Kaiserschlacht (Setting)

An alternate history scenario focused on a hypothetical German victory in WW1. With the United States successfully kept on neutral terms, the German Army's success on the continent forces the British and French to surrender in early 1918. From the bloodbath of WW1 rises a world shaped by a German hegemony in Europe, Kaiserschlact explores the consequences of a victorious Imperial Germany in as realistic and authentic of a course of events as possible.

## Background

Actual (unaltered) historical situation leading up to the point of departure.

## Point of Departure

The first notable departure from the Real World timeline occurs relatively early in the war. The Admiralty of the German Hochseesflotte, together with the Kaiser, decide to abandon the use of submarines for commerce raiding, instead focusing on a fleet policy and using submarines as part of an attempt to weather down the British fleet for a decisive battle. Under these policies, American shipping is never targeted by German U-boats, which instead are stationed as near the British coast as can be allowed, to ambush warships going to and from their bases in England.

Despite the change of submarine policy, they have very little impact on the course of the naval war, which proceeds largely as it did in the Real World with minor changes. The Battle of Jutland in May 1916 proceeds exactly as it did in reality with two exceptions. The battleship HMS Malaya is lost during the Run to the North when a flash fire in her secondary gun powder stowage causes a chain reaction that reaches her main battery magazines, and demolishes the ship. The battleship HMS Marlborough is mistaken for a German battleship by HMS G3 and G5 while limping home after being crippled by a torpedo from the German cruiser SMS Wiesbaden. The submarines each fire a spread of torpedoes, and Marlborough is struck twice by torpedoes, and sinks with great loss of life. The British press covers up the sinking of the Marlborough due to friendly fire, claiming the ship was already sinking after the German torpedo hit and that she was deliberately scuttled.

The greater losses for the Royal Navy at Jutland however do not appreciably change the strategic position of the German Hochseeflotte, which is still badly outnumbered and outgunned. In early 1917, the Nivelle Offensive is launched as it was in our own timeline, and is a complete disaster all the same. While the resulting mutinies are suppressed, without the imminent entry of the United States into the war on the Entente side, the morale of the French Army is precarious.

The point of departure that seals a German victory however, comes in the Spring of 1918, with the launching of Germany's greatest offensive, the Kaiserschlact. In addition to the brilliant use of stormtrooper tactics, over a million men are transferred from the Eastern front that in the Real World had remained in the Ukraine to occupy it. Instead, in this alternate history, the Germans abandon the occupation of the east in favor of placing all their cards in one massive offensive on the Western Front. On the 21 of May, 1918, over a million shells fell on the British sector, a tremendous cannonade that could be heard as far away as London, announcing to the world that the Kaiserschlacht had begun. With the initial breakthroughs, the Germans were able to advance further than anyone had since 1914, smashing the Entente lines and advancing rapidly towards their objectives.

Without the impending relief of the US Army, the already fragile morale of the French was completely shattered by the stunning success of the opening days of the Spring Offensive. Entire sectors of their lines collapsed, breaking out into mutinies upon seeing such a harsh defeat enacted upon them. The Germans marched forth and captured Amiens, one of their key objectives, cutting the British and French supply lines at their heart and seizing thousands of tons of badly needed food and equipment. With the French in a state of near collapse, the Germans were able to fortify their gains and stabilize the Western front heavily in their favor. On April 25, 1918, the British and French sued for peace in a race to gain better terms before their armies completely revolted. The war was over, with Germany as the victor.

## Timeline

**1914:**

-Germany rejects advocates of a submarine war in favor of a fleet oriented policy, preferring to operate submarines as an accompaniment to the battle fleet to pick off damaged retreating British warships, and for laying mines in British home waters

**1916:**

The intrepid journeys of the Deutschland-class cargo-submarines give Germany much needed good publicity abroad, as well as demonstrating Germany’s peaceful intentions towards the US.

**1917:**

-The maintenance of good terms with the US averts the need or want for the Zimmerman telegram, as well as studies indicating the infeasibility of significant Mexican military action.

-March - The “February Revolution” in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates both himself and his son. Kerensky’s Provisional Government takes power.

-November - the October Revolution; Bolsheviks seize power in St. Petersburg. The Don Cossack Army under Gen. Kaledin assumes control of the Don region. The Russian Civil War begins.

-December. The Cossacks lose Rostov to the Red Army, and retreat south on the Ice March.

**1918:**

-February. Battle of Ekaterinodar. Cossacks retreat northwards. Red Terror leads to increasing numbers of anti-Bolshevik volunteers.

-3 March, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed.

-April. The All-Great Don Host reforms.

-The Spring 1918 Offensive Kaiserschlacht is launched with 1,700,000 men, gaining key ground for the first time since 1914 and moving the front in a highly favorable way for the Germans.

-Terrible conditions and heavy casualties for the French defenders result in mutinies, forcing the suspension of a counter-attack and allowing the Germans to dig in and fortify their lines.

-With the Germans solidifying their front and no hope for a successful counter attack, the Entente call for peace talks. The Armistice is signed on April 25, 1918

-The German High Seas Fleet sorties from Kiel on April 22. On the morning of April 23, they encounter a British convoy off the coast of Norway, and in the ensuing attack, HMS Agincourt, HMS Hercules, HMS New Zealand, and HMS Australia, and four old pre-dreadnoughts are sunk with the whole of the convoy.

-In May, units of the German Army begin to return to the Eastern Front.

-In June, an R-class Zeppelin is sent to St. Petersburg with fighter escort to evacuate the Romanov family from the revolution embroiled city. They are brought to Berlin where they are kept in exile, with Wilhelm II hoping to use them as a political tool by some means for the management of Germany’s conquests in Eastern Europe.

-In June, the Red Army begins forced conscription of peasants and ex-Tsarist officers. Meanwhile, the HSF achieves sea superiority in the Black Sea. German divisions are transported by ship to the Caucasus, where they join the second Kuban offensive.

-In September, the Japanese refute the terms of the armistice stipulating the return of Germany’s overseas possessions including Tsingtao, the Bismarck archipelago and the Caroline islands, believing Europe to be weak and with no remaining appetite for war.

-On October 20, the High Seas Fleet sets sail for Panama, the Kaiser publicly condemning the Japanese for their refutation of the treaty and demanding to the ships and crews present that they reclaim the German Empire.

**1919:**

-The High Seas Fleet arrives in Pearl Harbor on January 15, having arrived from San Diego earlier that month. They proceed to forcefully seize Truk Atoll and the rest of the Caroline islands, using the American base as a coaling station.

-On February 7, with the High Seas Fleet working it’s way closer to Tsingtao and Japan itself, Imperial Japan concedes the colonies to Germany. The German press euphorically declares a great victory over the Japanese Navy by No Contest, and the Japanese public is angered at the inaction of their Navy.

-In May, the German Army, having rested, resupplied and taken on fresh replacement troops, redeploys East to crush the Bolshevik revolution. They fight the Red Army West of the Brest-Litovsk line, inflicting devastating defeats on the loosely led and poorly equipped rebel army. Within months, the revolution is bottled into Russia proper.

-On May 4, Iosef Stalin is killed when a German Zeppelin raid on Tsaritsyn results in a flaming Zeppelin, shot down by incendiary flak, crashing directly onto his headquarters.

-The former Greek battleship Salamis is given to the Ottoman Empire, ostensibly as a token of celebration. The Germans are overjoyed to have ridded their docks of an obsolete, undersized battleship, and with the blockade lifted the overdue turrets from America arrive and are fitted before the ship is sent to Istanbul.