but name.

• The Consolidation of Resources Act merges Australia and New Zealand into the Australasian Confederation. Elections are suspended and much of the new Dominion is put under martial law.

1925

• Sun Yat-sen dies of cancer, setting off a power struggle in the Kuomintang (KMT). Eventually, Wang Jingwei of the left faction assumes the position of generalissimo and Chiang Kai-shek of the rightists becomes commander of the KMT's military.

• A British general strike over coal tariffs escalates into a nationwide uprising when government troops massacre striking miners. After the army begins to stand down or defect and the Royal Navy begins to mutiny, the government flees to Canada. A coalition of leftists centered around the Trade Unions Congress take control under the charismatic John Maclean, creating the Union of Britain.

• Michael Collins dissolves the Irish Free State and the autonomy of Ulster, proclaiming the Republic of Ireland with himself as President.

• The collapse of the British government led to a massive land-grab among its overseas possessions. Gibraltar finally fell into Spanish hands, the French Republic occupied Malta, Argentina quickly seizes the Falkland Islands, Egypt gains sole authority over the Sudan, Nejd invades the Trucial States, Jabal Shammar ensures the fealty of Kuwait, and the Ottoman Empire regains control over Cyprus, the Sinai Penninsula, and Aden, placing the latter under Yemeni jurisdiction. Germany manages to secure most of the British African holdings as well as the strategic colonies of Suez, Berbera, the Strait Colonies, Brunei, and Sarawak.

• Australasia keeps control over the British parts of New Guinea and Fiji.

• The facade of a protectorate Britain claimed in Somalia collapses, and Sultan Mohamoud formally proclaims Somali independence.

• South Africa manages to secure the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Tensions between the pro-Entente Smuts and pro-republic Hertzog grow.

• The Royal Navy's Caribbean Squadron secures the British colonies in the region. These colonies, together with the former French colonies in the region would form the Caribbean Federation. Venezuela protests its claims in Guyana to the United States yet again.

• The retreat of the United Kingdom's East China Station to Australia leaves their Chinese possessions undefended. A request by Governor Claud Severn of Hong Kong for German protection leads to the Shanghai Scramble where the foreign powers in the region, particularly Germany and Japan, begin a series of standoffs across the remaining concessions.
• Emboldened by their new ally in Britain, the Socialist Republic of Italy lobbies their French and British allies to aid them in their Second Risorgimento. Both powers, wishing to prevent another European war, attempt to dissuade the Italians from attacking the south. Nevertheless, the Red Guards begin crossing the border in Abruzzo, and the Austrian troops are recalled from southern Italy to reinforce the Empire in Central Europe itself. Outraged, the Two Sicilies abandons the Italian Federation, swiftly followed by the Pope and Sardinia, which aligns itself with the Entente. Ultimately, the SRI does not feel secure enough to win a war against the south alone, and demobilizes.

• A supposedly Serb-sponsored pan-Slavic revolt sweeps over the Southern parts of the Austrian sphere, endangering Austrian hegemony in the region. The Kaiser deals with this by playing the Croats against the Serbs, establishing a Croat-led Panslavic kingdom under the name of Illyria. Hungary is not amused.

1926

• The Kuomintang launches the Northern Expedition, a campaign against the Zhili Clique with the long-term goal of reuniting China. Perceiving the KMT as syndicalist due to their backing by the French Commune, Germany begins supplying the besieged Wuchang garrison with food (claiming it to be mail) causing fighting to break out. This gives Germany justification to launch a full intervention in China, using forces from Indochina to take the KMT's provisional capital Guangzhou.

• Japan intervenes in support of Zhang Zuolin, but isn't willing to risk conflict with Germany. The Fengtian Government is established in Northeast China.

• Brazil falls into Civil War after São Paulo state-president Washington Luis is assassinated, after heightened tensions due to federal troops trespassing into said state.
• An international conflict almost is triggered on the Italian peninsula, when the socialists mobilize to push south into the Mezzogiorno. The Austrians, who suffer from internal problems and are not ready for another war, withdraw their troops from Southern Italy, angering the government in Naples, which officially withdraws from the Austrian-aligned Italian Federation, followed by Sardinia. However, in the end, the conflict comes to a sudden end before even properly starting, as French and British authorities refuse to support Torino, as they fear German intervention and a new Weltkrieg. Because of that, the Socialists quickly demobilize and the Status Quo in Italy is preserved for the time being.

1927

• A major battle near Jinhua pitches the core of the National Revolutionary Army against the forces of warlord Sun Chuanfang, supported by German reinforcements from Qingdao. The Kuomintang is decisively defeated. Combined with the loss of their capital, morale is severely damaged and various units defect, desert, or outright disintegrate. Blamed for the disaster, Chiang Kai-shek is assassinated after which Wang Jingwei flees to the French Commune. Some remaining KMT units retreat to Yunnan, while others form an underground resistance.

• The Third Zhili-Fengtian War occurs, with the former victorious and taking Beijing with German assistance. Wu Peifu agrees to reinstall the deposed Xuantong Emperor to the throne in return.

• King Ferdinand of Romania dies and is succeeded by his son Carol II, who is determined to make things better than his father & transform Romania into a regional powerhouse again.

1928

• The Fourth Zhili-Fengtian War breaks out, and soon escalates into a proxy war between Germany and Japan. When a train with foreign occupants is captured by bandits outside Shanghai, a portion of the Japanese military attempts an unauthorized rescue which devolves into a battle with local German and Chinese forces. Escalation is prevented by American mediation. The Shanghai Conference has all the warlords of China, besides the Fengtian Clique, recognize the Qing government. Several eastern cities become the International Mandate for the Concessions, where foreign powers are free to trade equally and no Chinese armed forces may enter. After the war, Zhili dominace in China is sealed and a period of peace begins.
• King Mindaugas II of Lithuania dies & is succeeded by his second son Karl Gero.

• Republican Herbert Hoover easily defeats Governor Al Smith of New York. Norman Thomas runs for the Socialist Party, and wins several Midwestern states, while Jack Reed is elected Senator for New York in an upset. Huey Long becomes Governor of Louisiana.

• Brazil has it's first elections of its New Republic. João Pessoa's Republican Party wins a landslide victory.

• Juan "The Catfish" Gomez is ousted from power in Venezuela after losing military support.
• Karl Helfferich, President of the German Reichsbank, is shot in Berlin by Syndicalists.

1929

• Bolivia launches an attack against Paraguayan-held positions, triggering the Chaco War.

1930

• Reichskanzler Alfred von Tirpitz dies on March 6^th. Considered the most successful and popular chancellor in German history behind Otto von Bismarck himself, he is replaced by Kuno Graf von Westarp.
• The current Council of the Italian Federation's term expires, and, seeing the Federation as a dead idea, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lombardy-Venetia decides not to renew the Council, forming instead the Italian Republic.

1931

• The Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, almost collapses after a brief, but intense, banking scandal. A major CS politician is implied to be among the guilty parties, putting in hazard the Christlichsoziale influence over Austrian politics.
• The autocratic rule of Georgios Kondylis in Greece ends in a bloody revolution. Kondylis is deposed, killed & the Fourth Hellenic Republic is proclaimed.

• Chile, after bankruptcy and several years of instability, has a Syndicalist revolution breaking out and succeeding in toppling the government thanks to large amounts of Navy and Army support. Arturo Puga becomes head of state.

• Chile beings to help the Patagonian rebels.
• During the "Purge of Dhaka", the Muslims in East Bengal are bloodily suppressed by Indian forces of the newly established Azad Hind government. Leaders of the All India Muslim League take that as a clear indication there would be no place for them in Azad Hind and secede in early 1932.

1932

• Herbert Hoover is reelected by the House of Representatives after the socialists win enough states to deny any party an electoral majority. Denied the Democratic nomination, Huey Long forms his own American Union Party.

• In China, the Shanghai Uprising begins mid-way through the year. Although the unrest is violently suppressed (with the help of German military officers), the incident showcases structural problems within the League of Eight Provinces, between signatories to the Legation Treaty, and for the Central Government. A dangerous precedent is also set for German involvement in China.

• In South Africa, Barry Hertzog wins the elections and declares South Africa to be a republic, and the country leaves the Entente.

• Otávio Mangabeira is elected President of Brazil.

1933

• The Chaco War ends in crushing Paraguayan victory. Bolivia, in utter disarray, sees its republic dissolve into a dictatorship.

1934

• Rafael Franco and other radical leaders launch a revolution in Paraguay based on left-authoritarian principles but are deposed after a short three-month rule by Chaco War hero José Félix Estigarribia.

1935

• Marmaduke Grove, a former military man, is elected the second chairman of the Chilean Syndicalist Republic.

• Argentina's government is seized by the Liga Patriotica under Manuel Carlés in the so-called Christmas Coup.