Great War

Russian troops defend trenches from the Romans in Bessarabia

* July 1914 - July 1917 (Europe)
* January 1917 - January 1920 (Americas)

### Location

East Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Africa, Pacific Ocean, the United States, Gran Colombia, Mexico

### Result

Armistice* Allied victory in Americas and Africa
* Central Powers victory in Europe and Asia
* Monarchy abolished in Scandinavia, Russia, and Mexico
* Creation of the League of Nations
* Treaty of Portsmouth (1912)
	+ Independence of China recongized
	+ Dissolution of the Sino-Japanese Empire
	+ Reparations paid to Japan by China
	+ Pilgrim protection rights guarunteed by China to Vietnamese
* Treaty of Malmo (1912)
	+ Reparations paid to Japan and Gran Colombia by Sweden-Norway (later Scandinavia)
* Armistice of Mudros (1917)
	+ Peacekeeping provided to Gran Colombia by Russia and Persia
* Treaty of San Juan (1918)
	+ United States and Canada repair Colombian harbors damaged by bombings
* Treaty of Versailles (1920)
	+ Mexican monarchy abolished
	+ Mexico forced to accept financial responsibility for the war, reparations paid to Scandinavia, United Kingdom, United States, and Canada
* Treaty of Vladivostok (1921)
	+ Reparations paid to Japan by Russia
* Treaty of Constantinople (1921)
	+ Reparations paid to Viet Nam by Persia

### Territorial Changes

* Formation of independent Republic of China
* Swedish Gambia transferred to Gran Colombia
* Colombian Lower Volta and Kong transferred to Sweden
* Moldavia and Bucovina ceded to Roman Empire by Russia
* Transfer of Persian Africa to Gran Colombia
* Panama return to Gran Colombia
* Hawaii, southern Philippines, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico ceded to Gran Colombia by United States (later sold to Japan)
* Texas occupied by Gran Colombia until 1920
* Mexican Empire partitioned:
	+ Mexican East Indies transferred to Japan
	+ Mexican Inner Congo and Gabon transferred to British Empire
	+ Mexican Chad, Congo, and Central transferred to Scandinavia
	+ Belize occupied by United Kingdom
	+ Guatemala and El Salvador occupied by Canada
	+ Honduras and Nicaragua occupied by United States
* Manchuria, Hong Kong, and Macau ceded by Russia to Japan
* Indus River Valley ceded by Persia to Viet Nam
* Mazandaran occupied by Viet Nam

## Belligerents

### Aggressor(s)

* Central Powers
	+ Japan-China (until 1912)
	+ Japan (1912-1921)
	+ Gran Colombia (until 1918)
	+ Viet Nam (from 1913)
	+ Roman Empire (1914 - 1917)
	+ Germany (1914 - 1917)
	+ Mexico (1914 - 1920)

### Defender(s)

* Allied Powers
	+ Russian Empire (until 1917)
	+ Russian SFSR (1917-1919)
	+ Russian Federation (1919 - 1921)
	+ Persia
	+ Sweden-Norway (until 1912)
	+ Scandinavian Union (1914 - 1917)
	+ Scandinavian Federation (1917 - 1920)
	+ Republic of China (1911 - 1912)
	+ United States (1917 - 1920)
	+ Canada (1917 - 1920)
	+ United Kingdom (1917 - 1920)

## Commanders and Leaders

### Aggressors

* Emperor Meiji†
* Yoshihito
* Ramón González Valencia
* Ramón Garcia Venegas
* Alfredo Baquerizo
* Nguyễn Hàm Nghi
* Nguyễn Khải Định
* Vittorio Emanuele III
* Tommaso Tittoni
* Joseph Joffre
* Ferdinand Foch
* Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
* Wilhelm II
* Ernst Basserman
* Ernst von Hoeppner
* Paul von Hindenburg
* Manfred von Richtofen
* Francis Ferdinand
* José Yves Limantour

### Defenders

* Nicholas II†
* Aleksei Brusilov
* Lavr Kornilov†
* Vladimir Lenin
* Mikhail Tukhachevsky
* Alexey Kaledin
* Ahmad Shah Qajar
* Gustaf V†
* Carl Winberg
* Niels Neergard
* Otto Bahr Halvorsen
* Sun Yat-sen
* Woodrow Wilson
* Warren G. Harding
* Robert Borden
* W.L. Mackenzie King
* George V
* Arthur Balfour
* Bonar Law

## Meta

### Campaign

Game 17

The **Great War** was a global war originating in Asia that lasted from January 1910 to July 1921. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated 18 million deaths as a direct result of the war, including deaths from the Armenian Genocide but not the additional 40 million from the Brazilian Flu pandemic, which coincided with the end of the war.

When war broke out between the Eastern Entente (Russia, Persia, Sweden-Norway) and the Pacific Pact (Japan-China, Gran Colombia, [later Viet Nam]) in January 1910, the conflict was referred to as the Russo-Japanese War as it was expected to end swiftly and be localized to the Far East. The outbreak of war between these two alliances resulted from the Sino-Japanese Invasion of Manchuria, which occurred immediately following the signing of a nonaggression pact between Japan-China and Germany, the leader of the Triple Alliance (which also included Mexico and the Roman Empire.)

The opening stages of the war in January 1910 consisted of a failed Japanese offensive into the Russian Manchurian province of Jillin, though the Russians attempted a counterrattack in Lianoning the following July, this too failed due to well-constructed Japanese fortifications, setting the standard of high-casualty, immobile trench warfare that would characterize most of the war's combat, even in other theatres. Though that month saw better success for the Army of Gran Colombia against Sweden-Norway's African colonies, the Colombians were only able to capture the Upper Volta and Dahomey before being halted in Ijebu. The Pacific Pact experienced further success in Africa later that month when Sino-Japanese forces aided in the capture of Ijebu as well as South Senegal from the Swedes. A small fleet and invasion force was sent by the Persians to capture Japanese Sumatra, but the Persian attack on Palembang in July 1910 utterly failed. The Swedes proved somewhat more succesful on their front, recapturing the Upper Volta from the Colombians as well as the Colombian colonial territories of Kong and the Lower Volta.

In January 1911, the Russians launched an ambitious invasion of Korea in hopes of securing control of the Sea of Japan, and managed to capture Hamhung and Pyongyang from the Japanese, forming a Russian front in Korea that would be held for years but never extended south as was intended. Despite both launching attacks on Russian-occupied Pyongyang during the winter of 1911, the Colombians and the Sino-Japanese were unable to recapture the city. Following another botched Persian invasion of Palembang, however, the Sino-Japanese made a landing in Persian Oman, launching the long and grueling Persian Campaign, which would prove to be by far the bloodiest theatre of the conflict. July 1911 marked the first Russian attempt to push southwards into Korea, but it was repelled. In Africa, the Army of Gran Colombia continued to fight its way into the interior of Swedish Africa, once again capturing the Upper Volta as well as West Niger, though these gains were reversed before the month's end. July 1911 also saw the first visible of effects of espionage during the war, a trend that would continue throughout the conflict. Funded and incited to action by the covert Swedish Säkerhetspolisen, Persian Eyes of the Shah, and Russian Okhrana; in July 1911 the Republic of China declared independence from the Sino-Japanese Empire and quickly seized control of mainland China, electing Sun Yat-sen as its Provisional President. Though the Sino-Japanese Army saw success in Africa, recapturing the Upper Volta and West Niger from the Sweden-Norway in joint campaigns with Colombia, the Imperial and Celestial Army utterly failed in its attempt to capture the Chinese capital Peking, a miraculous defense that was celebrated by the Chinese for generations thereafter. After the succesful defense of Peking, China was able to secretly receive funding from the United States and Canada, nations sympathetic to China's defense of a young democratic republic against an authoritarian imperial state.

In January 1912, the Russians attempted to seize the Korean port city of Busan from the Sino-Japanese in a naval invasion, but despite multiple succesful landings the Russians failed to capture the city. Thrown into mild disorder by the shocking election of Communist leader Ramón Garcia Venegas to the Colombian Presidency, the Army of Gran Colombia failed its attempt to invade Swedish Greenland and aid the Sino-Japanese in pushing north against the Persians in Arabia. Despite having failed to do so in January 1911, in January 1912 the Japanese attempted to capture the Russian port city of Vladivostok but were once again repelled. The month also saw the election of Robert Borden and Woodrow Wilson to the presidencies of Canada and the United States respectively, positions they would retain until the near the end of the war. Though Wilson was quick to reaffirm American neutrality upon taking office, he intended to enter the war on the side of the Entente as soon as the American nonaggression pact with Gran Colombia expired (which it was due to in January, 1917.) In the meantime, the United States and Canada continued to (initially secretly) provide financial aid to China. Whether it was due to China's mysterious aid or to the death of Emperor Meiji earlier that month, in July 1912 the Japanese Emperor Yoshihito signed the Treaty of Portsmouth with China, agreeing to give up the title of "Celestial Emperor of China" in exchange for hefty reparations and a guaruntee that Vietnamese Buddhists would be allowed to visit holy sites in China. This may have been a scheme to prevent China from preparing for invasion, but it failed as aid continued to pour in from the west. That same month, the Colombians captured Al Hassa from the Persians and made a failed attempt to capture Kong, but these developments were of little significance compared to the outbreak fo the Scandinavian Civil War, in which the Scandinavian Communist Party funded by Gran Colombia fought against the depleted Royal Army of Sweden-Norway. Overwhelmed, the Swedes signed the Treaty of Malmo and made peace with the Pacific Pact on relatively light terms.

Though Sweden-Norway had withdrawn from the war by January 1913, the royal government's capitulation to the communists after just 6 months of very light fighting shocked the world. The Union of Scandinavian Socialist Republics